Anyone who hasn’t realized that cancer is basically a disease of nutrition, just isn’t reading the right journals! Native peoples on their traditional diets just never get cancer.
Now an article published online on September 6, 2011 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, reports that a certain type of plant intake, lignans, is associated with better outcomes fro breast cancer.
OK, it’s a bit more pharmacology than nutrition, granted. But the fact is you can east differently and score well against your cancer.
Ligans are plant substances that mimic estrogens; they are often called phytoestrogens, from the Greek: phyto- meaning leaf. Lignans are found in flax and other seeds, wheat and vegetables. Lignans are converted in the colon to enterolactone, which is then absorbed into the bloodstream.
Basically, in this study, German researchers found that high serum levels of enterolactone, a biomarker of lignan intake, are associated with a significantly greater chance of surviving postmenopausal breast cancer in comparison with having low levels.
Serum enterolactone levels were measured in blood samples obtained between 2002 to 2005 from 1,140 postmenopausal women with breast cancer. Incidences of tumor metastasis or patient death were documented over a 6.1 year median follow-up period.
Women whose enterolactone levels were among the top 25 percent of participants had a 42 percent lower risk of dying over follow-up compared to those whose levels were among the lowest fourth. Subjects whose lignan intake was highest experienced a similarly reduced risk of undergoing metastasis.
Interestingly, and perhaps surprisingly, this study showed that the benefits were NOT confined to estrogen-sensitive tumors, as you would expect, but benefitted the non-hormonal class also.
Make sure you eat a diet that is rich in wholemeal products, seeds and vegetables. That way you’ll be getting plenty of lignans and plenty of other benefits too.
Dr Mumby, I have a very important question to ask you which is sort of between living and dying. What would be the the most nutrient dense foods one can eat so that this can almost or completely replace taking additional supplements with it? Due to the economy and my lack of financial stability, I just don’t have the luxuries to buy all the supplements that I need which I take with my foods. Furthermore since the FDA may be limiting our resources for many or all of the supplements that I have been taking with my food (which made me feel so great all the time!!!), can you provide a smart list of the most highly nutritionally dense foods that could take the place of many or most of the supplements that I generally need? For one example, I usually eat cooked liver and onions once a week to get lots of my B12, CoQ10 and many of the amino acids and other fat soluble vitamins. I also eat 3 to 4 poached eggs every morning and some days with slow cooked oatmeal with raisins, chopped apples and cinnamin and as far as I know, I am not allergic or sensitive to any of these foods. Please comment if you can and perhaps other people can also be helped who may read your advise to this as well. Thank you.