August 2008 Archives

There seems to be a lot of misinformation on the internet and through word of mouth regarding cancer and how sugar and insulin interact with tumors. I've even heard bad information passed from health care providers on to cancer patients. When it comes to sugar, insulin and cancer you have to know the facts!

Insulin Basics

Insulin is a protein hormone produced in your body. After eating any kind of carbohydrate (found in desserts, sweetened drinks, fruits, milk, grains and starchy vegetables), the pancreas produces insulin to move glucose (blood sugar) from the blood into cells all over the body. Glucose is what gives our cells energy to work; they cannot function without it.

If the cells do not respond to insulin, then the pancreas compensates by making even more insulin in order to force the cells to respond. As time goes on, it can take more and more insulin for the cells to take in glucose. In many undiagnosed pre-diabetes cases, blood sugars can measure normal but insulin levels are high.

Some people will get their insulin levels checked to see if they are high. Sometimes that can be helpful in knowing if the blood sugars are normal because the body is functioning correctly or if it's because there is extra insulin being produced. However, it's unlikely that your doctor would check your insulin level unless you have a family history of diabetes or signs of blood sugar problems.

Sugar and Cancer

I've done topics on this before ('Does Sugar Feed Cancer Part I and Part II). But there is constantly new research coming out that can help us see the bigger picture. It is still true that sugar does not directly cause cancer and removing sugar from a person's diet won't prevent cancer.

The problem with sugar is when we eat the not so healthy sugar foods like sodas, sweet tea, cakes, cookies and fruit flavored drinks. High sugar foods are absorbed quickly and cause insulin to rise quickly. This 'spike' results in cells using the sugar for energy or storing it as fat.

When someone consumes excessive amounts of empty calories, the fat builds up and insulin resistance can occur which increases risk of pre-diabetes, diabetes and cancer.

Types of Sugar

The type of carbohydrate consumed makes a big difference when it comes to insulin response. By choosing healthy carbohydrates, like whole grains, low-fat milk, whole fruits and vegetables, you can avoid an insulin spike because these foods come with other nutrients like fiber, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals that assist the body in metabolizing the food.

The Bottom Line

Your choices in carbohydrates and sugars can make a big difference in the health of your body. Switch to whole grain breads, cereals, rice and pasta along with eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. And when you choose a beverage, pick one that's not sweetened with any forms of sugar. Learn to appreciate the flavor of an unsweetened tea or plain old water!

Stay sweet!
- Julie

There are many people who have diabetes, pre-diabetes or insulin resistance. Blood sugars should be tightly managed with diet, exercise and medications, if necessary. I have done diabetes education in the past, and I know that managing blood sugars is not easy. For many people, they just don't bother. Even worse are the millions who have not been adequately educated on how to best manage blood sugars.

There are 41 million people (40% of Americans) who are thought to have prediabetes. Recent research shows that having diabetes or signs of insulin resistance may lead to an increased risk of certain cancers. If you or someone you know has problems with their blood sugars, this is another reason to get educated and figure out the best way to keep them under control. It's also that much more important to get regular cancer screenings!

What's the Link?

A recent study from the University of Minnesota found that women who had a diagnosis of diabetes had a 50% higher chance of developing colorectal cancer than women without the disease. This study shows a link with diabetes and cancer, however it's not clear why there was an increased risk.

One factor that is often common between risk for prediabetes, type 2 diabetes and cancer is high body fat. It is thought that the hormonal changes caused by high body fat may lead to increased risk for cancer and diabetes. It's unclear if high insulin levels add to this risk. We do know that tumors have insulin receptors, and that insulin plays a role in cancer. However, it doesn't seem to be a direct link.

Diabetic Cancer Survivors

There have also been studies on diabetic cancer survivors to see if their condition affects recurrence. one study looked at post-menopausal breast cancer patients. They found that the obese participants who had the highest insulin levels at diagnosis showed significantly increase risk of disease recurrence. Once again, it's not clear why there was increased risk.

The Bottom Line

When it comes to risk for cancer, diabetes, heart disease or just about any chronic disease, a health promoting diet, daily physical activity and low body fat is imperative. It's also important to know that just because someone is skinny, it doesn't mean they are healthy. There are many people who would fall into the correct weight for height but have excess body fat. If you are not physically active on a regular basis, it's likely that your body fat is too high.

Want to know what your body fat is? There are many ways to measure it, however the MOST reliable is to get someone who knows what they are doing to use calipers and measure your skin fold at various sites on your body.

Just another reason to eat healthy and be active!
- Julie

Now that you know all about how flax seeds can promote health from my post on the health benefits of flax, you have hopefully purchased some flaxseed meal from your local grocery store. In the last post, I suggested consuming 1-2 tablespoons regularly. Now you're probably wondering "how am I supposed to eat this?"

Not to worry... cancer dietitian to the rescue! Here are some ideas on how to use flaxseed. First you need the basics of buying and storing them, and one precautionary note:

Buying and Storing Flaxseed

• You can buy the ground up seeds, known as flaxseed meal or buy the seeds whole. If you buy them whole, grind them in a coffee grinder. Whole flax seeds are definitely cheaper, but I choose the ground ones for convenience.
• Once ground, store them in the freezer so that they do not go bad.
• You should not eat whole flax seeds if you have digestive problems including irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn's Disease, and other small and large intestine conditions. If you have any of these conditions, you may be able to eat VERY FINELY ground flaxseed. Start with 1/2 teaspoon per day into your diet, and see how you tolerate it. If you have any pain or bloating, you should stop using it.

Here are some foods that you can add flax to:

• fruit smoothie
• oatmeal
• yogurt
• cereal
• salads
• frozen yogurt or other desserts
• fresh or frozen fruit
• soups and stews (stir in flaxseed after cooking is done)
• Try cold cereals that contain flaxseed. Look for these products in the health food section of your grocery store.

Baking with Flax:

Flax is also great to bake with. Ground flaxseed can be substituted for shortening or cooking oil at a rate of 3 to 1 in baked foods. In other words, 3/4 cups of ground flaxseed can replace 1/4 cup of butter in a recipe. Feel free to try the substitution in your bread or brownie recipes. I would start with replacing half of the butter or oil and see how it goes.

Here's a flax muffin recipe for you to try!

Whole Wheat Flax Banana Muffins

1/4 cup ground flax seed
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg white, beaten
2 chopped bananas
3 Tbsp Canola oil
1/2 cup skim milk

Blend dry ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate bowl combine egg, Canola oil and milk. Add dry ingredients to egg mixture and stir until just blended. Fold in bananas. Batter will be thick. Fill well-greased muffin cups 2/3 full. bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until top springs back when touched. Makes 12 muffins.

Nutrition info: 145 calories, < 1g saturated fat, 24g carbohydrate, 3g protein, 2g fiber.

Enjoy!!
- Julie

The first time I heard of flax was in relation to it's cholesterol lowering possibilities. People would add flaxseed meal to cereal each morning to help lower cholesterol, and they swore by it! Later, I started hearing more about flaxseed and cancer. This post will focus on the health benefits of flaxseed. In my next post, I will give you some ideas on how to include more flax into your diet.

Flax 101: Health Benefits of Flaxseed

Flaxseed is an oil producing seed, similar to canola and sunflower. Flax seeds have 3 main components that account for it's health benefits. They include the fat, fiber and lignans.

1. Fat

Flaxseed is a good source of omega-3 fats. In fact, flax is one of the only plant sources that provide a significant amount of omega-3 fats. In case you're not aware, omega-3 fats are the healthier types of fat that is also found in fish. Omega-3 fats appear to reduce the risk of heart disease and may even reduce risk of some types of cancer, including breast, prostate, and colon cancers.

2. Fiber

Flaxseed is also an excellent source of fiber. It is recommended that we consume between 25g and 35g of fiber daily. Note, the average American only gets about 12g to 15g. Yikes! Just 1 tablespoon of flaxseed provides 3.5 g of fiber. Research tells us that getting fiber from food is the key to reducing the risk of many cancers, including colon cancer. Fiber from fiber supplements has not shown to reduce colon cancer risk. Remember from my post on fiber, increase your fiber intake SLOWLY!

3. Lignans

The third component of flax seeds that provide significant health benefits are lignans. Lignans are a lesser known nutrient.  They are considered phytochemicals, which I term "cancer phyters".  To increase your intake of lignans, look no further because flaxseed is the richest source of lignans available! 

Studies done in cells, animals and humans support the health benefits of regularly including some lignans in your diet. Research suggests that lignans may protect against endometrial cancer, breast cancer, AND prostate cancer. Even after a diagnosis of cancer, research suggests that eating lignan-rich foods may benefit health. A recent study showed that eating flaxseed after a breast cancer diagnosis can slow down how quickly cancer cells in the body are dividing  and can speed up the rate at which cancer cells die. 

Some is Good; More is Better, Right?

Wrong! I know it's the American mindset, but we have to understand that just because something is good for us doesn't mean that we should try to get as much as possible! When it comes to flaxseed, 1-2 tablespoons a day have been shown beneficial. Anything over that isn't necessarily better.

Before I give you ideas on how to include flax in your diet, go buy some flaxseed meal (ground flaxseed)! I get mine in the baking isle of the grocery store, and the brand is 'Bob's Red Mill: Whole Ground Flaxseed Meal'.

Once you complete your assignment, you'll be ready for the next post!
- Julie

[reference: http://www.caring4cancer.com/go/cancer/nutrition/questions/what-is-flax.htm]

If you didn't get to read my post on plastic and cancer, click here for some background on plastic and cancer. After getting informed on plastics, you might be left wondering what you should do.
Who do you believe?  How cautious should you be?

Keep in mind that there are many things that scientists don't know yet. You will always have to balance known with unknown, and make decisions based on how much risk you are comfortable with. 

Of course, you can always change your decision with time and more evidence!

What Should You Do?

Typically when it comes to recommendations, the US government is careful to wait for the body of evidence. Environmental groups are often highly cautious. Most of the time, I like to get informed on as many studies as possible, and I find myself somewhere in the middle!

BPA is the chemical in question when it comes to questions about the safety of plastic. Many people would like to limit their consumption of BPA as a precaution for safety reasons.

Simple Tips to Keep Your Consumption of BPA Low

1. Don’t microwave polycarbonate plastic food containers. Polycarbonate is strong and durable, but over time it may break down from over use at high temperatures.
2. Polycarbonate containers that contain BPA usually have a #7 (sometimes #3) on the bottom (for information on the bottle numbers, click here)
3. Reduce your use of canned foods.
4. When possible, opt for glass, porcelain or stainless steel containers, particularly for hot food or liquids.
5. Use baby bottles that are BPA free.

Julie's Choice Regarding Plastic Containers

For me, I continue to use my existing polycarbonate water bottles, although I do not wash them in the dishwasher. When I go to buy a new one, I'm probably going to buy one that contains the fewest potentially toxic chemicals that I can.

When it comes to containers, we are phasing out the plastic Tupperware (#5) containers in favor of glass. We do eat canned foods occasionally, mostly for canned beans or tomato products. 

Others may throw all their bottles away and replace them with new, chemical free bottles. Still others might not worry about what types of water bottle they use until the government makes recommendations. The most important thing is that you feel comfortable with your choice.

For more info, check out the plastics Q&A from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. 

You know what I say?

Drink your water. From the tap. In a glass!

- Julie

There are a lot of rumors that are going around about water bottles and cancer. Water bottles in the car; Nalgene bottles made with a certain type of plastic; heating, freezing or washing water bottles in a dishwasher.

According to government agency the National Toxicology Program (NTP), "There is some concern for neural and behavioral effects in fetuses, infants, and children at current human exposures." The NTP has some concern for "bisphenol A (BPA) exposure in these populations based on effects in the prostate gland, mammary gland, and an earlier age for puberty in females."

Recently, Nalgene announced that they would stop making water bottles with BPA. I want to point out that this decision was made NOT because it was recommended by the government. The new plastic is being made mainly because of fear by consumers.

The science is not conclusive at this point regarding chemicals in plastic and human health. It's hard to figure out what is speculation, what is under investigation and what is actually proven. Hopefully this post will clear up some of those questions for you.

The Chemical in Water Bottles

Most of the concerns over water bottles and platics causing cancer are related to the chemical Bisphenol A. BPA is a produced in large quantities for use primarily in the production of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins.

Plastics are used in food and drink packaging and resins are used to coat cans and bottle tops. BPA can leach into food from the containers and is more likely to leach depending on the temperature of the container.

Government Recommendations

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) had an expert panel review the current information on BPA's and disease. They rank risk in one of 5 categories:

1. Serious Concern
2. Concern
3. Some Concern
4. Minimal Concern
5. Negligible Concern

The greatest risk for any one group of people is for pregnant or lactating mothers, infants and children. This is because an intake of a small amount of BPA can have a larger effect if the person's body is small and they are in a stage of rapid physical development.

It's good to know that the panel did not find any areas of 'serious concern' or 'concern' regarding BPA and health. However, they did find areas of 'some concern', 'minimal concern' and 'negligible concern'.

Here are the Expert Panel Conclusions regarding plastic and health.

For pregnant women and fetuses:

• Some concern that exposure to BPA in utero causes neural and behavioral effects.
• Minimal concern that exposure to BPA in utero causes effects on the prostate.
• Minimal concern that exposure to BPA in utero potentially causes accelerations in puberty.
• Negligible concern that exposure to BPA in utero produces birth defects and malformations.

For infants and children:

• Some concern that exposure to BPA causes neural and behavioral effects.
• Minimal concern that exposure to BPA potentially causes accelerations in puberty.

For adults:

• Negligible concern for adverse reproductive effects following exposures in the general population to BPA.
• For highly exposed subgroups, such as occupationally exposed populations, the level of concern is elevated to minimal.

The FDA has also made a statement and says that the "... FDA sees no reason at this time to ban or otherwise restrict the uses now authorized." (See the entire statement).

Environmental Group Recommendations

There are definitely more cautious groups out there, including the Environmental Working Group (EWG).(FYI, they are the ones who made the recommendations on sunscreen).

The EWG says that "BPA is associated with a number of health problems and diseases that are on the rise in the U.S. population, including breast and prostate cancer and infertility. Given widespread human exposure to BPA and hundreds of studies showing its adverse effects, the FDA and EPA must act quickly to set safe levels for BPA exposure based on the latest science on the low-dose toxicity of the chemical."

What Should You Do?

It's hard to know what to do with conflicting information. Who do you believe and what choices do you make? The decision will be different for each person, but should be made based on the facts. In the next post I will talk more about evaluating information and what I choose.

Stay Tuned!

- Julie

This is your Cancer Cop and Microwave Safety is the topic of today!

Last time we talked about the many myths and mysteries surrounding the microwave. The bottom line is that microwaving can be a safe, quick and convenient way to prepare healthy foods. However, the health and safety of the microwave depends on you only cooking food in safe containers, as well as making healthy food choices.

Microwaving for Health and Safety

Of course, EVERYONE knows to avoid aluminum foil in the microwave. But what many don't know is that the containers they cook in might be leaching chemicals into their foods.

To avoid harmful chemicals, follow this rule: only use cookware that is specially manufactured for use in the microwave oven. Glass, ceramic containers, and all plastics that are safe to use will be labeled for microwave oven use.

Below is some examples of containers that are safe to use and not safe to use.

SAFE TO USE:

• Any utensil labeled for microwave use.
• Heatproof glass (such as Pyrex, Anchor Hocking, etc.)
• Glass-ceramic (such as Corningware).
• Oven cooking bags.
• Baskets (straw and wood) for quick warm-ups of rolls or bread. Line the basket with napkins to absorb moisture from food.
• Most paper plates, paper towels, paper napkins. For optimal safety use white, unprinted materials.
• Wax paper, parchment paper, heavy plastic wrap. Do not allow plastic wrap to touch food; vent it to allow a steam escape.
• Heat-susceptor packaging.

NOT SAFE TO USE:

• Cold storage containers: margarine tubs, cottage cheese, cool-whip and yogurt cartons, etc. (These materials are not approved for cooking and chemicals can migrate into food)
• Brown paper bags and newspapers
• Metal pans (Duh!)
• Foam-insulated cups, bowls, plates or trays (like the kind the restaurant gives you to take your food home)
• China with metallic paint or trim
• Chinese "take-out" containers with metal handles (another Duh!)
• Metal "twist ties" on package wrapping
• Food completely wrapped in aluminum foil (we're not kidding!)
• Food cooked in any container or packaging that has warped or melted during heating (This would include single use water bottles!)

What To Do!

At my house, we are phasing out the plastic Tupperware containers in favor of glass. We never microwave plastic wrap or other foam containers or any plastic not labeled microwave safe.

On another note, if the plastic is not labeled freezer safe, we don't put it in the freezer. An even more important point is to look and see if the plastic you use is labeled dishwasher safe. Many reusable water bottles are NOT labeled dishwasher safe. We hand wash those. Apparently there ARE reasons for the instructions on the bottom!

So be microwave smart!
- Julie

[Reference: For more great information on microwave safety, check out this article.]

I recently did a presentation for a community education series titled called "Fighting Cancer With Your Fork". I have done this presentation several times and get many great questions from the audience. One question from the most recent presentation involved the safety of microwaving food.

I do have a disclaimer when it comes to this topic. I think the disclaimer also adds a bit of credibility to my words, so here it is!

My dad is a nuclear engineer.

My brother is a nuclear engineer.

My husband went to nuclear engineering camp in high school and started in nuclear in college.

These guys know about radiation safety!  However, I still believe that I have an objective and unbiased opinion when it comes to microwaving.

Mystery Microwave

People love that microwaving food is easy. But there is a bit of mystery about the microwave. Mainly... How the heck does it cook the food in there??

You don't see the source of heat, but the food comes out HOT! I believe this is where people start to worry. They don't understand how it works and therefore feel that it must not be safe.

At this point I'm going to have to give you a life tip. You will not understand everything in life. At some point you will have to trust that some things just work out! 

Anyway... back to microwaving!

How a Microwave Works

The microwave converts ordinary electric power from a wall socket into waves. The radio waves in the microwave are thousands of times weaker than those in UV rays or x-rays. They are almost the same frequency as used in many cordless phones, wireless LAN, Bluetooth(R), and the new wireless broadband internet. 

These rays result in energy that is readily absorbed by water, fats and sugars, resulting in very fast wave vibration and high temperatures that cook the food. The power cooks the food just like any other heat source. 

Contrary to myth, a microwave does NOT cook the food from the inside out. The reason that microwaved food does not crisp like oven food is that the air in the microwave is room temperature, since the energy rays do not heat air. In an oven the air is heated along with the food, and therefore cooks the outside of the meal.

It's also important to know that the rays in a microwave do not have enough power to damage DNA and therefore cannot cause cancer. Additionally, there have been absolutely no valid studies that suggest microwaving food causes cancer.

Microwave Safety

There are some things to know about containers you use to microwave food. In the next post, I will give you the information you need to have the benefits of quick, convenient meals without the risk of harming your health.

In the grand scheme of things, compared to grilling, microwaving is much safer! (See my post on grilling for more information).

Should you need to understand the microwaving process further, you will have to consult a different source!

- Julie

[Reference:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/FactSheets/Microwave_Ovens_and_Food_Safety/index.asp]