Foods That Fight Cancer- Part 3

Cancer Fighting Menu

We’ve seen already that the authors of the great book Foods that Fight Cancer: Preventing cancer through diet, Richard Béliveau and Denis Gingras, leading cancer researchers, recommend you eat ½ cup cruciferous vegetables (particularly broccoli and brussel sprouts) daily as well as 2 cloves of garlic and ½ cup onions most days of the week. According to their research, they’ve found that these foods, as part of a healthy diet, contain important anti-cancer compounds.

The authors also recommend you eat 1 tsp of turmeric a day.

Turmeric is a yellow spice and a staple in Indian cuisine. In fact, Indians consume 1.5-2 grams of the spice a day, on average! Turmeric is actually responsible for the yellow colour of prepared mustard in North America, but the quantity is so small that we’d have to eat 4kg mustard a day to consume as much turmeric as the average Indian. Not appealing.

Cancer rates in India are about 1/3 of that of the United States, lung and colon/rectum cancer rates in India are negligible compared to the States. Although no epidemiological study has looked at the link between turmeric and this huge disparity, the spice is almost exclusively consumed in India and its primary active ingredient, curcumin, has been studied in labs and found to have very strong anti-cancer potential. Giving the compound to lab animals that were introduced to carcinogens prevented the appearance of tumours. Curcumin is thought to have the greatest impact on colon cancer.

What is important to note is that a molecule found in pepper (black pepper and long pepper, not chilli pepper), piperine, increases the absorption of the turmeric’s curcumin by a factor of 1000. So, add 1 tsp turmeric and ½ tsp pepper to your curries, pastas, soups, salad dressing for a little flavour and a little cancer prevention. Curry powder is also great as it contains both turmeric and pepper.

Enjoy 1/2 cup blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries a day.

Berries contain a high number of phytochemical- anti-cancer compounds produced by plants. For example, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries have a high level of

ellagic acid that has been found to interfere with the development of cancer.

Blueberries contain a very high level of the phytochemical anthocyanidins, followed closely by raspberries, strawberries and cranberries, that is thought to be responsible for the antioxidant potential of berries. It has also been found to impede cancer cell growth, leading to cell death.

Enjoy berries year round- buy them frozen in the winter, ensuing that no sugar has been added, and defrost them to use in cereal, yogourt, make shakes with them or have them as a dessert topping... or as a dessert!

Drink 3 cups of green tea a day.

According to the authors, “green tea is by far the more important contender in the dietary cancer prevention race”.

Catechins are the main polyphenols (class of phytochemicals) found in green tea and are responsible for its anti-cancer properties, especially the catechin called EGCG.

The authors warn that just because the package says ‘green tea’, the product may not have a high amount of EGCG as it’s affected by cultivation area, season, processing etc. In general, Japanese green teas (especially Sencha-Uchiyama , Gyokuro and Sencha) contain a greater amount of the catechin than Chinese teas.

Brewing period- the time that the leaves are steeping in boiling water before drinking- is another important factor to consider. A longer brewing time (8-10 minutes) is favoured as it allows the catechins to be extracted. A bad quality tea brewed for a short time can have up to 60 times less catechins than a better quality tea brewed for a longer time.

As a result of the large variations in polyphenol compositions of green teas, it’s been hard to study. New studies are looking at the amount of polyphenols, rather than green tea, ingested. Nonetheless, the current research suggests that green tea is beneficial in cancer prevention, particularly bladder and prostate cancers, as well as breast and stomach cancer. Animal studies have shown that EGCG prevents the development of cancer triggered by carcinogens, specifically skin, lung, breast, esophageal and colorectal cancers.

Apart from choosing Japanese teas that contain a higher amount of anticancer compounds, and brewing it for at least 8-10 minutes, aim to drink freshly brewed tea, avoiding thermoses, and spread out your 3 cups of tea to get the most benefit.

More of the menu to follow... stay tuned!

Paula Deen's Heart Attack on a Plate

This is horrible!



Using Calorie King’s Food Database, I calculated that this meal has approximately:
907 calories- which is about half of your daily requirement, 60% of which comes from fat (and 25% of which comes from saturated fat)!
It also has a total of 350 mg of cholesterol which exceeds your day's requirement.

Eating this burger is equivalent to eating 15 pats of butter or 3/4 of a stick of butter!


Bon Appétit!

Top Food Safety Stories of 2008

Bill Marler, American Food Safety attorney and advocate, came out with his list of the Top 9 Food Safety Stories of 2008:

9. Westland/Hallmark recall due to downer cows. The largest meat recall in US history. 143 million lbs of beef was recalled from Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co, after a video made by the Humane Society showed workers using abusive techniques to make ‘downer cows’-sick animals unable to stand up on their own- pass the pre-slaughter inspection.

8. Multistate Outbreak of Human Salmonella Infections caused by Contaminated Dry Dog Food. This outbreak resulted in hundreds of humans and a few dogs to become sick. After handling pet food, pet owners should wash their hands immediately, and infants should be kept away from pet feeding areas.

7. Spinach and lettuce-borne outbreaks. Resulted in the FDA approving irradiation of the leafy greens as existing sanitation techniques were not deemed sufficient. The debate continues about the safety of food products that have been irradiated but these products will be labelled to allow consumers to make their own decisions.

6. Frozen, uncooked entrees. Consumers were infected with Salmonella after consuming entrees that contained raw chicken products and were NOT supposed to be cooked in the microwave.

5. Listeria in Maple Leaf Deli Meats. This one hit close to home, killing 20 Canadians and causing hundreds, maybe thousands, to be ill.

4. There are those that insist that raw milk has numerous healthful benefits destroyed by pasteurization, and others that state that the bacteria in raw milk can cause illnesses, especially in children. Selling unpasteurized milk is illegal in Canada, Scotland and Australia. 28 US States allow the sale of raw milk. In both Canada and the US, raw milk cheeses that are aged for more than 61 days are permitted. In Asia, rural Europe and Africa, raw unpasteurized milk is typical.

3. E. Coli. In addition to the continued rise of E. coli O157:H7 contamination in meat and other products like leafy greens and raw dairy, 2008 saw a (non-O157) E. coli outbreak in Oklahoma causing over 300 people to fall ill and one death. Non-O157:H7 E-Coli’s are not listed yet and not tested for, but are still making people very, very sick.

2. Salmonella Saintpaul in jalapeno and Serano peppers (and not tomatoes as first believed) caused 1,442 people to be ill in 43 states, D.C., and Canada. Using the Center for Disease Control’s math that estimates that for every documented case of Salmonella in the US, another 38.5 go unreported , the total number sickened was probably closer to 50,000.

1. Melamine in Chinese food products. We first heard about melamine in Chinese infant formula, resulting in 294,000 sick infants, hundreds hospitalized, and at least six babies dying. We then heard that melamine was found in candy, coffee, tea, dairy, animal food and lots of other Chinese products, resulting in recalls, bans and now the US and Canada testing for melamine in our own products. According to Marler, melamine is pervasive, global, and it’s going to be in our food supply for a long time to come.

Happy 2009!

Do you have diabetes and not know it?

Did you know that being over the age of 40 alone puts you at risk for developing Type 2 Diabetes? Everybody over that age should get their blood sugar checked at least every three years.

More than 2 million Canadians and 23.6 million Americans have diabetes but at least a quarter of them don't know it!

Most people diagnosed with diabetes have Type 2 diabetes.

If you're over the age of 40 and have any of the following risk factors, you're at a higher risk of developing diabetes and should have your blood sugar checked earlier and more often:

Overweight or obese,
Have a family history of diabetes,
Are a member of any of the following high-risk ethnic groups: African, Hispanic, Native American/Aboriginal, Asian American and South Asian, Pacific Islander,
Have high blood pressure or high cholesterol,
Had gestational diabetes when you were pregnant,
Gave birth to a baby that weighed more than 9lbs (4kg),
Been diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, acanthosins nigricans or scizophrenia.

Click here to determine your risk for having diabetes.

Symptoms of diabetes include:

Being very thristy,
Having to urinate frequently,
Weight change,
Low energy and fatigue,
Blurred vision,
Recurring infections,
Cuts that take time healing,
Tingling or numb hands and feet,
Trouble getting or maintaining an erection.

If you have any of these symptoms, talk to your doctor.
If diabetes goes undiagnosed and untreated, you have a high risk of having a stroke or heart attack, of organ and nerve damage, of having eye problems than can lead to blindness, gum and mouth disease and skin disorders.

The good news is that all these complications can be avoided with early detection and treatment.

Visit the CDA and the ADA websites for more information and talk to your doctor to schedule your next blood test!