WE continue today with diet as a way of preventing breast cancer. Last week we looked briefly at diet and obesity as they affect the time at which a young girl begins to menstruate. It was stated that obese young girls from rich homes began to menstruate earlier than their contemporaries from not too rich homes. The early and extended period of exposure of these girls to estrogen increased their risk of developing breast cancer.Today we shall be looking at another aspect of diet that can increase the risk of a woman developing breast cancer. In this part of the world and even beyond, the reason why people eat food of whatever kind is to satisfy hunger and this is why people tend to pay more attention to the macro ' nutrients that will easily fill-up their stomach. These macro ' nutrients are the carbohydrate containing foods like rice, yam, pounded yam, white flour products; the protein containing foods like beef, chicken, turkey and fish.Also, there are those fatty foods as in animal fats and all sorts of oils. All these food types for one are acid forming and secondly, are all converted into glucose for storage in the muscles. The end-result of eating these types of food is obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus and all their complications, which include cancer. You will find that from the time of creation the food that the Almighty GOD recommended for our consumption was actually plant-based.Permit me to quote from the scriptures in Genesis 1: 29, 'And GOD said, 'See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.' In the wisdom of GOD He put the micro ' nutrients in the vegetables, fruits, seeds and nuts and gave us as food; these are the vitamins and minerals that are required for the different biochemical reactions that take place in the body as co- enzymes and trace elements. In the absence of these plant foods therefore (we usually do not eat much of them) the biochemical reactions in the cells of the body no longer proceed optimally.The result is the release of free radicals and acidic wastes into the circulation. Free radicals are highly unstable molecules that are short of an electron, which get attached to the cells and their components, destroying them in a process known as oxidative stress. To prevent cancer, people should no longer consider their food as one that should only fill their stomach, but one that contains the micro ' nutrients that are essential for the metabolic processes that take place in the body. Not only that, some of these vegetables (herbs) are actually medicinal and do cure certain diseases if taken adequately and regularly.People should eat balanced diets, not as you used to know it, but one that contains both the macro and micro ' nutrients in correct proportion. You do not have to wait until there are signs of the disease before you introduce dietary changes in your family. Start to introduce some raw vegetables and fruits in your family menu daily; begin today.There are certain food types that people have been used to that should be avoided for the purpose of preventing breast cancer. By this I am referring to refined food like white sugar, white rice and white flour products. Others are canned food with preservatives and colourants, foods that are prepared with MSG (Monosodium Glutamate), food to which artificial sweeteners have been added and 'soft' drinks. All these artificial things should, as much as possible, be avoided in the lives of our young girls (and boys).The idea is to eat more of raw vegetables and fruits whenever possible and reduce the intake of cooked foods that are anything but healthy. Now apart from the food is the water that we drink and, like I have always said, people do not drink enough water. Children should be educated on the importance of drinking sufficient water daily and encouraged to do so. Do not encourage your children to take soft drinks while eating; let them know that there is absolutely no substitute for water. An adolescent who begins to drink enough water will not be numbered among those who may be at risk of breast cancer when she gets older.Principles of treatment of (breast) cancerI am writing on this subject at this time because of what I term damage that some practitioners have done to women in our society. Like they say, half knowledge is dangerous and this, coupled with ignorance on the part of these women, a lot of damage is being done and some indeed have been sent to the great beyond prematurely. I will like to first of all give a brief background as to the cause of cancer with the breast as our point of reference.Cancer is a systemic disease with a regional manifestation. Cancer develops when a cell or group of cells lose their sophistication, becoming more like primitive cells that have a very high rate of dividing and multiplying. Like I have said in the past, the commonest cause of this conversion of a normal cell to a cancerous cell is dehydration. Chronic unintended dehydration in the body leads to accumulation of acidic wastes, which further causes sluggishness of the circulation. Oxygen and nutrients supply to the cells reduce tremendously, waste products of metabolism begin to accumulate and the internal environment of the cells become congested and acidic. Eventually this congestion and acidity destroy the DNA in the cell nucleus leading to mutation and loss of sophistication.An environment of low oxygen tension and high and prolonged acidity is very conducive for the development of cancer. There are cancer cells being formed and flowing about in the circulation in every human being. Furthermore, with reference to the development of cancer of the breast, estrogen plays an important role. The normal role of estrogen (one of the female sex hormones) is to cause the proliferation of the endometrium (wall of the womb) in the first half of the menstrual cycle.Progesterone, the second female sex hormone controls the second half of the menstrual cycle and balances the effect of estrogen. Estrogen is also known to cause proliferation of the cells of the breasts and can give rise to a type of cancer of the breast. In other words, unopposed estrogen or what we have referred to as estrogen dominance can cause cancer. Let me remind you of the conditions that can cause estrogen dominance- anovulatory cycles- when a girl begins to menstruate too early, when a woman gives birth to her first child late in her life and when a woman has never been pregnant. We shall bring you the concluding part of this subject next week.
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