11 top anti-cancer steps every woman can take - Healthy Lifestyles

You can do more to reduce your risks of cancer than you probably realize. In fact, of the 11 simple but powerful cancer-fighting steps in this special section, the first three alone can cut your breast-cancer risk by a third, according to a major new Italian study from the European Institute of Oncology in Milan.

That's the good news. The bad? More than 1,500 Americans still die of cancer every day, reports the American Cancer Society (ACS). Only heart disease is more lethal. Few people realize, however, that just a few daily changes could dramatically extend your life. Here's what you can do right now to avoid breast cancer and more. Much of it is stunningly easy.

STEP 1

DISCOVER THE POWER IN PRODUCE

It's music to every vegetarian's ears. Study after study shows that people who don't get cancer tend to eat more vegetables, more fruits and more varieties of both than those who skip the salad course and rarely grab an apple. The women in the Italian study who ate the fewest vegetables were 25 percent more likely to get breast cancer than those who ate at least five servings a day.

Why do vegetables and fruits help? Both foods are natural sources of polyphenols and other chemicals that act as anti-cancer agents. In addition, fruits and vegetables may enhance the body's own cancer-fighting defenses, according to preliminary findings from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

Another possible beneficial compound in vegetables: carotenoids, which are vitamin-A derivatives (and yes, carrots are loaded with them). Women who develop breast cancer tend to have lower blood levels of carotenoids--as much as 21 percent lower than those of healthy women, reported researchers from New York University in the American Journal of Epidemiology (June 15, 2001).

"The point is simple. The more fruits and vegetables you eat, the better," says Peter A. Greenwald, M.D., director of cancer prevention at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). "While our slogan is `5 a Day,' the real goal is five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day." What's a serving? Basically, a piece of fruit, a cup of salad greens or a half cup of chopped, cooked or canned veggies or fruit. "Preparation is also important," emphasizes Greenwald. "Don't counteract the healthy benefits of fruits and vegetables by smothering them in fat. French fries and broccoli drenched with cheese do not count as part of your five-a-day goal; baked potatoes and steamed broccoli do."

STEP 2

GET A MOVE ON

Do anything, just do something, for 30 minutes a day. A brisk half-hour walk is fine. It will lift your spirits, reduce stress, help control your weight--and, maybe most important, significantly reduce your breast cancer risk if you're within 20 percent of your ideal weight, noted doctors at the recent European Breast Cancer Council. Even in women who are heavier (extra pounds make you more vulnerable to the disease), regular exercise lowers the threat.

What's more, if you do develop breast cancer, exercise may help you recover faster. A new Canadian study has found that women with early-stage breast cancer who walk briskly for an hour three to five days a week improve more quickly, and feel stronger emotionally, than women who don't exercise.

STEP 3

DRINK LIGHTLY

Or just don't drink at all, especially if you have a close relative who's had breast cancer. While it's now widely accepted that moderate amounts of alcohol are heart protective, in terms of breast cancer, alcohol isn't an ally. Any amount may somewhat increase women's risk of the disease, but the threat really rises when the intake is more than two glasses a day, according to research done a couple of years ago at the Harvard School of Public Health. (A drink equals 3 to 4 ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer or 1.5 ounces--that is, a shot--of liquor.)

However, a new study from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., has sharply focused these findings. It shows that women who have even one drink daily, and who have a mother, sister or daughter with breast cancer, double their already increased risk of developing the disease. But women who drink moderately but don't have a blood relative with breast cancer are no more vulnerable to it than women who don't drink.

What's far more dangerous is combining drinking with smoking--it ups your breast cancer threat 50 times, according to data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (the EPIC study), which is examining the diets of more than 500,000 people in nine countries.

STEP 4

TAKE UP TEA

Replacing a daily soda or cup of coffee with tea--particularly green tea--may help protect you against many kinds of cancer, including colon, skin and breast. Some recent evidence:

* Drinking tea can slow the growth of abnormal colon cells that often turn into cancer, according to studies from the American Health Foundation (AHF) in Valhalla, N.Y., a nonprofit research group that works to prevent cancer and other deadly diseases.