There exists a plethora of scientific evidence published on the most important medical journals (Neuroepidemiology, Gastroenterology , Nature, British Journal of Cancer, British Journal of Medicine, the Lancet etc.) that lactose or dairy or milk products are correlated with cancers (colon, prostate, breast, ovary) , diabetes, heart disease, autism, Chron’s disease, colitis, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, mucous production and worsening of asthmatic conditions, allergic reactions, etc. etc.
There is also a huge amount of scientific research relating grains consumption to colitis, celiac disease, autism, obesity, diabetes, psoriasis, arthritis, inflammation ….
Milk and grains are the two major food products that humans fabricate for their own consumption and like any other products they have been manipulated (genetically, with hormones and drugs, with preservatives and additives) to be “safe”, transportable and storable for a long time (let alone to be healthy) to answer an ever increasing global demand and need for increasing profit. Both have been introduced relatively early in the history of man for DNA to have had time to catch up and redesign metabolic pathways to make us able to get the best nutrition out of these foods.
Before one decides to avoid eating them (and this is a personal choice everyone has to take, considering personal risks and advantages, from the celiac who has no choice to a diabetic individual treated with drugs, from the breast tumor-hit woman to the chronic psoriasis patient), one can always look for the least refined and whole grains and for dairy, the fermented are the number 1 choice. One can also try milk alternatives such as soy, rice, oat, and nut milks as well as goat and sheep milks, and wheat alternatives as buckwheat (not a grain related to wheat nor a grass but a whole different plant), amaranth, quinoa, millet, teff, oat, barley, spelt, etc.
This chapter deals with the health related information regarding milk.
Cows life-style
Although on U.S. dairy farms there are much less cows than there were in 1950, milk production has continued to increase, up to 185 billion pounds in 2007, thanks to genetic manipulation, antibiotics and hormones, and unnatural high-protein diets.
Most cows raised for the dairy industry are intensively confined, separated from their calves, treated like milk-producing machines: genetically manipulated and pumped full of antibiotics and hormones that cause them to produce more milk. Humans who drink their milk increase their chances of developing heart disease, diabetes, cancer, increased fractures and many other ailments.
Female cows are artificially inseminated shortly after their first birthdays. After giving birth, they lactate for 10 months and are then inseminated again, continuing the cycle. The stress caused by the conditions on factory farms leads to disease and reproductive problems that render cows worthless to the dairy industry when they are 4 or 5 years old, while their normal life span is 20 years. The growth factors of a pregnant cow, along with the hormones given to make the artificial insemination more successful, will be contained in the milk.
Inflammation of the mammary glands, or mastitis, is common, which may be caused by 150 types of bacteria, one of which is E. coli. For this reason milk's somatic cell count (SCC) (from white blood cells and skin cells) is checked to determine whether the milk is infected. The SCC of healthy milk is below 100,000 cells per milliliter; however, the dairy industry is allowed to combine milk from all the cows in a herd in order to arrive at a "bulk tank" somatic cell count (BTSCC) and milk with a maximum BTSCC of 750,000 cells per milliliter can be sold. This number generally indicates that two-thirds of the cows in the herd are suffering from infections.
Instead of improving conditions in factory farms, such as cleaner housing, more space, better diets, bedding, care and manual milking, that were proven to lower the milk's SCC and the incidence of mastitis, the dairy industry is exploring the use of cattle who have been genetically manipulated to be resistant to mastitis.
Calves:
Calves are often taken away from their mothers when they are as young as 1 day old to be chained for three to 18 weeks and raised for veal; they get fed milk replacers designed to make them gain at least 1kg/day, and low in iron so that their flesh stays pale as a result of anemia. Weighting 45 kg at birth, they gain up to 300 kg after 8-10 months. When the female calves are fed by the cows, for producing more milk producing cows, the milk contain growth factors which lead to proliferation of healthy as well as pre-carcinogenic cells. UHT treatment does not break growth factors, while a boiling process for 10 minutes does.
Environmental Destruction
Large dairy farms have detrimental effect on the environment: for example in California, manure from dairy farms (each of the more than 1 million cows excretes 18 gallons of manure daily) has poisoned groundwater, rivers, and streams. Moreover in California a single cow emits more smog-forming pollutants than a car does.
Two-thirds of all agricultural land in the U.S. is used to raise animals for food or to grow grain to feed them. Each cow raised by the dairy industry consumes as much as 40 gallons of water per day.
Human Bodies Fight Cow's Milk: allergy and intolerance
Besides humans, no species drinks milk beyond infancy or drinks the milk of another species. Cow's milk is the number one cause of food allergies among infants and children, according to the American Gastroenterological Association. Casein is the protein responsible for allergy: 80% of the protein in milk is casein. Casein is a powerful allergen, a histamine that creates lots of mucus.
Most people begin to produce less lactase, the enzyme that helps with the digestion of milk, when they are as young as 2 years old. Millions of Americans and an estimated 90 % of Asian-Americans and 75 % of Native- and African-Americans are lactose intolerant, displaying with bloating, gas, cramps, vomiting, headaches, rashes, and asthma. A U.K. study showed that people who suffered from irregular heartbeats, asthma, headaches, fatigue and digestive problems "showed marked and often complete improvements in their health after cutting milk from their diets."
Bovine milk fat is not appropriately composed for human babies and is only deleterious to the health of children and adults. Cow hormones (up to 59, including in organic milk), herbicides, pesticides (both concentrated in the milk fat), dioxins (up to 200 times the safe levels), up to 52 powerful antibiotics, blood, pus, feces, bacteria and viruses, all contained in cow’s milk, are not meant for humans, neither children nor adults. Of those 59 hormones one is a powerful hormone called Insulin- like Growth Factor ONE (IGF-1), which is identical in cows and humans. This IGF-1 is a key factor in the rapid growth and proliferation of breast, prostate and colon cancers.
Goat's milk is considered to be superior in many ways, having a fat formula more similar to man’s and it appears that the proteins are less problematic for digestion, although allergic intolerance to these can also occur. Goat’s milk has 15 % more calcium, and more vitamin A and D, potassium, copper and manganese than cow’s milk, but less folic acid and vitamin B12 than cow’s milk, as well as a little less zinc. It is also a good source of phosphorous and riboflavin (vitamin B2). Goats also produce less methane than cows. Lactose and hormones would remain an issue, but to date, goats apparently are not injected with extra growth hormone.
Sheepmilk contains up to twice as many minerals (including calcium, phosphorous, zinc and the important B vitamins) as cow's milk. Like goat's milk, it has small fat globules that are easily digested and it’s a rich source of iodine, which is useful for those with thyroid problems. Unfortunately, it’s almost twice as fattening as whole cow's milk and has many more calories. It’s also unsuitable for the lactose intolerant and babies. Although it contains higher levels of butterfat, it’s actually lower in saturated fat than other types of milk.
Calcium and Protein Myths
Although western women consume tremendous amounts of calcium, their rates of osteoporosis are among the highest in the world. Medical studies indicate that milk may increase women's risk of getting osteoporosis: women who consumed two or more glasses of milk per day had higher risks of fractures than those who drank one glass or less per day.
Calcium in cow’s milk has insufficient magnesium to be effectively absorbed therefore dairy's high calcium causes relative deficiencies in magnesium and other bone-building minerals, and its high phosphorus and animal protein reduce calcium availability. In fact, the high content of protein in milk, in concert with other proteins, may actually leach calcium from the body to compensate higher body acidity. Countries that consume high protein diets (meat, milk and dairy) have the highest rates of osteoporosis.
Further, very recently research showed that women consuming larger amounts of milk not only had increased fractures but also, along with men, displayed a higher rate of cardiovascular disease. This is hypothetically explained as caused by galactose from the milk causing oxidation and inflammation in the body, leading to serious diseases.
The best source of calcium is from vegetables, it is absorbed up to 75% compared to the 40% absorbed from animal products
CROHN'S DISEASE
Mycobacterium paratuberculosis causes a bovine disease called "Johne's." Cows diagnosed with Johne's Disease have diarrhea. This bacterium becomes cultured in milk and is not destroyed by pasteurization. This milk-borne bacterium can begin to grow in the human host, and the results are irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn's Disease.
Other autoimmune diseases: Large fat molecules cannot get through the intestinal wall into the bloodstream. However, homogenization breaks up such large molecules into small ones that do get into the bloodstream leading to immune reactions to the milk proteins as well as carrying along fat-borne toxins (lead, dioxin's, etc.) into the whole human body.
Michael Dosch, M.D., and his team of researchers determined that multiple sclerosis and type I (juvenile) diabetes mellitus are linked to exposure to cow milk proteins in people who are genetically susceptible. The protein lactalbumin from milk, has been identified as a key factor in diabetes.
Further, a study published in the journal Neuroepidemiology revealed an association between dairy foods and an increased prevalence of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). and a MS researcher, Luther Lindner, M.D., at Texas A & M University College of Medicine, wrote: "It might be prudent to limit the intake of milk and milk products."
Cancer: Higher milk consumption has also been suggested to affect the risk of certain cancers and cardiovascular disease both through galactose and through insulin growth factor. "Positive correlations between foods and cancer mortality rates were particularly strong in the case of meats and milk for breast cancer, milk for prostate and ovarian cancer, and meats for colon cancer." And, "galactose is linked both to ovarian cancer and infertility...women who consume dairy products on a regular basis, have triple risk of ovarian cancer than other women." . Elevated serum (IGF-I) levels were found to be in association with three of the most prevalent cancers in the United States: prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, and lung cancer. IGFs serve as endocrine, autocrine, and paracrine stimulators of mitogenesis, survival, and cellular transformation." The growth factors are of three types IGF (insulin growth facor) , EGF (Epidermal Growth Factor) et TGF (Transformaing Growth Factor). Only high heat, but not UHT make them inefficient.
Rhinitis and Otitis Media affecting so many children can be due to consuming the foreign proteins intended for calves. In addition, the same children who suffer from thes ailments are likely to suffer from gastroesophageal reflux, asthma and/or eczema from their unnatural habit of drinking cow's milk.
Iron deficiency in infants
According to Frank Oski, the late Chairman of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Medical School, “Drinking large quantities of cow’s milk has long been recognized to produce iron-deficiency anemia in infants… Cow’s milk contains less than 1 mg of iron per quart. Very little of this iron is absorbed from the intestinal tract because other constituents of the milk bind with the iron… Many infants drink 1-2 quarts of milk per day. This tends to satisfy their hunger and they are left with very little appetite for the necessary iron-containing foods.” Breast milk is the best source of iron for infants.
Alternatives
Fortified plant-derived milks (soy, oats, almonds) provide calcium, vitamins, iron, zinc, and protein.
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HB vaccine in babies and developmental disabilities and arthritis: (i) the HB virus is primarily transmitted through sexual contact with an infected person or by injections with contaminated material (drug using) and poses no risk to infants unless the mother is a carrier. Studies on boys between 0–9 years who received a complete triple series of HB vaccine were found to have more developmental disabilities, and those aged 3–17 years who received HB vaccination during the first month had a 3-times greater risk of ASD than unvaccinated boys. HB has also been linked to several types of arthritis.
Vaccines and diabetes: There is also a suggestion and well established evidence that vaccines create appearance of diabetes in children. Immune stimulation would lead to destruction of pancreas cells producing insulin.
Vaccines and cancer: a type of virus called Simian (SV40) that once was exclusive to monkeys, began showing up in human polio vaccines in 1960. "Because SV40 was not discovered until 1960, no one was aware in the 1950s that polio vaccine could be contaminated," the Center for Disease Ccontrol website explained.
“Soon after its discovery in 1960, SV40 was identified in polio vaccine. It was found in the injected form of the vaccine (IPV). The existing polio vaccine stocks were used until 1963," in the U.S., UK, Australia and the former Soviet Union. The Soviet polio vaccine may even have been contaminated after 1963 - possibly up to the early 1980s, "The vaccine was almost certainly used throughout the Soviet bloc and probably exported to China, Japan and several countries in Africa. That means hundreds of millions could have been exposed to SV40 after 1963," the CDC report said.
Some studies have found SV40 in certain forms of cancer in humans, such as tumors located in the lungs, brain and bone tumors and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Flu vaccines and myopathies. One of the most common ones, Fluval, has a notice it the packaging stating: "There have been no controlled trials adequately demonstrating a decrease in influenza disease after vaccination with Flulaval," and "Safety and effectiveness of Flulaval have not been established in pregnant women, nursing mothers or children", or "Flulaval has not been evaluated for carcinogenic or mutagenic potential, or for impairment of fertility."
Cases of inflammatory myopathies, also associated with interstitial lung disease, followed the vaccinations of at least H1N1 plus the seasonal trivalent influenza.
What about mercury and vaccines? Mercury in the form of Thimerosal (or Thiomersal), an organic mercury compound used as a preservative in vaccines, has been retracted (almost) completely for fears of causes of neural damage. “In 1999 it was agreed that thimerosal should be reduced or eliminated in vaccines as a precautionary measure. Today, all routinely recommended pediatric vaccines in the US contain no thimerosal or only trace amounts”(RxList 2014), however some formulations of the inactivated influenza vaccine for children that are older than two years do contain Thimerosal.
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Vitamin D is an essential nutrient, but it is more like a hormone than a vitamin itself. It has innumerable functions throughout the body, although its fame is linked to its requirement for proper skeleton formation and prevention of rickets. In fact, Vitamin D deficiency causes growth retardation and rickets in children and will precipitate and exacerbate osteopenia, osteoporosis and increase risk of fractures in adults.
This is due to the fact that one well known function of vitamin D is to enhance the efficiency of calcium absorption from the intestine. Besides this action, though, vitamin D is key to several other functions in the body, from muscular performance to immune system function, from kidney function to cardiovascular health to fertility.
Vitamin D promotes insulin secretion (preventing diabetes), inhibits adaptive immunity but promotes innate immunity (protecting from autoimmune diseases and infections), inhibits cell proliferation and enhances cell self-death (protecting from cancer), alters cardiac contractility, stimulates sex hormones production. Vitamin D has a n important effect on reproduction in both women and men: it might influence production of sex hormones (estradiol and progesterone) in women and men, and it is positively associated with semen quality.
Notwithstanding its importance, many people (an estimated 1 billion) are vitamin D deficient (D3 level less than 20 29 ng/ml), i.e. they do not even have the minimal amount of it for correct functioning of these body systems. This is recognized as one of the most common medical conditions in children and adults. Doctors are starting to accept vit D’s important role and prescribe it, although mainly to prevent osteoporosis in post-menopause women.
But its need of supplementation does not end here.
It is calculated that approximately 90% of all vitamin D needed has to be formed in the skin under the effect of ultraviolet radiation UV B. This might be one reason for it being so low in so many people: strict sun protection, predicated in the past 30 years or so to supposedly prevent skin cancers, causes vitamin D-deficiency.
Use of sunscreens: not only do synthetic sunscreens effectively block the healing benefits of the sun, by blocking UVB rays, but they also become absorbed into the skin where they create several potential health problems. Moreover, synthetic sunscreens create a false sense of security by disabling the skin's early reaction for overexposure, the sunburn, which creates other health problems. When sunburn, the skin gets damaged by sun rays through creation of free radicals, which are responsible, among other things, for premature ageing and some cancers. That is why it is a good idea to counter these free radicals with antioxidants in the diet.
The synthesis of vitamin D in the skin is a function of skin pigmentation (at darker skin corresponds a lower synthesis) and of the solar angle, which depends on latitude, season, and time of day. Melanin absorbs 99.9% of the UVB photons into heat that is easily dissipated, which effectively avoids radiation damage that contributes to cell damage. The remaining photons are used for the transformation of 7-dehydrocholesterol found in the skin to the previtamin D3.
This 0.1% of photons use is extremely rapid and robust. The obtained forms of pre-vitamin D (D3) is biologically inactive and require activation in the liver and kidneys.
It is believed that, besides the recent lower sun exposure, also protein losses, gastrointestinal malabsorption (so common in our times) and defective skin synthesis might contribute to the elevated number of people with suboptimal level of such vitamin.
Insufficient dietary intake might be another cause: vitamin D is found in eggs and oily fish. Eggs have been (unjustly) receiving a bad name with the appearance of the cholesterol fright(1) of the past 20 years and oily fish do not get highly consumed by the general population, except probably among Inuit. Also, farmed salmon (the most commonly eaten one) has a mean content of vitamin D of approximately 25% of the mean content found in wild caught salmon. Vitamin D content in food is however minimal importance when compared to vitamin D production from the skin-sun reaction.
Association of vitamin D-deficiency has been found with various diseases including cancer (especially breast, ovarian, prostate, colorectal, multiple myeloma and Hodgkins lymphoma, pancreas, leukemia), heart failure, bone diseases, autoimmune diseases (Multiple Sclerosis, autoimmune thyroid diseases, Systemic Sclerosis, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus , Rheumatoid Arthritis, Chron’s disease), chronic kidney disease, infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases and hypertension, type II diabetes, infertility, muscular diseases (myopathies, risk of falling, fibromyalgia), asthma and neurological disorders (cognitive performance, depression, Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia).
A series of studies have suggested that low vitamin D increases risk of cancer: in a recent study researchers from Northwestern University found that vitamin D deficiency can increase the risk of aggressive prostate cancer in some men by nearly 500 percent. Lung cancer patients have a better prognosis with vit D3 enhancement by high sun exposure.
Vitamin D supplementation can also increase survival of chronic kidney disease patients. In general, and this is what science reveals, higher vitamin D levels are associated with lower overall mortality.
We hope that this article educated on the beneficial effects of moderate sunlight for providing us the vitamin D requirement for good health. For people who are not exposed to sunlight, a supplement is recommended: at present, most experts agree that daily intake of 1000- to 5000 IU vitamin D in adults and 400 IU in children could reduce the incidence of vitamin D-deficiency-related diseases.
So finally, avoid getting sunburn, but do not avoid the sun: train your skin in spring with the morning to midday sun, exposing your body 15-20 minutes at first and then longer times, without sun protection. Use the coloring of the skin as a gauge for safety against overexposure.
(1) For a complete explanation on cholesterol and cardiovascular health and how to avoid the need of statins, order the series of seminars on Cholesterol on www.puravita.co.nz
References
25 (OH) vitamin D level in Crohn's disease: association with sun exposure & disease activity. The Indian journal of medical research, 2009
Childhood asthma may be a consequence of vitamin D deficiency. Current opinion in allergy and clinical immunology, 2009
Dietary intake of vitamin D and cognition in older women: a large population based study. Neurology, 2010
Disease specific definitions of vitamin D deficiency need to be established in autoimmune and non autoimmune chronic diseases: a retrospective comparison of three chronic diseases. Arthritis research & therapy, 2010
Factors that influence the cutaneous synthesis and dietary sources of vitamin D.Archives of biochemistry and biophysics, 2007
Interaction of factors related to the metabolic syndrome and vitamin D on risk of prostate cancer. Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology, 2007
Is Vitamin D Deficiency Associated With Heart Failure? A Review of Current Evidence.
Journal of cardiovascular pharmacology and therapeutics, 2011
Melanoma and vitamin D. Molecular oncology, 2011
Nonclassic actions of vitamin D. The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 2009
Protective and toxic effects of vitamin D on vascular calcification: clinical implications. Molecular aspects of medicine, 2008
Role of vitamin d in insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity for glucose homeostasis. International journal of endocrinology, 2010
Scientific documentation of the relationship of vitamin D deficiency and the development of cancer. Journal of environmental pathology, toxicology and oncology : official organ of the International Society for Environmental Toxicology and Cancer, 2009
Seasonal and geographical variations in lung cancer prognosis in Norway. Does Vitamin D from the sun play a role? Lung cancer, 2007
Serum vitamin D concentrations are related to depression in young adult US population: the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. International archives of medicine, 2010
Skin cancer prevention and UV protection: how to avoid vitamin D deficiency? The British journal of dermatology, 2009
The role of vitamin D in cancer prevention: does UV protection conflict with the need to raise low levels of vitamin D? Deutsches Ärzteblatt international, 2010
Very low levels of vitamin D in systemic sclerosis patients. Clinical rheumatology, 2010
Vitamin D and autoimmune thyroid diseases. Cellular & molecular immunology, 2011
Vitamin D and host resistance to infection? Putting the cart in front of the horse. Experimental biology and medicine (Maywood, N.J.), 2010
Vitamin D and skeletal muscle tissue and function. Molecular aspects of medicine, 2008
Vitamin D biology: from the discovery to its significance in chronic kidney disease. Journal of renal nutrition : the official journal of the Council on Renal Nutrition of the National Kidney Foundation, 2011
Vitamin D deficiency in fibromyalgia. The Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, 2010
Vitamin D, neurocognitive functioning and immunocompetence. Current opinion in clinical nutrition and metabolic care, 2011
Vitamin D: considerations in the continued development as an agent for cancer prevention and therapy. Cancer journal, 2010
Vitamin D and fertility: a systematic review. European Journal of Endocrinology 2012
The prostate is a gland of the male reproductive system, of the size of a walnut, found just below the urinary bladder, which secretes a juice that is 50 to 70% of the semen.
The need to undertake the prostate tests which men are commonly supposed to do in order to detect presence of prostate cancer after 50 years of age has been shattered by recent research. In 2010 even the Dr. Ablin himself, the doctor who invented such test in 1970, attacked the prevention philosophy which presses men, even those who are perfectly healthy, to undertake these tests. These blood exams, called PSA (prostate specific antigen), are never 100% sure (they diagnose only 3.8 % of cancers) and they can often detect problems that are not real or of a different form and concern than a cancer. Levels of PSA > 4 ng/mL are considered abnormal by the majority of urologists and doctors, but 80% of men with levels between 4 and 10 ng/mL have either a BHP(1) (benign prostatic hyperplasia), which is not a cancer but an inoffensive enlargement of the prostate, or no conditions at all. In fact, the levels of PSA can be increased by the use of over-the-counter drugs like Ibuprofen, as well as by infections!
Early screening and results that suggest the (3.8%) possibility of cancer often lead to unnecessary treatments: painful, dangerous and expensive exams (biopsies) and potentially dangerous treatments (prostectomy, followed by hormonal therapy that reduces testosterone). These procedures would be mostly useless, as stated by a research published in 1993 in the highly respected medical journal The Lancet: in this research, 33% of autopsies on a pool of men showed presence of prostate cancer but only 1% of such individuals died from it. Also, according to two studies found in the New England Journal of Medicine, prevention through PSA does not reduce (in USA) the rate of mortality of men older than 55 years of age, or slightly reduces the rate of mortality (in Europe), but in this case 48 men over 100 would need to be operated to save 1 life; the other 47 will undertake a surgery that most probably will make them impotent, even without need! And also, according to a research published in 2008, only 2% of men with intermediate-risk prostate cancer and 5% of men with high-risk cancer die in the 10 years after diagnosis. Men with a low-risk prostate cancer live at least 10 years longer than men who are never diagnosed.
Why would such a cancer have a minimal risk of causing premature death? In the prostate, like in all organs, there are always sick and possibly carcinogenic cells, but a well functioning immune system constantly eliminates them. With age, the number of carcinogenic cells can increase, especially in the prostate. But this growth is so slow in this gland that the 80% of men with prostate cancer do not even realize they have it.
Prostate cancer treatment can cause permanent damage, including impotence (50 % of cases), heart attacks, incontinence and even death: and these risks are related to a treatment of a disease that is statistically unlikely to kill them.
Dr. Ablin never stated that PSA tests could detect prostate cancer and even less that they could make a difference between a high-risk cancer and a low-risk cancer. He believes that the present enhancement of such testing is driven by economical interests.
* BHP is very common, 50% of men over 50s are touched by it and almost all men at 80-90 years of age have it. It usually does not cause major problems, except for some cases of urinary dysfunctions. Even if a minimal issue compared to cancer, it has to be considered that some of these dysfunctions could lead to infections, inflammation or calculi in the bladder. However, it is interesting to note that 10% of problems of urinary functions are the result of undesired effects of some drugs (ex. treatment for asthma and emphysema, antidepressants, anti-allergy or anti-hypertension).
What causes BPH? “DHT” (di-hydrotestosterone) is considered being the culprit. With age, production of testosterone decreases and DHT replaces it and increases. This DHT is responsible for the proliferation of prostate cells after puberty, proliferation that takes off with such increased levels of the hormone with age. Another hormone, oestradiol, also stimulates cell proliferation; such hormone is present in men as in women and it is produced by fat cells, which explains how being overweight is a risk in prostate cancer. Diabetes also increases the risk of BPH.
What to do to prevent both BPH and prostate cancer? As any other condition, there is a genetic component in the prevalence of prostate enlargement and prostate cancer. However, controlling the environmental factors (diet, lifestyle, emotional status) can change the chances.
So, the recommendations for keeping your risks low:
- keep a stable weight, exercise regularly. Eat healthy: i.e.:
- decrease consumption of farmed animal products (milk products, salted meat and meat from battery beef) that have been related with a 31% increase of risk of BPH.
- replace red meat with fish or vegetable proteins (they reduce growth of prostate by15%)
- eat many fresh fruits and vegetables, especially apples, broccoli, green beans, bell peppers and red onions, and drink green tea: catechines and quercitine contained in high amounts in green tea and red onions and in these vegetables limit the activity of the enzyme that synthesizes dehydrotestosterone, and thus prevents overgrowth of prostate cells. Quercitine would also reduce night time needs to urinate; as a plus it is also a strong anti-inflammatory.
- consume capsules of the mushroom Reishi, which has been proven to block cancerous growth in breast, prostate, bone marrow, lungs, liver and bones, even when cells become resistant to chemotherapy. Reishi is considered by science to be a natural chemotherapeutic agent
- increase fiber intake (insoluble and from legumes) that was found to be inversely associated with prostate cancer risk
- avoid coffee, heavy alcohol and sodas which irritate the bladder. Two glasses of wine protect prostate, with an associated 33%lowered risk of BPH
- use the power of medicinal plants: the plant saw palmetto contains anti-inflammatory components and molecules that inhibit transformation of testosterone into DHT. Also nettle (Urtica dioica) contains steroids that inhibit enzymes in the prostate and limits or reduces the prostate volume while relieving symptoms. Another plant product, rye flower pollen (Secale cereale), inhibits DHT formation and growth of prostate cells
- supplement with key vitamins and minerals: vitamin E (α-tocopherol, contained in wheat germ, leafy vegetables and seeds) plays a key role in the regulation of cell growth and differentiation and has been studied as a potential chemo-preventive agent for prostate cancer. Using magnesium regularly prevents cancer growth. Magnesium chloride allows the body to better face carcinogenic aggressions.
ALWAYS ask your doctors what values really means. There are alternative tests that can be done to assess the condition of the prostate.
Some references:
Lifetime occupational physical activity and incidental prostate cancer (Canada). Cancer Causes Control. 2000
Dietary Total and Insoluble Fiber Intakes Are Inversely Associated with Prostate Cancer Risk Journal of Nutrition 2014
Genetic Variants Reflecting Higher Vitamin E Status in Men Are Associated with Reduced Risk of Prostate Cancer, Journal of Nutrition 2014
Ganoderic acids suppress growth and invasive behavior of breast cancer cells by modulating AP-1 and NF-kappaB signaling. International Journal of Molecular Medicine, 2008
The development of human benign prostatic hyperplasia with age. Journal of Urology 1984
The prevalence of prostatism: a population-based survey of urinary symptoms. Journal of Urology 1993
Obesity and benign prostatic hyperplasia: clinical connections, emerging etiological paradigms and future directions - Journal of Urology 2013
Diabetes and benign prostatic hyperplasia/lower urinary tract symptoms--what do we know? Journal of Urology 2009
Contribution of common medications to lower urinary tract symptoms in men. Archives of Internal Medicine 2011
Physical activity, obesity, and lower urinary tract symptoms. Eur Urolology 2011
What about prevention? Preventive screening like mammography has recently received quite some attention. It is possible that such screening saves a life of one woman over 1,000 or 10,000, but at the same time a number of women get surgery when they did not need it. When a cancer at a very starting stage is found, in 30 % of cases it does not develop or it regresses.
The British Medical Journal published a study on about 90,000 women between 49 and 59 years of age showing that mammography does not have ANY impact on the risk of death by breast cancer. Women who had yearly mammography for 5 years did not have less risk of death than those who had simply a physical test. As a consequence of this study, the Swiss Medical Board declared that mammography was to be abandoned and recommended that women needed to be informed of the undesired effects of such test.
The first danger of a mammography is that by compressing the breast it can cause explosion of non dangerous micro-tumors and dissemination of deadly cancer cells in the body. Further, the breast is exposed to strong radiations. Dr Samuel Epstein, professor at the University of Illinois, expert of breast cancer, is against systemic mammography and states that during menopause the breast is very sensitive to radiations and each exposure to minimal radiation would increase the risk of breast cancer of 1%, i.e. 10 % in a year. Cancer diagnostic was been wrong up to 6% of cases, meaning that 20 - 49 % women doing regular mammography tests would have a false positive after 10 tests.
Knowing or believing to have cancer can be an emotional shock that can lead to a real disease such eczema and cardiac attack. Women with a false or real positive test have to go through mostly un-necessary anxieties, biopsies, surgeries. Due to such high risks of mistake, side effects and to the zero improvement in lowering the risk of death, since 2009 in the US the Preventive Services Task Force has been asking women under 50 years of age to NOT do a routine mammography; the same agency used to ask women to have one every two years once they were 40!
An alternative test is thermography, which measures the infrared emissions to obtain body images without irradiation. An alternative you can ask your general doctor or gynecologist about.
Nutrition recommendations to prevent and treat cancer:
Eat lots of veggies (especially broccoli and all the cruciferous vegetables including water cress) and fruits (especially lemons) every day (400 g day). Lemons contain monoterpenes that have been shown in 1998 to have chemoprotective and chemotherapeutic effects in breast tumors. Monoterpenes inhibit cell growths, cell cycle progression and a gene expression in breast cancer cell lines); green tea.
Turmeric has strong anti carcinogenic effects, as stated in different research works such the Cancer Prevention Research in 2008, where it was demonstrated that curcumine inhibits breast cancer cell mobility and propagation. In the medical journals Molecular Pharmacology and in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry in 2009 – 2011 it was observed that curcumine inhibits growth of pancreas cancer cells, increases sensitivity to chemotherapy, favors lung cancer cells death, aims to cancer cells strains and can be the solution to stop a brain cancer called glyoblastome.
Supplements (already posted in a previous post, but it never hurts to repeat): using magnesium regularly prevents cancer growth. Magnesium chloride allows the body to better face carcinogenic aggressions (Delbet).
Vitamin D acts against cancer by increasing the self destruction ability of mutating cells, by helping with cellular differentiation (lost in cancer cells) and by reducing angiogenesis (forming of new blood vessels around the cancer). Vitamin D, on the side, lowers the risk of autoimmunity diseases, seasonal depression, chronic fatigue and neurodegenerative diseases.
Fish oils (omega 3 are anti-carcinogenic).
And further, supplements helping in bearing the side effects of treatments (from Dr. Hertoghe):
- coenzyme Q10 (as ubiquinol) 100- 400 mg/day
- Selenium 200 μg / day
- Vitamin A (retionol acetate) liposoluble 50 000- 200 000 UI /day or 25 - 100 mg/day
- Vitamin C : 1 - 2 g /day
Do a lot of exercise. Exercise would lower the risk of breast cancer to 30% compared to inactive women, as stated in the journals British Journal of Cancer and Onkologie and Cancer Causes Control.
Sport activates the autophagic mechanisms to destroy the daily cellular waste.
The rate of breast cancer is augmenting in the present times: an increase of 138% of number of breast cancers in 25 years between 1980 and 2005 has been observed only in France. Breast cancer is responsible for cancer death in women, of which about 30% are younger than 50 years of age. Cancer affects younger women more and more often, i.e. 50 % of cases affect women before 40 years of age. All cancers on their own are the second cause of death after cardiovascular diseases.
According to Prof. Henri Joyeux, an internationally recognized oncologist and digestive surgeon at Montpellier University , Cancer Institute and Hospitals, whenever a woman affected by breast cancer is operated, nobody tells her that the definite cure can be established only after 27 years beyond her first treatment. In the meanwhile it is possible to get new tumors. However, this recurrence and the onset of cancer itself are avoidable if one addresses the primary causes of such cancer.
Causes of breast tumor are several, identifiable and different for each woman:
- genetic risk: 5 to 8% of women with breast cancer present the genetic risk [with such low values I wonder if it’s worth going through preventive surgery if one has the risk genes!],
- risk caused by tobacco and drugs. (For women, due to their lower lung capacity being 30 to 50 % lower than men, the effect of smoking is catastrophic. Tobacco and marijuana are also immuno-depressant, thus they further weaken the system in face of other risks),
- risk caused by chronic stress
- risk caused by bad nutrition
- risk caused by artificial hormones
- and other risks: lack of physical exercise , atmospheric pollution, pesticides, insecticides,
In regards to bad nutrition, I would just state here two major obvious facts, supported by Professor Henri Joyeux, active educator on the dominant importance of nutrition in the prevention and treatment of cancer and the first to alert French women on the danger of the pill with a book published in 2001.
Here are the two facts:
1.being overweight and obesity are conditions in which the fat (from excess sugars, milk products and excessive animal fats) is stored in the mammary glands, and this fat is a carcinogen.
2. According to Prof Joyeux, use of milk and milk products is strictly linked to the explosion of the number of breast and prostate cancers of the last decades. More specific information on food for cancer will be given at the end of this post. However, consider this: researchers estimate that 40 % of breast cancers could be avoided in US by simple life style modifications!
As for the risk due to artificial hormones, .i.e. those NOT produced naturally by our own body… Hormones are steroids and these are growth factors. Growth factors induce cellular division in all cells. Cancer is uncontrolled cellular division. Hormonal treatment, such as the contraceptive pill and hormonal replacement therapies, increases the risk of breast cancer. For menopaused women under HRT this risk is calculated to be up to 30%.
The use of the contraceptive pill has been proven to be linked to the appearance of breast, ovarian and uterine cancer (showing earlier and earlier in life) as well as to vascular problems, phlebitis, cerebral thrombosis, heart infarction. Other ‘side effects’ of the use of synthetic hormones are libido changes, immune depression, allergic reactions, candidiasis, anxiety, insomnia, skin problems, acne, hirsutism, loss of hair, breast tenderness and headaches, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, water retention, liver tumor, ovarian cysts.
The awareness of the link between hormones and cancer has a long history (at least in the research arena). In 1932 Dr Antoine Lacassagne at the Institute Curie of Paris caused breast cancer in mouse with oestrogens. In 1971 diethylstilbestrol (DES), an oestrogenic anti-progesterone prescribed in the 60s and 70s to prevent natural abortions, was found to be responsible for giving genital cancer to the baby girls of the mothers who took it at the beginning of their pregnancy. It is now abolished for the undesired « side effects ». In 1987 the scientific journal Cancer showed that oral contraceptives increase the cellular mitosis of normal and carcinogenic breast cells in vitro. In 1998 the International Centre of Cancer Research, depending on the World Health Organization, classified oral contraceptives and replacement therapy hormones as « carcinogenic of class I - i.e. of whose the action on humans is certain ».
More recent research: last year, in a study including more than 50,000 women, the epidemiologist Lynn Rosenberg (Boston University) found that the risk of developing a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer increased to 65% in women who took the pill. In 2002 during the Women Health Study on hormonal replacement therapy the tests had to be stopped when the researchers realized that the women who were taking synthetic hormones developed a much higher risk to get breast cancer, heart attack, stroke, embolism.
Respectful organizations and scientific journals at international level such as the WHO, the American Cancer Society, the US National Cancer Institute, the International Centre of Research of Cancer , The Lancet Oncology connect the use of the pill and hormone replacement therapy to breast and cervical cancer and benign liver tumors, among other undesired effects such as thromboembolism, coronary events, stroke.
All these risks need to be further weighed by considering that, as stated in the New England Journal of Medicine, the rate of success of oral contraceptive pill protection wobbles between 80 and 95% (i.e. like a condom).
