Improve Diet and Lower Cancer Risks

Written by Sara Berg - July 24, 2008

One and Three Americans develop cancer.  The most prevalent cancer is skin cancer.  The next most popular cancers in the US are lung, breast/prostate and colon cancer.  An astonishing 70% of cancers are related to diet, many therefore are preventable.

The biological process of cancer development is a multistage process.  Most cancers go through a three stage process which includes initiation, promotion and progression.   Initiation is characterized by a process called transformation in which chemicals interaction with cell DNA.  Transformation occurs rapidly but cells may lie dormant for a variable period of time, until activated by a promoting agent.  The Promotion stage is declared when initiated cells multiply and form a discrete tumor.  Progression is declared when cells change from a low grade malignancy to a rapidly invading, metastasizing tumor.  Unfortunately most cancers are diagnosed at this stage.

We would much rather prevent cancer with nutrition and smart life choices than try and treat cancer with nutrition. When do you want to alter your diet to affect the carcinogenesis process?  Since cancer can be a hard battle to fight, it is truly beneficial to start changing your diet now. 

The National Cancer Institution recomends the following strategies to prevent cancer:

• Eat cruciferous vegetables frequently (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts) as they are rich in phytochemicals.
• Eat fruits and vegetables high in vitamins A and C (antioxidants)
• Limit the use of salt-cured, smoked and charcoal-broiled foods (these foods create initiators and promoters)
  Antioxidants and Minerals
• Vitamin C: Dose 1000-3000 mg/day to decrease incident of gastrointestinal and genitourinary cancers
• Vitamin E (alpha tocoperal): Dose 400 mg/day to decrease prostate cancer, Vitamin E (gamma tocoperal): Dose 400 mg/day to decrease colon cancer.
• Selenium: Dose 200-400ug/day to decrease incident of breast, bladder, prostate, ovarian and lung cancers.
• Folate has been shown to greatly reduce the occurrence of colon cancer in men and women and affect cervical and breast cancer.  Dose: 5-10 mg/day
• Specific phytochemicals, such as lycopene and prostate cancer. Dose 15 mg/day
• Calcium decreases growth of abnormal colonocytes, precancerous colon cells returned to normal state. Dose: 1500 mg/day
• Dietary fiber:  Helps binds minerals and decreases incident of colon and rectal cancers.  Fiber also has a synergistic effect with what else is in other foods. Dose: 25-35g/day
• Indol-3-carbonal (I3C), found in broccoli decreases risk of estrogen based cancers, such as cervical, breast, and uterine.

Diet Considerations:

• Dietary lipids: Dietary fats affect hormones.  The right fats can shunt biochemical pathways to create preventative states or increase cancer risk.  Omega 3 fatty acids, specifically EPA/DHA aid in the prevention of prostate cancer, decrease the incident of breast cancer and is preventative in all cancers.  These are found in deep sea fish or supplemented.  Dose : 5g/day.
• Flax was shown to decrease PSA levels in men and slow the progression of prostate and breast cancers.  Dose:  flax, 30g/day,ground up, soy 2-3 servings/day.
• Fruits and Veggies: Protective against the incidence of cancer, which may be due to the anticarcinogenic agents (phytochemicals).  Dose: 5 servings per day, but the more you eat the more benefits.
  Low fat dairy and foods rich in calcium is recommended.  Focusing on milk and yogurt adding the difference with a calcium supplement to get 1500mg/day.
• Plant estrogens: Three families including isoflavones (soy), igans (flax) and coumestans (rye).  Women who consumed soy had decreased incidence of cancers.
  

Avoid these cancer causing substances:

• Saccharin- increased risk of cancer in animals.
• Aspartame- thought to be safe until just recently, increased risk of brain cancer.
• Nitrates, Nitrites, Nitrosamines- (preservatives)  These preservatives are found in well water, from run off, salted, pickled and cured foods (spam, lunch meats, beef jerky).  They are potent carcinogens in animals and have been shown to cause gastric cancer in the Asian diet.  It is recommended to decrease consumption of these foods and to check your water source if you live in the country.
• Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Heterocyclic Aromatic Amines- these are carcinogenic substances formed by the combustion of carbon based foods and pyrolysis of proteins, this occurs during charcoal broiling, frying and smoking of meats.  (Can form on fish, but is more likely with beef, especially fatty beef).  Recommendation is to cook meats at lower temperatures & consume less.
• Aflatoxin- a mold by-product found on cereal grains and peanuts.  This can cause liver and gastric cancers.  Recommendation is to keep these products for shorter periods of time.  (Organic products are more prone to this because of no preservatives.
• Benzopyrene- a by-product of charcoal-broiled foods, especially meats, formed from the smoke from high temperatures.  Stomach and intestinal cancers are likely, therefore cook meats at lower temperatures longer.

Wellness of Boulder reccomends you seek consult from your phsysician if you have any serious health concerns.