| Over the next several years, you'll be hearing a lot more about nutraceuticals, phytochemicals and meals that heal. Foods and traditional medicinal herbs clearly have healing properties, including the ability to prevent cancer.
CanUer Sores
Early American settlers introduced myrrh to the New World. Although most of us associate myrrh with the Christmas tale of the Three Wise Men's gifts to the baby Jesus, these early settlers weren't carrying myrrh for religious purposes. They used it as a treatment for canker sores and other kinds of mouth sores, according to Walter Lewis, Ph.D. |
| I've also been involved with the embryonic Designer Food Program of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is attempting to design foods high in healthful phytochemicals that prevent cancer.
I have a greater respect for the potential of the food program than I do for the results of the drug-finding program. Clearly, cancer prevention programs can save more lives than treatment programs can, and at a fraction of the cost. Still the 30-year-old cure-oriented war on cancer gets the most tax dollars, while prevention programs get very little. |
| But as fruit and vegetable consumption increases, thereby lowering fat in the diet and increasing the amount of fiber and helpful phytochemicals, cancer rates fall.
Fighting the Wrong Battles
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has been waging its war on cancer for 30 years now. But in every year reported up until 1996, cancer deaths were increasing, according to NCI statistics. Some of the increases have to do with the fact that fewer people are dying of heart disease and stroke, so they live long enough to get cancer. |
Textbook of Natural Medicine 2nd Edition Volume 1Michael T. Murray, ND
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| After demonstrating in vitro effectiveness, the question arises: "Does a given antioxidant improve cellular function?". phytochemicals possess multiple effects, ranging from enzyme inhibition to enzyme induction via alteration of signal transduction. Flavonoids, in particular, often possess multiple effects, leading them to be considered as "biological response modifiers". There is also a growing awareness of the necessity of understanding the impact of flavonoids on the oxidative stress that contributes to mutagenesis and programmed cell death (apoptosis). |
Dr. Julian Whitaker
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| Replace it with a cup of green tea, which has considerably less caffeine and a host of cancer-fighting phytochemicals. Better yet, eliminate caffeine entirely. It may be difficult at first, especially if you're a big coffee drinker. You may experience headaches, edgi-ness, and even lack of focus and concentration at first. Getting off caffeine is like withdrawing from any addictive drug. But if you can live with these symptoms for a few days, you'll find over the course of the next few weeks that you are calmer, clearer minded, and less nervous than you were when you were consuming caffeine. |
Bill Gottlieb
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 Klein, who is also professor of foods and nutrition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Cham-paign, where studies of phytochemicals in soy products are ongoing. "It one food group a week. So say you decide to start eating dairy the first week. If the symptoms return any time during that week—even as long as two to three days after eating a dairy product—congratulations, Sherlock Holmes! You've detected your food sensitivity. If they don't, start earing another food or food group the following week—say, egg products. And once again, be on the lookout for a return of your symptoms. |
Susun S. Weed
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 Tinctures are concentrated sources of alkaloids (powerful tonic and potentially poisonous compounds) and other phytochemicals. I prefer to make my tinctures from fresh plants, but occasionally I tincture dried roots, berries, or seeds. Tinctures last indefinitely if protected from heat, light, and evaporation. The usual dose ranges from 1-100 drops/.04-4 ml a day. |
| Foods from the cabbage family are exceptional sources of phytochemicals which help reverse cancer metastases. So do the lignans in beans. if Of laboratory animals with advanced breast cancer who ate the seaweed kelp, 95 percent lived longer than expected.
25b
Breast cancert
• According to Neal Barnard, M.D., a woman with metastatic breast cancer increases her risk of dying by 40 percent for every extra 1,000 grams of fat included in her diet per month.2 The best fats for women with cancer—from strictly organic sources, please—are flax seed oil, olive oil, nuts, and fatty fish.
Step 4. |
| Organochlorines are metabolized by the liver and by helpful phytochemicals (especially saponins and indole-3-carbinol). Because they are large and complex, this isn't easy. The majority wind up stored in fat cells and breast tissues. Some are eliminated in tears, breast milk, and egg cells (or sperm). What a legacy for our offspring! |
| Ginger contains many anti-cancer phytochemicals, including antioxidants and carotenes. See Seasoning Herbs; see Materia Medica.
GRAPES/RAISINS {Vinisvinifera)
The grape cure has always fascinated me, as I crave grapes with an overwhelming passion whenever I'm ill. Consuming nothing but grapes for several weeks is said to put primary tumors into remission and prevent recurrences. Grapes supply an abundance of anti-cancer trace minerals, selenium, antioxidants, and acids such as ellagic acid. Dried grapes (raisins) are rich in tannins and caffeic acid. |
| If cancer has already begun to grow, phytochemicals can disrupt the processes necessary for the growth and spread of the tumor. They block metastasis by checking the growth of blood vessels to the tumor. Some foods can even reverse damage to the DNA and turn oncogenes off.68
Here's the rub: It doesn't work as well if it isn't organic.9'10 An apple a day may even promote breast cancer if it's been heavily sprayed with pesticides. |
| With concentrated amounts of antioxidants, carotenes, folates, selenium, indole-3-carbinol, and other anti-cancer phytochemicals and nutrients in synergistic combinations impossible to duplicate in a pill. I eat some from every category every day:
Raw ones for antioxidant vitamin C. Oily ones, such as avocado or purslane, for antioxidant vitamin E.
Green, yellow, and orange ones for antioxidant carotenes (which become vitamin A in the liver).
Leafy green ones for anti-cancer folates.
Garlicky ones for selenium, the mineral that lowers risk of breast cancer. |
Dr. Julian Whitaker
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| Scientists have only just begun to identify and catalogue individual phytochemicals, which will likely number in the tens of thousands. Of the hundreds discovered thus far, their actions are powerful and their names exotic. Zeaxanthin and lutein, found in leafy greens, protect the eyes. Allicin in garlic lowers cholesterol, protects the heart, and boosts the immune system. Genistein and daidzein, types of isoflavones found in soybeans, help balance hormones and defend against cancer. Indoles and sulphoraphane in broccoli detoxify carcinogens. |
Gayle Reichler, M.S., R.D., C.D.N.
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 Plan 5 enhances the general plan by recommending a higher intake of fruits and vegetables that contain protective phytochemicals and antioxidants to fight the damaging free radicals linked to cancer and other diseases. Fat intake is somewhat limited in Plan 5 because of the link between excess fat and several cancers, particularly breast cancer. Plan 5 foods are also high in fiber, which has been shown to reduce the risks for both colon and breast cancers.
Avoid foods that have been barbecued, smoked, or pickled, since those foods have been linked with some stomach and esophagus cancers. |
Dr. Julian Whitaker
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| These phytochemicals have powerful antioxidant activity, as well as stabilizing effects on cellular membranes. Their activities are particularly visible in the brain. As discussed earlier, 60 percent of your brain is fat, and ginkgo assists vitamin E and other antioxidants in protecting these fatty tissues from free-radical damage. Ginkgo also enhances the production of neurotransmitters and normalizes acetylcholine receptors. Furthermore, this herb enhances the utilization of glucose, providing additional energy for the brain. |
Gayle Reichler, M.S., R.D., C.D.N.
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| The most common fruits and vegetables that contain phytochemicals include, citrus, garlic, onions, tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, and carrots.
Fruits and vegetables are also naturally low in fat and high in fiber. The additional fiber adds bulk to your diet, which is good for intestinal health and helps lower cholesterol levels. Fiber also helps you feel fuller for a longer period after meals, which discourages overeating. |
Dr. Julian Whitaker
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| The source of Panax ginseng's adaptogenic properties are phytochemicals called ginsenosides. These help balance the hypothalamus, as well as the pituitary and adrendal glands, which are involved in the stress response. Ginsenosides have been shown to prevent free-radical damage and to enhance the immune response. In addition, they also appear to lengthen the life span of brain cells, possibly by increasing levels of nerve growth factor. |
| Indoles and sulphoraphane in broccoli detoxify carcinogens. Many phytochemicals also have potent antioxidant activity, including proanthocyanidins from grape seeds and lycopene from tomatoes.
Eating plant foods also may help prevent cognitive decline in your later years. A study published in 1998 in the Journal of Neuroscience found that certain fruits and vegetables actually improve memory. |
Ronald L. Hoffman, M.D.
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 The nutritional treatment of breast cancer includes the cancer preventive recommendations, especially the inclusion of the cabbage family vegetables with the indole-3-carbinol phytochemicals. These plants have proven anticancer activity.
Small, frequent, appetizing high-caloric meals are necessary for patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiation. For the woman experiencing anorexia or lack of appetite, food should literally be thought of as medicine: something she has to take! The body has significantly higher caloric needs than normal when fighting and destroying cancer cells. |
| The eye is one of the organs that is most
* Green leafy vegetables contain assorted phytochemicals, which include both carotenoids and bioflavonoids. sensitive to oxidative damage, and it can serve as a real bellwether for oxidative changes in the body.
You can now go to a health food store and purchase "eye formulas" with catchy names like Ocudyne and Ocuvite, which contain a mix of supplements that protect against macular degeneration. |
| They are rich in phytochemicals, which have an anticancer effect, particularly against breast or prostate cancer. Individuals who are at higher risk for cancer of the breast, uterus, colon, or prostate do well on a vegetarian or semivegetarian diet.
Eight ounces of yogurt a day not only will provide some of your protein but, more importantly, will boost your body's immune system, help fight off disease, reduce hay fever and allergy symptoms, provide you with plenty of calcium, and, if you're a woman, fend off recurrent episodes of vaginitis. |
Bill Gottlieb
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| Most research indicates that these tongue-twisting phytochemicals protect against an array of cancers, particularly those that line the body's organs, including the lungs, bladder, cervix, colon, stomach, rectum, larynx and pancreas, says Herbert F. Pierson, Ph.D., vice-president for research and development at Preventive Nutrition Consultants in Woodenville, Washington. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore have already concluded that one phytochemical found in broccoli, sul-foraphane, appears to help protect against breast cancer in animal studies. |
| For example, some of the phytochemicals in vegetables are thought by researchers to ward off cancer but are not available in supplements. That makes eating a healthy diet important.
But many nutrients are found only in very low amounts in the foods we eat every day. And some nutrients, such as folic acid, are better absorbed in the form that is used in supplements. |
Larry Trivieri, Jr.
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 Eating vegetables and fruits also increases the consumption of fiber and other beneficial nutrients, particularly the numerous free-radical fighting antioxidants and other cell-protective phytochemicals (phyto means plant).
A whole-foods diet that is predominantly vegetable-based is typically much lower in fat, which reduces the risk of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, while enhancing immune system function. Men who lower their fat intake to less than 30% of total daily calories have a significant increase in natural killer cell activity, a measure of immune system function. |
Dr. Julian Whitaker
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| The researchers concluded, ". . . phytochemicals present in antioxidant-rich foods, such as spinach, may be beneficial in retarding functional age-related central nervous system and cognitive behavioral deficits and, perhaps, may have some benefit in neurodegenerative disease."
Glycemic Index of Common Foods
White Bread = 100
The following list is limited to carbohydrate-containing foods. Foods that contain mostly fat or protein do not cause blood sugar levels to rise significantly. |
Michael Tierra
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 SARSAPARILLA ROOT
Sarsaparilla root is rich in phytochemicals, including various saponins that have immune-potentiating and cancer-inhibiting properties.
YELLOW DOCK ROOT
Yellow dock root is effective for cancer and has been used in TCM for acute leukemia.
AMERICAN GINSENG
American ginseng contains ginsenosides and polysaccharides that inhibit Ehrlich's ascites carcinoma and various other types of cancers, including sarcoma-180 and adenocarcima-755.
LICORICE
Licorice and its various constituents, including glycyrrhizin, have been found to be prophylactic against cancer. |
Alan Keith Tillotson, Ph.D., A.H.G., D.Ay.
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 The herb is standardized because it is necessary to remove some slightly toxic phytochemicals from ginkgo before use, though the level of concentration does not need to be very strong. Nai-shing uses a 5:1 powder concentrate in her formulas, and I often use the 1:2 tincture. No adverse effects have ever been reported in these benign forms. I think these lower concentrations are best if you are creating a formula and want a milder medicine. I have found that well-prepared organic tinctures can often produce the desired results in very low dosage. |
| In one study, the phytochemicals luteolin, baicalein, and quercetin were shown to inhibit the release of histamine, leukotrienes, and other immune chemicals from mast cells in a dose-dependent manner. Luteolin was the most potent. Dr. Duke's database reveals that luteolin is found in many anti-inflammatory plants, including celery seed (Apium graveolens), water plantain, wild indigo, arjuna bark, buddleia flowers, echinacea, ginkgo leaf, devil's claw root, flaxseed, honeysuckle flower, peppermint leaf, and grapes. |
Elizabeth Somer, M.A., R.D.
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 Since our bodies evolved on diets that contained pounds, not ounces, of produce, it's likely our bodies function best on a high level of these phytochemicals. "The Dietary Guidelines suggest up to five servings of vegetables and four servings of fruit daily; that's nine servings a day from a very conservative recommendation," says Jeffrey Blumberg, Ph.D., professor of nutrition at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston. But what is an optimal intake? According to Winston Craig, Ph.D., R. |
| Phytochemicals have completely changed the way we view foods. It's no longer appropriate to evaluate a food solely on its vitamin, mineral, and fiber content," says Mark Messina, Ph.D., associate professor at Loma Linda University. |
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