Tag Archives: cancer prevention

Activity – Disease Prevention

Activity is important to keep your body healthy. When you don’t sleep, your body was designed to be active almost all the time. If you immobilize a limb for only three hours, it starts to degenerate. That’s why even during sleep you automatically flex and stretch and turn more than a hundred times in one night. Inactivity is deadly!

This is written in a report by Dr. Walter Bortz in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1982. He reviewed over a hundred studies showing that the sedentary lifestyle developed in the last 50 years in America causes widespread bodily damage. This damage occurs independently of other health risk factors, like smoking, alcohol, fat, age and family history of disease.

Here are some of his findings: By itself, simple inactivity causes a chain reaction of cardiovascular decay. First, it reduces vital capacity. That means, when you sit like a slug, it reduces your ability to take up and use oxygen. The result is: muscles, organs, and brain become partially oxygen deprived.

Also, inactivity reduces cardiac output, that is, the ability of your heart to pump blood around the body. So the tissues of couch potatoes become double deprived. They get less oxygen and less blood and the essential nutrients the blood contains. In an effort to make up these deficits, your body constricts arteries, thereby raising blood pressure. This arterial constriction on top of a weakened heart not only increases the risk of clots and stroke, but also makes your cardiovascular system less able to respond to sudden movement or changes of position. As a result, sedentary folk often suffer dizziness when standing, because the impaired system cannot instantly increase blood flow to the brain. With any sudden movements they are prone to falls and accidents, because the restricted system of blood flow cannot respond efficiently.

One of the most interesting studies shows that more sedentary people than active people are hit and killed in traffic accidents. Because their weakened cardiovascular systems make them incapable of performing the nimble moves required to avoid oncoming traffic, with out becoming dizzy and staggering or falling in the process. Inactivity also increase levels of cholesterol and triglycerides. Triglycerides are the fats you store, and we know that inactivity makes you fat. Inactive muscles shrink, compromising your ability to burn fat, to perform even simple tasks, like running up stairs,and even to hold up your skeleton. Bones also thin and weaken, because your skeleton requires continuous resistance exercise in order to grow new bone matrix.

A combination of inactivity and poor bone nutrition is the major cause of the epidemic of osteoporosis now burdening America – another man made – entirely preventable disease. Inactivity also disrupts bowel function and disorders glucose metabolism, independently of whatever food you eat. The near epidemics of intestinal disorders and adult-onset diabetes in America bear mute testimony to our slug lifestyle. Sex hormone levels also decline with inactivity, now linked to the huge increase in impotence in America. The evidence is overwhelming that the incidence of male impotence in America has doubled since the 1940’s.

Activity Can Save Your Life
One of the best studies was conducted by renowned exercise guru Dr. Kenneth Cooper at his Aerobics Center in Dallas. They followed 13,344 men and women for 15 years. This meticulous research, controlled for all major interfering variables, like age, family history, personal health history, smoking, blood pressure, cardiovascular condition, and insulin metabolism. At the fifteen-year follow-up, reduced risk of death was closely correlated with physical fitness. This included death from cardiovascular diseases, a variety of cancers, and even accidents. There is no longer any doubt: exercise can save your life, while couch potatoism creates an existence that is nasty, sick, and short.

Activity Strengthens Heart and Lungs
Numerous studies show that exercise protects your body by maintaining vital capacity, and therefore maintaining adequate oxygenation of tissues. The average sedentary American male aged 45 has lost half his ability to take up and use oxygen. With one year of the right exercise he can restore it to the level of a 25 year old. Dr. Bortz rightly stated that the health benefits of restoring vital capacity are superior to any drug or medical treatment in existence. In contrast to the weak cardiac function of sedentary folk, the athlete’s strong, slow pulse is telling evidence of a healthy heart. Many have rates in the 40s, and the Colgan Institute one recorded champion cyclist Howard Doerfling at an incredible 29 beats per minute. Sedentary folk, however, are likely to show heart rates in the 80s or 90s. When heart rate rises above 84, risk of coronary heart disease more than doubles.

Activity protects blood pressure
The majority of average people show blood pressure of 120/80, which is regard as normal. But this is not normal at all. We know know that these people are already on their way to disease. Risk of cardiovascular disease starts to rise as systolic blood pressure goes above 103 mmHg. By 120 mmHg, previously thought to be normal, risk has risen from 51 to 77 per 10.000 people. That is an increase of 50%. By 135 mmHg, a level that many physicians still regard as marginal, but acceptable, risk has doubled. Beyond 135 mmHg you are a walking time bomb. The same applies to diastolic blood pressure. Usual levels found in average people are 80-89 mmHg. Recent research shows that these figures indicate a pre-disease state. Diastolic pressures below 80 mmHg shows an incidence of new cardiovascular disease of 10 cases per 1000 people, but by 90-89 mmHg it shows an incidence of 40 cases per 1000 people, a risk increase of 300%.

Don’t fret. It’s easy to reduce blood pressure with the right exercise. Many studies show that exercise works for older people as well, in whom you might think the damage to blood pressure is permanent.
In a typical study, sedentary hypertension patients, aged 55 to 78 years were followed. All had elevated blood pressure. After participating in an exercise program, systolic blood pressure felt by a whopping 20 mmHg. Regular exercise will lower blood pressure in almost anyone.

Activity Lowers Cholesterol
Despite media bleatings, cholesterol is not the bad guy. Cholesterol is essential to every function of your body. It forms part of all your organs, including your heart and your brain. Your body makes all your steroid hormones, including adrenalin, estrogen and testosterone from cholesterol. You cannot live without it. Most of your cholesterol is not from food at all. It is manufactured in your body mainly by the liver. When a healthy person eats high cholesterol foods, the liver immediately reduces its own cholesterol production to keep blood cholesterol low and healthy. Disordered cholesterol metabolism is the cause that blood cholesterol rises to dangerous levels and is a man-made disease, caused mainly by our degraded nutrition and sedentary lifestyle.

As you probably know, we have “good” high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and “bad” low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Total cholesterol is mostly LDL and this is still one of the best predictors of cardiovascular disease. You can measure this total cholesterol with a simple device at home, it is called the “Accumeter”. What is a healthy cholesterol level? You may ask. The American Heart Association and other US health authorities made in mid 1980 below 200 mg/dl their official recommendation. Today we know that this is too high. In a comprehensive study by Dr. Jeremiah Stamler, he followed 356,000 men in 28 US cities. Following his research, death rates from cardiovascular disease starts to rise when cholesterol gets above 168 mg/dl. Total cholesterol in sedentary American men and women rise over 200 mg/dl in their 30s and reach about 220 mg/dl by age 45. It’s clear that sitting like a slug expose oneself to disease. Recent research shows that average cholesterol levels in runners and bodybuilders ranged between 158 mg/dl and 183 mg/dl. It proves that exercise makes the healthy difference.

Cardiovascular diseases are far out our biggest health problem. It kills more than twice as many Americans as all cancers, nine times as many as all other lung and liver diseases together, and 28 times more than all forms of diabetes. There are good reasons to warn everybody starting an exercise program to have a thorough medical and physician’s approval before they start. Sudden exertion in sedentary people “raises their changes of a heart attack by….100 fold! A health letter from the Mayo Clinic stated: “Most people who have heart attacks during activity are sedentary or have underlying heart disease and overdo it.”

Activity Prevents Cancer
Most cancers are slow-growing diseases, eating silently away at your body for years before they show up. Despite the overblown claims of successful treatment by the National Cancer Institute, once a cancer emerges, medicine is usually powerless. Remember the swift deaths of Michael Landon of pancreatic cancer and Jaqueline Onassis of Lymphoma. If there was an effective treatment, don’t you think those immensely rich people would have bought it? So if a little of the right exercise can prevent cancer, it’s more worth than all the gold in Ford Knox. And above all, like the other best things in life, it’s free! From a study by Dr. Kenneth Cooper, it showed that incidence of all forms of cancer was closely correlated with lack of physical exercise. Unfit men and women where 300% more likely to develop cancer. But the best finding from this study is that you have to move only a smidgen out of couch potato land to prevent cancer big time.

Activity Against All Diseases
The right exercise is a major strategy for preventing and treating all diseases. Physicians who do not incorporate exercise into their treatment protocols are guilty of malpractice. The right exercise maintains your heart, lungs, your muscles, your bones, a healthy level of body fat, even your intestinal function. But what about more subtle functions, such as insulin, and your body’s handling of sugar? We know that couch potatoism leads to glucose intolerance. However, research has shown not long ago that getting off the couch not only maintains insulin function to deal with the sugar, but also can reverse decades of damage. In healthy people the right exercise completely protects glucose tolerance against the degenerative changes in insulin metabolism that lead to adult-onset diabetes. Research has revealed the major way in which activity protects you against all diseases. It started with evidence that exercise increases overall white blood cells. Then came more precise findings that moderate exercise increases bodily production of lymphocytes, interleukin 2, neutrophills, and other disease fighting components of the immune system. There is no longer doubt that the right exercise strengthen your immunity. Hence it strengthens your resistance against all sorts of damage, decay, bacteria, viruses, toxins, even radiation. Remember the wise words of Louis Pasteur, the father of modern medicine: “Host resistance is the key”.

I have developed an exercise-program that covers the basics of exercise, aerobics, weight-bearing exercises and nutrition for athletes.


Cancer Prevention from Cherries

The hard little pits from cherries give a bit more work to eat than most other fruits.
But research suggests that this fruit, which contains a compound called perillyl alcohol,
is worth the bother.

According to Michael Gould, PhD, professor of oncology and medical physics at the University of Wisconsin Medical School in Madison, “perillyl alcohol is about the best thing we’ve ever seen for curing mammary cancer in laboratory animals”
In fact, it shows so much promise that it’s being tried in cancer patients at the University of Wisconsin.

Perillyl alcohol belongs to a group of compounds called monoterpenes. Limonene, which is found in the peel of citrus fruits, also belongs to this family. These compounds have been shown in studies to block the formation of a variety of cancers, including those of the breasts, lungs, stomach, liver, and skin. Expectations from perillyl alcohol are high, mainly because it is 5 to 10 times more potent than limonene, which itself has been proven to be very effective.

It’s not yet known how much perillyl alcohol there is in cherries, but even a small amount of the compound probably has some beneficial effects. So cherries, when eaten as part of a well-rounded diet, can play a small but important role in helping the body ward off cancer.

Vitamin C +
In addition to exotic new compounds, cherries also contain a variety of antioxidants.
Researchers have found that 1 cup of sweet cherries has more than twice as many antioxidants as green tea.

Additionally, a half-cup of sour cherries has 5 mg vitamin C, about 8% of the Daily Value (DV) for this vitamin.
Sour cherries also provide vitamins A and E, and more than in sweet cherries.

The vitamin E in cherries is of particular interest, since one study of postmenopausal women found that those who consumed the most vitamin E had the least risk of heart disease. And there was an interesting twist. The women who got their vitamin E naturally- solely from food -had less risk than women who were taking vitamin E supplements.

The problem with vitamin E is that it is difficult to get the DV of 30 IU from food alone.
In facts, the only foods with a lot of vitamin E are high-fat cooking oil and nuts, but you can’t eat a lot of them.
Cherries are one of the better food sources for vitamin E.

Finally, cherries contain a compound called quercitin.Like vitamin C and other antioxidants quercitin helps to prevent damage caused by free radicals.

Relief from gout and other forms of arthritis

Folklore is full of stories about people who relieved the agonizing pain of gout by eating cherries or drinking cherry juice daily. Although the Arthritis Foundation still says that there’s no absolute evidence to suggest that cherries really can ease the ache of this form of arthritis or any other, many gout sufferers swear by them.

The results of several studies showed that natural compounds in cherries may reduce the painful inflammation from arthritis.The first study conducted at the University of California, Davis, instructed 10 healthy women to eat 45 fresh Bing cherries one day for breakfast. The women were asked not to eat other fruits or vegetables or to drink tea or red wine for the two days before the cherry breakfast, because the researchers were concerned that these other high-oxidant foods would interfere with the results. The researchers measured the women’s plasma urate, a marker for gout, before and after the cherry breakfast. The researchers found that the women’s urate levels decreased significantly after eating cherries, which suggest that cherries might play an important role in fighting gout.

A survey by Prevention magazine found that 67% of readers who tried cherries for gout had good results. Steve Schumacher, a kinesiologist in Louisville, Kentucky, enthousiastically recommends them. He advises people with gout to quit eating red meats and organ meats and also to drink two to three glasses of cherry juice daily. He recommends using pure black-cherry juice diluted with an equal amount of water. “All who have followed this diet faithfully have all gotten results, some within 48 to 72 hours, and some within a week, depending on the severity,” Schumacher says.

Some tips when buying cherries
Fresh cherries are at their best during the summer months.
When buying cherries, check the stems, they should be green with fresh cherries.
Cherries are highly perishable, even when properly stored in the fridge.
So plan to buy only what you’re going to eat right away.
It’s best not to wash them, but store them dry. it’s important, however, to wash them
thoroughly. Cherries arre often coated with a mixture of insecticides, anti fungal oils,
and moisture seals that producers use to keep them fresh.
When you’re tired of munching cherries, you may want to try some juice.
Simply wash, stem, pit, and crush the sherries. Heat them in a saucepan, then
press the mixture through a strainer. Refrigerate several hours, then pour off the
clear juice and add sugar to taste.

Phytochemicals, compounds to cut cancer and heart risks

INDOLES
Phytochemicals have an important function to prevent some cancers and heart disease .
One of them are called Indoles. You find them in crusiferous vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and mustard greens. They have a bitter taste that bugs don’t like.
The phytochemical responsible for this way of plant protection is called Indole-3-
carbinol, known by researchers by the nickname I3C.
In humans, this compound plays a role in regulating hormones, which may be useful
in preventing breast cancer.

Researchers at the Strang Cancer Prevention Center in New York City found that when
women took 400 milligrams of I3C a day, about the amount found in half a head of
cabbage, their levels of the harmless estrogen increased significantly.
In fact, they had the same levels as those found in marathon runners, which is quite a
feat, since vigorous exercise has been shown to have a strong positive effect on
estrogen levels. I3C also helps stop tumor cells from spreading to other parts of the body,
Studies also show that I3C may slow the growth and reproduction of prostate-cancer cells.
That’s why you should say yes to broccoli and cabbage.

ORGANOSULFUR COMPOUNDS
Other phytochemicals are organosulfur compounds, called allylic sulfides.
They are one of nature’s most potent compounds to decrease your risks of cancer and heart disease. They also raise good HDL cholesterol and stimulate enzymes that suppress tumors.
You will find them in onions, garlic, also but in lower concentration in leeks and chives.

Allylic sulfides also have the unique potency to keep cholesterol and other blood fats known as triglycerides from causing health-threatening blood clots and hardening of the arteries.
Allicin, which researchers believe to be the most potent compount in garlic, and diallyl
disulphyde also made blood vessels relax, reducing blood pressure and improving bloodflow.
Allicin also has potent germ killing powers. Studies show that it can kill microbes responsible for colds, the flu, tummy viruses, yeast infections, and possibly even tuberculosis.

Other studies have shown that taking two or more servings of garlic per week can help
protect against colon cancer. It can also stop the growth of cancer cells, once they develop.

PHYNOLIC COMPOUNDS
This is another phytochemical, also called polyphenols.You will find them in most fruits,
vegetables, cereal grains, and green and black teas. These compounds fight cancer on two
fronts. They stimulate protective enzymes while squelching harmful ones, and they’re also
havy-duty antioxidants.
Most active polyphenols include ellagic acid from strawberries, green tea polyphenols,
and curcumin, the yellow collering in turmeric.
Curcumin plays a role in cancer prevention because it act as an antioxidant.
It also seems to inhibit the growth of cancer cells and prevent or help to treat Alzheimer’s
disease and arthritis.

SAPONINS
One of the most common phytochemicals are the saponins. You will find them in a wide
variety of vegetables, herbs and legumes, like spinach, tomatoes, potatoes, nuts, and oats.
Soy beans alone contain 12 different types of saponins.

Studies show that people who eat saponin-rich diets have consistently lower rates of breast- prostate- and colon cancer,
Unlike other cancer-fighting phytochemicals, however, saponins possess a unique array
of weapons. One way that they help prevent cancer is by binding with bile acids, which
over time may metabolize into cancer-causing compounds, and eliminating them from the
body, says Dr Rao, professor of nutrition at the University of Toronto.

They also stimulate the immune system so that’s better able to detect and destroy precancerous cells before they develop into full-blown cancer.

But perhaps the most important ability of saponins is to target the cholesterol found in cancer cell membranes. Cancer cells have a lot of cholesterol in their membranes, and saponins selectively binds to these cells and destroy them.

Not surprisingly , this ability to bind to cholesterol is helpful for lowering total cholesterol
as well. Saponins bind with bile acids, used for digestion in the intestinal tract.
The bile is then excreted, instead of being reabsorbed. Since bile acids are made of cholesterol, getting rid of some of these acids means that your body has to use up cholesterol to make more, effectively lowering cholesterol levels in the process.
See also my article titled: Phytonutrients, compounds from the garden for good health.

 

Flavonoids

Flavonoids are powerful antioxidants, and sturdy defenders against heart disease and cancer. See also my article titled: Antioxidants in green leafy vegetables
Like carotenoids, flavonoids add color – specifically red, yellow, blue and shades of brown
to the foods we eat and drink.
Present mostly in apples, celery, cocoa, (dark chocolate), cranberries, grapes, broccoli, endive, onions, green and black teas, and red wines.

But experts are beginning to discover that these compounds are doing more.
Some flavonoids make the linings of blood vessels more supple, lowering blood pressure and protecting against a buildup of heart- threatening plague. In one study, grape juice and
chocolate had this effect. Flavovoids also act like Teflon coating for the millions of tiny disks in your blood called platelets. They keep the platelets from clumbing together in the bloodstream and forming clots, which helps prevent heart attacks and stroke.

A recent study at the Harvard Medical School lab has found that one magical flavonoid found in wine and grapes: resveratrol, also lowers blood sugar levels and boosts liver function. In fact, in a group of lucky mice, it increased longevity by 31%.
In one study at the university of Virginia, resveratrol – found in grape skins, raspberries,
mulberries, and peanuts – literally starved cancer cells by interfering with a protein called
nuclear factor-kappa B, that helps food them.

In one Dutch study that examined the eating habits of 800 men, aged between 65 and 84,
researchers found that those who got the least flavonoids in their diets, were 32% more
likely to die from heart attacks than those who ate the most. It didn’t take many flavonoids
to get the benefits. The high-flavonoid group had the equivalent of 4 cops of black tea,
a half cup of apple, and 1//8 cup of onions per day.

When it comes to cancer prevention, flavonoids may help out by influencing cel-signaling
pathways – the way cells turn genes on and off in order to perform thousands of everyday
maintenance activities. Flavonoids may help turn on genes that stop cancer cells from
dividing or invading healthy tissues, or even help activate genes that make cancer cells
commit suicide, say experts from the Linus Pauling Research Institute at Oregon State
University in Corvallis.

In a recent study at the University of California, Los Angeles, those prostate-cancer
survivors who drank 8 ounces of pomegranate juice daily, increased by nearly 4 times
the period during which their PSA levels (prostate specific antigens) a cancer biomaker,
stayed constant. The study even surprised the researchers, who say that the combination
of flavonoids, anti-inflammatory compounds, and antioxidants in pomegranate juice
may be responsible.