We've often viewed getting cancer as luck of the draw. Other than eating enough fiber and avoiding smoking and too much sun exposure we haven't really seen it as having much relationship to lifestyle. Now, we're finding the way we live our lives has a significant effect on both the prevention of cancer and the course of the illness once it is diagnosed. In my two previous columns we looked at lifestyle connections to heart disease and diabetes. Now, let's look at lifestyle and cancer.

With the increased treatment success rates we are seeing for many forms of cancer, people are living longer and healthier lives through early detection and more effective treatments. Yet the American Cancer Society estimated for 2010 there would be more than one and half million new cases of cancer in the United States and more than 21,000 in Colorado alone. There are several lifestyle-cancer connections we are becoming more acutely aware of.

The American Cancer Society tells us about one-third of all cancers are diet and activity related. The standard call for 30 minutes a day of activity is important as so many of our jobs are increasingly sedentary. We also know that eating more fruits and vegetables, whole grains and healthier fats and less processed meats reduces cancer risks. Recent news articles and Breastcancer.org have raised awareness that overweight woman, especially after menopause have a greater risk of breast cancer. Being overweight also can increase the risk of the recurrence of breast cancer. The same risk applies to men and women for increasing the chance of cancers of the colon, endometrium, esophagus, kidney and other organs.

http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20111128/COLUMNISTS136/111280309/Research-now-links-lifestyle-cancer

Leafy greens, widely recognised as containing essential ingredients for ensuring optimum health and wellbeing, have been shown to influence our intestinal health by delivering a protective factor to certain cells of the immune system.

These findings, reported today online in the journal Cell, have implications for better understanding the basis of intestinal inflammatory disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and may offer new opportunities for therapeutic intervention.

The collaboration between UK-based researchers at the Babraham Institute, which receives strategic funding from the BBSRC, and the Medical Research Council’s National Institute for Medical Research provides new insight into how one chemical component found in cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, governs the survival of a special type of white blood cell, part of the body's front line defence against infections and important in wound repair.

The cells in question, known as intra-epithelial lymphocytes (IELs), exist as a network just beneath the epithelial cells that form the barrier along the body's surfaces. They play a critical role in monitoring the large number of micro-organisms present in the intestine, keeping infections at bay and maintaining a healthy gut. The research shows for the first time that mice fed a diet low in vegetables rapidly lose these specialised immune cells (IELs) lining the intestinal tract, but not other immune cells.

http://www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/news/article/default.aspx?objid=85526

The risk of colorectal cancer associated with different fruit and vegetable consumption varies depending on the tumor location within the large bowel, according to a study published online Sept. 26 in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

TUESDAY, Sept. 27 (HealthDay News) -- The risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) associated with different fruit and vegetable (F/V) consumption varies depending on the tumor location within the large bowel, according to a study published online Sept. 26 in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

http://www.doctorslounge.com/index.php/news/pb/23363

It’s estimated that nearly 100 million Americans have either pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes — blood sugar (glucose) levels that are chronically above normal. Millions also have metabolic syndrome, a combination of health problems that can include insulin resistance (your cells do a poor job of responding to the hormone that moves glucose out of the bloodstream), high blood pressure, too much belly fat, high triglycerides and low good HDL.

Magnesium deficiency is a major (but under-recognized) cause of insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes. The reason? When diabetics spill sugar into their urine, it acts like a sponge that drags magnesium into the urine as well. This causes large magnesium losses in diabetics — aggravating many of the illnesses’ complications.

Several new studies make the case even more convincing.

Four New Studies

Magnesium Helps Overweight People Who Don’t Have Diabetes
German researchers studied 52 overweight people who didn’t have diabetes, giving half of them magnesium. After six months, those taking the mineral had lower levels of fasting glucose (a measurement taken eight hours after not eating) and better insulin sensitivity. The results, wrote the researchers in the March 11, 2011 issue of Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, “emphasize the need for an early optimization of magnesium status to prevent insulin resistance and subsequently type 2 diabetes.” In other words, there’s no time like the present to get more magnesium, through taking supplemental magnesium — and through eating more magnesium-rich foods, such as leafy green vegetables, whole grains and nuts...

Continued at: http://www.stopagingnow.com/liveinthenow/article/more-magnesium-means-less-diabetes

Cooking healthy plant-based meals doesn't have to be an arduous task. Take it from me because I do it in the COOL-est way. Cooking On One Leg! Because of this, I have to keep it super easy.

Twenty years ago as young mother of two children, I lost my leg to bone cancer. I was fitted for a prosthetic leg and life went on. Then several years later I was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. Even with conventional treatment, most of which I did, my doctors predicted that the cancer would return with a year.

I started researching and found that some women had increased their chances of survival by adopting a plant-based diet (similar to how President Clinton now eats!).

Within a week I was taking cooking classes and starting to change the food I ate. I was a junk food junkie, but I began cooking and eating whole grains, beans, vegetables, sea vegetables and lots of foods that never dreamed I'd eat. I gradually started changing the foods my family ate, too.

Today, 12 years later, I remain cancer-free and vibrantly healthy and eating in this delicious way! And ... cooking on one leg! Over the last few years, my prosthetic leg doesn't fit well so I don't wear it as much. I've had to adapt to cooking on crutches and that means making quicker, easier versions of this food than I did in the past. I love this because in doing so I've helped others who are on their own "last leg," such as people that are tired from working all day, but still want quick, easy and delicious plant-based meals.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/meg-wolff/megs-cool-quick-easy-plan_b_939822.html

The Little Salad Shop, a new restaurant serving delicious salads and fresh vegetables on campus, is setting the trend right this semester: eat green food.

The owner, Tiffany Ho '12, clearly understands that eating right is one of the most important ways to ensure success at school; green-colored foods are one of the best ways to get your fix of Mother Nature’s healing properties. They all contain chlorophyll, a chemical that prevents bacterial disease and reduces bad breath. But chlorophyll is only one of many nutrients found in greens; they contain minerals, antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids, with a number of other remarkable health benefits.

Poopdeck Pappy said in the 1980s comic Popeye, “Spinach is what kept our family strong for thousands of years.” Pappy wasn’t far off the mark. Spinach has strengthening, panacea-like capabilities and the leaves of this food contain a whopping 11 vitamins, while also preventing skin and breast cancer. Spinach is loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, which lower bad cholesterol to prevent heart disease and improve body functions. Kale is a similar leafy vegetable with an extraordinary concentration of nutrients and antioxidants. This plant has been shown to protect the body against degenerative diseases, neutralize acidic foods and toxins, and support the immune system. Just as Popeye warded off bullets and alien weapons by ingesting spinach, we can become invulnerable to threats like cancer and heart failure by eating our greens.

If gnawing on some leafy greens does not appeal, you will be pleased to know that whole raw vegetables isn’t the only way to go green. Young cereal grass is a green food with an even greater concentration of nutrients and minerals than the leafy greens do. You can indulge in the dried or powdered forms of wheat and barley grass and still get anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits. Sprouts are another young plant with an excellent nutrient profile. Like the cereal grasses, they contain high levels of chlorophyll, protein, vitamins and cellulose (an ingestible fiber).

One unique place to harvest your healthy greens is under the sea. The seaweed varieties you can eat together comprise all 56 minerals and trace minerals necessary for human health. Arame is one type that contains calcium, iron, protein and dietary fiber. And for the vegetarians out there, it is great to know that seaweed is one of the few plants that contain vitamin B12. Sebastian sang the truth in “The Little Mermaid” — they really are, 'in luck here, down in the muck here, under the sea.'

http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2011/aug/31/stern-go-green-eat-your-veggies/

In an effort to rid the country of Monsanto's GMO products, Hungary has stepped up the pace. This looks like its going to be another slap in the face for Monsanto. A new regulation was introduced this March which stipulates that seeds are supposed to be checked for GMO before they are introduced to the market. Unfortunately, some GMO seeds made it to the farmers without them knowing it.

Almost 1000 acres of maize found to have been grown with genetically modified seeds have been destroyed throughout Hungary deputy state secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development Lajos Bognar said. The GMO maize has been ploughed under, said Lajos Bognar, but pollen has not spread from the maize, he added.

Unlike several EU members, GMO seeds are banned in Hungary. The checks will continue despite the fact that seed traders are obliged to make sure that their products are GMO free, Bognar said.

During their investigation, controllers have found Pioneer and Monsanto products among the seeds planted.

http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/20110722/hungary-destroys-all-monsanto-gmo-maize-fields.htm

Growing up, summers spent with my grandparents meant eating delicious treats fresh from the garden and selling fruits and vegetables from the back of a pickup truck. 

The first taste of a sweet, juicy peach from Arnold Fruit Co. last week offered a welcome flashback to those summer memories.

In the big scheme of things, it’s pretty amazing that the foods that are healthiest for us are also naturally delicious. 

But, in our busy world, we often choose foods that are quick rather than healthy, and processed rather than natural. And, it's taking a toll on our health. 

We Oklahomans are dead last in the nation for fruit and vegetable consumption, yet we lead the race to be dead first as our average lifespan gets shorter. 

As part of the effort to address our nation’s growing obesity epidemic, the federal government recently launched new, simplified dietary guidelines that replaced the old food pyramid with “My Plate.” (www.ChooseMyPlate.gov)

Ultimately, the new “My Plate” recommendations urge us to cover half our plate at meals and snacks with vegetables and fruit. That might mean eating twice as much produce as we do now.

http://muskogeephoenix.com/features/x541067945/Eat-your-fruits-and-veggies

American Diets Have Yet to Catch Up With Increased Awareness of Healthy Eating
by Matt McMillen

Aug. 4, 2011 -- More Americans say they are aware of the health benefits of functional foods, but there has been no increase over the past five years in the number of people who are eating them on a regular basis, according to a new survey from the International Food Information Council (IFIC).

Functional foods are foods that may provide health benefits beyond basic nutrition. Examples include fish such as salmon, which are rich in heart-protective omega-3 fatty acids, and whole grains, which help maintain digestive health while potentially lowering the risk of colorectal cancer. Berries, dark green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale, and other colorful fruits and vegetables also are considered functional foods.

One thousand randomly selected adults completed the IFIC’s online survey during March and April. The survey was designed to measure Americans’ knowledge about the health benefits of functional foods, whether or not such foods are part of their diet, and what barriers prevent them from eating them on a regular basis.

Ninety-five percent of the respondents believe that they have control over their own health. Nearly half said that heart disease was their most important health concern, followed by weight and cancer. And three-quarters of those who took the survey said that food plays the most important role in both maintaining and improving one’s overall health.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20110804/survey-americans-aware-functional-foods-dont-eat-them-enough

US scientists claim to have discovered a dangerous new plant disease linked to genetically modified crops and the pesticides used on them.

The research, which is yet to be completed, suggests the pathogen could be the cause of recent widespread crop failure and miscarriages in livestock.

Emeritus Professor Don Huber from Perdue University says his research shows that animals fed on GM corn or soybeans may suffer serious health problems due to the pathogen.

“They’re finding anywhere from 20 per cent to as much as 55 per cent of those [animals] will miscarriage or spontaneously abort,” he said.

“It will kill a chicken embryo for instance in 24-48 hours.”

Professor Huber says it isn’t clear yet whether it is the GM crops or the use of the pesticide glyphosate that causes the pathogen. But he says his research shows both the pesticide and the GM crops also reduce the ability of plants to absorb nutrients from the soil that are necessary for animal health.

http://www.abc.net.au/rural/content/2011/s3245624.htm