Fatty Meats Bad for Breasts
Obese women who ate a lot of animal fat and protein had the highest risk of breast cancer in a study in Hawaii. Epidemiologists from the University of Hawaii asked 272 postmenopausal women who had been treated for breast tumors how often they ate 43 foods in a usual week. They compared their answers with those of 296 women who lived in the same area but were cancer-free.
When the numbrrs were analyzed, the researchers found the most significant association between breast cancer and eating sausage, especially in obese women. The risk was also higher for obese women who generally ate a lot of meat, including processed cold cuts, beef, lamb and whole milk dairy products. --Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, May-June 1992
Other research confirms these findings: A study from Uruguay, South America, where people eat lots of meat, found that women who ate the most meat had over 3 times the risk of breast cancer as those eating the least. Women eating the most red meat had 4 times the risk. And fried meat was the absolute worst--the top consumers had 5 times the risk of this form of cancer. --International Journal of Epidemiology, January 26, 1996
And other studies show that cheese was associated with a 43% increase of breast cancer. Indeed, S.D.A. vegetarian women who eat lots of dairy products have about the same rate of this cancer as do Americans in general. The fat in these products, as well as various estrogens, other chemical contaminants and growth-promoting substances are suspected villains. --Good Medicine, Winter 1997, Vol. 6, No. 1
On the other hand, study after study indicates the ultra diet for healthy breast is one that includes plenty of antioxidant rich fresh fruits and vegetables. While all fruits and vegetables are superstars in preventing disease, some deserve top billing against breast cancer.
Deeply colored fruits and veggies--green, yellow, orange and red--with the rich stores of beta and other carotenes, folate and phytochemicals are especially protective.
Compounds in oranges, grapefruit and tangerines can help stop breast cancer cell growth. --Nutrition and Cancer, Vol. 26, No. 2, 1996. Nor should the crucifer family be overlooked--cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels sprouts...High fiber whole grains should be included as well as soy products, chickpeas, lentils, limas and the many varieties of other beans. "If we halve our fat consumption and double our fiber intake, you could predict up to 50% less breast cancer in this country," according to Leonard Cohen, Ph.D., cell biologist at the American Health Foundation in New York. --Prevention, May 1992
Many studies have shown that the antioxidant vitamins and minerals--including vitamins A,C,E and selenium--are most clearly identified with breast cancer protection. These nutrients as found in fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains and supplements, protect the body against harmful free radicals that attack cell membranes and damage DNA. Women with low selenium and vitamin E levels (they work best together) had 10 times greater risk of developing breast cancer. --Let's Live, February 1991. Indeed, Nobel laureate, Linus Pauling's research showed that patients with cancers of the breast, ovaries, uterus and cervix had a life expectancy 20 times longer when they took vitamins and minerals. --Let's Live, March 1994. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), a vitamin-like substance with antioxidant properties, involved in energy metabolism, is likewise beneficial in protecting the breast.
Garlic has been shown to stop human breast cells from becoming cancerous. This according to researchers at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center can be accompolished by eating 1/2 to one clove several times a week. Other researchers found all garlic--raw, cooked, powder, extract or capsules--equally effective in this process.
"Breast cancer is essentially a dietary disease, just as lung cancer is essentially a smoking-related disease," says Robert Kradjian, MD., a breast surgeon for nearly 30 years and author of "Save Yourself From Breast Cancer." "If you want to avoid breast cancer, then learn to live like billions of women on this earth who will avoid the disease. Eat as the women in protected countries do--a diet high in protective vegetables, fruits and fiber--a plant based diet." --EarthSave, Winter, 1996/7, vol. 7, No. 4.
Physical activity (exercise) rounds out a complete program of breast cancer prevention. Women who exercise at least 4 hours a week or have physically demanding jobs, have a significantly reduced risk of breast cancer, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, May 1, 1997. This in agreement with other studies showing that physically active women fare better in avoiding various cancers.
[This message has been edited by Suzanne Sutton (edited 05-18-2000).]