Fight Breast Cancer Risk With Healthy Food And Lifestyle

Ask any American woman what disease she fears the most and her answer will most likely be breast cancer. And for good reason. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in U.S. women. Last year 215,990 women were told they had invasive breast cancer and 40,110 lives were claimed by it. At any given time, two to three million women in this country are living with this disease. The treatments for breast cancer can be horrendous and are often feared more than the disease itself. I know because I’m a plastic surgeon who specialized in the difficult challenge of trying to reconstruct the devastating damage left behind by those treatments.

When my own mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and died from it in 1994, my life changed forever. I vowed to go after her killer. I wanted to find out if this deadly disease could be stopped before it ever started so that other women, including myself, could be spared from the same fate. Why is breast cancer an epidemic in the country? What stimulates and accelerates its growth? Is there anything women can do to dramatically lower their risk? I dove into the medical literature for the answers and after reviewing hundreds of studies, I surfaced with them.

The American diet and lifestyle spells disaster
It should come as no surprise that the American diet and lifestyle are a recipe for breast cancer. Epidemiological studies clearly point the finger at our culture as the principal culprit. For instance, women in Asia have a much lower incidence of breast cancer—at least 6 times lower than women in American. If an Asian woman moves to the United States and adopts our diet and lifestyle, within one generation her risk will match that of an American woman.

So what are we doing that makes our risk so high? Lots. Let’s take a close look at the hallmark American meal, fast food, of course: the burger, soda or milkshake and fries. Research shows that frequent consumption of red meat increases breast cancer risky by 220 percent to 770 percent. Women who eat the most well-done and grilled red meats have a 400 percent higher incidence.

Scientists have identified several properties in red meat that contribute to its carcinogenicity. One is "heterocyclic amines," or the new carcinogens formed during a high-heat cooking process. Another are saturated animal fats found in red meat or conventionally-produced whole dairy products such as milkshakes that can store cancer-promoting environmental chemicals and growth factors. A study published in the Annals of New York Academy of Science in 1990 illuminates the large impact that these chemicals can have on the risk of breast cancer. The study reported that milk from cows during the 1970s in Israel (a country where incidence of breast cancer was twice that in the U.S. at that time) had 50 to 100 times greater amounts of chemicals, such as DDT and benzene hexachloride, than that found in American cow’s milk. After these chemicals were banned, their concentration in cow’s milk dropped by 98 percent within a few short years and the incidence of breast cancer in young women dropped by 30 percent.
Growth hormones pose another danger. Conventionally raised cattle in the U.S. are routinely injected with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH).  In response to rBGH, the cow’s bodies release large amounts of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), an extraordinary potent stimulator of, not only breast cancer, but also prostate cancer. Women with the highest levels of IGF-1 have 700 percent increased risk of breast cancer and men with the highest levels have a 400 percent increased risk of prostate cancer.
Saturated animal fats also cause our cells to become more insulin resistant. As a result, insulin—a hormone that speeds up the growth of cancer—tends to stay at higher serum levels. 

Fast foods: It’s not just the burgers that batter breast health
The refined carbohydrate white buns served with the burgers and the giant-sized sugar-laden soft drinks or milk shakes to help chase them down cause blood sugar levels to soar and the pancreas to crank out excessive insulin. Both of these physiologic conditions are dangerous when it comes to breast cancer.

Sugar is the preferred food for cancer. The more one eats of it, the faster cancer will grow. In a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention in August 2004, women who ate high carbohydrate diets had twice the risk of breast cancer. Because insulin is a growth factor for cancer, women with consistently elevated levels of it are at much greater risk. A 1998 study found that women with the highest insulin levels were 283 percent more likely to get breast cancer.

And that side order of fries or a bag of potato chips? It’s laden with omega-6s, trans fats, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats that jump start the production of inflammation and oxygen-free radicals, both of which are key factors that fuel cancer as well as most other chronic disorders, including heart disease. And if you think a glass of red wine might undo some of the damage, then think again. Research shows a direct linear relationship between alcohol and breast cancer. One drink a day increases the risk by 11 percent, two drinks by 22 percent to 40 percent and three drinks by 33 to 70 percent. 

Plant medicine
Besides avoiding all of these health-destroying foods and habits, there are many additional ways to dramatically lower the risk of breast cancer. Favoring a plant-based diet is one of the most important. Vegetarians have about half the incidence of breast cancer. Plants are packed with nutrients, vitamins and minerals that promote and protect health, especially organic fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Plants also contain hundreds of plant chemicals or phytochemicals that act as "natural" medicines. For instance, cruciferous vegetables, which include more than a dozen vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and kale, contain several chemicals with specific actions against breast cancer.

Indole 3-carbinol (or DIM in supplement form), a phytochemical found in large amounts in these vegetables, inhibits cyclin-dependent kinase-2, a key enzyme needed for breast cancer growth; makes the estrogen receptor in the breast less sensitive to estrogen; blocks the estrogen receptor (ER) similar to the anticancer drug Tamoxifen; creates more 2-OH estrone (a "good" type of estrogen) and less 16-OH estrone (a "bad" or cancer-promoting type of estrogen); turns on a "tumor-suppression" gene increases the activity of phase-2 liver enzymes, which makes our liver more effective at eliminating toxins and excess estrogen; decreases the ability of tumors cells to stick together (a quality necessary for tumors to grow); prevents tumors from spreading to other areas of the body; and invading into surrounding tissues and causes breast cancer cells to die.

Other plants that provide extraordinary cancer defense
Green tea provides a stellar defense against almost a dozen types of cancer, including breast cancer due to the many different health-protecting substances it contains, especially potent antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. Japanese researchers found that women who regularly drink green tea have a much lower incidence of breast cancer. Tea drinkers who develop breast cancer are much more likely to survive their disease than non-tea drinkers.
Studies reveal many specific reasons why green tea is such an excellent safeguard against breast cancer. For instance, green tea decreases the production of estradiol, the most abundant and potent form of natural estrogen and the one most associated with an increased risk of breast cancer in the body and increases the number of binding-proteins in the blood thus decreasing total free estrogen. Estrogen binds to certain proteins in the blood and then can’t bind to estrogen receptors in the breast. Only unbound "free" estrogen adds to the risk of breast cancer. For women who are diagnosed with breast cancer, green tea reduces the risk of metastasis and recurrences by inhibiting vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a growth factor needed to stimulate new blood vessel growth into tumors (tumors constantly need new blood vessels to grow larger) and by enhancing the effectiveness of chemotherapy and protecting against its damaging effects.

When it comes to actions that combat breast cancer, it would be hard to find a plant that surpasses those found in the Indian cooking spice turmeric. Here is a list of some of turmeric’s astounding anticancer properties.

Important lifestyle factors
In addition to foods and supplements, certain lifestyle choices also have profound effects on the risk of breast cancer. Going to bed by 10 p.m. and getting up by 6 a.m. enhances normal hormonal fluctuations, particularly of melatonin. Melatonin, also known as the sleep hormone, is a potent antioxidant and decreases the production of estrogen as well as several other breast-cancer growth factors. Women who work all night and sleep all day have the lowest levels of melatonin and consequently a 50 percent higher incidence of breast cancer.

Daily exercise can cut the risk of breast cancer by 20 percent to 50 percent. Even a brisk half-hour walk a day can significantly reduce the risk of dying in women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer according to a study published May 25, 2005, in Journal of the American Medical Association.

In most cases, breast cancer is not due to bad luck or bad genes. That’s good news. It means that we have the power to drastically lower our chances of developing this deadly disease. By simply avoiding foods and activities that research shows increases the risk and favoring the ones that protect against it, we can tip the odds in our favor.

Christine Horner, M.D., is a board certified and nationally recognized surgeon, author, professional speaker and a relentless champion for women's health. She spearheaded legislation in the 1990s that mandated insurance companies pay for breast reconstruction following a mastectomy. She is the author of the new book, Waking the Warrior Goddess: Dr. Christine Horner’s program to protect against and fight breast cancer.

For more information, go to www.protectivebreast.com and drchristinehorner.com

Source:
By Christine Horner, M.D.