Cancer Prevention - Part 2
There are magical anticancer compounds in fruits and vegetables that can help in cancer prevention. Variety of colors matters in the diet. Let’s talk about some of these compounds. Indoles are found in white and green cruciferous vegetables. Things like broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are the whites and greens. We know that cauliflower doesn’t have enough vitamin C, but it’s not the vitamins in fruits and vegetables that help in cancer prevention. Most of the vitamin studies have fallen short. It’s the colors, the pigments, that are the nutritional heroes that fight against cancer.
What do indoles do? They reduce the production of one of the stages of cell division in the cancer process. We also know that indoles can act as negative estrogen regulators and alter the effects of estrogen. Most of the breast cancer in women is estrogen receptor positive. What that means is that women are vulnerable to the increased amounts of estrogen. If indoles can actually down regulate that estrogen receptor, it may reduce the risk of the most common form of breast cancer. Research also suggests that they can be invaluable in the prevention of cervical and prostate cancer.
Are there creative ways that you can put more broccoli and cabbage into your diet? Think a little about it.
Lycopene is the red pigment. If the food is red it rules. Things like tomatoes, pink grapefruit and watermelon are great red foods. The whole fruit is preferred, but juices can serve as a reasonable substitute. Let’s say you’re travelling and you don’t have the availability of a fresh salad, but a can of tomato juice would be a great substitute. It’s not quite as good, but almost.
Multiple roles exist for lycopene in cancer prevention. It accesses an antioxidant, protecting those wonderful cell membranes you have. It may prevent abnormal cell division. Large epidemiological studies show a relationship between those who have low levels of lycopene in their blood and an increased prevalence of prostate cancer. However, currently studies haven’t demonstrated the prevention of prostate cancer through increased consumption of lycopene.
Cooked tomato products actually have an increased amount of bioavailable lycopene. When you are trying a veggie burger, put ketchup on it.
Spice up your food with some additional color. For the color gold, try turmeric. Turmeric, which is a traditional curry spice, is actually a cancer prevention powerhouse. A compound in it called cuncurmin is thought to induce the aberrant cells to die, rather than proliferate.
However, as we discovered with many dietary compounds, there can be some downsides to using turmeric. Turmeric, particularly when used as a supplement and not a spice, may reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Sometimes compounds that are needed for cancer prevention actually are not a good idea during cancer treatment. This is where you need to talk to your physician. Sometimes good for prevention may not be so good during treatment.
What about yellow and orange foods like carrots and corn? In a recent study published in the American journal of clinical nutrition, carotenoids present in these foods were found to decrease the risk of breast cancer in post-menopausal women.
What about the other colors of the rainbow? What about some blue, purple and some additional red? Simply stated, think berries. Berries such as blueberries, raspberries and strawberries contain wonderful chemicals that can repair the DNA damage. Remember that the damage to DNA is the first step of cancer development. We’ll be reviewing more common dietary recommendations for cancer prevention in my next post.
