Three Ways To Reduce Your Cancer Risk

From this week’s health news, we have:

Skip the meat, skip the cancer

Researchers (Dr. Fayth Butler et al.) followed the health of 79,468 participants (all initially free of cancer) for an average of just under 8 years (as with most longitudinal studies, the period of time will not be uniform as some people die or otherwise drop out of the study).

They found at baseline, that of those nearly 80,000 people, vegetarians were generally older, more educated, breastfed longer (where applicable), and had lower BMI than non-vegetarians.

As the study progressed, they found that all vegetarian diets combined were linked to reduced total cancer risk (12% lower) and reduced medium-frequency cancer risk (18% lower), and in particular, lower risk of lymphoproliferative cancers (25% lower) and stomach cancer (45% lower).

Breaking things down by non-omnivorous groups of interest:

• pescatarians: lower risk of colorectal cancer (21% lower) and breast cancer in older women than omnivores
• lacto-ovo-vegetarians: lower risk of lymphoproliferative cancers and stomach cancer than omnivores
• vegans: lowest risk of breast and prostate cancers

In short, all of the above are improvements on an omnivorous diet.

Read in full: Study finds vegetarians less likely to develop several common and rare cancers

Related: The Whys and Hows of Cutting Meats Out Of Your Diet

Another reason to avoid respiratory viruses

Common respiratory infections, including COVID and flu, can awaken dormant disseminated cancer cells in the lungs, and breast cancer survivors testing positive for COVID have higher all-cause, non-COVID, and cancer mortality.

In particular, in the study we’re referencing here, women with breast cancer who later had COVID showed a consistent trend toward increased lung metastasis risk (i.e. it spreads, which is what makes it most dangerous and most likely to be deadly).

The greatest risk is in the first 6 months after infection:

Read in full: Respiratory viruses awaken dormant breast cancer cells and raise relapse risk

Related: Why Some People Get Sick More (And How To Not Be One Of Them)

Almonds to the rescue

We love almonds, and so it seems do researchers (Dr. Samira Movahed et al.), who found that enjoying more than 60 g/day of almonds significantly reduced lipid damage and DNA damage markers, fighting aging and making cells less likely to turn cancerous.

Notably, raw almonds were found to be best for this, as roasting reduces polyphenols and blanching removes most of them. For that matter, the almond fiber (so, mostly in the skins that blanching would remove) also supports beneficial bacteria that help lower systemic oxidative stress, compounding the benefits.

There was also a small but significant decrease in uric acid levels (that’s a good thing to decrease), which the researchers hypothesize was due to reduced xanthine oxidase activity.

The benefits were dose-dependent, and enjoying under 60g per day showed smaller (or no) associations. 60g is just over 2 oz, by the way!

Read in full: Eating over 60g of almonds a day may protect DNA and cut oxidative damage

Related: What 47 Almonds Can Do For your Gut, Heart, Skin, & more