Cancer is a condition where cells in a specific part of the body grow and reproduce uncontrollably. The cancerous cells can invade and destroy surrounding healthy tissue, including organs. There is no currently no cure for cancer, only interventions that can halt its spread and reduce the risk of it coming back.

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An encouraging body of research shows that making healthy dietary decisions can reduce your risk of developing it in the first place, however.

Regularly eating nuts, for example, has been linked to a lower risk of bowel cancer, one of the most common types of cancer diagnosed in the UK is bowel cancer, reported Sophie Medlin, consultant dietitian and founder of City Dietitians.

The study, published in the Nutrition Journal, monitored 923 colorectal cancer (bowel cancer) patients and 1846 controls (placebo group) recruited from the National Cancer Center in Korea.

Information on dietary intake was collected using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire with 106 items, including peanuts, pine nuts, and almonds (as one food item).

Nut consumption was categorised as none, one serving per week, one to three servings per week, and three servings per week.

After a comparative analysis, the researchers found a statistically significant association between high frequency of nut consumption and reduced risk of colorectal cancer.

What’s more, this association was observed for all sub-sites of the colon and rectum among both men and women, with the exception of proximal colon cancer for women.

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Bolstering the anti-cancer properties of nuts, another study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, found that people with stage III colon cancer who regularly ate nuts were at significantly lower risk of cancer recurrence and mortality than those who didn’t.

According to Cancer Research UK, stage three cancer usually means the cancer is larger.

It may have started to spread into surrounding tissues and there are cancer cells in the lymph nodes.

Nuts are not the only foods that have shown promise in reducing cancer risk.

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Research also shows that the more fruit and veg we eat, the lower our risk of cancer is overall, said Medlin.

“Fruit and vegetables contain fibre, vitamins, antioxidants and other phytochemicals which all support our bodies in maintaining healthy cell function,” she explained.

Despite less favourable coverage, dairy products are actually shown to decrease the risk of some cancers, noted Medlin.

Research shows that there is less risk of colorectal cancer with the consumption of dairy foods and lower overall cancer risk.

However, there is some evidence that high fat dairy may increase prostate cancer risk, she warned.

Furthermore, eating pulses like beans, peas and lentils is associated with a lower risk of all cancers, reported Medlin.

“This may be because they are often used in place of some of the meat in our diet,” she suggested.

Finally, wholegrains, including brown bread and rice and oats and quinoa are associated with a lower risk of cancer overall, she said.

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