Since cancer has become the plague and one of the greatest fears of the modern technological, chemical age and, overall, cancer treatment, other than for certain malignancies, has not to date been very successful, prevention of cancer is the only sensible approach. The relationship of diet to cancer came of age in the 1980s. With our new knowledge, we can clearly now do something about the threats of cancer and our future. Caring for ourselves and others as if we really love life and have a desire to live will win over all possible disease!
Chapter 11, Environmental Aspects of Nutrition, contains a fairly detailed discussion of cancer—its genesis, potential offending agents, dietary concepts, prevention ideas, and so on. Here I want to focus more on general nutrition and supplements and their importance in preventing cancer.
Two decades ago, it was difficult to find any major institutions, doctors, or groups like the medical associations or the American Cancer Society, that would admit that there were any ties between cancer and nutrition. Now the nutritional and environmental influences on the genesis of cancer, the second biggest killer of the American adult population, have been fairly well accepted as key components in this disease. A big breakthrough came with the 1977 Senate Select Committee’s Dietary Goals for the United States, listing cancer as one of the major degenerative diseases (cardiovascular disease and diabetes are others) that are linked to improper diet. The committee’s suggestions of lower fat, higher fiber, and more natural foods are definitely a part of the cancer-prevention diet. An important report called Diet, Nutrition and Cancer, compiled by the National Academy of Sciences and released in 1982, gave further credence to the relationship between diet and cancer and offered more specific dietary suggestions. And in 1988, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published a major manuscript by C. Everett Koop, M.D., entitled The Surgeon General’s Report on Nutrition and Health. It discusses the relationships between nutrition and our common degenerative diseases, including cancer.
But cancer is a multifactorial, multidimensional disease. While nutritional and environmental influences are definite components, physiological, social, emotional, psychological, and spiritual factors are also important. Therefore, the prevention and treatment of cancer must deal with all of these aspects of life.
The aging process itself increases cancer risk, but particularly if we do not take good care of ourselves. Poor nutrition can lead to many functional problems, such as lowered immunity and slower cell repair. The increased exposure to carcinogens is no help either. (See more on this in the Anti-Aging Program). To much of the medical profession, cancer prevention means primarily early detection—more exams, x-rays, mammograms, and biopsies—so that the necessary surgery, drugs, and radiation can be applied sooner to prevent an untimely death. However, prevention of cancer is much more than early detection—it means not creating the disease. A good diet and stress management are important cancer preventives. A strong, healthy immune (defense) system is also an essential part of this plan (see the preceding program on Immune Enhancement). With a strong immune system, even the few cancer cells that might be regularly generated would be easily removed from the body. Put simply (according to current thinking), it takes both the disease of the cells and the failure of the immune system together to create cancer—in other words, the effect of potential carcinogens on an already unstable body.