Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Plant-Based Diets and Cancer: What’s the Connection?
PLANT BASED DIETS
Dr. Thomas Campbell gives insight on the benefits of a plant-based diet for your overall health, as well as the potential impact it can have on fighting cancer.

While a plant-based diet can be considered environmentally conscious or good for weight loss, there are many health benefits to consuming plants and unrefined sugars as the main part of your diet.

Plant-based diets contain more phytochemicals, which are anti-inflammatory and can protect cells from damage. A plant-based diet also means you’re probably eating more fiber, and, according to studies from the Mayo Clinic, young women who ate the most fiber-rich diets were 25 percent less likely to get breast cancer later in life. It was also found that every 10 grams of daily fiber could lower the risk of colorectal cancer by 10 percent.

“The benefits that I think [are] well established are the metabolic benefits and the weight benefits, and generally having a lot of other aspects of your health improved. Better blood sugar control, a healthier weight, better cholesterol and better insulin levels,” says Dr. Thomas Campbell, co-author of worldwide bestseller ”The China Study” and author of “The China Study Solution.”

While all cancers affect people differently, a plant-based diet in some circumstances can help in terms of general metabolic health, healthier weight and health maintenance. 

Along the lines of metabolic health, Campbell says that “we now know that [a plant-based diet] has pretty significant metabolic benefits […] it can lower cholesterol, it can lower insulin—it makes insulin work better, so insulin resistance improves. We’re finding more and more that insulin resistance seems to be a common problem across a lot of different illnesses, including cancer in some studies.” 

A plant-based diet can also reduce inflammation, Campbell notes. “If you’re talking about, for example, colorectal cancer, there is decent evidence that a western diet actually increases inflammation in the gut, and a healthier diet can reduce that. You can have a healthier weight and metabolism and change your hormones and growth factors.”

All of those aspects are helpful in reducing your risk of cancer. The T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies is a nonprofit organization bringing awareness to the impact food has on the body through its science-based education, service and advocacy. Its website contains a plant-based recipe database that is accessible to everyone, as well as articles and resources for people who want to know more about the ways their diet impacts their health.

Campbell and his father, Dr. T. Colin Campbell, published “The China Study” together, which looks at various environmental factors including nutritional factors and cancer rates. They found that a more plant-based intake was linked to better health outcomes.

“We looked at research from people around the world who were studying nutrition and disease and finding much the same thing: That a dietary pattern of unprocessed foods rich in plants tended to be associated with better health outcomes. And not only was it associated with better health outcomes, but it was more powerful than people realized. People think of it in terms of wellness or prevention, but actually there’s a lot of research showing that some of the most effective treatment for some of our common illnesses—diabetes, heart disease—is actually food,” explains Campbell.

Apart from the Center, Campbell is involved in a research pilot study looking at testing a whole foods plant-based diet in late-stage breast cancer that he predicts will be concluded sometime in 2022.

For more information, visit nutritionstudies.org.

More
articles

SUPER CLEAN WINTER
Clean Beauty

Super Clean Solutions: Winter 2023

With a mission to provide safe, natural relief for people with cancer, Dermavitality’s focus is to develop effective and affordable skin care through plant power and peer-reviewed research.

Read More »
GOURDS
Nutrition

Recipes: Life is Gourd

Allow the flavors of fall to ease you into this season. These anti-inflammatory dishes balance out the sweet, the savory, the acid and the spice and will have your friends and family feeling the love.

Read More »
SOPHIE CANCER JOURNEY
(Y)our Stories

Somebody That I Used to Know

At just 30 years old, Sophie has been in remission from cancer for 23 years, but the trauma of surviving childhood cancer can’t be ignored, despite Sophie’s best efforts to stifle the memories.

Read More »