Five Foods that Fight Breast Cancer

by Susan Davis on 01/10/09 at 7:11 pm

Get your screening and eat plenty of these cancer fighting foods

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so this is a good time to remind our readers about eating foods that have cancer-preventing properties.   Here are five foods that have been shown to help women prevent breast cancer.

Cruciferous vegetables. Vegetables in this family include broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, rutabaga, radishes and turnips.  They all contain Indole-3-carbinol, which has been shown to be effective in lowering a type of estrogen that may cause breast cancer.

Foods high in beat-carotene. Yellow-orange vegetables such as carrots are high in beta-carotene.  Beta-carotene is 500 percent more absorbable in raw carrots than in those that are cooked, and baby carrots are higher in beta-carotene than their mature counterparts.

Increase your intake of Omega-3 oils. Eat salmon, tuna, anchovies, swordfish, crab or sardines to increase your intake of Omega-3 fish oils.  Research indicates that women with higher tissue levels of Omega-3s have lower rates of breast cancer.

Top things with tomatoes. Tomatoes include lycopene, which has been linked to lower rates of breast cancer.  Eat tomatoes raw, cooked or sun-dried; enjoy tomato juice, tomato sauce and tomato soup.

Substitute grapes for the wine. Women who drink more than one alcoholic beverage a day are at a greater risk for breast cancer, but grapes – especially the purple concord grapes, have a healthy dose of cancer-fighting antioxidants.

No one can say that these foods will prevent you from developing breast cancer, but it can’t hurt to include them as part of an overall, healthy diet.

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