Vegetarian diet and cancersThe benefits of vegetarian diets for certain cancers – they are naturally low in saturated fat, high in fiber, and replete with cancer-protective phytochemicals, which help to prevent cancer.There are fewer incidences of certain types of cancers among vegetarians. Eating a vegetarian diet is healthy for you. Large studies in England and Germany have shown that vegetarians are about 40 percent less likely to develop it compared to meat-eaters. In the U.S., studies of Seventh-Day Adventists, who largely eat a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet, have shown significant reductions in the risk of developing it among those who eat a meatless diet. Similarly, breast-cancer rates are dramatically lower in nations, such as China, that follow a mainly animal free food diet. Interestingly, Japanese women who follow Western-style, meat-based diets are eight times more likely to develop breast-cancer than women who follow a more traditional vegetarian diet. Meat and dairy products contribute to many forms, including colon, breast, ovaries, and prostate. Harvard studies that included tens of thousands of women and men have shown that regular meat consumption increases colon-cancer risk by roughly 300 percent. High-fat diets also encourage the body’s production of estrogens. Increased levels of this sex hormone have been linked to breast-cancer. A recent report noted that the rate of breast-cancer among premenopausal women who ate the most animal (but not vegetable) fat was one-third higher than that of women who ate the least animal fat. A separate study from Cambridge University also linked diets high in saturated fat to breast-cancer. One study linked dairy products to an increased risk of ovarian-cancer. The process of breaking down the lactose (milk sugar) evidently damages the ovaries. Daily meat consumption triples the risk of prostate enlargement. Regular milk consumption doubles the risk, and failure to consume vegetables regularly nearly quadruples the risk. A vegetarian diet avoids the animal fat linked to the disease and provides abundant fiber, vitamins, and phytochemicals that help to prevent it. In addition, blood analysis of vegetarians reveals a higher level of “natural killer cells,” specialized white blood cells that attack cancerous cells.
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