Watercress prevents lung cancer….

Today's post: Tuesday, 8-26-2008

It seems that eating raw watercress at least once a week, probably in a salad, will cut your chances of getting lung cancer in half.

1. Most cars and trucks are still powered by burning gasoline and diesel fuel. And, most of us live in urban areas or suburban areas that have ample air pollution as a result.

2. People in the Eastern United States & some people in Rocky Mountain states live near coal fired electricity generating plants still. This also produces air pollution. Even, in California, Oregon, & the state of Washington, there is now some air pollution from coal fired electricity generating plants from China. (It is a long way across the Pacific Ocean. But China has added so many of these coal fired electricity generating plants, it has helped increase global warming; and the pollution from it has been measured as reaching the U.S. West coast.) In the winter in many places people are also exposed heavily to the smoke from wood burning fires. It smells better but is no better for you.

3. Third, it’s now known that regular exposure to incense burning tends to trigger lung cancer and that most commercial air fresheners and even many common household cleaning products contain carcinogenic chemicals that are often not listed on the labels.

Worse, many people are exposed to air borne herbicides and pesticides, and tobacco smoke in the homes and businesses they visit or where they work – even if they do not have this exposure at home. And some furniture, paints, rugs, etc offgass chemicals into the air for months after they are installed. So many people are exposed quite heavily to indoor air pollution.

And, that’s for the people who don’t smoke.

Even though for most smokers, as we’ve posted before, cancer and lung cancer are the LITTLE risks of smoking, they are still much greater risks for smokers than for nonsmokers.
(Heart disease and other cardiovascular disease & damage happen to ALL smokers & are the BIG risk from smoking.)

Smoking basically disarms your lungs so all the air pollution from other sources that tends to trigger cancers in some nonsmokers, is much more likely to for smokers as the ability of their lungs to resist has mostly been shut down.

And, for some smokers, there is even worse news. Those who got a real rush of good feelings when they first smoked instead of feeling mildly sick, tend to be much heavier smokers and are less likely to quit. For those smokers, the risk of lung cancer is HUGE. Twenty five percent of such smokers get lung cancer.

So, preventing lung cancer is a good idea for most people today even if they don’t smoke. And, for smokers, particularly this last group of smokers, it’s essential. It’s also essential for people exposed to a lot of second hand smoke at home or at work.

With that background, when I saw a way to cut your chances of getting lung cancer, I decided it was worth posting it here.

It appeared in Early to Rise recently as their daily health article.:

“This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.”

“If You're a Smoker... Eat This!

By Kelley Herring

We all know that smoking is bad for your health. But whether you're a secondhand smoker or are still trying to beat your addiction, there's something you can add to your diet to help negate the nasty cancer-causing effects. Watercress.

Recent research found that phenylethylisothiocyanate (PEITC), found predominantly in watercress, reduced the rate of lung cancer by 50 percent in animals exposed to the carcinogens found in tobacco smoke. Human trials have revealed similar results.

Your healthiest bet is to kick the habit. But adding watercress to your diet may help reduce the damage that's inevitable as a result of smoking. Buy fresh watercress and mix with your favorite salad greens. Its peppery, piquant bite is complemented by sweet fruits like pears and apples.”

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Diced onion that has been sautéed in olive oil or chunks of avocado or pecans or walnuts or feta cheese would also go well in a salad with watercress. So would de-seeded mandarin orange slices or blueberries.

Watercress also can be diced to help release its anticancer chemicals a bit more and to make it a bit easier to eat. The leaves aren’t that large; but dicing will help keep the longer stems from causing the salad to fall off your fork when you take a bite.

Of course you can avoid cigarette smoke and to some degree these other sources of air pollution also.

And, you can use the information from our other posts on preventing cancer.

Here is a partial list of some of those ways to prevent cancer.

Taking 2,000 iu or more a day of vitamin D3; taking 200 micrograms a day of selenium, regular exercise, and eating raw broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and other kinds of cruciferous vegetables all also help prevent cancer also. There is also some evidence that taking 100 mg a day or more of trans resveratrol will help do so as well.

But it’s nice to know that watercress is particularly effective in preventing lung cancer.