Breast Cancer Prevention: What
You Don’t Know…
Are you a woman who is concerned about breast
cancer? Breast cancer can be a frightening and devastating disease.
Chances are good that someone you know has had breast cancer. Someone
you care about has sat white-faced, clutching the kitchen phone,
or in a doctor's office, and heard the scary news that every woman
dreads - news that one out of eight women will hear in their
lifetime. Over 250,000 will hear the news this year alone.
Not only can the cancer itself be fatal, the
treatments themselves can be devastating to a woman’s health,
both physical and mental. Breast cancer is a horrible disease affecting
far too many women in the modern world. So what is a woman to do?
What can a woman do to help decrease her risk of breast cancer?
We’ll explore an exciting new possibility in this article.
Why
Is No One Talking About Breast Cancer Prevention?
If you go to your Doctor, or even the internet,
to find out how you can help decrease your risk of breast cancer,
you will likely be very disappointed.
Furthermore, it seems that even our own well-intentioned
grassroots fundraising efforts are primarily focused only on finding
a cure. Finding a cure is very important, but sadly this follows
the same mentality of our medical industry – wait for the
inevitable disease to develop, then try to treat or cure it.
Even the educational efforts focused on early
detection are also based upon how to handle the disease after it
has already manifested. In fact, most people now equate “prevention”
with “early detection”. Early detection simply means
you have found signs of the disease already in progress, but in
an early stage. Early
detection is NOT “Prevention”.
Let me be clear, finding a cure and early detection
are very important initiatives which I fully support. However, wouldn’t
the ultimate “cure” be the “prevention”
of breast cancer before it happens? Wouldn’t it be great if
some of these millions of dollars and hours of effort were spent
on research and education for prevention?
Actually, some incredibly exciting research
did result in an amazing find that linked one simple amino
acid to a 50% reduction in risk of breast cancer, but did
the average woman find out about it? No!
Legally speaking, someone would have to pay
for additional studies before any official health claims could be
made. Unfortunately, this kind of information usually doesn’t
make the news unless a pharmaceutical company is poised to profit
Breast
Cancer Research Reveals 50% Lower Risk Of Breast Cancer!
The entire reason I am writing this article
is to empower women with powerful information that they are not
being told. The primary piece of information I am passionately
sharing with as many women as possible is about the very exciting
clinical study I mentioned before.
I have spent many years and thousands of hours
researching clinical studies, medical papers, and other publications
regarding health, nutrition, treatment, and prevention. Yet, I have
never seen such a powerful study result for breast cancer prevention
that could have such meaningful implications.
This particular study is especially significant
because the results were concluded from one of the largest human
population studies in history. This study is commonly referred to
as “The Nurses Health Study” because it followed the
lives of over 32,000 nurses over a long period of time.
Yet, very few women, or even Doctors and Nutritionists,
are aware of the findings that were announced regarding breast cancer.
What did the study find that is so exciting?
According to a presentation at the Annual Meeting
of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), high blood
plasma levels of Cysteine were linked to a 50% lower risk
of breast cancer. Wait, did you say 50%? Yes, their risk
was cut in half!
Women
in the group with the highest levels of plasma Cysteine had a 50%
reduction in the risk of developing breast cancer.
These findings suggest that boosting of plasma
cysteine levels might have a preventative effect on breast cancer.
“High plasma total Cysteine levels may predict a reduced
risk of breast cancer” said lead author Shumin Zhang,
MD, ScD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
and Harvard School of Public Health.
Think about that for a minute…your level
of one simple amino acid, Cysteine, could possibly predict a 50%
reduction in your risk of breast cancer!
It is important to state that further studies
are needed in order to establish if the act of an increase in dietary
Cysteine would predict the same level of reduction.
What is Cysteine? Covalent Bonded Cysteine
(the non-denatured form) is the critical amino acid required for
the intracellular production of the antioxidant Glutathione (GSH).
The inhibitory effect of Cysteine on breast
cancer appears to be related to its unique and critical role in
controlling the body’s production of Glutathione. Glutathione
is commonly referred to as the body’s “master antioxidant”.
Glutathione is responsible for numerous immune system defense and
repair functions and is an effective anti-aging substance.
The average person has never heard of Glutathione.
However, given the huge amount of recent research on Glutathione
and the large impact it will have on future health care, the term
will slowly become part of everyday language just like “antioxidant”
is now. To date, there have been over 80,000 published articles
on glutathione in medical literature.
Naturally-occurring (non-denatured) Cysteine
is scarce in our modern diet and therefore Glutathione production
is limited and deficiency is prevalent. Lower Glutathione levels
have been linked to the onset of many age-related diseases including
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
The
Best Source for Cysteine – An Ironic Connection?
One popular and commonly promoted source for
Cysteine supplementation is N-acetlycysteine (NAC). However, NAC
is synthetic (thus its attractive low cost) and has unfortunately
been associated with a number of adverse effects including blurred
vision, dysphoria, and gastrointestinal discomfort. Additionally,
clinical trials regarding any effects on cancer from NAC have been
paradoxical and inconclusive.
Ironically, the absolute richest source for
naturally-occurring Cysteine is non-denatured, “biologically
active” whey protein.
Why do I find that ironic? (or perhaps not
so ironic) Because a newborn’s mother’s
breast milk protein is 90% whey protein!
Several studies have shown that supplementation
with high quality whey protein significantly increases Glutathione
levels, improves athletic performance, supports healthy blood
sugar levels, aids liver detoxification, and helps to provide a
decrease in body fat % (less fat, more lean muscle).
It is very important to understand that even
the most expensive commercial whey protein products available are
the by-products of cheese production with definite limitations in
preserving the complete full range of biological activity.
Commercial milk goes through a high-heat process
(approx. 163° F), chemical modification, and acidic bathes to
produce cheese. Each of these steps denatures (damages) the whey
proteins. The denatured proteins are then filtered out and what
remains is a narrow range of proteins that have survived the processing.
Additionally, the vital protein bound fats are still intact. These
healthy fats are removed in the very common “Whey Protein
Isolate” products.
Furthermore, if Cysteine undergoes any
heating or processing, as all conventional dairy and dairy by-products
do, it can be denatured and converted to Cystine.
Cystine is poorly soluble in water and not well absorbed.
The quality of the original “raw”
milk source must also be considered. Be sure the original milk source
comes from natural grass-fed cows (not grain fed) that have never
been subjected to any chemicals, genetically-modified organisms,
hyper-immunizations, injected pathogens, bovine growth hormone,
or any other hormones.
In Conclusion
While additional research is needed on the
effects of whey protein and cancer treatment, early dietary intervention
with a high quality, truly non-denatured whey protein can definitely
have many positive health benefits.
I highly encourage all women to do their own
research on meaningful ways that they can take control of their
own health. The medical industry is highly trained and skilled to
help us after a disease has manifested itself. However, our medical
industry is sorely lacking in teaching us what we can do to lessen
our risk of disease. It is up to each of us to empower ourselves
with the knowledge of living a preventative lifestyle. A preventative
lifestyle is simply a way of living to help reduce our chances of
needing medical intervention.
Educate yourself about eating more natural
foods, drinking clean water, building lean muscle mass, avoiding
chemicals and toxins, and enhancing your nutritional profile with
high quality supplements.
“Education brings Knowledge,
Knowledge brings Power, and Powerful Action brings Results.”
Authored By:
Adrian Goad
The information provided in this article is
provided solely as an educational reference to emerging areas of
science. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and
Drug Administration. Whey protein has not been approved by the FDA
to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease
|
