Breast Cancer Awareness Month

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October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

As organizations across the United States gear up to promote early screenings and detections and new information and treatments, I want to talk about the healthy lifestyle changes that you and your loved ones can make now in order to possibly prevent Breast and other cancers in the future.

According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 192, 370 women will be diagnosed with invasive forms of breast cancer in 2009, and 40,170 women will die from breast cancer this year. About 1 in 8 women in the US will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer at some point in their lives. The chance of dying from that diagnosis is about 1 in 35. However, there are a strong 2.5 million breast cancer survivors living in the United States who beat those odds and live healthy lives today! If you know a breast cancer survivor or someone struggling with breast cancer currently, one of the first things they will tell you that they changed about their lifestyle is their diet.

Nutrition is a key component to health and one of the simplest things you can change right now. As more research is done on various nutrients and the effects on gene expression, disease fighting properties and effects on cellular processes, we are learning that the phrase “you are what you eat” is so true! In cancer and breast cancer specifically there are some nutrients that you should know more about to help dispel any myths you may have heard.

1. Soy.
The controversy over soy has been debated and discussed among health care providers for a while now, and admittedly, we still have no solid answer. Regarding breast cancer specifically, the tug-o-war of soy continues. Most of the controversy comes from a study published by the University of California, San Francisco about 13 years ago in October of 1996. In that study, they gave female participants 38 grams of genistein per day for a year. (Genistein is the phytoestrogen compound found in soy, as well as other legumes. A phytoestrogen is a naturally occurring compound that binds to estrogen receptor cells in the body.) The women did not eat foods that contained genistein but were actually given isolated genistein in a supplement form. The women over that year experienced elevated levels of estradiol (the main estrogen hormone in humans) in their blood and their breast cells showed signs of stimulation and increased growth. This lead researchers to think…uh oh, does this mean it could increase breast cancer cells as well? Since then there have been numerous studies showing the protective effects soy has against breast cancer as well. The problem is – we just don’t know yet. So, in the meantime, please feel free to eat a wide variety of foods, including soy that comes from whole foods like edamame and tofu, but avoid using lots of processed products containing soy isolates if you have a family history of breast cancer.

2. Sugar.
If you’ve searched anything on the internet about cancer and nutrition, the tagline “sugar feeds cancer” almost always comes up. The issue with this statement is that it is misunderstood. In 1931 a Nobel Prize winning researcher found that malignant tumors run in a state where they use glucose as fuel and create lactic acid as a byproduct of that process. This leaves the cancerous tissues more acidic than other body tissues. This state makes the body very tired and also uses less energy from food to work. This is why about 40% of cancer patients will die from malnutrition. The process that the cancer uses for energy wastes our body’s energy. Sugar comes into play not as refined sugar eaten, but a balance of blood sugar levels in the body. If one can maintain blood sugar levels within a normal range, it’s possible to help “starve” the cancer cells while giving your body energy from the food eaten. This was proven true in a study where mice were injected with an aggressive form of breast cancer and then split into three groups, each one holding their blood sugar levels at a different range: hyperglycemic (high), normoglycemic (normal) and hypoglycemic (low). After 70 days, 8 of 24 hyperglycemic mice survived; 16 of 24 normoglycemic mice survived and 19 of 20 hypoglycemic mice survived. This suggests that regulating blood sugar levels is key to slowing breast tumor growth. Understanding the glycemic index and how to incorporate a variety of foods into your diet by pairing them properly with protein and fat intake can easily regulate your blood sugar levels. For more information on any of these topics or how to balance your own diet, talk to a Registered Dietitian near you http://eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/home_21343_ENU_HTML.htm for more specifics.


A well-balanced diet including whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes and the proper balance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates is the best way to go when thinking about cancer and other disease prevention. Changing your diet now can change your future.


Blessings,

Ashley



References:


Santisteban GA, et al. Glycemic modulation of tumor tolerance in a mouse model of breast cancer. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 1985 Nov 15;132(3):1174-9.


Quillin, P. PHD, RD, CNS. “Cancer’s Sweet Tooth” Nutrition Science News, April 2000.