In a previous article, I discussed the recent changes to mammography recommendations.  This week I’ll share what women can do to reduce their risk of breast cancer.

First of all, it is important to acknowledge that cancer statistics are very complicated; the most recent research study may have results that contradict the one before.  This explains why it is easy to get confused by the divergent information about cancer in the news media.  I will try to provide some clarity.

Put simply, being at a healthy weight significantly reduces the risk of dying from breast cancer.  Numerous medical studies indicate that maintaining a health weight (BMI between 20 and 25) is the most important lifestyle factor in affecting breast cancer survival.

The healthiest way of achieving optimal weight is to eat plenty of vegetables and fruits and to exercise regularly.  A 2007 study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology indicates that breast cancer patients who eat these healthy foods and exercise reduce their risk of dying from their cancer by up to 50%.

While having a glass of wine every day seems to prevent cardiovascular disease and decreases the rate of death from all causes, this amount of alcohol seems to increase breast cancer risk.  If you are concerned about breast cancer because of your personal or family medical history, avoid alcohol.  If cardiovascular disease seems more important, a few glasses of wine can be an enjoyable and healthy choice.

Hormone therapy with estrogen and/or progesterone for menopause increases the risk of women getting breast cancer.  While the increased risk may be small, it is real: a 24% increase in risk.  Natural treatments for menopausal symptoms work well.  Some of the best therapies I recommend include herbs like black cohosh, chaste tree, and St. John’s Wort.  Preliminary research indicates that black cohosh can even be helpful as an add-on treatment for breast cancer.

One of vitamin D’s roles in the body is helping to make sure that cells grow to be healthy and mature.  Because dangerous cancer cells are immature, vitamin D status may be important in all forms of cancer, including breast.  The best way to know your vitamin D level is to get a test from your doctor called 25-OH Vitamin D.  Insufficiency is defined as less than 30ng/mL and optimal levels are about 45ng/mL.  If testing is not available to you, taking 2,000 IU of supplemental vitamin D3 each day is a safe approach.

Be well,
Richard Malik, ND

I am receiving so many junk mails about the AMAZING effects of Acai products.  In general, I am very skeptical when anything is advertised as a cure-all.  Acai certainly is marketed as an effective therapy for a vast number of health concerns.

Based upon my exposure to research from Acai manufacturers, the primary value of Acai is its high anti-oxidant activity.  ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) is one measure of antioxidant activity.

Promotional materials for Acai claim that the ORAC value of Acai is several times higher than other anti-oxidant rich foods.  As with all statistics and marketing, the devil is in the details.

According to one freeze-dried Acai supplement manufacturer, the ORAC value of 100 grams (about 3.3 ounces) of freeze-dried Acai is 5,500 ORAC or about twice that of 100 grams of blueberries.  That is very good.

However, this manufacturers supplement contains 1,000mg (one gram) of freeze-dried Acai per 2 capsules.  This provides an ORAC value of 55!  The ORAC value of one cup of blueberries is between 9,000 and 13,000 or equivalent to 260 servings of Acai freeze-dried supplement.

One $40 (discounted from $50!) of Acai supplement provides sixty 1,000mg servings of Acai.  In other words, $40 provides you with the anti-oxidants activity of 1/4 to 1/3 cup of blueberries.  

Bottom Line:

Anti-oxidants are very important and promote health, however you would get many times more anti-oxidant effect at a small fraction of the cost from eating some blueberries each day.

Be well,

Richard Malik, ND

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A patient recently shared with me that she saw a nutritionist talk and he listed the what he thought were the five healthiest foods.  I can’t remember the whole list, but they included avocados, almonds, and eggs.  

I wouldn’t put these foods in my top 5 list because many people are sensitive to eggs and some are sensitive to tree nuts.  

Avocados are a vegetarian source of complete protein, high in fiber, and energy rich due to high amount of fat.  They contain a high amount of linoleic acid which your body primarily uses to make inflammatory fatty acids like arachidonic acid but also uses to make a generally anti-inflammatory fatty acid called Gamma Linolenic Acid (GLA).

Avocados are an excellent food and, for taste, one of my favorites.  But I wouldn’t call it one of the 5 healthiest foods.

So, even though I don’t like to list the 5 best foods (I think it is best and most fun to eat a large variety of healthy foods), I thought it would be a fun exercise to list my top 5.  Let’s see how it goes…

1. Cruciferous Vegetables - I know, this is a group of vegetables, not a single food, but they provide excellent nutrition, support detoxifcation, and even appear to reduce the risk of some cancers.  If I had to pick one cruciferous vegetable as my favorite, the winner would be… kale.  Other cruciferous vegetables include many types of greens, broccoli, cabbage, bok choy, and cauliflower.
2. Seasonal fruits are rich in health promoting fiber and essential nutrients.  Fruit that is in season is richest in nutrients AND tastiest.
3. Fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids, but low in mercury like sardines and wild Alaskan salmon
4. Water - clean and pure water is important for tissue function, digestion, delivery of nutrients, and detoxification (urine and sweat)
5. Medicinal spices - spices are herbs that are more tasty than medicinal herbs, but have excellent effects on health.  Healthful spices include garlic (anti-cancer and anti-microbial), cilantro (supports detoxification), ginger (improves circulation, aids digestion, and anti-inflammatory), turmeric (anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer), Rosemary (mildly anti-inflammatory), Thyme (supports lung function and weakly anti-microbial)

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Many people think that “organic food” is synonymous with “health food.”  This is not true.  Organic candy bars are almost as bad for your health as normal candy bars.  Eating a lot of organic sugar still helps people gain weight and obesity is a cause of most of our health concerns, including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.  Basically, organic junk food is still junk food.

But, what is the difference between organic and inorganic produce.  Some people can’t afford to shop for organic produce.  For them, it is still important to buy healthy conventionally grown food because it is the next best thing.  Others can afford to buy some of their family’s groceries from the organic sections of their grocery store.

Here is some information to help you make the best decision.

EWG Shopper

First of all, let me be clear that organic produce is healthier than conventionally grown produce.  Research does show that organic produce tends to be more nutrient rich and tastier than conventionally grown produce.  Organic produce also tends to have lower amounts of residual toxic pesticides and herbicides.  From an ecological perspective, organic foods also tend to be grown with agricultural methods that are healthier for the ecosystem.  There are plenty of reasons to buy organic if you can afford it.

The Environmental Working Group has recently updated their list of the most and least heavily pesticided produce.  They calculated the amount of pesticides people would be exposed to when normally consuming these foods (oranges and bananas are peeled while apples and pears are washed and eaten with the skin).

If your budget is tight, only buy the organic produce that helps you avoid the greatest amounts of pesticides and herbicides.   This information will help you maximize the healthy effects of every dollar of your grocery budget.

Be Well,

Richard

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I have seen several patients recently that simply had the wrong tests ordered by their MDs when assessing inflammation or cardiovascular risk. To prevent these testing errors, I encourage patients to better understand these tests and make sure their doctors are ordering the right ones.

A common test for inflammation is the Eosinophil Sedimentation Rate (ESR).  It measures the tendency of red blood cells to clump together - rouleaux or stacking formation.  This test is still offered by laboratories only because doctors not familiar with newer and superior tests still request it.  ESR tests can provide inaccurate results (false positives or false negatives) for many different reasons.

C-Reactive Protein (C-RP) directly measures a liver enzyme that is an acute phase reactant.  This enzymes rises quickly when inflammation is present and falls quickly when inflammation resolves.  Therefore, it is an excellent marker of inflammation; better than the ESR which is more likely to be falsely positive or stay elevated after inflammation has resolved.  It is the best blood test to help determine if a patient’s symptoms are due to trauma, injury, infection, auto-immune reactions, or cancer.

High Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein has many acronyms (HS-CRP, CRPHS, or Cardio C-RP).  It is a test that provides an assessment of an individual’s cardiovascular risk that is independent of other measures like total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, or homocysteine.  HS-CRP measures a person’s baseline levels of inflammation and has been found to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease because the formation of arterial plaques and clots that cause myocardial infarction and ischemic strokes are encouraged by chronic states of low-grade inflammation.  While high sensitivity C-RP is a good measure of risk of heart attack or stroke, it is not a test to assess inflammation from trauma, injury, infection, or auto-immune disease.  Frequently, this test is selected for patients when the normal C-RP is the right test.  I think this happens because clinicians are assuming that the “high sensitivity” test must be better than the normal test.

Be well,

Richard

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I just ran across an interesting study that, through statistical analysis, comes to the conclusion that the incidence of several types of cancers are lower when people have higher vitamin D blood levels.  Their recommendation is for people to maintain vitamin D levels between 55ng/ml and 90ng/ml.  These levels are between the standard mainstream medicine reference ranges of above 32ng/ml being optimal and above 100ng/ml being toxic.

These researchers are recommending vitamin D intakes between 2,000 and 10,000 IU per day.  Current recommendations are 400-600 IU per day.

Vitamin D levels are accurately assessed with a test called 25-OH Vitamin D.  If taking high doses of vitamin D, please have your vitamin D levels checked by your physician after 3 months of supplementation to ensure your safety.

Vitamin D3 5,000 IU

If you are deficient in vitamin D, supplementation will likely improve bone health, blood pressure, and possibly mood and immune function.

Here is the highest qualtiy and most affordable Vitamin D supplement I have found; tested for identity, potency, purity, and label claim to expiration date.  Taking one capsule every third day ensures a daily dose below the Institute of Medicine’s conservative upper intake limit of 2,000 IU per day.  At this dose, one bottle lasts about 9 months!

Be Well,

Richard