Potatoes, cauliflower and cabbage help cut risk of stomach cancer

Eating white vegetables such as potatoes, cauliflower and onions reduces the chance of contracting stomach cancer.

Eating cauliflower may reduce your chance of contracting stomach cancer. Picture: iStock

Eating white vege­tables such as potatoes, cauliflower and onions reduces the chance of contracting stomach cancer. Beer, spirits, salt and preserved food raise the risk of developing the disease, according to a study by Chinese scientists.

Scientists found people who ate large amounts of white vegetables were a third less likely to develop the cancer.

Fruit and green-yellow vegetables such as cabbage, kale and celery also seemed to have a protective effect. The key nutrient is thought to be vitamin C.

Epidemiologists at Zhejiang University in China filtered down the scientific literature on diet and stomach cancer to find the 76 best studies, which involved­ more than 6.3 million people and almost 33,000 deaths from the disease.

The Times