“The easiest, least-expensive way to reduce your risk for cancer is just by eating a healthy diet,” says Rachael Stolzenberg-Solomon, PhD, MPH, RD, a researcher at the National Cancer Institute.
There are many foods that help fight cancer. Here are the top 5 in my research files:

1. Broccoli (and other cruciferous vegetables). Broccoli is a great food and is part of a class of foods called cruciferous vegetables, so that the others in this class are excellent as well, including kale, radish, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, sauerkraut, bok choy and others. A chemical which occurs naturally in cruciferous vegetables boosts the activity of two genes that detect and repair damaged DNA.1 A Finnish study completed in 2002 found the fermentation process that turns cabbage into sauerkraut breaks down the cancer-fighting chemicals in cabbage into simpler substances, which are even easier for the body to use.
2. Pau d’arco is a canopy from the Amazon rainforest that has considerable cancer-fighting qualities. “The phytochemical database housed at the U.S. Department of Agriculture has documented lapachol as being antiabscess, anticarcinomic, antiedemic, anti-inflammatory, antimalarial, antiseptic, antitumorous, antiviral, bactericidal, fungicidal, insectifugal, pesticidal, protisticidal, respiratory depressant, schistosomicidal, termiticidal, and viricidal.”3
3. Grape seed. “Studies have found that grape seed extracts may prevent the growth of breast, stomach, colon, prostate, and lung cancer cells in the laboratory…Free radicals are believed to contribute to the aging process as well as the development of a number of health problems, including heart disease and cancer. Antioxidants found in grape seeds can neutralize free radicals and may reduce or even help prevent some of the damage they cause.”4
4. Green Tea. Green tea’s ability to fight cancer is even more potent and varied than scientists suspected, say researchers who have discovered that chemicals in green tea shut down one of the key molecules that tobacco relies upon to cause cancer. It’s a find that could help explain why people who drink green tea are less likely to develop cancer. The finding by scientists at the University of Rochester’s Environmental Health Science Center appear[ed[ in the July 21 issue of Chemical Research in Toxicology, published by the American Chemical Society.”5
5. Curcumin. This is a spice that has been known in India for thousands of years and plays an important role in their Ayurvedic healing system. Experts credit curcumin’s anti-inflammatory effects for its ability to fight cancer. “Most diseases are caused by chronic inflammation that persists over long periods of time,” says Bharat B. Aggarwal, PhD, a biochemist at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Recent studies have shown curcumin to interfere with cell-signaling pathways, thereby suppressing the transformation, proliferation, and invasion of cancerous cells.6