Colors That Cut Your Cancer Risk: Foods of the Rainbow

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A diet rich in colorful vegetables and fruits is one of the best ways to prevent cancer. Plants are loaded with pigments that give them their colorful hue, indicating their antioxidant content. Antioxidants helps boosts the immunity and fights off disease including cancer.

Green

Vegetables and fruits including broccoli, cabbage, turnips, kale, cauliflower, collards, asparagus, mustard greens, fresh herbs, green apples, zucchini, spinach, turnip greens and Brussels sprouts contain either antioxidants known as flavones and indoles, which is known to help in cancer prevention.

It also contain high amounts of chlorophyll that helps prevent acidity in the body. Green peas, soybeans and green beans are also rich in antioxidants that help support immune health even further.

Red and Orange

Fruits such as tomatoes, watermelon, papaya, red peppers, grapefruit and guava contain lycopene that helps reduce the risks for heart disease and prostate cancer. Lycopene has also been proven to lower high cholesterol that leads to increased fat cells, that stimulate cancer cell growth.

Red, Blue and Purple

Purple and blue foods such as figs, berries, beets, grapes, pomegranates, plums and raisins contain high levels of antioxidants known as polyphenols and anthocyanins that protect the heart and helps prevent heart disease. It has been linked to the prevention of certain types of cancers.

Yellow and Orange

Vegetables and fruits like squash, pumpkin, yellow, peaches, orange bell peppers, cantaloupe, lemons, sweet potatoes, papaya, grapefruit and apricots contain high levels of vitamin C for immune health and beta-carotene, a nutrient derived from the carotenoids found in these plants that give them their colorful hue. Research have shown that women who consumed carotenoid-rich vegetables reduce their breast cancer risk by at least 19%.

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White, Tan and Brown

White vegetables are rich in antioxidants known as phytochemicals like allicin for onions and garlic, beans and legumes which contain fiber to help reduce cholesterol and obesity, quercetin for onions and apples, selenium for mushrooms, vitamin C for apples, onions and parsnips. This also includesa variety of minerals and vitamins that support the immune system such as white nectarines, banana flesh, white peaches, artichokes, cauliflower and potatoes.

Selenium is considred to be one of the most important mineral for mens’ prostate health while onions and garlic as the top foods to boost the immune system and helps fight cancer cell growth.

Neutral-Color

These include garlic, mushrooms, shallots, onions and chives that belong to the onion family. This food group also belongs to the allium vegetable category.

Think mushrooms, garlic, onions, shallots and chives (which belong to the onion family). This group of foods belongs to the allium vegetable category. Allicin, the active compound in garlic, contains antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. Allicin is released when garlic is chewed, chopped or crushed.

The polyphenols present in onions have anti-cancer effects on colon cancer cell lines. Onions also have natural cancer fighters such as anthocyanin, apigenin, quercetin and myricetin. Women who frequently eat these foods were found to have lower rates of ovarian cancer. Mushrooms on the other hand, have high vitamin D content, which also helps reduce ovarian cancer risk. You can add these neutral-colored foods into your diet at least once per day.

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