The Recipe Doctor
From low-fat recipes to recipes designed for persons with diabetes, Elaine Magee, MPH, RD, shares recipes and advice to create healthy meals that are guaranteed to please. [Editor's note: Elaine no longer contributes to Silver Planet, but we have made her archived blog entries available as a service to our readers.]
Beans Lower Cancer Risk?
Mmm . . . phytochemicals!
Eating beans is definitely a step toward health, what with all their fiber and plant protein. Some evidence suggests that diets high in fiber are linked to lower risk of colorectal, pancreatic, and breast cancers. But it’s their phytochemicals that appear to protect body cells from the type of genetic damage that can lead to cancer.
The three protective phytochemicals
Saponins: These seem to slow the growth of tumors in several body tissues by inhibiting the reproduction of cancer cells, according to laboratory studies.
Protease inhibitors: These seem to slow the division of cancer cells and help prevent tumors from releasing substances called proteases, which can then destroy nearby healthy cells.
Phytic acid: These seem to slow tumor growth. In one recent case-control study involving 3,237 men, the men who ate the most beans had a 38% lower risk of prostate cancer than subjects who ate the least.
Researchers from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, recently reported that feeding dry bean powder to laboratory rats who were chemically induced for breast cancer reduced cancer incidence and the number of cancer tumors per rat.
DO THIS
Favor beans over meat sometimes! Three times a week, replace red meat with beans, which are a great source of folic acid (lentils, pinto beans), fiber, and assorted protective phytochemicals.
By Elaine Magee, MPH, RD
The Recipe
Doctor Blog
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