Balanced diet and microwaved, steamed cooking can help prevent cancer

Washington, February 13 (ANI): A balanced diet and food prepared with the right method can go a long way in preventing cancer, top cancer researchers have suggested.

Professor Attilio Giacosa and Professor Jaak Janssens highlighted methods of prevention to keep cancer at bay in two interviews published on the LWWPartnerships website. While the former explained how a preventative diet can boost the body's natural defenses, the latter shed light on the latest developments in breast cancer prevention.

Prof Giacosa, head of the Department of Gastroenterology at Policlinico di Monza in Italy, endorsed fruits and vegetables, such as oranges, garlic, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts, as a significant part of the "preventative diet".

The expert based his research "through epidemiological data and observations in population groups with cancer that were compared to age and sex matched groups without cancer."

Prof Giacosa explained: "If we look at the diet and eating habits of both groups, case-control studies have irrefutably demonstrated a protective role of fruits and vegetables against many types of cancer in diverse social, environmental, geographic situations, especially for tumours of the lung, oral cavity, oesophagus, stomach, and intestine."

But how these items were prepared was also important, the researcher pointed out.

He said: "The optimal approach [is] to consume vegetables grown within zero kilometers [of where you live], in the right season. Using proper tools like sharp knives [reduces] the waste of crucial essences...it's really important to promote microwaved and steamed cooking, two great techniques."

Prof Giacosa also recommended a glass or two of wine every day as it contains "all the active principals of fruit, especially polyphenols - a component of great significance because even the very colour of wine, the colour red or ruby, the flavours, the fragrances, are tied to specific compounds linked to polyphenols, themselves extremely beneficial to our organism."

Prof Janssens, President of the European Cancer Prevention Organization in Belgium, nodded to the benefits of a balanced diet, adding that "changing the lifestyle of children will have an effect on growth characteristics (for example menarche) and secondary on breast cancer risk." (ANI)