katyzzzAlternative treatments for cancer
October 23rd 2006 11:34
Alternative treatments for cancer :
Cancer. The word itself is enough to make you shudder. Perhaps one of the most frightening aspects of the disease is that there is still so much we don't know about it. But progress is being made in understanding the contributing factors and in developing treatments. Heredity influences your risk of developing certain cancers, but factors considered "environmental" -- such as smoking and alcohol consumption -- appear to play important roles, too.
Another environmental influence that has garnered more and more attention is diet -- both in terms of its role in triggering cancer and its potential role in helping to prevent it. Indeed, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), 30 to 40 percent of all cancers are directly linked to food, physical activity, and body weight. Unlike heredity, diet is one of the possible cancer contributors that we can change (along with smoking and drinking habits).
So what dietary choices can you make to help lessen your risk? That's the catch. We don't know all the answers yet, but we suspect we're close to quite a few. In this article, we will look at dietary changes you can make as part of an alternative treatment to possibly lower your risk for cancer.
The Big Picture :
Cancer, the number two killer in the United States, isn't a single disease. Cancer is an umbrella term for more than 200 different conditions, which all have in common the out-of-control growth of cells.
Each type of cancer is unique, with its own set of triggers and treatments. Proving a dietary link to cancer is not easy. Although the connection to some types of cancer seems more solid, some suspected ties are merely educated guesses based on statistics from epidemiology. Epidemiology is a branch of science that observes and compares the rates of diseases in different environments and situations. Actual clinical trials that put theories to the ultimate test are expensive and difficult to design, and they cannot provide valid results for decades, because cancer takes that long to develop.
For years, scientists focused on specific substances in foods that might cause cancer. At first, suspicions centered around manmade creations, such as additives, artificial sweeteners, and pesticides. Then researchers refocused their attention on the many natural toxins in foods that were potentially cancerous, such as aflatoxins in peanuts and solanine in potatoes.
Today, the dietary fight against cancer has progressed further still. These days, when we talk about taking dietary steps to prevent cancer, we're talking about being proactive. Today's preventive strategies go beyond simply avoiding potentially cancer-causing substances in certain foods to actually using diet to strengthen the body's defenses against cancer and toxic substances. Indeed, there's more and more evidence that what you do eat can actually offer protection against, and therefore lower your chances of developing, cancer. Food has gone from enemy to ally. What's more, a diet that may help protect against cancer appears remarkably similar to a diet that is heart healthy and weight wise as well.
Antioxidants to the Rescue :
Much of the cancer-protective promise of certain foods appears to stem from antioxidant nutrients concentrated in those foods. An antioxidant is a substance that protects the body's cells from oxidation, the chemical process in which oxygen molecules attach to almost anything in their path, creating destructive compounds called free radicals. Free radicals aren't foreign invaders. They are normal inhabitants of your body, produced in response to everyday chemical reactions that normally occur in your body.
Cancer. The word itself is enough to make you shudder. Perhaps one of the most frightening aspects of the disease is that there is still so much we don't know about it. But progress is being made in understanding the contributing factors and in developing treatments. Heredity influences your risk of developing certain cancers, but factors considered "environmental" -- such as smoking and alcohol consumption -- appear to play important roles, too.
Another environmental influence that has garnered more and more attention is diet -- both in terms of its role in triggering cancer and its potential role in helping to prevent it. Indeed, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), 30 to 40 percent of all cancers are directly linked to food, physical activity, and body weight. Unlike heredity, diet is one of the possible cancer contributors that we can change (along with smoking and drinking habits).
So what dietary choices can you make to help lessen your risk? That's the catch. We don't know all the answers yet, but we suspect we're close to quite a few. In this article, we will look at dietary changes you can make as part of an alternative treatment to possibly lower your risk for cancer.
The Big Picture :
Cancer, the number two killer in the United States, isn't a single disease. Cancer is an umbrella term for more than 200 different conditions, which all have in common the out-of-control growth of cells.
Each type of cancer is unique, with its own set of triggers and treatments. Proving a dietary link to cancer is not easy. Although the connection to some types of cancer seems more solid, some suspected ties are merely educated guesses based on statistics from epidemiology. Epidemiology is a branch of science that observes and compares the rates of diseases in different environments and situations. Actual clinical trials that put theories to the ultimate test are expensive and difficult to design, and they cannot provide valid results for decades, because cancer takes that long to develop.
For years, scientists focused on specific substances in foods that might cause cancer. At first, suspicions centered around manmade creations, such as additives, artificial sweeteners, and pesticides. Then researchers refocused their attention on the many natural toxins in foods that were potentially cancerous, such as aflatoxins in peanuts and solanine in potatoes.
Today, the dietary fight against cancer has progressed further still. These days, when we talk about taking dietary steps to prevent cancer, we're talking about being proactive. Today's preventive strategies go beyond simply avoiding potentially cancer-causing substances in certain foods to actually using diet to strengthen the body's defenses against cancer and toxic substances. Indeed, there's more and more evidence that what you do eat can actually offer protection against, and therefore lower your chances of developing, cancer. Food has gone from enemy to ally. What's more, a diet that may help protect against cancer appears remarkably similar to a diet that is heart healthy and weight wise as well.
Antioxidants to the Rescue :
Much of the cancer-protective promise of certain foods appears to stem from antioxidant nutrients concentrated in those foods. An antioxidant is a substance that protects the body's cells from oxidation, the chemical process in which oxygen molecules attach to almost anything in their path, creating destructive compounds called free radicals. Free radicals aren't foreign invaders. They are normal inhabitants of your body, produced in response to everyday chemical reactions that normally occur in your body.
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