4 Key Features of a Strong Cancer Prevention Strategy

Written By Jay Benson

I think everyone will agree that discussing the subject of cancer is not easy. I run into two common types of reactions in my medical practice. Some completely avoid talking about it or testing for it and others make every effort to aggressively prevent it. These contrasting reactions are both coping mechanisms to deal with personal fears of this disease. However we choose to deal with the reality of cancer risk, the fact remains that cancer is one of the most common causes of death in the U.S. and it needs to be addressed rather than ignored, in my opinion. I myself experienced someone very close to me suffer with cancer and my focus on prevention has been stronger ever since. This blog post is my effort to remind us of productive ways to lower the risk of cancer for ourselves and those close to us.

Although cancer risk can vary from person to person based on genetics and a number of environmental factors, there are changes you can make today to significantly reduce your risk. Here are 4 key features of a strong cancer prevention plan:

  1. Healthy Food

    We’ll start with the big one: diet. This is an important area to focus on for prevention but it also has a lot of moving parts which can make it feel daunting and confusing so let’s try to simplify it a bit. Evidence supports the use of a balanced, whole-food, micronutrient-rich, low-glycemic, low-insulinogenic, plant-predominant, organic diet to lower cancer risk. That sure was a mouthful! Let’s break it down so it is easier to understand what that describes.

    Balanced: Avoid extremes so that macronutrients (protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber) and micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients) are eaten in required amounts for basic if not optimal cellular function. In other words, don’t let yourself get deficient in any nutrients your body needs.

    Whole-food and micronutrient-rich: This goes beyond simply avoiding deficiency. Increase the quality of your diet. Unprocessed, colorful food intake leads to higher fiber intake which helps support the microbiome (supportive bacteria in your gut) and your immune system via increases in your intake of various important vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytonutrients required for an optimized immune system as well as optimized detoxification every day.

    Low-glycemic and low insulin-index: Eating meals that lead to less dramatic rises in both insulin and glucose (blood sugar) leads to a reduction in stimulation of cancer cells. Lower insulin leads to improved metabolic stability of your body and helps us avoid excess body fat which also indirectly lowers cancer risk. Some foods that lower your average rise in insulin and glucose include non-starchy vegetables, nuts, seeds, avocado, beans, lentils, and fruits (make sure they are all whole, unprocessed).

    Mostly Plants: Evidence supports that diets with mostly plant foods (plant-predominant) have lower cancer risk. These foods as long as they are whole/unprocessed provide a variety of important and hard to get nutrients important for an efficient and robust immune system. This allows you to take advantage of a wider array of protective nutrients helping to avoid deficiencies.

    Organic, low-contamination: Evidence supports eating more organic foods (plant and animal-based food), or in other words less contaminated food, reduces cancer risk likely due to a lower exposure to chemical contaminants such as herbicides and pesticides as well as industrial chemical compounds, some of which having been shown to increase cancer risk directly.

    What should I eat?

    Here are a few of the best foods to eat more of that have been shown to be most protective due to their high antioxidants, phytonutrients, fiber, and other unique immune system-boosting properties :

    • Leafy greens (spinach, kale, lettuce, arugula, others)

    • Broccoli and it’s cousins (kale, cauliflower, cabbage, collards, mustard greens, radishes, others)

    • Mushrooms

    • Onions and their cousins (garlic, leeks, chives, scallions)

    • Berries

    • Herbs, spices, and teas (turmeric, pepper, ginger, parsley, clove, and green tea, just to name a few). However, be careful to choose sources that are not contaminated with harmful ingredients such as heavy metals.

    What should I avoid?

    Here are a some of the worst foods to eat as they have been linked to increased cancer risk:

  2. Maintain an Ideal Body Fat %

    Did you know that the more fat that is on your body, the higher the cancer risk? This may be related to increased inflammation and higher insulin levels associated with being overweight. Even if you don’t have diabetes, high insulin levels and insulin resistance can increase cancer risk. At Aspen Health, tests for inflammation and insulin are available and routinely checked in patients. Losing body fat on our bodies reduces insulin resistance and indirectly insulin levels as well.

    Although this may seem obvious, do the following:

    • Move your body. Increase your physical activity every day. Even simply walking frequently throughout the day can really make a difference for many. The more you do and the more aggressive you do it, the more it helps maintain a healthy body fat percentage.

    • Avoid overeating. This is very individual as there are medical and behavioral differences between individuals, however, following the healthy food intake advice above (key feature #1) automatically helps you reduce your chance of overeating as you feel satisfied with less calories. Taking your time to eat calmly and slowly and stopping when 80% full can also help.

      You may discuss more personalized advice on weight loss and reducing risk of metabolic syndrome at one of your appointments at Aspen Health. Measuring body fat % on a body composition scale in the Aspen Health Princeton office can help to accurately monitor changes to track your progress.

  3. Reduce toxic exposures

    Toxins, chemicals, heavy metals, and other carcinogen exposures increases stress and confusion on our body’s systems and cell function and increases cancer risk. Many substances are listed as known carcinogens or probable carcinogens by organizations including the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the National Toxicology Program, and there is a long list of substances on the possible carcinogen list. There are just too many substances to investigate fully and in a reasonable time frame so a conservative approach is to just avoid as many chemicals, heavy metals, and other unnatural substances as possible. Although it is near impossible to avoid 100% of harmful exposures, here are a few straight-forward ways to significantly reduce your exposure.

    Eat more organic foods. Use the Dirty Dozen™ and Clean Fifteen™ lists created by the Environmental Working Group which pick the produce with the highest and lowest herbicide/pesticide residues. Also, don’t forget that when eating animal products to choose organic (or smaller wild-caught fish) which have lower concentrations of chemicals and heavy metals.

    Drink clean water. Reviewing your local municipal water treatments and testing your home tap water can reveal if you could benefit from a water filtration system in your home.

    Here is a useful resource on tap water quality and filtration.

    Drinking water via a reusable stainless steel container and avoiding plastic containers and aluminum containers is also advised.

    Avoid tobacco and alcohol. All of us should recognize by now that tobacco use is a significant cancer risk factor due to exposure to many harmful substances, but I am always surprised at how many still do not recognize that alcohol increases cancer risk, too. Approximately 4% of cancers worldwide are caused by alcohol.

    Use a high quality air filter. Many harmful substances are air-born. Avoiding second-hand tobacco smoke, any other smoke, volatile organic compounds from paint, furniture, and other home products, and all other pollution (as best as you can) is advised. Choosing to change out flooring, wall paint, and furniture in your living and work spaces and replace with low toxicity products is one way to reduce contaminated air in your living space. The furniture and paint in the Aspen Health Princeton office is either zero toxicity, zero VOC, or UL GREENGUARD Certified which passes stringent chemical emissions limits.

    You can immediately improve the air quality of your primary living and work spaces with a high quality air filter. Here is one I recommend due to its effectiveness and low waste design.

    Avoid toxic household and personal products. Many harmful substances can be found in commonly used products you may be using around the home and on your body every day. Here is a useful app I use to find products that are safer.

  4. Regular Testing

    Testing is an important part of an effective strategy as finding and treating cancer at an earlier stage improves outcomes. There are two categories of testing I recommend to patients: Toxic substance screening and cancer screening.

    Toxic substance screening. Testing for harmful environmental chemicals (herbicides, pesticides, volatile organic compounds, PFAS, aflatoxin, and others) and heavy metals in your body can help you to identify specific exposures to address. These tests are available at Aspen Health upon request.

    Cancer screening. Standard cancer screening methods currently available are only for 5 types of cancers (out of 100+). These tests are not perfect (no test is). For example, mammograms have not yet been shown to reduce mortality in those that use it regularly. So, it is more complicated than most people realize. New testing methods with higher accuracy are needed.

    Approximately 70% of cancer cases do not have any screening method, so they are found at more advanced stages, making treatment including lifestyle changes less effective.

    When cancer is detected in its early stages, before it has spread, the overall 5‑year survival rate is 4 times higher than when diagnosed at later stages.

    New testing technologies measuring parts of the cancer cells circulating in the blood, such as DNA or glycoaminoglycans for example, is a significant improvement from our current standard screening methods (although still not perfect). These new tests find evidence of a variety of types of cancers at different stages as early as stage I. They are likely to become part of a new standard of cancer screening guidelines. One such test, Galleri® by Grail, is a multi-cancer early detection test that looks for circulating tumor cell DNA and screens for 50+ types of cancers including the most common types (breast, lung, colon, prostate, and others) but most importantly many of the cancers that currently do not have any available screening test at all (pancreatic, kidney, lymphoma, liver, and many others). Galleri® is available to Aspen Health patients upon request.

    What if I already have cancer?

    A healthy lifestyle’s effect on cancer gets more and more limited as it gets to advanced stages. Although aggressive lifestyle changes can still be utilized in the setting of more advanced cancers, this works best as a preventative measure or as part of a treatment plan for earlier stage cancers.

    Diet and supplement regimens need to be carefully chosen with a more personalized approach based on cancer type and stage. For example, taking higher doses of supplemental vitamin b12, beta-carotene, or other antioxidants may worsen cancer outcomes.

    Fasting during treatments with chemotherapy may lead to improved protection from the chemotherapy and improved outcomes. A fasting-mimicking diet has been used in trials showing this benefit and can also be used in patients without cancer for other health benefits. Inquire at one of your appointments to learn more about fasting and if it is appropriate for you.

    Final Thoughts

    The best outcomes are when we focus on prevention, catch cancer earlier, and utilize effective treatments including aggressive lifestyle changes with carefully chosen supplementation. Create a plan that gives you better odds to fight cancer and win.

-Dr. Benson

Jay Benson
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