Reducing your risk of breast cancer

Women who eat oily fish once or twice a week can reduce their risk of breast cancer. British Medical Journal says that researchers made their assessment after studying 26 trials from around the world that involved more than 800,000 women. That’s a lot of women and a significant reduction of 5% for every 0.1g (100mg) of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) consumed. The oily fish were sardines, salmon and tuna.

Meanwhile I hear TV news reports of big increases in prophylactic breast removal a la Angelina Jolie. It truly saddens me to think that women have become so fearful and life-negating, believing that their genetic predisposition is also their entire destiny. Yet in 2002, the Journal of National Cancer Institute warned ... 'Without a healthy respect for the many factors that may influence disease incidence, we will continue to overestimate the risk conferred by BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations alone and, thus, miss opportunities to develop truly effective prevention strategies . . . based on a broad understanding of causative factors.'

Instead of the nay-saying and fear-mongering, what would it take for doctors to advise women differently, suggesting life-affirming beliefs along with attention to all the dietary and lifestyle factors that reduce the risk of cancer (not just of breast, but of all types)? That’s a rhetorical question of course. After all, you consult an oncologist and his armoury is limited to chemotherapy and radiation, go to a surgeon, he too has only one tool in his war chest. Time to think beyond the invasive medical solutions, oily fish are just a beginning ... regular doses of sunshine another simple step

Reward sales of fresh, healthy food?

A recent letter published in the British Medical Journal suggests that providing incentives for the sale of healthy foods at supermarket checkouts could be more effective than putting a tax (e.g. "fat tax") on unhealthy foods. 

This guy sounds like he’s got his thinking cap on straight. Rather than taxing the unhealthy foods, let’s give the healthy ones a tax break ... Dr. Ian Lake, general practitioner and obesity researcher has made a novel proposal. Taking the example of the five major UK supermarkets, Lake suggests linking loyalty cards to an incentive scheme that rewards those stores that reach a target of spending on healthy foods. While he admits that the identification of those foods which are healthy could prove contentious, he also suggests that the carrot might work better than the stick. 

I agree and while we’re at it, let’s reward those individuals who through their own positive actions, keep themselves and their familes healthy. 

Now the good word on ... eggs!

Consumption of eggs is not associated with an increased risk of heart disease or stroke! Recent analysis by the prestigious BMJ (British Medical Journal) of eight studies and more than half a million participants, might hopefully remove the stigma from the much-maligned egg. What led us to swear off eggs was set in motion when a long-ago researcher fed cholesterol-containing eggs to rabbits (obligatory herbivores). Now almost 100 years since the original research, it’s interesting to reflect that Anitschkov never concluded from his experiments that cholesterol in the diet caused atherosclerosis in humans. But somehow his simplified work entered the pop science mainstream, setting a whole cholesterol-reduction industry in motion and spawned several generations of consumers studiously avoiding a God-given, nutrient-laden, healthy food choice! Well, let’s be more specific here ... the God-given eggs laid by wide-roaming, omnivorous hens, free to eat snails, bugs, grain and greens are what I’m referring to. The alternative eggs, yolks potentially coloured by additives in the feed, from battery hens, forced into laying non-stop, don’t cut the mustard. 

If you’re in any doubt about the need to buy organically raised and fed produce, check out the movie Samsara and while you’re out looking for good eggs from chooks that are free to roam, consider eating the shells too. Latest calcium and other mineral-enriched additive from the food industry is ... guess what? You got it, straight from organic egg shells. Chuck em into the blender with your fruit and yoghurt smoothie.