Eschewing animal products isn’t only good for the planet, it improves your odds of living a long and healthy life!
At present, 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women in the United States will develop cancer in their lifetimes. Furthermore, the number of cancer cases is expected to double by the year 2050. Obviously, this news is distressing. However, there is hope, and the solution could be as simple as eating more unprocessed plant-based foods.
According to a study conducted in 2005, scientists have learned that blood taken from vegans is 8 times more effective at killing cancer cells than blood taken from those following a Standard American Diet.
A series of experiments helped unearth these findings. Collective Evolution relays that test subjects were assigned opposing diets which they maintained for over a year. After participants’ blood was taken, it was pitted against cancer cells in a petri dish. The ultimate goal was to determine which diet resulted in blood that was more effective at suppressing cancer growth in the prostate.
The study states:
“Experimental group patients were prescribed an intensive lifestyle program that included a vegan diet supplemented with soy (1 daily serving of tofu plus 58 gm of a fortified soy protein powdered beverage), fish oil (3 gm daily), vitamin E (400 IU daily), selenium (200 mcg daily) and vitamin C (2 gm daily), moderate aerobic exercise (walking 30 minutes 6 days weekly), stress management techniques (gentle yoga based stretching, breathing, meditation, imagery and progressive relaxation for a total of 60 minutes daily) and participation in a 1-hour support group once weekly to enhance adherence to the intervention.10 The diet was predominantly fruits, vege- tables, whole grains (complex carbohydrates), legumes and soy products, low in simple carbohydrates and with approx- imately 10% of calories from fat.11 The diet is intensive but palatable and practical. In earlier studies most patients were able to adhere to this diet for at least 5 years.”
The blood belonging to vegan eaters had nearly eight times the stopping power when it comes to cancer cell growth. It is important to note that participants on the plant-based diet also partook in stress management groups, yoga, and other techniques to show how lifestyle choices affect cancer.
Credit: MatadorNetwork.com
Subsequent studies against breast cancer revealed the power of eating plants for just two weeks. After just 14 days, a dramatic strengthening of cancer defenses was shown from eating a plant-based diet and engaging in light exercise (walking between 30 to 60 minutes a day).
Samples of blood were taken from women with breast cancer, and then the women were asked to spend 14 days on a plant-based diet and perform 30-60 minutes of light exercise daily. After 14 days their blood was taken again and found to significantly slow down the growth of cancer, as well as increase the blood’s ability to kill cancer cells.
However, because scientists wanted to determine how much effect the exercise component had in suppressing cancer growth, or whether the plant-based diet was solely responsible for the boost in defense, a separate experiment was conducted. The results found that exercise helps suppress cancer growth, but a plant-based diet alone has twice as much power to kill cancer cells.
Clearly, lifestyle changes can have a huge impact on one’s long-term health and quality of life. And, having blood that’s more inhospitable to cancer growth is just one major health advantage of consuming a vegan diet. Other benefits include reducing carbon output and saving hundreds of animals’ lives each year.
What are your thoughts? Please comment below and share this news!
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I have read studies on the alkaline vs acidic diet. Basically you go on an alkaline diet and it changes the ph of your body. Cancer cells thrive in high acidic environment and need acid to reproduce. So if you chock you body, remove acids from your diet and consume alkaline water you will also kill off cells. I think this concept is similar to the vegetarian diet we see here.
But cancer is just all over the place. Honestly I know chain smoking boozers who are in their 60’s still rolling along outworking most teenagers, never had cancer or any major health problems. I know gluten free hipsters, who lived the healthiest lifestyles of anyone I know get cancer in their 30’s. So I honestly do not think it is as cut and dry as eat healthy, you wont get cancer. I do not think anyone can predict cancer or how people get it.
The alkaline thing is an old misconception. Your blood doesn’t go alkaline or acid because of what you eat. That’s what homoeostasis is all about.
What the old original study stated was that, a cancer creates a locally basic environment. It was more a rudimentary way to detect cancer than anything else. First you get cancer and only then the area around the cancer may turn acidic, not the other way around.
If the PH of your blood changed as much as the alkaline diet people claim it does, you’d die before you can say the word cancer.
Cancer depends on three things: Environment (ionizing radiation, carcinogens…), genetic predisposition or (in some proven cases) a virus.
Sure, meat is bad for you, but the increase of probability it ads is negligible. The last WHO report on red meat and cancer was completely misunderstood. People thought it increased your chances of getting cancer TO 7%. In reality what the study said was that in increases your current chances BY 7%. If your chances of getting cancer were 50%, then if you ate red meat, your chances would increase to 53,5%. It’s not like you were safe from cancer in the first place.
Hey there this is bacteria growing on blood agar shown in the video and not ex vivo proliferation assay! Do not think we are stupid!
Fish oil is not part of a vegan diet
That’s true, Mary. Fish oil is not vegan. They should have used Flax Oil or some other vegan source for the Omega 3’s. There are problems with their study and if they approve my other comment you can read my opinion. There may very well be something to all of it and it definitely needs further investigation.
‘In the title ‘vegetarian’ has to be replaced by ‘VEGAN’…!
Was the S.A.D. group also given the lifestyle changes described above? If not, how can you say diet alone is the causative factor in effectiveness of the samples against cancer? Both groups, Vegan and S.A.D. would need have been given the same lifestyle changes in order to attribute the anti-cancer activity of the blood to diet. If you didn’t do that, your study is inherently flawed.
There are problems with meat consumption in terms of risk of cardiovascular health and diabetes and possible increased risk of cancer. The China Study is the source for much of that data, and it’s good data. No study has, however, pointed to WHAT COMPONENT of meat is the culprit for causing increased health risk. We need studies comparing high fat organic vs conventionally raised high fat meats and studies comparing lean, wild meats to store bought meats. Studies between different species of meat. Studies comparing lean organic vs conventionally raised lean meat. My suspicion is that the bad part of meat likely lies in the fat, either in form of the fat itself or toxins stored in the fat. If that’s the case, then different types of meats and growing methods will play a role in the outcome of health. It would be good for consumers to know, specifically, what types of meats are the best and recommended daily quantities rather than a blanket condemnation of all meat.
What is the study that removed exercise as a confounding factor…?