Foods That Prevent Prostate and Other Types of Cancers

It's movember, the month many men grow moustaches to show awareness of prostate cancer. Overall people have become more aware of risk factors to cancer, but prostate cancer is still the second most common cancer. This interesting map shows rates of incidence of most different types of cancer

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/cancerstats/world/incidence/#By

The map is interesting because it shows rates that are sometimes significantly different in similarly developed countries in different regions of the world, and because certain ethnic groups have much higher or lower rates of cancers. I was especially struck by the high rates of liver cancer in Mongolia. It has an incidence rate of 78 per 100,000 people compared to just 22 per 100,000 in neighbouring China.
According to this article it is due to high rates of hepatitis infection

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2811%2960448-0/fulltext

 An important thing to remember though is that sometimes lower incidence rates mean lower detection rates or that people are just dying earlier of other causes before the cancer can develop. Increasingly though nutrition is being linked to lower rates of certain types of cancers. The book "The China Study" linked the consumption of animal products in western society to higher rates of cancer. The book's conclusions are controversial but the evidence of higher cancer rates in western influenced Japan compared to China are compelling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_China_Study#Eight_principles_of_food_and_health

Much research is being done now that is slowly revealing that particular foods will have special effects on particular or many different types of cancers. Foods like berries and cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cabbage seem to have tumor shrinking properties in animal studies. Tomato consumption seems to result in lower rates of lung cancer, and habanero peppers caused prostate tumors to self destruct by blocking testosterone from entering them and other factors. And the list goes on. Indeed Mexico with it's high habanero consumption seems to have a very low rate of prostate cancer as the aforementioned map shows.

http://www.watershedsentinel.ca/content/investigating-habanero-peppers-prostate-cancer

But for all this readily available information doesn't seem to be getting publicized a lot even during this month of prostate cancer awareness. There are a few good articles out there to read like the one I link to here.

http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/prostate-cancer-procrastination-6-foods-eat-today#1

As you can see this list included tomatoes and broccoli (cruciferous) as well as Green Tea which some theorized was a factor in China having lower rates of certain types of cancer compared to the west. Antioxidant rich food like pomegranates or berries could also be a factor in the prevention of cancer causing damage to your cells. As for myself  I drink green tea, eat berries, and try to get some organic greens every day. I find broccoli to be a very versatile food and it is known to be rich in a wide variety of vitamins and minerals. It's inexpensive and I always chop up the stems as well to add to stir fries or steam them with garlic and butter which is very tasty too. A good part of getting the proper nutrients is establishing a routine for yourself to get all these important things into you over the course of a day. In my case I start out the day with a spoonful of berry powder, and work in other things in like tomato juice with Omega3s (anti inflammatory) stirred in. Once your own routine is established you should start to see the effects of these antioxidant rich foods on your own outward appearance like better hair and skin quality.

Picking the Right Pet Food

My Opinion on a Biased Article About By Products in Pet Foods 

Just read this article and found it very frustrating that this information is being spread on the internet when so much has been done in the past decade to improve the quality of pet foods that are available.

http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/dog-food-label-ingredients/#comment-205592

 As a person with many past and present beloved family pets I do quite a bit of reading on pet foods and want the best for them. One of our family pets did die a painful death from cancer before I started learning about pet foods, and I think it is possible that cheap pet food was a factor in the development of that cancer. Pets live short lives but we all want them to be healthy and spend as much time as possible with us. Playing the odds and giving them the best diet possible is a step in the right direction. I want to share what I have learned in the hopes your pet can live a healthier life.

The important thing to remember is that the main source of material for this opinionated article is Pedigree dog foods. This company manufactures a food with  By-Products in the ingredient list. Hardly unbiased.


Now lets take a closer look at Pedigree Dog Food. They do a lot of advertising {unlike the really good super premium brands interestingly) and their commercials show leaping happy dogs. But how good are their ingredients?

Here are the ingredients for their original formula food.

 http://www.mypedigree.ca/en/our-food/foodproductlist/dryvitalityib/

There are a number of things wrong with this food. First of all the first ingredient which is the largest by weight is corn. Think about it. We make syrup out of corn so that's not going to be good for their blood sugar, and probably bad for their teeth as well. It's a simple carb with little nutritional value. The next ingredients are meat and bone meal, and animal fat. Meat and animal fat? From what animal? I don't know where this company gets their meat meal. When you buy a food with meat and animal ingredients what  assurances in general are there  there that it isn't from a very bad source. Are those sources  euthanized or diseased  animals, expired grocery store meat,  road kill, or even restaurant grease? These questions need to be more clearly answered by the government and pet food makers. http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-industry-exposed/dogs-meat-meal/

Try finding a pet food containing By Products with OVERALL ingredients as good as a food with HUMAN GRADE chicken. You will have a hard time doing that. Really good quality brands that I would feed to family pets like Orijen, Fromm, and Go Natural have meat that is specially inspected to be fit for human consumption. That of course means that the ingredients are not from euthanized animals etc. Secondly the really good quality foods do not have filler like simple carb wheat and corn. Instead they contain antioxidant rich fruits and vegetables that support the overall health with natural sources of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. These fruits and vegetables may also have valuable cancer and disease preventing properties for your pet just as they will for you. In the long run spending money on better pet food may save you money on vet bills. Any trip to the vet will likely cost you enough money to  buy  a lot of dog food. At an average cost of about $70/bag good quality dog food winds up costing you about $2.50 a day. Not so bad when you look at it that way right?

They also will not have any artificial colors or preservatives like many cheaper byproduct pet foods. Those chemicals will build up in your pet and be a risk factor for cancers. On top of all this really good quality foods contain probiotics that can help with digestion. Probiotics are beneficial bacteria in your pet's stomach that can help break down food and promote good health.

These days people consider their pet a member of the family and want them to eat as good quality food as the humans. Would you eat a diet of byproducts, corn/wheat, and synthetic vitamins? How healthy do you think you would be? Still think a food with byproducts is better? Look up that brand on dogfoodavisor.com and see what they say….

This pup is going to eat the best food possible.