According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), about 1,334,100 people will die from cancer in the United States in 2003, and an estimated one-third of these deaths are due to dietary factors. (Another third can be attributed to cigarette smoking.) It is only natural, then, that the American Cancer Society would publish its own set of nutritional guidelines. If behavioral factors like diet have a significant influence on cancer risk, that’s good news! Behavioral factors, unlike genetic factors, are largely within our control. A healthy diet, coupled with physical activity and other lifestyle changes, can go a long way toward reducing cancer risk.
Not surprisingly, the ACS’s dietary guidelines are also in line with the traditional Mediterranean diet. They include a high proportion of plant foods in the diet, limited consump tion of high-fat foods, and a sensible balance of caloric intake and physical activity. The specific ACS dietary guidelines, as formulated by the ACS Advisory Committee on Diet, Nutrition, and Cancer Prevention in 1996 (and reaf firmed by the ACS Advisory Group on Diet, Physical Activity, and Cancer in 1998), are as follows:
1. Choose most of the foods you eat from plant sources.
•�Eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day.
•�Eat other foods from plant sources, such as breads, cereals, grain products, rice, pasta, or beans several times each day.
2. Limit your intake of high-fat foods, particularly from animal sources.
•�Choose foods low in fat.
•�Limit consumption of meats, especially high-fat meats.
3. Be physically active: Achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
•�Be at least moderately active for thirty minutes or more on most days of the week.
•�Stay within your healthy weight range.
4. Limit consumption of alcoholic beverages, if you drink at all.
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