Vegan diet plays an important role in cancer prevention. A Vegan diet is defined as a way of living that attempts to eliminate all forms of food or clothing that may have been manufactured through a process of animal exploitation and cruelty. This means excluding all animal products, including dairy and honey along with meat, fish, and eggs.
When you add more plant-based diet in your plate, you consume fewer calories. It helps to maintain a healthy weight and body mass index. Vegetarians are less prone to be overweight, which tends to be a major risk factor for some types of cancers.
People decide to follow a Vegan routine for different reasons. It usually is due to environmental concerns, but it also helps to improve health.
Too much meat consumption or non Vegan diet linked to cancer?
- Processed meat products like deli meat, bacon, and hot dogs contain chemical preservatives that can develop your cancer risk. Consuming red meat like beef, pork, and lamb also increases cancer risk considerably.
- Eating meat that has been cooked at high temperatures using methods like pan-frying and barbecuing can double your risk of developing kidney cancer.
If you follow a non-vegetarian diet, try to consume less than equal to 18 ounces of cooked meat per week.
And for protein, look for these options instead:
- Plant proteins (beans, legumes)
- Low-fat dairy products
- Fish
- Chicken
- Turkey
- Eggs
What are the benefits of a Vegan diet in cancer prevention?
To understand the influence of Vegan diet on cancer prevention and recovery, let us understand the components of a Vegan diet.
- Fruits and veggies- For a healthy Vegan diet, you should eat lots of fruits and vegetables, alternative milk products such as coconut or almond milk, more pulses and lentils, no sugar, and high fiber foods.
- No dairy products- Vegan diets omit all animal products, including eggs, cheese, ghee, dairy, and honey.
- Vegetarian food- Eating too much meat (mainly processed meat) can increase the risk of certain types of cancers, including Colon Cancer and esophageal cancer, as processed meat contains chemical compounds that aggravate the condition in cancer.
- Nutritional factor- Eating a Vegan diet can get a little unfriendly. Including meat in your diet is controversial, as many researchers believe it to be bad for your heart, increases cholesterol levels, with additional health risk. However, limited research claim that Vegan or vegetarian diets are low on nutrients.
Can Vegan diet prevent / lower cancer risks?
There is no evident that you would not develop cancer by cutting down meat, and choose a Vegan diet. However, they do have its own set of benefits.
Two-third of your plate must contain plant-based foods. It contain phytochemicals, the nutrients that your immune system needs to fight off disease like cancer. Plant-based foods contain more fiber, which can help lessen your cancer risk. Incorporating Fiber in your diet not only keeps you feeling full longer, but it helps lower your cholesterol, stabilize your blood sugar levels, and manage your bowels. Meat products have no such advantages.
While Vegan diet prevent cancer, does it escape important nutrients?
Someone being a Vegan or vegetarian could be missing these important elements but can get it from certain plant foods. Vegans might need to put in a little more effort to ensure that they get the necessary nutrients.
Vegans face bigger challenge in eating a balanced diet because their food choices are limited. To achieve a balanced Vegan diet, it requires some planning.
Also, make sure not to replace meat with processed or noxious foods. Simply cutting down meat or animal products doesn’t necessarily equate to a healthy diet.
An improper diet can cause severe health problems, ranging from lifestyle diseases to ones with mortal danger. Most existing research on a relationship between cancer and Vegan diets shows a possible cancer prevention pathway in a Vegan diet.
Role of Vegan diet in preventing cancer relapse
A relation between Vegan diet and cancer prevention has been established. But what about Vegan diet and cancer recovery? Can Vegan food prevent a cancer relapse?
Cancer Recurrence Prevention Care is important for the prevention and to stop the progression of this disease. While the recent reports from several studies support a Vegan diet as a preventive measure, the findings are neither as strongly supportive nor clear to declare it unviable.
The reason for the uncertainty is due to the uncertainty about a person’s diet during the intervening days. Most people change their dietary habits over time, making it difficult to associate the food habits of a patient to his or her diagnosis.
However, several researches indicate that you should avoid certain types of food that have higher cancer risk and opt for a Vegan diet, instead. Although the diet’s cancer prevention roles are yet to be proven, having vegetables and avoiding meat and dairy certainly strengthen your body.
