Participants: George Guthrie, Tim Arnott
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. |
Revised 2014-12-17