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.

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Cancer Prevention

Let’s talk about cancer prevention. What can we do to prevent it? Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, and the most feared diagnosis. Although heart disease is the number one killer of Americans, the diagnosis of cancer is the most terrifying. Clearly we have much to do in the prevention of cancer. Poor diet is estimated to account for 30% to 35% of the cancers. Therefore, we can do something to modify our risk. Please keep in mind that modification of risk does not preclude the need for early detection and diagnosis. Although you might do everything possible in terms of diet and exercise, make sure you keep up with diagnostic testing.

Outside of diet, there are other lifestyle risk factors: tobacco use, alcohol consumption and lack of exercise. These can increase the overall risk of almost all cancers.

Here I want to talk about the dietary strategies and lifestyle modifications needed to reduce cancer risk.

Both tobacco and alcohol initiate and promote cancer development. Not only they cause cell damage, they also promote cancer development.

The American Cancer Society suggests that 1 million skin cancers could be prevented by eliminating sun exposure. This is a double edged sword. We know that the sun is a great source of vitamin D. By eliminating sun exposure, you can also eliminate one of your major sources of vitamin D. Sun screen can be very effective for preventing skin cancer, but it must be applied in an appropriate way. The higher the Sun Protection Factor (SPF), the better.

Exposure to UV light in tanning salons can be just as dangerous as exposure to the sun itself.

Some of the most exciting things in terms of cancer development is that we now know that certain viruses have been implicated in cervical cancer and possibly others as well. New vaccines can be given to prevent certain forms but not all of cervical cancer.

The current thinking is that nutrition can either act as a cancer promoter or a cancer-cell killer. According to the American Cancer society, diet and weight management can aid in the prevention of cancer. If you’re struggling with weight management and exercise, you might want to think about this as your deposit in the cancer prevention account.

There appears to be a dose-related response to exercise. That means that 30 minutes of exercise is good, but an hour would be better. Human bodies evolved to move. Apparently, in this case, what is happening is that individuals who do not exercise become resistant to insulin. They make of it, and the more you make, more you promote cancer development.

Simple Recommendations

What do you think of a plant-based diet? The more of your plate is occupied by vegetables, the better. Think about having a meat-less Monday, were your main dish might be vegetarian.

A recent study that included more than half a million subjects (this is a lot!!) suggest that those who consume the highest amount of red meat have a higher mortality rate. This study is known as the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. Mortality rates from both heart disease and cancer were increased with increasing red meat consumption.

What are some big recommendations from this study? Reduce the meat and avoid grilling. Grilling can increase the charring of that meat. It is the charred meat that can increase the risk of cancer.

Well, suppose you’re invited over somebody’s house and they are not really great with their grilling skills and you’ve got everything that’s significantly blackened. Trim off as much of that as you can and maybe flavor it up with a bit of barbecue sauce.

Regarding alcohol use in cancer prevention, the best approach is no alcohol. Keep in mind that alcohol minimally is going to serve as an initiating event. If you do drink alcohol, the recommendation is to limit your intake to one drink per day for women and two for men.

Avoid cured meats. These are processed meats, such as bacon, ham and hot dogs. Individuals are trying to get away from beef and pork, we now have cured turkey products. We have now turkey hot dogs and everyone believes that’s better for them. The problem is the curing of the meat. Cancer-causing compounds are formed when meats are cured.

Well, here I ended talking more about what we should avoid to prevent cancer. In my next post I’ll talk about a healthy diet and lifestyle that would help in cancer prevention.

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