Some Scary Statistics

• After spending $39 billion on research at the National Cancer Institute on the "war on cancer," plus over $1 trillion on therapy at hospitals around the country, Americans have experienced a 13 percent increase in cancer incidence and a seven percent increase in deaths caused by cancer.
  
• Since 1950, overall cancer incidence has increased 44 percent, with breast cancer and male colon cancer up 60 percent, and prostate cancer up 100 percent.
  
• Breast cancer incidence has increased from one woman in 20 in 1950 to one in eight in 1995.
  
• Breast cancer kills about 45,000 women each year.
  
• Even with early detection and proper conventional treatment, a "cured" breast cancer patient will lose an average 19 years of lifespan.
  
• Fifty percent of all cancer patients die within five years of diagnosis.
  
• Among those with cancer of the pancreas, liver, stomach and esophagus, less than 10 percent will be alive in five years.
  
• More than 2.5 million Americans are currently being treated for cancer, and 1.3 million more Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in 1999.
  
• The incidence of children's cancers climbed 28 percent from 1950 through 1987, much of which experts believe is due to the toxic effects of environmental pollutants.
  
• In 1998, experts estimated 45 percent of males and 39 percent of females living in America will develop cancer in their lifetime.
  

This level of risk is unacceptable - the good news is you don't have to accept it.

Remember the comic book folk tale about the 90-pound weakling who metamorphosed into Master of the Universe after ingesting the magic elixir? Well, it's no tale - thousands of medical studies tell the same story: A phytonutrient-rich diet - plus intelligent supplementation with vitamins, minerals, and cutting edge nutrients - will upgrade your immune system's cancer-fighting ability to superhero level.

Healthy Bodies Win the "War on Cancer" Every Day

Producing cancerous cells is a normal, inescapable part of living:

• Even normal metabolic processes such as energy production and cell replication result in the formation of pre-cancerous and cancerous cells.
  
• Add to this exposure to toxins - alcohol, tobacco, prescription and OTC drugs, industrial pollutants, chemicals and pesticides in our food, air and water - and the production of cancerous cells rises astronomically.
  
• Dr. Bruce Ames and his colleagues at the University of California at Berkeley have shown that each of the 60 trillion cells in the human body is bombarded by an average of 1,000 to 10,000 hits on DNA each day.
  
• The result? 400-600 cells turn cancerous daily.

• Your immune system comes pre-programmed to wipe out cancer.
  
• However, just as your computer won't run without a continuous supply of power, your immune system can't win its war against cancer unless you continuously power up with the right nutrients.
  
• Inappropriate food choices are thought to be the major cause of 30 to 70 percent of all cancers.
  
• This 30-70 percent estimate does not include the many cancers attributable to other causes - drugs, tobacco, alcohol, ionizing radiation, pollution - that could be stopped by good nutrition.

Preventing Cancer with Nutrition

First, the basics: a wisely chosen diet plus a good Multivitamin and mineral supplement are the foundation of any cancer prevention program.

A Good Multivitamin and Mineral Formula:

Dr. Mitchell Gaynor, M.D., Director of Medical Oncology at the Strang Cancer Prevention Center and co-author of Dr. Gaynor's Cancer Prevention Program, suggests a multiple containing:

What's in a Cancer-Preventive Diet?

Although scientists typically attempt to isolate a single nutrient in their research, in Nature, nutrients are team players, working synergistically to defuse free radicals and carcinogens.

As two highly publicized studies in which beta carotene failed to reduce, and even slightly increased, the incidence of lung cancer in heavy smokers, clearly showed - no nutrient can get the job done alone. To prevent cancer, you need to field a full team, and since many team members haven't been discovered, much less researched, your best bet is whole phytonutrient-rich foods.

Fruits and Vegetables, minimum six to eight servings daily, focusing on:

Flavonoid-rich Foods

• Flavonoids are plant chemical compounds that work with chlorophyll in photosynthesis and protect plants from the sun's radiation.
  
• Of the 20,000 flavonoids identified so far, main categories include:
  
  
  
  • Anthocyanins - deep purple compounds in black grapes, beets, red onions, berries
    
  • Catechins including epigallocatechin - polyphenols found in apples and green tea
    
  • Ellagic acid - concentrated in cranberries, raspberries
    
  • Flavones - in citrus fruit, red grapes, green beans
    
  • Flavanols - two well researched ones, quercitin and myricetin, are found in the white rind of citrus fruits, kale, spinach, onions, apples and black tea
    
  • Flavanones - such as hesperidin and naringen, found in grapefruit, oranges, lemons
  
  
• Flavonoids protect us from cancer via numerous mechanisms:
  
  
  
  • As powerful antioxidants
    
  • By reducing DNA damage from carcinogens
    
  • By binding and eliminating toxic materials
    
  • By reducing allergic reactions - these divert the immune system's attention from cancer surveillance.
    
  • By protecting against lipid peroxidation - oxidized lipids (fats) promote cancer and cardiovascular disease.
    
  • By inhibiting the enzymes(e.g., hyaluronidase, elastase, collagenase) that degrade connective tissue, thus keeping cell walls strong against invading cancer cells.
    
  • By enhancing the activity of immune cells called T-lymphocytes.
  
  Quercitin, a superstar among flavanols, has even been shown to induce apoptosis (the normal process by which defective cells self-destruct) in cancer cells - one of whose nastiest hallmarks is that they are "immortal."
  

• Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, kale.
  
• Contain sulfur-containing compounds, at least two of which - indoles
  and sulforaphane - significantly lower cancer risk of lung stomach, colon and rectal cancers.
  
• Current research suggests sulforaphane takes out your body's carcinogenic trash by stimulating the production of two powerful Phase II liver detoxification enzymes, quinone reductase and glutathione transferase.
  
• Among the indoles, indole-3-carbinol (I3C) is Nature's safer Tamoxifen.
  
• I3C blocks breast cancer by:
  
  
  
  • Occupying estrogen receptor sites.
    
  • Specifically inhibiting the development of estrogen-responsive cells.
    
  • Converting estradiol (the most carcinogenic form of estrogen) to estriol (a benign form of estrogen).
    
  • Increasing levels of cytochrome P450, a collective group of Phase I liver enzymes that convert estradiol into harmless compounds for elimination.
  
  

• Like flavonoids, carotenoids are part of plants' protection system against free radicals generated during photosynthesis.
  
• All carotenoids are similar in chemical structure to Vitamin A - the most critical vitamin for immune function.
  
• Some of the best researched of the more than 800 carotenoids isolated so far are:
  
  
  
  • Beta Carotene, alpha carotene, gamma carotene - in carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, winter squash, yams, cantaloupe, beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, spinach
    
  • Lycopene - in tomatoes, watermelon, red grapefruit
    
  • Lutein - in kale and spinach
    
  • Zeaxanthin - in peaches and corn
    
  
  
• In combination, carotenoids provide antioxidant defenses even more powerful than antioxidant vitamins like A, C and E.
  
• Carotenoids help maintain cell differentiation. Healthy cells differentiate at birth, becoming a specific type of cell with a specific task, e.g. a muscle, skin or bone cell. Cancer cells lose their differentiation, stop working for the body, and live only to multiply.
  
• Carotenoids improve detoxification enzymes' ability to take out your carcinogenic trash.
  
• Lycopene, one of the most potent antioxidants yet tested, has the power to make even pizza protective. In one study, researchers from the National Cancer Institute and Harvard tracked over 47,000 men and found that lycopenes, even from pizza sauce, were protective against prostate cancer.
  

• A flavoring agent in curry and mustard, Turmeric contains a bright yellow pigment called curcumin, which:
  
  
  
  • Suppresses production of protein kinase - part of an inflammatory cascade that can promote cancer.
    
  • Radically lowers levels of an oncogene (a cancer-causing gene)called c-jun.
    
  • Prevents genetic mutation in cells at risk for cancer.
    
  
  In a study of 16 chronic smokers in India, 1.5 grams of curcumin daily caused a 40 percent decrease in urinary excretion of tobacco-related mutagens, the by-products of cell mutation.
  

• A 1997 review of epidemiologic studies found 20 investigating the relation between Garlic and onion consumption and cancer risk - all but one showed a statistically significant protective effect.
  
• Studies in Italy and China have shown that people who eat more garlic have as much as a 40 percent reduction in stomach cancer.
  
• When John Pinto, Ph.D., of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York exposed prostate cancer cells to S-allyl mercaptocysteine (a component of aged garlic), along with testosterone, the cells did not grow (as they normally would when exposed to testosterone). And components in garlic helped liver detoxification enzymes to clear out the testosterone two to four times faster.
  
• In a 1995 study in Oncology Reports, G. Li, Ph.D., demonstrated that the major sulfur compounds in garlic extract inhibited the growth of pre-cancerous human breast cells and increased levels of glutathione-S-transferase - a critical liver detoxification enzyme - in healthy cells.
  
• The garlic sulfur compound S-allyl cysteine was found to protect rodents given a common carcinogen from developing aberrant crypt foci - cells lining the walls of the colon whose rapid growth is a common precursor of colon cancer.
  

• Japanese scientists have identified 14 compounds in Ginger that are stronger antioxidants than Vitamin E.
  
• Oils extracted in ginger have been found to increase important liver detoxification enzymes.
  
• In a study presented at the 1995 Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Cancer Researchers, ginger extract caused skin tumor formation to drop significantly in a group of mice in which researchers were promoting skin cancer.
  

• T.K. Yun, Ph.D. in Seoul, Korea, monitored 4,634 people for five years in areas where Ginseng is produced. Ginseng consumers had 50 percent less likelihood of contracting cancer.
  
• In 1995, Yun published a second study on 1,987 people. This was a case-control study in which a person without cancer was compared to each patient with cancer. Those who had taken ginseng for one year had a 36 percent lower cancer incidence than non-consumers. Those who had taken ginseng for five years or more had 69 percent less.
  

• All teas contain antioxidants and polyphenols with anticancer effects.
  
  
  
  • Green Tea contains six times as many polyphenols per cup as black tea.
    
  • Two cups of green tea contain as much vitamin C as a glass of orange juice.
    
  • The major polyphenol in green tea, epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is an antioxidant 200 times more potent than vitamin E and 500 times more potent than vitamin C.
    
  
  
• Studies in China and Japan have shown that green tea drinkers cut their risk of esophageal cancer by 60 percent for women and 57 percent for men, and their risk of lung cancer by 45 percent.
  
• In rodent studies, green tea inhibited the development of skin tumors caused by UVB light, and prevented nitrosamine-induced cancers of the stomach and lung. (Nitrosamines are the largest group of cancer-causing chemicals in our diet and are found in well-cooked or smoked meat or fish and tobacco smoke.)
  
• At the Saitama Cancer Center in Japan, a study found that patients with cancer who drank more than 10 cups of green tea per day died 4.5 years (men) to 6.5 years (women) later than patients who drank fewer than three cups per day.
  
• How does green tea inhibit cancer?
  
  
  
  • Green tea blocks an enzyme called urokinase that cancer cells use to invade other cells and form metastases.
    
  • EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate) inhibits urokinase more effectively than any other substance yet discovered.
    
  
  
• Warning: Don't add cow's milk to green tea.
  
  
  
  • Studies show that milk decreases the antioxidant activity of tea catechins.
    
  • Epidemiologic studies find little difference between tea and non-tea drinkers in countries where milk is usually added to tea.
    
  
  

• Rosemary upgrades the liver's ability to detoxify carcinogens.
  
  
  
  • In a 1993 study at the University of Illinois, rosemary raised rats' levels of two important liver detoxification enzymes, glutathione-S-transferase (six times above normal) and quinone reductase (two-four times above normal).
    
  
  
• Compounds in rosemary have been shown to block carcinogenic chemicals from binding to DNA.
  
  
  
  • In a study on human bronchial cancer cells, rosemary prevented benzoprene, one of the chief carcinogens in cigarette smoke, from up-regulating cancer growth. In animal studies, rosemary extract reduced skin tumors by 54 to 64 percent, breast tumors 45 percent, and colon tumors 85 percent.
    
  
  

• Olive oil is rich in squalene, a hydrocarbon compound that inhibits an enzyme called HMGcoA-reductase.
  
• HMGcoA-reductase activates the ras oncogene, a normally latent gene that promotes cancer initiation and progression.
  

• Flax Seed is the most concentrated source of alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid protective against cancer, particularly breast cancer.
  
• Flax seed also contains special fiber compounds called lignans that fight estrogen's carcinogenic effects on breast tissue two ways:
  
  
  
  • Lignans inhibit an enzyme called aromatase that converts other hormones into estrogen.
    
  • Lignans are changed in the gut to two compounds, enterolactone and enterodiol, that bind to estrogen receptors, thus blocking estrogen.
    
  
  

• Salmon, tuna, sardines, haddock, cod, halibut and mackerel.
  
• Two types of omega-3 oils are found in cold water fish - DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid).
  
  
  
  • The well-documented cancer protective effects of DHA and EPA may be due to their anti-inflammatory actions.
    
  • Bruce Ames, Ph.D., respected cancer researcher at University of California at Berkeley, theorizes that chronic inflammation (Allergies, Asthma, Arthritis, colitis, Psoriasis, etc.) can promote cancer by increasing numbers of free radicals that damage DNA.
    
  
  
• A large European study compared mortality data for breast and colorectal cancer in 24 countries. Cancer rates for both men and women rose with increased consumption of animal fat and decreased when fish and fish oil consumption increased.
  
• In Finland, women with breast cancer and benign breast disease were found to have much lower levels of EPA and DHA in their breast tissue.
  
• Case-control studies of prostate cancer incidence in Poland and England have found significant protective effects - up to a 50 percent reduction in risk - for men who ate fish at least once per week.
  
• Warning: Eat wild-caught, not farmed, fish. EPA and DHA levels are much higher, plus all the essential fatty acids are in better proportion in wild fish.
  

• Genistein, an isoflavone in Soy, has been shown to block angiogenesis - the process by which the body creates new blood vessels. Malignant cells use angiogenesis to supply themselves with the nutrients they need to grow and spread.
  
• Cancer cells produce stress proteins that provide a chemical shield against immune system attack. Genistein suppresses the production of these stress proteins.
  
• Genistein prevents the activation of tyrosine kinase, an enzyme cancer cells utilize to prevent apoptosis (normal programmed cell death).
  
• Soy isoflavones are phytoestrogens, plant estrogens only 1/1000^th as powerful as human estrogen. When soy's estrogenic isoflavones fill up estrogen receptor sites, estrogen is blocked out, and estrogen levels drop - a protective effect against breast cancer since estrogen promotes cell growth.
  
• Excessive estrogen also puts men at higher risk for prostate cancer. Men (and women) produce estrogen from testosterone via an enzyme called aromatase. Genistein inhibits aromatase
  
• Best sources of genistein: soy and black beans.
  

• A unique antioxidant, Lipoic Acid:
  
  
  
  • Is both water-soluble (like vitamin C) and fat-soluble (like vitamin E) so it can access and protect virtually all areas of the body.
    
  • Regenerates other antioxidants, including E and C, after they have been consumed by free radicals.
    
  
  
• Lipoic acid is pivotal in aerobic metabolism.
  
  
  
  • Lipoic acid increases the amount of oxygen reaching cells.
    
  • Supplements in animals increased the amount of oxygen reaching the heart by 72 percent and liver by 128 percent.
    
  • Cancer is anerobic, so lipoic acid acts like a shining beam of light on a vampire.
    
  
  
• Prevents glycation (also called glycosalyation) - a process in which sugar molecules bind to important proteins (cell membranes, nerve tissue) and "tan" them, just like turning cow skin into hard leather.
  
  
  
  • Age spots are external signs of internal glycation.
    
  
  
• May prevent NF kappa-B (a chemical mediator of inflammation) from activating oncogenes (genes that cause cancer) when they are activated by a carcinogen.
  
  
  
  • Studies show that lipoic acid can enter the cytosol of cells and prevent IF kappa-B (the inactive form of NF kappa-B) from being switched to NF kappa-B by radiation, free radicals or even sunlight.
    
  
  

• A polyphenol found in strawberries, raspberries, cranberries, grapes, black currants and walnuts; in supplements, ellagic acid is grouped with other polyphenols as OPC (oligomeric proanthocyanidins).
  
• Has been shown to inhibit chemically induced cancer in the lung, liver, skin and esophagus of rodents.
  
  
  
  • Many potential carcinogens go through a two step process in the liver called Phase I and Phase II detoxification. Phase I enzymes activate these toxins, making them more attractive to the enzymes in Phase II that will dismantle them, but also more carcinogenic.
    
  • Ellagic acid inhibits some enzymes that activate carcinogens.
    
  • Plus, ellagic acid stimulates other enzymes (like glutathione) that inactivate and remove carcinogens.
    
  
  

• Found in high concentrations in palm oil, and very similar in structure to tocopherols (vitamin E), tocotrienols have demonstrated:
  
  
  
  • Greater tumor inhibition than vitamin E.
    
  • Comparable anti-oxidant activity to vitamin E.
    
  • The ability to inhibit the growth of human breast cancer cells - both estrogen responsive and non-estrogen responsive cancer cells.
    
  • Greater ability to induce apoptosis (normal programmed cell death) in human breast cancer cells than all except one faction of vitamin E (delta tocopherol).
    
  
  

• A pine bark extract of flavonoids called proanthocyanadins.
  
• Among the most powerful water-soluble antioxidants yet discovered,
  
• Pycnogenol is 20 times more powerful than vitamin C, and 50 times more powerful than vitamin E as a free radical scavenger.
  
• Numerous beneficial effects, including:
  
  
  
  • Lowering cholesterol levels.
    
  • Improving varicose veins.
    
  • Maintaining collagen (the structural protein that holds together cells and tissues - when it deteriorates, skin sags and wrinkles).
    
  • Inhibiting the formation of benzoprene, one of the worst carcinogens in tobacco smoke.
    
  
  

• A phenol concentrated in red wine and grapes, especially from cold regions, e.g. French Cabernets.
  
• Warning: Since alcohol has been shown to increase risk of breast cancer, women may wish to take a 1,000 mcg capsule along with a glass of grape juice.
  
• Reservatrol inhibits the cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) enzyme which promotes inflammation and, ultimately, cancer.
  
• A 1997 study at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign found that in mice with skin cancer tumors, Resveratrol reduced the number of tumors 98% compared with untreated mice. In the group of mice given reservatrol, 88 percent did not even develop tumors.
  
• In addition to its cancer-fighting actions, reservatrol blocks oxidation of LDL cholesterol (the type of cholesterol that is one of the major causes of atherosclerosis).
  

• A fatty acid found predominantly in dairy products and beef, Conjugated Linoleic Acid has been shown to inhibit a variety of human cancer cell lines including lung, colon, breast, prostate, melanoma and leukemia.
  
• When mice inoculated with human prostate cancer cells were also given CLA, in 33 percent of the CLA-fed mice, the primary tumor died, leaving only a necrotic scar after five weeks. After six weeks, most of the other tumors in the CLA mice began to die. Only 10 percent of the CLA mice had lung metastases.
  
• In another study, mice were given CLA for two weeks, then inoculated with human breast cancer cells. Nine weeks post-inoculation, dietary CLA inhibited local tumor growth by 73 percent and completely prevented the spread of breast cancer cells to the lungs, peripheral blood and bone marrow.
  

DO:

Eat at least four servings per week of cruciferous vegetables - they contain:

• Sulforaphane, a sulphur compound that stimulates production of liver detoxification enzymes.
  
• I3C (indole-3-carbinol), a potent breast cancer antagonist that lowers levels of estradiol, the most carcinogenic form of estrogen.
  

• Garlic (plus, to a lesser extent, onions, shallots, leeks) contains numerous compounds with demonstrated protective effects against stomach, colon, prostate and breast cancer.
  

• Both contain the cancer-protective isoflavone, genestein.
  

• Salmon, tuna, mackerel contain the highest amounts of cardiovascular and cancer-protective omega-3 fatty acids: DHA and EPA.
  
• They also contain immune-building protein.
  
• Farm raised fish, due to the foods they are fed, do not have the same levels of these protective omega-3s.
  

• The backbone of your immune system is made from protein; without adequate protein your immune system can't stand up at all, much less stand up and fight cancer.
  
• A minimum of one gram per kilogram of body weight.
  
• For example, a 110-pound woman would need at least 50 grams per day. (1 kilogram = 2.2 pounds. 110 divided by 2.2=50).
  
• Cancer protective protein sources: cold water fish, soy and black beans, organic non-fat yogurt with active pro-biotic cultures, organic eggs (now available with increased levels of DHA, an omega 3 fat).
  

• Pesticides and chemical fertilizers are toxins that add to the total load your liver and immune system must eliminate and use up your cancer fighting resources.
  
• Plus, many of these toxins are potential carcinogens, especially when combined, as they are in your body once consumed.
  

• Green tea contains six times as many cancer-protective polyphenols per cup as black tea.
  
• Just three cups of green tea daily has been shown to reduce the risk of many cancers by 40-60 percent.
  

• Cancer is anerobic and doesn't do well in oxygenated tissue.
  

• If you are fair-skinned and have to be out mid-day, wear protective clothing - long sleeves, a hat - in addition to sunscreen.
  

Smoke or chew tobacco or hang around with those who do

• Secondhand smoke is carcinogenic, too.
  Drink more alcohol than the equivalent of one glass of wine (women) two glasses of wine (men) per day
  
  
  
  • Alcohol destroys folic acid, a critical nutrient for DNA repair and immune function.
    
  • As little as two drinks per day has been shown to increase the risk of pre-malignant adenomas of the colon by 85 percent, plus strong evidence suggests a link between alcohol consumption and breast cancer.
    
  
  Eat anything containing white sugar
  
  
  
  • Tumors are primarily obligate glucose metabolizers, meaning "sugar feeders."
    
  • Americans consume 20 percent of their calories from refined sucrose.
    
  • Elevated blood glucose levels significantly lower immune resistance to cancer.
    
  
  Eat anything containing hydrogenated (trans) fats
  
  
  
  • Trans fats alter cell membranes, making them more permeable to invaders and less able to conduct normal business.
    
  • Trans fats are associated with increased risk for heart disease as well as cancer.
    
  
  Get too much sun exposure
  
  
  
  • Especially during the hours between 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM when UVA, UVB rays hit hardest.