People who eat potatoes are a third less likely to get stomach cancer

Eating lots of potatoes, onions, cauliflower and other white vegetables may reduce your risk of stomach cancer, according to Chinese scientists.

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Research carried out at Zhejiang University, involving 76 studies, 6.3 million people and almost 33,000 deaths from stomach cancer, found that people who eat large amounts of white vegetables were a third less likely to develop stomach cancer, reported The Times.

Fruit and green-yellow vegetables like cabbage, celery and kale were also found to help prevent the disease. What all the vegetables have in common is high levels of vitamin C, which is thought to use its antioxidant properties to fight cellular stress in the stomach.

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The research found that eating around 50 grams of the vitamin every day brought the risk of developing the disease down by eight percent, while eating around 100 grams of fruit every day reduced the risk by around five percent.

Conversely beer, spirits, salt and preserved food increase the risk of developing the disease, say the Chinese scientists.

This is great news for potato lovers, but even if you’re not partial to large bowls of spuds you can take something from this research. It’s pretty simple: a healthy, balanced diet helps to reduce your risk of cancer and an unhealthy lifestyle does the opposite.

Certain types of foods are often linked to a reduced risk of different types of cancer. Evidence consistently makes a connection between eating plenty of fibre and a lower risk of bowel cancer, says the NHS. A link between eating large amounts of red, processed meats and bowel cancer has also been suggested.

According to Cancer Research UK, stomach cancer kills around 13 people every day in Britain and has just a 15 percent 10 year survival rate.

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