Quercetin is a phytochemical found in onions, apples, tea, asparagus, blueberries and more.  This flavonoid may have some anti-cancer benefits such as controlling abnormal cell growth and deactivating carcinogens, according to some lab studies.

But a recent laboratory study raises concerns that quercetin, in larger doses, may act differently and actually aggravate cancer in some cases.  In this study, researchers gave quercetin and another antioxidant (ferulic acid) to severely diabetic laboratory rats.  They found that these rats developed more advanced forms of kidney cancer.

Although a lab study, the results do show the potential that too much of a good thing, including quercetin, may not be better – or even helpful.

AICR does not recommend dietary supplements for cancer prevention.  Of course there are special situations where supplements are valuable for other reasons, but so far evidence does not confirm that, for the general population, supplements are helpful for preventing cancer.

In addition to quitting smoking, the best thing you can do to lower your cancer risk is to maintain a healthy body weight, get at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity daily and eat a plant-based diet with plenty of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes for an abundant variety of healthful plant compounds and more.

Cancer Prevention, Diet, Foods That Fight Cancer, Phytochemicals Hide

Sliced into a salad or sandwich, tomatoes usually play a supporting role. But this time of year, tomatoes are at their best.

Today’s Health-e-Recipe celebrates tomatoes as the main ingredient: Broiled Tomatoes Provencal highlights this favorite garden vegetable with a little breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese and oven time to create a flavorful treat brimming with cancer-fighting lycopene. Noted for its ability to prevent prostate cancer and even retard the growth of prostate cancer cells, scientists are investigating lycopene’s possible protection against skin, lung and other cancers, too. Its levels are highest in cooked and processed tomatoes (it is also present in other red produce including red grapefruit, papaya and watermelon).

Try these simple broiled tomatoes as a healthy appetizer or side dish for a light, late-summer fish or poultry entree, along with some leafy greens. Click here to subscribe to Health-e-Recipes.

Diet, Foods That Fight Cancer, Health-e-Recipe, Phytochemicals, recipes Hide

Back to school routines and the cooler autumn season might inspire you to new habits and lifestyle changes to get on a healthier track.

One change worth considering is to pack your lunch for school or work rather than grabbing fast food. The quick or drive-through lunch will probably be full of “calorie-dense” foods – meaning, you’ll get smaller quantities, but higher calories, sugar and fat.
That all adds up to a higher risk of overweight and obesity, which ups risk for several cancers.

So, let’s do a healthy lunch!

For more variety in your lunch, purchase a freezer pack, or freeze water bottles, to keep things cold.

Three To-Go Lunches:
1.  Mixed salad greens, walnuts, chickpeas, diced apple, craisins and vinaigrette tossed together. Add whole grain crispbread, yogurt and a piece of fresh fruit.

2. Whole wheat pita – when ready to eat, stuff with sliced cucumber, bell pepper, low-fat cheese and tuna from a packet. Add grapes and lightly salted whole grain tortilla chips

3. Make a hearty sandwich with whole-grain bread, avocado slices, hummus, tomato and roasted red pepper. Add Greek yogurt with a portion of fruit – frozen or canned in juice.

These quick and balanced lunches, with powerful, cancer-fighting foods, will keep you energized throughout the afternoon without loads of fat, sugar and salt.

Check out our New American Plate and Homemade for Health brochures for more ideas.

What are your favorite on-the-go lunches?

Cancer Prevention, Diet, Foods That Fight Cancer Hide

Research shows that eating whole-grain foods may promote healthier weight and lower diabetes risk, and now scientists are studying whether these foods also protect against cancers of the colon and rectum.

A new study, just published in the British Journal of Cancer, found that consumption of whole-grain products may protect against these cancers – but maybe not for everyone.

The researchers used data from the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort study (part of the EPIC* study) that followed over 26,000 men and 29,000 women for about 10 years.  They looked at people’s total whole grain consumption as well as specific products: whole-grain rye products, whole-grain bread (mostly wheat) and oatmeal.

Their findings: Higher intake of total whole-grain products was associated with a 15% lower risk of colon cancer among men.  They also saw a tendency towards lower risk of rectal cancer among men.

Researchers did not find any associations of risk of colon or rectal cancer with consumption of whole-grain products among women.

Some possible reasons why they found an association for men but not women include:

1.            Not enough variation in intake of whole grain products amount the women – to show effect there has to be a large difference between the highest and lowest intakes.

2.            There were fewer colon and rectal cancer in women than in men, so there may not have been large enough numbers to be statistically significant.

3.            The protective effect of whole-grain products may be stronger for men than it is for women.

Other studies have shown mixed results of protection from whole-grain foods against colorectal cancer, so this study adds more valuable data to this question.  But there are plenty of reasons to choose whole-grain foods over more processed grains – including fiber, vitamins B and E, selenium, magnesium, antioxidants and other phytochemicals, all which contribute to overall health.

And, AICR’s expert report found that foods containing dietary fiber probably protect against colorectal cancer.  As part of a healthy diet, along with plenty of other fiber containing foods such as vegetables and fruits, whole grains do play an important role in cancer protection for men and women.

Go to the AICR Test Kitchen for delicious recipes with whole grains and take a look at our New American Plate: Beans and Whole Grains brochure.

*EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition) was designed to investigate the relationships between diet, nutritional status, lifestyle and environmental factors and the incidence of cancer and other chronic diseases. EPIC is a large study of diet and health having recruited over half a million (520,000) people in ten European countries: Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Cancer Prevention, Diet, Foods That Fight Cancer Hide

Peaches are peaking right now. These sweet, juicy orbs are the perfect summertime dessert or snack.

One medium peach has 2 grams of fiber, only 40 calories, 285 mg of potassium and a fair amount of vitamin A. A treat when sliced into fruit or green salads, peaches are prime for pies, too. But today’s Health-e-Recipe is a way to get the delicious combo of peach with a crunchy, baked whole-grain topping without the calories and fat of pie crust.

Our Peach Crumble with Blueberries adds berries’ succulent flavor along with their cancer-fighting phytochemicals called anthocyanins. You can find more delicious fruit recipes from the AICR Test Kitchen. Click here to subscribe to our weekly Health-e-Recipe.

Diet, Foods That Fight Cancer, From the AICR Test Kitchen, Health-e-Recipe, Phytochemicals Hide

Ever tried whole-wheat pasta? Today’s Health-e-Recipe for Confetti Macaroni and Bean Salad is a great opportunity.

Now carried by most grocery stores, all or part whole-wheat pastas give you more health benefits than plain white pastas. The texture and taste of whole-wheat pasta is different from regular pasta, so try out various brands.

Since Americans eat a lot of pasta, choosing the whole-wheat kind can help you get the 3 daily servings of whole grains recommended for good health. Whole grains such as whole wheat have more dietary fiber to keep your digestive system working well and to add a few more cancer-fighting phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals to your diet. If you are gluten-intolerant, try substituting 3 cups of cooked barley, bulgur or brown rice for the pasta. Also whole grains, they blend beautifully with the other ingredients in this recipe.

You can find more recipes for healthy whole grains from AICR’s Test Kitchen. Or get a free download of the newly updated Beans and Whole Grains brochure from AICR’s New American Plate series. Click here to subscribe to our weekly Health-e-Recipe.

Cancer Prevention, Diet, Foods That Fight Cancer, From the AICR Test Kitchen, Health-e-Recipe, New American Plate, Phytochemicals, recipes Hide

Surf summer’s heat waves with AICR’s Blueberry-Watermelon Freeze, today’s Health-e-Recipe. Watermelon’s red color means it has plenty of lycopene, as do cooked tomatoes and red grapefruit. Lycopene is one phytochemical researchers believe may help discourage prostate cancer.

And blueberries are bursting with anthocyanins, a class of phytochemicals also found in cherries, red grapes and cranberries. AICR grantees have found – you guessed it – these compounds may help protect us from cancer. When you eat combinations of fruits and vegetables, their many kinds of phytochemicals work together to maximize cell protection and help to ward off DNA damage that can lead to cancer. For more delicious summertime recipes using foods that fight cancer, visit AICR’s Test Kitchen. Or, click here to subscribe to our weekly Health-e-Recipe.

Cancer Prevention, Diet, Foods That Fight Cancer, From the AICR Test Kitchen, Health-e-Recipe, Phytochemicals, recipes Hide

Getting tired of the same old lettuce and tomato salad? Summer’s the time when salads are at their most appealing and today’s Health-e-Recipe for Mango, Cucumber and Red Pepper Salad mixes up salad stereotypes. The crunchy cukes and juice red pepper contrast in color and texture with the soft smooth mango. Here’s how to peel a mango like a pro.

Dressed with citrus, mint and peanuts, this salad still adds lettuce – but red leaf, a darker variety so therefore higher in phytochemicals that fight cancer. Share this zingy salad with friends, and find more unusual salad combinations at AICR’s Test Kitchen. Click here to subscribe to weekly Health-e-Recipes from AICR.

Diet, Foods That Fight Cancer, From the AICR Test Kitchen, Health-e-Recipe, recipes Hide

Making homemade pizza usually involves making a crust that has to be tossed and kneaded and put in a warm place to rise. It’s a good way to include physical activity in your cooking – but at the end of a long day, you may want a simpler solution.

Today’s Health-e-Recipe uses rice for a crust that holds a variety of healthy veggies and part-skim mozzarella. Rice is the go-to grain for many of the 2 million people in the U.S. who have celiac disease, where eating any food that contains a protein called “gluten” can cause severe intestinal problems. Gluten is found in wheat and other grains.

Here, rice allows you to avoid highly processed frozen or delivered pizzas, and even mixes in Parmesan for a delicious cheesy flavor to complement the cancer-fighting garlic, mushrooms, peppers, onions and tomato sauce, whose phytochemicals all work together in this dish to protect your health. Click here to subscribe to Health-e-Recipes.

Diet, Foods That Fight Cancer, From the AICR Test Kitchen, Health-e-Recipe, Phytochemicals Hide

Today’s Health-e-Recipe for Yogurt-Marinated Chicken Kabobs borrows a time-honored tip from Middle Eastern and Indian cooking: Use yogurt as a marinade.

Yogurt is a “probiotic” – meaning that it contains live, active cultures of bacteria that benefit our digestive systems. Studies suggest that probiotic foods like fresh yogurt can replenish healthy bacteria in the gut that may be depleted in people who are taking antibiotics. Some early research even indicates that eating yogurt regularly may help prevent colon cancer by keeping colon cells from developing abnormalities.

To find delicious recipes that use yogurt, like Strawberry-Melon Smoothie, Tandoori Spinach and Yogurt-Dill Dressing, visit AICR’s Test Kitchen. Or just substitute plain, low-fat yogurt for some or all of the mayonnaise in dressings, for sour cream on baked potatoes and in dips.

Click here to subscribe to Health-e-Recipes.

(photo credit: National Cancer Institute)

Cancer Prevention, Diet, Foods That Fight Cancer, From the AICR Test Kitchen, Health-e-Recipe, recipes Hide