More than 85% of breast cancers are sporadic and attributable to long-term exposure to environmental carcinogens, such as those in the diet, through a multistep disease process progressing from non-cancerous to pre-cancerous to malignant stages. How can we interrupt this process?
The chemical carcinogens formed in chicken, fish and other meats during cooking that I profiled in my last two posts Estrogens in Cooked Meat and Avoiding Cooked Meat Carcinogens are so effective at transforming normal human breast cells into breast cancer cells that researchers have used it as a model of cancer formation to test out various plant-based interventions. Visualize the Jekyll to Hyde breast cancer transformation here.
For example, three recent meta-analyses (compilations of individual studies) reviewing all the epidemiological (population-based) evidence concerning green tea consumption and breast cancer risk concluded that green tea consumption may be protective. Well, now researchers can put it to the test. See my 3-min. video Cancer, Interrupted: Green Tea to see what green tea can do to block the transition towards breast cancer caused by the cooked meat carcinogens.
More on the chemicals formed by exposing mammal/fish/bird muscles to high temperatures:
- Estrogenic Cooked Meat Carcinogens
- PhIP: The Three Strikes Breast Carcinogen
- Reducing Cancer Risk In Meateaters
- Heterocyclic Amines in Eggs, Cheese, and Creatine?
Any other feats green tea can pull off? See Treating Genital Warts With Green Tea and Treating Gorlin Syndrome With Green Tea.
Might white tea work even better? See Antimutagenic Activity of Green Versus White Tea.
Any other plants that might be able to smack on the cancer kibosh (besides broccoli of course: DNA Protection from Broccoli and Broccoli Versus Breast Cancer Stem Cells)? What about garlic? Watch my 4-min video Cancer, Interrupted: Garlic & Flavonoids to find out.
Should garlic be raw or cooked? See How can I preserve the anti-cancer effects of cooked garlic?
Other foods that may protect DNA include kiwifruit (Kiwifruit and DNA Repair), cruciferous vegetables (DNA Protection from Broccoli), leafy vegetables (Eating Green to Prevent Cancer), and plants in general.
What other dietary changes should we consider after a cancer diagnosis? See:
- Breast Cancer Survival and Lignan Intake
- Breast Cancer Survival and Soy (though Too Much Soy May Neutralize Benefits)
- Breast Cancer Survival, Butterfat, and Chicken
- Raw Broccoli and Bladder Cancer Survival
- Lung Cancer Metastases and Broccoli
- Amla Versus Cancer Cell Invasion
-Michael Greger, M.D.
PS: If you haven’t yet, you can subscribe to my videos for free by clicking here and watch my full 2012 – 2015 presentations Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death, More than an Apple a Day, From Table to Able, and Food as Medicine.
