Nutrition the missing key to the fight against Breast Cancer

The National Cancer Institute estimates that 13.2 percent of women born today will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some time in their lives. This means that 1 out 8 women born today run the risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer. Lately breast cancer has not discriminated against men. There are now an alarming number of males under 60 developing breast cancer. The National Cancer Institutes states, “Men at any age may develop breast cancer…. Male breast cancer makes up less than 1% of all cases of breast cancer.” According to Center of Disease Control (CDC), “About 200,000 U.S. women and 1500 men develop breast cancer each year.”

The CDC also states the only 5 to 10 percent of these cases are hereditary. This means that at least 90 to 95 percent of these cases have a chance for prevention.

How can we diminish these odds of developing breast cancer in our lives? Certainly early detection through regular mammograms is important. However, I would like to review areas in nutrition and supplementation that would help us in the prevention of breast cancer.

Whether you are presently undergoing chemotherapy or not, there are certain foods you must avoid. The #1 food item on my list is very well done meats (i.e. steaks and crispy bacon.) “Women who eat beef and bacon cooked until very well done have a four times greater risk of developing breast cancer than those who eat rare or medium meat “, according to a study conducted by Dr. Wei Zheng of the University of South Carolina. “Cooking meat at a high temperature, by frying or grilling, long has been known to produce chemical compound called heterocyclic amines, previously shown to cause cancer, Zheng noted.” Zheng based his findings on the meat eating habits of 273 women with breast cancer and 657 women without.

The next food item to avoid is the Trans fatty oils. Trans fatty oils are free radicals that attack the body at the cellular levels. The consumption of radicals in the body is like shooting a target to shreds with a machine gun. Trans fatty oils are vegetable oils or animals fats that are heated above room temperature. This would also include all types of margarines. Therefore eating the traditional southern fried chicken puts free radicals into the body that destroy existing cell and prohibits the production of new healthy cells.

The third harmful food item comes in the form of carbonated drinks. Avoid drinking carbonated beverages in any form including diet ones. Carbonated drinks neutralize stomach acid. You can not properly digest foods with neutralized stomach acid. Certainly you can not absorb important minerals without proper stomach acid.

Now that we have gotten the bad food items out the way, let's briefly discuss the good foods and proper supplementation. To be preventive you must eat foods that are very high in anti-oxidants. These foods maybe very alkaline in nature and will help the body fight off cancer cells. Stewed tomatoes are high in lycopenes. Make the consumption of any type of black berries apart of your diet (i.e. blueberry, raspberry, and cranberry). As far as supplementation goes be sure to make a daily ritual of taking omega 2, 3, and 9 for essential fatty acid and a good multivitamin. Understand that all multivitamins are not created equal. Your multivitamin could contain 60 essential plant derived minerals; 16 essential vitamins; and 12 essential amino acids. This is just the foundation to supplementing your diets.

In addition to taking the above 90 nutrients, you should also supplement your diets with at least 200mcg to 400mcg of the trace mineral selenium. “Physician Larry Clark, of the University of Arizona , found that a modest dose of a selenium supplement reduced overall cancer incidence by 42 percent. Further, taking selenium slashed cancer death rates in half.”

At the supermarket your challenge is to get enough high quality selenium without consuming the extra calories to come with certain foods. For example, foods high in selenium are garlic, whole grains, sunflower seeds, nuts, meat and seafood, especially swordfish, tuna and oysters. However, to get the suggested 200mcg to 400mcg you don't want to consume more calories.

In summary to prevent to odds of breast cancer attacking your body; nutritionally here are the things you must do:

•  Avoid eating well done meats

•  Avoid eating Trans Fats

•  Avoid drinking carbonated beverages

•  Eat foods high in anti-oxidants

•  Supplement your diet with the 90 essential nutrients

•  Supplement your diet with a form of high quality selenium

Bruce Wynn

cpt