This Diet May Lower Cancer Risk by 24%

In contrast to typical western diets, vegetarian diets are generally generally packed with fruit, vegetables, nuts and legumes – all foods that are loaded with connections that can help reduce the risk of cancer. While the connection between vegetarian nutrition and cancer remains a topic of the debate, research on less frequent cancer is still limited in large studies.

In order to bridge this knowledge gap, the researchers examined whether vegetarian diets could offer protection against a wider range of cancer types, not just against the more common. The study tests the idea that vegetarian nutrition could have protective advantages for less frequent types of cancer compared to non -vegetarian diets, and the results were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

How was the study carried out?

This study was carried out using data from the Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2) cohort, which included participants in the USA and Canada between 2002 and 2007. The participants were voluntary members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in North America. Many members of the seventh day adventers follow a vegetarian or herbal diet that enable a large subject pool of people who follow these nutritional patterns.

A total of 95,863 participants were part of the study. After the exclusion of participants with existing types of cancer, extreme or unreliable BMI or nutritional data, missing demographic information and the areas living from cancer registers outside the analysis group, it included 79,468 participants. In the registration, a detailed questionnaire was excluded by post, which contained a validated questionnaire on the food frequency in order to evaluate eating habits in the previous year. The researchers continued to validate the data by 24-hour nutrition education, which were carried out by phone in a sub-group of 1,100 participants and by examining biomarkers of the nutrition.

The participants were divided into five nutritional groups based on their eating habits:

• Vegans who avoided all animal products
• Lacto-OVO vegetarians who consumed milk and/or eggs, but no meat or fish
• Pesco vegetarians who have included fish in their diet
• Semi-vegetarian who ate meat or fish less than once a week
• Non -vegetarians who consumed meat or fish at least once a week.

For the purposes of this study, vegetarians were defined in the first three categories, while the half -vegetarians were excluded from the main analysis due to their small numbers and unclear classification. Cancer cases have been identified by the participant data with cancer registers in the USA and Canada.

To ensure that the results were as precisely as possible, the study fits various factors that could influence the risk of cancer such as age, gender and breed. For each type of cancer, the study included adjustments to relevant risk factors based on existing research and guidelines to ensure a more comprehensive analysis of the relationship between nutritional patterns and cancer risk.

What did the study find?

The study showed that vegetarians generally had a lower risk of cancer compared to nonvegestarians, with the exception of a possible slight increase in myeloma risk. Overall, vegetarians had a 12% lower risk of developing any cancer and a 18% lower risk of medium -frequency cancer such as melanoma, thyroid and pancreatic cancer.

For certain cancer types, vegetarians showed significantly lower risks in several areas:

• The risk of stomach cancer was reduced by 45%
• The risk of lymphoma was reduced by 25%
• The overall lymphoproliferative cancer risk was reduced by 25%
• Colon cancer risk was reduced by 21%.

These results suggest that vegetarian diets may offer protective advantages against certain types of cancer.

In all cancer combined vegans, vegans had the lowest risk with a reduction of 24%, followed by Lacto-OVO vegetarians with a reduction of 9%and pesco vegetarians with a reduction of 11%. In the case of cancer with medium frequency, Veganer once again had the lowest risk with a reduction of 23%, followed by Lacto-OVO vegetarians with a reduction of 18%and pesco vegetarians with a reduction of 13%.

In certain types of cancer, younger vegans (65 years) had a 43% lower risk of prostate cancer, but this protective effect was not observed in older vegans (age 85). Younger vegans also had a 31% lower risk of breast cancer, while older vegans showed a similar trend, although the results were less precise. In lymphomas, older vegans had a lower risk of 56%, while younger vegans showed no significant difference.

This study has to take some restrictions into account. A major challenge is the small number of less frequent types of cancer, especially for vegans and pesco vegetarians, which makes it more difficult to draw strong conclusions. Another restriction is that the non -vegetarian group consists of health -conscious people in this study who already eat less meat than the general population, which makes it more difficult to recognize big differences between the groups.

In addition, the study initially only measured the diets and other factors of the participants and did not pursue changes over time. As with all observation studies, there is always the possibility that other non -measured factors can influence the results, which makes it difficult to apply these results to the general population.

How does that apply to real life?

Based on this current study, the food can be a practical and potentially powerful way to support your health and reduce your risk of certain types of cancer. Although you do not have to be fully vegan to recognize advantages, the introduction of more vegetarian habits in your diet can cause a difference to reducing cancer risks.

If you want to eat more plants, but are not sure where to start, you will find some simple, practical tips that will help you get going:

• Fang small: Try a meal -free meal a week like “Fleischloser Monday”.
• Make plants into a star: Build your plate for vegetables, beans or whole grain products instead of meat.
• Experiment with recipes: Try vegetable versions of your favorite dishes such as veggie crash roasts or walnut tacos. We also love these vegan sandwiches who can shake their lunch routine.
• In stock: Hold frozen vegetables, can beans and whole grain products for quick, simple meals.
• Explore alternatives: Try meat proteins such as tofu, speed or chickpeas.

Our expert

This study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Dandruff illuminates the potential health benefits of vegans and vegetarian diets, in particular their connection with a lower risk of certain types of cancer. By analyzing data from over 79,000 participants of the Adventist Health Study-2, the researchers found that vegetarians, especially vegans, had a reduced risk of cancer, stomach and lymphoma compared to nonvegestarians.

While the study has its restrictions, such as B. Small sample sizes for less frequent types of cancer and the observation of research indicate the results that the inclusion of more plant food in their diet could be a sensible step towards better health.