The Meal that Drops Cancer Risk

Make a nice filet of salmon or trout. Place a pile of crisp-tender asparagus spears next to it. Fill the rest of your plate with a mixture of fluffy quinoa and dried currants. Not only do you have a meal delicious enough to serve to guests (and one that's easy on the cook, too); you also have one that lessens your chances of ending up with any of five kinds of cancer.

Researchers in the United Kingdom found that vegetarians and fish eaters fared far better than meat eaters when it came to avoiding cancer of the stomach, bladder, ovaries, lymph and blood systems. A bonus: People who ate food that featured fins or roots had lower body mass indexes than people whose food had legs (in other words, people who ate meat). That means those who bypassed meat were slimmer and trimmer. So if you cut back on meat, it's likely that you'll live longer -- and you'll look better while doing it.

Why are we not surprised by these results? If you are cutting out meat and enjoy fish and veggies, you're probably eating a lot less saturated fat -- the stuff in red meat that clogs arteries and is associated with increased cancer risk. And you might be eating a lot less in general: Meals high in saturated fat lower your levels of leptin, a hormone that helps turn off your appetite.