As many prepare to fire up the grill this Memorial Day weekend, experts from The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) are offering tips on healthy summer nutrition habits and cooking methods that can be an important part of cancer prevention. CINJ is a Center of Excellence of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
Nutrition and Cancer Prevention:
According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), one-third of all cancer deaths in the United States each year are linked to aspects of poor diet and lack of physical activity, including being overweight or obese. Therefore, it is important to maintain a healthy and physically-active lifestyle to be cancer preventative. What you eat during summer cookout season is part of that.
It also is important to understand how to minimize potential carcinogens that might form during grilling and other forms of cooking.
CINJ experts available for comment include:
Elisa Bandera, MD, PhD, an epidemiologist at CINJ and an associate professor of epidemiology at both UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and UMDNJ-School of Public Health, is a leading researcher in diet and cancer prevention and can speak on the links between nutrition and cancer. Dr. Bandera was a member of the ACS 2012 Committee on Nutrition and Physical Activity Guidelines for Cancer Prevention, which developed the Nutrition and Physical Activity Guidelines for Cancer Prevention.
"Weight control, physical activity, and diet are among the most important components of cancer prevention. If people realize that by simply altering their eating habits and adopting a more physically active lifestyle they can lower their risk of cancer, many lives can be spared," said Bandera, who was also involved in the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) Second Report on Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer (www.wcrf.org).
Kristin Waldron, RD, is a registered dietitian at CINJ who is able to comment on the importance of nutrition while dealing with cancer. She works with cancer patients on developing a proper diet to complement their treatment regimen to help avoid common side effects such as nausea. She also works with patients who have completed treatment to develop a diet that would help prevent a recurrence of cancer. Waldron also can discuss the role nutrition plays in the overall prevention of cancer.
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