Breast Cancer Fighting Recipes: Main Dishes

Many common foods have breast cancer fighting properties, but it's not always easy to find recipes that combine these foods. If you've been struggling to find recipes with breast cancer fighting potential, you're in luck – the following recipes for main dishes feature foods that are loaded with anti-cancer nutrients.

Note that this is the second recipe page focused on breast cancer preventing main dishes. To view the first page, click here.

Apple and Onion Soup

Here's a recipe starring apples and onions, two of nature's best sources of quercetin, a bioflavonoid that has strong anti-cancer properties. Studies have associated the consumption of both apples and onions with a reduced risk of many cancers.

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Fennel and Strawberry Salad

This mouthwatering anti-breast cancer salad recipe uses crisp fennel, refreshing cucumber, crunchy walnuts, and sweet strawberries to create a super-healthy salad that is full of vitamins and other nutrients. Fennel provides plenty of folate, fiber, and vitamin C. It also contains anethole, a phytochemical with strong anti-cancer properties. The strawberries and walnuts in this salad are supercharged with antioxidants.

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Wholesome Winter Pea and Watercress Soup

This tasty soup with an irresistible velvety texture draws on the health benefits of watercress, a super food that has been used to treat a wide range of ailments for centuries. Recent research has shown watercress to be able to inhibit the activities of matrix metalloproteinase-9 which promotes the spread of breast cancer cells. These inhibitory effects of watercress seem to be attributable to the presence of 7-methylsulphinylheptyl isothiocyanates (MEITCs) and 4-methysulphinylbutyl (sulphoraphane) in watercress. Also the onion featured in this soup has anti-cancer properties.

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Tangy Tomato Soup with Basil

Not only do garlic, shallots, and basil lend their flavors to create this tasty soup, but they also offer some health benefits, especially for women who want to reduce their risk of breast cancer. Allicin, which gives garlic its distinctive odor and flavor, has been shown to slow down and prevent breast cancer, when consumed regularly. Population studies have also found that cultures with a high consumption of garlic (e.g. China, Japan, France) have a reduced risk of breast cancer. Shallots, on the other hand, provide a hearty helping of quercetin, a bioflavonoid that has anti-cancer, anti-bacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties while basil is rich in flavonoids which provide antioxidant protection.

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Broccoli and Barley Soup

Barley is rich in lignans, phytonutrients that have been shown to reduce the risk of certain cancers such as breast cancer. Also the broccoli featured in this soup is an excellent anti-cancer food: broccoli contains compounds that have been shown to eliminate carcinogenic toxins, reduce DNA damage, induce apoptosis in breast cancer cells, help prevent the development of benign tumors into malignant tumors, and help prevent the spread of breast cancer to other organs. Further, there is evidence that broccoli may be able to prevent estrogen from stimulating the growth of breast cancer cells. Also barley is an excellent weapon in your anti-cancer arsenal as it is rich in lignans, phytonutrients that have been shown to reduce the risk of certain cancers, including breast cancer.

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Curried Sweet Potato Soup

This tasty anti-cancer soup is jam-packed with nutrients that may help reduce the risk of breast cancer. Sweet potatoes provide an excellent source of beta-carotene and vitamin C as well as unique root proteins which, according to preliminary studies, may have significant antioxidant properties. Also garlic, onion, and curry powder contain substances that are known to possess strong anti-tumor and anti-cancer properties.

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Red Cabbage Soup with Black Lentils

This dazzling soup can do much more than just inject color into your life; it features some of the most famous breast cancer combating ingredients such as red cabbage, garlic, broccoli, black beans, and onion.

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Radicchio & Pear Salad

Aside from adding a peppery bite, radicchio and garden cress give this salad a number of health benefits. The red leaves of radicchio contain anthocyanins, the same plant pigments that give blueberries their color — and extraordinary health-boostin qualities. Garden cress provides glucosinolates, health-protecting compounds that have made cruciferous vegetables, such as cabbage and broccoli, world-famous in foodie circles.

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Carrot, Tomato and Lentil Soup

Research suggests that women who consume lentils frequently have a significantly lower risk of developing breast cancer than women who seldom eat them. This effect may be linked to the high concentration of fiber found in lentils. In addition to fiber, this soup delivers plenty of allicin, an important cancer-fighting compound found in crushed garlic, as well as carotenoids (found both in carrots and tomatoes).

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Dairy-Free Spinach Soup

This delicious, vibrant green spinach soup draws on the health benefits of spinach. A study conducted in the UK in the 1980s found that women with a high intake of spinach generally have a lower risk of developing breast cancer.

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Barley Soup with Beans and Basil

Barley is rich in lignans, phytonutrients that have been shown to reduce the risk of certain cancers such as breast cancer. Diets rich in beans have also been associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer.

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Nourishing Nettle Soup

Nettle—the star of this scrumptious soup—is rich in antioxidants such as vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, selenium, zinc, and flavonoids. Many of these antioxidants are known to have a synergistic effect and to protect each other from oxidation, thereby enhancing the overall antioxidant prowess of this healthy soup.

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For more recipes that may help lower your odds of developing breast cancer, go to the main recipe directory of HealWithFood.org's Guide to Preventing Breast Cancer.

You may also be interested in taking a look at the section that provides more general diet tips on how to reduce your risk of developing breast cancer. Be also sure to check out the list of the best foods for preventing breast cancer.