According to some cancer researchers, during the course of a human lifetime the life-threatening disease crops up in people at least several times. The people never suspect that some cells have mutated into cancer because their immune system quickly identifies the malignancy and destroys the mutated cells. Why do some people die from terminal cancer, while others live past 100? Why does the deadly disease never taking root in their body? Certainly, genetics plays a significant role. Environment and stress also are factors. But diet, what’s in it and what’s missing, also plays a crucial role. Certain foods and additives can increase the likelihood of contracting cancer while other foods act as powerful anti-carcinogenics. Five such foods are the focus of this article. Intensive study has revealed these foods dramatically lower your risk and may cut the probablities of getting cancer in half.
1. Hot peppers
Peppers, especially the hotter varieties have been recommended by Eastern mystics for many centuries. They claimed the medicinal properties of hot peppers were as effective as some of the best herbs. Especially helpful for combatting any wasting disease. Today, modern medicine calls wasting disease cancer.
Deciding to investigate the efficacy of hot peppers as cancer-fighting foods, nutritional researcher Dan Dou sought studied the extracts of ten common types of peppers. According to themedicinalpepper.com, the peppers Dou chose “were prepared and assayed for tumor angiogenesis and apoptosis. To his surprise, Dou found “that both fresh and dried pepper extracts were highly effective in killing cancer cells and inhibiting cell proliferation…” [Hot Peppers Vs. Cancer—Tumor cell inhibition with hot pepper extracts]
The key seems to be the amount of capsaicin (a substance that makes a hot pepper hot) in the pepper.
2. Garlic
Numerous studies have proven that the ancient Asian Masters’ claims about the healing magic of garlic are true. Garlic fights disease in general, is a natural antibiotic, and a powerful anti-cancer food.
How garlic is handled, however, is critical to getting the anticarcinogenic compounds into your body. Heating garlic in the microwave or roasting it in the oven van destroy its cancer-fighting qualities.
Penn State researchers discovered this surprising fact and reveal how to eat garlic to obtain its greatest benefits. Sciencedaily.com reports on the research presented at a conference held in Newport beach, California.
A major scientific study was done almost a decade ago that first revealed the deleterious effect heat can have on garlic in the paper, “The Influence of Heating on the Anticancer Properties of Garlic.”
3. Broccoli
The May 1st 2010 issue of Clinical Cancer Research, published a stunning new study that confirmed broccoli’s incredible healing properties. Zeroing in on the vegetable’s ability to fight cancer was mostly due to a compound called sulforaphane.
A team of cancer researchers at the University of Michigan conducted the study that found sulphoraphane attacked cancer stem cells.
Speaking about the remarkable results, Duxin Sun, an associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the U-M College of Pharmacy, said: “Sulforaphane has been studied previously for its effects on cancer, but this study shows that its benefit is in inhibiting the breast cancer stem cells. This new insight suggests the potential of sulforaphane or broccoli extract to prevent or treat cancer by targeting the critical cancer stem cells.”
Other studies support the findings and one went farther, finding that eating broccoli with mustard, Japanese wasabi (horseradish), or just simple radishes significantly boosts broccoli’s canver-fighting properties.
Elizabeth H. Jeffery, a professor of nutrition at the University of Illinois, spoke about the discovery with the Daily Express: “Broccoli, prepared correctly, is an extremely potent cancer-fighting agent. Three to five servings a week are enough to have an effect.”
The sulforaphane, taken with an enzyme called myrosinase boosts the vegetable’s cancer-killing ability. The more myrosinase, the greater the vegetable’s disease-preventing power.
While young broccoli sprouts have large quantities of myrosinase present, eating the plant with mustard or radishes supercharges the sulforaphane.
Broccoli’s powerful array of anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory agents protect against many cancers other than prostrate cancer. It also fights against cancer developing in the skin, bowels, and breasts.
4. Pomegranates
Pomegranates have long been touted as having special health benefits, among them the powerful boost the fruit can provide to the libido.
Recently, researchers at a California university discovered another amazing benefit of the cranberry-colored fruit: the juice contains chemical components that tends to paralyze cancer cells as they form and reduce the cells’ ability to spread. The reserach revealed that the juice is especially beneficial fighting prostate cancer.
Sciencedaily.com reviews the medical evidence that supports what the ancient Indian masters of wellness knew thousands of years in the past.
5. Green tea
The remarkable benefits of green tea were first discovered by Chinese health practitioners about 5,000 years ago.
Proving those ancient Chinese physicians right, researchers at New Castle University conducted a study that revealed green tea does fight many chronic illnesses, among them severe forms of dementia and many types of cancer. The study appears in the journal Phytomedicine.
Discussing the important findings, lead investigator Dr. Ed Okello of New Castle told the Daily Mail that “What was really exciting was that we found when green tea is digested, the resulting chemicals are actually more effective against key triggers of Alzheimer’s, [and] the digested compounds also had anti-cancer properties, significantly slowing down the growth of tumor cells which we were using in our experiments.”
Okello thinks everyone should add green tea to their diets.”Green tea has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries and what we have here provides the scientific evidence why it may be effective against some of the key diseases we face today. [And while] there are obviously many factors which together have an influence on diseases such as cancer and dementia—a good diet, plenty of exercise and a healthy lifestyle are all important—I think it’s fair to say that at least one cup of green tea a day may be good for you and I would certainly recommend it.”
These five foods can help you stave off many diseases including one of the world’s worst killers: cancer. Many of these superfoods were known to the Masters of India and Asia as healing foods long, long ago.