1. I think vegetarians don't have as much cancer because they're more conscientious about eating MORE fruits and vegetables. I was a fat vegetarian; ate lots of those. But I also ate lots of whole grains. Turned out I had celiac disease; the whole grains gave me a higher risk of GI cancers and non-Hodgkins via malabsorption of nutrients. It's not the meat, it's the gluten that was bad for ME. 3% are diagnosed with celiac, leaving 97% undiagnosed. Doctors might associate old beliefs of diarrhea and weight loss with celiac. I did not have diarrhea and was fat. How many of the country's 50-65% obese are walking timebombs with celiac, when 30-50% may have noted to have gluten "sensitivities?" I was chronically fatigued my whole life; worsened as I aged. Worsened as I ate the USDA's recommended 6-11 servings of whole grains/day. And doctors probably thought I was fatigued because I was fat. I was fat cause my body doesn't work right.

Posted at 11:48PM on Jun 3rd 2007 by a

2. Dear Cancer Bloggers:

I was delighted to come across this great blog. What an outstanding job the organizers have done in putting this blog together. It is organized, clean and very well managed. Bravo to the people who have taken the time to put this valuable resource together!

To comment on this note of vegetables and cancer risk: it has indeed been shown that people who eat a lot of vegetables do have a significantly lower risk of cancer. Vegetables are rich sources of phytochemicals that can be very effective in preventing and or treating cancer.

Let us consider an example. Diindolylmethane (DIM) from Brassica Vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, etc.) for example: http://www.diindolylmethane.org

DIM is a naturally occuring compound found in Brassica vegetables that has a number of anti-cancer properties. It is so powerful that it is currently being used as a treatment for RRP tumors and has reached Phase III clinical trials for Cervical Dysplasia, a precancerous condition caused by the Human Papilloma Virus. DIM is the only dietary compound to have reached this degree of therapeutic use in the oncology field.

Scientists in human clinical studies have shown that DIM helps to support healthy estrogen metabolism which is an established marker for the risk of developing breast cancer and more recently, investigators at UC Berkeley have demonstrated that DIM has potent immune enhancing effects, addiing further to its reputation as a health promoting phytochemical.

http://www.ActivaMune.com

For these reasons and more the National Cancer Institute has begun clinical trials of DIM as a therapeutic for a number of cancers: breast, prostate, lung, colorectal, and cervical.

In addition to DIM, Brassica vegetables such as broccoli, are a rich source of other phytochemicals and minerals that have potent anti-cancer properties. Sulforaphane, for example, is another phytochemical in Brassica vegetables that has been shown at the Johns Hopokins School of Medicine to have outstanding anti-cancer and detoxification properties. Selenium, also found richly in Brassica vegetables has been shown to have highly beneficial properties and in human clinical trials has been demonstrated to lower the risk of prostate cancer.

Vegetable combinations have also been shown to have potent anti-cancer properties. For example, a groundbreaking study at the University of Illinois demonstrated that a diet rich in broccoli and tomatoes was more effective in reducing prostate cancer growth than a leading drug for prostate cancer. The key elements accounted for this activity were: DIM, Sulforaphane, Selenium and Lycopene.

The news section of ActivaMune's website has some good references on how and why vegetable phytochemicals can be effective in preventing and or treating cancer.

http://www.activamune.com/news.htm

I hope that you find this information to be helpful.

Regards,

AD

Posted at 3:37AM on Jun 4th 2007 by Arash M. Davallou