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A comment on Helpless to Prevent Cancer? Actually, Quite a Bit Is in Your Control. Parent comment

Re:Helpless to Prevent Cancer? Actually, Quite a Bit Is in Y... by rsync on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @11:30AM (#12043709)
"My conclusion was that cancer is best prevented by removing negatives from life, not necessarily adding positives."

I'm also skeptical that adding foods/vitamins/supplements will prevent cancer.

However, there is one area that adding things seems to be very beneficial, and that is adding things that promote regular bowel movements.

There have been studies of heavy coffee drinkers and their reduced risks of colon cancer. Everyone is looking for some mysterious phenol or antioxidant from the coffee as a magic elixir, but I think it should be obvious that coffee as a laxative is the agent here.

There's also the age-old rule of thumb: an apple a day keeps the doctor away. It's not the apple, it's the fiber.

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Re:Helpless to Prevent Cancer? Actually, Quite a Bit Is in Y... by gmarx on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @11:48AM (#12043835)
When I was young the idea that high fiber reduces colon cancer risk was very high profile and based on pretty stupid studies. Later when more rigorous studies failed to find an association, no one noticed. It's like antioxidants and a host of other "eat this and you'll live forever" studies/stories.

Regular bowel movements are their own reward!

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Re:Helpless to Prevent Cancer? Actually, Quite a Bit Is in Y... by MicroBerto on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @11:42AM (#12043804)
That's a great point. Thanks!
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