The pharmaceutical industry is starting to shift away from designing single target drugs to trying to affect multiple pathways simultaneously, much like compounds made by plants, such as aspirin and curcumin—the pigment in the spice turmeric.
Our immune response against a foreign molecule present in animal products may play a role in some allergic, autoimmune, and inflammatory disorders. This reaction is thought to underlie tick bite-triggered meat allergies.
The relationship between fish consumption and diabetes risk may be due to toxic pollutants that build up in the aquatic food chain.
The association between cancer and the consumption of deep-fried foods may be due to carcinogens formed at high temperatures in animal foods (heterocyclic amines and polycyclic hydrocarbons) and plant foods (acrylamide).
Reducing cholesterol levels may inhibit breast cancer development, but the long-term use of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs is associated with more than double the risk of both types of breast cancer: invasive ductal carcinoma and invasive lobular carcinoma.
Cholesterol appears to stimulate the growth of human breast cancer cells—which may explain why phytosterol-rich foods, such as pumpkin seeds, are associated with reduced breast cancer risk.
Pilot studies on treating allergic eczema and severe asthma with dietary interventions have shown remarkable results.
Arsenic-containing drugs intentionally added to poultry feed to reduce the parasite burden and pinken the meat are apparently converted by cooking into carcinogenic inorganic arsenic compounds.
The levels of arsenic, banned pesticides, and dioxins exceeded cancer benchmarks in each of the 364 children tested. Which foods were the primary sources of toxic pollutants for preschoolers and their parents?
When doctors withhold dietary treatment options from cardiac patients, they are violating the cornerstone of medical ethics, informed consent.
Do the anticancer effects of phytates in a petri dish translate out into clinical studies on cancer prevention and treatment?
Unlike most other anticancer agents, the phytates naturally found in whole plant foods may trigger cancer cell differentiation, causing them to revert back to behaving more like normal cells.
Phytic acid (phytate), concentrated in food such as beans, whole grains, and nuts, may help explain lower cancer rates among plant-based populations.
Just a few small servings of nuts a week may increase our lifespan and lower cancer risk.
The spice turmeric appears to be able to switch back on the self-destruct mechanism within cancer cells.
Less than a teaspoon a day of turmeric appears to significantly lower the DNA-mutating ability of cancer-causing substances.
Dramatically lower cancer rates in India may in part be attributable to their more plant-based, spice-rich diet.
The artificial food coloring Red No. 3 has yet to be banned—despite its purported role in causing thousands of cases of thyroid cancer.
Foods of animal origin (especially fish) appear to be the most important source of human exposure to industrial pollutants such as alkylphenol xenoestrogens.
The dramatic rise of allergic diseases such as eczema and seasonal allergies may be related to dietary exposure to endocrine-disruptor xenoestrogens, such as alkylphenol industrial pollutants.
Different brands of liquid smoke flavorings have been tested for DNA-damaging potential, p53 activation, and levels of known carcinogens. Smoked foods such as ham, turkey, barbequed chicken, herring, and salmon were also tested.
Antioxidant intake from foods (not supplements) is associated with lower cancer risk.
The smell of sweet orange essential oil may have anxiety-reducing properties without the potentially addictive, sedating, and adverse effects of Valium-type benzodiazepine drugs.
What role has inactivity played in the obesity epidemic and how much should we be exercising?
What does the best available science say about the role multivitamins may play in heart disease, cancer, and longevity?
An editorial by the Director of Yale’s Prevention Research Center on putting a face on the tragedy of millions suffering and dying from chronic diseases that could be prevented, treated, and reversed if doctors inspired lifestyle changes in their patients.
The famous surgeon Denis Burkitt suggests an explanation for why many of our most common and deadliest diseases were rare or even nonexistent in populations eating plant-based diets.
Does the hormonal stimulation of human prostate cancer cells by cow milk in a petri dish translate out clinically in studies of human populations?
Just because something is natural and plant-based doesn’t mean it’s necessarily safe. Those who are pregnant, have gallstones, or are susceptible to kidney stones may want to moderate their turmeric consumption.
An elegant experiment is described in which the blood of those eating different types of spices—such as cloves, ginger, rosemary, and turmeric—is tested for anti-inflammatory capacity.
Blueberry consumption may double the population of our cancer-fighting immune cells, and the spices cardamom and black pepper may boost their activity.
Concern that one of the most commonly-consumed food colorings may cause cancer has led to changes in soft drink formulation in California.
Many of our most common diseases found to be rare, or even nonexistent, among populations eating plant-based diets.
Phytonutrients in certain plant foods may block the toxic effects of industrial pollutants, like dioxins, through the Ah receptor system.
If doctors can eliminate some of our leading killers by treating the underlying causes of chronic disease better than nearly any other medical intervention, why don’t more doctors do it?
One reason why soy consumption is associated with improved survival and lower recurrence rates in breast cancer patients may be because soy phytonutrients appear to improve the expression of tumor-suppressing BRCA genes.
Choline may be the reason egg consumption is associated with prostate cancer progression and death.
The role white and pink (red) grapefruit may play in weight loss and cholesterol control, as well as the suppression of drug-clearance enzymes within the body.
Simple changes in diet and lifestyle may quadruple a woman’s survival rate from breast cancer.
Reducing the ratio of animal to plant protein in men’s diets may slow the progression of prostate cancer.
