Raw cruciferous vegetables prevent cancer best....

Today's post: Monday, 11-10-2008

I’ve posted before that I’d read research that found significant cancer protection for eating raw cruciferous vegetables and broccoli & cauliflower in particular.

But, although I had seen separate reports that eating raw cruciferous vegetables proved to prevent cancer or the most dangerous kind of cancer while cooked cruciferous vegetables did not seem to provide much protection, I did not see or missed seeing WHY it was thought that eating RAW cruciferous vegetables WAS protective against cancer.

So, when last Saturday’s short health article in Early to Rise had what very probably is the reason, I decided to include it in today’s post.

That way any of our readers who missed that eating raw cruciferous vegetable works far better to prevent cancer and any readers who may have remained unpersuaded to include eating their cruciferous vegetables raw at least a few times a week would see the info.

Here’s the article from Early to Rise.:

“This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, an e-zine dedicated to making money, improving your health and quality of life. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.”

“For Cancer Protection - Fresh Is Best

By Kelley Herring

While some of us love the taste of broccoli, most of the time it's eaten for its health benefits. But new research suggests that if you cook it, almost all of the cancer-fighting nutrients are lost.

A recent study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that sulphoraphane - the primary cancer-fighting nutrient in broccoli - is significantly reduced during cooking. In fact, the bioavailability of sulforaphane was calculated to be 37 percent from the raw vegetable and only 3.4 percent from cooked broccoli.

So what option does that leave you with... raw broccoli crudités? On the contrary! There are plenty of delicious ways to enjoy raw broccoli. Make chopped salads with broccoli, buy broccosprouts and add them to your sandwiches, and fold tiny fresh florets into omelets to add delicious crunch and powerful protection.

[Ed. Note: For more advice on the best foods to eat - and those you should avoid - as well as how you can apply the latest health breakthroughs to your own life, sign up for ETR's natural health newsletter…..] You can sign up for ETR's natural health newsletter at its website, http://www.totalhealthbreakthroughs.com . (It also has good health articles every week.)

X* X* X* X* X* X*

Conversely, cooked broccoli may give you better bioavailability for the carotenoids in it than eating it raw. And the same is true for cooked Kale. In addition, eating such nonstarchy, vegetables either cold &/or hot helps keep you trim or to lose excess fat without getting hungry. So, if you like eating any kind of cruciferous vegetable cooked, by all means keep eating it that way.

But also eat some raw cruciferous vegetables a few times a week as well for cancer protection. You’ll get the cancer protection from the raw cruciferous vegetables AND added protection from gaining excess bodyfat by eating both kinds every week.

Also, if you eat diced broccoli florets or broccosprouts ( broccoli sprouts) in an omelet or other cooked dish, to get them raw, be sure to add them after the food is cooked and served into an unheated dish so they remain raw.

Other ways to get raw cruciferous vegetables include adding diced kale or water cress to salads, eating radishes, eating cauliflower florets, and eating coleslaw.

Broccoli and cauliflower may be most effective at preventing cancer. They do seem to be the most tested. But my guess is that the other cruciferous vegetables also work to prevent cancer when eaten raw. By eating other cruciferous vegetables in addition to broccoli or cauliflower, you get more variety, may well get more cancer protection, and definitely get more protection from gaining excess bodyfat.

Advanced breast cancer prevention....

Today's post: Tuesday, 11-4-2008

Yesterday we posted on vigorous exercise and eating right in a way that promotes fat loss or keeping off excess fat and several other actions can help prevent breast cancer.

So it was delightful to get today’s email from Total Health Breakthroughs. It had two articles on advanced breast cancer protection.

The information in these 2 article helps explain why vigorous exercise and eating right in a way that promotes fat loss or keeping off excess fat is effective in preventing breast cancer. And, it confirms some of our other methods besides.

But, of more importance, it shows how to get tested to see what your current risk level is; how to improve bad readings on these tests; AND gives some important supplement ideas that clearly can help prevent breast cancer. Many of those supplement ideas were NOT in my post yesterday.

I’ll add some supplements that do what these 2 articles suggest is protective to those in their 2 articles in my comments after the 2 articles.

"This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise's Total Health Breakthroughs, offering alternative solutions for mind, body and soul. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.totalhealthbreakthroughs.com"

“Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Breast Cancer -- Real Prevention

By James LaValle, R.Ph, ND, CCN

October was Breast Cancer Prevention month, and as always, fund raising and education initiatives were everywhere. There are many advances in our understanding of how breast cancer develops, yet out of all the articles I saw in the mainstream media, none of them explained the most important factors influencing breast health.

Most breast cancer is the type that is called hormone sensitive. That means it is cancer that forms in response to estrogen. It is usually implied that it is solely a matter of having too much estrogen (and/or other compounds that have estrogen-like structure) in the body. However if you dig deeper, you learn that it is not so much the estrogen itself, but how it is being metabolized in the body and whether it is balanced by adequate progesterone that are the primary problems.1-2

Estrogen/Progesterone Balance
The balance between estrogen and progesterone is very important for breast health and is almost never mentioned in popular literature on hormone sensitive breast cancer. There is a big misunderstanding among some people in the medical community that progesterone increases breast cancer risk. This was due to studies that found that synthetic progestins formerly used in women on hormone replacement therapy did increase breast cancer risk. However, further study has clarified that natural progesterones do not.3

Natural (bio-identical) progesterone actually reduces the production of certain growth factors, and increases a process called apoptosis (cell death) in proliferating breast cells. Several studies have shown that women with progesterone deficiency have anywhere from 4 to 6 times the risk of developing breast cancer.4

Estrogen Metabolism
As estrogen breaks down in the body from the primary estrogen in the body, estradiol, it can convert to a form called 2OH estrone, the good metabolite, or to 16OH and 4OH estrones, forms that cause tissue proliferation. 16OH contributes to endometriosis for instance, the over-proliferation of uterine lining tissue that causes painful menstrual cramps and can reduce a woman's ability to conceive. These metabolites also increase the risk of breast cancer. On the other hand, women with a higher 2OH to 16OH ratio have a 40% less chance of developing breast cancer.

There is a second step in the breakdown of estrogen called methylation. This step takes 4OH and makes it less active in tissues and actually makes a form of estrone (called 2-methoxyestrone) which inhibits breast cancer. So if your methylation pathways are purring along wonderfully you can break estrogen down into beneficial metabolites. Key nutrients to support methylation are the B vitamins, folate, B6 and B12, and dietary sulfur (found in onions, garlic, cabbage family vegetables and in foods like whey and eggs).

The final step for estrogen breakdown is glucuronidation, a metabolic process in which the different estrogens bind with glucuronic acid in the liver and from there get excreted in the GI tract. At least that's what should happen. Magnesium is needed for glucuronic acid to bind with estrogen. If you aren't taking in enough, the estrogen will not be bound and will just continue circulating in the body.

Gut flora also influences glucuronidation. Pathogenic (harmful) bacteria in the intestines can cause estrogen to get uncoupled from the glucuronic acid. So instead of being carried out of the body, the estrogen re-enters circulation, and the woman will accumulate too much in her system. This pathogenic bacteria called beta-glucuronidase is associated with increased cancer risk.

Diets high in fiber and beneficial flora reduce beta-glucuronidase levels, and so promote good estrogen metabolism. A form of calcium called D-glucarate inhibits beta-glucuronidase and so is also a very helpful nutrient.

There are a couple of substances in foods that help healthy estrogen metabolism and have significant and strong evidence of being cancer protective. (See Laura's article for more information on that.) This is where most of the articles in popular women's magazines focus -- eating a diet that is high in these cancer protective substances; and while it is important to eat this way, unless you measure your estrogen metabolites with urine or saliva testing, you have no way of knowing if your diet is directing your metabolism to more of the healthy and fewer of the bad estrogen metabolites. (My new e-book explains estrogen testing in detail. Look for The Keys to Healthy Aging: Making Hormone Replacement Work for You, available from Total Health Breakthroughs in a few weeks.)

Other Influences: Thyroid and Insulin
The other two influences on breast cancer you rarely read anything about are thyroid health and high insulin levels. Laura's article discusses the diet and insulin connection to breast health, but medicine has known for some time that women with breast cancer have a higher than average degree of thyroid problems, including autoimmune thyroid disease and hypothyroidism.

We know now that any disease of autoimmunity raises cancer risk.5 Since it is known that people with autoimmunity have a suppression of natural killer cells, the cells that can fight and overcome cancer cells, this shouldn't be surprising. You may think that autoimmune thyroiditis and hypothyroidism are not that common, but they in fact are second only to diabetes as the most common endocrine disorders -- and they occur in anywhere from 10 to 30% of the population.6-7

To really get proactive against breast cancer, all women can and should get tested for the following:

Estradiol, estrone, progesterone, and estrogen metabolites.
Low thyroid and thyroid antibodies if you have any reason to suspect your thyroid is under-active.

Post-prandial glucose and insulin levels to ensure you are not developing insulin resistance.

Once you have an accurate reading on these vital hormone levels, an appropriate supplementation and dietary plan can be applied as needed.

References

1 Kabat GC, et al. Epidemiology. 2006;17(1):80-8.
2 Adly L, et al. Int J Cancer. 2006;119(10):2402-7.
3 Campagnoll D, et al. J of Steroid Biochem and Mol Biol. 97(5): 441-450.
4 Oldenburg H, et al. Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology. 200763(2);125-149.
5 Landgren O. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2006 Sep 20;98(18):1321-30; and Eur J Gastroenterol
Hepatol. 2000:12: 645-48.
6 Maruchi N, et al. Mayo Clin Proc. 1976;51: 263-5.
7 E-medicine from webMD. Hashimoto Thyroiditis, May 30, 2006.

[Ed. Note: James LaValle is the founding Director of the LaValle Metabolic Institute, one of the largest integrative medicine practices in the country. Dr. LaValle is the author of the bestselling book Cracking the Metabolic Code: 9 Keys to Optimal Health and is the Executive Editor of THB's The Healing Prescription…..]”

"This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise's Total Health Breakthroughs, offering alternative solutions for mind, body and soul. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.totalhealthbreakthroughs.com"

“Healthy Nutrition:

Eating a Breast Cancer Preventive Diet

By Laura LaValle, RD, LD

If you have read any breast cancer prevention articles over the last month, you probably saw several articles on making sure your diet includes plenty of omega-3 fats as well as high antioxidant-containing foods like berries, colorful vegetables, beans/legumes, and green tea -- all to help your body keep damage from free radicals to a minimum. This is all good advice, but it does not adequately address the other side of the equation -- avoiding foods that promote inflammation in the body.

Prevent Insulin Resistance

Not controlling your intake of refined sugars, white breads, pastas, soft drinks and fast foods can lead to insulin resistance, which is a known contributor of inflammation and oxidative stress in the body1. Inflammation caused by poor dietary habits not only greatly increases risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, but also increases risk of cancer, including breast cancer.2

Several large human studies have found that diet plays a large role in increasing inflammation and the risk of type 2 diabetes -- and that leads to an increased risk of cancer. The worst diets appear to be those high in fructose-sweetened soft drinks, refined grains, diet soft drinks, and processed meat and low in red wine, coffee, cruciferous vegetables, and colored vegetables.

One study found that insulin resistance even without the women being diabetic significantly increased breast cancer risk -- and this effect was even independent of body weight or body fat distribution.3 Another study of 60,000 women followed over 20 years found that being insulin resistant not only increased breast cancer risk, but increased the risk of being diagnosed with more advanced stages of cancer.4

So clearly, controlling insulin resistance is one of the most powerful ways we can reduce our breast cancer risk. For most people, this will mean eating diets that limit high glycemic index and high glycemic load foods.

Increase Levels of Protective Estrogen
As my husband Jim wrote, cabbage family vegetables which are high in sulfur compounds improve methylation in the body that helps prevent the buildup of unhealthy estrogen metabolites called 16OH. In addition to that, broccoli in particular, contains two substances, diindolyl methane (DIM) and indole-3-carbinol (I3C) that help the liver make enzymes that neutralize 16OH production.5-6

However, to achieve levels that significantly impact 16OH production, it's necessary to take it in a concentrated supplement form. Several clinical trials have demonstrated the ability of a DIM supplement to significantly increase the ratio of good to bad estrogen metabolites in as little as four weeks.7-8

Decrease Levels of Harmful Estrogen
Phytoestrogens are substances in plants that in effect, block bad estrogen metabolites from being able to exert their harmful effects. Phytoestrogens are found in many plant foods; soybeans, peas, beans, and pomegranates are foods that are particularly high in beneficial phytoestrogens. (Soybeans are a two-edged sword however, because with excessive intake they can inhibit thyroid hormone synthesis.)

Plant lignans are a type of dietary fiber found in high amounts in flaxseeds. Lignans increase something called sex hormone binding globulin, which can bind to estrogens and carry them out of the body. They also reduce levels of beta-glucuronidase, the pathogenic intestinal bacteria that prevents harmful estrogen metabolites from being eliminated. Regular inclusion of lignan-containing ground flaxseeds or flaxseed oils may help prevent breast cancer by aiding the body's elimination of excessive estrogen.

And finally, reducing your exposure to environmental estrogens (xenoestrogens) is important because they may trigger tissue proliferation much like excessive natural estrogens.9 Many pesticides are xenoestrogens, and this is the reason we recommend eating organically raised foods as much as possible. Phthalates in plastics are also xenoestrogenic, so avoid eating or drinking out of plastic containers or microwaving with plastic wraps.

References

1 Sies H, Stahl W, Sevanian A. J Nutr. 2005;135(5):969-72.
2 Schulze MB, et al. Am J Clin Nutr. 2005;82(3):675-84; quiz 714-5.
3 Bruning P et al. International J of Cancer 52 (4): 511-16.
4 Cust A, et al. J Breast Cancer Res and Treatment, July 2008.
5 Bradlow HL et al. Ann NY Acad Sci. 1996;768:180-200.
6 Bell MC, et al. Gynecol Oncol. 2000;78(2):123-129.
7 Dalessandri KM, et al. Journal of Nutrition and Cancer. 2004;50(2):161-7.
8 Wang Z, et al. Mol Cancer Ther. 2008 Feb;7(2):341-9.
9 Watson C, et al. Steroids. Feb. 2007; 72(2):124-134.

[Ed. Note: Laura B. LaValle, RD, LD is presently the director of dietetics nutrition at LaValle Metabolic Institute (formerly part of Living Longer Institute). She offers personal nutritional counseling at LMI for clients who need help with their diet in relation to illness or disease. Laura also provides educational services in the areas of health promotion, wellness, and disease prevention…..]”

X* X* X* X* X* X* X*

One of the aspects of their information and the information I posted on yesterday I find exciting is that following a health protective lifestyle protects your health in many other ways AND helps to prevent breast cancer as well.

1. Foods and supplements that support methylation are also known to slow aging, protect your heart and brain, and lower excess levels of homocysteine. These supplements include; NAC, n-acetyl cysteine, which also contains sulfur; DMG and TMG, di- and trimethly glycine; and the methyl version of B12, methylcobalamin, sold as "Brain B12." Also the supplement MSM, Methylsulfonylmethane, that is in many joint and arthritis pain supplements contains sulfur, as can be seen from its name and looks to be a methyl donor as well from the methyl in its name.

2. These 2 articles may also partly explain WHY taking 2,000 to 3,000 iu a day of vitamin D3 prevents cancer and breast cancer. Adequate vitamin D in your body tends to optimize your immune system responses and has been found to largely prevent autoimmune disorders. Since these articles say immune diseases suppress the production of your natural killer cells which kill off cancer cells, this means that taking vitamin D3 is critically important. Oddly, they don’t mention taking vitamin D3 in the article.

3. Vigorous exercise and eating lots of vegetables AND eating an adequate supply of lean protein every day and very rarely eating much of anything else and NEVER eating junk food or drinking soft drinks also tends to prevent breast cancer --as we posted about yesterday. And, since insulin resistance and high blood levels of insulin apparently help cause breast cancer; and these two actions specifically prevent or help reverse insulin resistance and reduce high insulin levels, that largely explains why these two actions help prevent breast cancer.

Taking the supplements alpha lipoic acid, chromium polynicotinate, and either eating cinnamon in your food daily or taking cinnamon supplements also tend to help your body manage insulin and blood sugars in a desirable way and may well also help.

It may also be worthwhile to eat foods that are spiced with red pepper or other hot peppers once a day. These spices have been found to reduce insulin increase after you eat.

4. Their research apparently confirms that taking the supplement DIM in addition to eating the cruciferous vegetables that contain it helps to prevent breast cancer.

5. Taking magnesium supplements or eating foods high in it so that you get at least 400 mg a day of magnesium; and taking probiotic supplements or eating yogurt with no sugar or artificial sweeteners added that contain live cultures of probiotic bacteria -- to compete with or eliminate harmful bacteria; all apparently help in allowing the healthy breakdown of estrogen which helps prevent breast cancer.

Adding the information in yesterday’s post and in today’s post, there are a LOT of things you can do that help prevent breast cancer. Many of them will also prevent other cancers or help protect your heart, brain, and overall health in other ways as well.

Advanced breast cancer prevention....

Today's post: Tuesday, 11-4-2008

Yesterday we posted on vigorous exercise and eating right in a way that promotes fat loss or keeping off excess fat and several other actions can help prevent breast cancer.

So it was delightful to get today’s email from Total Health Breakthroughs. It had two articles on advanced breast cancer protection.

The information in these 2 article helps explain why vigorous exercise and eating right in a way that promotes fat loss or keeping off excess fat is effective in preventing breast cancer. And, it confirms some of our other methods besides.

But, of more importance, it shows how to get tested to see what your current risk level is; how to improve bad readings on these tests; AND gives some important supplement ideas that clearly can help prevent breast cancer. Many of those supplement ideas were NOT in my post yesterday.

I’ll add some supplements that do what these 2 articles suggest is protective to those in their 2 articles in my comments after the 2 articles.

"This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise's Total Health Breakthroughs, offering alternative solutions for mind, body and soul. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.totalhealthbreakthroughs.com"

“Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Breast Cancer -- Real Prevention

By James LaValle, R.Ph, ND, CCN

October was Breast Cancer Prevention month, and as always, fund raising and education initiatives were everywhere. There are many advances in our understanding of how breast cancer develops, yet out of all the articles I saw in the mainstream media, none of them explained the most important factors influencing breast health.

Most breast cancer is the type that is called hormone sensitive. That means it is cancer that forms in response to estrogen. It is usually implied that it is solely a matter of having too much estrogen (and/or other compounds that have estrogen-like structure) in the body. However if you dig deeper, you learn that it is not so much the estrogen itself, but how it is being metabolized in the body and whether it is balanced by adequate progesterone that are the primary problems.1-2

Estrogen/Progesterone Balance
The balance between estrogen and progesterone is very important for breast health and is almost never mentioned in popular literature on hormone sensitive breast cancer. There is a big misunderstanding among some people in the medical community that progesterone increases breast cancer risk. This was due to studies that found that synthetic progestins formerly used in women on hormone replacement therapy did increase breast cancer risk. However, further study has clarified that natural progesterones do not.3

Natural (bio-identical) progesterone actually reduces the production of certain growth factors, and increases a process called apoptosis (cell death) in proliferating breast cells. Several studies have shown that women with progesterone deficiency have anywhere from 4 to 6 times the risk of developing breast cancer.4

Estrogen Metabolism
As estrogen breaks down in the body from the primary estrogen in the body, estradiol, it can convert to a form called 2OH estrone, the good metabolite, or to 16OH and 4OH estrones, forms that cause tissue proliferation. 16OH contributes to endometriosis for instance, the over-proliferation of uterine lining tissue that causes painful menstrual cramps and can reduce a woman's ability to conceive. These metabolites also increase the risk of breast cancer. On the other hand, women with a higher 2OH to 16OH ratio have a 40% less chance of developing breast cancer.

There is a second step in the breakdown of estrogen called methylation. This step takes 4OH and makes it less active in tissues and actually makes a form of estrone (called 2-methoxyestrone) which inhibits breast cancer. So if your methylation pathways are purring along wonderfully you can break estrogen down into beneficial metabolites. Key nutrients to support methylation are the B vitamins, folate, B6 and B12, and dietary sulfur (found in onions, garlic, cabbage family vegetables and in foods like whey and eggs).

The final step for estrogen breakdown is glucuronidation, a metabolic process in which the different estrogens bind with glucuronic acid in the liver and from there get excreted in the GI tract. At least that's what should happen. Magnesium is needed for glucuronic acid to bind with estrogen. If you aren't taking in enough, the estrogen will not be bound and will just continue circulating in the body.

Gut flora also influences glucuronidation. Pathogenic (harmful) bacteria in the intestines can cause estrogen to get uncoupled from the glucuronic acid. So instead of being carried out of the body, the estrogen re-enters circulation, and the woman will accumulate too much in her system. This pathogenic bacteria called beta-glucuronidase is associated with increased cancer risk.

Diets high in fiber and beneficial flora reduce beta-glucuronidase levels, and so promote good estrogen metabolism. A form of calcium called D-glucarate inhibits beta-glucuronidase and so is also a very helpful nutrient.

There are a couple of substances in foods that help healthy estrogen metabolism and have significant and strong evidence of being cancer protective. (See Laura's article for more information on that.) This is where most of the articles in popular women's magazines focus -- eating a diet that is high in these cancer protective substances; and while it is important to eat this way, unless you measure your estrogen metabolites with urine or saliva testing, you have no way of knowing if your diet is directing your metabolism to more of the healthy and fewer of the bad estrogen metabolites. (My new e-book explains estrogen testing in detail. Look for The Keys to Healthy Aging: Making Hormone Replacement Work for You, available from Total Health Breakthroughs in a few weeks.)

Other Influences: Thyroid and Insulin
The other two influences on breast cancer you rarely read anything about are thyroid health and high insulin levels. Laura's article discusses the diet and insulin connection to breast health, but medicine has known for some time that women with breast cancer have a higher than average degree of thyroid problems, including autoimmune thyroid disease and hypothyroidism.

We know now that any disease of autoimmunity raises cancer risk.5 Since it is known that people with autoimmunity have a suppression of natural killer cells, the cells that can fight and overcome cancer cells, this shouldn't be surprising. You may think that autoimmune thyroiditis and hypothyroidism are not that common, but they in fact are second only to diabetes as the most common endocrine disorders -- and they occur in anywhere from 10 to 30% of the population.6-7

To really get proactive against breast cancer, all women can and should get tested for the following:

Estradiol, estrone, progesterone, and estrogen metabolites.
Low thyroid and thyroid antibodies if you have any reason to suspect your thyroid is under-active.

Post-prandial glucose and insulin levels to ensure you are not developing insulin resistance.

Once you have an accurate reading on these vital hormone levels, an appropriate supplementation and dietary plan can be applied as needed.

References

1 Kabat GC, et al. Epidemiology. 2006;17(1):80-8.
2 Adly L, et al. Int J Cancer. 2006;119(10):2402-7.
3 Campagnoll D, et al. J of Steroid Biochem and Mol Biol. 97(5): 441-450.
4 Oldenburg H, et al. Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology. 200763(2);125-149.
5 Landgren O. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2006 Sep 20;98(18):1321-30; and Eur J Gastroenterol
Hepatol. 2000:12: 645-48.
6 Maruchi N, et al. Mayo Clin Proc. 1976;51: 263-5.
7 E-medicine from webMD. Hashimoto Thyroiditis, May 30, 2006.

[Ed. Note: James LaValle is the founding Director of the LaValle Metabolic Institute, one of the largest integrative medicine practices in the country. Dr. LaValle is the author of the bestselling book Cracking the Metabolic Code: 9 Keys to Optimal Health and is the Executive Editor of THB's The Healing Prescription…..]”

"This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise's Total Health Breakthroughs, offering alternative solutions for mind, body and soul. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.totalhealthbreakthroughs.com"

“Healthy Nutrition:

Eating a Breast Cancer Preventive Diet

By Laura LaValle, RD, LD

If you have read any breast cancer prevention articles over the last month, you probably saw several articles on making sure your diet includes plenty of omega-3 fats as well as high antioxidant-containing foods like berries, colorful vegetables, beans/legumes, and green tea -- all to help your body keep damage from free radicals to a minimum. This is all good advice, but it does not adequately address the other side of the equation -- avoiding foods that promote inflammation in the body.

Prevent Insulin Resistance

Not controlling your intake of refined sugars, white breads, pastas, soft drinks and fast foods can lead to insulin resistance, which is a known contributor of inflammation and oxidative stress in the body1. Inflammation caused by poor dietary habits not only greatly increases risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, but also increases risk of cancer, including breast cancer.2

Several large human studies have found that diet plays a large role in increasing inflammation and the risk of type 2 diabetes -- and that leads to an increased risk of cancer. The worst diets appear to be those high in fructose-sweetened soft drinks, refined grains, diet soft drinks, and processed meat and low in red wine, coffee, cruciferous vegetables, and colored vegetables.

One study found that insulin resistance even without the women being diabetic significantly increased breast cancer risk -- and this effect was even independent of body weight or body fat distribution.3 Another study of 60,000 women followed over 20 years found that being insulin resistant not only increased breast cancer risk, but increased the risk of being diagnosed with more advanced stages of cancer.4

So clearly, controlling insulin resistance is one of the most powerful ways we can reduce our breast cancer risk. For most people, this will mean eating diets that limit high glycemic index and high glycemic load foods.

Increase Levels of Protective Estrogen
As my husband Jim wrote, cabbage family vegetables which are high in sulfur compounds improve methylation in the body that helps prevent the buildup of unhealthy estrogen metabolites called 16OH. In addition to that, broccoli in particular, contains two substances, diindolyl methane (DIM) and indole-3-carbinol (I3C) that help the liver make enzymes that neutralize 16OH production.5-6

However, to achieve levels that significantly impact 16OH production, it's necessary to take it in a concentrated supplement form. Several clinical trials have demonstrated the ability of a DIM supplement to significantly increase the ratio of good to bad estrogen metabolites in as little as four weeks.7-8

Decrease Levels of Harmful Estrogen
Phytoestrogens are substances in plants that in effect, block bad estrogen metabolites from being able to exert their harmful effects. Phytoestrogens are found in many plant foods; soybeans, peas, beans, and pomegranates are foods that are particularly high in beneficial phytoestrogens. (Soybeans are a two-edged sword however, because with excessive intake they can inhibit thyroid hormone synthesis.)

Plant lignans are a type of dietary fiber found in high amounts in flaxseeds. Lignans increase something called sex hormone binding globulin, which can bind to estrogens and carry them out of the body. They also reduce levels of beta-glucuronidase, the pathogenic intestinal bacteria that prevents harmful estrogen metabolites from being eliminated. Regular inclusion of lignan-containing ground flaxseeds or flaxseed oils may help prevent breast cancer by aiding the body's elimination of excessive estrogen.

And finally, reducing your exposure to environmental estrogens (xenoestrogens) is important because they may trigger tissue proliferation much like excessive natural estrogens.9 Many pesticides are xenoestrogens, and this is the reason we recommend eating organically raised foods as much as possible. Phthalates in plastics are also xenoestrogenic, so avoid eating or drinking out of plastic containers or microwaving with plastic wraps.

References

1 Sies H, Stahl W, Sevanian A. J Nutr. 2005;135(5):969-72.
2 Schulze MB, et al. Am J Clin Nutr. 2005;82(3):675-84; quiz 714-5.
3 Bruning P et al. International J of Cancer 52 (4): 511-16.
4 Cust A, et al. J Breast Cancer Res and Treatment, July 2008.
5 Bradlow HL et al. Ann NY Acad Sci. 1996;768:180-200.
6 Bell MC, et al. Gynecol Oncol. 2000;78(2):123-129.
7 Dalessandri KM, et al. Journal of Nutrition and Cancer. 2004;50(2):161-7.
8 Wang Z, et al. Mol Cancer Ther. 2008 Feb;7(2):341-9.
9 Watson C, et al. Steroids. Feb. 2007; 72(2):124-134.

[Ed. Note: Laura B. LaValle, RD, LD is presently the director of dietetics nutrition at LaValle Metabolic Institute (formerly part of Living Longer Institute). She offers personal nutritional counseling at LMI for clients who need help with their diet in relation to illness or disease. Laura also provides educational services in the areas of health promotion, wellness, and disease prevention…..]”

X* X* X* X* X* X* X*

One of the aspects of their information and the information I posted on yesterday I find exciting is that following a health protective lifestyle protects your health in many other ways AND helps to prevent breast cancer as well.

1. Foods and supplements that support methylation are also known to slow aging, protect your heart and brain, and lower excess levels of homocysteine. These supplements include; NAC, n-acetyl cysteine, which also contains sulfur; DMG and TMG, di- and trimethly glycine; and the methyl version of B12, methylcobalamin, sold as "Brain B12." Also the supplement MSM, Methylsulfonylmethane, that is in many joint and arthritis pain supplements contains sulfur, as can be seen from its name and looks to be a methyl donor as well from the methyl in its name.

2. These 2 articles may also partly explain WHY taking 2,000 to 3,000 iu a day of vitamin D3 prevents cancer and breast cancer. Adequate vitamin D in your body tends to optimize your immune system responses and has been found to largely prevent autoimmune disorders. Since these articles say immune diseases suppress the production of your natural killer cells which kill off cancer cells, this means that taking vitamin D3 is critically important. Oddly, they don’t mention taking vitamin D3 in the article.

3. Vigorous exercise and eating lots of vegetables AND eating an adequate supply of lean protein every day and very rarely eating much of anything else and NEVER eating junk food or drinking soft drinks also tends to prevent breast cancer --as we posted about yesterday. And, since insulin resistance and high blood levels of insulin apparently help cause breast cancer; and these two actions specifically prevent or help reverse insulin resistance and reduce high insulin levels, that largely explains why these two actions help prevent breast cancer.

Taking the supplements alpha lipoic acid, chromium polynicotinate, and either eating cinnamon in your food daily or taking cinnamon supplements also tend to help your body manage insulin and blood sugars in a desirable way and may well also help.

It may also be worthwhile to eat foods that are spiced with red pepper or other hot peppers once a day. These spices have been found to reduce insulin increase after you eat.

4. Their research apparently confirms that taking the supplement DIM in addition to eating the cruciferous vegetables that contain it helps to prevent breast cancer.

5. Taking magnesium supplements or eating foods high in it so that you get at least 400 mg a day of magnesium; and taking probiotic supplements or eating yogurt with no sugar or artificial sweeteners added that contain live cultures of probiotic bacteria -- to compete with or eliminate harmful bacteria; all apparently help in allowing the healthy breakdown of estrogen which helps prevent breast cancer.

Adding the information in yesterday’s post and in today’s post, there are a LOT of things you can do that help prevent breast cancer. Many of them will also prevent other cancers or help protect your heart, brain, and overall health in other ways as well.

More news about cancer prevention....

Today's post: Tuesday, 9-23-2008

It’s not extremely common knowledge; but in healthy people very early stage cancers occur from time to time and their immune system finds them & destroys them.

What happens in cancer as a disease is either the immune system is very weak or the early stage cancer manages to disguise itself and hide from your immune system. On KCBS radio several years ago, Charles Osgood described this problem and said that if we could find a way to prevent cancers from successfully hiding from your immune system in this way, it would be an enormously important discovery. Many people who would otherwise get cancer and all the problems it causes would never get it.

It seems one way to do this HAS been found !! That’s very good news.

Last Friday, it was in the health article in the Early to Rise email I get each day.

Here’s that article.:

“This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, an e-zine dedicated to making money, improving your health and quality of life. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.”

4 Aggressive Approaches to Warding Off Cancer

By Shane "The People's Chemist" Ellison

Everyone has cancer. Johns Hopkins recently reminded us of this fact while studying how most of us beat cancer's deadly outcome: the immune system. When it identifies a cancerous cell, it attacks and eliminates it from the body. But every now and then, this system gets hoodwinked by rogue cancer cells.

Rogue cancer cells have the ability to become invisible and, therefore, overcome our immune-system defenses. This superpower of theirs helps them invade other regions of the body. Internally, we become a playground for cancerous infection and disease. Slow death ensues.

To beat rogue cancer cells, you need to eliminate their ability to become invisible to your immune system. What keeps cancer cells out of sight? Trophoblast cells. You can expose cancer for what it is by boosting your pancreatic enzymes. Pancreatic enzymes eliminate trophoblast cells and thus reveal to your "immunity radar" any underlying cancer cells for eventual eradication.

Several natural medicines that attack trophoblast cells have been identified. The most effective are flavonoids found in broccoli, whey isolate, B-17 from the apricot seed, and curcumin.

Considering their aggressive attack on invisible cancer cells, boosting pancreatic enzymes should be a daily habit for anyone who wants to ward off the everyday occurrence of cancer.

[Ed. Note: Cancer is a legitimate concern. But if you take a few simple measures, you can protect your health and live a longer, more satisfying life.

Most people are confused about what it means to be healthy... or whether those prescription drugs or supplements are REALLY good for their health. Author and organic chemist Shane Ellison can help you clear up the confusion with his Foundational Health Education program…..]”

X* X* X* X* X* X* X* X*

1. We’ve posted on eating broccoli, cauliflower, and other cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, kale, brussels sprouts, radishes, etc as being helpful in preventing cancer and that eating raw broccoli &/or cauliflower at least once a week cuts the incidence of the aggressive kind of prostate cancer in half.

This information adds yet another way that eating broccoli helps prevent cancer.

And, since broccoli is also a nonstarchy green vegetable with many other nutrients, eating it helps you to stay or get trim and is good for you in many other ways. So, we strongly recommend eating broccoli often. And, organic broccoli is more likely to be high in these nutrients than pesticide & herbicide raised, so get organic broccoli if you can.

2. We’ve also posted on taking the supplement curcumin as a possible cancer preventive. It seems that there are very few cancers in India among people who eat curry or curried foods. Curry contains turmeric which give it a yellow color. And, curcumin is the active ingredient of turmeric.

It may also help prevent heart attacks as it acts as mild “blood thinner.” But this can cause interaction problems in people who take blood thinner drugs.

In the same way, it was discovered that taking curcumin or eating curried foods helps prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

So, if you aren’t taking a blood thinning drug, taking the supplement curcumin daily and enjoying curried foods when you can look to be extremely protective.

3. B-17 from the apricot seed may not be legally available in the U.S. And, I have no data on it myself. But I’ve heard some stories that suggest it may help treat cancers not just prevent them. It’s nice that there are three other ways to make early stage cancer cells visible to your immune system. (That’s in addition to the several other effective ways to prevent cancer.)

4. Whey isolate. This one I know very little about other than that Jarrow makes an “unflavored” whey supplement that has NO Stevia & that whey is a very high quality, concentrated protein source. (There’s some question as to whether or not even more natural things that taste sweet but have no sugars are good for you to ingest. And. I personally think Stevia tastes dreadful.)

I’m not sure that whey does that much to prevent cancer. But it will help give you high quality protein. So if you like that part, it may also help prevent cancer if you take whey as a protein supplement.

So of these four, broccoli & curcumin look to be both likely to prevent cancers and be easily available to you.

Lastly, here’s a quick summary of other methods to help prevent cancer.

Avoid tobacco smoke; & if you smoke, quit. Do regular exercise because it has been proven to lower the incidence of cancer somewhat. (I’ve seen estimates that tobacco smoke causes between one third to one half of ALL cancers.)

To the maximum extent you can, avoid using herbicides and pesticides or chemical room fresheners & getting exposure to industrial chemicals.

Minimize x-ray and radiation exposure.

Taking at least 1,000 iu of vitamin D or up to 3,000 iu daily looks to be very protective against all cancers. So does taking 200 micrograms of selenium daily but NOT more than that. And, taking 30 mg a day of zinc and 2 or 3 mg a day of boron also look to be helpful.

Potentially useful cancer news....

Today's post: Friday, 4-25-2008

This story appeared last Weds.: (It has some exciting implications that were NOT in the article. We talk about those after the article.)

“Scan Detects Oxygen Levels in Tumors

WEDNESDAY, April 23 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests that scientists are close to developing a simple way to measure oxygen levels in tumors, giving doctors a heads-up about what kind of treatment is best for individual patients.

The findings fit into an emerging trend of individualized treatment for patients with cancer instead of treating people the same way, said Dr. Mark Dewhirst, a professor of radiation oncology at Duke University Medical Center.

“If successful, [the trend] will revolutionize the way that we treat cancer," said Dewhirst, who co-wrote a commentary accompanying the new study, published April 22 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.


Scientists began realizing the important role of oxygen in tumors about 50 years ago, said study co-author James Mitchell, branch chief of radiation biology at the U.S. National Cancer Institute's Center for Cancer Research. The scientists discovered that tumors with higher concentrations of oxygen were more susceptible to radiation, he said.

"Radiation damages cells by causing damage to DNA, and one particular type of damage renders the DNA molecule non-reparable," Mitchell said. But less oxygen in the tumor allows tumor cells to survive more easily by making the DNA destruction process more difficult, he said.

According to Dewhirst, the same is true for chemotherapy drugs, which also don't work as well when tumors have less oxygen.

Lower levels of oxygen create other problems, Dewhirst. "One would think at first that lack of oxygen would make tumors unhealthy and easy to kill," he said. "But actually, the opposite happens -- tumor cells that lack oxygen become more aggressive and more difficult to kill." Tumors with lower oxygen levels even spread more easily through the body, he said.

Doctors can check oxygen levels in patients by inserting a needle. But doctors can't insert needles into some patients, and. in others, it's difficult to insert the needle deep enough, Mitchell said.

In the new study, the researchers tested a scanning technique called pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance imaging and used it in tandem with magnetic resonance imaging. The study authors said they were able to successfully measure oxygen levels in tumors in mice by using the non-invasive technology.

"The imaging that is described in this study provides all of the information necessary to evaluate oxygen levels in tumors as well as to examine underlying causes for the lack of oxygen," Dewhirst said. "The fact that all of the imaging is completely non-invasive provides the ability to perform this measurement more than once, (meaning) this could be used to monitor the effectiveness of cancer therapy." “

X* X* X* X

This information strongly suggests that cancer cells either die or fail to thrive & expand as much if they get too much oxygen.

Sure, it would be nice to know how nasty a cancer is before treating it & how much hurt a treatment has put on it after you do the treatment.

The authors of this study are quite right about that.

But this seems to ignore an opening you could drive a semi through.

Why not do things that stuff your body’s cells with extra oxygen?

That might help your immune system prevent or kill off cancers in the first place or offer a way to multiply the effect of cancer treatments.

1. Specifically, if you do strength training exercises for at least a few sets where you do it until you cannot do another repetition, you will find you are out of breath. Your body then recovers in part by taking in extra oxygen.

Similarly, if you do vigorous cardio for even 8 to 24 minutes where you do periodic surges of high effort, sometimes called interval training, you will find your body feels like it is glowing afterwards & onlookers can actually see a kind of blush on your skin from the sharply increased blood flow.

Guess what?

Almost every cell in your body is experiencing extra blood flow & oxygenation.

These effects may well be a good bit of the reason why people who exercise get far fewer cancers. If cancer cells weaken with extra oxygen, these effects give your cells extra oxygen & may well give any cancer cells in your body a serious hard time.

2. It’s been known for some time that if you heat up your body before & during chemo or radiation treatments for cancer, it will kill off more cancer cells.

And, the information we reported here that taking resveratrol tends to harm cancer cells directly AND increases the kill rate of cancer treatments if you start the resveratrol well before them also shows promise.

THIS new information suggests that you may well sharply increase the kill rate of cancer treatments by using hyperbaric oxygen right before & after cancer treatments or even during them if it can be made safe to do so.

So, if you know any cancer researchers, please pass along this post.

And, please consider regular exercise of these two kinds each week if you aren’t doing them already. You may kill off some cancer cells in addition to the other LONG list of benefits you get !!

More good news on Resveratrol....

Today's post: Tuesday, 4-22-2008

Most people who follow supplement news at all have heard that taking the supplement resveratrol may well slow aging enough to add years of healthy life to your life in addition to just living longer.

And, you may have seen our post here reporting that taking resveratrol improved results for people being treated for pancreatic cancer.

I’ve quoted an article here today that has extremely good news in addition to those two things.

Resveratrol apparently helps prevent or slow cancer and prevent heart disease as well.

Here’s my summary of some of the key points in the article.:

In particular taking resveratrol reduces prostate cancer risk by 87%. That's a BIG reduction.

It apparently may prevent tumors, prevent tumor growth, & help tumors self destruct. One way this article suggests is that it promotes the growth of new blood vessels where your heart or well exercised muscles need them but turns down or prevents the growth of new blood vessels that help tumors to grow. Some of the drugs that have shown good cancer treatment effects simply prevent all new blood vessels. This does harm the cancer cells but may also have negative effects on fitness & heart health. That resveratrol has the cancer fighting effect without those negative side effects is welcome news indeed.

It also cuts triglycerides by 15 % by itself & reduces insulin resistance & prevents excessive blood clotting, small wonder it tests out as heart protective. (Each of those effects individually is heart protective. Doing them all is very impressive.) Due to its anti-aging effects, it may also lower homocysteine for even more heart protection.

Then to top it off it apparently slows aging by 30 to 40 %.

Here’s the 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.

“Switch on Your "Longevity Gene"

By Al Sears, MD

There's a new anti-aging discovery you'll want to know about...

Research - published in Nature - has uncovered a gene that can increase lifespan in laboratory animals by as much as 100 percent. Why should you care about genes in fruit flies, worms, and rats? Well, for starters, we humans carry the same gene. And we are discovering that natural substances found in certain foods have the power to activate it.

Scientists found evidence of this "longevity gene" about 20 years ago. Turns out that if you starve mice, giving them a diet with one-third fewer calories than they would like to eat, their lifespan increases by about 30 percent. Later studies revealed that this effect wasn't limited to mice: Calorie-restricted diets produced similar results in many life forms, from single-celled organisms to plants and mammals.

Very recently, scientists found an explanation for this mysterious phenomenon: a family of genes called sirtuins ("silent information regulator proteins"). Sirtuins kick in under conditions of severe stress, bringing about an evolutionarily advantageous transformation. They transmit signals to every cell in your body, and the processes that lead to cell death slow to a crawl, buying your body more time to wait out the famine until things improve.

Most people think of genetics as written in stone. You have the genes you inherited, and that's it. The discovery of sirtuins pointed to another amazing fact: Certain genes can be awakened and called upon to change your body in the course of your lifetime.

You're probably saying to yourself, "Do I have to starve myself to live longer?" Good point. The problem of how to "wake up" sleeping sirtuin genes had scientists stumped for years. They had to find some other way to flip the aging "off switch."

That's where certain foods come in... because the natural compound resveratrol has been found to unleash the anti-aging power of sirtuins. Grapes, plums, blueberries, and cranberries contain resveratrol in the highest concentrations. Many other plants produce smaller amounts.

Resveratrol's power to enhance your life goes beyond anti-aging. Years of research have shown that it combats cancer, ramps up energy levels, limits the inflammation that causes arthritis, and benefits a number of major organs, including the heart, liver, and pancreas. It also has the remarkable capacity to halt cell "malfunctions" that can be lethal, like tumor generation.

As if that weren't enough, resveratrol acts as a potent antioxidant, binding with "free radicals," the molecules that cause cell damage and lead to death over time.

The list of resveratrol's many health benefits is long indeed. Let's start with the heart.

Meet One of Your Heart's Most Potent Allies

I've been studying ways to boost heart health for 30 years, and resveratrol is one of the most powerful substances I have come across.

There are actually two kinds of resveratrol, "cis-resveratrol" and "trans-resveratrol." It's the second kind that appears to be the most beneficial.

One way it protects your heart is by preventing blood clots, a major cause of heart attack, particularly in older folks. In one study, published in the International Journal of Molecular Medicine, researchers gave healthy male subjects a blood-clotting factor along with high doses of trans-resveratrol. They found that trans-resveratrol prevented their blood platelets from sticking together. Not only does this help your heart - it also prevents strokes.

Another way it powers your heart involves a miraculous capability called "angio-genesis," a fancy term for blood vessel growth. Trans-resveratrol acts a bit like bypass surgery by creating new blood vessels to deliver more oxygen to your heart when it's not getting enough.

Finally, trans-resveratrol drives down levels of bad fats called triglycerides. These are the fatty acids that clog your arteries. Scientists have been able to lower triglyceride levels as much as 15 percent in pre-menopausal women by using concentrated grape powder.

A Natural Cancer Fighter - and More
Resveratrol is a major weapon in the battle against cancer - in both men and women.

Someday, doctors may turn to resveratrol instead of drugs or surgery as a first-line defense and treatment for prostate cancer. In mice, it's been shown to reduce prostate cancer risk as much as 87 percent. And in those that had already developed prostate cancer, resveratrol slowed tumor growth by up to 49 percent.

For women, resveratrol may prove just as powerful in the fight against breast cancer. Another study on mice found that it slowed tumor growth and killed off cancer cells and the blood vessels they need to grow.

Resveratrol is truly amazing. It acts just like chemotherapy in mice, but naturally and without any of the horrific side effects. And while it stimulates blood vessel growth to benefit the heart, it kills the blood vessels that feed tumors. When it comes to preventing cancer and heart disease, it's your guardian angel.

Plants use resveratrol to protect themselves from the harmful effects of too much sun. It may be able to do the same thing for humans. Scientists from the University of Wisconsin looked at resveratrol's effects on skin tumor development in mice caused by harmful UVB rays. They used it just like a lotion, applying it to the skin twice weekly for 28 weeks. Not only did it prevent skin cancer; it also slowed tumor growth significantly.

Adding icing to the cake, the same study confirmed resveratrol's power to enhance overall health and vitality: It boosted the immune system, protected the nervous system, and optimized liver, muscle, and fat cell function. It also prevented diabetes and obesity by lowering insulin resistance, the main cause of Type II diabetes.

Ramp Up Your Physical Strength and Vitality
Resveratrol may also turn out to be what spinach was for Popeye. In one study, it turned mice into Mighty Mice, granting them extraordinary strength and stamina. Once fed resveratrol, they ramped up their aerobic capacity, lengthened their running time, and burned more oxygen. Researchers also noticed that resveratrol enhanced their muscles' ability to turn fuel into energy.

Resveratrol taps into your body's natural, life-giving force, unleashing vitality, energy, strength, and stamina. It can literally add years to your life.

The problem is how to get enough of it.

Nearly all the experiments I mentioned used quantities of resveratrol well beyond what you'd be able to get from drinking a lot of wine or eating plums all day. So this is a case where supplements may be a better option. They're inexpensive and safe. You can find them in health food stores or online. I recommend taking about 20 mg per day.

[Ed Note: Dr. Sears, a practicing physician and the author of PACE: Rediscover Your Native Fitness, is a leading authority on longevity, physical fitness, nutrition, and heart health. Find Dr. Sears' practical solutions and get immediate access to more than 450 of his articles by visiting: www.alsearsmd.com .] “

Resveratrol improved cancer treatment outcomes....

Today's post: Tuesday, 4-1-2008

A story entitled: “Red Wine Antioxidant Kills Pancreatic Cancer Cells” in my NewsMax email recently said that researchers at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center decided to test to see if the antioxidant resveratrol protected cancer cells in people who were treated for pancreatic cancer with radiation.

They found a strong effect but in the reverse direction.

Having the people take resveratrol supplements ahead of time to ensure their bodies had a good amount when the radiation treatments were done is reported in this study to have sharply increased the kill rate on the cancer cells.

Further, the people who took resveratrol were better able to withstand the effects of the radiation treatment than the people who took none.

“ The study was published in the March (2008) edition of the journal, Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology. “

“The research has many implications for patients, said lead author Paul Okunieff, M.D., chief of Radiation Oncology at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center.”

That this research showed such a positive effect in treating pancreatic cancer only suggests but does not prove that this effect will happen with all radiation treatments of all cancers.

But if that should prove to be the case, which I suspect it will, the implications for cancer patients are not only numerous, they are extremely important.

The two main concerns of such patients who undergo radiation treatments for cancer are:

1. Will this actually kill the cancer enough to save my life or get rid of the cancer?

2. Will the treatment kill me itself or badly impair my quality of life?

This research suggests taking resveratrol just before a cancer radiation treatment will help the answers to both these questions to be closer to the answers people would like than the answers they fear. That’s only two implications; but they are the two BIG ones for people who have cancer who are considering getting radiation treatments.

(Related implications are that in some cases less radiation or fewer exposures might kill the cancer enough to further lessen bad side effects OR that slightly more radiation or more treatments will still allow the patient to do OK but kill the cancer completely instead of partly.)

Further, if one of the triggers of cancer is that your aging immune systems stops getting rid of cancer in the early stages before its noticeable & another cancer trigger is DNA damage from aging, slowing your rate of aging will tend to prevent cancers or delay their appearance. And, there is apparently also evidence that taking resveratrol does just that.

As of now, the brand that has been tested to produce ant-aging effects is Longevinex. Other brands may work also. But that has not yet been established as far as I know.

However, if the information in the Longevinex box is accurate, it’s only a matter of time before other supplement makers make resveratrol supplements that work as well.

Be sexier & healthier two ways....

Today's post: Tuesday, 3-4-2008

As health writer & innovator Al Sears, MD says & has found in his practice to be the case, increasing testosterone in people over 40 makes them sexier – for BOTH men & women.

He reports that in such patients, people not only report being sexier but their mood & energy levels also improve.

In fact, just today I read of a study that did show that people with low testosterone were three times more likely to be depressed.

In addition, testosterone is a growth hormone that helps keep your muscles strong & helps prevent them from shrinking. That in turn helps prevent aging & getting fat from having less muscle mass.

1. One of the best ways to boost your testosterone also releases growth hormone & directly helps keep your muscles strong & helps prevent them from shrinking. In fact if you do it right & do it regularly it makes you stronger over time.

That’s doing progressive strength training. In men, regular, progressive strength training both increases muscle weight & density; and it tends to increase the size of your muscles. In women it increases muscle weight & density but produces little visible size increase.

In fact progressive strength training is itself a triple plus for being sexier & healthier – in addition to increasing your testosterone. You age more slowly; you get the benefits of exercise; & what you eat feeds muscle instead of fat.

So by doing progressive strength training regularly, you look better; you feel better; you tend to be in better health; & you feel sexier. That can really perk up your sex life.

2. Dr Sears has found that taking the supplement Tribulus increases testosterone levels in both men & women.

So if you do both progressive strength training & take tribulus, you may well boost your testosterone enough to get noticeable effects.

Some of his women patients who had hoped to improve their sex lives were so pleased that they wrote him some very positive thank you letters after following his advice & boosted their testosterone levels.

Some other health related points.:

Dr Sears has found that you can optimize the way your body processes your so it tends to prevent your body from creating a testosterone by product that causes problems – if, you also eat abundant amounts of cruciferous vegetables. This also tends to increase your “free” or effective testosterone levels.

Eating raw, uncooked broccoli & cauliflower not only does this but tends to prevent the most dangerous kind of prostate cancer. Doing this also tends to prevent most cancers, including breast & ovarian cancer in women. This is a well known effect of eating these foods.

(But it’s much less well known that the cooked versions lose this effect. They still are great for losing fat & keeping it off if they are cooked; but most of their cancer prevention ability is lost studies show. Since they may also optimize your testosterone levels uncooked, we suggest eating them that way.)

Watercress is a cruciferous vegetable also. And, it studies show that eating it raw protects your DNA so well it not only prevents cancer, it tends to slow aging. Try it salads or on sandwiches if you eat them.

Do you like spicy foods sometimes? Horseradish is a cruciferous vegetable as well. And, it’s so concentrated that using enough to spice up a glass of tomato juice or other food is almost like eating a serving of broccoli.

In addition, another way to prevent cancer & keep your testosterone safe and effective for you is to eat foods or take supplements with lycopene.

There is some evidence this prevents cancers. It may help prevent heart disease. And, last Friday, 2-29-2008, the TotalHealthBreakthroughs.com article published research that it tends to prevent or improve BPH in men also. This strongly suggests that it helps keep your testosterone safe and effective in addition to helping prevent cancer.

(My belief is that it very likely has comparable effects for women although I know of no direct studies of this as yet.)

Fresh tomatoes are a decent source of lycopene. They have some heart protective qualities & vitamin C. And they are a nonstarchy vegetable that can help you lose fat or take it off.

But if they are made into juice or cooked or cooked into a tomato sauce & then eaten with health OK fats like extra virgin olive oil, they are a SUPERB source of lycopene. This both concentrates the lycopene & makes it more bioavailable.

You can also get lycopene as a supplement. Taking 2 or 3 of the 10 mg capsules a day is another way to get lycopene that works.

Prevent cancer with raw broccoli -- NOT cooked....

Today's post: Tuesday, 12-11-2007

Recently, I read a very important online news article that once again showed data that made it clear that eating broccoli & cauliflower and the other cruciferous vegetables DOES prevent cancer.

And, when you add to that the other information that eating broccoli or cauliflower even as little as once a week cuts the chances of developing the most dangerous form of prostate cancer about in half, you realize that these foods are unusually valuable in preventing the kinds of cancer you want very much to avoid.

(This effect is so strong, I suspect that it will be found to provide similar protection against breast, ovarian, & other forms of cancer.)

BUT, the news article went on to say that their findings of protection were ONLY true for RAW broccoli & cauliflower. The cooked versions did NOT show as preventing cancer.

So, since I’ve been eating cooked, frozen broccoli almost every day with my dinner, partly as a way to lose excess fat, WHICH IT DID DO SUCCESSFULLY, I had thought I was also getting broccoli’s famous cancer prevention.

This research suggests I have not been getting much cancer prevention, if any.

So, I have now started to add some raw broccoli & cauliflower florets to my cooked broccoli, since I very much want the cancer protection.

Since this is NOT widely known as far as I know, I thought it important to let you know about it right away.

Ways to prevent cancer....

Today's post: Monday, 12-10-2007

Mercifully, the list of things you can do to prevent cancer is LONG.

Here are just a few.

1. Don’t smoke. And, if you smoke now quit. Also, stay away from second hand smoke as completely as you possibly can.

This is the number one thing to do. Here’s why:

Half of all cancers are caused smoking from the evidence I’ve seen.

(Smoking is even WORSE for producing heart attacks, strokes, & other cardiovascular disease, by the way.

Some smokers don’t get cancer; but ALL smokers, even young ones, damage their blood vessels & start getting heart disease & extra plaque in their blood vessels. )

Doctors now can help with a drug, Varenicline, that has a very strong track record of helping smokers quit. And, the American Cancer Society or your doctor or health plan may be able to find you a good support group. For those who fail at quitting cold turkey on their own, both of these methods dramatically increase your chances of success.

My suggestion is to do BOTH if you have tried to quit on your own & failed. Why not hammer the deadly addiction to start with?

What if you still haven’t quit?

Believe it or not, you can get some protection against cancer, maybe as high as
50 %, possibly even more, by ALWAYS lighting up with a match. And, NEVER use a cigarette lighter. The much hotter flame of the lighter produces really frightening & harmful short lived compounds while the cooler flame of a match produces less of the different compounds & MUCH less of the ones it does produce.

2. Also, avoid herbicides, room fresheners, & most pesticides in your home, yard, & garden. There’s evidence that these are more carcinogenic than is generally known.

3. You can eat cabbage as coleslaw; cauliflower florets, &/or broccoli each week as these foods have so many & so much cancer preventers, they will cut your risk of cancer & even better, the more deadly forms of cancer about in half. (Other cruciferous vegetables like brussels sprouts, kale, & horse radish also work.)

Eating such vegetables also helps prevent fat gain & enable permanent fat loss if you do enough of it most days.

4. Get regular exercise. Doing so cuts your risk of dying from all causes by fifty percent or more. And, if you do enough exercise without overworking yourself, it apparently boosts your immune system & slows aging enough, it also helps prevent cancer.

5. Eat nuts; beans; nonfat & very low fat dairy foods; lightly cooked wild caught salmon & other health OK seafood; & eggs that have been boiled, poached, or lightly fried in extra virgin olive oil -- instead of fatty meats for 95 to 99 % of your protein.

Even though eating organic produce is really good for you as it has fewer herbicides & pesticides or none, or none AND it is more nutritious besides.

Did you know that following this step of minimizing excess animal fats is about ten times more powerful in reducing your exposure to herbicides & pesticides than eating only organic produce?

Here’s why? It’s actually quite simple. The animals bioconcentrate the herbicides & pesticides so much in their fat, that eating their fat is something you should limit to rare occasions due to the exposure it gives you to herbicides & pesticides.

It also helps prevent strokes, heart attacks & high blood pressure. Not bad.

6. Make meats with nitrates added very rare in your diet. Once a month total or less is what to aim for. In this group are hot dogs, bacon, sausage, & virtually all packaged ham & other packaged, sliced, lunch meats.

7. Make barbecued fatty meats very rare in your diet also. Cooking fatty meats at high temperatures does similar things to them that lighting cigarettes with a lighter does. You get a MUCH larger dose of carcinogenic compounds.

8. Take antioxidant supplements like vitamin C, natural vitamin E including other tocopherols besides the alpha form,* & selenium. (*Gamma tocopherol apparently helps prevent prostate cancer, for example.)

9. Eat plenty of orange & green vegetables high in carotenoids. This includes carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, & broccoli, in which the green color prevents you from seeing the orange of the carotenoids. Many kinds of salad greens are similarly high in carotenoids.

Do all these things & your chances of escaping cancer skyrocket.

Why not try some or all of them?

Lung cancer kills some smokers; but this harms ALL smokers….

Today's post: Monday, 8-27-2007

Do you smoke or does someone you care about smoke?

Most doctors know the most important reason that not smoking or quitting smoking protects your health. They do know the most important reason to NOT smoke or be around second hand smoke.

Here’s the horrible bad news: Most smokers DON’T know.

The 1964 report that smoking does tend to cause lung cancer is well known. So most smokers have heard that cigarettes are thought to cause lung cancer.

But most people who develop lung cancer are older people. And, the majority of smokers don’t get or die of lung cancer.

Most smokers know that they don’t seem to have lung cancer. The people they know who smoke don’t either. And, they know or have heard of smokers who never got lung cancer even by the time they are older.

So, since that tends to be ALL they know, they just expect to be in the lucky majority who avoid lung cancer & don’t take the health warnings seriously.

Unfortunately, when they do find out the much more important dangers of smoking and that they hurt ALL smokers – for sure including them, they find out when the damage is already done.

Sometimes they find out before the damage is irreversible. Too often they find out when they are irreversibly impaired or even dying.

So, what is it that they don’t know?

Earlier today we went online with our new website, http://www.iehealth.com/ which is centered around the health guidelines to follow to ensure you keep good health or which can help you restore your health.

One of the guidelines we discuss there is the recommendation that people NOT smoke as a health guideline.

Our take is that is a good guideline & is an accurate one. But that it is weak & ineffective for helping people keep good health.

Here’s what we recommend instead
-- & the HUGE reason NOT to smoke most smokers don’t know.:

“No smoking” in some ways is the single most important item on their list.

But it’s incomplete. Breathing second hand smoke is very nearly as bad for you. And, for the unlucky few, it can even be worse because the exposure is greater. (A bartender in a bar where all the patrons smoke can be exposed to 3 packs a day of cigarette smoke without ever smoking himself or herself.)

No smoking or exposure to second hand smoke – is a MUCH better guideline.

Secondly, most smokers have no clue WHY smoking is bad for you or how HORRIBLY bad for you it actually is.

So, I think many smokers will only follow that guideline if they do know this information.

Most smokers today only know that some smokers get lung cancer. And, particularly if they are younger, they may know no one in their circle of friends & acquaintances who smokes who has lung cancer. So, since that’s all they know, they just count on continuing to be one of the lucky smokers who don’t get lung cancer & continue to smoke.

Here’s what they don’t know.:

1. Smoking helps cause virtually EVERY KIND of cancer. Not just lung cancer. By one estimate, sixty percent of all people who have cancer now are smokers who would not have gotten cancer if they hadn’t smoked.

2. But that’s NOT the most important harm smoking does. Believe it or not, all the cancers smoking causes are the little problem !!

The big problem with smoking is that it directly causes heart & cardiovascular disease & speeds up the aging process.

Smoking INCREASES your homocysteine level; reduces your HDL level; & makes the HDL you still have less effective at clearing out excess LDL from your blood vessels.

The only good news is that instead of waiting many years to find out too late that smoking has caused cancer or a massive fatal heart attack, smokers today can have their HDL & homocysteine levels checked. Then they can see for themselves that smoking is beginning to harm them RIGHT NOW. And, it’s NOT guesswork. Their high homocysteine level will show them the proof NOW.

By the way, the cardiovascular diseases that cigarettes cause include erectile dysfunction, strokes, peripheral artery disease, foot amputations from peripheral artery disease, & kidney disease – NOT just heart attacks. And, smoking causes plenty of heart attacks.

Most smokers would decline to get on a jumbo jet they knew was going to fall out of the sky and crash.

But hardly any know that as smokers they are already following a path as deadly & over 100 times more likely to happen every year just from the cardiovascular diseases smoking causes.

So the third missing part of this guideline is to see to it that:

everyone knows ALL of why smoking is bad for you & has their homocysteine & HDL levels checked at least once a year.”

What should those numbers be to ensure good health?

Here’s what we posted on http://www.iehealth.com/ :

“These guidelines leave out homocysteine of 8.9 or less & HDL of over 40.

(Ideal homocysteine readings range from about 6.0 to 7.9; & HDL readings of over 60 are highly desirable with over 80 close to ideal.)

For many if not most people these two measures are much more important in assessing heart attack risk, death risks, & longevity than the LDL they did include. And, homocysteine of 9.0 & up is predictive of age related mental decline also. In addition, there are effective ways to improve your results on both measures.)“

*************

Doctors used to think that homocysteine readings of equal to or somewhat over 10.0 & was normal because so many people tested that way.

Unfortunately some still do. Mercifully, research shows that readings of over 9.0 are harmful. And, many doctors who know this work hard with their patients to bring these readings down to 8.9 or lower.

For people who don’t smoke & avoid second hand smoke, that’s doable.

Smokers tend to have much higher homocysteine readings. And, it’s unlikely that they can lower their homocysteine levels this much if they don’t quit & stay away from second hand smoke.


So, if you smoke, get your homocysteine & HDL checked.

And, talk to your doctor about quitting or a referral to a doctor who specializes in quitting.

Doctors now have several ways to make quitting easier & much more likely to work permanently. You can more than triple your odds with your doctor's help.

Or go to the American Cancer Society for information & support in quitting. They care & have helped thousands of people to quit.

Warning: Soft Drinks May Seriously Harm You….

Welcome to our health & self help blog.

Focus on Your Health:

In it we post health commentary & reviews of books, eBooks, & other things that improve or protect your health or which enable you to live longer, to be more prosperous, & to be more effective. We do posts on staying healthy; preventing disease; aging more slowly; weight loss; exercise; nutrition; & news in medicine.

Today's post: Monday, 6-4-2007

Warning: Soft Drinks May Seriously Harm You….

(This headline was in a recent NewsMax.com email from their Health Alerts email newsletter. See below for more info on them & how to subscribe if you like.)

And, this is in addition to the fact that drinking either regular or diet soft drinks will make you fat if you do it more than a few months & drink them more than a handful of times a month. (Most people who drink soft drinks at all drink more than that each week. And, many drink that many each day.)

Here is their article:

“Warning: Soft Drinks May Seriously Harm You

You may want to think twice before you sip another soft drink: research reported in the UK's Independent newspaper says a common preservative used in fizzy drinks can switch off essential parts of DNA. The preservative may bring on premature aging and trigger diseases associated with old age.

The problem preservative is sodium benzoate, commonly used for many years by the $160 billion worldwide soft drink industry. Sodium benzoate, derived from benzoic acid, prevents mold in drinks like Coca-Cola, Oasis, Dr. Pepper, etc., and is also used in pickles and sauces.

Alarm bells have already been ringing about it, because it's been discovered that when it's mixed with vitamin C in soft drinks, it creates the carcinogenic substance benzene. Now UK Professor Peter Piper of Sheffield University has sounded an even louder alarm — his experiments show that benzoate damages DNA in the energy-producing mitochondria of cells.

"These chemicals have the ability to cause severe damage to DNA in the mitochondria to the point that they totally inactivate it: they knock it out altogether," Piper said. "The mitochondria consumes the oxygen to give you energy and if you damage it — as happens in a number of diseased states — then the cell starts to malfunction very seriously. And there is a whole array of diseases that are now being tied to damage to this DNA—Parkinson's and quite a lot of neuro-degenerative diseases, but above all the whole process of ageing."

The World Health Organization, the Food Standards Agency in the UK, and the US Food and Drug Administration all say that sodium benzoate is safe. Professor Piper, however, says that FDA tests are out of date.

"The food industry will say these compounds have been tested and they are completely safe," Piper said. "By the criteria of modern safety testing, the safety tests were inadequate. Like all things, safety testing moves forward and you can conduct a much more rigorous safety test than you could 50 years ago."


Here are my comments:

This effect is many times worse than this article suggests if this information is correct.

Mitochondrial damage can make you too tired to have a decent life. It can directly cause heart failure. And, a recent discovery suggests that mitochondrial damage is one of the more significant causes of all cancers.

This means that if drinking soft drinks has this effect over time in most people, drinking soft drinks may be more dangerous than smoking if you live long enough or overdo soft drinks that much.

And, if this effect is small in most people, or doesn’t affect some people, there is no guarantee you or any particular person will be in the lucky category.

So, if you haven’t already given up soft drinks completely or cut them back to about once a month or less to save your waistline from adding fat, our suggestion is to do it to protect your health for this new reason.

It literally may save your life or make your last years healthy ones when they otherwise would have been lived in dreadful & worsening health.

***********

About the NewsMax.com Health Alerts:

They do a nice job of emailing out some health news that may be important to you.

I don’t think they are perfect. But they mostly seem to be pretty good. And, they are quite current on their health news coverage.

I’ve not bought any of the advertised health products or information in the emails. So I cannot give you any feedback on those.

However, unless you are a right-wing, conservative Republican, I do not recommend their other non-health news coverage.

If you are though, you will probably like it.

To sign up for their NewsMax.com Health Alerts (or their non-health coverage if you like), go to:

http://www.newsmax.com/emailsub.cfm

Green tea might treat cancer in combination with….

Welcome to our health & self help blog.

Focus on Your Health:

In it we post health commentary & reviews of books, eBooks, & other things that improve or protect your health or which enable you to live longer, to be more prosperous, & to be more effective.

We do posts on staying healthy; preventing disease; aging more slowly; weight loss; exercise; nutrition; & news in medicine.

Today's post: Thursday, 3-22-2007

Green tea might treat cancer in combination with….

This news item appeared recently.:

“Green tea plus painkiller slows prostate cancer Reuters via Yahoo! News - Mar 14 11:44 AM

A component of green tea combined with a low dose of a COX-2 inhibitor may act in concert to slow the spread of human prostate cancer.

In the journal Clinical Cancer Research, they report that low doses of the COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib (sold as Celebrex), given along with a green tea polyphenol slowed the growth of prostate cancer in cell cultures and in a mouse model of the disease.”

****************

This might be good news except taking Celebrex has a risk of making heart disease more likely according to other recent news.

And, green tea extracts have separately been found to kill off or slow cancer cells in similar conditions.

Plus, at least one recent study reported that drinking green tea seemed to not reduce cancer risk much -although it did reduce heart disease risk in that study. The possible explanation is that drinking tea hot may cause cancers of the digestive tract.

There may be a win-win solution to this situation that does work to slow or kill cancer cells. And, it's one that's safe from what I've read on the subject & that you have ready access to now.

Green tea extract is readily available & not very expensive from most health food stores. And, it’s easy to add just enough colder water to green tea to keep it from being too hot. (Milk works but tends to bind to the active ingredients in the tea. So it’s not a good idea to use.)

So, if you take the supplement & drink green tea at a temperature that is low enough it doesn’t cause problems, you might very well get this effect if there was a safe way to get Cox II inhibitors with it.

And, there is such a way.

Curcumin, the active ingredient in the spice turmeric which is plentiful in many curries, & its relative, the spice ginger, are both Cox II inhibitors. In addition, there is evidence that taking curcumin supplements & ginger extract supplements also tend to prevent Alzheimer’s disease & PROTECT your heart.

Would combining green tea extract with one or both of these two supplements work as a treatment for cancer?

Maybe. I suspect it may vary some with the particular cancer & other factors present in the person who has the cancer.

But, I suspect strongly the combination works to help prevent cancer in the first place.

And, the combination has other proven health benefits, so it might well be worth trying.

Double good news on cancer prevention….

Welcome to our health & self help blog.

Focus on Your Health:

In it we post health commentary & reviews of books, eBooks, & other things that improve or protect your health or which enable you to live longer, to be more prosperous, & to be more effective.

We do posts on staying healthy; preventing disease; aging more slowly; weight loss; exercise; nutrition; & news in medicine.

Today's post: Tuesday, 2-27-2007

Double good news on cancer prevention….

1. There are several measurable blood markers of probable future cancer risk.

This is the first time I’ve heard of this, particularly for the measure that seems likely to be most important of the ones listed in the article I recently read.

2. Eating cruciferous vegetables sharply improves these factors. Not only is this also true for smokers, it seems to take them from worse than nonsmokers to almost as good as nonsmokers on these measures.

Altogether, this is extremely good news. It’s quite one thing to read that eating cruciferous vegetables has a track record of reducing the amount of cancer people get or slowing or stopping cancers. It’s quite another to be able to get a before & after test and see directly that it IS working for you.

That’s a good bit more motivating than eating the cruciferous vegetables & hoping they help protect you as much as they did other people.

The HSI e-newsletter I get sometimes has very useful information.

(See: Health Sciences Institute of Baltimore
Health articles and a daily email newsletter covering a variety of alternative health topics, including new research, natural treatments, and breakthroughs.
www.hsibaltimore.com )

Recently, they reported on Irish research that contains both of these news items.

At the Northern Ireland Centre for Food and Health (University of Ulster), researchers did before & after blood tests of a group of half smokers & half nonsmokers before & after adding 85 grams a day of watercress, a cruciferous vegetable, each day.

They tested for:

DNA damage to white blood cells which dropped by more than 20 percent.

Levels of lutein (an antioxidant) which increased by 100 percent.
Levels of beta-carotene (an antioxidant) which increased by one third.

And, levels of triglycerides which dropped by 10 percent.

And, they tested for other blood lipids apparently & for activity of detoxifying enzymes.

The first biomarker listed, DNA damage to while blood cells is extremely important. Ian Rowland, the lead researcher said that blood cell DNA damage is an indicator of whole body cancer risk.

It’s also worth noting that these measures are also good for measuring your likely rate of aging. And, since antioxidants also help prevent heart disease by reducing the oxidation of blood lipids – particularly LDL, these tests also indicate heart disease risk to some degree.

The levels of these tests were much worse in smokers before the trial & post test though that may be in part because they also had previously eaten a less health-enhancing diet I suspect.

The good news is that eating the watercress boosted their blood levels on these tests by an even greater percentage than they were boosted in the nonsmokers. And, that was most true for boosting the antioxidants.

The HSI article also listed almost all the different cruciferous vegetables.

I’ll do a post on that next time. I’ve very rarely eaten many of them & never eaten some of them. But I’ll include some tips on eating the ones I do know something about.