Colon cancer is the third most common cancer in the world. And you can drop your risk considerably with a few easy changes in your diet.
The key: you basically have to eat more like our ancestors did. Researchers have found that when someone more used to eating natural, unprocessed foods starts eating a typical American diet, they can see the changes right away … and they can measure that the risk for colon cancer skyrockets.
Researchers at the Pitt School of Medicine came up with the idea of having Americans and South Africans swap diets after finding that rural people in in South Africa hardly ever have colon cancer or intestinal polyps, growths that often turn into cancer. In the U.S. and other western countries, colon cancer has become the second leading cause of deaths from cancer.
In their two week experiment, the scientists persuaded 20 Americans to eat a diet similar to the typical South African diet for two weeks. At the same time, they had the 20 Africans eat what Americans are usually consuming.
The typical American diet has more animal protein and fat, but also much less soluble fiber than the African diet. Soluble fiber protects your colon, and a lack of it is thought to increase colon cancer risk.
After two weeks, the experiment showed that the Americans’ cancer risk had already dropped while the South Africans’ risk had jumped. In particular, the Americans had more butyrate in their colons, a substance produced by intestinal bacteria that helps fight cancer.
So how do you eat more like the South Africans do? Well, the African diet has about five times more fiber in it than ours does. That means go heavy on the fruits and vegetables and other foods with real, soluble fiber, including legumes (peas, beans, lentils), fruits and vegetables (especially oranges, apples and carrots).
But don’t be fooled by the “fiber” claims on cereal boxes… grains are not a good source of soluble fiber. Most of the insoluble fibers come from the bran layers of cereal grains.
