The Diet - Cancer Link
By Simon Mitchell
Attitudes to the link between diet and cancer are
changing fast. The World Cancer Research Fund was founded specifically
to fund and sponsor education and research into the diet-cancer link.
There is mounting evidence that the high fat intake
in a typical Western diet, along with the low intake of nutritious
foods such as vegetables, fruits and wholegrains, may be responsible
for up to 35% of cancers.
The World Cancer Research Fund is the only major national
charity concerned with the link between cancer and food, nutrition
and lifestyle factors. Their report ‘Food, Nutrition and the
Prevention of Cancer: a global perspective’ gives guidelines
consistent with those published by the World Health Organisation,
the E.U. ‘Europe against Cancer’ initiative and other
authoritative organisations.
The idea of an ‘anti-cancer diet’ promotes
prevention by strengthening the immune system directly and has partly
led to the promotion of a ‘five a day’ campaign for fresh
fruit and vegetables.
The intensification of agricultural practices has
led to a decline of between 25% to 75% in the levels of key mineral
nutrients in farmed vegetables over the last 60 years. There has also
been a rise in farmed fruit sugar levels, so much so that some ‘natural’
fruit juices now contain as much sugar as a fizzy drink.
If we can source quality food, our cooking methods
often destroy the nutritional content. Studies show that fresh, uncooked
vegetables strengthen the immune system and increase resistance to
many diseases. Cabbage placed in cold water and boiled loses about
75% of its vitamin C content. Similarly fresh peas cooked for only
five minutes lose 20-40% of their Thiamine content and 30-40% of their
vitamin C. About 50% of vitamin E is destroyed by frying or baking
food.
Tests in Spain recently measured the levels of flavonoids
(a kind of antioxidant) left in fresh broccoli after it was cooked.
The results show large differences in flavonoid content according
to how the broccoli was prepared. The cooking methods were:
- boiling - 66% loss
- pressure-cooking - 53% loss of major antioxidant
- steaming - minimal loss of antioxidants
- microwaving - 97% loss of flavonoids
Scientists in Finland found that blanching and deep-freezing
vegetables destroyed beneficial compounds. Blanching prior to freezing
destroyed up to one-third of the vitamin C content of vegetables and
more was lost in storage. The healing properties of uncooked foods
are being increasingly recognised in natural cancer therapies.
The more we let food industries create what we eat
the more likely we are to be at risk from diet related problems. In
effect the commercial interests of food manufacturers are systematically
robbing unwary shoppers of health, and eventually life. The more control
and information we have in sourcing pure foodstuffs, the less at risk
we are from dis-ease for nutritional reasons.
One of the first steps in finding a healthy diet
is changing how and where we shop and sourcing foods we can trust.
The supermarkets give us thousands of choices but few options. Try
to find for example, one of the many varieties of biscuits available
that do not contain ‘hydrogenated vegetable oil’.
Too much protein in a diet is also harmful to health
and can promote cancer. Meat and sugar-rich diets are common in the
West. These are often overcooked or over processed. When cooked or
processed foods are eaten our white blood cells (leukocytes) rush
to the intestine to help with digestion. As a result other parts of
the body may be left undefended from attack by germs and viruses after
a heavily synthetic meal.
Biological enhancement of crops, growth hormones in
milk and meat, mercury in our mouths, colorants and carcinogens in
food are commonplace. The foot and mouth epidemic, B.S.E. in sheep
and cattle, nuclear radiation and the de-naturalisation of our food
are examples of how common sense is abandoned to profit. The ‘Precautionary
Principle’ is too often being overlooked in the rush of science.
The genetic modification of foodstuffs for example
is still largely untested and many of its results are open to interpretation.
Scientific knowledge of the processes involved is actually at an early
stage. Little is known about side effects, how gene function is controlled,
gene transfer into other organisms such as bacteria in the human gut.
The British Medical Association (B.M.A.) has said
that the potential adverse effects have not been sufficiently investigated
and strongly recommend caution. The United Nations’ safety body,
the Food and Agriculture Organisation, has warned that the failure
to carry out full health checks on G.M. foods could lead to toxic
reactions, allergies and increased resistance to antibiotics.
Experience has shown that genetically modified and
organic foods cannot exist together because genetically modified crops
will cross-pollinate with any others. Contamination of the whole food
chain has already occurred within a couple of years.
Biotechnology companies that are facing opposition
in Europe are targeting less well resourced countries such as India
in the hope that genetically modified organisms will spread irreversibly
before public opinion has time to intervene.
In addition to avoiding the carcinogens that are increasing
everywhere in our culture, we need a complex yet balanced mixture
of specific minerals and nutrients to maintain ourselves in a healthy
way. Recent government policy recommends we should eat a minimum of
five or six fruit and vegetable types in any given day.
The British Dietetic Association’s survey shows
that the typical English diet includes only 3.3 portions of fruit
and vegetables a day. The Scottish consume 2.7 portions a day while
the Irish get only a measly 2.3.
New research from Spain suggests that the quality
of food and its method of preparation are as important as the quantity,
since many of the nutrients in food are destroyed during industrial
preparation and even in domestic cooking processes.
In order to gain the breadth of specific minerals
we need to maintain health using food, we need fresh, quality food
types, cooked appropriately, or at least someone to sell us the right
supplements!
The quick-fix mentality of Western culture has grown
so used to pill-popping supplements that markets have responded to
this. The American public uses increasing amounts of vitamin and mineral
supplements.
A survey conducted by the Federal Drugs Authority
(F.D.A.) in America states that over 60 million Americans believe
that vitamin supplements are essential for good health. The report
also shows that about 20 million Americans believe that mineral deficiency
is a primary cause of disease, including cancer, which shows what
a good marketing job the supplements industry has done.
Drug corporations are moving quickly into the supplements
industry following market forces. Legislation in Europe is posed to
ban many supplements (like herbs) that have a natural source, in preference
to pharmaceutical alternatives.
Even though appropriate dietary supplements are becoming
recognised as a useful tool in maintaining health, legislation is
fast catching up to regulate this field, showing a clear preference
to synthetic chemicals.
In 1980 the National Academy of Sciences Committee
on Dietary Allowances (who established R.D.A.’s or Recommended
Daily Allowances) found no scientific evidence for nutritional benefits
from vitamins, minerals or trace elements in dosages greater than
those supplied by a balanced diet.
Supplement industries with generous advertising budgets
persuade many people that it is better to have ‘expensive urine’
than be at risk to disease through lacking the right vitamin or mineral
in a diet.
About The Author
Simon Mitchell
This is an extract from 'Don't Get Cancer'a new
ebook available only at: http://www.simonthescribe.co.uk/don'tget1.html
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