A Cure For Cancer? Eating A Plant-Based Diet
Mark Graffis
Diethttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/a-cure-for-cancer-eating_b_29
8282.html Kathy Freston Author, Health and Wellness Expert
September 24, 2009 A Cure For Cancer? Eating A Plant-Based Diet
Read More: Animal Protein, Cancer, Cancer Cure, Carcinogens, Casein,
Cure For Cancer, Health, Kathy Freston, Nutrition, Plant-Based Diet,
Preventative Medicine, T. Colin Campbell, Living News
I have been working closely recently with a few extraordinary
nutritional researchers, and I find that the information they have
compiled is quite eye opening. Interestingly, what these highly
esteemed doctors are saying is just beginning to be understood and
accepted, perhaps because what they are saying does not conveniently
fit in with or support the multi-billion dollar food industries
that profit from our "not knowing". One thing is for sure: we are
getting sicker and more obese than our health care system can handle,
and the conventional methods of dealing with disease often have
harmful side effects and are ineffective for some patients.
As it is now, one out of every two of us will get cancer or heart
disease and die from it - an ugly and painful death as anyone who
has witnessed it can attest. And starting in the year 2000, one out
of every three children who are born after that year will develop
diabetes--a disease that for most sufferers (those with Type 2
diabetes) is largely preventable with lifestyle changes.
This is a rapidly emerging crisis, the seriousness of which I'm not
sure we have yet recognized. The good news is, the means to prevent
and heal disease seems to be right in front of us; it's in our food.
Quite frankly, our food choices can either kill us - which mounting
studies say that they are, or they can lift us right out of the
disease process and into soaring health.
In the next few months, I will share a series of interviews I've
conducted with the preeminent doctors and nutritional researchers
in the fields of their respective expertise. And here it is straight
out: they are all saying the same thing in different ways and through
multiple and varying studies: animal protein seems to greatly
contribute to diseases of nearly every type; and a plant-based diet
is not only good for our health, but it's also curative of the very
serious diseases we face .
Cancer
On the subject of cancer, I've asked Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Professor
Emeritus of Cornell University and author of the groundbreaking The
China Study to explain how cancer happens and what we can do to
prevent and reverse it. Dr. Campbell's work is regarded by many as
the definitive epidemiological examination of the relationship
between diet and disease. He has received more than 70 grant years
of peer-reviewed research funding, much of which was funded by the
U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), and he has authored more
than 300 research papers. He grew up on a dairy farm believing in
the great health value of animal protein in the American diet and
set out in his career to investigate how to produce more and better
animal protein.
Troublesome to his preconceived hypothesis of the goodness of dairy,
Dr.
Campbell kept running up against results that consistently proved
an emerging and comprehensive truth: that animal protein is disastrous
to human health.
Through a variety of experimental study designs, epidemiological
evidence, along with observation of real life conditions which had
rational biological explanation, Dr. Campbell has made a direct and
powerful correlation between cancer (and other diseases and illnesses)
and animal protein. Following is a conversation I had with him so
that I could better understand the association.
KF: What happens in the body when cancer develops? What is the
actual process?
TCC: Cancer generally develops over a long period of time, divided
into 3 stages, initiation, promotion and progression.
Initiation occurs when chemicals or other agents attack the genes
of normal cells to produce genetically modified cells capable of
eventually causing cancer. The body generally repairs most such
damage but if the cell reproduces itself before it is repaired, its
new (daughter) cell retains this genetic damage. This process may
occur within minutes and, to some extent, is thought to be occurring
most of the time in most of our tissues.
Promotion occurs when the initiated cells continue to replicate
themselves and grow into cell masses that eventually will be
diagnosed. This is a long growth phase occurring over months or
years and is known to be reversible.
Progression occurs when the growing cancer masses invade neighboring
tissues and/or break away from the tissue of origin (metastasis)
and travel to distant tissues when they are capable of growing
independently at which point they are considered to be malignant.
KF: Why do some people get cancer, and other don't? What percentage
is genetic, and what percentage has to do with diet?
TCC: Although the initiated cells are not considered to be reversible,
the cells growing through the promotion stage are usually considered
to be reversible, a very exciting concept. This is the stage that
especially responds to nutritional factors. For example, the nutrients
from animal based foods, especially the protein, promote the
development of the cancer whereas the nutrients from plant-based
foods, especially the antioxidants, reverse the promotion stage.
This is a very promising observation because cancer proceeds forward
or backward as a function of the balance of promoting and anti-promoting
factors found in the diet, thus consuming anti-promoting plant-based
foods tend to keep the cancer from going forward, perhaps even
reversing the promotion. The difference between individuals is
almost entirely related to their diet and lifestyle practices.
Although all cancer and other diseases begin with genes, this is
not the reason whether or not the disease actually appears. If
people do the right thing during the promotion stage, perhaps even
during the progression stage, cancer will not appear and if it does,
might even be resolved. Most estimates suggest that not more than
2-3 percent of cancers are due entirely to genes;
almost all the rest is due to diet and lifestyle factors. Consuming
plant based foods offers the best hope of avoiding cancer, perhaps
even reversing cancer once it is diagnosed. Believing that cancer
is attributed to genes is a fatalistic idea but believing that
cancer can be controlled by nutrition is a far more hopeful idea.
KF: You said that initially something attacks the genes, chemicals
or other agents; like what?
TCC: Cancer, like every other biological event--good or bad--begins
with genes. In the case of cancer, gene(s) that give rise to cancer
either may be present when we are born or, during our lifetimes,
normal genes may be converted into cancer genes by certain highly
reactive chemicals (i.e., carcinogens) .
Consider 'cancer genes' as seeds that grow into tumor masses only
if they are 'fed'. The 'feeding' comes from wrongful nutrition.
It's like growing a lawn. We plant seeds but they don't grow into
grass (or weeds) unless they are provided water, sunlight and
nutrients. So it is with cancer. In reality, we are planting seeds
all of our lifetime although some may be present at birth, not only
for cancer but also for other events as well. But this mostly does
not matter unless we 'nourish' their growth.
The chemicals that create these cancer genes are called 'carcinogens'
. Most carcinogens of years past have been those that attack normal
genes to give cancer genes. These are initiating carcinogens, or
initiators. But more recently, carcinogens also may be those that
promote cancer growth. They are promoting carcinogens, or promoters.
Our work showed that casein is the most relevant cancer promoter
ever discovered.
Aside from chemicals initiating or promoting cancer, other agents
such as cosmic rays (energetic particles) from the sun or from the
outer reaches of space may impact our genes to cause them to change
(i.e., mutate) so that they could give rise to cancer 'seeds'. The
most important point to consider is that we cannot do much about
preventing initiation but we can do a lot about preventing promotion.
The initiating idea is fatalistic and outside of our control but
the promotion idea is hopeful because we can change our exposure
to promoting agents and reverse the cancer process, thus is within
our control.
KF: What exactly is so bad about animal protein?
TCC: I don't choose the word "exactly" because it suggests something
very specific. Rather, casein causes a broad spectrum of adverse
effects.
Among other fundamental effects, it makes the body more acidic,
alters the mix of hormones and modifies important enzyme activities,
each of which can cause a broad array of more specific effects. One
of these effects is its ability to promote cancer growth (by operating
on key enzyme systems, by increasing hormone growth factors and by
modifying the tissue acidity).
Another is its ability to increase blood cholesterol (by modifying
enzyme activities) and to enhance atherogenesis, which is the early
stage of cardiovascular disease.
And finally, although these are casein-specific effects, it should
be noted that other animal-based proteins are likely to have the
same effect as casein.
KF: Ok, so I am clear that it's wise to avoid casein, which is
intrinsic in dairy (milk and cheese), but how is other animal
protein, such as chicken, steak, or pork, implicated in the cause
and growth of cancer?
TCC: I would first say that casein is not just "intrinsic" but IS
THE MAIN PROTEIN OF COW MILK, REPRESENTING ABOUT 87% OF THE MILK
PROTEIN.
The biochemical systems which underlie the adverse effects of casein
are also common to other animal-based proteins. Also, the amino
acid composition of casein, which is the characteristic primarily
responsible for its property, is similar to most other animal-based
proteins. They all have what we call high 'biological value', in
comparison, for example, with plant-based proteins, which is why
animal protein promotes cancer growth and plant protein doesn't.
KF: Isn't anything in moderation ok, as long as we don't overdo it?
TCC: I rather like the expression told by my friend, Caldwell
Esselstyn, Jr., MD, the Cleveland Clinic surgeon who reversed heart
disease and who says, "Moderation kills!" I prefer to go the whole
way, not because we have fool-proof evidence showing that 100% is
better than, say, 95% for every single person for every single
condition but that it is easier to avoid straying off on an excursion
that too often becomes a slippery slope back to our old ways.
Moreover, going the whole way allows us to adapt to new unrealized
tastes and to rid ourselves of some old addictions. And finally,
moderation often means very different things for different people.
KF: Are you saying that if one changes their diet from animal based
protein to plant-based protein that the disease process of cancer
can be halted and reversed?
TCC: Yes, this is what our experimental research shows. I also have
become aware of many anecdotal claims by people who have said that
their switch to a plant-based diet stopped even reversed (cured?)
their disease. One study on melanoma has been published in the
peer-reviewed literature that shows convincing evidence that cancer
progression is substantially halted with this diet.
KF: How long does it take to see changes?
TCC: It is not clear because carefully designed research in humans
has not been done. However, we demonstrated and published findings
showing that experimental progression of disease is at least
suspended, even reversed, when tumors are clearly present.
KF: Consider a person who has been eating poorly his whole life;
is there still hope that a dietary change can make a big difference?
Or is everything already in motion?
TCC: Yes, a variety of evidence shows that cancers and non-cancers
alike can be stopped even after consuming a poor diet earlier in
life. This effect is equivalent to treatment, a very exciting
concept.
KF: This is sounding like it's a cure for cancer; is that the case?
TCC: Yes. The problem in this area of medicine is that traditional
doctors are so focused on the use of targeted therapies (chemo,
surgery, radiation) that they refuse to even acknowledge the use
of therapies like nutrition and are loathe to even want to do proper
research in this area. So, in spite of the considerable evidence--theoretic
al and practical--to support a beneficial nutritional effect, every
effort will be made to discredit it. It's a self-serving motive.
KF: What else do you recommend one does to avoid, stop, or reverse
cancer?
TCC: A good diet, when coupled with other health promoting activities
like exercise, adequate fresh air and sunlight, good water and
sleep, will be more beneficial. The whole is greater than the sum
of its parts.
For help on how to lean into a plant based diet, check out my blog
post here; and for recipes click here.
For more information about diet and cancer, visit
http://www.tcolincampbell.org.
a.. Health
__._,_.___