Healthy Diet Cuts Colorectal Cancer Risk up to 65%

Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy foods, and fish will reduce your risk of colorectal cancer, according to a new study.

"We found that eating a largely plant-based diet with higher intakes of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, vegetable oils, and low-fat dairy in women and fish in men was associated with a reduced risk of colorecal cancer,"says Paige Miller, PhD, a researcher at Pennsylvania State university.

Eating in this healthful way reduced the risk of colon cancer by 65% in women and by 62% in men, she days. "Why fish was a part of the protective dietary pattern only in men and low-fat dairy only in women is not know at this time," says Miller.

Miller and her team evaluated the diets of 431 men and women with colorectal cancer and the diets of 726 healthy men and women who didn't have colon cancer.

They categorized the participants into a fruits-and-vegetables diet pattern and a meat-potatoes-refined grains pattern. In men, a third pattern--a diet rich in alcohol and sweetened beverages--was found.

In addition to finding the reduced risk of colorectal cancer for people eating the diet heavy in fruits and vegetables--62% reduced risk for men and 65% for women--Miller found that the more closely men and women adhered to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the MyPyramid recommendations, the lower the cancer risk.

The diet pattern associated with higher cancer risk in her study included greater intakes of red and processed meat, poultry, fried and white potatoes, high-fat diary, sweets, salty snacks, butter, mayonnaise, gravy, and refined grains.

Experts speculate that a diet emphasizing fiber-rich fruits, vegetables, and whole grains moves waste through the colon more quickly, giving harmful substances less time to damage cells there.

Smoking, being very overweight, and excessive alcohol use have also been linked to a higher colorectal cancer risk.