4 foods that can help fight cancer

The link between cancer and nutrition is powerful. These are just five cancer-fighting foods that should be on your plate more regularly.

• Apples are packed with quercetin, an antioxidant shown to reduce the risk of numerous cancers, particularly lung cancer.
• One study of more than 77,000 women found just one apple a day reduced the risk of lung cancer by 21 percent, regardless of smoking status.
• Laboratory studies show that quercetin prevents lung cancer cells from multiplying.

• Black raspberries, seeds and all, have 40 percent more antioxidants than blueberries and strawberries.
• If you inject rats with chemical that causes colon cancer, and then feed them a diet rich in raspberries, they develop 80 percent fewer tumours than rats who didn't get the fruit.
• Freeze-dried black raspberries also kept another set of rats from developing mouth and esophageal cancers.

• Cruciferous vegetables include broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and cabbage-based dishes like sauerkraut and coleslaw.
• In one study, men who ate three or more 125-gram (1/2-cup) servings of these veggies a week reduced their risk of prostate cancer by 41 percent, compared to men who ate less.
• Steam the vegetables slightly and drizzle on a little olive oil to get the most benefits.

• These two flavourful foods are jam-packed with cancer-destroying chemicals.
• Get 16 servings a week of onions. 125 grams (1/2 cup) raw, chopped onion equals one serving.
• You'll also want 22 servings a week of garlic. One clove equals one serving.
• If you eat enough, your risk of oral, esophageal, colorectal, laryngeal, ovarian, breast, and prostate cancers drop significantly.
• The protective effect from both vegetables stem from the same compounds that give each their distinctive odours: organosulfur compounds.
• These compounds influence enzymes that activate and detoxify carcinogens, they prevent DNA from bonding to cancer-causing substances and they're great at scavenging up free radicals in your bloodstream.
  • They also support the immune system, among other benefits.
• Either use garlic raw or let it sit for 10 minutes after chopping; otherwise, heat destroys the cancer-protecting enzymes.

These foods could help your body combat and stave off cancer, especially when combined with treatments recommended by your physician.