| 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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