October is breast cancer awareness month; you probably know this by now if you've seen our Wednesday editions of the Log Cabin Democrat with the pink paper.
When I sat down to write my column this week, I thought about all those multi-vitamin commercials you hear. You know the ones; such and such can reduce the risks for X type cancer.
Since most vitamins and minerals are found in the food we eat, I went on the Internet and did a little searching around for information.
According to an article by Dr. John H. Maher there are nineteen foods that can help prevent breast cancer.
1. Yellow orange vegetables - Eating foods high in beta-carotene has been linked in many studies to lower rates of breast cancer. Foods such as carrots, sweet potatoes, apricots, winter squash, pumpkin, cantaloupe and mangoes are all high in beta-carotene.
2. Cruciferous vegetables - radish, broccoli, cauliflower, rutabaga, cabbage, turnips, turnip greens, contain indole -3-carbinol, which lowers women's levels of a type of estrogen that may promote breast cancer
3. Milk - A warm a mug of 1-2 percent organic hormone free milk such as Alta Dena that may be found at a natural food store. Studies have found there's a compound in milk fat (including butter)- conjugated linoleic acid - that fights breast cancer cells in test tubes and animals. CLA can also be found in whole milk, butter, beef, and lamb if you are not concerned about cholesterol.
4. Tomatoes - Eat tomatoes, including cooked, dried, soups, juice and sauces, even Ketch-up to fill up on a compound called lycopene. Diets high in lycopene have been linked to lower rates of breast and prostate cancer. My husband's family has a history of prostate cancer, and I do tend to serve a lot of tomato based products at home as a way to help combat that for him.
5. Wine - Give up red wine and eat grapes instead. More than one alcoholic beverage a day increases your risk of breast cancer. But concord grapes have cancer-fighting antioxidant power. Though if heart disease runs in your family more than breast cancer it may be smart to stick with a single daily glass of wine since it has been said to help the heart.
6. Omega-3 - Eat cold water fish (salmon, tuna- not the light type, anchovies, swordfish, polluck, crab, sardines) and also omega-3 rich nuts and seeds (walnut, pumpkin, flax). Research suggests that women with higher tissue levels of omega-3s have lower rates of breast cancer.
7. Vitamin D - Women whose diets are higher in vitamin D have less breast cancer. Milk and milk products such as yogurt are high in vitamin D and are also good for digestive health and bone strength to help prevent osteoporosis later in life as well.
8. Cherries - Eat a small bowel of dark cherries. Cherries are a top source of a compound that may inhibit mammary cancer in rats.
9. Limonoids - Compounds called limonoids, found in the peel and white membrane of oranges, has been found to inhibit breast cancer in test tubes. Also oranges and orange juice have folic acid that is wonderful for pregnant women or women who can become pregnant. Also look for herbal teas made with orange or lemon peel. Use real orange and lemon oils in cooking and health drinks or even homemade lemonade.
10. Grains - Avoid refined grains and choose whole grains instead. At least one study has shown that women who ate the most refined grains had more breast cancer. Another study showed women who ate one serving a day of a cereal high in wheat bran lowered their level of breast cancer-promoting estrogen.
11. Butter or margarine? - Use butter over margarine. Butter contains CLA's mentioned in No. 3. One study suggests that a diet higher in trans fats may increase the risk of breast cancer. Margarine, most French fries, both frozen and fast-food, and many processed and fried foods made with hydrogenated fats are a top trans fat source. If you prefer margarine, use a trans-fat free brand but be aware that real butter is not as unhealthy as first thought. If you are not a vegan and do not have a high risk of heart disease then butter may be a better choice, it does contain cholesterol because it is an animal based product but if you run a high risk of breast cancer and a lower risk of heart disease it may be the better choice.
12. Drinking to your health - Drink green tea, hot or cold. Green tea is rich in EGCG, a compound that inhibits breast cancer cells in mice. Caffeinated brands have twice as much potency as decaffeinated. Mix with herbal teas and lemon peel for taste, sugar is not recommended but try Agave or even honey.
13. Olive Oil - Instead of commercial olive oil dressings - usually made with a mixture of oils - make your own easy dressing with half olive oil, half balsamic vinegar. Mediterranean women who eat lots of olive oil have low rates of breast cancer, studies show.
14. Garlic - Garlic kills breast cancer cells in the test tube and maybe in people. But if you're going to cook garlic, always peel and chop, then let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes before heating. Heating right away doesn't allow time for the cancer-fighting compounds to develop. Garlic is another food that is also good for your heart.
15. Spinach - Women in one study who ate a serving of spinach at least twice a week had half the rate of breast cancer of women who avoided it. Try adding fresh baby spinach to a salad mixed with other greens if you aren't fond of the cooked variety.
16. Veggie burgers - Flavorful veggie burgers and sausage won't form the same compounds that meat does when it's being cooked and those compounds may explain why women who eat lots of red meat and lots of very well done meat seem to get more breast cancer. Veggie burgers aren't everyone's cup of tea but if you have an extremely high risk of breast cancer (mother, sister, or aunt has had it) then you may want to replace burgers occasionally with the veggie variety.
17. Flaxseed - Adding flaxseed to your diet may also help. Flaxseed has 75 times more lignin precursors, compounds that inhibit mammary tumors in animals. You may try flaxseed oil, ground flaxseed meal in recipes or cereal.
18. Add soy - Soy's isoflavinoids work as weak estrogens, blocking the more powerful estrogens from stimulating estrogen sensitive cancer cells. Maybe try a glass of soy milk if you aren't the tofu type.
19. Fennel and others - Phyto herbs, like don quai, fennel, black cohosh are also weak estrogens that compete with stronger estrogens for estrogen receptor sites. These are found in many "change of life formulas". Fennel is the easiest found locally. Search the Internet for recipes with fennel and you will find hundreds if not thousands of them. Here is a recipe using crushed fennel seed it isn't fat free or all that heart healthy but is a start especially if you have to feed your family too who do not want to be on a "diet."
Caseless Fennel Sausage
The Associated Press
2 pounds ground pork shoulder (not too lean), chilled
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoon crushed fennel seed
1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
4 cloves garlic, minced.
Working quickly to keep the meat cold, mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Shape into patties and refrigerate immediately. Lightly brown the sausage in a large skillet. Serve with beans, vegetables from the above list or pasta and a red sauce, or use in soup or whole grain rice dishes. Serves 8.
A suggestion of mine would help make this recipe healthier and make it use even more of the breast cancer fighting foods discussed in this column. Instead of making the sausage into patties, make them into small meatballs to use in a modified minestrone recipe. Add or replace several of the vegetables in the recipe with those on the list, such as carrots, spinach or savoy cabbage and squash in your favorite minestrone recipe and use whole grain pasta and a tomato base instead of beef broth. Serve with a whole grain bread on the side. You'll have a meal that is good for you and your family.
