Breast Cancer is the Leading Cancer in Women

Most women share a common fear, developing breast cancer.  So what do the latest statistics show about this disease?

• Every three minutes a woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer.
• Breast cancer is the leading cancer amoung Causcasian and African American wormen.
• Breast cancer incidence in women has increased from one in 20 in 1960 to one in eight today.

From a statistical view what every we have been doing to curb the disease hasn’t worked, it is getting worse!  The American Cancer Society and National Cancer Institue estimates that roughly on-third of all cancer deaths are related to diet and activity.  But diet alone is unlikely to be the cause or cure of cancer.  However, findings do suggest that physical activity and healthy diet low in certain fats and high in vegetables and fiber, and a healthy weight can help reduce the risk of breast cancer or the cancer returning.

Diet and Cancer

What you eat can hurt you, but it can also help you.  Many vegetables and oils contain important phytochemicals forming antioxidants that neutralize the damage caused by free radicals.  There isn’t a single element in a particular food that does all the work, the combined foods work synergistically when consumed as a whole plant not just active ingredients from the plants.  The best thing to do is eat a variety of whole foods.  The challenge is most people do not eat enough of these unique whole foods to allow your body to process what it needs to combate the effects of oxidation.  This creates a state of oxidative stress that is a hot topic of research today.

Foods to Consider

Studys done recently have shown that the healthful compounds in different foods work together to provide health benefits.  The benefits of any single food must be evaluated as a part of your whole diet.  The following list are some commonly not eaten but necessary foods and oils that are good for your health.

• Black Currant Seed Oil.  This wonderful oil is a natural source of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA).  GLA is one of two essential fatty acids that are necessary for maintaining normal functioning and growth of cells, nerves, muscles and organs.
• Cruciferous Vegetables.  Specifically less eaten Kale and Brussel Sprouts.  The more commonly used Brocholi and cauliflower are also very helpful to keep in your diet.
• Omega-3 Fats.  Scientific data implicat omega -3 fatty acids as inhibitors of development and progression of a range of human cancers.  The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 in diet is equally as important.  The typical American diet contains up to 20 times as much omega-6 fats as it does omega-3 fats, the optimum ratio is 1:1.  Research has found that women with the highest omega-3 fats in breast fatty tissue were less apt to have breast cancer.
• Fiber.  Research has shown that a high fiber diet works to reduce hormone levels that may be involved in the progression of breast cancer, and that fiber increases the amount of estrogen removed from the body.
• Healthy Weight.  Maintaining a healthy weight may help reduce the risk of breast cancer coming back.  Overweight women were shown to be at a higher risk for all types of cancer in recent studies.  Along with regular body movements (sometimes called exercise) will maintain a healthy body.

News from the Center for Allergy & Injury Repair

With the seasonal change to Fall having officially occurred on our calendars the temperature changes are lagging behind, as has been the case most of this year. Moving from the dry Summer months into expected wet Fall and Winter I had the gutters around my house cleaned in an effort to protect it. This is the season to have your personal gutters cleaned as well.

Seasonal Clearing.

If you have had Meridian therapy at my office in recent times or years past you will know the importance of keeping the meridian channels clear from blockages. A simple meridian clearing and balancing is important to feeling your best during the upcoming cold and flu season and Holiday’s that include a healthy dosage of STRESS!

Thank You.

Thanks to all the well wishers that knew about my annual chronological marker! I turned 60 this month and will officially only recognize birthdays in decades from here on out. A wonderful surprise I got from my kids was the announcement that my older son and wife are expecting their second child. That will bring our total of grand children to 12 in 2012!

Food Dudes.

Speaking of kids, one of the constant complaints I hear from many of my patients is that they can’t get their kids to eat healthy. Well, I just read in a national news article from the Deseret News that a psychology professor at Bangor University in North Wales, England has created a program for kids to eat and like fruits and vegetables. The program is called Food Dudes and is geared for kids from 6 to 11 years old. It gets kids to try fruits and vegetables and then become a peer group seen eating and liking the food. After about a year into the program the consumption among English kids jumped as high as 90 percent. A pilot program is starting in the U.S. to see if our kids will take to the healthy stuff like their English counterparts.
Of course, you don’t have to wait for the results of programs and tests to see the results of eating healthy. It can be almost immediate. Proverbs says train up a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it. I saw the beginnings of that with the recent family gathering we had. With all my ten grand children enjoying food and “goodies” customary at a birthday gathering an interesting thing happened. One of my grand son’s has been carefully raised to avoid sugars and hollow carbs from processed food. When he got hungry he went over to our fruit bowl and grabbed a small apple and began to eat it. He is two and a half. When the other older grand kids saw him eating the apple they all wanted one too! It is amazing how much an example can play in how and what we eat.

Dinner Time can Prevent Drug Abuse in teens.

In another article I read about food and its effect on our lives told about a study done at the National Center of Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. The Chairman of the center Joseph A. Califano, Jr. stated, “Parental engagement fostered around the dinner table is one of the most potent tools to help parents raise healthy, drug-free children.” The research is showing that compared with teens who have frequent dinners with family, defined as five to seven times a week, and those who have dinner with family fewer than three times a week are almost four times more likely to smoke and twice as likely to use alcohol. They are also two and a half times more likely to use marijuana and four times a likely to say they expect to use drugs in the future.
Califano wrote, “When asked about the best part of family dinners, the most frequent answer from teens is the sharing, talking and interacting with family members; the second-most frequent answer is sitting down or being together.” So, if you have kids still at home make sure you spend time with them and an great place is around food, whether it is at breakfast, dinner or what ever fits your schedule, eat healthy food and get talking.

Have a great Fall and get prepared for the Holiday season by doing your part to keep healthy and keep your gutters clean.

Healthfully yours,

Dr. Tim