A Diet Which Can Reduce Your Risk of Prostate Cancer
Your diet plays a huge role in your overall health and risk of cancer. Prostate cancer is the third most common cause of cancer death in men and lifestyle choices influence your risk. An overall healthy and balanced diet is critical which includes enough servings of fruit and vegetables, tofu, nuts, seafood, legumes, whole grains or whole grain containing foods like Corn Thins™ slices and foods low in saturated and trans fats, has been shown to reduce your risk.
The first two food groups to draw attention to are fruits and vegetables. The positive power of eating or drinking enough fruit and vegetable servings to reducing your cancer risk cannot be under rated. Ways to increase the amount of fruit and vegetables in your diet can include taking fruit as a snack, choosing fruit salad and low-fat yoghurt as a dessert. Selecting salad vegetables or side of grilled vegetables instead of the fried chips with meal is a smart swap. Try adding your favourite vegetables or fruits to a sandwich like tomato and lettuce or avocado. A prostate friendly meal could be whole grain pasta with rocket with sun-dried tomato and ricotta or with tuna, tomato sauce with olives, eggplant and capsicum.
To take care of your prostate health you should know about the positive effect’s tomatoes have in reducing your risk of prostate cancer. A two-year study of 47 365 men concluded men who included lycopene in their diet, a carotenoid from tomatoes had a reduced risk of prostate cancer. Lycopene is better available to the body after processing and it was found tomato sauce decreased the risk of prostate cancer further than eating tomatoes!
You can include tomato in your diet by adding it to sandwiches in a fresh slice or add some tomato sauce to your favourite pasta. As part of the base of a pizza or make a tomato-based dip to have with some fresh cut up vegetable sticks, or Corn Thins™ slices.
Foods which may increase the risk of prostate cancer include foods found in a typical Western diet like processed and fresh red and white meats with the skin and fat left on. Processed meats include bacon, salami, sausage and ready to eat sandwich meats.
A diet high in fat, specifically trans and saturated fat is also linked to prostate cancer. The main places saturated fat can be found is from animal products this includes butter, cheese, ice cream, the fat on red and white meat as well as from non-animal sources including coconut and palm oil. Trans fats are a form of unsaturated fat but because of the way it has been processed it acts like a saturated fat. Trans fats can be found in foods like biscuits and chips, fried foods and baked goods like pies and pastries.
Take home message: When considering how to make changes in your life to reduce your risk of prostate cancer, it is important to see the big picture and an overall diet. An overall balanced diet such as the Mediterranean diet will have a far greater impact on your health than a single food.
References:
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