You are what you eat. Of course, we all know this, but when it comes right down to it, eating spinach is usually less appealing than a nice, juicy hamburger.

Many studies have shown that eating a healthy diet regularly can be very beneficial to our health. Different studies have shown different degrees of benefit gained from a healthy diet. One stated that 30% of all breast cancer risk is due to diet. Another study aimed at breast cancer found that women who eat five servings/day versus less that three servings/day had a 54% decrease in breast cancer.

As you can see, many studies show that eating fruits and vegetables will lower your chances of developing cancer even though scientists can't quite agree on the degree to which it helps.

The compounds found in fruits and vegetables may help prevent cancer in a variety of ways. For instance, many carotenoid compounds are converted into vitamin A, which is known to play a role in stimulating cells to differentiate and halting cell division. If you remember, cancer cells are inclined to lose their specific function (undifferentiate) and proliferate out of control. So having vitamin A in the cell may help stop this from occurring, thus helping to lower the individual’s chances of developing cancer.

Other compounds, such as vitamin E act as antioxidants. Antioxidants will “scavenge” free radicals. In this manner, the damage causing free radicals within a cell will become attached to an antioxidant before they can cause any trouble. The antioxidants convert the free radical to a non-toxic compound, one that cannot cause any harm to the cell.

It is also possible that compounds within fruits and vegetables may work by enhancing the immune system or possibly by altering hormone levels. Broccoli is one such example of this, it contains a compound called glucosinolate that breaks down certain hormones into weaker forms. This can be beneficial because some hormones cause cells to divide and grow. Out of balance cells can take this hormonal induced growth signal too far and under the wrong circumstances possibly become cancerous.