Breast Cancer

With all cancers, and especially those the medical community is convinced we'll all get some day, prevention is the best medicine. Here are a few facts we've uncovered:

In a study of 300 breast cancer patients on anticoagulants, one eighth of them died from breast cancer, but not one developed metastases. Anticoagulants stop fibrin from forming. Fibrin (a natural substance needed for blood to clot) has a pretty significant role in the development of metastases: it coats maverick cells it finds in the blood stream, and thus protects them from the immune system, and it gives off a signal to start angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels (which a metastasis would need in order to root and grow).

Dr Sherwood Gorbach, MD, of Tufts University Medical Center conducted research showing that women who followed a low-fat, high-fiber diet decreased their risk of cancer by 16% to 24%. [Environmental Nutrition, August 1995]

Indoles from cruciferous veggies: it is assumed that they fight breast cancer by either converting the cancer promoting type of estrogen to a harmless form or by preventing an overproduction of estrogen. [Environmental Nutrition, August 1995.] However, more recent studies now show that they cause cell death in cancer (apoptosis) at a rate of 90% with no side effects, while Taxol caused apoptosis at a rate of 60% with many side effects.

Just two drinks (liquor) a day can increase cancer risk by 40% and three drinks might bring it as high as 70%, with premenopausal women at the highest risk. [Environmental Nutrition, August 1995.]

Overweight women are at twice the risk of breast cancer as those within their ideal range. [Environmental Nutrition, August 1995.]

Blood samples from around the world showed that the levels of selenium in blood serum are highest in Asia and Latin America, and lowest in America and Europe. America and Europe have breast cancer rates four to five times higher than those other countries. [Journal of Surgical Oncology, 1980:15]

The risk of developing breast cancer is greatest in young women who receive x-ray exposure during the ages of ten to 14. After the age of 14 the risk of cancer from x-ray exposure seems to drop until age 35 when it is thought to be minimal. [New England Journal of Medicine, 1989; 321: 19]

Advertising reminds you to get a yearly mammogram. Mammograms zap you with more than three times the radiation as a chest x-ray. Be sure to read the article: Mammography - Myths and Alternatives.

Normal production of melatonin in the pineal gland inhibits the production and overproduction of estrogen, however, many environmental factors inhibit the production of melatonin: electromagnetic fields, strong night lighting, alcohol, aging, medications (especially blood pressure medicines: beta-blockers and diuretics). [Alternatives, October 1993; 5: 4]

James Sparandeo* points out that "dietary fat is of particular importance in hormone-dependent cancers like breast and prostate disease." He states that studies show that after five to six months on a low fat diet (20% of calories or less) showed significant reductions in total estrogen. A diet of just 29% fat calories to total calories significantly reduced the level of free estradiol, a hormone many researchers, feel is needed for the development of breast cancer. Finally, the hormone prolactin, shown to promote mammary cancers in lab animals and to increase growth of human breast cancer cells in the lab, can also be reduced significantly by reducing fat intake.

The brown seaweed Laminaria has been linked to a lower incidence of breast cancer. [Cohen, Thompson, "Seaweed Blocks the Mammary Tumor Promoting Effects of High Fat Diets." International Breast Cancer Research Conference, Denver, CO., March 1983, Abstract 52, Willmintton, Del.: Stuart Pharmeceuticals, 1983.]

A recent book, Dressed to Kill, by Singner and Grismaiser, showed that your breast cancer risk can climb as high as 70% by wearing a bra.

A 1994 study in women aged 45 to 85 suggest that not only does breastfeeding her infant decrease a woman's risk of developing breast cancer, but having been breastfed as an infant herself lowers her risk of developing the disease later in life. [Environmental Nutrition, December 1994] Top

Diet, The Key to Prevention!

Reduce your dietary fat intake to no more than 20% of total calories. The optimum goal is 10%.

Base your diet on rice, potatoes, corn, beans, whole grains and pasta.

Eat lots of fresh organic vegetables and fruit. Stress the cancer-fighting foods - the protease inhibitors: fermented soy products (see warning below), chick-peas, lentils, limas, and red, black and white beans; the cruciferous vegetables including broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower; and the beta-carotenes including carrots, yams, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, green leafy vegetables, and squash. 

Eat plenty of fiber - that's whole foods. 

Avoid all dairy products and minimize or avoid animal protein. 

Avoid all hydrogenated oils: use only olive oils and fish oils, from natural sources. Add a tablespoon of raw flax oil to your diet daily. The Budwig Recipe is a must in preventing breast cancer. Every time you put any other oil (other than what is recommended here) into your body, you are asking for trouble: they wreck havoc on your hormonal system, and induce cancer causing hormones and prostaglandins (hormone-like chemicals) that cause cancer. For more information, read Johanna Budwig Revisited (and be sure to check out the Omegasentials.)

Read the full article here.