Eating onions, garlic and leeks regularly could reduce the risk of developing colon cancer, an extremely common disease in France.
While colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in France, researchers have discovered foods capable of reducing the risk of its development. According to their study published this month in the journal Asia-Pacific Journal of Clinical Oncology, garlic, onion and leek would be preferred.
Onions, garlic and leeks
To reach these conclusions, Doctor Zhi Li and his colleagues from the First Hospital of China Medical University studied 833 patients suffering from this disease and as many healthy people. After dividing them by sex, age and place of residence, they periodically asked them about their eating habits and the frequency of their meals. They discovered that adults who ate a lot of onions, garlic and leeks had a 79% lower risk of developing colon cancer than others.
“It is worth noting that in our study, a trend emerged: the more the participants ate vegetables from the Allium family, the more they were protected (…). The research results shed light on a cancer treatment of the colon by a change in lifestyle and deserve additional research”, concludes Zhi Li.
Third most common cancer in France
In July, researchers had already made an astonishing discovery concerning colorectal cancer: drinking sodas with sweeteners would be associated with a better vital prognosis. “Higher consumption of artificially sweetened beverages may be associated with a significant reduction in cancer recurrence and death in patients with stage III colon cancer (…). For patients with colon cancer, and who find it difficult to quit drinking sugary drinks, choosing sweeteners could save them the negative effects of sugary drinks”, wrote the researchers in particular.
Colon cancer, a tumor that develops from the cells that line the inner lining of the colon and rectum, is extremely common in the West. In France, it ranks third among the most common cancers, all sexes combined, and occurs mostly in people aged 50 and over.
Several treatments can be proposed
Depending on the stage of the cancer, several treatments can be offered: surgery alone in the event of a very localized lesion, surgical treatment with lymph node dissection and adjuvant chemotherapy when the disease has reached the lymph nodes, and surgery of the colon and metastasized organs in the case of of metastases. The latter may be followed or preceded by chemotherapy or even targeted therapy.
But fortunately, colon cancer mortality has been steadily decreasing since 1990, in particular thanks to better access to screening (colorectal cancer being asymptomatic, it is important to be screened every two years from the age of fifty). According to the latest figures from the National Cancer Institute (INCA), it decreased by 1.5% per year on average in men and by 1.1% per year on average in women between 2005 and 2012.
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