Wonderfully Made

Avoiding Cancer

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: George Guthrie, Tim Arnott

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Series Code: WM

Program Code: WM000337


00:01 The following program presents principles
00:03 designed to promote good health and is not intended
00:05 to take the place of personalized
00:07 professional care. The opinions and ideas
00:09 expressed are those of the speaker.
00:12 Viewers are encouraged to draw their own
00:14 conclusions about the information presented.
00:37 Welcome to Wonderfully Made my name is
00:40 Dr. George Guthrie I'm the Medical Director
00:42 at Lifestyle Center of America.
00:45 When the doctor says you have cancer often some
00:51 one's mind just goes blank. It's the scariest
00:55 thing that could happen because often there is
00:58 no cure and while science is making progress in that
01:01 area wouldn't it good to avoid it all together.
01:05 That's what we are here to talk about today.
01:07 With me is Tim Arnott, Staff Physician
01:10 at Lifestyle Center of America.
01:11 Hi George. Hello Tim. It's good to be here.
01:13 It is, it is. American Cancer Society has estimated
01:20 that one third of cancers can be prevented by
01:24 changing the diet and if people quit smoking.
01:27 You could stop another third, that would be a total
01:29 of two thirds of the cancers that afflict us
01:32 in this country actually gone. Well,
01:35 that would be good news. Wouldn't it?
01:36 Incredible, almost 70 percent reduction in cancer
01:41 incidents in this country just by moving our diet
01:45 in the right direction and leaving off cigarette
01:47 smoking. This is powerful information and you know
01:52 fortunately there are bodies of scientists
01:55 out there. That are looking for clues in the diet
01:58 in the lifestyle that can help us to avoid this
02:02 number 2 killer cancer. And so we gonna be looking
02:06 during this program at some of the exciting
02:10 findings of the American institute for cancer
02:14 research and the World Cancer Research Fund
02:17 and we're gonna be looking at a number of different
02:21 cancers that are common to Americans and just
02:24 finding out what is the amount that we could
02:27 reduce those cancers if we changed our lifestyle?
02:31 Well, I guess right up there at the top
02:34 is this thing that they call lung cancer.
02:37 Yes, lung cancer of course is much mostly a smokers
02:42 disease and they've taken for granted in this review
02:46 of the diet and exercise literature that if you quit
02:50 smoking you will largely avoid lung cancer,
02:54 but they also wanted to see what else individuals
02:57 could do and so Dr. Potter, Chair of the Expert Panel
03:01 of Diet and the Cancer Project there at the
03:05 American Institute of Cancer Research has found,
03:08 he and his colleagues, that if you increase to a large
03:12 extent the intake of fruits and vegetables that
03:17 smokers and non-smokers by the way could both lower
03:20 their risk of lung cancer about 20 to 33 percent.
03:24 Now of course those two groups have a greatly
03:28 different risks of lung cancer, but even those
03:31 who don't smoke can lower their risk of lung cancer,
03:34 there's a few people that get it from breathing
03:36 of course second hand cigarette smoke from
03:39 breathing polluted air, but they could still lower
03:42 their risk of lung cancer about 20 to 33 percent
03:45 and smokers as well if they adopt a diet high
03:49 in fruits and vegetables. What is it about the
03:52 fruits and vegetables that would protect
03:54 against lung cancer. Do we have any idea?
03:57 Well the tobacco smoke has a 4000 plus chemicals
04:02 and many of these are of course cancer causing
04:05 carcinogens and others create oxidative damage,
04:11 chemical damage if you will. And if you can take in
04:14 anti-oxidants in the fruits and vegetables they will
04:19 actually neutralize some of those damaging chemicals
04:22 in the tobacco smoke and thus lower your risk of
04:26 lung cancer and for those who don't smoke,
04:29 but breath polluted air or breath second hand smoke,
04:32 the fruits and vegetables, the anti-oxidants in
04:35 those can actually sweep away some of these
04:38 free radicals, some of these dangerous chemicals
04:41 in the pollution or in the second hand cigarette
04:44 smoke protecting your DNA from damage
04:47 and that means protection to at least some degree
04:51 against cancer. Of course lung cancer is one those
04:54 cancers that's really hard to find and till
04:56 it's too late as well. It's hard to screen for early
05:00 once it's there it's almost always fatal.
05:03 So, lots of fruits and vegetables to protect
05:06 whether you're a smoker or not. Absolutely, of course
05:10 quit smoking. Absolutely that's the first thing to do.
05:12 That's taken for grant. That's taken for grant.
05:14 Well, what about stomach cancers,
05:16 it's not as common, but yet it does happen.
05:20 Yeah Dr. Potter and his colleagues report that
05:23 stomach cancer can also be reduced by a change
05:28 in lifestyle. In fact they report a
05:29 66 to 75 percent reduction in stomach cancer by again
05:35 adopting a diet rich in fruits and vegetables
05:39 and a diet low in salt and in salty foods.
05:44 These are very important principles if you want to
05:47 lower your risk of stomach cancer.
05:50 High fruit and vegetable diet stay away from
05:54 salty foods and stay away from as much salt
05:57 as you possibly can. 66 to 75 percent reduction just
06:03 from the dietary component, so stomach
06:05 cancer is even more sensitive to what we eat
06:08 and I suppose that would make sense,
06:10 because the food that we eat goes into our stomach,
06:12 if there is something that's irritating or causing
06:15 problems, why irritating, causing problems with
06:20 the DNA that stomach cancer is more likely
06:22 to come. Well, I guess those fruits and vegetables
06:24 protect in local areas too. Don't they?
06:27 I will tell you what there is a theme that's running
06:30 through this program and I think you are gonna
06:33 pick it up as we go along. Fruits and vegetables.
06:36 You got it. I did not see that. Well breast cancer
06:40 is also quite common, is there any protection from
06:45 breast cancer from diet? Yes, Dr Potter also reports
06:50 that there is protection against breast cancer
06:52 especially if you get started early. If you get
06:54 started around the age of puberty and get on a good
06:59 lifestyle you could actually there reports show lower
07:02 the risk of breast cancer about 33 to 50 percent,
07:06 so could cut your risk potentially by a third or
07:10 up to one half. Now what do you need to do.
07:12 Well you need to eat much more plant based diet.
07:17 You wanna stay away from alcohol and you want
07:20 to maintain an optimal weight because if your
07:23 weight goes up not only does insulin go up
07:26 which can increase the risk of cancer, but your
07:29 estrogen level will go up which can also push
07:34 your breast cells toward increased risk of cancer
07:39 transformation and then you want to do regular
07:42 physical exercise, so these are the important things
07:46 to think about if you are a young woman or if even
07:49 your older, even if you don't get started
07:51 at puberty, if you get started later on in life
07:54 there is still protection, but probably not as much
07:57 as 33 to 50 percent. So again what do you wanna
08:01 do a plant based diet, stay away from alcohol
08:05 and adopt an exercise program and keep your
08:09 weight from creeping up as you get older.
08:11 How do you do that, how would you keep your
08:13 weight from creeping up as you get older?
08:15 Well I suppose exercise regularly and eat a plant
08:18 based diet. Okay that sound good. George is there
08:22 anything else that we should know,
08:25 that we should share with our listeners if they are
08:27 trying to lower their risk of breast cancer?
08:29 Well you know one thing of the things that
08:31 can be done as actually start in childhood,
08:34 because if a child is on a plant based diet they tend
08:39 to go through puberty later in life, instead of
08:43 9, 10 or 11 maybe as late as 13, 15, 16
08:48 and some more in other countries and this
08:50 significantly decreases the risk of breast cancer
08:53 later in life, so that's good news.
08:55 Alright, so if you want to help your child
08:59 or grandchild to avoid breast cancer and another
09:03 female cancers, put them on a diet that has the right
09:06 amount of protein not too much protein
09:09 and they'll actually going to puberty about
09:13 2, 3, 4 years later and that means protection
09:17 against female cancers including breast cancer.
09:20 Well tell me what about Colon cancer,
09:23 that's a real common one these days?
09:25 You know Dr Potter and again his colleagues at the
09:28 American Institute of Cancer Research found that
09:32 if you change your lifestyle you can
09:35 lower your risk of Colon cancer 60 to 75 percent.
09:40 Now what do you need to do. You need to adopt a diet
09:44 that's rich in vegetables, that's low in meat
09:48 and get regular exercise and there is one final thing
09:51 stay away from alcohol. So a plant based diet rich
09:56 in vegetables moving away from the meat specially
09:59 the red meats, adopting an exercise program
10:03 and staying away from alcohol,
10:05 66 to 75 percent reduction in Colon cancer.
10:11 That's remarkable. It is and I suppose again it make
10:14 sense that Colon cancer would be more responsive
10:17 to what we eat because it's what's managing our food
10:20 as it goes through our bodies.
10:23 Now I noticed something different about
10:26 Colon cancer from some of the others.
10:28 You said we need to decrease red meat,
10:32 is there something in red meat that might
10:35 make it more likely for us to have cancer.
10:38 Well you know researchers believe there is a number
10:41 of things and probably the first thing is that
10:44 there is no fiber in meat. There is also a lot of
10:49 saturated fat and that saturated fat can do
10:53 a number of things, but one of the things that
10:55 it can do is to increase insulin resistance that
10:59 could increase insulin levels.
11:00 Your weight is usually higher if you are eating
11:03 a lot of red meat and so you have more insulin
11:07 in the blood greater propensity for cancer
11:11 development to spread and to become a problem,
11:15 but probably some of the other things are how
11:17 the meat is cooked and if you take that meat
11:21 and you Char-broil it, the fats in that meat especially
11:27 the red meats, but all of the animal flesh foods
11:30 if you take them and Charbroil them the fats
11:34 will fall down into the flame and become super heated
11:37 and change into Carcinogenic substances,
11:42 cancer promoting substances that fill
11:44 the smoke and then quote the bottom of the meat
11:47 paddy or the other meat is being charbroiled.
11:51 These are highly statistically related to the
11:55 development of cancer and also cured meats
11:58 and processed meats are actually the worst offender
12:02 when it comes to promoting risk of cancer.
12:06 And I suppose with a very low fiber diet
12:10 that the transit time would be diminished significantly
12:14 would take quite, I'm sorry increased
12:16 significantly, it will take a longer for food to get
12:20 from one end to the other. Longer for the greater
12:24 time for the Carcinogens to be in contact with
12:27 the Colon, so I'll bet fiber also comes into this
12:30 in a real important way. Fiber is very important
12:34 and Dr. Bingham and his colleagues at the EPIC
12:38 study this is the European Prospective Investigation
12:42 into Cancer. This is 500,000 individuals being
12:47 studied in 12 countries in Europe and what they have
12:50 found was those individuals eating the most fiber had
12:55 a 40 percent lower risk of Colon cancer
12:58 and so a significant reduction in again
13:02 there is most common cancer of male and female
13:05 non-smokers just by eating the most fiber.
13:09 Where do you find fiber? Well George where would
13:12 you find fiber? In whole plant foods, the way God
13:16 packaged them. They have the fiber mixed right
13:18 in with them. The only foods that have fiber are beans,
13:22 whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.
13:26 So when they say individuals are eating
13:29 more fiber than anyone else what they're saying
13:32 is these individuals are eating more beans,
13:35 whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds
13:38 that anyone else and they are at
13:40 40 percent lower risk of Colon cancer.
13:44 Well, we've heard about stomach cancer,
13:47 we heard about Colon cancer, anyway along the GI track,
13:51 I suppose there could be a change especially
13:54 with the food that we eat. What about the mouth
13:58 and oropharynx? Well certainly, if you want to
14:00 avoid mouth and oropharynx and swallowing tube
14:05 if you will, esophagus cancer, you want to
14:08 stay away from tobacco. Chewing tobacco
14:11 and also smoking, but what this area of research,
14:16 the American Institute for Cancer Research
14:18 were looking at as what else can be done and sure
14:22 enough individuals who are eating a diet high in
14:25 fruits and vegetables and those individuals staying
14:29 away from alcohol, they have 33 to 50 percent
14:33 lower risk of cancers of the mouth, cancers of the back
14:38 of the throat. And so there is something that
14:42 we can do to lower our risk of cancer to help
14:44 prevent this devastating condition.
14:48 Well, that's a good news again, now I'm thinking
14:51 of other cancers in the body. What about
14:53 the liver cancers? Well Dr. Potter and his colleagues
14:57 again found that a 33 to 66 percent reduction
15:01 in liver cancer could be achieved if you stay away
15:06 from two toxins to the liver. Alcohol of course
15:10 is one of them, the other one is contaminant
15:13 of some foods, Aflatoxin and so these two things
15:18 you best wanna stay away from and some of the things
15:22 that you can do is to make sure that the foods that
15:26 you eat are from you know places of the world
15:32 where they don't have a lot of the decaying
15:34 and rotting process where things comes fresh
15:37 from the field, fresh from the orchard, fresh from
15:41 the garden, also make sure that what you do
15:44 take into your body has been washed thoroughly
15:48 and finally you want to make sure that you're
15:53 careful to refrigerate these foods and to peel those
15:58 things that can be peeled because a lot of the toxins
16:02 lie on the surface and often times you can wash
16:05 that off or peel it off. Of interest here is that the
16:11 truth that Aflatoxin is the most toxic cancer
16:16 producing agent that we know of, so it really needs
16:20 to be avoided. It's commonly found on nuts,
16:24 peanuts in particular that have been instead of dried
16:29 they have actually had some water attached
16:31 or in contact with it and that water allows this mold
16:37 to grow Aflatoxin. Unfortunately
16:40 it can be identified if one looks at the peanuts
16:45 underneath a black light with the other white lights
16:48 out and then it will floras, so one could actually
16:52 identify it, I worry a little bit about some people
16:54 who make there own peanut butter by getting
16:57 their peanuts or Almonds, if they are not kept stored
17:01 in a very dry place they may actually grow the organisms
17:05 that would cause or that would create
17:08 Aflatoxin and could lead to liver cancer.
17:11 So would you recommend that we keep our
17:13 nuts in the freezer or in the refrigerator?
17:16 Certainly dry and in the refrigerator they would
17:18 be more stable, that's correct.
17:21 Alright so again wonderful information about how to
17:25 lower your risk of cancer. Well Dr. Potter
17:30 and his associates there at the American Institution
17:33 of Cancer Research have given us a lot of hope,
17:36 a lot of information about how we can lower our risk
17:40 of a number of cancers. Well lets take a moment
17:43 and look at the summary information from the
17:46 American Institute of Cancer Research about how we can
17:49 lower our risk of cancer as they looked at
17:51 thousands and thousands of studies relating
17:54 diet to cancer, relating exercise and lifestyle
17:58 of the cancer. This group came up with some
18:00 fascinating recommendations you may wanna get a pencil
18:04 or pen and jot this down. Hopefully we are recording
18:08 the programs you can watch it later,
18:10 because these are very, very valuable pieces
18:14 of information about those who want to avoid cancer.
18:19 Number 1 is of course that you want to adopt a plant
18:24 based diet. George, that term maybe a little
18:28 confusing to some individuals.
18:30 What are we really talking about? Well a plant based
18:33 diet would be one, where people ate lots of and only
18:39 whole foods. Now whole foods can be prepared
18:44 in a variety of tasty ways it doesn't mean that
18:47 one would for example eat dry beans,
18:50 those can be cooked and seasoned nicely.
18:52 It doesn't mean that it would eat just simple rice
18:59 for example, one might have tomatoes and other
19:02 wonderful flavors with him, doesn't mean that
19:04 you don't cook, but that you focus on the plants.
19:09 So what you're basically saying George is try to
19:12 avoid those packages and those processed,
19:16 those prepared, those engineered foods
19:18 where they remove much of the beneficial parts
19:22 of the plant and they add things that you really
19:26 never wanted in the first place such as corn syrup
19:29 partially hydrogenated vegetable oil,
19:32 salt and enriched wheat flower. So what we're
19:36 recommending, what they're recommending I should say
19:38 is a diet of beans. Whole grains, fruits, vegetables,
19:43 nuts and seeds. That diet sounds very familiar,
19:47 how do we describe that diet from the owner's
19:51 manual point of view. Well, I guess it's very close
19:55 to the original diet that God gave back in the
19:58 garden of Eden. It's fascinating isn't it that
20:01 the diet, that the American Institute
20:03 of Cancer Research is recommending for those
20:06 who want avoid cancer is none other than the diet
20:10 that the creator gave to man in the very beginning.
20:14 Well, there is something else that we can do,
20:17 well actually the next recommendation is five
20:21 fruits and vegetables everyday. Why they're
20:24 recommending five because frankly most Americans
20:28 get three or fewer serving of fruits and vegetables
20:32 everyday and quite frankly some of those vegetables
20:36 are a little suspicious. The potato family
20:40 that the most people get, the spud.
20:43 You are talking about French fries, aren't you?
20:45 Not exactly a real good choice for a vegetable.
20:48 Not exactly the best vegetable French Fries
20:50 and Potato chips aren't quite exactly what's being
20:53 recommended here, but fruits and vegetables
20:56 five servings a day and you just might know that
20:59 the Food Guide Pyramid recommends a maximum
21:03 of nine servings of fruits and vegetables everyday
21:07 and frankly that would probably be even better.
21:09 Well would I be out of place if I try to eat
21:12 five fruits or vegetables for each meal.
21:16 Well, that is a powerful thing, if you thing about
21:19 it five fruits and vegetables servings at
21:22 each meal. Now, you don't have to mix those,
21:24 we would probably encourage you to eat
21:25 the fruits at one meal. The vegetables at another
21:28 meal perhaps, but one thing to remember,
21:31 we are talking about half cup servings and so
21:33 five half cup servings, that's just two
21:36 and half cups and most individuals can eat four
21:40 cups at a meal, so that's just a little bit
21:43 more than half of your meal. What a powerful
21:46 idea George, those who want to avoid cancer
21:49 about half your meal fruits or vegetables
21:53 or even both if your stomach can handle it.
21:56 Some peoples can. Well, lets look at the ago
21:58 ahead George. Well, I was just gonna point out
22:01 when I chew down on a stock of broccoli,
22:06 I like to think of the Fido Nutrients that are
22:10 actually headed down into my body to protect me
22:13 against cancer and disease. That's right
22:15 and that brings up a good point when you're eating
22:18 these wonderful fruits and vegetables you wanna
22:21 chew them thoroughly in order to get all of the
22:26 benefits possible, take your time, savor,
22:29 actually we're told that you can get as much
22:32 nourishment in a large amount of food as in a
22:36 small amount, oh excuse me I should say that
22:38 another way. You can get as much nourishment
22:40 in the small amount as you would in a larger
22:43 amount if you chew it thoroughly.
22:45 This is a very important principle. The next
22:47 recommendation is seven or more servings of whole
22:52 grains everyday. We are talking about 100 percent
22:55 whole wheat bread, a whole grain pasta,
22:58 brown rice, oats, whole oats for breakfast,
23:02 steamed millet, streamed rye, or streamed different
23:09 grains like wild rice, long grain rice, short
23:12 grain rice, but whole rice, brown rice.
23:15 These whole grains can help protect against cancer.
23:20 You think too much sugar might be a problem.
23:22 Well that's what they found out George
23:24 in these studies. They found out that individuals
23:26 with the lowest risk of cancer eat the least
23:29 refined and processed sugar. You should know
23:32 that sugar reduces the ability of the
23:35 white blood cell to do its job to protect you
23:38 and the white blood cells not only protects you
23:41 from infection. They protect you against cancers.
23:45 You want them as strong as possible and to keep
23:47 them strong avoid refined sugar. Frankly most
23:51 refined sugar isn't just sitting there on the
23:54 counter nice and white saying eat me.
23:56 It's largely hidden. What's one of the most popular
24:00 sources of refined sugar often called corn syrup
24:07 high-fructose. Are you talking about the
24:10 soda pops. Exactly, I know they have a lot
24:12 of the high-fructose corn syrup.
24:14 Yes so we don't like to use the word sugar anymore.
24:17 We use high-fructose corn syrup, but the affect
24:20 is very much the same and so choose whole foods
24:25 if you wanna lower your risk of cancer.
24:28 I'll bet that Dr. Potter had some things to say
24:31 about meat. We have already reviewed some of them.
24:33 How did he summarize. Was meat good to health?
24:36 Well actually this recommendation is that
24:40 we avoid meat, that we use it as little of it as
24:43 possible specially the red meats. And so frankly
24:47 what they found is that individuals that eat
24:49 the most meat have the most cancer.
24:52 Those who eat the least meat the least cancer.
24:55 So they're not recommending that meat really be added
24:59 to the diet. There is no evidence that adding meat
25:02 to the diet lowers the risk of cancer on the contrary
25:06 adding more and more plants especially
25:09 vegetables and fruits will indeed lower the risk.
25:13 Are there any other recommendations?
25:15 Lowering the risk of fat in the diet,
25:17 now this may seem a little bit tedious,
25:20 but they found that those individuals eating
25:23 about 15 percent of their calories from fat
25:26 or less had the lowest risk of cancer.
25:29 Well you will say well I'm really into using
25:32 a calculator at my meal to figure out how much
25:35 fat is in there. The good news is you don't have
25:37 to. In fact those foods, beans, whole grains,
25:41 fruits and vegetables if you look at all of them
25:43 the average fat content of those foods is less
25:48 than 10 percent. So you will have to add nuts
25:51 and seeds to get it up to 15 percent,
25:54 and so its beautiful, all you have to do is eat
25:57 the creator's food, his plant food and your diet
26:00 will essentially be 15 percent fat or even less,
26:05 but the problems is when we add visible fats
26:09 in a large amounts that's when we can really push
26:12 the fat content of the diet upward and according
26:16 to this research increase the risk of cancer.
26:19 Of course the average American is eating
26:20 some where up around what 40 percent maybe
26:24 down to 35 now, but it's a significant low
26:27 and so decreasing it significantly brings
26:31 benefits? Well that's good.
26:32 I think we should point out that even the
26:34 American cancer society diet is about
26:37 29 percent fat. You probably heard in the news
26:40 a lot of people talking about these low fat diets,
26:44 Atkins diet compared to the low fat diet.
26:47 That diet they're calling low fat is about
26:50 29 percent fat and this recommendation is about
26:55 half that 15 percent and that's what you'll get
26:59 if you eat the creator's plants just as they come
27:02 from nature and use visible oil in a minimal amount,
27:07 which is by the way the next recommendation,
27:09 avoiding a lot of the processed oil
27:12 which apparently can increase the risk of
27:14 cancer. We do see the salt intake is also important,
27:18 about a teaspoon or less a day and make sure
27:22 you are refrigerate those leftovers immediately
27:25 avoid the additives and residues, peeled
27:29 fruits and vegetables when possible and avoid
27:32 Charbroiling you food, avoid alcohol, tobacco
27:36 and by the way if you want to avoid cancer,
27:41 make sure that smoking is also not in your future.
27:45 George, any final thoughts as we think about the
27:49 reduction of cancer and what we can do about it?
27:51 Well, cancer is such a deadly disease and it's
27:55 so scary when it comes. It makes sense to
28:00 prevent it. Yes do the screening that
28:02 should be done, but work to prevent the cancer
28:06 by eating the diet that God has planned for us.
28:09 We are fearfully and wonderfully made.


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Revised 2014-12-17