WITH the advent of increased cancer cases in the country, health professionals are advocating a national campaign that promotes the consumption of natural foods to prevent the disease.
“As we aim to be more industrialised, let’s be cautiousornot to spoil our indigenous foods that contain natural substances, some of which have shown to reduce certain cancer risks,” he cited.
Dr Tungaraza said that contrary to many people’s perception, manufactured or processed foods or vitamins can’t replace the God given foods. Expounding on foods that reduce certain cancer risks, he said that there are many foods that are said to contain compounds with anti-cancer properties and that each compound has specific advantages and responds or acts specifically too.
“And hence, one has to look at each compound separately and so does the cancer. Cancer is a group of diseases and so these foods or compounds will act differently from cancer to cancer and also from one individual to another. Though there is info on these foods, the scientific evidence in many cases is not overwhelming strong,” he lamented. A 2014 report released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) forecasted that by 2035, an incredible 24 million people will be diagnosed with cancer globally.
These numbers reflect the need for a complete overhaul of the approach to cancer. Despite being overlooked for decades, volumes of scientific evidence prove that diet and nutrition play a leading role in cancer development. Only in recent years have mainstream physicians and health groups begun to recognise the importance of our lifestyle choices, when it comes to preventing and reversing cancer. Even the WHO report recommends a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains as a powerful way to help stave off this disease.
Dr Heri explained that once one has been diagnosed, these foods on their own cannot stop cancer but they help the body fight the disease, rejuvenate the body’s immune system and general condition which will in the end help decrease the burden of the disease. “Of course, the right foods will also reduce the side effects of the disease, so my advice is that these foods that seem to contain anti- cancer properties should be given as a supplement to the conventional treatments and each cancer and individualcharacteristic should be taken into consideration, there is no magic bullet,” he said.
Concurring to the issue of not depending on specific anti-cancer food, a research officer at the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre (TFNC), Mr Sikitu Simon said that people need to consume healthy diet which is nutritionally balanced from the five food groups which are cereals, roots, tuber, foods of animal origin and pulses, vegetables, fruits and fats and oil in moderation. “Our campaign should focus on healthy eating (a diversified diet comprising of all five food groups).
Promotion of one food or specific foods is counterproductive because a human body needs over 40 nutrients. One or two nutrients alone cannot bring food nutrition in patients with cancer,” he explained.
Mr Simon said that families with sick individuals need to provide nutritional care and support to them. Supplying them with balanced diet, modifying diets so that a patient can easily eat, chew and swallow the food, tackling loss of appetite by using foods with fewer spices and those suggested by the patients themsel
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