If you think that eating broccoli is enough to help you fight breast cancer, you'd better think again.
Lead researcher, Dr. Paul Talalay, of Johns Hopkins University, was the first to isolate a broccoli-related compound called sulforaphane glucosinolate in 1992. His study showed that this broccoli compound had potent activity against breast cancer cells. Later research confirmed his findings, and provided the key mechanism of action behind broccoli: it boosts key enzymes in the body that fight against tumor development.
With all of this research proving broccoli's benefit for breast cancer, why am I suggesting that eating this cruciferous vegetable is not necessarily going to help you?
The answer presents itself when you understand the value of a team. Now, you may already have a healing team-a medical doctor, yoga instructor, nutritionist, spiritual guide and so on-but does your health approach include teaming up what you eat? As it turns out, broccoli alone isn't very effective in fighting cancer! A nutritionist I recently ran into said, "There is no such thing as a super food, only a super diet." I agree.
Based on the philosophy that a varied diet provides the best chances for optimal health, I suggest to all my patients that eating a variety of colorful plants every day will provide them with the most powerful cancer fighting tools. As it turns out, smaller amounts of plant chemicals and nutrients found in a mixed bag of foods work together to provide huge changes at the cellular level. Simply put, you get more nutrition bang for your buck when you combine nutrients that will work together to create something larger than themselves. This is known in professional health circles as nutritional synergy.
Researchers at the University College of Medical Sciences in India have shown to what extent certain combinations of food can act together to protect the body from cancer-causing agents. In a recent study, mice were exposed to carcinogens that provoked breast cancer in 100% of them. The mice were then divided into groups with each group being administered increasing levels of plant compounds. Among the mice that received only one of these food compounds, 50% developed a tumor. Among those who consumed two of these food compounds, only a third developed cancer. If three components were combined, the proportion of tumor-ridden mice went down to one in five and to only one in ten among those that consumed all four substances.
The take home message is simple: If you regularly down orange juice for breakfast and eat lots of broccoli without varying your diet to include all the colorful plants, you are not providing your body with maximum cancer-fighting potential!
Let's take a look at another study. Earlier research revealed that isolate soy isoflavones have tumor-promoting effects in late-stage breast cancer, but in recent lab studies, flaxseed has been shown to weaken this effect. After another lab study analyzing the breakdown products from the lignans in flaxseed in combination with the whole food form of soy, flaxseed researcher Dr. Lillian Thompson, from the University of Toronto, concluded that for postmenopausal women with low estrogen levels, the combination of soy and flaxseed may be more beneficial than soy alone in controlling breast cancer growth. In this case, the two are better than one!
Finally, let's get back to the broccoli issue. Pairing broccoli with tomatoes has been found to fight prostate cancer. Combining these two powerhouse foods, Dr. Erdman and associates, found that prostate tumors grew much less in rats that were fed tomato and broccoli powders than in rats who ate diets containing either just one of those powders or cancer-fighting substances that had been isolated from tomatoes or broccoli. Yes, I know you don't have a prostate....but there is a valuable lesson to be derived from this study: Isolated nutrients aren't nearly as powerful as the whole food! This is why I caution against choosing dietary supplements that contain isolated nutrients like vitamin C or E or extracted plant chemicals, like lycopene or beta carotene and favor whole foods dietary supplements instead. Inside whole foods supplements are the full array of vitamins, minerals and plant chemicals that work hand-in-hand to create powerful healing benefits.For more information on the whole food supplements I recommend, please order my free breast cancer wellness report on dietary supplements to fight breast cancer. And remember, fruits and veggies probably get lonely too. So why not team them up?!
Dr. Kim Dalzell is a doctor of holistic nutrition and registered dietitian who has helped thousands of cancer patients with her nature-based healing approach to cancer control. She is a sought after speaker, author of Challenge Cancer and Win!, and industry spokesperson. To learn more about how you can control cancer with nutrition, please visit:
http://www.cancerbusters.org
Breast Cancer Information
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