Top 11 Anti-Cancer Foods And Spices

By now research has shown that by including certain foods in your diet and excluding others, you can reduce the risk of cancer.

While there is more to reducing one’s cancer risk than eating the right foods, changing the way you eat will help you in more than one way: you’ll be eating foods with high nutritional value that will help regulate and maintain a healthy weight, your digestive system will benefit from a regular supply of soluble and insoluble fiber, and, most of all, you’ll increase the amount of antioxidants and other compounds known to have a powerful anti-cancer effect.

Curious? Here they are:

• Cruciferous vegetables. Think cabbage, broccoli, kale, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts. These veggies which you can include in your everyday meals without getting bored, have demonstrated an anti-cancer effect due to substances such as sulforaphane and indole-3-carbinole.
• Onion and garlic. Both have been shown to contain powerful compounds (flavonoids) which can fight cancer cell growth and even induce cancer cell death (garlic.) They are best eaten raw, included in salad dressings for example, but if you cannot tolerate the taste or strength, make sure to make them part of every cooked meal.
• Tomatoes. They contain lycopene, an anti-cancer substance that the body can benefit more from if consumed cooked, especially by adding some cold-pressed olive oil. So feel free to indulge in homemade pasta sauce or tasty tomato soup.
• Carrots. They contain powerful antioxidants known as carotenes which are able to efficiently rid the body of many free radicals that you encounter on a daily basis. While carrots and beets have a high content of carotenes, they are also found in sweet potatoes, zucchini, pumpkins, peppers and apricots.
• Mushrooms. They contain substances such as beta-glucan and various polysaccharides that have been shown to have anti-cancer properties and boost your immune system. The trick is to look beyond your everyday white button mushroom (though they are also healthy and have great nutritional value.) The best known mushrooms that can give your immune system a boost and also protect you from cancer are reishi, shiitake, maitake, turkey tail mushrooms and portobello.
• Seaweed. They contain trace minerals that are beneficial to health, and substances such as fucoidan and fucoxanthin, found in kombu and wakame. The next time you go grocery shopping, buy a few kinds of seaweed (making sure they have been harvested from clean waters) and expand your menu options. One of the easiest to make immune-boosting soups can be made by cooking mushrooms in water or bone broth (a great source of minerals and protein if you are not vegetarian,) then add seaweed, miso paste and some chopped green onion or garlic.
• Berries. These loved-by-all fruits are rich in cancer-fighting and detoxifying compounds called polyphenols. A must though: buy organic if possible. Berries are, unfortunately, some of the most sprayed crops, according to the ‘Dirty Dozen Plus’ list put together by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) therefore, worth paying extra unless you can grow them yourself.
• Pomegranates. If you haven’t made friends yet with the ruby pills of antioxidants and vitamins, you should start today. Pomegranates are rich in anti-inflammatory compounds and have shown to prevent tumor growth in laboratory studies. Stick with the fruit rather than the juice as you will benefit from including beneficial fiber in your diet and, most of all, you will be guaranteed freshness.
• Flax seeds. They contain beneficial omega-3 fatty acids and lignans, compounds that have cancer-preventing properties. Grind the seeds for up to ten seconds and use them immediately, as the fatty acids can easily get oxidized.
• Green tea. If you are not a dedicated consumer already, give it a try today. Green tea, while it contains caffeine (you can get decaf versions if caffeine is not your thing) it also contains the antioxidants polyphenols. One of them, known as EGCG (epigallocatechin 3-gallate) interferes with tumor growth.
• Turmeric. If there is one spice that has a great reputation among spices, that would be the yellow powder which you can find in most food stores. Opt for organic if possible and use in stews, vegetarian or meat.

Bottom line: Nature has a lot of tasty foods that will keep you healthy. Choose colorful, seasonal and organic foods and you cannot go wrong!