Asparagus and Cancer

Asparagus and cancer treatment is not widely talked of but there are some suggestions out there worth investigating further. A variety of supposed "super-foods" have been linked to having amazing cancer reducing or curing properties. These are pretty unfounded on the whole although some foods have been found to have specific propeties that help reduce the incidence of and even slow the growth of specific types of cancer. Broccoli and tomoatoes seem to be mentioned particularly widely.

Asparagus is good for you whether you be fit and healthy or struggling with any disease or health complaint that requires fruit and vegetables full of nutrients and vitamins, however there is a specific hoax around suggesting that asparagus is a cure for cancer. Do not be taken in.

Lets start with the positive aspects and look at the hoax around asparagus and cancer afterwards:

5 a Day Fruit and Veg

You hardly need me to tell you that asparagus is an excellent source of one of your 5 a day fruit and veg. Asparagus is highly nutritious But how important is your 5 a day?

For the past 20 years or so a link has been made with eating a diet containing a high proportion of fruit and vegetables and the likelyhood of contracting cancer (and many other chronic diseases). This resulted in the highly publicised 5 a day campaign which is still widely promoted.

In 2010 a report came out and was picked up on by the press suggesting that the link between eating our 5 a day and cancer prevention was not all it was made out to be. When you read more widely than the papers though you can only conclude that eating plenty of fruit and vegetables must be a healthy option. This cancer research UK article seems to provide a fairly balanced opinion

The difficulty of these studies is how they separate out other lifestyle choices from the "eating fruit and veg" factors. Without reading or understanding a mass of opionions and data it is clear that whilst they vary in how MUCH they thing the effect is pretty much everyone agrees that eating more fruit and veg has a positive effect on health.

Yes it may be that those who think about eating their 5 a day are also more likley to make other healthy lifstyle choices (e.g. not smoking or drinking heavily and taking plenty of exercise) but surely it is the combination of these choices that gives us the best chance of reamining fit and healthy.

Me, I'm going to carry on trying to eat my 5 a Day. One of them will be Asparagus cooked in different ways when I can. About 5 - 7 Asparagus spears will provide one of your 5 a Day servings.

If I was unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with cancer from the reading I have done so far I would certainly dig a bit deeper into which vegetables MIGHT help with my particular condition, but so far I would have no great expectation that asparagus would be at the top of the list!

Asparagus Cancer Cure - afraid not...

If you search the web you will find various references to an email circulated around 2008 by a biochemist suggesting that he had collected medical case histories for the cure of cancer using asparagus.

The claim seems to be unsubstantiated and the alleged cancer expert “Richard R. Vensal, D.D.S.” quoted in the email has not been tracked down. The article suggested a link between asparagus and cancer claiming that eating the vegetable may prevent and/or cure the disease.

Why anyone would send out this kind of email beats me....I suggest you enjoy eating asparagus because it tastes nice and is generally healthy.

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