If you eat a lot of things with a high glycemic load, which is a measurement of how quickly food raises your blood sugar, you may have problems not only related to diabetes or being over weight, but you could run a higher risk of colorectal cancer. A Harvard Medical School study involving 38,000 women saw an increased risk of colon cancer related to the white foods like pasta, white rice, white bread, potatoes, and pastries. The lower glycemic load foods like whole wheat bread or multi grain breads and brown rice comes with fiber. Another Harvard study showed an increase in the risk of pancreatic cancer in women who are overweight and sedentary.

Since the 1970s, researchers have suspected that diet and nutrition are related to colorectal cancer risk. Numerous studies published since that time have confirmed the connection between what we eat and risk of this cancer. Many health experts agree that a high fiber diet is important for cancer prevention, but questions remain about how much and which types of high fiber foods may reduce colorectal cancer risk most effectively. This has led to interest in specific high fiber foods, especially whole grains.

Start the day with a bowl of whole grain cereal or oatmeal. For cold cereals, choose one that contains at least 6 grams of fiber per serving and make sure you pick one where sugar does not appear first, second or third in the ingredient list. Oatmeal is not only high fiber but studies show that it helps reduce cholesterol. But if you are like me I am not fond of the mushy breakfast food. Until a dear musician friend introduced me to steel oats. Now I can't get enough of these nutty oats and even eat them for late night snacks.

Steel cut oats are whole grain groats which have been cut into only two or three pieces. Which means the the inner portion of the oat kernel is not missing like in rolled oats. They are golden in color and resemble small rice pieces. Steel-cut oats are also known as coarse cut oats, pinhead oats, Scotch oats, or Irish oats. Because the steel cut oats are more natural with less pre-processing, they may be more nutritious than the more popular rolled oats. But to me they give off a more nutty taste and I like the small crunch over the mushy consistency of the rolled oats. The cooking time is longer on steel cut oats but really worth the wait.

When shopping for them in your grocery store, look for canisters much like coffee cans as they are kept in air tight containers.

Preparing your Steel Oats.

1 cup steel cut oats
4 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp butter
Fresh Blueberries or other fresh fruits.

Combine oats and other ingredients in medium saucepan and bring water to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium. Simmer for 30 minutes stirring occasionally to keep from sticking on the bottom. For the last 5 to 10 minutes of cooking time you will need to stir more frequently as it thickens. Spoon into a bowl and top with fresh fruit. Some people like to add a little milk to the bowl to give them a creamy texture. Makes 4 servings.

Despite the news that cancer is set to explode in Asia, it's appearing as if adopting an Asian-inspired lifestyle may be the key to warding off cancer. Apparently, Asian and western women share the same genes that have recently been linked to an increased chance of developing breast cancer, and yet women in the west are more likely to develop cancer.

Asian lifestyles have long been touted as a way to stay healthy. The typical Asian diet is low in fat, meat and overall calories, and high in vegetables and soy, which is a stark change from the mainly animal-based North American diet, one that revolved around processed foods.

All that said, I don't think I could live on a fully Asian-style diet. I mean, I love sushi and Thai and many other Asian foods, but giving up my cheese? Say it ain't so.

What do you think?

Couscous is that little pasta pellet that many people mistake for rice. It consists of grains made from semolina that are about 1 mm or 1/16th inch in diameter after cooking. It is quick and easy to prepare and can be eaten cold, warm, or hot. A multi grains diet aids in the prevention of colon cancer. Here is one of my favorite healthy ways to eat this little treasure. The added ingredients are known in the food world to aid in the prevention of cancer. Studies show falcarinol in carrots reduce cancer. Some studies show that basil is a cancer preventative herb. Green peas provide nutrients, including vitamin C, which are instrumental in helping to prevent the development of cancer. Lemon also adds to the vitamin C in this recipe. A high intake of vitamin C has been shown to reduce the risks for virtually all forms of cancer, including leukemia, lymphoma, and lung, colorectal, and pancreatic cancers as well as sex hormone-related cancers like breast, prostate, cervix, and ovarian cancers.

Vicki's Lemon Couscous
1 3/4 cups water
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons of lemon zest
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups couscous
1 cup sweet peas
1 cup minced carrots
1/4 cup fresh minced basil
2 tablespoons capers
2 tablespoons minced garlic

In a 1-quart saucepan, bring water, lemon juice, lemon zest, 2 tablespoons oil and garlic to a boil. Add carrots, peas, capers and couscous and stir. Cover and remove from heat and let stand for 15 minutes. Remove couscous into a large bowl by using a fork to fluff and separate the pieces. Add the minced basil and stir. You can eat this while it is hot as a great side dish or cold as a salad. Salt and pepper to taste.

Getting enough grains in your diet is very essential in the prevention of colon cancer. Switching from a white bread to a multi grain bread is an easy step. Adding ground up flax seed to the daily diet is another. And to me Risotto is to rice what wheat is to pasta. It is comfort food, satisfying, and can be fixed a hundred ways with or without meat, by adding various vegetables or just mixed with cheese, but the creamy texture is like no other. Here is one of my favorite personal risotto recipes that adds an unlikely candidate in the food world to the famous Italian food. Nappa cabbage, a cruciferous vegetable that aids in reducing carcinogens in the body and gives you lots of vitamins and nutrients. This is my Italian meets Asian recipe that makes this comfort food especially healthy in the fight against cancer.

Chef Vicki's Creamy Nappa Risotto

1/2 white onion chopped (medium onion in size)
1 celery stalk finely chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons butter (you can substitute olive oil)
5 nappa cabbage leaves chopped.
5 cups vegetable broth
1 cup arborio rice

Note: If you don't buy boxed or canned vegetable broth you can use 5 vegetable bouillon cubes with 5 cups of water to make the broth.

Remember this is a slow cooking recipe that requires a lot of stirring and love watching over the pot. It takes approximately 30 minutes to cook this dish but it is well worth the wait.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a medium sized sauce pan over medium heat and add onions, celery, and garlic. Saute for 1 to 2 minutes. Add arborio rice and stir until it is all coated and the starch from the rice starts to release. Slowly start adding your vegetable broth one cup at a time and wait for it to be absorbed before adding the next. Continue stirring until you add the last cup of broth. Add the Nappa cabbage with the last cup of broth and continue stirring until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is creamy.

According to a study published in the International Journal of Cancer, a significant link between a diet high in bread and kidney cancer has been found. A diet high in pasta and rice might also contribute to an increase in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) a common form of kidney cancer.

2301 Italians particpated in the study conducted by researchers from the Institute of Pharmacological Research Mario Negri in Milan.

Researchers found that diets high in bread, pasta and rice, which cause a rise in insulin-like growth factors might play a role in the increase in cancer. Diets high in poultry, processed meat, and all vegetables, both raw and cooked appear to decrease the risk.

For more information on the glycemic diet and the glycemic index, visit Fifty 50.

One day, look for these enhanced food products to appear on supermarket shelves, because more and more, consumers are demanding that the food they buy offer health benefits beyond what has been traditionally offered, and scientists are discovering ways to make that happen. Recently, University of Maryland researchers created, and patented the process, of transforming wheat, corn and rice flours into antioxidant powerhouses in the newest offering of functional foods. They have also devised a means of developing a flour based on fruit seeds that were discarded in the making of fruit juice.

The researchers assure that the process of enhancing flours is environmentally friendly -- which is another concern of many consumers. We want to be eat for good health, but we also want to be good to the earth. Antioxidants are known to offer cancer prevention benefits and are naturally found in whole foods such as fruits, vegetables and berries. Using antioxidant-enriched flours will be one more way to incorporate antioxidants into our daily diet.

This finding, along with the news of mandarin orange juice liver cancer prevention benefit, will be presented during the four-day conference Functional Foods and Health, at the 232nd national meeting of the American Chemical Society.

The process that produces brown rice removes only the outermost layer, the hull, of the rice kernel and is the least damaging to its nutritional value. The complete milling and polishing that converts brown rice into white rice destroys 67% of the vitamin B3, 80% of the vitamin B1, 90% of the vitamin B6, half of the manganese, half of the phosphorus, 60% of the iron, and all of the dietary fiber and essential fatty acids. Fully milled and polished white rice is required to be "enriched" with vitamins B1, B3 and iron.

Brown rice is an excellent source of manganese, and a good source of the minerals selenium and magnesium. For people worried about colon cancer risk, brown rice is a concentrated source of the fiber needed to minimize the amount of time cancer-causing substances spend in contact with colon cells, and is a very good source of selenium, a trace mineral that has been shown to substantially reduce the risk of colon cancer. Eating brown rice instead of white rice is also better for people at risk for heart disease and diabetes.

Vicki's Brown Rice Pudding
1 cup brown Rice
1/2 cup Rice Syrup
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon allspice
1 teaspoon ginger powder
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped almonds

Cook rice until soft. Drain and let chill in fridge for about 30 minutes. After chilling put rice into a large mixing bowl and fluff with a fork. Stir in both syrups.  Sprinkle spices around on top of rice and then mix it up well. Then add the yogurt, raisins and almonds. This is a creamy delight that is healthier than white rice pudding and does not use sugar but is still satisfying to the sweet tooth.

UK newspapers are reporting a recall of chocolate and bagged snacks after it was found one of the ingredients contained potentially cancer-causing toxins. Three brands of products made with a rice flour were found to have aflatoxin B1 -- a naturally occurring  mold shown to cause cancer in animals -- at levels above the legal limit, according to the Food Standards Agency. Stated in the alert, the rice flour is thought to have originated in Pakistan and imported to the UK from Sweden. At this time, the products in question are Quaker Caribbean Chicken Seasons, Sainsbury's Chocolate and Toffee Crispie Bites and Smiths Bacon Fries. All companies that use rice flour in the manufacture of food product are being asked to voluntarily recall those products.

Nutrition expert, Professor David Jacobs, from the School of Public Health at the  University of Minnesota, will present information at the Dietitians Association of Australia National Conference that indicate women who eat ten servings of whole grain foods per week live longer with less disease. Whole grain foods -- wheat, rice, corn, barley, oats, and rye -- contain the entire seed grain, including the bran and germ. Refinement of the grain strips the nutritious outer layer of the grain.

According to Jacobs, whole grains contain antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and fiber that move carcinogens through the intestines faster, lowering cancer and heart disease rates and keeping blood sugar and insulin levels steady. Numerous studies have found that whole grain foods lower the risk of various cancers.

If you are interested in nutrition, the Dietitians Association of Australia website features comprehensive information on nutrition, including healthy recipes.

Purdue University engineers are creating a wireless device the size of a grain of rice that will then be implanted in tumors for the delivery and tracking of cancer-fighting radiation. The dime-sized prototype, as shown in the photo, has been successfully tested and the researchers believe the smaller rice-sized version will be completed this year. The device will be activated with electrical coils placed next to the body.

According to Purdue engineer Babak Ziaie, "Currently, there is no way of knowing the exact dose of radiation received by a tumor. Because most organs shift inside the body depending on whether a patient is sitting or lying down, for example, the tumor also shifts. This technology will allow doctors to pinpoint the exact position of the tumor to more effectively administer radiation treatments."

"This will be a radiation dosimeter plus a tracking device in the same capsule." Very cool. Perhaps one day they can stop the dynamite-fishing approach of current cancer treatment where healthy cells and tissue are destroyed in an attempt to destroy cancer cells and tumors. Then it will be welcome to the 21st century of medicine.

Photo credit: David Umberger. Purdue News Service. Babak Ziaie shows the prototype wireless device he has developed with doctoral student Chulwoo Son at the university's Birck Nanotechnology Center.