A Healthy Dietary Pattern to Reduce Lung Cancer Risk

Cancer is the name of the devil that terrifies us to the core. We know the pain and agony this disease causes and wish to keep it away from our family and friends. Yet, every year, this disease is a top cause of death worldwide. Thus, wishing it away alone isn’t helping and ignoring its existence till the time it comes knocking on our doors would be too late!

To protect ourselves and our loved ones from this menace, we need to start early, be aware and do all that is in our hands to reduce the risk of developing it.

Out of the many types of cancer, lung cancer ranks as the top kind that causes deaths across the world. The two things that we need to know about lung cancer are: Yes! It is a type of cancer that begins in the lungs and NO! It is not limited only to people who smoke. It’s important to get timely lung cancer treatment if diagnosed to be positive for it. 

Although smokers have the greatest risk of lung cancer, it can also occur in people who have never touched a cigarette!

Many other factors like age, air pollution, family history and our diet may also influence and increase the risk of lung cancer. Unfortunately, a lot of these factors are also beyond our control, but the DIET part is where we can certainly focus on and control.

Diet to Prevent Lung Cancer

It is known and backed by evidence that a healthy dietary pattern can help reduce the risk of lung cancer and total mortality. 

•   Foods to Include

A healthy diet including vegetables, fruits, fish, white meat, whole-grain bread, and soy can help a lot in protecting from this fatal disease. Also, healthy foods combined together are found to be more efficient in fighting against lung cancer than any of the separate foods can do alone.

Studies also suggest that a healthy dietary pattern might also be effective in reducing the risk of various kinds of cancers and cardiovascular diseases.

• Foods to Avoid

  High intake of red meat, processed meat, high fat and refined grains might amplify the risk of lung cancer. So, it is better to avoid this type of food in our diet.

Also, one thing to remember here is that a healthy diet does not mean taking large doses of vitamins in pill form as it might end up doing more harm than good.