Guest Author - Carolyn Chambers Clark, RN, EdD
Do you want to cut your risk of bladder cancer? This article will tell you how.
Eating plenty of vitamin E foods like nuts, some vegetables and grains and olive oil may cut your risk of bladder cancer in half!
Whether vitamin E prevents cancer is not settled, but evidence is mounting. Vitamin E may ward off cancers by preventing the damaging effects of oxygen and free radicals. The strongest evidence so far has been against prostate cancer and a large federally sponsored study is under way to provide even more evidence.
A recent cancer conference in Orlando, Florida, revealed research on risk of bladder cancer. The reported study was funded by the state of Texas and the findings were presented by John Radcliffe, a nutrition researcher from Texas Women's University to the meeting of the American Association for Cancer research.
The research offers evidence that dietary vitamin E might protect against bladder cancer, which kills about 12,500 Americans every year. About 1,000 Houston resident were questioned about their eating habits. Those whose vitamin E intake was in the top 25 percent had just half as much bladder cancer as those in the lowest quarter. The actual difference between the two group was small, the equivalent of a single daily serving of spinach or a handful of almonds!
The reduction in risk of bladder cancer was about the same whether the participants got their vitamin E from food alone or in combination with vitamin pills. The research team found that of the two most common forms of vitamin E (alpha- and gamma-tocopherol), only the alpha variety was linked with lower bladder cancer risk.
This study, along with many others, provides evidence for eating more vegetables and plant-based foods. Good sources of vitamin E include almonds, raw spinach, mustard greens, peppers, sunflower seeds, wheat germ, outer leaves of cabbage, leafy portions of broccoli and cauliflower, asparagus, whole grain cereal or breads, cornmeal, eggs and sweet potatoes.
Watching your weight? Don't be afraid to eat a handful of nuts and seeds. An ounce of almonds and sunflower seeds is not going to put weight on and think of the benefits!
The recommendation to eat five or more servings of vegetables and fruits holds for preventing bladder cancer (as it does for other cancers and many chronic conditions, too). So, fill up that lunch and dinner plate with plenty of fresh vegetables and have a piece of fruit for a snack or for desert. You'll be taking significant action to reduce your chance of cancer.
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