Breast Cancer Diet and Nutrition Tips
Up to one-third of breast cancer cases in Western countries could be avoided if women make simple dietary changes according to recent research. Experts estimate that approximately 30 per cent of all breast cancers in Western countries are linked to diet renewing a sensitive debate about how dietary factors affect the disease.
The following are practical and common-sense breast cancer dietary tips
1. Eat more dietary fiber
Get plenty of fiber from foods such as fruits and vegetables, beans, and whole grains.
Dietary fiber may be important in the prevention of breast cancer. In a recent study, increasing fiber content in the diet from 15 to 30 grams per day reduced blood estrogen levels, one of the variables in the development of breast cancer.
Some breast cancer is estrogen sensitive and fiber may increase the excretion of estrogen in the digestive tract. High levels of estrogen in the bloodstream correspond to a higher risk of breast cancer. High-fiber diets can decrease breast cancer risk by up to 54 percent.
Vegetarian women have been found to excrete 2-3 times as much estrogen as women who eat meat. Many red meats also contain synthetic hormones including estrogen.
2. Eat Flax seeds
A new Canadian study shows that flax can significantly slow the rate of breast cancer cell growth.
Researchers at the University of Toronto asked newly diagnosed breast cancer patients to eat two tablespoons of ground flaxseed each day. They then analyzed samples of their tumors before starting this treatment and 30 days after. They found that women taking the flaxseed slowed their rate of cancer cell growth by up to 33 percent compared to women not on flax. And there was nearly a 60 percent drop in the spread of the most aggressive cancer cells.
What’s more, this nutritional treatment effect was equal to anti-cancer drugs like Tamoxifen.
3. Eat Cruciferous Vegetables
Consume plenty of cruciferous vegetables–broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, turnips, bok choy, kale, and cauliflower. Steam them or eat them raw to best preserve their cancer-fighting nutrients.
Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts contain several compounds that produce estrogen-like activity and protect against breast cancer.
Many of the phytochemicals found in edible plants have weak estrogenic activity. These “phytoestrogens” are able to occupy the estrogen receptors on the surface of breast cells to block normal estrogen activity, thereby lowering the risk of breast cancer.
In a study at the Institute For Hormone Research in New York, 12 healthy volunteers (seven men and five women) were given daily doses of 350-500 mg of one of these compounds, indole-3-carbinol (13C), which is equivalent to 10-to-12 ounces of raw cabbage or Brussels sprouts. After a week, they found that the indole-3carbinol had converted estrogen into a metabolite other than the active form linked to cancer. The researchers later duplicated the same effect on estrogen of this cruciferous vegetable extract in a larger group of women.
4. Drink Green Tea
A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Mississippi researchers now finds that consuming Green tea which contains epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) significantly inhibits breast tumor growth in female mice.
This well-known antioxidant and anti-inflammatory helps prevent breast cancer by decreasing the amount of estrogen a woman’s body produces.
Click here to learn more about the benefits of Green tea for breast cancer.
5. Eat chlorella and spirulina
Both chlorella and spirulina are microscopic plants that grow in fresh water. And they’ve been around for quite some time: a few billion years, actually. These are some of the earliest and simplest life forms on the planet, appearing way before animals roamed these lands.
Kelp, chlorella, and spirulina contain chlorophyll, which studies have shown to have anti-carcinogenic effects, as well as vitamin C and carotenoids, which fight free radicals.
These micro-algae contain an astounding array of nutritional elements: vitamins, macrominerals, trace minerals, essential fatty acids, protein, nucleic acids (RNA and DNA), chlorophyll, and a vast spectrum of phytochemicals. They are thought to contain every nutrient required by the human body. Yes, you could literally live off these micro-algae. You wouldn’t need to eat much, either, since they are so nutritionally dense.
Dietary algae, a common food in countries like Japan and Korea, where breast cancer rates are significantly lower than in the US, could have an effect on breast cancer cells in breast cancer patients.
Spirulina is a great whole food, budget friendly alternative to isolated vitamins and minerals. It contains the most remarkable concentration of nutrients known in any food, plant, grain, or herb. It is 60% highly digestible vegetable protein, and contains the highest concentration of beta carotene, vitamin B-12, iron and trace minerals, and the rare essential fatty acid GLA so missing in people who weren’t breast fed. It also contains popular glyconutrients in the form of polysaccharides. It has a balanced spectrum of amino acids, cleansing chlorophyll, and the blue pigment, phycocyanin.
Several recent studies have demonstrated the immune enhancing and cancer preventative properties of spirulina.
Research in Japan has shown that the phycocyanin in spirulina raises lymphocyte activity and strengthens the immune system. In India and Germany, researchers have used spirulina to reduce cholesterol levels and to lower blood pressure in those with mild hypertension.
Experimental studies in animal models have demonstrated an inhibitory effect of Spirulina.
Chlorella prolongs survival times in persons afflicted with Breast Cancer and Leukemia (by boosting the Immune Response, i.e. not by directly killing Cancer cells.
Nine studies have shown spirulina to induce cancer cell apoptosis, inhibit tumor cell proliferation, inhibit carcinogen metabolism and inhibit tumor metastases in animals.
Take blue-green algae such as spirulina (1 heaping teaspoon) and chlorella (3 g) in a glass of juice daily.
To learn more on the potent healing properties of chlorella and spirulina click here to read the free e-book Superfoods For Optimum Health: Chlorella and Spirulina by Mike Adams.