What to Eat to Reduce Your Risk of Colon Cancer

The disease is on the rise—but these foods may help you decrease your odds of getting it.

Research has long shown that a plant-based diet has cancer-fighting powers. Now, a new study offers even more proof that giving up animal products can lower your risk of one specific type of cancer that happens to be showing up more in younger people: colorectal cancer.

The team behind the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, sought to better understand how a vegetarian diet affects colorectal cancer incidence. At the start of the study, researchers looked at the self-reported eating habits of approximately 77,000 adults, then checked how many participants developed colorectal cancer seven years later. They found that subjects who ate a vegetarian diet had a 20 percent lower overall incidence of colorectal cancer (when compared to meat eaters), while pescovegetarians (fish-eating vegetarians) had a 43 percent lower risk.

 
With colorectal cancer the third most common type of cancer in men and women today, according to the American Cancer Society, this is as good a reason as any to tweak your diet so you consume more foods found in the produce and cereal aisles. The study only showed an association and didn’t point out specific foods that can make a difference, so we went to the experts on the front lines of fighting this cancer. Here’s their take on what to eat to cut your risk.


Fatty Fish
Order up those salmon rolls: The omega-3 fatty acids in fish such as salmon and tuna lower inflammation in the gut, which is linked to tumor formation, says Mitchell Gaynor, M.D., a New York City oncologist, clinical professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, and author of The Gene Therapy Plan.

Oat or Bran Cereal
Both are super high in dietary fiber, and fiber helps move food through your digestive tract, says Jennifer Fitzgibbon, R.D., an oncology dietician at Stony Brook University Cancer Center in New York. Why’s that important? The longer some of the toxins you might ingest along with your food hang around your GI system, the higher the likelihood that they cause DNA damage, possibly resulting in cancer, says Gaynor.


Olive Oil
Besides all of its other awesome health qualities, “olive oil contains an omega-2 fatty acid that’s associated with a lower risk of colon cancer because it reduces inflammation,” says Gaynor.

Beans
Black, kidney, pinto—so many types of beans are high in folate, a B vitamin that helps repair abnormal DNA in the GI tract, says Fitzgibbon. They also have fiber, too.

Fruits and Vegetables
You knew these had to make this list, and here’s why. First, the fiber these have helps keep your digestive system moving. But second, foods found in the produce aisle contain a rich assortment of micronutrients that have been linked to lower rates of colorectal cancer, says Gaynor. “Consuming six to eight servings a day of fruits and vegetables can help ensure that you get all of these micronutrients,” he says.

Turmeric
This spice that’s a staple in Indian cooking contains a compound called curcumin, which can protect the GI tract and prevent or slow colorectal cancer growth, says Fitzgibbon.
Shutterstock

Cooked Tomatoes
Here’s a reason to consume more pasta or pizza. Tomatoes have lots of lycopene, which can decrease colon cancer rates, and cooked tomatoes, such as the kind found in tomato sauce, have even more of it, says Gaynor.

And you should steer clear of:

Processed Meat
Red meat itself is linked to a higher risk of many cancers. But processed meats usually contain sodium nitrate, a type of preservative that has been correlated to colorectal cancer, says Fitzgibbon. “Avoid nitrates as much as you can,” she suggests.

Refined Sugar
Sucrose, the sugar found in the white sweet stuff, forces the pancreas to secrete more insulin, which affects levels of a chemical made by the liver that is associated with colorectal cancer, says Gaynor. “Sweeten food with honey or stevia instead,” he says.

Fore more information on foods that are good for your colon and habits that can increase your risk for colon cancer, read our feature on page 140 in the April issue of Women’s Health, on newsstands now.