Breast Health Tip #1- Omega-3 fatty acids

Eating proper amounts of certain types of fats called "omega-3 fatty acid reduces your risk of breast cancer and if you have breast cancer, they will help you fight your disease. Omega-3's have four main benefits: they decrease the strength of estrogen in the breast tissue, quell the cancer-promoting fires of chronic inflammation, cause breast tumors to shrink in size and prevent them from metastasizing or spreading. Women with the highest amount of omega-3 fatty acids in their bodies, have a 500% lower incidence of metastasis compared to women with the lowest levels of omega -3's.

With the enormous media attention on the health perils of high fat diets, and the ensuing low-fat food craze, you might think eating any type of fat is bad. Wrong. The truth is our bodies need fat to function properly. For instance, every cell in our body has a membrane that is primarily composed of fat. Without proper amounts of fat in our diet, our cells are unable to function optimally. Another example: All the nerve cells in our body, including those in the brain, are coated with fat. It is this fat that allows electrical impulses to travel through nerve cells. If there is a problem with this fatty sheath, as in multiple sclerosis, the ability of nerve impulses to conduct is severely impaired and consequentially, so is our ability to move and think. Fat also provides structural insulation for our body, and protects it from trauma.

Researchers have found our body functions best when we eat a ratio of omega-3 fatty acids to omega-6 fatty acids in the range of 1 to 4. Omega-3 fatty acids, in general, are the most health-promoting type of fat you can eat. They reduce your risk of heart disease, inflammatory conditions (especially arthritis and skin conditions like psoriasis), and of several different types of cancer, including breast cancer.

Omega-3 fatty acids protect against breast cancer in several different ways. First, they decrease the strength of estrogen in the breast tissue. This means cells won't divide as rapidly as they normally do in response to estrogen. Secondly, omega-3 fatty acids have powerful anti-inflammatory properties. Scientists have found inflammation plays a significant role in the initiation and growth of tumors. Women who take anti-inflammatory medication on an average of 3 times a week are found to have up to a 50% lower incidence of breast cancer.

Omega-3 fatty acids also help to fight breast cancer if you already have it. And does so very impressively, I might add. Research shows omega-3 fatty acids cause breast tumors to shrink in size and prevent them from metastasizing or spreading. They are so powerful in stopping the spread of tumors in the body that women with the highest amount of omega-3 fatty acids in their bodies are found to have a 500% lower incidence of metastasis compared to women with the lowest levels of omega-3's.

The best plant source of omega-3 fatty acids is flax seeds. They contain more omega-3 fatty acids than any other known edible plant. Walnuts are also a good source of omega-3 fatty acids.

Certain fish, like salmon and herring, contain significant amounts of omega-3 fatty acids. But -- and this is a big but -- we've polluted our lakes, rivers, and oceans so much, that fish is now one of the most toxic foods you can eat. Fish contains more concentrated amounts of dangerous chemicals than any other food source. If you think eating farm raised fish is safer, think again. An article published in the New York Times July 30, 2003, reported findings by the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit environmental research and advocacy group, on 10 samples of farmed salmon bought at markets on the East and West coasts. Farmed salmon accounts for 60% of all salmon eaten in the US. All the samples of fish were found to be contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls or PBCs at levels far higher than any other protein source, including all other types of seafood. PCBs are a group of industrial chemicals that the EPA recognizes as a "probable carcinogen." High levels of PCBs are also associated with learning disabilities and other nerve and reproductive disorders. They were banned from being manufactured in the 1970's, but because they don't break down easily, most of the PCB's ever made are either still in use or exist our environment somewhere.

Your safest choice is to eat organically grown flax seeds and flax oil. The recommended amounts to eat each day are 3 tablespoons of ground flax seeds and 1 or 2 tablespoon of flax oil. The best type of flax oil to purchase is fresh and organically grown. You will find it in the refrigerated section of your grocery store or health food store. It should be in a dark bottle to protect it from the light. Use the oil within 2 months from the time you purchase it. There should be an expiration date on the bottle. One of the best brands of organic flax oil and one I always use and recommend is made by Barlean's.

Breast Health Tip #2: Green Tea

Over 4,000 years ago the Chinese began brewing the leaves of a plant and drinking it as a hot beverage. They called the infusion tea. More tea is now consumed everyday by people all over the world than any other liquid -- except water. Research shows drinking tea, especially green tea, is a wise choice because green tea has been found to have many potent health benefits.

THE #1 ANTI-CANCER BEVERAGE

Research shows green tea is very effective in hampering the growth of at least 11 different types of cancer: cancers of the esophagus, stomach, colon, bladder, prostate, skin, ovaries, and breast. It also reduces the risk of leukemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and lung cancer in smokers. That’s why green tea is considered the #1 anti-cancer beverage. You may think the impact of drinking a few cups of tea each day on lowering the risk of these cancers is small. It’s not. Cancers of the digestive tract are as much as 68% lower in tea drinkers.

Part of the reason why green tea reduces the risk of so many cancers, is because it contains an exceptional blend of powerful anti-inflammatories and antioxidants. It also holds within it, the remarkable ability to amplify the power of enzymes in our liver that detoxify toxins and carcinogens. Researchers believe most of the health benefits of tea come from substances in it called “polyphenols.” There are 3 polyphenols that are considered most important: gallocatechin (GC), epigallocatechin (EGC), and epigallocatechin gallate (ECGC). Of the three, ECGC is the most potent.

LOW LOWERING THE RISK OF BREAST CANCER

Japanese researchers found that women who drink green tea have a lower risk of breast cancer, and women with breast cancer, live much longer than women who don’t drink this miraculous health tonic. For instance, women with stage 1 or 2 breast cancer, who were green tea drinkers before they were diagnosed, were found to have a much better prognosis. A 1998 study found drinking green tea lowers the risk of breast tumors metastasizing, and stops them from recurring, or coming back, after they have been treated. Several studies show the polyphenol in green tea, ECGC, inhibits the growth of breast cancer, and decreases the incidence of the cancer metastasizing to the lungs. A Japanese study of rats with mammary tumors found that 93.8% of the rats given green tea survived, compared to only 33% of the rats who weren’t given green tea. The rats that were given green tea also had smaller tumors than the other rats.

Scientists have mapped out 7 different ways that green tea combats breast cancer. This stellar brew increases the number of protein binders in the blood so that less estrogen is available to attach to receptors in the breast. It also lowers estradiol levels, and increases the number of estrogen and progesterone sensitive receptors in breast cancers found in post-menopausal women. This is important, because tumors with receptors sensitive to these hormones respond better to treatment and have a better prognosis. This extraordinary elixir also helps to block the growth of new blood vessels into the tumor -- a quality that is technically referred to as “anti-angiogenic.” If you are on chemotherapy, green tea is able to enhance the effectiveness of your chemotherapy while at the same time protecting against many of its dangerous side effects. Japanese researchers, Sugiyama and Saduka, published several studies between 1998 and 2003, showing that green tea and some of the individual components in green tea, increase the concentration of chemotherapeutic agents like doxorubicin and Adriamycin in tumors 2.1 -2.9 times, while decreasing their levels in normal tissue. The results are that when green tea in consumed while taking these chemotherapy drugs, tumors have been found to shrink more than they usual do when these pharmaceutical chemicals are given alone. In addition, the organs that are commonly damaged by these anti-cancer drugs, like the heart and liver, are protected from injury by drinking this dynamic green decoction.

MAJOR HEALTH BENEFITS

Hundreds of studies show this verdant beverage has many other impressive health benefits. Green tea decreases your risk of heart attacks and strokes by decreasing cholesterol, blood pressure, and atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. It is also superb at killing certain bacteria, especially in the bladder. It’s flair for stopping the propagation of these bladder bugs is revealed by this statistic: tea drinkers have a 40% lower incidence of urinary tract infections. Green tea is a thermogenic. Thermogenics speed up your metabolism and help you lose weight. If you’re concerned about osteoporosis, drink this healthy brew often. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in April 2000 found that women ages 65-75, who drank at least one cup of tea a day, had significantly higher bone densities than women who didn’t drink tea. Green tea also aids digestion by increasing the beneficial bacteria in our intestines and decreasing the harmful ones.

MAKING GREEN TEA

Green tea comes from the tea plant, or Camellia sinensis of the family Theacea, for you biologists. It is processed by steaming the leaves at high temperatures. When the leaves are prepared in this way, the important health-promoting substances in the tea, called polyphenols, are preserved. Remember, polyphenols are thought to be responsible for most of green tea’s health benefits. Some of these polyphenols are destroyed during the processing of black tea. This is the most probable reason why green tea has been found to have more potent medicinal properties than black tea.

To create the best tasting and highest medicinal quality cup of tea, it is recommended to steep your tea bag or loose tea in hot water for about 3-5 minutes.

HOW MUCH TO DRINK

For the maximum protection, it’s recommended to drink 8-10 cups of green tea a day. If you were wondering, green tea does have some caffeine. But there are substances in the tea that seem to modify the effects of the caffeine. Most people don’t experience the side effects of caffeine when drinking green tea. The caffeine also appears to be an important component in enhancing green tea’s anti-tumor effects. If you don’t think you can drink this much green tea each day, you can take a green tea supplement. Two 250 mg tablets a day are recommended.

THERE’S A GOOD REASON TO BUY ORGANIC

When you are selecting a green tea, it’s important to buy “organically grown” tea. As you may recall, organically grown, means that the plant was raised without synthetic chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. It also has not had its DNA genetically modified. There is a good reason to be concerned and to favor organic. A recent analysis of several brands of green tea found that they contained traces of the banned estrogenic pesticide, DDT.

Although DDT has been banned in this country for over 30 years, other countries still use it. You don’t want to drink something to reduce your risk of cancer, if it contains something that may increase your risk of cancer! Be safe and favor organically grown foods.

Breast Health Tip #3: B vitamins

THE RISK LOWERING EFFECTS OF B VITAMINS

FOLIC ACID

Folic acid (also known as folate), is a type of B vitamin that is involved in the process of making proteins. It is necessary for the successful construction and repair of DNA and for normal cell division. Without it, cells can’t divide properly and can turn cancerous. During cell division—the process our body uses to grow and renew its organs and tissues--the DNA contained in the center of each cell must replicate itself. In other words, it must make an exact copy of itself. Mistakes can, and do, happen all the time during this replication process. Certain chance mistakes can turn the messages in DNA traitorous. Instead of dispatching communications for health, it may accidentally spawn messages for cancer. Folic acid helps to protect your DNA from making the mistakes that can lead to cancer. Think of it as an automated editor. This may explain why low levels of folic acid in the body are associated with a significantly increased risk of breast cancer.

In a 1992 study from the University of Vermont, researchers found that DNA mistakes, or mutations, increase with age and cigarette smoking. They also discovered that folate helps to prevent those mutations, including mutations that increase the risk of breast cancer.

Alcohol causes folate levels to drop. Women who drink alcohol and have low folate levels seem to have a particularly high risk for developing breast cancer. Harvard University conducted a very large prospective study, called the Nurses’ Health Study, which followed 88,818 women from 1980 to 1996. A prospective study is one that follows the subjects into the future; it is considered one of the best study designs for obtaining significant and reliable information. This study found that the women, who had the highest risk of developing breast cancer, drank at least 15 grams of alcohol a day and had low folate levels.

Good Sources of Folate

Folic acid is found in high concentrations in eggs, asparagus, whole wheat, deep-green leafy vegetables, and brewers yeast. It’s also found in certain meats and fish. But eating large amounts of meat and fish is a double-edged sword, since they considerably increase your risk of breast cancer due to the environmental toxins that they absorb, concentrate, and store. You can also take folic acid as a supplement. About 400 micrograms (mcg) a day is all you need. As with all good things, don’t take too much folate. The Physicians Desk Reference for Nutritional Supplements reports no incidences of folate overdosing in the medical literature, but taking too much folic acid can be a problem for people who have a vitamin B12 deficiency. When vitamin B12 levels are very low and supplemental folate is given, the neurological problems and damage associated with low B12 can worsen.

Birth control pills, alcohol, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories (such as aspirin and ibuprofen) lower folate levels. So, if you take any of these medications or drink alcohol regularly, make sure you take supplemental folic acid.

VITAMIN B12 (Cobalamin)

The other B vitamin that has been shown to protect against breast cancer is vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 is known as “Nature’s most beautiful cofactor,” because its crystalline structure is a stunning dark red, like that of a rare ruby. Vitamin B12 works with folic acid, so it’s also a fundamental part of the DNA construction and repair team. Without it, the quality of DNA would never pass inspection. B12 is vitally important for keeping your DNA messages correct and free from cancer-inducing mistakes. Research shows that women with the lowest B12 levels in their bodies have the highest rates of breast cancer.

Vitamin B12 may also be very valuable for women who already have breast cancer. In the laboratory, scientists found that when B12 was applied directly to breast cancer cells, it stopped them from growing.

B12 has several other essential health benefits, for instance, it is necessary for a healthy nervous system and the production of energy.

Vitamin B12 is primarily made by bacteria in animals, so, not surprisingly, the richest sources of vitamin B12 are certain animals—especially specific organs such as the liver, brain, and kidney. Clams, oysters, sardines, and salmon also have significant amounts of B12. But as you know, eating meat and fish actually increases your risk of breast cancer due to the environmental toxins they contain; getting B12 another way is probably a better idea. For example, B12 is also found in egg yolks and fermented soy products, such as tempeh. Since B12 is generally found in low amounts in plant foods, it’s not uncommon for vegetarians to be deficient in it. Therefore, if you follow a vegetarian diet—which I recommend because research shows it is the healthiest diet and the one associated with the lowest risk of breast cancer--taking B12 as a supplement is important. About 3–30 micrograms (mcg) a day—about the weight of a tenth of a drop of water—is all you need for B12 to perform its miracles.

To be absorbed into your body, vitamin B12 requires something called “intrinsic factor,” which is secreted by cells in your stomach. As you age, you make less intrinsic factor and, therefore, absorb less B12. So, you must consume more B12 as you age to absorb amounts similar to what you got when you were younger. For this reason, supplemental B12 is a great idea for everyone who is age 50 or older. If you have certain conditions, such as the autoimmune disorder called “pernicious anemia,” or if you have had partial or total surgical removal of your stomach, the amount of intrinsic factor you make will be low. Pancreatic insufficiency, disorders of the small bowel, certain drugs, and a variety of other conditions can also interfere with B12 absorption. In all these situations, it’s very important to take supplemental vitamin B12.

In summery, significantly lowering your risk of breast cancer isn’t difficult. It can be as simple as eating delicious food rich in folic acid, or taking supplemental folic acid and vitamin B12. Both of these vitamins help to protect your DNA from making mistakes that can lead to cancer.

Breast Health Tip #4: Add Spice to Your Life

TURMERIC AND CANCER

Turmeric is so powerful at protecting against and fighting cancer – scientists consider it the number one anti-cancer herb. Over 1300 published studies have documented the many amazing and diverse healing properties of turmeric including the ability to significantly reduce your risk of breast cancer as well as many other types of cancer. Research shows it has good effect against at least 8 different cancers: cancer of the lung, mouth, colon, liver, kidney, skin (melanoma), breast and leukemia. There are 5 general properties of turmeric that make it such a good cancer fighter. First, turmeric breaks down toxins in the liver and prevents carcinogens from forming. Second, turmeric is a powerful anti-inflammatory. This is an important anti-cancer defense because inflammation plays a key role in the formation and progression of many cancers. Third, turmeric is a powerful antioxidant – 300 times more potent than vitamin E. Antioxidants protect against cancer by destroying cancer-causing oxygen free radicals. Forth, turmeric stimulates the immune system. A healthy active immune system is essential for fighting off most diseases and illness including cancer. Fifth, turmeric helps to emulsify fat and promote weight loss. Obesity increases the risk of many types of cancer including breast cancer.

If you have cancer and need to take chemotherapy, turmeric can be extremely beneficial too because it can help to enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy against your tumor while protecting your organs from its damaging effects.

TURMERIC AND BREAST CANCER

Turmeric has several ways it specifically helps to prevent and fight breast cancer.

First, it can block breast cancer-causing toxins. For example, DDT and chloradane mimic the estrogen molecule in our body (Too much estrogen has been found to be the primary cause of breast cancer. Estrogen attaches to estrogen receptors on the breast cells and causes them to start dividing. The faster cells divide, the higher the risk of breast cancer. Breast cancer is cell division out of control.) That means these pesticides act like estrogen in our body with one big difference: they act much more powerfully than natural estrogen. When these chemicals attach to the estrogen receptor, they cause breast cells to divide much more rapidly than natural estrogen does. Turmeric can decrease the estrogenic effect of these pesticides and help to block them from attaching the estrogen receptors in the breast. Second, turmeric “down regulates” the estrogen receptor. That means when the estrogen receptor is “turned on” by estrogen, the response will not be as great and breast cells won’t divide as rapidly as the normally would. Third, turmeric inhibits or blocks an enzyme called COX-2 that has been found to play a key role in the initiation and progression of breast cancer. The COX-2 enzyme is responsible for a long list of dangerous effects. It stimulates tumor cells to divide, prevents tumor cell death, stimulates the growth of new blood vessels into the tumor, makes the tumor better at invading the surrounding tissues, blocks important tumor suppressing effects of the immune system, increases the risk of metastasis or spread of the tumor to other areas of the body, and increases the production of a molecules that can cause mutations in our genes that will lead to cancer. Turmeric is able to block all of these effects.

HOW TO TAKE TURMERIC

Turmeric is prepared by soaking and then drying the root. The root is then ground into a powder. Powdered turmeric can be found in the spice section of most grocery stores. It is also a key ingredient in most curry powders and some Ayurvedic “churna’s” or standard mixtures of healing spices used for cooking. Remember to buy “organically grown” turmeric to avoid any harmful chemicals and pesticides. Add about 1/4th teaspoon to vegetables, soups, grains or other dishes near the end of cooking. Turmeric should be cooked but not over-cooked. You can also take turmeric as a supplement. Two 500mg capsules a day is the recommended dose.

Breast Health Tip #5: Fats to Avoid

Certain types of fat are very bad for your body. They damage your overall health and significantly increase your risk of breast cancer and other serious diseases. The worst types of fats are saturated fats—especially animal fats—and fats that have been chemically altered, called trans fats or hydrogenated fats.

Saturated Fats

Eating a diet high in saturated animal fats, like those found in red meat and high-fat dairy, notably increases your risk of breast cancer. A study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in 2003 interviewed 90,655 women and found that young, pre-menopausal women between the ages of twenty-six and forty-six who consumed the highest amounts of red meat and high-fat dairy had a higher risk of breast cancer than those who ate only a small amount of these fats.

What’s interesting, according to the study’s principal researcher, Eunyong Cho, is that this study “found that earlier [dietary habits] have a stronger impact on later breast cancer risk. In other words, women had an increased risk if, as young adults, they had a higher intake of animal fat, mainly from meat and dairy fat.” But don’t think that this means there’s nothing you can do now to reverse the damage. You can. Remember, other studies show that decreasing your saturated-fat intake lowers your estrogen levels and significantly reduces your danger of developing breast cancer.

When you eat saturated animal fats, they make the cells throughout your body more insulin-resistant, and consequently increase the level of insulin in our blood. This seemingly innocent, normal response actually brings on a flood of increased risk; high insulin levels are one of the biggest risk factors and promoters of breast cancer. Women with abnormally elevated insulin levels have a 283 percent higher risk of developing breast cancer than those with normal insulin levels.

Saturated animal fats are a storehouse for concentrated toxic chemicals such as pesticides. Some of these chemicals mimic estrogen and make cell division in the breast speed up rapidly. The faster cells divide in your breast, the higher will be your risk of breast cancer. If the animals and animal products you eat were not organically raised, the level of toxic chemicals in them can be quite high. In addition, these animals are commonly given hormones and growth factors that, when you ingest them, speed up breast-cell division. These hormones are also very dangerous for women with breast cancer, because they cause breast tumors to grow more rapidly.

Organic, but Not Toxin-Free

Organically raised animals, by law, must be fed only organically grown foods. They cannot be given any antibiotics, hormones, or growth factors. Despite this, organically raised animals aren’t always completely toxin-free. Some of them may have small amounts of toxic chemicals concentrated in their fat. Why are there toxins in organic animals? Primarily because, instead up being confined in stalls, they graze in pastures. Although being outdoors is a good thing, our environment is contaminated with hundreds, if not thousands, of toxins. Rainwater may, and often does, contain poisonous chemicals. When it rains, these dangerous compounds fall onto the pasture and into the ponds where organic animals eat and drink.

There’s another reason why organically raised animals may contain toxins. Harmful chemicals are generally very persistent in our environment. That means that they don’t break down easily. For a farm to become certified organic, no synthetic or questionably safe chemicals may have been used on the land for a minimum of three years. But some of these toxins persist in the soil for much longer than three years. In fact, it’s not unusual for them to last twenty years or more.

IGF-1: A Top Breast-Health Enemy

Insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) is a huge promoter of breast cancer, as well as prostate and colon cancers. In fact, scientists have found that there’s nothing we know of that stimulates breast cancer or prostate cancer more than IGF-1! This growth factor is like throwing rocket fuel onto the flames of cancer.

You can avoid inundating your body with excessive amounts of IGF-1 by steering clear of conventional dairy products. In the United States, cows are routinely injected with a genetically engineered growth hormone called “recombinant bovine growth hormone.” When rBGH is injected into a cow, it causes a natural growth factor, IGF-1, to be released into the body of the cow. Cows injected with rBGH have been found to have unusually high levels of IGF-1 in their fat and milk. When you consume IGF-1 in animal products, it normally breaks down in your stomach and causes no harm. But when IGF-1 is consumed in milk, it doesn’t break down. The protein in milk, called casein, prevents IGF-1 from breaking down, so it’s all absorbed into your body.

A study published in the British journal The Lancet in 1998 documented the enormous risk associated with IGF-1. The risk of breast cancer among pre-menopausal women younger than fifty-one who had the highest levels of IGF-1 in their blood was found to be 700 percent higher than the average.

The reason that the IGF-1 bite is so venomous is because there are IGF-1 receptors on breast cells, just as there are estrogen receptors. Research has found that IGF-1 and estrogen interact. According to a study from Georgetown University published in 2002, estradiol and IGF-1, through a complex “cross-talk” mechanism, stimulate normal breast cells to start dividing.

In summery, when you eat the non-organic saturated animal fats found in meat and dairy products, your risk of breast cancer escalates from a triple threat:

1. High insulin levels (as a response to the saturated fats),
2. High IGF-1 levels (from rBGH-injected cows), and
3. Toxic estrogenic hormones and chemicals (either injected into or fed to the cows).

This is why you should avoid non-organic red meats and dairy as much as possible. If you love dairy products, you can minimize your risk by eating only that which has been organically produced and is low in fat.

Trans fats: Another Top Breast-Health Enemy

Of all the fats you can eat, trans fats are the most dangerous. Trans fats are man-made. They are natural fats that have been chemically altered by adding extra hydrogen atoms. That’s why they are also called “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated” fats. Chemical engineers created these fats in an effort to make processed foods taste better and to increase their shelf-life. They were successful. Hydrogenated fats make foods such as potato chips crispier, and they increase the shelf-life of processed foods such as crackers, chips, cookies, and baked goods. But what they didn’t know was that the fats they created also promote serious diseases, including heart disease and cancer.

The reason that trans fats are so bad for you is because they promote oxygen free radicals—molecules that cause damage to your cells and DNA, damage that can lead to cancer. Trans fats also encourage inflammation, which, in turn, creates more oxygen free radicals. Chronic inflammation has been identified as a key factor in the initiation and progression of breast cancer.

All these ill effects add up to a high probability of developing breast cancer. Research has found that women with the highest amounts of trans fats in their bodies have a 40 percent increased risk. And if that isn’t bad enough, cancer isn’t the only disease provoked by chronic inflammation. It’s thought to play a big role in many degenerative diseases, including heart disease, the #1 killer of American men and women.

Omega-6 Fatty Acids

Fats are made up of smaller units of molecules called fatty acids. Omega-6 fatty acids are needed by your body to function properly. But if you eat too much of them, they increase your risk of breast cancer. Studies have found that women with the highest amounts of omega-6 fatty acids in their bodies have a 69 percent increased risk of breast cancer. If you have breast cancer, eating large amounts of omega-6 fatty acids can make your prognosis—and your chance of survival—worse. These fatty acids increase the likelihood that your cancer will metastasize, spreading to other parts of your body.

Oils High in Omega-6 Fatty Acids

• Borage
• Commercial salad dressings
• Corn
• Cottonseed
• Grape seed
• Margarine
• Mayonnaise
• Peanut
• Primrose
• Safflower
• Sesame
• Soybean
  

Protective Fats

Not all fats are bad for you. There are some that are highly protective and health-promoting. Omega-3 fatty acids found in flax seeds and flax oil is considered the healthiest type of fat that you can eat.

Breast Health Tip #6: Vitamin D

Most famous for making bones and teeth strong by helping the body to effectively use calcium and phosphorous, vitamin D has another notable talent. Research shows that vitamin D protects against and fights breast cancer. It helps to make your breast cells more resistant to toxins, decreases the ability of breast cells to divide, stops tumor cells from growing, causes the death of tumor cells, prevents new blood vessels from growing into a tumor, and boosts the immune system, especially the activity of Natural Killer (NK) cells.

Vitamin D is unique because your body can make its own supply. The secret catalyzing agent is not from this world; it comes from a star—the sun. Sunlight reacts with chemicals in your skin to produce vitamin D. Just fifteen minutes of sunlight a day makes enough vitamin D to reduce your risk of breast cancer by as much as 40 percent. Of course, too much sunlight isn’t a good thing, because the ultraviolet radiation in sunlight damages the DNA in skin cells. If you get too much sun, especially if you have lightly pigmented skin, the damage can be severe. Serious ultraviolet-radiation damage to your skin can cause premature aging, leathery skin, deep wrinkles, discolored spots, and potentially deadly skin cancer.

But a little sunlight is important to enable you to make enough health-promoting and -protecting vitamin D. Fifteen minutes in the early morning or late afternoon—when the suns rays aren’t so intense—is ideal. Combine it with a brisk walk, and you double your benefits. Research shows that regular aerobic exercise can lower your risk of breast cancer by 30-50%.

If you live in a climate that doesn’t see much sun, especially during the cold winter months, taking supplemental vitamin D is a must. Fatty fish (for example, salmon and mackerel) are about the only foods with natural vitamin D. Most of the vitamin D in our diet comes from foods that are fortified with it, for example, certain dairy products and breakfast cereals. Most multivitamins have the daily recommended amount of vitamin D in them, about 200–400 international units (IU).

Breast Health Tip #7: Vitamin E

Research shows women who regularly eat foods rich in vitamin E have a lower risk of breast cancer. These foods include avocados, almonds, sweet potatoes, leafy green vegetables, wheat germ, and salmon.

Scientists have found several explanations for why vitamin E is able to decrease your risk of breast cancer and improve your chances of surviving it if you have it. First, vitamin E is an excellent antioxidant. Antioxidants neutralize oxygen free radicals, tiny unstable molecules of oxygen that can damage our DNA – damage that can lead to cancer. Vitamin E also slows down how fast tumor cells grow and divide, and promotes tumor cell death.

Vitamin E’s tumor fighting capabilities don’t stop there. It also prevents new blood vessels from growing into tumors. Without new blood vessels, tumor can’t get the necessary nutrients they need to grow bigger.

The best source of vitamin E is food rich in this protective nutrient. You can take vitamin E as a supplement -- but, research shows you don’t absorb it from supplements as well as you do from food. If you do take a supplement, make sure it is made from a natural source of vitamin E rather than a synthetic form. Synthetic forms of vitamin E absorb so poorly, they won’t do you much good. The daily recommended dose of vitamin E is 400-800 international units. By the way, researchers have found that other antioxidant vitamins, like vitamin C and Coenzyme Q10, make the anti-cancer effects of vitamin E even stronger.

Breast Health Tip #8: Medicinal Mushrooms

Maitake mushrooms, considered gourmet food in this country, have been used for thousands of years as medicines in Asian cultures, especially in Japan. Recent research has discovered this ancient natural medicine can be very beneficial in protecting against and fighting many types of cancer including breast cancer. Maitake mushrooms boosts and stimulates the immune system. The immune system is our primary defense against most diseases. These mushrooms have also been found to stop tumor cells from growing, causes tumors to shrink, and prevents them from spreading to other areas of the body.

In a clinical study, breast cancer patients (stage 2 to stage 4) were given whole maitake powder or something called the “D fraction” of maitake mushrooms. The D fraction of the mushrooms contains polysaccharides or a type of sugar that is thought to be responsible for most of the mushroom’s medicinal effects. Tumors shrank and symptoms improved in 68.8% of the patients.

Maitake mushrooms are also beneficial for patients taking chemotherapy. Chemotherapy weakens the immune system. Maitake mushrooms will counteract this effect by helping to keep the immune system strong.

Breast Health Tip #9: Anti-inflammatories

The largest on-going national study of women’s health called “The Women’s Health Initiative” (WHI), recently found that women who took aspirin or ibuprofen an average of 3 times week for the last 10 years had a significant lower incidence breast cancer. Those taking aspirin had a 28% lower incidence and the women who took ibuprofen had a 50% lower incidence. But aspirin and ibuprofen have potential serious side effects. For instance, 16,000 people in the US die each year from bleeding complications from these medications. So I recommend you take a safe herbal anti-inflammatory, like “Zyflamend”, instead. Research shows herbal anti-inflammatories works just as well. And rather than side effects, they have a multitude of wonderful side benefits.

Inflammation is a normal and important process created naturally by our bodies and serves an important role. It helps to get rid of unwanted bacteria, and other invaders. It also assists our bodies in cleaning up dead cells from trauma or infections. When inflammation rises to assist our inner healing intelligence during these special circumstances and then quietly quells when it is no longer needed, no harm is done. But, if the inflammation remains beyond its useful purpose and becomes “chronic” -- meaning it stays as an ongoing process in our body over time -- it turns into a lethal firestorm, breaking down cells and destroying the natural architectural boundaries of the body’s tissues which makes it easier for tumors to invade and grow. Researchers have found that chronic inflammation not only plays a key role in the commencement and progression of many types of cancers, but it also fuels a wide variety of chronic disorders, including heart disease, arthritis and Alzheimer’s disease.

One main reason why chronic inflammation can be so devastating to our health is because it doesn’t act alone. It creates additional destructive ammunition: oxygen free radicals. The cells in our immune system use oxygen free radicals like cosmic ray guns to shoot bacteria and other offenders. In the presence of inflammation, these cells release showers of oxygen free radicals and excess oxygen free radicals can cause damage to DNA that can lead to cancer.

Certain foods and stress promote inflammation. Refined carbohydrates, sugar and certain fats (especially trans-fats) are some of the worst offenders. On the other hand, a diet rich in antioxidants found in fresh organically grown fruits and vegetables and omega-3 fatty acids reduces inflammation. Taking supplemental antioxidants and practicing stress reduction techniques are also very beneficial in preventing and reducing inflammation.

INFLAMMATION AND THE COX-2 ENZYME

There’s another way to reduce inflammation. It involves blocking the activity of a key enzyme essential to the process of inflammation. The enzyme is called cyclo-oxygenase 2 or COX-2. A relatively new class of pharmaceutical anti-inflammatories targets the COX-2 enzyme and blocks it or inhibits it. Celebrex and Vioxx are two examples. But pharmaceutical medications, as you are probably aware, are hard on the body and create imbalances that result in potentially serious side effects. When reaching for COX-2 anti-inflammatories, the wisest choice is to choose those made by Nature. Herbal COX-2 inhibitors not only block the “evil” enzyme with equal force, but they also import a fantastic amount of extraordinary intelligence and balance into the body.

Nature’s COX-2 inhibiting pharmacy includes dozens of herbs. The standouts are green tea, turmeric, holy basil, rosemary, ginger, oregano, Scutellaria, barberry, and the Chinese herbs Hu Zhang and Chinese Goldenthread. Researchers at Columbia University are currently studying the effectiveness of an herbal product, called Zyflamend, composed of a mixture of all of these potent herbal anti-inflammatories against prostate and breast cancer. The details of the study will be discussed in the upcoming section on “Zyflamend and Cancer.”

Leading complementary and alternative physicians, like Dr. Andrew Weil, prescribe Zyflamend for their patients with inflammatory conditions. It is also used at the Cleveland Clinic Spine Center in Cleveland, Ohio. If you want learn more about the properties of the herbs in Zyflamend, there’s an excellent book I recommend called Beyond Aspirin (Newmark and Schulick, Hohm Press 2000).

CANCER AND THE COX-2 ENZYME

Researchers have found that inflammation isn’t the only thing that the COX-2 enzyme takes part in. It also plays a key role in the initiation and growth of several cancers including cancers of the colon, prostate, and breast. The COX-2 enzyme stimulates breast cells to start dividing and growing. It also prevents tumor cells from undergoing normal cell death, so more tumor cells stay alive, accelerating the growth of the tumor. The more tumor cells there are -- the faster and bigger the tumor grows. The COX-2 enzyme also encourages new blood vessels to grow. New blood vessels are continually required to deliver enough nutrients and oxygen-laden blood to feed an expanding tumor. The more nutrients and oxygen the tumor gets -- the bigger and faster it will grow.

Tumor cells are able to invade normal tissue more aggressively as a response to COX-2. COX-2 also increases the tumor’s ability to metastasize or spread to other parts of the body and suppresses the immune system so that it can’t fight off cancer cells as well. It also increases the production of mutagens -- substances that cause mutations in our DNA that can lead to cancer. When you add them all up, all these nasty effects of the COX-2 enzyme powerfully promote tumor growth in our body. It’s no wonder studies show taking anti-inflammatories that blocks all the ill effects of the COX-2 enzyme can reduce your risk of developing breast cancer by as much as 50%.

Some tumors show an “over-expression” of the COX-2 enzyme. What this means is that these tumor cells have a lot more active COX-2 enzymes than normal tissue usually does. The tumors that frequently show over-expression of the COX-2 enzyme include cancers of the colon, prostate and breast. Not all breast cancers over-express the COX-2 enzyme. Researchers found about 50% of breast cancers do.

According to a study published in the Austria British Journal of Cancer in 2003, women with breast tumors that over-express COX-2 are more likely to have their tumors recur, or come back, in a short period of time after treatment. Patients with these types of tumors also have an overall poorer survival.

COX-2 INHIBITORS AND BREAST CANCER

As discussed above, certain anti-inflammatory pharmaceutical medications, like Celebrex, are designed to work by blocking or inhibiting the COX-2 enzyme. All the herbs found in Zyflamend inhibit the COX-2 enzyme too. Research shows all COX-2 inhibitors, not surprisingly, have powerful anti-cancer properties. In experimental animals, they have been found to significantly reduce the formation of breast tumors and the number of tumors that grow in response to a carcinogen. They also inhibit the growth of tumors once they have formed. Researchers at Ohio State University in a study published in 2001, found a direct relationship between the amount of COX-2 inhibitor that was given and the number of breast tumors that formed in the test animals. The higher the dose of a COX-2 inhibitor that was given, the lower the incidence of breast tumors that formed.

COX-2 INHIBITORS AND CANCER RISK FACTORS

COX-2 inhibitors lower the risk of cancer in 2 major ways. They reduce inflammation and they block the COX-2 enzyme expression in tumors. As you learned above, inflammation creates copious amounts of oxygen free radicals and destroys natural tissue boundaries making it easier for tumors to grow. The COX-2 enzyme has a multitude of ways that it promotes the inception and cultivation of tumors. COX-2 enzyme inhibitors block every one of these tumor fostering processes.

Breast Health Tip #10: Antioxidants

Oxygen free radicals are tiny unstable molecules of oxygen normally created as by-products of cellular metabolism. We need them to drive all the chemical reactions in our body. But, if there are too many of them, they can cause biological devastation by attacking cell membranes and DNA. The damage they cause initiates and fuels chronic degenerative diseases like atherosclerosis, heart disease, strokes, emphysema, diabetes, arthritis, senility, accelerate aging and cancer, including breast cancer. Pollution, pesticides, smoking, alcohol, and grilled red meat are just a few of the things that pour excess oxygen free radicals into our body, so avoiding them will help to decrease your oxygen free radical load.

Another good way to combat excess oxygen free radicals is with substances called antioxidants. Antioxidants neutralize oxygen free radicals. Our body makes its own antioxidants, but usually it isn’t enough to keep with the large number of oxygen radicals that are constantly bombarding us. So we need to get additional antioxidants from outside sources. Fresh organic fruits and vegetables contain large amounts of diverse and powerful antioxidants. Not surprisingly, research shows that women that eat a diet rich in them have a significantly lower risk of breast cancer.

TUFT UNIVERSITY FRUITS AND VEGETABLES WITH THE HIGHEST ANTIOXIDANTS

• Blueberries
• Blackberries
• Garlic
• Kale
• Strawberries
• Spinach
• Brussels sprouts
• Plums
• Broccoli
• Beets
• Oranges
• Red grapes
• Red pepper
• Cherries
• Kiwi

But in this age of widespread pollution, toxins, and stressful lifestyles that fuel the production of oxygen free radicals, most of us we need more antioxidant protection than what we can get from our food. That’s why research shows taking an additional antioxidant supplement, like the mineral selenium, can be of great benefit in lowering the risk of several different kinds of cancer, including cancers of the breast, prostate, lung and colon.

One of the reasons selenium is so effective in lowering the risk of cancer is that it causes our body make its own powerful antioxidant -- an enzyme called “glutathione peroxidase.” Selenium makes up a fundamental part of the structure of this enzyme. Without it, the enzyme can’t work.

Selenium also helps to fight cancer in several other ways. Research shows it is able to prevent cancer cells from growing, causes cancer cells to die, foils the formation of blood vessels needed for cancer to grow, and enhances the immune system, especially natural killer cell and T-cell function. It also has anti-inflammatory effects.

With all these anti-cancer effects, it’s easy to understand why there is a growing mountain of evidence that taking supplemental selenium can be of enormous help for preventing and treating cancer. In a double blinded, randomized, prospective study published in 1996, patients were given 200 micrograms (mcg) of supplemental selenium everyday. After 6 years, the patients taking selenium had half the deaths from cancer compared to the patients who weren’t taking the additional selenium. In other words, during this study, the number of people who died of cancer in the group taking selenium was 52% lower than the number of people who died of cancer in the group that wasn’t taking it. The subjects taking selenium also had 35% less new cancers diagnosed. So taking selenium not only lowers the risk of developing cancer, it also appears to lengthen the life of those with cancer. Since that time, numerous studies have confirmed these same impressive statistics. The conclusion of the vast majority of studies looking at the relationship between selenium and cancer, is that taking supplemental selenium, or eating a selenium-rich diet, reduces your risk of most types of cancer, including breast cancer, by as much as 50% and improves your chances of survival if you have cancer.

SELENIUM SOURCES

Our main source of selenium comes from the plants we eat. Selenium is naturally found in soil and is absorbed by plants as they grow. But the amount of selenium in soil varies considerably from region to region. If there’s not much selenium in the soil, there won’t be much in the plants growing in that soil. Research shows that the amount of selenium in the soil and the rate of cancer at that location, are inversely proportional. This means the areas of the world with the highest selenium levels in the soil have the lowest rates of cancer, and those with the lowest amount of selenium are found to have the highest rates of cancer.

The best food source of selenium is Brazil Nuts. Just one ounce of Brazil Nuts a day gives you 1200% of the daily recommended allowances. Other foods high in selenium include garlic, onions, green leafy vegetables, mushrooms and whole grains, especially whole wheat. You can also take selenium in supplement form. The recommended dose is about 200 micrograms a day.

Breast Health Tip #11: CoQ10

CoQ10

Ubiquinone, otherwise known as Coenzyme Q10 or CoQ10, is a vitamin-like substance and powerful antioxidant that is found in every cell in our body. It is absolutely essential for energy production in our cells. Research shows CoQ10 levels in tumors are much lower than in normal tissues. When CoQ10 is given to breast cancer patients, some spectacular results have been seen.

In a study published out of Denmark in 1994, 32 patients with high risk breast cancer were treated with antioxidants (vitamin C and E, selenium and beta carotene), essential fatty acids (gamma linolenic acid and omega-3 fatty acids) and 90 mg of CoQ10. Breast cancer tumors shrank in six of the 32 patients. The researchers wondered what would happen if they increased the dose of CoQ10. So, they decided to increase the daily dose of CoQ10 to 390mg in just one of these 6 patients. They got a big pleasant surprise. In one month, the tumor in this patient had become so small, the researchers couldn’t feel it anymore. A mammogram done a month later showed the tumor had completely disappeared. These researchers then gave another patient with breast cancer 300mg of CoQ10 a day and her tumor disappeared. In the 18 months the patients were treated, none of them died or showed further signs of metastases. The expected number of women who would have died, based on the stage of their tumor, was 4.

Encouraged by these results, the researchers continued their study of CoQ10 in breast cancer patients and published a report the following year. Three hundred and ninety milligrams of CoQ10 was given to each breast cancer patient every day. One patient was a 44 year old woman whose breast cancer had spread to her liver causing numerous tumors. After taking the CoQ10 for a short while, all the metastatic tumors disappeared. Another patient with metastatic breast cancer tumors to the lining of her lung was given CoQ10 and 6 months later, her doctors could no longer find any of her tumors.

Chemotherapy can cause organ damage, especially to the liver, heart and kidneys, because it doesn’t just target cancer cells -- it also kills normal cells too. CoQ10 has been found to help prevent organ damage caused by chemotherapy and may also increase survival. Certain drugs like Adriamycin commonly damage important heart cells. In elderly patients with heart disease, the damage caused by Adriamyin can be fatal. CoQ10 is normally found in high concentrations in the heart. Adriamycin causes those levels to go down. When patients on Adriamycin are given CoQ10, it prevents CoQ10 levels from going down in the heart and protects heart cells from being damaged.

Taking CoQ10

CoQ10 is fat soluble. This means it is better absorbed when it is in fat. When CoQ10 comes in a soy oil suspension contained in a soft shell capsule, it is better absorbed than if it is in a dry tablet or capsule. That means, you will need a higher dose of the dry form of CoQ10 compared to the oil suspension to get the same levels in your body. For prevention 30-100 mg a day are recommended. If you have breast cancer, you’ll need to take more. Research shows about 300-390mg a day is very effective. A study from the University of Scranton found bio-grown CoQ10, prepared from whole food cultures may be the most well absorbed and metabolized form of CoQ10. It was found to have 20 times more antioxidant activity than the standard preparation of CoQ10. Since more CoQ10 is biologically available in this form, only 22mg are required a day. Please work with your doctor when taking this supplement.

Breast Health Tip #12: Exercise

The right type of activity, at the proper time of the day, produces a cascade of powerful chemicals and hormones that decrease the risk of a multitude of disorders, especially breast cancer. For instance, engaging in activities that elevate your heart rate on a regular basis lowers your risk of breast cancer in eight major ways. First, it lowers the production of estrogen in your body. Breast cancer is strongly linked to estrogen. The more estrogen your body produces and that you are exposed to from other sources over your lifetime, the higher your risk of breast cancer.

Second, regular vigorous activities have been found to lengthen the menstrual cycle. With each menstrual period, your body produces a surge of estradiol – the strongest type of estrogen and the one most linked to breast cancer. The longer your menstrual cycles are — for example, they occur every 30 days instead of every 28 days -- the fewer the number of menstrual periods you will have over your lifetime. The fewer menstrual cycles you have, the lower the amount of estrodiol you will produce, and the lower you risk of breast cancer will be.

Third, when you exercise in the proper amounts, the strength of your immune system is boosted. On the other hand, exercising too little, or too much, weakens your immune defenses. Keeping your immune system strong is important because it is composed of cells that provide your body’s main defense against foreign invaders like bacteria, viruses and cancer cells. A robust immune system is crucial for preventing and fighting breast cancer.

Fourth, aerobic exercise regulates blood sugar. Sugar is the preferred food for cancer, so it is best not to eat very much of it. Another important reason to keep your blood sugar from getting too high has to do with the hormone insulin. When you eat sugar, especially simple or refined sugars, your blood sugar zooms up and your pancreas responds by releasing a lot of insulin – the hormone that facilitates sugar getting into your cells. Insulin can cause big problems when it comes to your risk of breast cancer. Women with the highest insulin levels are found to have a 283% increased risk of breast cancer. Insulin is also dangerous for women with breast cancer. Breast cancer cells have insulin receptors on them, and when insulin attaches to them, it makes the cancer cells grow faster.

Fifth, aerobic exercise lowers blood fat and keeps body fat in check. Obesity is thought to cause about 20-30% of all post-menopausal breast cancers. After menopause, your fat cells are the primary site for estrogen production in your body. The more fat cells you have, the more estrogen your body will produce. So keeping your body weight down is a good way to lower your risk of breast cancer.

Sixth, exercise relieves depression. According to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, women who are depressed have a 400% higher incidence of breast cancer. When you engage in strenuous physical activity, your body releases endorphins and other powerful mood-boosting hormones. These chemical changes are extremely effective at relieving depression. In fact, several studies show that exercise works just as well at improving this condition as most commonly prescribed anti-depressant medications.

Seventh, exercising releases stress. Stress has been linked to 90% of all illness according to the National Institute of Health. Research shows that women under severe stress, or that have recently suffered a major stress, like death of a loved one, or loss of a job, are much more prone to developing breast cancer.

Finally, regular exercise has been found to lower IGF-1 or insulin-like growth factor. Keeping the amount that our body produces of this naturally occurring growth factor low is crucially important, because it is the most powerful stimulator of breast cancer known. It is also imperative to be aware that excess amounts of this dangerous growth factor can get into our bodies from consuming dairy products from cows that have been injected with growth hormones. Since most of the cows on conventional American farms are given growth hormones, the only way to avoid ingesting dangerous amounts of IGF-1 is to either not eat dairy products, or to consume only those that are low-fat and have been organically produced.

All of these breast cancer risk-lowering benefits of exercise add up to a lot of protection. Research shows that if you exercised regularly during your teen years, your risk of breast cancer will be 30% lower for the rest of your life. But it is never too late to begin exercising. If you start regularly participating in invigorating movements as an adult and keep it up, you can drop your risk of breast cancer by 30-50%.

Breast Health Tip #13: Garlic

GARLIC—A CANCER NEMESIS EXTRAORDINAIRE

For more than 5,000 years, before even the earliest Chinese dynasties, garlic has been used as a medicine in central Asia. Prized for its health promoting and protecting qualities, it was brought further and further West until it reached Egypt about 4,000 years ago. The earliest surviving written records describing garlic as a medicine are in the Egyptian Ebers Papyrus written in approximately 1500 b.c. Garlic was introduced into Europe in the first century a.d. With this long history of cultivation, garlic is no longer found in the wild; it is strictly a plant grown by people. . Today, it’s produced and enjoyed for its excellent taste and diverse medicinal qualities by nearly every culture in the world. One of its distinctive traits is its ability to lower your risk of breast cancer.

An Iowa study of 34,388 postmenopausal women found that those who consumed garlic regularly had a noticeably lower incidence of breast cancer. Eating just one clove of garlic a week made a significant statistical difference.

There are several ways that garlic helps to protect against and fight breast cancer. Overall, garlic is a good cancer fighter because it has more antioxidants than any other vegetable ever tested. Antioxidants protect your body from the oxygen free radical damage that can lead to cancer. Garlic usually has abundant amounts of selenium and this mineral stimulates the production of glutathione, one of your body’s natural antioxidants. Research has found that garlic also gives a boost to your immune system. Specifically, it enhances a type of cell in your immune system called Natural Killer (NK) cells. These cells are important because, as their name indicates, they naturally kill things you don’t want in your body, such as cancer cells, bacteria, and viruses.

Laboratory studies have revealed some of the precise ways that garlic prevents and fights breast cancer. Garlic decreases the formation of carcinogens in breast tissue by as much as 50–70 percent. It helps to avert the initiation of breast tumors by preventing toxins from binding to DNA in breast cells. Garlic has also been shown to inhibit or prevent breast tumor cells from growing and dividing. In addition, research shows that garlic is very effective at lowering the risk of stomach cancer.

Cancer isn’t the only disease that garlic helps to prevent. The main problem in AIDS patients is that the HIV virus destroys the immune system. The number and function of NK cells, in particular, drop to very low levels. A 1989 study found that garlic was effective at increasing the activity of NK cells in AIDS patients.

Garlic is especially good for your heart’s health. It decreases cholesterol and triglycerides, prevents blood clots, improves circulation, and decreases the risk of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). Garlic also reduces blood pressure. Studies show it can reduce systolic blood pressure (the first or higher number in a blood-pressure reading) by 20–30 millimeters (mm) of mercury (Hg) and diastolic blood pressure (the second or lower number) by 10–20 mm Hg.

Garlic: Nature’s Antibiotic

Garlic can kill a whole army of unwanted invaders: bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. In 1858 Louis Pasteur, who developed the “germ theory,” discovered that garlic kills bacteria. This was an important revelation, because there were no antibiotics then. After his discovery, garlic juice was put on wounds to help prevent infections, including those in soldiers fighting World War I since antibiotics weren’t available until after that war.

Many modern-day studies have shown that garlic is effective in killing a wide variety of bacteria including tuberculosis and Staphylococcus aureus, a common skin pathogen that frequently causes infections. Studies conducted in the 1980s and 1990s found that garlic is also a good antiviral, antifungal, and antiparasitic.

The Magic Inside

As with any whole plant, it’s difficult to describe exactly how it works because there are thousands of constituents all interacting together. But a few substances have been identified in garlic that have clear medicinal benefits and specific actions. Something called “allin” holds many of garlic’s health-promoting properties. Allin is just one of thirty sulfur compounds found in garlic. When garlic is crushed or broken, the enzyme allinase is released, and it converts allin to allicin -- the actual active compound. Allin doesn’t have any health-supporting effects until it becomes allicin. So, to gain the full potential of the allinase in garlic, you should crush it and wait at least fifteen minutes before you eat it. Other plentiful health-enhancing compounds found in garlic are selenium and vitamins A, B, C, and E.

Getting Your Garlic

Garlic can be eaten fresh or taken in standardized doses as capsules and tablets. The general daily recommended dose is 600–900 mg, or one or two fresh cloves. Many of the antioxidants in garlic are destroyed if you cook it too much. So, eat it raw, or only lightly sautéed, and add it to foods near the end of cooking. If you are concerned about “garlic-breath,” there is an odorless form of garlic available in capsule form.

Side effects have been reported with therapeutic doses of garlic, but they are mild and rare. They include heartburn, flatulence, headaches, muscle soreness, fatigue, dizziness and allergic reactions. Garlic is not recommended if you are on anticoagulants or blood thinners, because it also thins your blood.

Breast Health Tip #14: Avoid Alcohol

Scientists have uncovered several explanations for alcohol’s high risk. Alcohol increases the production of estrogen and prolactin. Both of these hormones speed up cell division in breast tissue. The faster breast cells divide -- the higher your risk of breast cancer. Alcohol also interferes with the function of liver enzymes. Liver enzymes are necessary to break down toxins and carcinogens. They also break down estrogen and prepare it for elimination from our bodies. If your liver enzymes don’t function properly, the level of estrogen, toxins, and carcinogens in your body will go up and so will your risk of breast cancer.

Instead of alcohol, consider drinking organic grape juice. Grapes contain something called “resveratrol”. Resveratrol inhibits the initiation of breast cancer and decreases the growth of breast tumors. It is a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. Scientists have found both of these properties help protect against and fight breast cancer. In addition, if you have breast cancer and require radiation, resveratrol can help the radiation kill more tumor cells.

Our bodies have an amazing capacity to heal. The moment you drop unhealthy habits and adopt healthy ones, your body will begin repairing itself. Enjoy your holidays – and at the same time honor your health.

Breast Health Tip #15: Cruciferous Vegetables

Inside every plant is a natural anti-cancer pharmacy. The natural “chemotherapy” found in plants is safe, side-effect free, and expresses an intelligence of such brilliance that pharmaceutical companies are now studying them in an effort to learn how to create effective, but far less toxic, chemotherapy.

One family of vegetables called “cruciferous” vegetables (ie: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, and kale) contains several substances that are especially potent against breast cancer. One of the remarkable plant chemicals is called “indole-3 carbinol.” Indole-3 carbinol lowers the risk of breast cancer in several ways: 1) it stops breast cancer cells from growing by shutting off a key enzyme; 2) it coerces estrogen to break down into a “good” (protective, non-cancer promoting) type instead of a “bad” (cancer-promoting) type; 3) it persuades a “tumor suppression” gene to “turn-on” which contains the commands for several crafty internal tactics to stop tumor growth; 4) it makes the estrogen receptor in breast cells less responsive to estrogen. In other words, when estrogen attaches to its receptor, breast cells won’t divide as rapidly. That’s important because the slower breast cells divide -- the lower your risk of breast cancer.

Here’s 2 more important points: 1) Eat only organically grown produce to avoid pesticides and other harmful chemicals; 2) Indole-3 carbinol is destroyed by over-cooking so lightly cook cruciferous vegetables or eat them raw.

Breast Health Tip #16: Herbs

Most plants contain substances that protect against and fight cancer. The anti-cancer properties of some plants, like soy and flax seeds, have been well recognized for decades. But there are many other plants, especially herbs and spices, with excellent abilities to ward off breast cancer that haven’t received as much attention. Issac Cohen, a doctor of oriental medicine, licensed acupuncturist, and one of the leading authorities in the field of cancer treatment and Traditional Chinese Medicine, reported in the book Breast Cancer: Beyond Convention that several Chinese herbs including ginseng, show good anticancer activity against breast cancer. He points out that it is not unusual for plants to be effective against cancer -- in fact, over 60% of the chemotherapy drugs currently being used are made from natural products.

Other researchers concur that many of the herbs used in Traditional Chinese Medicine are effective at stopping the growth of breast cancer cells in the laboratory. For instance, in 2002 researchers at the Cancer Research Laboratory located in Indianapolis, Indiana, found that licorice root (Ganoderma lucidum), a shrub native to southern Europe and Asia and one of the Chinese herbs used is the prostate cancer herbal mixture PC-SPES, showed strong activity against highly invasive breast cancer cells. Another study published in 2002 in the journal Anticancer Research found that of seventy-one extracts of Chinese medicinal herbs, twenty-one percent (15 out of 71) of the extracts demonstrated greater than 50% growth inhibition on at least 4 of the 5 breast cancer cell lines. In 2000, researchers at Sloan-Kettering hospital in New York found that Huanglian, a Chinese herbal extract used in the treatment of gastroenteritis, also inhibits the growth of human gastric, colon and breast cancer cells.

Some common cooking spices have excellent cancer fighting properties too. For example, research shows that the spice rosemary protects against the initiation of breast tumors. When rats were given rosemary before the administration of breast cancer inducing chemicals, they develop 74% less tumors than the rats that weren’t given rosemary. Another study published in the European Journal of Cancer in 1999 found that rosemary, like green tea, improves the concentration of the chemotherapeutic agents (doxorubicin and vinblastin) in breast cancer tumor cells. That means that this aromatic spice may be helpful as a complementary treatment for women with tumors that are resistant to these drugs.

According to researchers at the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, extracts of several weak estrogenic herbs including hops, black cohosh, and vitex (chaste tree berry) also inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells in the laboratory.

We have just begun to scratch the surface of discovering the vast and wondrous intelligence contained in plants. As more research is completed, the pharmacopoeia of anticancer herbs will assuredly continue to grow.

Breast Health Tip #17: Sleep

A study published in the Journal of the National Cancer institute in 2001 found nurses that worked the night shift had a 50% increased risk of breast cancer. The longer they worked the night shift, the higher their risk of breast cancer became. The reason is simple. It has to do with the daily rhythms of the sun and the hormone “melatonin”. Melatonin is extremely powerful at protecting against and fighting breast cancer -but only if you go to bed early and it’s dark.

Scientists have discovered that when it gets dark the pineal gland in our brain produces more melatonin. As this hormone rises, you start to feel sleepy. The moment you fall asleep the level of melatonin goes much higher. But here’s the catch- melatonin doesn’t rise very high unless you’ve gone to bed by 10 PM and it’s dark.

The darker it is, the higher your melatonin will rise. Any type of light-even a soft night light can keep your melatonin levels from rising very high. Researchers think that is why breast cancer is more common in industrialized regions where city lights burn all night and why blind women have a 50% lower incidence breast cancer than women who can see.

If you have breast cancer, going to bed early in a dark room is important too. Breast cancer tumors in experimental animals exposed to constant light grew 7 times faster.

There are several big reasons melatonin is such a great breast cancer fighter. 1) Melatonin is a very potent antioxidant. Antioxidants destroy oxygen free radicals that can damage your cells and DNA –damage that can lead to cancer. 2) Melatonin slows down the production of estrogen. Estrogen stimulates breast cells causing cell division to speed up. The faster cells divide, the higher the risk of cancer. 3) Melatonin prevents the over production of estrogen, and blocks its stimulatory effects on breast cells. But melatonin’s great defenses don’t stop there. 4) Melatonin blocks the effects of two other threats, a hormone and a growth factor that can also increase cell division in the breast: the hormone is called “prolactin” and a growth factor is called “epidermal growth factor”. 5) Melatonin enhances the tumor fighting power of Vitamin D. It increases Vitamin D’s ability to stop tumor growth. Melatonin makes vitamin D’s tumor fighting abilities 20-100 times stronger.

If you have breast cancer and are being treated with chemotherapy, you may want to ask your doctor about taking supplemental melatonin. Researchers found it can enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy by increasing chemotherapy’s ability to kill tumors. In a 1999 study from Italy, researchers found that breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy lived longer if they were also given supplemental melatonin. In scientific terms, these patients had an increased “1 year survival”. That means more women than normally expected were alive at one year following the diagnosis and treatment of their breast cancer. Melatonin supplements given in addition to chemotherapy also caused the size of tumors in women to significantly decrease compared to women just receiving chemotherapy alone.

All of melatonin’s diverse breast cancer fighting skills can be summed up into 3 major effects: 1) it prevents the initiation of breast cancer 2) it slows down tumor growth by as much as 70% 3) it prevents metastasis or the spread of tumors to other areas of the body.

The bottom line is: melatonin is a powerful weapon against breast cancer. All you have to do is go to bed by 10 PM, pull down the shades, turn off all the lights and let it work its magic.

Breast Health Tip #18: Soy

Soy is a superstar in your arsenal against breast cancer, and has been a food stable in the Asian diet for thousands of years. Asia has far lower rates of cancer than the United States does, and researchers think that eating a lot of soy may be one of the reasons. Japanese men and women eat about ten times more soy than American men and women. According to many studies, if you eat an adequate amount of soy often enough, your risk of breast cancer will drop by 30–50 percent. For instance, a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in June 2003 found that women who ate three bowls of miso soup a day had a 40% lower risk of breast cancer. . Those who ate two bowls of miso soup a day cut their risk by 26 percent.

Genistein

There are several substances in soy that are active against breast cancer. A particular type of phytochemical (a naturally occurring plant chemical) called genistein (pronounced gen-is¢-teen) appears to be one of the most important protagonists. Genistein is classified as a phytoestrogen, or plant estrogen, because it has a weak estrogenic effect. There is currently a lot of confusion and misinformation about phytoestrogens. It is important to understand that plant estrogens are not the same as the estrogens our body makes or synthetic estrogens found in HRT or BCP. They are very different. Most act more like selective estrogen modulators or SERMS (Tamoxifen is a SERM) and as aromatase (an enzyme used in the production of estrogen) inhibitors like the new anti-cancer drug, Arimidex. In other words, phytoestrogens act more like estrogen blockers rather than estrogen which I explain in more detail below. These types of plant chemicals act in so many complex ways that we may never fully understand them all. Two other major phytoestrogens in soy are daidzein and glycitein. Genistein is the most abundant and well-researched of the three and is usually the only one that is listed on the label of soy products. Research shows that genistein is extraordinarily effective at reducing the risk of breast cancer. It has been shown to stop tumor growth, prevent metastasis, and shut off new blood vessels in growing tumors.

One reason why genistein is able to prevent and fight breast cancer is because it blocks the cancer-promoting estrogens from attaching to the estrogen receptors on breast cells. Breast cancer is a hormonal disease—which means a hormone causes the cancer to develop by inciting cells to grow and divide. For breast cancer, that hormone is estrogen. The more estrogen you are exposed to, the higher your risk of getting breast cancer is.

Estrogens come in different strengths and behave differently. Strong estrogens increase your risk of cancer because they tell cells to grow and divide rapidly. Phytoestrogens and other weak estrogens decrease your risk of cancer because they slow down cell division. Genistein acts like a weak estrogen in the body. It blocks the effects of strong estrogens and slows down cell division. Genistein is very weak—in fact, less than one one-hundredth of the strength of estradiol (the most potent type of natural estrogen). So, if genistein attaches to an estrogen receptor, the rate of cell division is only one one-hundredth of the speed that it is if estradiol attaches to the receptor. The more genistein there is to compete with estradiol, the slower the rate of cell division is and the lower your risk of breast cancer is.

This is an extremely simplistic look at a very complicated process. Remember, soy is composed of hundreds of components all interacting together. Genistein doesn’t act alone. If it’s extracted from whole soy foods and then isolated and consumed without the other soy ingredients, it can actually have detrimental effects.

Some Soys Are Better Than Others

There are dozens of different types of soy foods available, but when it comes to nutrients and health-promoting qualities, not all soy products are the same. Some soy foods are far better for you than others. Here are six great ones:

1. Fresh cooked soybeans, also called edamame, are eaten after cooking, much like peas. Cook the beans in boiling water. Then, put the whole pod in your mouth. Bite down a little on the pod, and pull it out of your mouth, using your teeth to strip the beans out.

2. Dry roasted soybeans can be eaten as a snack food. There are several different surprisingly delicious flavors, such as Ranch and Cajun (my personal favorite).

3. Tempeh is a traditional Asian and Indonesian food that’s growing in popularity, so you can find it in most grocery stores. It’s a cultured soy cake that sometimes has other grains or spices added to it. You can cook tempeh in a number of ways: sauté it in olive oil, bake it, put it in salads or stews, make a sandwich with it, or add it to a stir-fry dish.

4. Tofu is another excellent Asian product. It is made from soybean milk curd. It looks a little like cheese and has a very mild flavor. Tofu will pick up the flavor of any dish you put it in. You can use it in at least 101 different ways, so I suggest you get a good tofu cookbook and experiment.

5. Miso is a fermented soybean paste that you add to water to make miso soup.

6. Natto is a fermented form of soy popular in Japan. It is commonly used in sushi rolls and with rice. Natto comes in a wide variety of flavors, but it’s much more difficult to find in grocery stores in the United States.

How much soy should you consume each day to lower your risk of breast cancer? Experts say about 4–12 ounces of a quality soy product. However, if you want to eat less soy but still get the same or even better cancer-fighting effects, you can add certain spices.

Add a Little Spice to Your Life

When you cook soy, you can exponentially enhance its anticancer power by simply adding a pinch of turmeric or cumin. Both of these spices defend against and sabotage the growth of breast cancer in many clever ways.

A 1997 study from Tufts University in Boston found that when turmeric and genistein are combined, they have a synergistic effect. In other words, each one makes the other more effective. Researchers used certain highly estrogenic pesticides, endosulfan/chlordane/DDT, to start some tumors—estradiol for others—growing in a breast-cancer-cell line in the laboratory. Both genistein and curcumin (an active ingredient extracted from turmeric and cumin) prevented the growth of the tumor cells—but not completely. When they were added together, the effect was so strong, all tumor-cell growth stopped.

Many studies show that young girls who eat soy products before they go through puberty have a substantially lower risk of breast cancer later in life. One explanation for this finding is that a woman’s breast tissue is considered “immature” before she has had her first baby. Immature breast tissue is more sensitive to environmental toxins and other carcinogens. Soy has been found to help mature the breast tissue, making it more resistant to environmental toxins. According to a study published in Carcinogenesis in 2004, exposure to soy prior to puberty triggers another protective action—it “up-regulates” the Breast Cancer 1 (BRCA1) gene, a tumor-suppression gene. In other words, soy turns on a gene that suppresses tumor growth—and keeps it on.

THE SOY CONTROVERSY

Some physicians warn their patients not to eat soy foods because they fear that soy may increase the risk of breast cancer instead of decreasing it. Their mistaken fear comes primarily from one study from the University of California, San Francisco published in October 1996. In this study, women were given 38 grams of genistein a day for one year. It’s important to note that these women were not given genistein as it occurs naturally in whole soy foods. Rather, they were given genistein that had been extracted and isolated from soy foods and prepared as a supplement—a supplement composed only of genistein with none of the hundreds of other nutrients in soy.

The researchers were surprised to discover that instead of having a protective effect, the genistein supplement appeared to be harmful. After one year on the genistein supplement, the women had elevated the amounts of estradiol in their blood and their breast cells showed signs of stimulation and increased growth. This unexpected result concerned researchers. Could soy actually increase the risk of cancer? Hundreds of other studies show that women who eat the most soy have the lowest risk of breast cancer. So, how could a genistein isolate have the opposite effect?

The women in the controversial study didn’t eat fresh whole soy foods. They were given an isolate of genistein—something that doesn’t naturally occur in Nature. When you isolate a substance from the whole, the isolate often behaves differently. Your body was designed to eat, digest, and metabolize fresh whole foods, which contain hundreds, even thousands, of substances all interacting with one another. Those interactions can be critically important. One substance may balance the effect of another, make it more or less effective, take away its toxic effects, increase its absorption, or modify how your body uses it in some important way.

Research shows that when genistein is consumed as part of whole soy foods, it’s absorbed very differently from how it is in an isolated supplemental form. Genistein in whole soy is activated by intestinal bacteria during digestion, whereas genistein taken as an isolated supplement is absorbed before it reaches the bacteria in the intestines. This may be part of the reason that genistein supplements appear to have an effect different from that of whole soy foods. So, until research shows otherwise, stay away from genistein supplements and eat whole soy foods.

Breast Health Tip #19: Flaxseeds

If you were given only one choice of a food to take as medicine, your best choice would be the tiny seeds from flax. Flaxseeds have more potent medicinal qualities—especially those that fight breast cancer—than any other known edible plant. This small seed provides a fortress of protection against this deadly killer.

OMEGA-3 FATTY ACIDS

The intelligence contained in flax is so spectacular that it coordinates a sensational offense against breast cancer. Flax has three notable distinctions. First, it’s the richest plant source of omega-3 fatty acids . Research has found that women who eat the highest amounts of omega-3s have the lowest risk of breast cancer.

Omega-3 fatty acids help to lower the risk of breast cancer by quieting inflammation and by decreasing the rate at which breast cells divide in response to estrogen. Inflammation is a key factor in the initiation and progression of a variety of diseases including heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, skin diseases, and cancers such as breast cancer. If you have breast cancer, omega-3s have been found to help shrink breast tumors and prevent them from spreading to other parts of the body.

LIGNANS

The second exceptional quality of flax has to do with something called “lignans.” Lignans are natural plant compounds that help to give stiffness to the structure of plants. They also possess extraordinary anticancer properties with an astonishing ability to help protect against and fight breast cancer. Lignans are found abundantly in certain fruits, vegetables, beans, seeds, and legumes—for example, garlic, carrots, broccoli, asparagus, dried apricots, and prunes. But, the amount of lignans in these plants is miniscule compared to that in flaxseeds. Flaxseeds contain at least 100 times more lignans than any other known edible plant!

Lignans deter and arrest the growth of breast cancer in a multitude of ways. First, they act as a weak estrogen and block strong cancer-promoting estrogens from attaching to the estrogen receptors in the breast. Second, lignans change the structure of the breast making it more resistant to toxins that induce cancer. Third, if you have breast cancer, lignans can stop the tumor cells from growing and help to prevent the metastasis of your tumor. They do this by decreasing two growth factors that fuel the fires of breast cancer: insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) and something called “epidermal growth factor.” IGF-1 is thought to be one of the most dangerous and potent risk factors for breast and prostate cancer.

There is another cancer-enhancing growth factor that lignans thwart, called “vascular endothelial growth factor” (VEGF). VEGF stimulates new blood vessels to grow. In order for a tumor to grow larger, it needs more nutrients--nutrients that can only be delivered by new blood vessels. So the more blood vessels that grow into a tumor, the more food that is delivered to it, and the faster it will grow. On the contrary, without new blood vessels, tumors can’t grow larger. Cancer specialists recently discovered that this anticancer tactic used by lignans--blocking VEGF--is so powerful at stopping tumor growth that they have created a new anticancer drug that works this same way. It is called Avastin (bevacizumab) and was released on the market in 2004. Avistan is currently only approved for the treatment of metastatic colon cancer and must be given in combination with another chemotherapy drug called 5-FU.

Lignans have several additional ways that they reduce the risk of breast cancer. They create more of the “good” protective kind of estrogen and less of the “bad” cancer-promoting type. They also reduce the production of estrogen in fat cells by blocking the aromatase enzyme. Aromatase converts androgens to estrogens (The new anti-breast cancer drug Arimidex works in the same way). According to a 1993 study from the University of Rochester, lignan-rich flaxseeds also lengthen the menstrual cycle. For example, if a woman has a menstrual period every 28 days and then starts consuming flaxseeds, her cycles may lengthen to every 32 days. The longer your menstrual cycles are, the fewer the number of cycles you will have over your lifetime, and the less estradiol you will produce. Simply put, the longer your menstrual cycles are, the lower your risk of breast cancer is.

All of the very effective schemes that lignans use to combat breast cancer add up to lots of protection. Research shows that women with the highest amounts of lignans in their urine—a reflection of how much they consume in their diet—have the lowest risk of breast cancer.

Brevail is made of isolated, purified, and concentrated lignans from flaxseed. The dose in one daily capsule was strategically designed to create levels of lignans in the body that are in the same range as that found in women with the lowest risk of breast cancer. There are two major benefits to taking supplemental lignans. First, the amount of lignans in flax can vary from crop to crop by as much as 300 percent, whereas those in the supplement are standardized so you always get the optimal amount. Secondly, studies show that the lignans in Brevail are absorbed eighteen times more effectively than they are from ground flaxseed. So, taking lignans in this supplemental form guarantees that you get the healthiest dose of lignans every day. Brevail is not recommended for women who are pregnant or currently breast feeding, not because it isn’t safe, but because no studies have been conducted yet on this special group of women to analyze the effects and proper dose.

Taking Brevail with other cancer drugs is also not recommended because this product hasn’t been studied in women currently undergoing cancer treatment. However, that may change in the near future. A study published in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment in July 2003 found that lignans enhance the effectiveness of the common cancer medication Tamoxifen. Researchers J. Chen and Lillian Thompson found that lignans and Tamoxifen, alone and—better yet—in combination, reduce the ability of estrogen-receptor-negative tumor cells to stick together, invade, and migrate—all important properties in cancer’s ability to grow and spread. More research is needed to determine the exact role this supplement may play in cancer treatment.

Brevail is standardized to one type of lignan found in flax, “secoisolariciresinol diglycoside” (SDG). Of all the lignans found in flax, SDG is the one found in the highest amounts and is possibly the most potent. If you decide to take Brevail, I think it’s a good idea to eat flaxseed, too. In addition to the advantages of lignans, flax has many other anticancer properties that you wouldn’t want to miss out on.

FIBER

The third property of flax that lowers your risk of breast cancer is its abundant fiber. High-fiber diets are associated with a 54 percent lower risk of breast cancer. Fiber helps to lower the amount of estrogen in your body by binding to it in your intestines and then expelling it from your body.

EATING FLAXSEEDS

It is recommended to eat at least 3 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds a day. To eat them, you must first grind them in a coffee grinder until they become a fine nutty powder because the hard seeds can’t be digested. Add the ground seeds to just about anything you like: vegetable dishes, salads, smoothies, baked goods such as muffins, and cereal.

Breast Health Tip #20: Avoid Red Meat

Research has shown beyond a scientific doubt that eating red meat is a serious risk factor for breast cancer. Many studies have shown that women who eat the most red meat have an 88 to 330 percent increased risk of this deadly disease. The numbers were even higher in premenopausal women.

There are four major sources of health dangers in red meat:

#1: ANIMAL PROTEIN

The meat of animals is composed primarily of muscle protein, which is made up of smaller subunits known as “amino acids.” It also contains creatine, an important substance that muscles use for energy. As you know, protein and amino acids are essential to health, and so is creatine. However, when animal protein is cooked, especially at high heat, structural changes occur in the protein, amino acids, and creatine—changes that create dangerous new carcinogens. A study from Uruguay found that red-meat protein is associated with a 220 to 770 percent increased risk of breast cancer!

#2: SATURATED ANIMAL FATS

Saturated animal fats (a type of lipid) from red meat and dairy products are poisonous to your body. These lipids make the cells in your body more resistant to insulin. As a result, your insulin levels go up. High insulin levels are lethal. In fact, they are one of the biggest risk factors for breast cancer. Research shows that women with the highest insulin levels have a 283 percent greater risk of breast cancer.

There are two other ways that saturated animal fat can raise your risk of

breast cancer, as well. First, saturated animal fat is converted into a carcinogenic substance by the bacteria in your colon. Second, oxygen free radicals have a tendency to attack and damage these types of fats, changing them into powerful stimulators of inflammation, and inflammation fuels the growth of breast cancer. Worse yet, inflammation and oxygen free radicals engage in a deadly dance with each other, each one increasing the numbers and power of the other. Inflammation produces more oxygen free radicals, and oxygen free radicals, in turn, spark the fires of inflammation.

#3: CONCENTRATED TOXINS IN RED MEAT

Red meat is a storehouse of concentrated toxins including pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, and growth stimulators. In the United States, livestock are regularly fed and injected with growth hormones and stimulators to make them grow bigger and faster and to increase their production of milk. When a cow is injected with rBGH, its body produces large amounts of insulin-like growth factor–1 (IGF-1). At higher concentrations, IGF-1 is extremely dangerous because it becomes an extraordinarily potent stimulator of breast cancer. In fact, scientists believe it may be the most potent stimulator of breast cancer known. Women with the highest levels of IGF-1 in their bodies have a 700% increased risk of breast cancer! Eating conventionally raised beef and dairy products is the principal way that excessive amounts of IGF-1 get into your body.

Environmental toxins, such as pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, and industrial chemicals, accumulate, concentrate and store in animal fat. Many of these toxins have estrogenic effects. In other words, they act like estrogen in the body and accelerate cell division. Many studies have shown that these pesticides can trigger breast cancer and that those women who have high levels of these pesticides in their bodies have a much higher risk of breast cancer.

#4: DEATH BY GRILLING

When red meats are cooked at high temperatures, additional carcinogens known as “heterocyclic amines” are formed. These sinister molecules attack DNA, destroying its vital code in a way that seriously increases the risk of cancer. Frying and grilling are the methods of cooking that use the highest temperatures to cook meat, and they are associated with the highest risk of breast cancer. The higher the cooking temperature, the more carcinogenic heterocyclic amines form. How long you cook your meat makes a difference, too. The more well done your meat is, the more heterocyclic amines it will have, and the more carcinogenic it will be.

Research shows that of the women who eat red meat, those who eat both the most grilled and the most well-done red meat have the highest risk of breast cancer. A study from Vanderbilt University published in 2002 found that women who consumed large amounts of red meat, especially cooked well done, had a significantly higher risk of breast cancer. If the women were also overweight, their risk was even greater. Another study, done at the Medical College of Ohio and published in the journal Carcinogenesis in 1999, found that an enzyme in breast tissue called “N-acetyltransferase” activates the carcinogens in well-done red meat and in cigarette smoke. The study also identified several different subtypes of the N-acetyltransferase enzyme. The risk of breast cancer in women who had one particular subtype of this enzyme was extremely high. The women who had this dangerous subtype and who also smoked, ate a lot of red meat, or ate well-done red meat were found to have a 400 percent higher risk of breast cancer. In short, eating well-done red meat is always risky, but it is exceptionally risky for certain women.

SAFE ALTERNATIVES—MEAT MIMICKERS

If you love the taste and texture of red meat, don’t think you have to give it up.

The ever-growing and surprisingly delicious vegetable-based meat-substitute cuisine has come a long way. Even committed carnivores will find many of the meat mimickers to be a culinary delight. For instance, my rebellious teenager couldn’t tell the difference between a Boca Burger (made with soy protein) and an actual hamburger! Also, some vegetarians (I, for one) think some meat substitutes taste too much like the real thing!

If you do like the taste of meat, however, there are delicious substitutes for hamburgers, frankfurters, salami, lunchmeats, chicken, turkey, jerky—you name it. The next time you’re at your local health food store, experiment and give one a try. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Many chain grocery stores carry them, too.

The list below shows some good substitutes for your old meaty favorites.

• Instead of bacon, try Lightlife Smart Bacon
• Instead of chicken, try Gardenburger Chik’n Grill or Nate’s Chicken Style Nuggets
• Instead of hamburgers, try Boca Burgers or Morningstar Farms Grillers Prime
• Instead of hot dogs, try Yves Veggie Cuisine Good Dog
• Instead of turkey, try To-furkey

YOUR BEST CHOICE FOR HEALTH

Research shows that the types of foods that support your health the most are fresh whole organic plants—fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. So try to favor these foods.

Breast Health Tip #21: Avoid Sugar

Dangerous Foe in a Sweet Disguise

Estimates are that every year the average American eats almost his or her entire body weight in sugar. The average teenage boy eats thirty-four teaspoons of sugar a day, and the average teenage girl consumes twenty-four. You can easily see how this is possible when you add it up. Sugar is added to virtually all processed foods, especially soda pop. The average can of cola, such as Coke or Pepsi, contains ten to twelve teaspoons of sugar! There’s a new breakfast cereal with a whopping eighteen teaspoons of sugar per serving; that’s one-third of a cup, or the equivalent of forty-eight Hershey’s Kisses. You’re probably aware that sugar’s bad for your teeth, but you can brush them. So, what’s the big deal, you might ask? The big deal is that research shows that sugar and refined carbohydrates are detrimental to your health in a multitude of ways, including increasing the risk of many chronic disorders including diabetes, obesity, heart disease and breast cancer.

INSULIN

Cancer cells love sugar. It’s their preferred fuel. The more sugar you eat, the faster cancer cells grow. Your pancreas responds to sugar by releasing insulin, the hormone that escorts sugar into your cells. When you eat refined simple sugars, such as white table sugar, candy, cookies, or other sugar-laden foods, your blood sugar levels rise very quickly. Your pancreas responds by releasing a lot of insulin. That’s not good. High insulin levels are one of the biggest risk factors and promoters of breast cancer. Women with high insulin levels have a 283 percent greater risk of breast cancer.

When it comes to breast cancer, insulin is no friend. One of the biggest reason is due to the fact that both normal breast cells and cancer cells have insulin receptors on them. When insulin attaches to its receptor, it has the same effect as when estrogen attaches to its receptor; it causes cells to start dividing. The higher your insulin levels are, the faster your breast cells will divide; the faster they divide, the higher your risk of breast cancer is and the faster any existing cancer cells will grow.

There’s another wound that insulin can inflict, too. It attacks a portion of the estrogen cycle, making more estrogen available to attach to the estrogen receptors in breast tissue. Insulin regulates how much of the estrogen in your blood is available to attach to estrogen receptors in your breast tissue. When estrogen travels in the blood, it either travels alone seeking a mate (an estrogen receptor), or it travels with a partner (a protein binder) that prevents it from attaching to an estrogen receptor. Insulin regulates the number of protein binders in the blood. So, the higher your insulin levels are, the fewer the number of protein binders there will be and therefore the more free estrogen that will be available to attach to estrogen receptors.

In other words, when your insulin levels are up, free-estrogen levels are up, too. And both of them speed up cell division. That’s why high insulin levels increase your risk of breast cancer so much.

DANGER—SUGAR!

Eating sugar increases your risk of breast cancer in another way. It delivers a major blow to your immune system with the force of a prize fighter. Your immune system is your natural defense against such invaders as bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells. Research shows that right after you eat a high-sugar meal, the function of the cells in your immune system drops drastically. In the case of one type of cell in particular, the T lymphocyte (a type of white blood cell), sugar knocks its defense abilities down by at least 50 percent. This effect lasts for a minimum of five hours! Another researcher found that the function of T lymphocytes dropped by 94 percent after a high-sugar meal! This means that right after you’ve eaten a lot of sugar, your body’s ability to fight off invaders or destroy cancer cells is tremendously weakened for several hours.

Over a period of time, eating too much sugar can create imbalances that lead to two more deadly diseases: obesity and diabetes. Both of these diseases dangerously increase your risk of breast cancer, and both have increased alarmingly in the United States in the past two decades. An estimated 60 percent of the adult population is overweight, and 5 percent have diabetes. Of those people who have diabetes, 90 percent are also overweight. Not only do these diseases increase your risk of breast cancer, but they also increase your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, poor circulation, stroke, and infection.

A study conducted by Harvard Medical School and published in 2004 found that women who ate foods with a high glycemic index (foods that cause blood sugars to soar, such as refined carbohydrates and sugars) as teenagers had a higher incidence of breast cancer later in life. So, encouraging your teenage daughter to cut back on sugar will help her to lower her risk of breast cancer for the rest of her life.

SWEET RELIEF

Now, the good news: If you have a sweet tooth, you’ll be relieved to know that you don’t have to suffer. There’s a natural sweetener that tastes great, and better yet, research has shown that instead of being dangerous to your health, it actually has several wonderful health-supporting qualities. It’s called Stevia, and it comes from the South American plant Stevia rebaudiana. What’s interesting about this semi shrub, indigenous to Paraguay, is that every part of it tastes intensely sweet. The dried leaves, however, are the only parts that are used for medicinal and commercial purposes. Scientists have found that Stevia’s delightfully sweet flavor comes from a group of substances in it called “glycosidal diterpenes.”

Compared to sugar, only very small amounts of Stevia are needed. That’s because Stevia is 300 times sweeter than sucrose, the type of sugar found in table sugar. Stevia hasn’t yet been approved by the FDA as a food additive—write your senators and Congressional representatives!—so at this time you won’t find it in any processed foods in the United States. In this country Stevia is considered a dietary supplement. Health food stores and national-chain grocery stores that specialize in organic foods, such as Wild Oats and Whole Foods, usually carry Stevia.

Stevia comes in multiple forms: a fine white powder, a green powder, or a liquid. I found that certain brands of Stevia can taste bitter or leave a weird aftertaste if you use too much. There’s one brand, however, that solved this problem by adding some fiber to it. It is called Stevia Plus by SweetLeaf .

Stevia can also be used in cooking, but it’s a little tricky. The amount you should use can vary a lot from brand to brand, so you definitely should use a Stevia cookbook. Many of the companies with Stevia products have their own cookbooks.

Stevia has been used for hundreds if not thousands of years by the native tribes in Paraguay and Brazil to treat high blood pressure and diabetes. Modern research has shown that it does help both conditions. Stevia causes blood vessels to dilate. When the diameter of a blood vessel increases, the blood pressure in it goes down. A double-blind placebo-controlled study was published in the British Journal of Pharmacology in the year 2000 documenting Stevia’s ability to lower blood pressure. Researchers found that after only three months, patients with high blood pressure who were given Stevia three times a day had a significant decrease in both their systolic (the upper number) and diastolic (the lower number) blood-pressure numbers.

Stevia is a great sugar substitute for people who really need to avoid sugar, such as diabetics. In addition, Stevia has an added benefit for type 2 diabetics: It seems to have an effect opposite to that of sugar on their bodies; it causes blood sugar to go down. Research has also discovered two more Stevia health benefits. First, it can kill certain bacteria and viruses. In a study published in 2001, Stevia was found to have antiviral effects against the rotavirus. This virus can cause severe diarrhea and dehydration, especially in infants. Secondly, Stevia shows a strong ability to kill a wide range of food-born bacteria.

Another, healthy natural substitute for sugar is also available. It’s made from Luo Han Guo, the round green fruit of the Chinese plant Siraita grosvenori. Luo Han Guo has been used in China as a medicine since the thirteenth century, but it didn’t become popular as a remedy for coughs, sore throats, and upper respiratory-tract infections until the twentieth century. In southern China Luo Han Guo is also used to enhance longevity. Like Stevia, Luo Han Guo is about 300 times sweeter than sugar and is processed into a fine, white crystalline powder. WisdomHerbs makes a sugar substitute using a blend of Luo Han Guo and fructose called Sweet and Slender. It can be purchased at most health food stores or on the Internet.

Breast Health Tip #22: Keep Your Body-fat Percentage Low

Keeping your body fat low reduces your risk of breast cancer as well as your risk of developing many other diseases. Women who are obese (that is, have a BMI over 30) have a much higher risk of postmenopausal breast cancer: 50 to 250 percent higher. About 20 to 30 percent of all postmenopausal breast cancers are thought to be caused primarily by obesity. If you gain weight as an adult, your risk of breast cancer is higher than if you’ve been over-weight all your life. In addition, studies show that obese women with breast cancer are more likely to have advanced breast cancer at the time of their diagnosis and to die from the disease.

One big reason why obesity is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer is because fat cells produce estrogen. Estrogen isn’t created just by the ovaries. It’s also made by fat cells. After menopause, fat becomes the primary site where estrogen is manufactured in your body. So the more fat you have, the more estrogen your body will produce.

Obesity is also associated with higher levels of insulin and insulin-like growth factor–1 (IGF-1) both significantly increase your risk of breast cancer, and if you have the disease, they make your cancer grow faster.

There are many other serious reasons why you should avoid gaining too much weight. An estimated 300,000 adults die in the United States each year from obesity-related causes, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes, and that number grows every year.

Defining Obesity—Body Mass Index (BMI)

Researchers use very specific measures to define a body as being overweight or obese. The measures include the BMI or body mass index and the percentage of body fat (percent BF). Your BMI is traditionally calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms by your height in meters squared. Then, that number is divided by your height in inches again, and the result is multiplied by 703. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has a BMI calculator on its website (http://nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bmicalc.htm), so you don’t have to do the math yourself. If you don’t know how to convert your weight and height to metric measurements, that’s okay; this website can calculate your BMI using standard American measurements. Ideally, your BMI should be in the range of 18.5 to 24.9. If your BMI is greater than 25, you’re overweight. If it’s greater than 30, you’re considered obese.

BMI, however, is not the best measure to determine if you’re overweight or obese because it doesn’t take body composition into account. Muscle weighs more than fat. For example, bodybuilders may weigh a lot for their height, but their above-normal weight is usually due to their large muscle mass, not excess fat. These toned athletes may have a BMI greater than 30, but they are certainly not obese.

Percent Body Fat

A better way to determine whether you are overweight, obese, or just “solid” is to measure your percent body fat (percent BF). This measurement is an assessment of your body composition. It evaluates how much of your weight is lean body mass (muscle, bones, and so on) and how much of it is actually fat. There are several different ways to get this measurement. The most accurate way involves completely submerging your body into a tank of water. This fairly expensive test measures the amount of water you displace in the tank and compares it to your height and weight. Fat is lighter than muscle. So pound for pound, fat takes up much more space than muscle. The more water you displace for your height and weight, the higher your percent of body fat.

Body fat can also be calculated by the method known as “bioelectrical impedance.” This test is performed by passing a small, low-amp electrical current through your body and measuring the speed at which the current flows through you. Fat doesn’t conduct electricity very well, but muscle does. So, the more fat you have, the slower the current travels.

The simplest and least expensive way to measure percent body fat is to use a series of skin-fold measurements. However, calculating body fat using this technique has some limitations and is a lot less accurate than the other methods. The accuracy of this approach very much depends on the skill of the person doing the evaluation. Also, skin-fold measurements are unreliable for estimating the amount of body fat on people who are either extremely thin or very obese. To calculate percent body fat using this technique, a caliper is used to measure the thickness of skin folds in several very specific areas of the body. The skin and the underlying fat are pinched into the caliper—a device that looks and feels a lot like a vice. Yes, sometimes it hurts a little. The thickness of each skin fold is read from the numbers on the caliper. After all the measurements are taken, they are added up and divided by the person’s body weight. That number is then multiplied by a conversion factor to obtain the estimated percent body fat. Certified personal trainers are taught how to take these measurements as part of their certification training. Most gyms and fitness clubs have a personal trainer who can do these measurements for you.

Studies have shown that your BMI and percent body fat (BF) are associated with your risk of breast cancer. A study from Sweden published in January 2003 in the International Journal of Cancer found that your percent BF has a higher association with your risk of breast cancer than your BMI does. The normal overall range for percent BF in non-athletic women is 16 to 32 percent; the desirable range is 18 to 28 percent.

Healthy Diet and Lifestyle=Healthy Weight and Breast Cancer Protection

Many of the diet and lifestyle choices that protect against breast cancer will help you to lose and maintain a healthy weigh too. For example, eating fresh organic fruits, vegetables, and whole grains; avoiding red meat, processed foods, and sugar; taking flax oil or eating flaxseeds; and exercising every day.

If you find that you have frequent desires to snack, try this: Eat six small meals instead of three large meals, and plan what you’re going to eat on a particular day the night before. Every three hours or so, eat a small portion of protein with a serving of vegetables. Include a serving of fresh fruit and whole grains in two of your meals. Eating planned, small, frequent meals will keep you from getting hungry, overeating, and having the compulsion to eat the wrong things. If three meals a day works well for you, remember to eat your main meal at noon because that’s when your digestion is strongest. In the evening when your digestion is much weaker, eat lightly.

If you have a serious weight problem, joining a weight-loss program such as Weight Watchers can be very helpful. However, consult your doctor before starting a weight-loss program.

Breast Health Tip #23: Don't Smoke

Tobacco: Smoking and Breast Cancer

No one would argue with the fact that smoking is not good for your health. It’s an extremely dangerous and costly habit. According to statistics released in 2004 by the American Heart Association, smoking related illnesses kill an average of 442,398 Americans and cost the nation $157 billion each year.

For years we have known that smoking is linked to cancers of the bladder, esophagus, larynx, lung, mouth, and throat; to chronic lung disease, such as bronchitis and emphysema; and to chronic heart disease and cardiovascular diseases, including strokes, high blood pressure, and poor circulation. A new report released by the Surgeon General in May 2004 reveals that smoking also causes a rash of other diseases: acute myeloid leukemia, abdominal aortic aneurysms, cataracts, periodontitis, pneumonia, and cancers of the cervix, kidney, pancreas, and stomach. There’s also evidence that smoking may cause colorectal cancers, liver cancer, prostate cancer, and erectile dysfunction. This report said that smokers die an average of thirteen to fourteen years earlier than nonsmokers. It states that smoking-related diseases have killed 12 million Americans in the last forty years, continue to kill about 440,000 each year, and cost the nation $75 billion annually to treat these diseases.

For years, it was unclear whether smoking increased the risk of breast cancer or not. Some studies found that it was difficult to separate the risk associated with cigarette smoking from the risk associated with alcohol consumption, because most smokers also drink alcohol, and alcohol is a significant risk factor for breast cancer. But now, researchers have concluded from several well-designed studies that there is a clear and significant association between cigarette smoking and breast cancer.

YOUNGER START—GREATER RISK

Smoking during the teenage years is particularly dangerous in terms of breast cancer risk. A study from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) found that women who smoked cigarettes during their adolescence had a 50 percent increased risk of breast cancer. This may be because female breast cells generally don’t mature until the first pregnancy (immature breast cells are more susceptible to damage from toxins).

But smoking can be dangerous at any age. A German study published in 2002 in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention found that women who smoked had a 50 percent increased risk of breast cancer. The risk for ex-smokers kept going down the longer that they abstained from smoking. But no matter how long it had been since they smoked, their risk was still 20 percent higher than nonsmokers.

These researchers also found that secondhand smoke increased the risk of breast cancer. They documented that women who inhaled passive smoke were 60 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than those who weren’t exposed to it. The highest risk was in smokers who also inhaled passive smoke.

Another study published in The Lancet in 2002 found that very specific categories of smokers have a particularly high risk. For instance, an unusually high risk of breast cancer was found in women who had been pregnant and who had started smoking as teenagers within five years of starting their period. Women who had never had a baby and who smoked twenty cigarettes a day or more for more than twenty years also had a significantly increased risk.

One of the reasons smoking increases the risk of breast cancer is that cigarette smoke contains carcinogens. A study from Albert Einstein University published in 2002 in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention identified the specific carcinogens in cigarette smoke: polycyclic hydrocarbons, aromatic amines, and N-nitrosamines. This group of heterocyclic amines is similar to those found in grilled red meat. Certain carcinogens, including these, don’t become carcinogens until they are activated by enzymes—predominantly phase 1 liver enzymes—in your body. Breast tissue, like the liver, contains enzymes that can activate the carcinogens found in red meat and cigarette smoke. All these carcinogens can induce mammary tumors, and they have all been found in the breast tissue and breast milk of women who smoke. Researchers have also found the changes in DNA and genetic mutations that are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer in the breast cells of women who smoke.

TO HELP YOU QUIT

If you smoke cigarettes and have tried to quit, you know how hard it can be to break this habit. Of all the addictions you can have, cigarette smoking is one of the hardest to give up. Research shows that the practice of Transcendental Meditation (TM) is extremely successful in breaking the addictive cycle and helping people to quit for good. In fact, of all the programs there are to help you stop smoking, the practice of TM is the most successful. People who practice this simple stress-reducing technique spontaneously quit smoking because they find their desire for cigarettes naturally decreases. Harvard-trained researchers David O’Connell, Ph.D., and Skip Alexander, Ph.D., wrote an excellent book, Self Recovery: Treating Addictions using Transcendental Meditation and Maharishi Ayurveda, that reports on all the research showing the impressive success that this mental technique has in overcoming addictions.

Breast Health Tip #24: Avoid Pharmaceutical Hormones

Pharmaceutical drugs are fraught with side effects, some mild and some deadly. The number of reported in-hospital adverse drug reactions to prescribed medications is estimated to be about 2.2 million per year. About 783,000 people die each year in the United States alone from iatrogenic causes (that is, health problems inadvertently induced by a medical treatment or diagnostic procedure).Of those deaths, about 106,000 are from side effects of a drug or combination of drugs.

One horrifying “side effect” of certain pharmaceutical medications is breast cancer. Until recently, little attention was given to the frightening increased risk of breast cancer associated with such medications as birth control pills, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), certain heart medications, various antidepressants, and many other pharmaceuticals. Each of these medications has specific ways that it increases your risk of breast cancer. Most drugs are metabolized in the liver, and scientists have found that they may interfere with the liver’s ability to detoxify carcinogens. When your liver function is impaired, more carcinogens remain in your body, and thereby increase your risk of many different cancers, including breast cancer. That’s why your Warrior Goddess prefers that you supply her with foods, herbs, and other natural approaches, rather than pharmaceuticals whenever possible.

“THE PILL”

In a laboratory study published in 1987 in the journal Cancer, researchers found that the combination of estrogen and progestin (found in many birth control pills) stimulates breast cells to grow and divide and accelerates the growth of breast cancer. In another study, published more than twenty years ago in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine, premenopausal women who used the pill after age forty were found to have a 50 percent increased risk of breast cancer. More recent studies show that women who have a mother or sister with breast cancer and take the pill long term also have a significantly increased risk of breast cancer.

HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY (HRT)

To combat perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms, Western medicine developed synthetic hormones. Drug companies promoted hormone replacement therapy (HRT) as the long-sought-after fountain of youth. HRT, women were told, lowered the risk of heart disease, strokes, Alzheimer’s disease, and osteoporosis. But recent studies, including the Women’s Health Initiative Study, have found that the opposite is true: Women taking HRT have an increased risk of heart disease, strokes, blood clots, gallbladder disease, and invasive breast cancer. It is true that HRT does help to prevent osteoporosis, but not any more so than a little weight-bearing exercise and a diet high in calcium-rich foods.

Pharmaceutical companies, as well as many doctors, still downplay the level of risk associated with these synthetic hormones. But research published in the August 2003 issue of the prestigious journal The Lancet found that the risk was considerable. One-quarter of all the women between the ages of fifty and sixty-four in Britain—1 million women—were followed from 1996 until 2002. Those women who took HRT had a 66 percent increased incidence of breast cancer and a 22 percent greater risk of dying from it. Those women who took a combination of estrogen and progestin had a 100 percent higher risk of breast cancer than those women who never took hormones. The women who took estrogen alone had a 30 percent higher risk. And the longer the women took these hormones, the higher their risk became. Of the women who developed breast cancer, those who had taken hormones had more aggressive tumors than those who had never taken them. Aggressive tumors are very dangerous because they’re more likely to spread throughout the body and cause an early death. The researchers of this landmark study in England estimated that HRT was responsible for 20,000 cases of breast cancer over the ten-year period from 1992 to 2002.

Several other studies have also found a significant connection between HRT and breast cancer. For instance, the Nurses’ Health Study, a large epidemiological study, followed 58,520 women who took HRT from age fifty to sixty. When these women reached the age of seventy, they were found to have a 23 percent higher risk of breast cancer. However, the women who took estrogen plus progestin had a much higher risk of breast cancer—67 percent. Another study published in JAMA in 2002 found that long-term users of HRT who took either estrogen alone or estrogen with progestin had a 60 to 85 percent increased incidence of breast cancer.

Researchers have also discovered that HRT causes an unusual type of breast cancer called “invasive lobular carcinoma.” The majority of all breast cancers start in the breast ducts. They are called “ductal carcinomas.” Lobular carcinoma originates in the terminal lobules or milk glands. A study published in 2003 in JAMA found that women who took a combination of estrogen and progestin had a 50 percent higher risk of lobular carcinoma. They also noted that the overall incidence in the United States of this far less common type of breast cancer increased from 9.5 percent in 1987 to 15.6 percent in 1999. HRT is thought to be the primary cause of this alarming escalation.

Taking HRT substantially increases the risk of ovarian cancer, too. Ovarian cancer is a relatively uncommon cancer. The average woman has only a 1.7 percent chance of developing this disease over her lifetime, whereas the risk of breast cancer for the average woman is 13.3 percent. In a 2002 study published by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), women who took HRT for ten to nineteen years had an 80 percent increased risk of ovarian cancer.

Millions of women in the United States have been prescribed HRT. It was one of the top pharmaceuticals sold for many years. In 2002, an estimated 8 million women in the United States were on some form of HRT. With this extensive use, you’d think that this pharmaceutical product would have been thoroughly studied, both before it was put on the market and afterward. But a well-designed study wasn’t conducted on HRT until forty years after it was put on the market

NATURE’S PERFECT DESIGN

Prescribing hormones for menopausal symptoms is a perfect example how the Western paradigm of health can be so off the mark sometimes, that the consequences can be catastrophic. We seem to forget that Nature designed human beings perfectly. We can’t outsmart Nature no matter how hard we try. We shouldn’t try to overpower it, but rather work with it. Menopause, for example, isn’t a disease or a condition that needs to be treated or controlled. The hormonal changes that women go through are perfect by design. They are part of the natural progression of life. Symptoms arise from imbalances caused by poor choices in diet and lifestyle. Restoring balance naturally is the solution; suppressing the symptoms of imbalances with supplemental hormones is not.

If you suffer from menopausal symptoms and are looking for relief, or if you want to stop taking hormones, there are many safe and effective natural approaches you can take including taking Brevail. There are several good books that I recommend for more information. Dr. Nancy Lonsdorf, M.D., wrote an excellent book on the Ayurvedic approach to menopause called The Ageless Woman: Natural Health and Beauty After Forty. Two other outstanding books are The Wisdom of Menopause, by Christiane Northrup, M.D., and Dr. Susan Love’s Hormone Book, by Susan Love, M.D.

Breast Health Tip #25: Protect from EMFs

Fortunately, there are many ways to lower the damaging effects of EMFs from standing away from appliances while they are in use, to using devices that change how your body responds to them.

THE DANGERS OF ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS (EMFS)

An electromagnetic field (EMF) is an invisible electric field that is produced when an electrical current runs through a wire. EMFs are also a natural product of the Earth’s magnetic field. The effects of man-made EMFs can be very damaging to your health—particularly your breast health. One way that they interfere with your body’s ability to stay healthy is by disrupting certain hormones, especially melatonin. Melatonin is known as your sleep hormone but it is also profoundly important for general good health and breast health. Women with chronically low melatonin levels, usually caused by going to bed too late or working the night shift, have a significantly elevated risk of breast cancer. Even seemingly small amounts of EMFs like those created by the wires and appliances in your home, can disturb your melatonin levels. Researchers have found that residential 60-Hz magnetic fields caused by normal electrical house wiring and equipment (such as clock radios, electric blankets, and televisions) depress melatonin.

In a comprehensive review of the all the published studies on EMF exposure and breast cancer, a definite link between the two was found, and so we can say with certainty that EMF exposure contributes to breast cancer. In many studies, even male electricians showed an increased risk of the disease. A review of eleven occupational studies found a statistically significant increased risk of breast cancer in several categories. Overall, the risk of breast cancer doubled in premenopausal women who had jobs with significant EMF exposure. These jobs included telephone-line installers, repairers, and line workers. The risk was 65 percent higher for system analysts and programmers and 40 percent higher for telegraph and radio operators. A German study published in Cancer Research in 2002 found that 50-Hz EMFs caused breast tumors to start growing and accelerated their growth—but, in this study, melatonin levels remained normal. These researchers concluded that EMFs may disrupt the body some other way. Regardless of the specific disturbance that EMFs cause in the balance of your body, we know one thing for certain: exposure to EMFs contribute to the initiation of breast cancer and accelerate its growth.

Understanding EMFs through Quantum Physics

Quantum physics has shown through the “superstring theory” that everything in the Universe including your mind/body at its most finite level is composed of vibrations. The intelligent vibrations of your mind/body create a measurable electromagnetic field around you called a “biofield”. The health of your biofield influences the health of your mind/body and visa versa. Some external influences are harmonious with your biofield and support its health; others disrupt it. When you’re exposed to man-made EMFs, they interact with your biofield. If the external EMF is out of harmony with your own, it creates imbalances in your biofield and obstructs the flow of its intelligence. When this intelligence is interrupted, it creates imbalances in your mind/body and causes it not to function properly. Eventually diseases such as cancer can result.

Protecting yourself from EMFs

There are many steps you can take to protect yourself from EMFs. For example, if you’re building a new house or rewiring your existing one, have your electrician install a master switch in your bedroom. Turning this switch off at bedtime will cut off all the power and, therefore, any EMFs in your bedroom. Your electrician can also use “BX electrical cable” when wiring your home. This twisted wire doesn’t produce significant EMFs.

Simply standing a few feet away from most electrical appliances reduces your EMF exposure to nearly zero. Whenever you use an appliance, such as a microwave, toaster, or blender, step a few feet away from it while operating it. Of all the common electrical household appliances, hairdryers produce the strongest EMFs. Fortunately, there is a company that manufactures low-EMF hairdryers (www.lowemf.com). So, if this is something you use daily, consider purchasing one.

One of the easiest and best approaches to protect yourself from the damaging effects of EMFs is to use devices that alter how your body and biofield responds to them. For example, a company called BioPro (www.mybiopro.com/drchorner) provides a variety of devices that have been shown to be highly protective against electropollution. These devices range from ones that you wear, to chips that you place on your appliances, to “harmonizers” that you plug into the walls in your home. I recently began using these devices and experienced a profound difference in the level of fatigue and stress I experienced, especially while working at my computer. There have been amazing case reports of improved symptoms after using these devices revealing that EMFs may play a significant role in many health problems. For instance, symptoms including headaches and pain associated with fibromyalgia have resolved. Most impressively, a health provider in Tennessee who specializes in autistic children has observed tremendous improvement in her patients using these devices. One child after using the devices for several weeks began speaking for the first time!

If you would like more information about these devices please call me 1-888-217-4441 or log onto my web site www.mybiopro.com/drchorner and I or one of my staff will get back to you.