Eating a vegetarian diet was associated with a lower risk of colorectal cancers compared with nonvegetarians in a study of Seventh-Day Adventist men and women, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Although great attention has been paid to screening, primary prevention through lowering risk factors remains an important objective. Dietary factors have been identified as a modifiable risk factor for colorectal cancer, including red meat which is linked to increased risk and food rich in dietary fiber which is linked to reduced risk, according to the study background.

Among 77,659 study participants, Michael J. Orlich, M.D., Ph.D., of Loma Linda University, California, and coauthors identified 380 cases of colon cancer and 110 cases of rectal cancer. Compared with nonvegetarians, vegetarians had a 22 percent lower risk for all colorectal cancers, 19 percent lower risk for colon cancer and 29 percent lower risk for rectal cancer. Compared with nonvegetarians, vegans had a 16 percent lower risk of colorectal cancer, 18 percent less for lacto-ovo (eat milk and eggs) vegetarians, 43 percent less in pescovegetarians (eat fish) and 8 percent less in semivegetarians, according to study results.

"If such associations are causal, they may be important for primary prevention of colorectal cancers. The evidence that vegetarian diets similar to those of our study participants may be associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer, along with prior evidence of the potential reduced risk of obesity, hypertension, diabetes and mortality, should be considered carefully in making dietary choices and in giving dietary guidance," the study concludes.

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The above story is based on materials provided by The JAMA Network Journals. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Vegetarian diet linked to lower risk of colorectal cancers

21 February 2015 | Food | By: Sejal Sukhadwala

In this series,we review restaurants from an entirely vegetarian angle. While some restaurants will be specifically vegetarian, others will be mainstream. Well be tasting everything from veggie burgers, to posh meat-free menus. Along the way, well try to find out, as far as possible, whether chicken stock, cheese made from animal rennet, gelatine, fish sauce and so on are not lurking in the supposedly vegetarian dishes.

Nipa Thai interior

Londonist Rating:

Many years before Smoking Goatand Som Saawere whipping Londoners into a frenzy, this 19-year old restaurant,located on the first floor of the Lancaster London,was one of a tiny number of excellent places to eat Thai in the capital. Of course, this was back in the day when Thai was having its moment, just like Korean is now but without a cult dish like kimchee for food bloggers to fetishise over and Instagram endlessly for posterity.

Nipa is where the Thai embassy staff dined, distinguished Thai functions were held, and the Thai government launched Thai Select a scheme that gives approval to authentic Thai restaurants that uphold high culinary standards. (To be honest though, the award isnt, as far as we can tell, particularly consistent, meaningful or influential.) Then the restaurant closed for refurbishment for several weeks last summer, officially re-opening in November 2014.

At a first glance, not much seems to have changed. It still rocks a corporate-chic look of teak wall panels, airport-lounge patterned carpets, and sombre Thai carvings and ornaments. A coveted dining area on a raised platform by the window still overlooks the Italian Gardens in Hyde Park. Livening up the sedate interior are artworks depicting Thai Buddha, gold wallpaper, silk fabrics and oriental-design glass lamps. The ceiling and walls are different, now decorated with striking carved teak lotus motifs. There are new, somewhat cumbersome black granite dining tables and cream silk chairs. Like the adjoining hotel lobby bar where we kicked off the evening with a drink, it looks far from trendy or welcoming. So its just as well, then, that the food is worth travelling for.

Shredded papaya salad with long beans, cherry tomatoes and peanuts

Sanguan Parr, whos been working here in different roles for the past 16 years, is now the head chef. Her kitchens had a complete re-fit, and she has an all-female brigade (unusual for any restaurant kitchen, let alone a Thai one). Parr has made only a few changes to the menu, which includes classics from northern Thailand and specialities from the central region. Curiously, in the vegetarian section, theres little distinction in prices (or portion sizes) between starters, mains and side dishes, all of which uniformly cost between 10-12.

Som tam shredded green papaya salad with long beans, cherry tomatoes and chopped peanuts almost knocks us sideways with its pervasive fieriness. Its a vivacious, refreshing dish, with enough tang and sweetness to balance the chilli heat. Larb hed little sliced button mushrooms with chillies, shallots, Thai parsley, fresh mint and lettuce is just as distinctive, but with a mellower bright, verdant flavour. Little spring rolls with glass noodles, cabbage and mushrooms are fairly standard though, and the accompanying dipping sauce (probably from a bottle) didnt set our pulses racing like the other two curtain-raisers.

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Vegetarian London: Nipa Thai Restaurant Review

A vegetarian diet might cut your risk of colorectal cancer by 20 percent, a new study finds.

For fish-eating vegetarians, the protective link was even stronger, researchers said.

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Screening efforts, including colonoscopy, have helped save many lives by detecting precancerous polyps, said the study's lead researcher, Dr. Michael Orlich.

"However, it is even better to prevent cancers from forming in the first place. We call this primary prevention," said Orlich, who is an assistant professor of preventive medicine at Loma Linda University in California. "Diet is a potentially important approach to reduce the risk of developing colorectal cancer."

The new study, which involved more than 77,000 adults, found that people consuming healthy vegetarian diets may have a lower risk of colon and rectal cancers than non-vegetarians, Orlich said.

"Our vegetarians not only ate less meat than the non-vegetarians, but also less sweets, snack foods, refined grains and caloric beverages," he said. And they ate more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans and nuts, he added.

Prior evidence has linked eating red and processed meats to a higher risk of colorectal cancer, and consuming fiber-rich foods to a lower risk, Orlich said.

Nevertheless, Dr. Alfred Neugut, professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City, said no one has identified with certainty why a vegetarian diet would reduce the risk for colon cancer.

It's not known whether there is something in vegetables that is protective or whether something in meat is harmful, he said.

Dietary studies can only show an association between cancer and diet, not a cause-and-effect relationship, Neugut said. "That's the problem in dietary studies of cancer. We don't know exactly what the connection is," he said.

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Changing your diet can lower risk of colon cancer

Benefits greatest for fish eaters, researchers say

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, March 9, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- A vegetarian diet might cut your risk of colorectal cancer by 20 percent, a new study finds.

For fish-eating vegetarians, the protective link was even stronger, researchers said.

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Screening efforts, including colonoscopy, have helped save many lives by detecting precancerous polyps, said the study's lead researcher, Dr. Michael Orlich.

"However, it is even better to prevent cancers from forming in the first place. We call this primary prevention," said Orlich, who is an assistant professor of preventive medicine at Loma Linda University in California. "Diet is a potentially important approach to reduce the risk of developing colorectal cancer."

The new study, which involved more than 77,000 adults, found that people consuming healthy vegetarian diets may have a lower risk of colon and rectal cancers than non-vegetarians, Orlich said.

"Our vegetarians not only ate less meat than the non-vegetarians, but also less sweets, snack foods, refined grains and caloric beverages," he said. And they ate more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans and nuts, he added.

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Vegetarian Diet May Lower Colon Cancer Risk, Study Suggests

14 February 2015 | Food | By: Sejal Sukhadwala

In this series,we review restaurants from an entirely vegetarian angle. While some restaurants will be specifically vegetarian, others will be mainstream. Well be tasting everything from veggie burgers, to posh meat-free menus. Along the way, well try to find out, as far as possible, whether chicken stock, cheese made from animal rennet, gelatine, fish sauce and so on are not lurking in the supposedly vegetarian dishes.

Londonist Rating:

So weve cooked our way through Ottolenghi books in recent years, swooned over the vibrant global flavours magicked by veggie-friendly recipe writers like Marlene Spieler, Louise Pickford and Jane Baxter, and have been dazzled by the genius of Vanilla Black.Is it time for a post-modernist revival of wholesome, wholegrain retro veggie food? Could nut cutlets now become trendy? And what would, say, Cranks and Country Life restaurants be like if they were to open today? These are some of the choice morsels we chewed over during our lunch at this stylish little vegetarian caf in Fitzrovia.

Kin presumably the name refers to Peter and Charlie Meadows, the father and son duo who own the place quietly opened early last summer without fuss or fanfare. Tucked away in a side street behind Goodge Street station, past dozens of more look-at-me restaurants, its a small, unassuming daytime-only caf. The cool, minimalist grey-and-cream interior has a counter at the front on which the food is attractively displayed. You have to queue and pay upfront; staff then heat up the dishes and bring them over.

The daily-changing menu (announced on their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages) included, on our visit, frittata and burgers with a choice of three salads, leek and potato soup, mixed bean and sweet potato stew, sandwiches, cakes and pastries. A wedge of yellow pepper frittata topped with goats milk brie and sunflower seed sprouts is deliciously savoury and we could happily eat it all day but were disappointed by the inclusion of out-of-season asparagus. Chunky, garnet-coloured beetroot and buckwheat burger, prettily presented on a crinkled savoy cabbage leaf and topped with sliced onions, tomatoes and cucumber, is substantial yet miraculously light and un-stodgy. It has a pleasantly nutty taste and somewhat chewy texture, made silky and slippery by the addition of sliced mushrooms. See, we told you it was old-school: what are frittata and burgers but quiche and nut cutlets in contemporary guises?

Bright rainbow-hued salads are simply beautiful. Theres chunky purple potato with red baby lettuce leaves, green beans and cherry tomatoes with rocket pesto, and spinach, chickpea, celery and cucumber with avocado dressing. (The potato and chickpeas need slightly longer cooking time though.) Theres also grated carrot, beetroot, courgette and sunflower seed salad simply coated in lemon juice and olive oil. You can barely taste any of the dressings, but on the other hand their understated use makes the salads sprightly rather than soggy.

Like in many vegetarian and healthy eating-type places, everything is under-seasoned and tastes austere and virtuous. There are no big flavours, but the food is big-hearted. The ingredients are sparklingly fresh and of high quality, sourced from environmentally-friendly, sustainable companies with a social conscience. Dishes are unpretentious and prepared with a lot of care, attention and an eye for visual appeal. Almost everything is cooked on-site, except for some of the cakes and pastries from Manna Bakery because we dont have a gluten-free kitchen, explained a member of staff. Vegan and gluten-free dishes are clearly marked. A hefty but fluffy wedge of polenta, orange and almond cake gluten-free, as it happens is moist, crumbly and moreish. Topped with glazed almond flakes, it has a good, strong marmalade-y taste that we think comes from whole stewed oranges.

Theyre serious about their coffee, too; though we opted for freshly pressed broccoli, kale, apple and celery juice. Served in a small, reusable glass milk bottle with a straw, it packed a (healthy) punch with its distinctive vegetal, mineral flavour. Staff are sweet-natured one is particularly chirpy and gregarious but service can be a little shaky when its busy. We paid around 20-25 including drinks and tip, but you can easily eat here for less than a tenner. Nut cutlets may never make a comeback, but beetroot and buckwheat burgers are here to stay. Yes, were keen on Kin.

Kin,22 Foley Street, W1W 6DT. Tel: 020 7998 4720.

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Vegetarian London: Kin Caf Review

3 March 2015 | Food | By: Sejal Sukhadwala

In this series,we review restaurants from an entirely vegetarian angle. While some restaurants will be specifically vegetarian, others will be mainstream. Well be tasting everything from veggie burgers, to posh meat-free menus. Along the way, well try to find out, as far as possible, whether chicken stock, cheese made from animal rennet, gelatine, fish sauce and so on are not lurking in the supposedly vegetarian dishes.

Dishoom Kings Cross ground floor entrance

Londonist Rating:

Dishoom burst into Londoners consciousness around five years ago like a well, dishoom. The word means pow! in Bollywood-speak, the sound effect made when heroes and villains throw punches at each other. So dishoom-dishoom films are action movies beloved of everyone from excitable kids to elderly unclejis (and in London, trendy film studies students). What an old movie genre thats a throwback to the 1970s has in common with a completely unrelated restaurant concept, we dont know except that the first four letters of the word are found in both.

The much-loved Dishoom brand (it was voted Yelps UKs best restaurant earlier this year) is a widely-publicised homage to the Irani cafs set up by Zoroastrian Iranian immigrants in the early 20th century in what was then called Bombay. (Dishoom is all about the pre-Independence Bombay; not modern-day Mumbai). Hugely popular between the 1920s and 1960s, these quaint all-day brasseries were clean, affordable places that welcomed all regardless of caste, class, wealth or religious beliefs. So students, taxi drivers, servants and beggars could be found eating alongside upcoming writers, struggling film stars and wealthy memsahibs highly unusual in India at the time. They were furnished with colonial-style bentwood chairs and marble-top tables with glass cabinets displaying freshly made cakes and desserts, and glass jars filled with colourful confectionery and biscuits baked on site.

Then at the start of this century, Indian media began to lament their dwindling numbers, from around 400 in their heyday to currently less than 25. Second and third generation Iranis were getting a good education and moving abroad, the cafs were facing stiff competition from fast-food outlets and more glamorous venues, they were finding it tough to keep the prices low as per their original democratic spirit, and there was in-fighting between the owners. Some were beginning to transform and lose their identity, offering pizza and Chinese food to attract younger customers.

Owned by cousins Shamil and Kavi Thakrar, Dishoom captures this fascinating period in Indian history: its a romanticised nostalgia-fest of design, concept and, to some extent, the food viewed through a 21thcentury London lens. Interestingly, its success has triggered a renewed interest in Irani cafs among the foodies of Mumbai. In reality, however, these eateries were little more than the equivalent of greasy spoons, mostly known for their cakes, biscuits and toast (highly exotic in early 20thcentury India). Their most notable role was in shielding coy courting couples from prying eyes and gossipy auntyjis by providing secluded dining areas.

Dishoom Kings Cross, located beside the new Granary Square development, is the newest branch that opened around four months ago (after the original in Covent Garden in 2010 and Shoreditch in 2012). Much is made of the location, with parallels drawn between the similar Gothic style of St Pancras station and Mumbais Victoria Terminus. Its housed inside a restored Victorian building, a former railway transit shed dating back to 1850. In Indian-speak, its a godown, a warehouse where a large-number of goods once passed between Britain and the Empire, significantly between London and Bombay. In further myth-making for the restaurant, some of Bombays Irani cafs had once started out in similar transit sheds.

Sprawled over four floors, the exceptionally buzzy venue is impressively large, with a reception and a bar on the ground floor (the only brightly-lit area in the building), a dim basement bar, a first floor dining room with curved banquettes overlooking a private dining area, and a chefs table and kitchen on the second floor where you can see the cooking in action. The early 20thcentury transit shed aesthetic includes ornate floor tiles, wicker chairs, ceiling fans, an over-sized railway clock, and photos, posters, signage and replicas of advertisements from colonial India. Its sexy and moodily lit like something out of a movie or an epic novel; and the attention to detail down to the tiniest fixtures and fittings, including taps in the loos is staggering.

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Vegetarian London: Dishoom Kings Cross Restaurant Review

A new study finds a diet dominated by fruits and vegetables -- with a moderate amount of fish -- could cut your risk for colorectal cancers by nearly 45 percent.

Dr. Ryan Williams did not take part in the study but is a colorectal surgeon at Cleveland Clinic.

"Any of the vegetables and fruits that are high in fiber are the ones we are looking for to help clear out the colon and help decrease that risk of colon and rectal cancer," Williams said.

Loma Lind University researchers studied the diets of nearly 78,000 people. They found vegans had a 16 percent lower risk for all colorectal cancers compared to non-vegetarians

Vegetarians had 22 percent lower risk, but it was a pesco-vegetarian diet, or one that includes a moderate amount of fish, that offered the most protection.

This Mediterranean-style diet lowered colorectal cancer risk by 43 percent.

"It just goes back to what weve been learning over time is that the Mediterranean diet is a really healthy diet that keeps us from developing things such as colon and rectal cancers, heart disease, and other diseases," Williams said.

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Vegetarian diet may lower colorectal cancer risk