For those interested in research on diet and cancer

Public Archive
1241

Thanks Lemongrove - Defra and the dairy industry have been saying for years there is no danger from hormones in milk, insisting that the oestrogen is destroyed in the human digestion system and cannot enter the blood stream. And yet we have the evidence from the study discussed here which directly contradicts that - it shows that drinking milk produces an immediate spike in serum oestrogen levels. I don’t expect the dairy industry to ever acknowledge this as an issue - it would be commercial suicide - although I’m sure they are aware of the issue, as they spend so much time pushing back against it.

The issue with milk in the UK isn’t hormones added to milk, although in other countries it is an issue, and we should be wary of food imported from countries where growth hormones are allowed.

We also know that diary, more than any other food, raises IGF 1 levels. It also stimulates bone growth/turnover more than any other food - irrespective of protein and calcium content. I’m not sure what that means for bone mets, but my instinct is to think it is best avoided.

We also know that milk is a complex food, and despite the oestrogen and IGF 1 - it also has some properties that have shown anti-cancer effects - as the buttermilk study showed, and which probably explains why dairy research throws up such contradictory results. Fortunately, the Conjugated Linoleic Acid in the fat that has been identified as responsible for this can be obtained from non-dairy sources (or supplements) - such as button mushrooms - so I have them on toast for lunch every day.

1242

Thanks for the info, lemongrove.
I had read that oestrogens are fat soluble so it makes sense that skimmed milk would have the lowest concentrations.

1243

Thanks for posting about the Sloan-Kettering Cancer unit and it’s research - really interesting. Have been reading about the suggested diet (under patient info section if you want to find it) and have found this comment:

“Some cancer treatments cause oxidation to help kill cancer cells. High-dose antioxidants may decrease the
effects of these treatments. Speak with your dietitian if you are adding any kind of antioxidant to your diet.
This includes:
– Green tea.
– Juicing.
– Vitamin or antioxidant enhanced water (e.g., Vitamin Water®, Snapple® Antioxidant Water, and Sobe
Lifewater®, and many others).”

Well I’m drinking lots of green tea and wheatgrass to help with antioxidants so am now wondering if I’m doing the best thing to help my chemo to work. Any thoughts or info? Am back on plain water in the meantime…

1244

Fran - a good question. Why not email SK and see if they can list which treatments come under this warning?

1245

thanks for suggestion Flinty -will report back on any info - it seemed an important issue for many of us that are working on diet although the SK Q&A video seems to view immunity from diet as a possible negative which is a challenging idea for some of us…

1246

I read somewhere that rads work by causing oxidisation in the cell, so you don’t want to be on an anti-oxidation diet while having RT. They were talking about prostate cancer but the same should apply to breast cancer as well, I would have thought.

Glad you found the Q & A video useful; glad I stumbled on it too. I watched the lecture before Q&As also. The beginning bit is a little dull but about 12 or 14 mins in it gets really interesting. Loved the explanation of gene microarrays, in the main types of BC. Strongly suspect that I am luminol B from this lecture.

1247

Hi All,

I found this page very helpful and am following the suggestions while I’m having rads.

foodforbreastcancer.com/articles/what-should-breast-cancer-patients-eat-during-radiation-treatment%3F

There is also one for patients undergoing chemo which I did not find until after I’d finished mine!

Take care,
Kate x

1248

It would make sense that they are referring to rads rather than chemo or hormone therapy, as have never heard oxidation mentioned in that context.

1249

Hi All,
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center also have a extensive A-Z Database of Herbs, Botanicals & Other Products,such as Green Tea,Flazseed,Fish oils ect ect.

“This information resource, presented by our Integrative Medicine Service, provides evidence-based information about herbs, botanicals, supplements, and more.”

mskcc.org/mskcc/html/11570.cfm

Hope you find it helpfull,especialy if you are still undergoing the many different cancer treatments.

Linda

1250

Thanks so much Linda - a really great reference. This is what they say about anti-oxydants and chemo (taken from FAQ):

“Can I take antioxidants to prevent the side effects of cancer therapies?
There are prescription drugs that act as antioxidants to help protect against the adverse effects of cancer therapies. The precise mechanism and the side effects of these drugs have been thoroughly examined. However, very few antioxidant dietary supplements have been studied for their safety and usefulness. Current information about the use of these products is confusing. Some think they help kill cancer cells or protect healthy cells from the damage caused by chemotherapy drugs or radiation therapy. But antioxidant supplements may also make these treatments less effective. Until more is known, it is wise to avoid them during chemotherapy.”

So my decision during my current Vinorelbine is to severely cut back on green tea and stop taking wheatgrass - so much for good intentions!! Cheers with a glass of water!

1251

Hi Ladies,
Re any concerns of IGF-I in Dairy/Milk and in particular rBST treated cows.

“rBST treated cows were shown to have an increased level of IGF within its milk content. This increase was shown to be no more than the amount of IGF in early-lactation untreated cows or in the rBST content of human milk. It has also been shown that IGF administered orally has no effect on the organism which ingested it. This is because IGF is denatured within the stomach.[15] IGF is produced by the cow in response to BGH injections,[16] and it is this hormone which increases growth and milk production. Bovine and porcine IGF-I are identical to human IGF-I, while IGF-II differs among animal species.[17]
Injected IGF: Neither IGF-1 or IGF-2 are absorbed by the stomach or intestine after ingestion.[15] The link of IGF to cancers in humans due to rBST use in dairy cattle are unfounded. Injected or naturally occurring IGF serum levels plays a role in the formation of new tumours [18][19] [20] and increased levels of IGF-1 may be linked to increased risk of breast, colon, and prostate cancer. [21] [22] However IGF is involved in many biological processes so it is not possible to assign a clear-cut cause and effect relationship. IGF-1 is not denatured by pasteurisation, so consumption of milk from rBST treated dairy cows may increase the daily oral intake of IGF-I, but serum levels will not be effected due to the denaturing effect within the stomach.”

The Food and Drug Administration, World Health Organization, American Medical Association, American Dietetics Association, and the National Institute of Health have independently confirmed that dairy products and meat from BST treated cows is safe for human consumption.

As Lemongrove has pointed out earlier dairy cows in the UK are not injected with any hormones .

Department of Animal Science
Cornell University

download.journals.elsevierhealth.com/pdfs/journals/0022-0302/PIIS0022030292781193.pdf

Hope this helps if anyone is concerned.

Linda

1252

Thanks Cherry Orchard for your posting on the US lecture on Vitamin D. It was really interesting. I am definitely going to get my levels checked before winter sets in. Thanks also to others who have posted really helpful research on foods to eat whilst on tamoxifen and also for oestrogen positive types too. Although I used to think I ate fairly sensibly I have made important changes to my diet now and have drastically reduced my intake of dairy and now limit my sugar intake - I have much more fresh fruit in my diet now and funnily enough don’t feel the need for the double chocolate kit-kats every morning for breaks! Oh, so depressing to read some of the latest though that women in UK much more likely to get cancer as opposed to European counterparts. I was NEVER obese and almost teetotal when I was dx. Thankfully, they do mention genes etc play a part too!

1253

The issue with IGF 1 in the UK has nothing whatsoever to do with hormones (rBST) given to cows. That is only an issue outside the EU. Fortunately the hormones that all those organisations in the US assure us are safe, are banned in the EU because our tougher regulatory system recognised that they are not safe at all. So why would we trust the US authorities with their assurances about IGF when our own experts don’t?

The issue in the UK is that consuming dairy raises human serum IGF 1 levels in a dose dependent manner, as shown in this meta analysis, and specifically in intervention trials:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19746296

It is simply not true to claim, as the authorities that Linda listed do, that IGF 1 ingested from food is not bio-available in the human body. Even the EPIC study found that excluding dairy and meat resulted in a dramatically lower serum IGF level.

There are so many studies that now confirm the link between diet, IGF 1 and cancer risk - too many to link to here. It is very misleading to claim the only issue is injected hormones, it really isn’t.

1254

Milk from cattle that have been given “somatotropin” contains higher levels of a growth factor called IGF-but as UK and European cattle don’t get this hormone, our milk does not contain high IGF-1 levels.

IGF-1 is a naturally occuring hormone that we all make,The normal IGF-1 level in humans is 100 times higher than the level in the average pint of milk,there are many many factors that affect !GF-I levels in the circulation ie genetic make-up, the time of day, age, sex, exercise status, stress levels, nutrition level and body mass index (BMI), disease state, race, estrogen status and xenobiotic intake.

cancerhelp.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/cancer-questions/can-the-hormones-in-milk-affect-breast-cancer

The issue of IGF-I and its connection to cancer is certainly in no way confined to the drinking of milk , there is now a substantial amount of evidence suggesting that women with relatively high blood concentrations of IGF-I do have a “moderately”
higher risk for developing breast cancer compared to women with relatively low IGF-I. However, more research
is needed to clarify the importance of IGF-I.

This is what T** K** who incidently is one of the leading professors of the EPIC study had to say on the Dairy and IGF-I issue in a email to me in October.

"Some of our research here is following the possibility that dairy products might perhaps
increase risk by increasing IGF-I, but we
don’t know yet if there is much truth in this hypothesis. Therefore the best dietary advice we
can give is to choose a conventional “healthy
diet”, to avoid obesity, and to limit alcohol consumption.

epic-oxford.org/publications/1518/meat-eggs-and-dairy-products-and-breast-cancer-risk

Linda

1255

Another study showing exercise after a primary diagnosis reduces recurrence risk and improves overall survival in a dose-dependent manner, ie the more you exercise, the better you do:

cancerpreventionresearch.aacrjournals.org/content/early/2011/07/26/1940-6207.CAPR-10-0355.short?rss=1&cited-by=yes&legid=canprevres;1940-6207.CAPR-10-0355v1

1256

Interesting article in the news about soya

bbc.co.uk/news/health-14442851

Soy ‘does not ease the menopause’

Soy appears to do nothing to relieve the symptoms of menopause, scientists say, despite the high hopes of many.

A controlled study involving nearly 250 US women going through “the change” found soy tablets did not abate hot flushes or bone density loss.

The tablets were no better than placebo over the two-year-long investigation, Archives of Internal Medicine reports.

But experts said other studies have shown soy can ease menopause symptoms.

The dose given in the latest trial was twice that normally ingested by people with soy-rich diets.

Soy products like tofu contain natural plant oestrogens and experts have suggested that these might help women going through the menopause whose own oestrogen levels are dwindling.

‘Not a candidate’

Many women are already offered oestrogen in the form of hormone replacement therapy or HRT to help with menopausal symptoms.

But following reports that prolonged use of HRT may carry a very small increased risk of other conditions, like breast cancer and stroke, some do not want to go on HRT and look for alternatives.

The researchers from the University of Miami say their work suggests soy is not a candidate, although they stress that they only looked at soy isoflavone tablets rather than other dietary sources of soy.

They recruited 248 menopausal women to take part in their study and randomly allocated them to one of two groups: soy or placebo.

The soy group received 200mg of soy isoflavone tablets daily for two years, while the women in the placebo group were given dummy pills.

During the follow-up, no significant differences were found between the two groups regarding changes in bone loss - a common side effect of the menopause.

Menopausal symptoms such as sleep disturbances affected both groups to similar degrees, although the soy group did appear to experience more hot flushes than the placebo group overall.

Lead researcher Dr Silvina Levis said: "My advice would be that women should reconsider taking these products for menopausal symptoms. We found soy isoflavone tablets did not provide any benefit.”
“We did not look at soy foods but I suspect these too would probably not be helpful.”

Dr Malcolm Whitehead, a menopause expert at King’s College Hospital in London, said: “I’m not at all surprised by the findings. In my clinical experience, women say this doesn’t work for them.”

He said HRT could be a safe and effective treatment for most women.

A spokesperson from the charity Women’s Health Concern said that other studies had shown soy could be helpful for treating symptoms of the menopause

1257

Hi everyone

I was wondering if anyone knows anything about the supplement Magnolia Phellodendron Complex? It claims to help control stress related eating and drinking, relaxes muscles and helps you to sleep and may also help to eliminate excess cortisol (hormone that stimulates the pancreas to produce more insulin) from the body.

Am interested in this primarily for sleep but thought the claims re cortisol might also be of interest.

Thanks
daisyGirl xx

1258

I found this daisy girl

nutritionj.com/content/7/1/11

Don’t think it’s the magic answer.

1259

Thanks for this Ragamuffin, doesn’t look very promising does it?

I am desparate to sort out my disdurbed sleep patterns (including hypnosis tapes) but nothing is doing the trick, now I have started taking Tamoxifen I think it is just going to get worse unfortunately :frowning:

Thanks again

DaisyGirl xx

1260

There’s a discussion currently going on another thread (immune) and I’ve posted a link on there which others may be interested in. It is about research currently being done to look in more depth at phyto oestrogens:

cancer.ca/ontario/cancer%20research/meet%20our%20researchers/od-ontario%20researchers/may%202009%20-%20dr%20michelle%20cotterchio.aspx?sc_lang=en