Cancer

Please note that this section contains my personal notes from my readings on this topic.

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By Dr. Campbell in The China Study, page 157:

“Much of my career has been concentrated on the study of cancer. My laboratory work was focused on several cancers, including those of the liver, breast and pancreas, and some of the most impressive data from China were related to cancer. For this lifetime work, the American Institute for Cancer Research kindly presented me with their Research Achievement aware in 1998.

An exceptional number of books have summarized the evidence on the effects of nutrition on a variety of cancers, each with their own particularities. But what I’ve found is that the nutritional effects on the cancers I’ve chosen to discuss here are virtually the same for all cancers, regardless of whether they are initiated by different factors or are located in different parts of the body…

I have chosen to comment on three cancers that affect hundreds of thousands of Americans and that generally represent other cancers as well: two reproductive cancers that get plenty of attention, breast and prostate, and one digestive cancer, large bowel – the second leading cause of cancer death, behind lung cancer.”

In a nutshell:

“…dietary protein proved to be so powerful in its effect that we could turn on and turn off cancer growth simply by changing the level consumed. Furthermore, the amounts of protein being fed were those that we humans routinely consume. We didn’t use extraordinary levels, as is so often the case in carcinogen studies.

But that’s not all. We found that not all proteins had this effect. What protein consistently and strongly promoted cancer? Casein, which makes up 87% of cow’s milk protein, promoted all stages of the cancer process. What type of protein did not promote cancer, even at high levels of intake? The safe proteins were from plants, including wheat and soy.”

-– The China Study by Dr. Campbell; 2006; p6

Breast Cancer
Regarding a woman with breast cancer who called Dr. Campbell (pages 158-159):

• “… just because a person has the gene for a disease does not mean that they are destined to get the cancer: prominent studies reported that only a tiny minority of cancers can be solely blamed on genes… I was surprised at how little she knew about nutrition. She thought genetics was the only factor that determined risk. She didn’t realize that food was an important factor in breast cancer as well.”
• “To use the words of one of the leading breast cancer research groups in the world, “there is overwhelming evidence that estrogen levels are a critical determinant of breast cancer risk. Estrogen directly participates in the cancer process. It also tends to indicate the presence of other female hormones that play a role in breast cancer risk. Increased levels of estrogen and related hormones are a result of the consumption of typical Western diets, high in fat and animal protein and low in dietary fiber.

This idea that breast cancer is centered on estrogen exposure is profound because diet plays a major role in establishing estrogen exposure. This suggests that the risk of breast cancer is preventable if we eat foods that will keep estrogen levels under control.”

– The China Study by Dr. Campbell; 2006; p161

• “It is true that if you have a family history of breast cancer, you are at an increased risk of getting the disease. However, one research group found that less than 3% of all breast cancer cases can be attributed to family history. Even though other groups have estimated that a higher percentage of cases are due to family history, the vast majority of breast cancer in American women is not due to family history or genes. But genetic fatalism continues to define the nation’s mindset.”

– The China Study by Dr. Campbell; 2006; page 161

From Disease-Proof Your Child (2005) by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D.; pages 89 – 93

• Experimental evidence suggests that the susceptibility of mammary tissue to carcinogenesis is greatest in the childhood and teenage years. The time during breast growth and development is a particularly sensitive period in a woman’s life, affecting the later development of breast cancer in adulthood. Teenagers who eat more high-fiber, high-antioxidant foods such as fruits, vegetables, and nuts have less occurrence of benign breast disease, the precursor marker of breast cancer.
• Of particular concern is the pattern linking breast cancer to the early age of puberty we are witnessing in modern times. The average age of onset menstruation in the nineteenth century was seventeen, where in the last fifty years in Western industrialized countries, such as the United States, the average age of onset of menstruation is twelve. The overnutrition and heightened exposure to animal products, oils, and saturated fats earlier in life induces a rapid growth and an earlier puberty. Earlier age of puberty increases one’s lifetime exposure to estrogens and is associated with a higher incidence of breast cancer years later.
  • Early puberty is strongly associated with breast cancer, and the occurrence of breast cancer is three times higher in women who started puberty before age twelve.
• One recent study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute followed almost 100,000 women between the ages of 26 and 46 and found that the younger the woman was, the greater the effect diet had on later breast cancer incidence. These researchers noted that the consumption of animal fat from predominantly dairy foods and meat was the culprit most closely associated with the occurrence of breast cancer… This study illustrates that making important changes early in adult life can sill lower risks of breast cancer. It is never too late to lessen anyone’s risk. While our childhood diet is an important factor in the cancer causation equation, it does not mean we are thereafter helpless to prevent cancer. The reason the study referenced above does not show such a large increased risk from consumption of high-saturated-fat foods is because even in your late twenties and thirties, it is somewhat late to offer the strongest protective shield against cancer that one would have achieved if dramatic dietary improvements were started early in life and maintained. As we get older, the opportunity to dramatically lower risk diminishes. Little changes in childhood make a difference; big changes in adulthood are needed to compensate for little nutritional mistakes in childhood.

– Disease-Proof Your Child (2005) by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D.d; page 94

• Nursing helps protect the mom against breast cancer. During lactation, the secretion of estrogens in a woman’s body falls to virtually nil, and continuing to breast feed for a prolonged period has a significant effect on resetting her estrogen to a lower level thereafter. Maximum protection is achieved after breast-feeding for approximately two years, which corresponds with the baby’s immunologic development, maximizing protection against disease for the baby as well. So breast-feeding plays a role in protecting both the baby and the mother from developing cancer. page 96

Endometrial Cancer

According to a recent study published in the International Journal of Cancer, animal fat and protein increase the risk of endometrial cancer.

– Skinny Bitch: Bun in the Oven (2005) by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin; page 89

Large Bowel Cancer (Including Colon and Rectum)
Although the following is not narrowed down to dairy, I’m including it for consistency’s sake. From The China Study by Dr. Campbell; 2006; page 169:

“It seems that environmental factors, including diet, play the most important roles in colorectal cancer… In a landmark paper published almost thirty years ago, researchers compared environmental factors and cancer rates in thirty-two countries around the world. One of the strongest links between any cancer and any dietary factor was between colon cancer and meat intake… In this report, countries where more meat, more animal protein, more sugar and fewer cereal grains were consumed had far higher rates of colon cancer.”

An Argentine study found that people who ate about one and a half eggs per week had almost five times the risk of colorectal cancer as those who ate less than eleven eggs a year.  After analyzing data from thirty-four different countries, the World Health Organization correlated egg consumption with death from colon and rectal cancers. Another study found that moderate egg consumption tripled the risk of developing bladder cancer.  And several studies have associated (incidence of and mortality from) ovarian cancer with egg consumption.

– Skinny Bitch: Bun in the Oven (2005) by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin; page 91

Prostate Cancer
“Prostate cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers among men in the United States, representing about 25% of all tumors… As many as half of all men seventy years and older have latent prostate cancer, a silent form of the cancer which is not yet causing discomfort…

These disease patterns are similar to those of other diseases of affluence. Mostly this tells us thatalthough prostate cancer certainly has a genetic component, environmental factors play the dominant role. So what environmental factors are important? You can guess that I’m going to say plant-based foods are good and animal-based foods are bad, but do we know anything more specific? Surprisingly, one of the most consistent, specific links between diet and prostate cancer has been dairy consumption.”

– The China Study by Dr. Campbell; 2006; pages 177-178

“A 2001 Harvard review of the research could hardly be more convincing:

… twelve of… fourteen case-control studies and seven of… nine cohort studies [have] observed a positive association for some measure of dairy products and prostate cancer; this is one of the most consistent dietary predictors for prostate cancer in the published literature. In these studies, men with the highest dairy intakes had approximately double the risk of total prostate cancer, and up to a fourfold increase in risk of metastatic or fatal prostate cancer relative to low consumers.

Let’s consider that again: dairy intake is “one of the most consistent dietary predictors for prostate cancer in the published literature,” and those who consume the most dairy have double to quadruple the risk.

Another view of published literature done in 1998 reached a similar conclusion:

In ecologic data, correlations exist between per capita meat and dairy consumption and prostate cancer mortality rate [one study cited]. In case control and prospective studies, the major contributors of animal protein, meats, dairy products and eggs have frequently been associated with a higher risk of prostate cancer… [twenty-three studies cited]. Of note, numerous studies found an association primarily in older men [six studies cited] though not all [one study cited]… The consistent associations with dairy products could result from, at least in part, their calcium and phosphorous content.

In other words, an enormous body of evidence shows that animal-based foods are associated with prostate cancer. In the case of dairy, the high intake of calcium and phosphorous also could be partly responsible for this effect. This research leaves little room for dissent; each of the above studies represents analyses of over a dozen individual studies, providing an impressive bulk of convincing literature.”

– The China Study by Dr. Campbell; 2006; pages 178-179

Cancer Can Start In Childhood

Scientific studies have consistently repeated the observation that most common cancers are associated with stimulated growth in childhood, especially growth fueled by a diet heavy in growth-promoting animal products.  This protein- and fat- rich diet is enabling today’s children to exceed the height predicted by their parental genetics.  But children who mature early and grow taller than expected by parental height have been shown to be at higher risk of breast, prostate, colorectal, leukemic, ovarian, and endometrial cancers.

– Disease-Proof Your Child (2005) by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D.; page 85

More and more studies are emerging that illustrate that rapid growth at an early age shows an even stronger association to cancer than simply being overweight…  Dietary excesses in early childhood and the consumption of growth-promoting foods such as cow’s milk, cheese, and meat is marked by acceleration in growth and an earlier attainment of adult height and size.  We should want our children to grow slowly.  The faster they grow and the faster they reach puberty, the faster they age and the greater the risk of getting a later-life cancer.

– Disease-Proof Your Child (2005) by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D.; page 87

Click on Childhood Nutrition’s Critical Role in Cancer to read more.

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The information contained throughout this blog / website should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician / physician.