Dr. Joe Schwarcz, McGill University
Drinking milk may raise your risk of breast cancer, says Montreal science writer Dr. Joe Schwarcz, pointing to a recent study from California’s Loma Linda University. While the evidence thus far on the breast cancer link has been conflicting, Loma Linda’s study “does ring some alarm bells,” Schwarcz says, in a column published today in the Montreal Gazette. Continue reading
Texas A&M’s Dr. Robert Chapkin lends his voice to the plant-based movement.
Over the past decade, many researchers studying anti-cancer mechanisms have focused on the intersection of diet and chronic inflammatory diseases, cancer included. The bottom line is becoming clear: Continue reading
Read more thoughtful reactions to the new study on author Marion Nestle’s Food Politics blog.
Food writer Marion Nestle “would love to know the back story” behind why university researchers chose to do the recent study on eating meat and chose to interpret the results as they did.
I’ve got a hunch.
Got milk? Got prostate cancer?
Psst, men–and all of you who care about men, growing boys or your own hormonal balance. How’s your DHT? That’s the powerful male hormone driving adolescent acne, then early hair loss, then later in life, Continue reading
Is it my imagination or has Pillsbury’s Dough Boy shed a bit of belly fat?
Wonder what he’s been eating for lupper? Continue reading
Today, on World Diabetes Day, it’s time to set the record straight: The cause of Type 2 diabetes and its precursor, insulin resistance, is saturated fats. They muck up your cells and the ability of your cells to use insulin.
Choo choo on that! Continue reading
2018 update: For an update on Dr. Thomas Seyfried’s suggestions for treating cancer as a metabolic disease, read his article here or my piece summarizing that article.
Talk with your oncologist about using this approach and ask your oncologist to reach out to Dr. Seyfried at thomas.seyfried@bc.edu.
This week’s New York Times magazine features a story on a theme familiar to all of you readers of this anti-cancer blog : the metabolic approach to starving, or feeding, disease. It singles out insulin and a related hormone, Insulin Growth Factor-1, which we’ve talked about often. And if glucose, glutamine and certain fatty acids drive cancer growth, as the metabolic scientists quoted in the article suggest, then what could be more important than phytonutrients that keep cancer cells from utilizing those fuels? That’s another theme we’ve been addressing. Remember singing the praises of dill? Continue reading
May 2016 update: C-137 continues to be detected in increasing amounts off the BC coastline, with the west coast of Vancouver island showing the most contamination.
Five years after the world’s most recent nuclear disaster, the plume of waters carrying Fukushima’s cesium has started hitting North America’s Pacific northwest. How safe are our fish? Continue reading
Chicken’s off the platter if your New Year’s resolutions include restricting methionine–a promising new strategy to fight cancer and forestall aging.
What’s the latest advice that scientists are dishing out for your anti-cancer diet?
Read the backstory first to enhance tonight’s exchanges with loved ones. Continue reading
For the latest news about Fukushima’s impact on the North American coast, follow Fukushima Inform, written by University of Victoria chemical oceanographer Jay Cullen.
Satellite measurements of ocean temperature (illustrated by color) and the direction of currents (white arrows) help show where radionuclides from Fukushima are transported. Large scale currents transport water westward across the Pacific. Circles indicate the locations where water samples were collected. White circles indicate that no cesium-134 was detected. Blue circles indicate locations were low levels of cesium-134 were detected. Small amounts of cesium-134 have been detected in a water sample taken Feb. 19, 2015, from a dock in Ucluelet, British Columbia. (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
View original post 378 more words
When it comes to anti-cancer strategies, does diet really matter? To what degree? Continue reading
Got milk? Got prostate cancer?
2018 Update: For a fascinating look at how milk’s software disrupts key genes and thus drives the uncontrolled cell growth that we call “cancer,” read this interview with German dermatologist Dr. Bodo Melnik as well as his recent publication.
I’ve been reserving judgment on dairy products for 55 years now–since Grade 1, when my mom lied to the school authorities and told them I was allergic to milk. Truth was: it made me gag.
But now that Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the Department of Nutrition, Harvard’s School of Public Health, and an esteemed panel of scientists have opined on the subject and we’ve had time to reflect, I can say this with certainty about whether or not dairy products have any place in an anti-cancer diet: Continue reading
Update: The same researchers who’ve found that onions and garlic can increase the bioavailability of zinc in plants have found that the following foods also help: beta-carotene rich vegetables (such as carrots). lime, ginger, red and black pepper.
Yes, a plant-based diet is great for fighting cancer because plants contain all sorts of anti-cancer compounds, but heed the traps: Too much copper and too little zinc, often a result of plant-only diets, can fuel cancer—as well as make you tired. Continue reading
Every so often in this anti-cancer food blog, I update you on Japan’s food supply post Fukushima. Not surprisingly, the inspection results are showing that certain fish are troublesome. Want to know which ones? Continue reading
So you’ve splurged on an exquisite hunk of wild sockeye for your anti-cancer dinner–or maybe you’ve just sprung open a can, also good if you select the right brands. But you must, must, must eat the fat in salmon in order to get its anti-cancer benefits.
Do you really know what that fat looks like? Continue reading
Gills down, this anti-cancer recipe wins the tastiest meal of the summer— Continue reading
Should you include eggs in your anti-cancer diet? To be perfectly honest, Continue reading
Yikes. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but you might want to reconsider Grandma’s precious recipe. Roasted chicken, it turns out, is more pro- than anti-cancerous. Here are two reasons why: Continue reading
This article first appeared in Huffington Post Canada.
And the winner is…
Good news for consumers: Pink salmon — yes, the cheap, trash salmon you buy in cans — is tops when it comes to cleanliness, according to research by Dr. Michael Ikonomou of Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans. And if you don’t like pink, then sockeye — yes, even in cans — is also a healthy choice, assuming you select the right cans. Continue reading
This week scientists announced they’d found small amounts of Fukushima radiation in tuna caught off California’s coast. Any reason to worry?
Read the long answer in my piece on Huff Post Canada.
The short one? Continue reading
photo courtesy of http://www.jitterycook.com
The greatest quality is seeking to serve others. –a Buddhist thought
And serving them salmon patties for breakfast is the greatest way to kick the morning carb habit. Salmon for breakfast? It’s a Martha Stewart favorite.
Loads of recipes are awaiting you in cyberspace. Here’s a good one: Continue reading
January 2016 update: New research suggests that restricting the amino acid methionine may be a very important anti-cancer and anti-aging strategy. “ If I had cancer, I would certainly seek to restrict methionine in my diet, probably to 1 gram a day ” says Australian researcher Dr. Paul Cavuoto. Animal muscle is rich in methionine. A half a small can of salmon has around 700 mg. If you have cancer, limit animals, including salmon.
Pink salmon–yes, the trash salmon you find in cans– is the cleanest species, according to research by Canadian scientists, and two small cans a week will satisfy omega 3 recommendations.
How about canned sockeye? Continue reading
And the winner is?
January 2016 update: New research suggests that restricting the amino acid methionine may be a very important anti-cancer and anti-aging strategy. “ If I had cancer, I would certainly seek to restrict methionine in my diet, probably to 1 gram a day ” says Australian researcher Dr. Paul Cavuoto. Animal muscle is rich in methionine. A 3.5 ounce portion of salmon has just under 800 mg. In other words, if you have cancer, limit animals, including salmon.
At last! Here are my recommendations for which salmon to choose and how much of it. If you’re in a rush, just skip down to the “Final Answer.”
Photo courtesy of http://www.jitterycook.com
Now let’s turn this anti-cancer investigation to farmed Atlantic salmon and the countries that produce it: Norway, the largest producer, Scotland, Ireland and other European countries, Chile, Canada and to a smaller degree, the US. All of these countries are producing farmed Atlantic salmon, and unlike wild Pacific salmon, this choice is available year round.
How healthy—or not—is your farmed Atlantic salmon? Remember we’re talking human health impact here. Its environmental impact gets plenty of attention elsewhere. Continue reading
Author’s Note: This piece was posted in March 2012. Since that time, we have been learning more and more about the extent of damage caused by the March 2011 Fukushima disaster. I am revisiting the effects of that devastating incident on our Pacific Ocean fish supply and will update that info periodically.
SUMMARY So far, in this anti-cancer investigation, we’ve been talking about pollutants from industry, which concentrate in fat. Our conclusions:
Is wild Alaskan really the best?
With all the hoopla that surfaced in the mid 2000s about PCBs in farmed salmon plus the concerns about its environmental impact, health guru Dr. Andrew Weil and many others have been touting wild Alaskan salmon as your premium choice. But is the answer really that simple? Bear with me; it’s taken 6 months of this anti-cancer investigating to find out. Continue reading
January 2016 update: New research suggests that restricting the amino acid methionine may be a very important anti-cancer and anti-aging strategy. “ If I had cancer, I would certainly seek to restrict methionine in my diet, probably to 1 gram a day ” says Australian researcher Dr. Paul Cavuoto. Animal muscle is rich in methionine. A 3.5 ounce portion of salmon has just under 800 mg. In other words, if you have cancer, limit animals, including salmon.
Oh were it only so easy. Figuring out which salmon to buy is more like attempting your first round of Trivial Pursuit—the Slovakian edition. You need lots of obscure background information to succeed. Continue reading
Anti-cancer Pasture Pie, our version of Shepherd’s.
January 2016 update: New research suggests that restricting the amino acid methionine may be a very important anti-cancer and anti-aging strategy. “If I had cancer, I would certainly seek to restrict methionine in my diet, probably to 1 gram a day ” says Australian researcher Dr. Paul Cavuoto. Animal muscle is rich in methionine so keep consumption low, especially if you have cancer.
Who said you can’t have a little beef every now and then on an anti-cancer diet? Just make sure it’s organic and grass-fed. Continue reading
Sardines, anchovies, mackerel and herring are all good sources of healthy omega 3 fats—small fish that feed low on the food chain, hence less susceptible to accumulating pollutants. But whoa! Continue reading
Eat and Beat Cancer 
