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Alternative Cancer Treatment - Can Diet affect Cancer ?

By: Meng Y No other sector of oncology is considered more controversial and complex than the relationship between cancer and one's diet. Everyone wants to believe that there is some miracle diet which can dramatically affect the likelihood of cancer, or better yet, a diet that can actually cure cancer once it has been contracted. But as of right now, there is no conclusive evidence of the effect diet can have on cancer.

Reputable sources all seem to agree that there is no diet that can cure cancer. There is also no evidence strong enough to support the belief that any diet can prevent an individual from contracting cancer. However, there are many studies that suggest that the occurrence, recurrence, and even survivability rates could potentially be affected by the foods an individual selects.

Though these studies are far from positive, they have been examined by many researchers at Cornell University. The researches have been able to correlate lower death rates and an increase in survivability rates when individuals take certain dietary measures.

The Nurses Health Study which examined 1,982 women who had already developed breast cancer. These women were followed for an average of 13 years. Of those women 1200 had breast cancers that had not yet metastasized (spreading of a primary tumor to other areas of the body thus producing a secondary tumor of the same type). If an individual's cancer has spread then typically their survival rates are known to be much lower.

Some of the women studied ate fish and poultry in higher quantities. These items contain protein and omega-3 fatty acids. These women had a much lower risk of death than women in the group who did not consume similar quantities. It was also determined that women who ate greater amounts of hydrogenated oils had a much higher rate of death.

Another study was carried out by the National Cancer Institute of more than 2,400 individuals. A subset, 975 women, who had contracted breast cancer consumed a low fat diet (33.3g per day) for five years. Another 1,462 consumed 51.3 g per day. The low fat group experienced a 42% reduction in recurrence.

The difficulty with all these studies is they are looking only at associations, not causation. It's unclear from the data what is relevant. Do these dietary choices reflect only the fact that women who focus on maintaining a healthy diet are making healthier lifestyle choices overall? Or, are the foods themselves actually helpful or harmful, and to what degree?

As with many studies involving fruits and vegetables, the answer is unclear. Apart from those which contain antioxidants, any beneficial effect is simply not known with confidence. In this case, however, the evidence is strong that foods high in antioxidants do help reduce the chances of contracting breast cancer.

Free radicals within one's blood stream are ionized atoms that are capable of harming cells. Antioxidants assist in ridding the body of these atoms. They combine with the free radicals causing them to be rendered harmless.

Fat studies, however, are less clear. The leading theory states that since high estrogen levels are known to highly correlate with a greater risk of breast caner, and since fat efficiently stores estrogen, then reducing your fat intake lowers the risk.

Conclusions are drawn from time to time that are rather flawed. For example there is the belief that eating fat causes an individual to be fat. It is not necessarily the consumption of fat that causes higher body fat. Consuming more calories than the body uses causes one's body to store the excess calories as fat, thus leading to a higher body fat percentage. In addition, fat contains more calories per unit weight than other foods. Therefore the route is indirect.

Aside from the difficult to interpret or incomplete evidence, there is one thing that all experts mutually agree on: maintaining a healthy lifestyle and diet are always smart decisions. Whether these decisions lower the risk of contracting breast cancer or not, for the 1 in 12 women who will contract breast cancer at some point in their life, being in the most optimal health aids in combating the disease before, during and after.

Article Source: http://www.lifeweightloss.com

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