Jon Stewart Joins Vegan Campaign to Fight Breast Cancer

Jon Stewart is backing a vegan campaign to fight breast cancer.

Together with wife Tracey, the comedian has joined the Physician Committee for Responsible Medicine’s (PCRM) campaign, Let’s Beat Breast Cancer.

Academy Award-winning director James Cameron has also joined the campaign, along with his partner, author, environmentalist, and co-founder of the vegan MUSE School, Suzy Amis Cameron. Hilaria and Alec Baldwin are also in support.

World-renowned breast surgeon Dr. Kristi Funk is heading up the campaign’s advisory committee, along with PCRM founder Dr. Neal Barnard. PCRM is a Washington, DC-based research nonprofit that advocates for the promotion of a plant-based diet as preventative medicine.

The committee includes a number of expert breast cancer researchers and dietitians, as well as celebrities and athletes — including Olympic cyclist Dotsie Bausch and comedian Jeff Dunham — who have personal experiences with breast cancer.

Let’s Beat Breast Cancer — supported by a number of organizations and companies, including Pink Lotus and Forks Over Knives — champions a simple approach to preventing the disease. It encourages people to pledge to take four actions: eat plant-based foods, exercise regularly, limit alcohol, and maintain a healthy weight.

Diet and Breast Cancer

“What you eat can either fuel cancer, or help your body seek and destroy it,” said Funk in a statement. “Eating whole, colorful plant foods helps your body defend itself from rogue cancer cells.”

Funk — the author of the 2018 book “BREASTS: The Owners Manual” — has dedicated most of her life to helping people fight and prevent breast cancer. During the research for her book, she uncovered a link between diet and the disease.

She told LIVEKINDLY last year, “the body’s cellular response to consuming animal protein and animal fat is everything that feeds and fuels illness while choking health to death. Estrogen levels rise, growth hormones skyrocket, inflammation abounds, free radicals run around damaging cells and mutating DNA.”

Those who take the Let’s Beat Breast Cancer pledge will receive help and support in the form of a free vegan e-cookbook. They can also order the Let’s Beat Breast Cancer kit, which includes a copy of Funk’s book, PCRM fact sheets on reducing breast cancer risk, PCRM’s Healthy Eating for Life cookbook, and a campaign postcard.

“Wearing a pink ribbon to raise awareness of breast cancer is good,” said PCRM dietician Lee Crosby in a statement. “But following the Let’s Beat Breast Cancer guidelines to reduce our risk of getting the disease or having recurrence is even better.”