> Health and Disease > Cancer > breast cancer

I’m glad for a scary experience I had 15 years ago. When a naturopath diagnosed an energy imbalance in my chest, I awaited my next visit in fear that it might be breast cancer. Although trained in holistic nutrition, I wondered if I lacked crucial information. Before happily learning the problem wasn’t breast cancer (my Toronto lungs were), I took the time to really understand how to prevent it.

I know that breast tissue is largely made of fat lobules and is affected by hormones, but it’s important to know about the connection between fat, hormones, foreign chemicals and the immune system.

Our fatty tissues store chemical residue from thousands of fat-soluble toxins in our food, drugs, personal care and household products, air and water. Many contain estrogen-like petrochemical ester-chains called xenoestrogens. In the body, they confuse our hormones and can seriously affect our health. They’re linked with dramatic global increases in hormone-related effects like impaired neurological and reproductive development, low sperm counts, infertility and breast and prostate cancers.

Our food is one of the most unwitting sources of xenoestrogens like pesticides, antibiotics, veterinary drugs and synthetic hormones as well as environmental chemicals. They’re not easily broken down or excreted. They accumulate in fat tissue and biomagnify up the food chain, concentrating in animals (like humans) that consume other creatures. Non-organic animal products contain high residues of them. Even farm-raised fish are contaminated with antibiotics. Wild fish from industrial waterways are so dangerous that government restrictions apply and pregnant or nursing women and children shouldn’t eat them at all.

Processed foods now comprise 80 per cent of our food supply. They contain non-organic vegetable fats rendered more toxic by processing with solvents and exposure to heat, light and oxygen. Hydrogenated vegetable oils are the worst: they’ve got to go! Check food labels for these biochemical counterfeits. Trans-fatty acids (TFAs) are similarly bad, chemically derived from partially hydrogenated oils and found in margarine, shortening, processed and fried foods and refined cooking oils. They cannot be metabolized properly by the body and block the absorption of essential fatty acids. Cell membranes built with TFAs are faulty and more susceptible to cancer.

The Right Foods Afford Protection

To be safe, fats must be from organic sources, processed at temperatures below 120°F (49°C) with no light, oxygen or toxic solvents. They should be bottled in opaque containers, sealed with inert gas, purchased within the expiration date and kept refrigerated. Flax seed oil (a source of omega-3 and gamma linolenic acids) is one that supports the immune system and balances hormones.

Non-organic produce often harbours hormone disrupting pesticide residues, especially harmful from countries where the deadliest, like DDT, are still permitted. Buy organic and local produce whenever possible and wash all fruits and vegetables well. But do eat them! Plant or phytoestrogens help balance hormone levels in the body and appear to protect against xenoestrogens.

Significant amounts of phytoestrogens are found in many foods, including soy products, flax seeds, chick-peas, lentils, cashews, peanuts, oats, corn, wheat, rye, apples and almonds. Isolated soy phytoestrogens have been shown to have cytostatic activity against human mammary cancer cell lines in vitro and to suppress mammary tumours in rats. The Asian diet may well account for their low (three- to five-fold lower) incidence of breast cancer. Prostate cancer is rare in Asia, too.

Building Cancer Immunity

Charlene Day is an author and holistic health consultant in Toronto, ON.

Source: alive #225, July 2001