Your breast bets against cancer

Cancer — mere mention of the word is enough to make us shudder and shrink in fear. But to help us keep abreast of breast cancer, the American Institute of Cancer Research sifted through people’s lifestyles and came up with probably the largest body of research on the subject. It estimated that about 40 percent of breast cancer cases in the US could be prevented if people would just make wiser lifestyle choices. However, this estimate (or guesstimate?) is modest, according to Dr. Joseph Mercola, an inspired health advocate who proclaims that 75 to 90 percent of breast cancers could be avoided if only people would follow these breast-kept secrets to living a healthy lifestyle:

• Avoid sugar, especially fructose. Sugar is sweet, but the bitter truth is all forms of sugar are generally bad for the health and promote cancer. Fructose (simple sugar as found in most vegetables and fruits) is one of the most harmful — when too much of it enters the liver, it can’t be processed fast enough so the liver starts making fat from the fructose and releasing it into the bloodstream.

• Optimize your vitamin D. D truth is vitamin D is one of nature’s most potent cancer fighters. It can enter cancer cells and trigger apoptosis (cell death). For those with cancer, their vitamin D level should be between 70 and 100 ng/ml. Vitamin D works synergistically with cancer treatment.

ʉۢ Remember that if you take high doses of oral vitamin D3 supplements, you also need to increase your vitamin K2 intake. The reason is that vitamin D increases the need for K2 to function properly.

• Get plenty of natural vitamin A. There’s more than a shred of evidence that vitamin A plays a role in helping prevent breast cancer. It’s best to get it from vitamin A-rich foods, instead of a supplement. The best sources are organic egg yolk, raw butter, raw whole milk, and beef or chicken liver.

• Get a lymphatic breast massage, which can help enhance your body’s natural ability to flush out cancerous toxins. You can get this from a licensed therapist, or you can even do it yourself.

• Avoid charring your meats. Charcoal or flame-broiled meat is linked with increased breast cancer risk. Also found to increase breast cancer risk is acrylamide, a carcinogen created when starchy foods are baked, roasted or fried.

• Avoid unfermented soy products.  Unfermented soy is high in plant estrogens, or phytoestrogens, also known as isoflavones. Some studies show that soy appears to work in concert with human estrogen to increase breast cell proliferation, which increases the chances for mutations and cancerous cells.

• Maintain a healthy body weight. This will come naturally by eating right and exercising. It’s important to lose excess body fat because fat produces estrogen.

• Drink a half to whole quart of organic green vegetable juice daily. There’s joy in juicing (or extracting juices from vegetables or fruits), especially if there are veggies (or fruits) you wouldn’t eat even  at gunpoint. It’s certainly a quick way of getting quality nutrients into your body.

• Get plenty of high quality animal-based omega-3 fats, such as krill oil. Omega-3 deficiency is a common underlying factor for cancer.

• Take curcumin. Curcumin, a substance found in popular Indian spice turmeric, is an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory.  In high concentrations, it can be very useful in the treatment of breast cancer.

• Avoid drinking alcohol. Or at least limit your alcoholic drinks to one per day.

• Breastfeed exclusively for up to six months. Research shows breastfeeding can reduce breast cancer risk. Indeed, breast milk is a mom’s best bet.

• Avoid electromagnetic fields as much as possible. Even electric blankets can increase your cancer risk.

• Avoid synthetic hormone replacement therapy. Breast cancer is an estrogen-related cancer, and according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, breast cancer rates for women dropped in tandem with decreased use of hormone replacement therapy.

• Avoid BPA, phthalates, and other xenoestrogens. These estrogen-like compounds have been linked with increased breast cancer risk

• Make sure you’re not iodine deficient. Iodine deficiency has been associated with breast cancer. Iodine has been shown to have potent anticancer properties and cause cell death in breast and thyroid cancer cells.