Fact Check: Garlic, Tomato And Turmeric Are NOT Anti-Cancer Foods

NCI Says No

Did researchers find that garlic, tomato and turmeric protects against cancer? No, that's not true: The National Cancer Institute says that no food has been proven to prevent cancer.

The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok on May 14, 2023, under the title "암 씨를 말려 버릴 3가지 음식들" or in English, "3 foods will blow cancer away (translated by Lead Stories Staff)." It opened:

There are three typical anti-cancer foods: garlic, tomato and turmeric.

This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:

(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed May 31 06:08:54 2023 UTC)

The video also said that the National Cancer Institute (NCI) picked garlic as the best anti-cancer food. However, this is not true. The official NCI advice says:

But with few exceptions, studies of human populations have not yet shown definitively that any dietary component causes or protects against cancer.

None of the three foods mentioned in the video are among the exceptions NCI cites.

The video also claims that tomatoes are one of the 10 "super foods" picked by Time magazine. The Time magazine article listing 10 healthy foods in 2002 did mention tomatoes as one of those healthy foods but didn't use the term "super foods."