OT but health related as a way to reduce cancer rates

[johnthomasmacdonald]

" Vegans have the Lowest rate of cancer according

to a new study from Loma linda university funded by the National Cancer Institute - it was already known that vegetarians had lower cancer rates than meat eaters

Vegan women, for example, had 34 percent lower rates of female-specific cancers such as breast, cervical, and ovarian cancer.

And this was compared to a group of healthy omnivores who ate substantially less meat than the general population (two servings a week or more), as well as after controlling for non-dietary factors such as smoking, alcohol, and a family history of cancer.

Why do vegans have such lower cancer risk?

This is fascinating stuff:

An elegant series of experiments was performed in which people were placed on different diets and their blood was then dripped on human cancer cells growing in a petri dish to see whose diet kicked more cancer butt.

Women placed on plant-based diets for just two weeks, for example, were found to suppress the growth of three different types of breast cancer (see images of the cancer clearance).

The same blood coursing through these womens' bodies gained the power to significantly slow down and stop breast cancer cell growth thanks to just two weeks of eating a healthy plant-based diet! (Two weeks! Imagine what's going on in your body after a year!) Similar results were found for men against prostate cancer (as well as against prostate enlargement).

How may a simple dietary change make one's bloodstream so inhospitable to cancer in just a matter of days?

The dramatic improvement in cancer defenses after two weeks of eating healthier is thought to be due to changes in the level of a cancer-promoting growth hormone in the body called IGF-1.

Animal protein intake increases the levels of IGF-1 in our body, but within two weeks of switching to a plant-based diet, IGF-1 levels in the bloodstream drop sufficiently to help slow the growth of cancer cells.

How plant-based do we need to eat?

Studies comparing levels of IGF-1 in meat-eaters vs. vegetarians vs. vegans suggest that we should lean toward eliminating animal products from our diets altogether.

This is supported by the new study in which the thousands of American vegans studied not only had lower rates of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension, but significantly lower cancer risk as well.

This makes total sense when you consider the work done by Drs. Dean Ornish and Nobel Prize winner Elizabeth Blackburn;

they found that a vegan diet caused more than 500 genes to change in only three months,

turning on genes that prevent disease and turning off genes that cause breast cancer, heart disease, prostate cancer, and other illnesses.

This is empowering news, given that most people think they are a victim of their genes, helpless to stave off some of the most dreaded diseases.

We aren't helpless at all; in fact, the power is largely in our hands. It's on our forks, actually. "

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-fre ... ostpopular

[TheUglyTruth]

3 out of every 4 meat eaters live their entire lives without having cancer.

[chunkyfrog]

I wonder if they live longer, or it just seems that way.

[Lizistired]

I'll have to read that again, but I think there are too many variables in our diet these days.
Vegan, grass fed, feed lot, organic, grain based, antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, frankenfoods.... Our food supply changes with the wind or the whim, and we have little control over it and little knowledge of where it comes from or how it has been altered and processed.
I'm not convinced that our life expectancy is much longer now, we just intervene and prolong death, with or without quality of life.
I eat alot of vegetables when I know where they come from. When I don't, not so much.
I wish real research was going into the determining the cause of disease and disorders, but then, there are lobbys. $$$

[johnthomasmacdonald]

"3 out of every 4 meat eaters live their entire lives without having cancer." Yup, and less than 10% of smokers will develop lung cancer - does that make it a good idea to smoke? Basically i don't care what people do with their own bodies, in fact, i support the legalization of all drugs. And i believe in providing the best information to people so that they can't make the best choice for themselves. Just don't cry in your beer if you are that 1 in 10 smokers who get lung cancer - but they do

[Lizistired]

"3 out of every 4 meat eaters live their entire lives without having cancer." Yup, and less than 10% of smokers will develop lung cancer - does that make it a good idea to smoke? Basically i don't care what people do with their own bodies, in fact, i support the legalization of all drugs. And i believe in providing the best information to people so that they can't make the best choice for themselves. Just don't cry in your beer if you are that 1 in 10 smokers who get lung cancer - but they do

Yes, but who do you trust for that information. I think you meant "can make the best choice..." I agree. Tobacco however, as a marketed product, is probably the most manipulated plant in human history, and not for the common good, only for increased profit. The same thing is happening to the rest of our food supply.

[BlackSpinner]

Women placed on plant-based diets for just two weeks, for example, were found to suppress the growth of three different types of breast cancer (see images of the cancer clearance).

Right, two weeks. I want to see long range studies of all issues. And compared to what? Someone on a twinky and Macdonalds diet? Were they under treatment? Had they been under treatment?

[chunkyfrog]

There are unhealthy vegan foods as well as unhealthy carnivore foods.
Fat is fat, regardless of the source, and animals don't produce carbohydrates.
(except bees; and honey is all PLANT content)

[JeffL]

3 out of every 4 meat eaters live their entire lives without having cancer.

So you're saying that 25% of meat eaters will develop cancer.

Just another way of putting it

[49er]

There are unhealthy vegan foods as well as unhealthy carnivore foods.
Fat is fat, regardless of the source, and animals don't produce carbohydrates.
(except bees; and honey is all PLANT content)

Exactly Chunky Frog. I particularly would want to know what type of meat was eaten in the study as there is a huge difference health-wise between something like nitrate filled vs. grass fed meat.

And definitely agree with Black Spinner that a two week study proves nothing.

49er

[VVV]

3 out of every 4 meat eaters live their entire lives without having cancer.

I am also skeptical about the value of a vegan diet. At my age I still lift weights and have a regular cardio program (road cyclist, runner, mountain climbing). With this kind of activity I just could not get enough protein to remain healthy eating a vegan diet.

Also, talking about the big picture many times I have seen lists of the major causes of cancer. I can't give you a link but the major causes are:

Smoking
Obesity
Infections (many of which are sexually transmitted)
Radiation (sun and otherwise)
Sedentary lifestyle
Genetics (5%)

Of course there is obesity on the list, but diet or "eating meat" is never on any of these lists.

And I maintain that it is easier to avoid obesity by eating a reasonable portion of animal (grass fed or corn fed) at every meal. It's the steady blood-sugar thing that is of major importance.

Have a 6-oz steak tonight and keep your sugar levels under control.

[johnthomasmacdonald]

"I just could not get enough protein to remain healthy eating a vegan diet."

The ex-boxer Mike Tyson is a vegan, i haven't noticed his melting away and there are plenty of vegan bodybuilders
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/sport ... wanted=all

I played college football and rugby as a vegan - i never played under 250 lbs and I held my university's unofficial record in the leg press

[BlackSpinner]

"I just could not get enough protein to remain healthy eating a vegan diet."

The ex-boxer Mike Tyson is a vegan, i haven't noticed his melting away and there are plenty of vegan bodybuilders
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/sport ... wanted=all

I played college football and rugby as a vegan - i never played under 250 lbs and I held my university's unofficial record in the leg press

It depends a lot on your genetics and where you live and what is available.

[johnthomasmacdonald]

"It depends a lot on your genetics and where you live and what is available.

it's a myth that vegans have trouble getting enough protein - beans, lentils, soy, chickpeas, nuts - are all loaded with protein

The only thing new about the study posted was that vegans have lower cancer rates than vegetarians - it was already known that vegetarians had lower cancer rates than meat eaters

The lowering of rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes and ischemic heart disease in vegans is even more impressive

the meat industry has put a lot of money into trying to find dangers in a vegan/vegetarian diet - they are still looking

[kaiasgram]

JTM, thanks for posting this. I'm a wannabe vegan, my last holdouts are kefir, yogurt and occasional eggs and cottage cheese -- oh and ranch dressing . I've been impressed for a long time by the research on a healthy plant-based diet. Emphasis on healthy because as someone else pointed out there's a lot of vegan junk food out there too. It does take mindfulness with a vegan diet to cover all nutritional requirements, not just protein. A vegan acquaintance of mine started having neuro issues and it turned out that she was Vitamin B-12 deficient -- she made some changes and is fine now, but it does illustrate how important it is to be an 'intelligent' vegan.

The protein question is a legit one too -- I've looked at the protein requirements for an adult female and it appears I'd have to eat a LOT of beans, seeds and nuts to satisfy that requirement. I've looked at a couple of sample vegan meal plans to satisfy a day's protein needs and in both cases it involved consuming around 2,000 calories in a day. I would be significantly overweight consuming that many calories no matter how healthy the foods are. So I remain interested but not confident I could pull off a vegan diet successfully. If you have some good links to send my way please feel free to forward them here or in a PM.

Thanks!