Vegetarians Cut Risk of Certain Cancers

Photo: Andyrob, Flickr

A healthy diet has long been considered a good measure for cancer prevention. The American Cancer Society recommends increasing your servings of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables, incorporating more whole grains into your diet and limiting your consumption of processed and red meats.

Recent research suggests that going one step further and following a vegetarian diet can reduce the risk of certain cancers.

Researchers followed more than 60,000 men and women; some ate meat, others ate fish but not meat, and a third group went vegetarian. The vegetarians were found to have a reduced risk of developing stomach cancer, cancer of the bladder, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and multiple myeloma.

Researchers are quick to point out that more research is needed and that the connections between diet and cancer are complex. But there are measures you can take:

• Considering going vegetarian? If you're considering becoming a vegetarian, be sure to educate yourself. A vegetarian diet can be very healthful, but it's important to give your body all of the proper nutrients. Iron, protein and other nutrients are found in plant-based products, but if you don't seek them out and plan for them, you can accidentally deprive your body of needed nutrients.
• Be a flexitarian. If going completely vegetarian is stricter than you'd like, consider going flexitarian. Choose fish or lean protein (e.g. chicken instead of red meat) and have fully vegetarian meals several times each week.
  
• Bump up the servings. Whatever your eating habits are in regards to meat, try increasing your servings of fruit and vegetables.
• Avoid processed and red meats. Processed meats and red meat have previously been linked to cancers such as colon cancer and stomach cancer, so avoid these as much as possible.