Myintegrativehealth Blog – Adrenal Fatigue – Natural Hormone Therapy – Thyroid Dysfunction – Pain Relief – Digestive Health

The best defense being a good offense holds true for more than just football. A healthy diet full of cancer-fighting foods is a great offensive move to avoid cancer. I counsel patients to create an environment where cancer cannot grow by making these healthy food choices.

Fruits and vegetables

Brightly colored fruits and vegetables – Carotenoids have been shown in one study to reduce your risk of breast cancer by up to 50% in women with dense breast tissue. Dense breast tissue is one of the strongest risk factors associated with breast cancer.   Papaya contains the carotenoid beta-cryptoxanthin. Yellow and orange vegetables are high in beta-carotene, one of the most abundant carotenoids in our diet. Research illustrates that people who eat the most fruits and vegetables have the lowest breast cancer risk.

Cruciferous vegetables – Broccoli and cauliflower contain indole-3-carbinol, which promotes healthy estrogen metabolism. When estrogen leaves your body through unhealthy pathways, your risk of breast and other estrogen-fed cancers increases.

Good Fats

Walnuts – The journal Nutrition and Cancer recently published a study that shows walnuts slow the growth of breast cancer and may prevent its development. Rich in omega 3 fatty acids, these nuts have been shown to cause destruction (apoptosis) of cancer cells. Try walnut oil on your salads.

Fish – Good fatty fish like salmon is also rich in omega 3s. Studies suggest that women with higher levels of omega 3s in their diets have lower rates of breast cancer.

Olive oil – like walnuts, EVO oil is also high in omega 3s.

Get some flavor in your diet

Herbs and spices – According to the National Cancer Institute, a French study found a statistically significant reduction in breast cancer risk in women who consumed a lot of garlic. Oregano and thyme have antioxidant properties that inhibit tumor growth. Curcumin suppresses cancer cell growth.

Green tea – Buy quality stuff, not all green teas are created equal and you want to make sure that you are getting a good dose of the cancer-fighting compound EGCG.

Dark chocolate – Yum! Although dark chocolate does have sugar, it is also rich in antioxidants that reduce inflammation and suppress cancer cell growth. Please note that I am not referring to Hershey’s type dark chocolate, but to high quality organic varieties.

Things to avoid

Sugar – No cell in your body will consume sugar faster than a cancer cell. Sugar is very inflammatory and cancer thrives in an inflamed environment. Aside from the fact that sugar taste addictingly good, it has no redeeming value. This is one of the first things to remove from your diet, and once you do so, liking the taste disappears.

When my mother went through chemotherapy, she craved Coke and McDonald’s french fries. This stunned my brother and me because we did not grow up as a family that ate McDonald’s. Looking back I now realize the cravings were a die-off reaction from the cancer cells. As the chemotherapy weakened and destroyed them, the cancer cells caused my mom to crave the sugar and simple carbohydrates that were their primary fuel source.

Alcohol – According to a January 2011 study in the British Medical Journal, 5% of female breast cancer can be attributed to alcohol consumption. The upper limit for women is one drink, which contains about 12g of alcohol. The more alcohol consumed in excess of this limit, the greater your risk of breast cancer. If you are drinking red wine for the cancer-fighting properties of resveratrol, please take a pill or drink concord grape juice instead.

Charred meat – If you like your meat well-done or blackened, think again. The black is full of carcinogens and has been linked to many types of cancer. Lower your cancer risk by cooking meat enough to sufficiently kill bacteria without excess charring. If you do accidentally burn the meat, cut off the charred portion.

Check out these resources

Eattodefeat.org – The Angiogenesis Foundation has launched the Eat to Defeat Cancer campaign. The focus of this campaign is to eat foods that reduce the blood vessels that feed tumors. By depriving them of a fuel source, the tumor cannot grow. This website has teamed up with some top chefs to create recipes that contain cancer-fighting ingredients.

AICR – the American Institute for Cancer Research is a charity research organization that focuses on nutrition and exercise to reduce cancer risk. This group funded the study that showed walnuts help prevent breast cancer. Sign up for their newsletter to receive weekly healthy recipes.

“Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.” – Hippocrates

May is National Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention month.  The National Osteoporosis Foundation estimates that 1 out of every 2 women and 1 out of every 4 men, over the age of 50 will break a bone due to osteoporosis.  I find that figure staggering.

What are the risk factors?

Well, based on the statistics I just mentioned, being female and over the age of 50 are risk factors.  If you have a family history of osteoporosis, statistically you are more likely to break a bone due to this condition.  Obviously these are risk factors that cannot be changed; so let’s look at the ones that we can do something about:

• Low body weight/dieting – Women tend to have a lower body weight then men, as well as a history of dieting.  Unbalanced “trendy” diets lead to poor nutritional status.  Diets with severe caloric restriction may trim your waistline but at a cost to your bones.
• Inactivity – Exercise strengthens your bones.  Aerobic exercise, such as jogging or walking, and weight-bearing exercise, such as strength training, creates micro fractures in weight-bearing bones.  These micro fractures trigger your body to rebuild and strengthen bone by recalcifying the micro fractures.
• Poor nutrition status – If you are deficient in calcium, your body will not be able to respond to your body’s need to rebuild bone.  Calcium, along with co-factor vitamin D, supports recalcification.
• Excess salt – High levels of salt in the diet have been linked to excessive levels of calcium in urine.  Some researchers believe that the high salt diet in America is a major causative factor in osteoporosis.  Read labels when shop; salt is used as a flavor enhancer and a preservative in most processed foods.  Many foods that do not taste salty are actually high in sodium.
• Smoking – Smoking is bad for us for countless reasons.  Smoking interferes with the body’s utilization of calcium and estrogen in bone formation.
• Alcohol consumption – Drinking too much alcohol will interfere with the body’s absorption of calcium.  It also robs the body of vital nutrients and causes poor nutritional status.
• Consumption of Caffeinated or Carbonated drinks – Phosphoric acid and caffeine leach calcium from bones, increasing you risk of osteoporosis.  Caffeinated drinks and supplements are often used to suppress appetite during calorie restriction diets. This is another reason why women tend to be more at risk of osteoporosis.

FRAX is a great tool that calculates your risk for a potential fracture.  It takes race, age, weight and other risk factors into consideration.  Under the menu select Calculation Tool, then follow the menus to select your continent, country, and race.  For those of you who do not know your weight in kilograms or your height in centimeters, do not panic.  On the right side of the screen is a handy conversion tool for you.

My diet is healthy and I exercise every day.  Am I still at risk?

Some of the most commonly prescribed medications actually lead to bone loss.  Corticosteroids are anti-inflammatory agents that are commonly prescribed to help control chronic conditions such as asthma and arthritis.  Unfortunately, studies show that patients lose an average of 14% of bone mineral content in the first year after starting corticosteroid treatment.  Most people achieve peak bone density around age 25.  However, for patients who develop asthma at an early age, and use corticosteroids to manage their condition, they may never achieve maximum bone density.

SSRIs such as Lexapro, Prozac and Zoloft have been linked to decreased bone density.  Here is a great article from the May 2009 issue of Psychology Today explaining the misuse of these medications.  According to Dr. Lane, 80% of patients surveyed who were taking these medications showed no depressive symptoms at all.  These medications are often prescribed to women for PMS symptoms or menopause symptoms.  This may be another reason that more women than men are diagnosed with osteoporosis.

Here are some other common prescription drugs that affect bone health:

• Antibiotics such as tetratcycline, commonly used to treat acne
• Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), including Prilosec, Nexium, Prevacid, and Aciphex used for acid reflux and gastritis
• Diuretics that are used to treat high blood pressure
• Depo-provera, or the Depo Shot, a form of birth control

When should I request a bone density test?

The US Preventative Screening Task Force (yes, the same task force that caused an uproar with their breast cancer screening recommendations) recommend bone density screenings for the following demographics:

• Women aged 65 years or older
• Younger women whose risk fracture is equal to or greater than that of a 65 year old white woman with no additional risk factors (use the FRAX tool to assess risk)
• No recommendation to screen men for osteoporosis

The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends bone density testing of:

• Women age 65 or older
• Postmenopausal women under age 65 with one or more risk factors
• Men age 70 or older
• Men between age 50 and 70 with one or more risk factors
• Anyone older than age 50 and who have experienced a broken bone
• Postmenopausal women who discontinue hormone therapy

I utilize the NOF’s guidelines when making recommendations to my patients.  However, for patients with long-term SSRI use or corticosteroid use, I encourage them to get a DEXA scan earlier.  If you suspect that osteoporosis may be a problem for you, ask your doctor for a bone density test.  You may have to pay out of pocket for it, but the sooner you start to reverse bone loss, the better off you will be.