Does diet alter the onset of cancers and chronic disease?

Does diet alter the onset of cancers and chronic disease?

I started this piece of research as an intellectual exercise to understand what was happening to my patients. To my amazement I discovered that the research connecting dietary changes to the time of onset of many diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular disease does not establish some sort of vague link; on the contrary, profound causal mechanisms have been shown to exist.

I suggest in this book that we already possess the knowledge to dramatically reduce the onset of disastrous diseases like breast cancer by tenfold and Alzheimer’s by up to fourfold. Furthermore, I feel that we not need to adopt a fatalistic attitude to the onset of diseases such as cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, spinal degeneration arthritis and even possibly chronic pain.[i] The research that I mentioned earlier tells us exactly what we can do to protect our health.

The knowledge of the causes and development of disease as related to diet that is revealed in the basic scientific and clinical literature (it’s easily found on the internet, if one knows what one is looking for) is an indictment of current Western medical practice.

If this knowledge is so readily available, why hasn’t conventional medicine adopted these approaches with greater vigour? Part of the answer may lie in the fact that the training of most Western doctors (including my own) focuses on treatment rather than on the simpler approach of prevention. I have received highly specialised training to help treat people with severe spinal pain, pain secondary to arthritis, cancer pain and neuropathic pain, to name but a few.

But if there were simple solutions to prevent people getting these conditions in the first place, surely that would be better than treating them once they have developed? There is good evidence that simple and inexpensive dietary and other modifications would prevent these conditions from arising; but medical doctors, as the purveyors of Western-style medicine, have not sufficiently emphasised this knowledge. Instead they have confined it to the ranks of alternative or complementary medicine and regarded it with suspicion. Our patients are encouraged to do the same.

For example, when many of my patients claimed that they would find some relief from their arthritic and spinal pain if they excluded certain foods from their diet, I would listen benevolently to their assertions but continue to prescribe conventional anti-inflammatory drugs, offering injections and continuing to see them in clinic.

In fact there are already randomised double-blind controlled studies showing that over 43% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis show a marked benefit from excluding certain food stuffs from their diets. We already know what these foods are. In fact, as well as excluding certain foods, we now know what sort of diet regime to recommend to maintain the improvement started by the initial exclusion. In addition, by consuming certain foods and increasing the availability of certain key phytonutrients, it has been shown that this not only prevents the onset of the arthritis but may bring about a significant improvement in the condition.

We now know that such manoeuvres will lead to a reduction in the requirement for conventional anti-inflammatory medication and painkillers (with all their side effects) and a long-term improvement in quality of life. But the question remains: why are such procedures not part of the standard medical practice that every rheumatoid arthritic patient is advised to consider?

By the same token, we now know why some cancers are present in approximately one tenth to one fifth the frequency in some populations outside the West. As will be mentioned later in the book, the incidence of breast cancer rises up to tenfold with population migration and adopting a Western diet and lifestyle. Similarly, it has been observed that as people migrate from India and Africa to the West, the incidence of Alzheimer’s among such people rises fourfold.[ii] These and other findings described in this book lead us to conclude that a few simple changes to our diet and lifestyle are likely to mean that tens of millions of people will not have to suffer such disease.

Why are we spending billions of pounds on painful surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy for breast and prostate cancer, or again trillions of pounds on drugs and care of Alzheimer’s sufferers? Such practices are surely the proverbial ‘shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted’. Moreover, it would not be an exaggeration to claim that, as doctors, we are not even good at doing that – in other words, treating these conditions once established is difficult and usually not curative.

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[i] THE EFFECT OF DIET ON PAIN European Journal of Pain, Volume 10, Supplement 1, September 2006, Page S11 Y. Shir

[ii] http://www.searo.who.int/en/Section1174/Section1199/Section1567/Section1823_8066.htm

this is a very important article and I urge readers to access it directly

The WHO article states that “Alzheimer’s disease can occur at any age, even as young as 40 years, but its occurrence is much more common as the years go by. In fact, the rate of occurrence of the disease increases exponentially with age, which means that it occurs very rarely among those 40-50 years old, increases between 60 and 65 years, and is very common over 80 years. In November 2000, the National Institute on Aging (USA) estimated that up to 50% of Americans aged 85 years or more may have Alzheimer’s disease. It goes on to state that

“Studies done in South India, Mumbai and the northern state of Haryana in India have reported very low rates of occurrence of Alzheimer’s disease in those at 65 years of age or older, ranging from about 1% in rural north-India (the lowest reported from anywhere in the world where Alzheimer’s disease has been studied systematically) to 2.7 in urban Chennai”.

“Studies from China and Taiwan have also shown a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease as compared to Western countries. The low rates of occurrence of Alzheimer’s disease in the eastern countries is in striking contrast to data from the Western countries”.

“ Community-based studies are of particular interest when they look at populations similar in origin but subject to relocation. Some Japanese reports are important in this respect. Two recent investigations in the rural areas of Japan revealed that Alzheimer’s disease occurred in about 3.5% of individuals aged 65 or more. Reported research in 1996 among older Japanese Americans living in Washington and in Hawaii revealed that the number of Alzheimer’s disease cases was much higher than that estimated in Japan and closely resembled the findings for North America and Europe.”

“Similarly, research studies comparing the Yorba’s living in Ibadan, Nigeria, and African-Americans living in Indianapolis, USA, are also of interest as the groups share an ethnic background but live in widely different environments. In the Ibadan group, the proportion of Alzheimer’s disease cases was a low 1.4% (similar to rates in India), while the rate for Alzheimer’s disease among the African-Americans was estimated at 6.2%.”

“Increasingly, reports suggest that the use of certain drugs has been associated with reduction of risk of Alzheimer’s disease. These include hormones such as the oestrogens in menopausal women, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, antioxidants such as vitamin E, vitamin B and lipid-lowering agents”.

“a researcher in the US estimated that in the year 2000, the direct and total national cost to the US was approximately US$ 536 billion and US$ 1.75 trillion”

The Mediterr-Asian diet, disease and longevity.

As a practising consultant looking after patients in severe pain, I often used to wonder whether there might be anything I could suggest or prescribe that would help prevent the onset of pain and disease, particularly pain secondary to degenerative diseases such as arthritis (including spinal conditions). Many of my patients would be distraught when they were told that they faced a future full of pain and suffering. Whilst as a doctor I hoped to be able to treat some of their conditions and pain, the question most of my patients would ask is ‘Why me, what have I done to end up like this?,’ and, more importantly, ‘What could I have done to prevent this?’

In the past, my stock answer would have been to say that we just don’t know why people end up with degenerative conditions such as osteoarthritis. In relation to cardiac problems, dementia or cancer, I would answer, ‘Well, we know about some risk factors; do try to avoid smoking and becoming too overweight.’

In fact I didn’t have much to offer, in particular to patients who had tried to eat what was formerly considered a standard healthy Western diet. It seemed to me that as doctors we were almost powerless to stop the epidemic of disease that confronted us. Is it because we are living longer due to effects of Western medicine that we have to expect these degenerative conditions to plague us in our later years?

Intriguingly however, there are many places in the world where people not only live longer without the benefit of Western medicine, but in addition tend to remain rather disease-free as well. Such remarkable societies are currently the subject of a great deal of scientific research, as you might imagine, and the implications for the rest of us are profound. Take for example, Okinawa in Japan It has been found that there are four times as many centenarians there than in the West, but more important, perhaps, is the remarkable quality of their lives (see for example the Horizon program ‘How to Live to be 101’).[i] [ii] [iii]

There has been intensive study of these islanders and other societies where longevity and low incidence of disease seem to co-exist. Diet does seem to be a major factor. The Okinawans eat a wide variety of raw and lightly cooked fruit and vegetable products, significant amounts of fish, have moderate alcohol consumption, take a reasonable amount of exercise and have a relaxed attitude to life.

Their society does seem to possess a remarkable number of old and disease-free people, who experience a very low incidence of Western problems such as obesity, arthritis, cancer,[iv] heart disease and Alzheimer’s.

The reason for the islanders’ longevity is not primarily genetic, as those islanders who migrate to the West and change their lifestyle have a 17-year drop in life expectancy and an increase in their rates of cardiovascular disease and cancers.

This observation, along with many others, suggests that the lifestyle and environment of the Okinawans is important and research has particularly focused on what it is about their diet which is so beneficial.

It is clear that the model of nutrition promoted by doctors and so-called ‘health experts’ in the West is inadequate. If, as we have done to date, we think only of fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals as the basis of a healthy diet, then we ignore – literally at our peril – the increasing evidence that there are other factors which are vital in the promotion of good health. These include those parts of our diet known as phytonutrients, which we can obtain specifically from fresh fruit, vegetables and other foods.

This book will concentrate on these foods and the phytonutrients that seem to make a profound difference to disease prevention and promote a good quality of life.

The good news is that it is likely that making relatively small changes to our diet and habits may contribute significantly to reducing the onset and the severity of life-threatening diseases.

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[i] How to live to be 101’ Horizon Tuesday 19th February 2008, 9pm, BBC Two http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/broadband/tx/101/

[ii] http://okinawaprogram.com/

[iii] Quoted from http://www.mediterrasian.com/scientific_research.htm

Sources: Willcox BJ. Et al. (2001). Evidence-based Extreme Longevity: The case of Okinawa, Japan. Presidential Poster Session of the American Geriatrics Society Annual Meeting.Mizushima S, Moriguchi EH, Nakada Y, Biosca MDG, Nara Y, Murakami K, Horie R, Moriguchi Y, Mimura G, Yamori Y. The relationship of dietary factors to cardiovascular diseases among Japanese in Okinawa and Japanese immigrants, originally from Okinawa, in Brazil. Hypertension Res (1992) 15:45-55.

[iv] Nutr Cancer. 2003;46(1):30-7. The protective effect of the Mediterranean diet on lung cancer. Fortes C, et al The results indicate that some food items typical of the Mediterranean diet are associated with decreased lung cancer risk.

A Sunset in Tenerife 2009...

Heaven

In the heaven of the god I hope for (call him X)
There is marriage and giving in marriage and transient sex
For those who will cast the body’s vest aside
Soon, but are not yet wholly rarefied
And still embrace. For X is never annoyed
Or shocked; has read his Jung and knows his Freud,
He gives you time in heaven to do as you please,
To climb love’s gradual ladder by slow degrees,
Gently to rise from sense to soul, to ascend
To a world of timeless joy, world without end.

Here on the gates of pearl there hangs no sign
Limiting cakes and ale, forbidding wine.
No weakness here is hidden, no vice unknown.
Sin is a sickness to be cured, outgrown.
With the help of a god who can laugh, an unsolemn god
Who smiles at old wives’ tales of iron rod
And fiery hell, a god who’s more at ease
With bawds and Falstaffs than with Pharisees.

Here the lame learn to leap, the blind to see.
Tyrants are taught to be humble, slaves to be free.
Fools become wise, and wise men cease to be bores,
Here bishops learn from lips of back-street whores,
And white men follow black-faced angel’s feet
Through fields of orient and immortal wheat.

Villon, Lautrec and Baudelaire are here.
Here Swift forgets his anger, Poe his fear.
Napoleon rests. Columbus, journey done,
Has reached his new Atlantis, found his sun.
Verlaine and Dylan Thomas drink together.
Marx talks to Plato. Byron wonders whether
There’s some mistake. Wordsworth has found a hill
That’s home. Here Chopin plays the piano still.
Wren plans ethereal domes; and Renoir paints
young girls as ripe as fruit but not yet saints.

An X, of whom no coward is afraid,
Who’s friend consulted, not fierce king obeyed;
Who hears the unspoken thought, the prayer unprayed;
Who expects not even the learned to understand
His universe, extends a prodigal hand,
Full of forgiveness, over his promised land.

Arthur Seymour John Tessimond 1902-1962

The vital role of Omega 3.

There is a substantial amount of evidence that one should take a portion of omega 3 oil per day.

The consumption of omega 3 fish oils rather than genetics is responsible for the low incidence of coronary heart disease amongst the Japanese. In one commentary on the subject, it was shown that omega 3 consumption protected against heart disease even in the presence of traditional risk factors such as diabetes and hypertension [i]

In contrast to the anti-inflammatory, cell growth suppressive and blood thinning quality of Omega 3s, Omega 6 is associated with pro-inflammatory, cell stimulating and thrombotic tendency. It has been shown that women with breast cancer are far more likely to have lower levels of omega 3 [ii] and that Omega 3 inhibits tumour growth [iii]

There is quite frankly such strong evidence that omega 3 is a major contributor to general health, that I consider it almost negligent not to improve one's diet to increase consumption of oily fish or else take at least 1000mg of omega 3 oil per day. [iv]. In fact if one is suffering with arthritic or cardiovascular problems the suggestion is one should take 2000-4000mg per day .

The declining presence of omega 3 compared to omega 6 levels in the diet has been stated to be the root cause of much of the western epidemic of obesity in the last 50 years ( in the same article it demonstrates that young babies fed on the same number of calories but higher in omega 6 rather than omega 3 are more likely to be obese.

The omega 3 content of our daily food has profoundly altered; for example that the natural omega 3/omega 6 ratio in eggs has dropped 20 fold due to the diet of the chickens being supplemented with corn feed. The omega 3 content of free range butter eggs cheese and milk is much higher than intensively farmed produce fed on corn. This observation may contribute to the the ‘Alpine/ French paradoxes’ where high fat in diet is not associated with increase in heart disease due to the protective effects of high levels of omega 3.

In the same reference it is noted that the levels of the protective factor CLA (conjugated linoleic acid ) have dropped and the consumption of the extremely harmful trans fats has risen. Both can be remedied by eating free range (grass fed, not corn fed ) animals and avoiding processed foods particularly hydrogenated fats such as margarine. [v].

So eat good quality oily fish 4-5 time per week or if like me you can never manage this, consider taking a supplement of 2000-4000mg per day of Omega 3 fish oil.

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[i] Sekikawa A, Curb JD, Ueshima H, et al. Marine-derived n-3 fatty acids and atherosclerosis in Japanese, Japanese-American, and white men. A cross-sectional study. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2008;52:417-424. Harris W. Omega-3 fatty acids: The "Japanese" factor? J Am Coll Cardiol. 2008;52:425-427

[ii] Researchers compared the omega 3 content of breast tissue from patients with invasive, breast cancer with those with benign breast disease and found inverse associations between breast cancer-risk and the women's breast tissue levels of omega-3 fatty acids . Women who had the highest ratio of omega-3s to omega-6s had a 67% lower risk for breast cancer compared to women with the lowest ratio of omega-3s to 6s. Maillard et al. . N-3 and N-6 fatty acids in breast adipose tissue and relative risk of breast cancer in a case-control study in Tours, France. Int J Cancer 2002 Mar 1;98(1):78-83.

[iii]Levent et al Protective Effects of Diets Supplemented with Omega-3Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and Calcium Against ColorectalTumor Formation Dig Dis Sci (2008) 53:2177–2182

[iv]Mark A. Moyad An introduction to dietary/supplemental omega-3 fatty acids for general health and prevention: Part I, Urologic Oncology: Seminars and Original Investigations 23 (2005) 28–35. Urologic Oncology: Seminars and Original Investigations 23 (2005) 36–48. Mark A. Moyad An introduction to dietary/supplemental omega-3 fatty acids for general

health and prevention: Part II,. 3’s DeFilippis and Sperling Understanding omegas Am Heart J 2006;151:564- 70.)

[v] Dr David Servan-Schreiber ; Anti Cancer , a new way of life (penguin 2008) 82-94.

Simple changes to your diet reduce the onset of chronic disease

A St Lucian Sunset...2007

Where as I Consultant in Pain Medicine, I started thinking more about promoting health than treating disease.

The evidence linking diet to onset of chronic disease is now very clear. There are places in the world such as Okinawa where disease incidence is very low, about 75% less of any disease you care to mention Cancers, Alzheimer's, Cardiovascular disease and Strokes.

Particular scourges of the West such as breast and prostate cancer are about 90% lower. There are 4 times the rate of centenarians in Okinawa as in the developed West. We may have access to better medicine, but isn't it better to prevent onset of cancer than treat it?

From my reading of the literature if one took 100 women living in the UK who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, and transported back 20 years and put them on Okinawa with their dietary habits and lifestyle, then approx. 90 of them would not have developed breast cancer.

As you might expect the answer eating some fish (the Okinawans eat alot of fish), also eating green vegetables, fresh fruit and getting some sunshine and exercise everyday are the keys.

Even more importantly, the literature suggest that even small changes in diet and lifestyle can, even done late in life, may still be very helpful.

Not all of us have the time, energy or opportunity to make radical changes to our lifestyle or diet so here are a few observations and recommendations.



1) I suggest 2000-4000mg per day of a high quality Omega 3 Fish oil.(This is equivalent to 5 portions of oily fish per week) Make sure the combined EPA and DHA content is at least 55%.

2) Low vitamin D levels are associated with increasing numbers of diseases , we dont get the sunshine we need and most of us work in doors so I suggest 400-1000iu of vitamin D2/D3 per day

3) Consider a vitamin B/C supplement everyday

(if you need further information please consider www.healingtheperson.com)

4) Drink some red/purple berry juice very day (e.g superberry 100) and /or a glass of red wine (preferably full bodied from the south of France- they have some of the highest levels of protective polyphenol in the world)

5) Certain green teas are very high in the protective phytonutrient ECGC e.g Long Jing/ Dragon Well. (see website mentioned above if you need help) drink regularly. I find it much more refreshing than ordinary tea or coffee when I have a long day.

6)Eat a small avocado every day

7) Use a mixture of one quarter each of olive oil/rape seed oil/grape seed oil and coconut oil for cooking. This covers the types of fatty acids which have been shown to be associated with good health. Mix together and use. DONT USE CORN OIL.

8) Eat some salad before every meal. I am too busy to make it up so I buy the ready prepared stuff (including that already chopped for stir fries -its cheaper than buying the individual ingredients I think).

9) If you are over weight, cut down on processed foods, potatoes, refined carbohydrates such as white bread and white pasta. Wholemeal basmiti rice is so much better. Try meals mainly based on vegetables (not potatoes!) and meat. Use white meat more than red meat

10) Turmeric is an amazing spice which may contribute to the low incidence of both Alzheimer's and some cancers in India, add some to your cooking , eg in soups,stews and rice. Or take supplements if you don't like the taste (see strong yellow supplement at www.healingtheperson.com).

11) It is amazing what even a small amount of exercise will do. I recommend a x-trainer or ski walker set up in front of a TV so as soon as you come in from work, just do the exercise for 20 minutes whilst you watch TV, ....and then settle down with your glass of wine, red of course..

12) Smoking is a complete disaster I'm afraid. Do whatever you can to stop.

13) If you have a medical condition, particularly diabetes or on warfarin, take medical advice first.

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