e. While studies on the coffee/cancer connection are not conclusive, there is some evidence that both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee are mutagenic. Try to eat organically grown produce. Pesticide residues on common foods may cause 20,000 cancers a year, according to a 1987 National Academy of Sciences report. Children are particularly susceptible. Maintain an appropriate weight for your height and build. Through mechanisms not yet fully understood, overweight people have higher rates of certain cancers. Even though the above listed diet is beneficial for all types of cancer, specific cancers require specific diets. Almost one in seven American women will get breast cancer. These are frightening statistics, but it turns out that there is quite a lot we can do to keep this common cancer at bay. The cabbage family including broccoli, cauliflower, kale and collardsis are rich in an array of anti-cancer phytochemicals. Some of them, called indoles prompt the body to make benign forms of estrogen that don't promote breast cancer. Soy foods, such as tofu and miso, also appear to be helpful against breast cancer through a variety of mechanisms. Study after study has demonstrated that women eating high-soy diets have lower rates of this disease. Soy is high in a phytochemical called genistein, which has enough biochemical similarity to estrogen that it can slip, like a key into a keyhole, into estrogen receptors in the breast, locking out the "bad" estrogen. Since most types of breast cancer cells are stimulated by estrogen, a diet that includes soy is a good idea for most women. Citrus fruits may be yet another protector against breast cancer. In an animal trial, limonene, a phytochemical found in citrus fruits, effectively warded off breast cancer. Skin cancer is the most common kind of cancer. Fortunately, most forms of it are usually not deadly. However, the rates of a highly virulent form, malignant melanoma, are rising alarmingl...
