Cancer, despite advances in medicine in recent years, remains a number one killer not only in the United States but around the globe. And traditional treatments like surgery, radiation or chemotherapy are not always successful at killing the cancer off, though they can cause serious long-term side effects nonetheless. This is one of the reasons why the search is on for natural therapies for cancer treatment, therapies which include a healing diet. Increasingly, people are becoming aware that what they eat can have a major impact on their disease process. Below is a list of several foods with known cancer-fighting properties.
Turmeric
Curcumin, turmeric’s active ingredient, is a potent cancer-fighter. This is mostly due to its powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. One recent study from German found that curcumin was able to prevent the formation of tumors but also to prevent them from metastasizing if they had already formed. This is because it has shown to be able to suppress a certain growth factor necessary for tumors to grow and spread. (1)
Sea Vegetables
Although they have not yet really caught on in the United States, sea vegetables like as nori, kombu, wakame and kelp have also formed an important part of the diet of Japan and southeast Asia for thousands of years. These sea vegetables are incredibly rich in minerals like calcium, magnesium and iodine and, like turmeric, appear to work through reducing both inflammation and oxidative stress to the cells. (2)
Red Grapes
Red grapes are not only delicious, they are chuck-full of resveratrol, a compound which has both anti-oxidant and anti-mutagen properties. It is also a natural Cox-2 inhibitor, which is known to reduce both the onset of cancer and of pre-cancerous growth. It also seems to be able to work by reducing inflammation throughout the body and by protecting cells against oxidative damage. (3)
Green Tea
There is a reason why green tea is so popular with health nuts – it truly is one of the best things someone can drink! The power of green tea is based on compounds it contains called catechins, the best known of which is EGCG. These catechins are also able to block the tumor necrosis factor which in turn inhibits the growth of spread of cancerous cells. (4)
Adding these foods to the diet is easy – and there are tons of recipes on the Net to help people learn how to prepare new dishes with them. And making these dietary changes can have significant benefits in regards to preventing the onset of cancer but also successfully preventing the spread or growth of tumors once they have developed.
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