Eating plenty of leafy greens, broccoli and brussels sprouts may help ward off the blood cancer non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma cancer, research findings suggest.
In a study of more than 800 U.S. adults with and without non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), researchers found that those who ate the most vegetables had a 42 percent lower risk of the cancer than those with the lowest intakes.
In particular, leafy greens like spinach and kale, and cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, brussels sprouts and cauliflower, seemed to be protective.
Similarly, the study found, two nutrients found in green vegetables — lutein and zeaxanthin — were related to a lower NHL risk.
The antioxidant activity of these vegetables and nutrients explains the connection, said study co-author Dr. James R. Cerhan of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota.
Antioxidants help protect cells from such damage by neutralizing molecules called reactive oxygen species. These substances are byproducts of normal body processes, as well as environmental exposures like cigarette smoke, and in excess they can damage body tissue and lead to disease.
The new findings suggest “yet another benefit” of eating your vegetables, according to Cerhan.
Vegetables and fruits are probably the best way to get antioxidants, he said, because these foods have a host of other nutrients that may all work together to bestow health benefits.
The study included 466 adults with NHL who were enrolled in a national cancer registry, along with 391 cancer-free adults who were matched to patients by age, race and sex. Both groups answered questions about their diet and other health and lifestyle factors.
In general, those who ate more than 20 servings of vegetables a week had a 42 percent lower risk of NHL than those who ate eight weekly servings or fewer. When the researchers looked at specific nutrients, lutein and zeaxanthin stood out; people with the highest intakes were about half as likely as those with the lowest to develop NHL.
– American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Dr. Keith and Laurie Nemec’s comments on vegetables, antioxidants may lower lymphoma risks.
As stated in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, this study showed that researchers found that those who ate the most vegetables had a 42% lower risk of cancer, than those who ate the lowest intakes. Diet is a key alternative cancer treatment. In particularly feed greens, like spinach and kale, and the cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, seemed to be protective. The important thing this study was showing was that as we get back to basics, the diet God designed us to eat, which is a living/raw plant based diet, the more disease protective from all diseases, not just cancer but also heart disease, diabetes, auto immune disease we become.
All diseases will decrease as we eat the diet we were designed to eat, one that was not cooked, one that was living or raw, living means still growing, this is seeds, nuts, sprouted material, sprouts, raw meaning not cooked, but not growing. This would be your vegetables, the foods that have been taken away from their life source, but still have high enzyme contents in them because they have never been processed through heat. Any heat over 105°F. destroys enzyme activity and decreases the nutrients in the food source and turns it more into calories than nutrients for health and healing. So, let us just add this in our protocol to attain total health.
So as we live the 7 Basic Steps and one of them the diet, the food, is a living raw plant based diet, high in vegetables, high in sprouted material, high in bioenergy, bioelectricity, enzymes and the nutrients, the vitamins and minerals and antioxidants and phytochemicals that have not been destroyed by heat, this is the diet that will keep us at the highest level of health, decrease our cancer risk and decrease our risk of all diseases and increase our longevity.