By Dr. Frank Sabatino

The word cancer alone strikes fear in the collective minds of our population, and is typically perceived as a death knell by people that have received this diagnosis. While the war on cancer has been waged by the medical and pharmaceutical industries, with an arsenal of  dangerous chemical, radiation and surgical weapons for the past 75 years, it is a war that is fraught with failure and continues to rage with questionable hope in sight. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control, in 1950, 1 in 666 people in the US had cancer. In 2008, it increased to 1 in 184 people, and by 2011 until the present day one in every 2-3 people will develop cancer in their lifetime. Cancer cases are projected to increase globally by 77% in the next 25 years. 

As bleak as that is, it is important to understand that there are a variety of food and lifestyle choices  that play a major role in affecting the causes, prevention and even reversal of this devastating disease process.  Diets high in animal protein and highly processed foods containing refined sugars and oils, alcohol, smoking, obesity, and exposure to a variety of environmental toxins in air pollution, herbicides and pesticides, are well accepted risk factors for promotion of cancer. These factors increase chronic inflammation and chronic free radical damage caused by reactive oxygen compounds (oxidative stress) that can initiate and propagate the spread of cancer. It is only a whole food plant-exclusive diet that significantly reduces chronic inflammation, and provides the fiber and antioxidants that reduce free radical damage and cancer risk 

All too often, a common mentality associated with nutrition is that if something is good, more must be better. Unfortunately, more of certain nutrients and chemicals may be dangerous. When you consider that Americans are typically consuming almost 60% of their diets from ultra-processed foods, 30-40% from cooked animal products, and less than 5% from whole plant foods, there are both deficiencies and excesses that significantly increase cancer risk and outcome. 

High temperature cooking of amino acids, creatine, and sugars in meat and fish create an excess of heterocyclic amines that increase cancers of the colon, rectum, breast, prostate, pancreas, lungs , stomach and esophagus. An excess of animal and processed junk foods significantly increases saturated fats, trans-fatty acids  and oxidized fats that increase chronic inflammation (1) and cancer risk. Fats subjected to high heat cooking ( frying and barbecuing) are converted by lipid oxidation into extremely dangerous free radicals that damage cell membranes and promote cancerous change. In addition, high fat promotes insulin resistance, elevated blood sugar and excessive insulin that can promote the initiation and metastasis of certain cancers. 

Compared to fruits, vegetables and protein dense legumes, eggs, meat and fish contain a risky large amount of the essential, protein building-block amino acid, methionine. High methionine increases oxidative stress/ free radical damage in the mitochondrial  energy factories in your cells that can create cell damage and cancer initiation. Importantly, cancer cells have a strong dependency on methionine referred to as “methionine addiction” that promotes the growth and spread of cancer cells referred to as the Hoffman effect. (2) 

While the high levels of iron in animal products have been portrayed as as the best way to achieve your basic iron needs, this could not be farther from the truth. In fact, the rapidly absorbed form of iron in meat, heme iron, is a dangerous risk factor for iron overload in the body that can concentrate in the heart and pancreas contributing to heart disease and diabetes. (3)  So when you consume animal products your liver releases hepcidin to slow down the absorption of iron from your small intestine into your blood by as much as 35-45%. Iron can accumulate and oxidize like rust in the cells of the small intestine producing carcinogenic nitroso-compounds and lipid peroxidation that damages DNA and promotes cancer growth. As a result, people eating the most meat and animal products increase their risk of colon cancer by more than 30%.

The iron in plant foods, especially leafy greens and legumes, is bound to a powerful antioxidant, inositol hexaphosphate (IP6) also known as phytic acid. The high fiber in plant food supports your gut microbiota that cleaves off the IP6 and allows a slower, healthy absorption of iron. (4) IP6 prevents free radical production in the cells of the intestine so that phytate bound iron in plants protects, prevents and reverses cancer growth. Iron absorption from plants is enhanced by Vitamin C and can be promoted by squeezing fresh lemon juice on your steamed and sauted greens.  

Whole plant foods contain the largest concentration of  nutrients, including polyphenols and flavonoids, that have the greatest anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties for reducing  the chronic inflammation and free radical damage that causes cancer while also inhibiting cellular enzymes like mTOR  that promote cancer growth.  These nutrients are primarily found in the pigments that color your fruit and vegetables. So for the most powerful  protection against cancer just put a rainbow on your plate!

References

1. (Lopez- Garcia et al. 700 Nurses—highest quartrile of trans fatty acid intake had 73% more CRP than the lowest quartrile. J Nutr . (March 2005)135(3):562-6

2. Sanz A et al. Methionine restriction decreases mitochondrial oxygen radical generation and leak as well as oxidative damage to mitochondrial DNA and proteins. FASEB  Journal , Research Communication June, 2006

3. Bastide NM et al.. Heme iron from meat and risk of colorectal cancer: a meta-analysis and a review of the mechanisms involved. Cancer Prev Res ( Phila) (2011);4(2):177-184.

4.Vucenik J et al. Cancer inhibition by inositol hexaphosphate (IP6) and inositol: from laboratory to clinic. J Nutr. Nov 2003; 133(11): 37785-37845.