Quotes About Cancer

cell chronic lymphatic leukemia (including small lymphocytic leukemia and prolymphocytic lymphocytic leukemia).34 The EPIC study found that risk increased between 56 percent and 280 percent for every 50 grams of poultry consumed daily. For comparison, a cooked, boneless chicken breast may weigh as much as 384 grams.35 Why is there so much lymphoma and leukemia risk associated with eating such relatively small amounts of poultry?

a 2014 meta-analysis (a compilation of many similar studies) showing that vegetarian diets may be particularly good at lowering blood pressure.110 And the more plants, perhaps, the better. Meat-free diets in general "confer protection against cardiovascular diseases . . . some cancers and total mortality," but completely plant-based diets "seem to offer additional protection for obesity, hypertension, type-2 diabetes, and cardiovascular mortality."111

The researchers noted that their most important finding may be that cholesterol consumption was a strong predictor of cirrhosis and liver cancer. Those consuming the amount of cholesterol found in two Egg McMuffins34 or more each day appeared to double their risk of hospitalization or death.35

Why is this greatly reduced risk of blood cancers associated with a more plant-based diet? The British Journal of Cancer concluded, "More research is needed to understand the mechanisms behind this."7 While they are figuring out the reasons, why not get a head start and try adding more healthy plant foods to your plates today?

Men with more aggressive cancer who regularly ate chicken and turkey had up to four times the risk of prostate cancer progression.33

something in the peels of organic apples (presumably present in conventional ones as well) that appears to reactivate a tumor-suppressor gene called maspin (an acronym for mammary serine protease inhibitor). Maspin is one of the tools your body appears to use to keep breast cancer at bay. Breast cancer cells find a way to turn off this gene, but apple peels appear to be able to turn it back on.

treatments aimed not just at reducing tumor bulk but at targeting what has been called the "beating heart of the tumor":112 cancer stem cells. That's where broccoli may come in. Sulforaphane, a dietary component of cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, has been shown to suppress the ability of breast cancer stem cells to form tumors.113 This means that if you're currently in remission, eating lots of broccoli could theoretically help keep your cancer from returning.

The good news is that no matter what your mom ate or how you lived as a child, by eating and living healthfully, you may be able to slow the growth rate of any hidden cancers. In short, you can die with your tumors rather than from them. This is how dietary cancer prevention and treatment can end up being the same thing.

Did you know that one hot dog has as many nitrosamines (and nitrosamides, which are similar tobacco carcinogens103) as four cigarettes and that these carcinogens are also found in fresh meat, including beef, chicken, and pork?104 This may help explain the rising rates of kidney cancer over the last few decades despite the falling rates of smoking. Clearing the Confusion: Nitrates, Nitrites, and Nitrosamines Although fresh meat also contains nitrosamines, processed

take tumors to double once? Breast cancers can double in size in anywhere from as few as twenty-five days8 to a thousand days or more.9 In other words, it could be two years, or it could be more than a hundred years, before a tumor starts to cause problems. Where you fall on that

Insulin treatments themselves may accelerate aging, worsen diabetic vision loss, and promote cancer, obesity, and atherosclerosis.82 Insulin can promote inflammation in the arteries, which may help explain the increased death rate in the intensively treated group.83

percent of women in their forties already have breast cancers growing within their bodies that may be simply too small to be detected by mammograms.11 That's why you can't just wait until diagnosis to start eating and living healthier. You should start tonight. RISK FACTORS FOR BREAST CANCER The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) is considered one of the world's leading authorities on diet and cancer.

chemopreventive" (cancer-preventing) activity. Only a few dozen have made it to clinical trials, but among the most promising is curcumin, the bright-yellow pigment in turmeric.12 Chemopreventive agents can be classified into different subgroups based on which stage of cancer development they help to fight: Carcinogen blockers and antioxidants help prevent the initial triggering DNA mutation, and antiproliferatives work by

curcumin to pancreatic cancer sufferers regardless of what other treatments they choose. Given the tragic prognosis, though, prevention is critical. Until we know more, your best bet is to avoid tobacco, excess alcohol intake, and obesity and to eat a diet low in animal products, refined grains, and added sugars97 and rich in beans, lentils, split peas, and dried fruit.98

concern that boosting telomerase activity could theoretically increase cancer risk, since tumors have been known to hijack the telomerase enzyme and use it to ensure their own immortality.75 But as we'll see in chapter 13, Dr. Ornish and his colleagues have used the same diet and lifestyle changes to halt and apparently reverse the progression of cancer in certain circumstances. We will also see how the same diet can reverse heart disease too.

cancer is attributed to smoking, approximately a quarter of all cases occur in people who've never smoked.21 Although some of these cases are due to secondhand smoke, another contributing cause may be another potentially carcinogenic plume: fumes from frying. When fat is heated to frying temperatures, whether it be animal fat, such as lard, or plant fat, such as vegetable oil, toxic volatile chemicals with mutagenic

The elevated stomach cancer risk associated with salt intake appears on par with that of smoking or heavy alcohol use but may only be half as bad as opium use

cancer risk, the researchers concluded that it wouldn't be safe to live near the exhaust of a Chinese restaurant for more than a day or two a month.30 What about that enticing aroma of sizzling bacon? The fumes produced by frying bacon contain a class of carcinogens called nitrosamines.31 Although all meat may release potentially carcinogenic fumes, processed meat like bacon may be the worst: A UC-Davis study found

For some cancers, like our number-two cancer killer, colon cancer, up to 71 percent of cases appear to be preventable through a similar portfolio of simple diet and lifestyle changes.52

Plant-based diets have been shown to lower cholesterol just as effectively as first-line statin drugs, but without the risks.39 In fact, the "side effects" of healthy eating tend to be good—less cancer and diabetes risk and protection of the liver and brain,

Men in the United States appear to have eleven times more colorectal cancer than men in India, twenty-three times more prostate cancer, fourteen times more melanoma, nine times more kidney cancer, and seven times more lung and bladder cancer.

Three hours after eating a cup of broccoli sprouts, the enzyme that cancers use to help silence our defenses is suppressed in your bloodstream110 to an extent equal to or greater than the chemotherapy agent specifically designed for that purpose,111 without the toxic side effects.

Liver dysfunction can run in families, like the iron-overload disease hemochromatosis. It can be caused by infections that can lead to liver cancer, or it can stem from drugs—most often inadvertent or intentional overdoses of Tylenol.4 The most common causes, however, are drink and food: alcoholic liver disease and fatty liver disease.

Of all the nuts studied in PREDIMED, the researchers found the greatest benefits associated with walnuts, particularly for preventing cancer deaths.15 People who ate more than three servings of walnuts per week appeared to cut their risk of dying from cancer in half.