Few Starches and Lots of Wine to Prevent Breast Cancer!?

Please don't take the title of this post too literally. I've read a couple intriguing articles about breast cancer prevention lately; one had to do with starches in the diet and another had to do with wine in the diet. Briefly, the first study linked increased starch intake with an increased likelihood of breast cancer recurrence, while the second study showed that red wine might help prevent breast cancer recurrence. Interesting enough, this article published last November found that women who consumed as few as three servings of wine a week increased their risk of developing breast caner.

Source: iStockPhoto

So what do we do? Drink wine? Don't drink wine? Reduce our starchy foods? This is just an example of why it's important to not take everything you read at face value. I think people often read the titles of articles and just go with it...."Nice, I'm drinking some wine tonight! Heck, I'll have three glasses!" or "Crap, I'm cutting out starches for good. No more, I don't want breast cancer!". If you actually look deeper you will find that there are several problems with both of these statements;


1. The wine study had 36 subjects. Need I say more? Clearly more research is needed.

2. The starch study found that "increased risk of breast cancer was limited to those with low-grade tumors".

3. The starch study found that those who had a recurrence of breast cancer consumed an average of 2.3 more grams of carbohydrates for the first year, and those who did not have a recurrence of cancer consumed an average of 2.7 grams of carbohydrates. A majority of the carbohydrates were from starches. So in other words, the difference was about 6 grams. That's not a big difference. And the 2.3 grams of carbohydrates is a pretty decent amount, so don't go cutting your carbs too much, ladies!

4. Any time you read a study review you have to assume that the author interpreted the study accurately. Most often you can not actually read the study yourself, as it typically costs an arm and a leg, so you have to assume that they author read the study and interpreted it as he/she should have. Trust me when I say this is not always the case!


BOTTOM LINE: In regards to both of these studies, wait for more research to be presented. If you've had breast cancer and it was estrogen receptor positive, consider the fact that if you have a choice between red and white wine, the red is most likely going to be the better choice. As for starch in your diet, everyone (men, women, with or without cancer) should make sure they do not get too much starch in their diet. Choosing the non-starchy vegetables, such as broccoli, carrots, brussel sprouts, cucumbers, etc. over the starchy ones like corn, beans, and potatoes, might be a good idea, but don't stop eating starches all together, please. If anything, be more cautious about your serving sizes and daily snacking habits. Meet with a local dietitian to see how much starch (and carbohydrates) you should be eating each day.

Enjoy your Hump Day everyone! This is my Saturday today, so of course I have a long list of things to do, including making shepherd's pie and some mean thai peanut sauce (to be posted in the next week or so).

I'll leave you with this picture; the only one I got with Joy Bauer! It's blurry, I know, but pretend it's not. Pretty cool huh?!

Minimizing Your Risk of Breast Cancer

I've done some posts in the past about breast cancer, specifically in regards to soy and breast cancer. I tend to get drawn into any research I see on the subject, as my grandma had breast cancer and I'm determined not to get it myself. This month's Nutrition Action Healthletter contained an article focusing on what the latest research says about how you can lower your risk of breast cancer. Here are some of the important points;


1) Watch your weight. Estrogen plays a large role in breast cancer, specifically it promotes it. Women who carry more fat also produce more estrogen. I was startled to learn that your risk for breast cancer can increase significantly if you gain 20 to 30 pounds after age 18. When I was 18 I weighed 95 pounds (I am naturally very small, but I also had an ED at that time). Now at age 27 I weight 105 pounds, so I've already gained 10. My goal is to not go far beyond 115 pounds, which I think is doable (not counting pregnancy weight!).


2) Avoid taking hormones! I think this is a no brainer. In July of 2002 it was clear that women taking hormones (mainly postmenopausal women) had an increased for breast cancer! Bottom line, find hormone alternatives, such as soy.


3) Get moving! There is plenty of research out there that suggests women who are active have lower blood levels of circulating estrogen (probably due in part to less body fat!). Exercise also helps decrease insulin (high insulin is also positively correlated with breast cancer) and may help decrease whole-body inflammation. How much exercise do you need? Most studies show that 30 minutes of brisk walking is sufficient, but many women aren't even getting that!



4) Minimize alcohol. This was the one that really shocked me (and made me very sad). While one drink a day for women, and two drinks a day for men might be good for heart disease, it's definitely not good if you're trying to prevent breast cancer. For postmenopausal women, even one alcoholic beverage a day can increase your risk for breast cancer by 12 percent, according to this article. Alcohol hasn't been shown to correlate with breast cancer only, but in fact it has been associated with cancers of the mouth, throat, rectum, and liver.

MAYBES

- BPA (Bisphenol A) is an estrogen-mimicking chemical that has been found in many plastic containers. It's not 100% clear if it has an effect on cancer, but it may be a good idea to watch your use of plastic in the kitchen, especially when pregnant or going through puberty.

- Pesticides were once thought to had a negative effect on cancer, including breast cancer, but data is still very unclear. The article reported that pesticide use has decreased in the past several years. I thought this was good news!

- Soy was once thought to help prevent breast cancer, then for a while many women were afraid to go near it after studies showed the opposite effect (especially in women with a history of breast cancer). The bottom line is that it's safe to consume soy, but stick to soy in the form of food (tempeh, soy milk, tofu, miso, etc.) not supplements. Twenty five grams per day may be beneficial, but it's a good idea not to consume too much more, especially if you have a history of breast cancer.

(After eating the tofu above, I vowed to never eat it again. It tasted delicious, but my body does not respond well to the carbohydrates found in tofu....)

Question: What have you learned about breast cancer prevention that I may not have mentioned? Which of the above ways to prevent breast cancer would be most difficult for you? (If you're a male, feel free to give your opinion as well! What do you do to prevent prostate cancer? Eating cooked tomatoes is a great start!).

Have a great weekend everyone! I'll be back on Tuesday :)

Soy Protein Isolate, and the Danger of Added Sugar

Happy Thursday everyone!! Only one more day until Friday, aka move-in day for Nick and I! Because we have lived in this tiny apartment for the last 3 years, we barely have any furniture. We plan to live without much furniture for at least a few months. It will be...interesting.

Some of you still have questions about bananas in the fridge. I'd like to clarify something. If your drawer is set at a high humidity, your bananas will get soft faster. You need to make sure it's set at low humidity (some fridges will say, others won't, but I'm not really sure how you find this out, sorry!). In general, just keep them on the counter if you don't know about the humidity, but always separate them if you want them to last longer.

SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE

A couple of you have asked me about soy protein isolate. What is it? Should it be avoided? Soy protein isolate is exactly as the name implies; isolated soy protein. It is made by removing the beneficial fat (omega-3) from the soybean, as well as the dietary fiber. What is left is the soy protein (isolated). It's used in many protein supplements, bars, and powders.

KASHI BAR

You'll find it in many other foods too, just start looking at the ingredient lists. In my opinion this is not something that should necessarily be avoided (I know I've heard about some bad chemicals in soy protein isolate, but I don't know enough about this to give you an honest opinion). Do keep in mind, however, that you don't want to eat too much because soy protein isolate has many isoflavones (phytonutrients that may help prevent breast cancer, but which may have a link to breast cancer if you consume too much). If you stay away from processed food (or at least consume them in moderation), you won't be consuming too much soy protein isolate, as it's really only found in processed foods! I try to get 25-30 grams of soy protein each day, but the best sources of soy protein are foods such as edamame, tofu, and tempeh, NOT processed foods with soy protein isolate.

Added Sugars

Remember back in 1990 when the "low fat craze" hit America? Ok, maybe you don't remember, but I do! That's about the time that America started to blimp and gain a bunch of weight. Ironic, right? Basically, as I've said in previous posts, once companies started removing the fat, they replaced it with sugar and salt. In reality, that just made most products even more unhealthy!


A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association was published recently, which associated added sugar (found in so many foods these days) with decreased HDL (good) cholesterol and increased triglycerides. These are two important risk factors for heart disease. Check out the research here.

Just as a reminder, let's look at all of the sources of sugar in the bar below:

- Evaporated cane juice syrup
- Brown rice syrup
- Evaporated cane juice
- Pear juice concentrate
- Honey
- Barley malt syrup

Just to be fare, here's a Fiber One bar:
- Sugar (x4)
- Malt
- High maltose corn syrup
- High fructose corn syrup

** Both Kashi and Fiber One are companies I respect, quite a lot. Most of their products are fantastic. Their bars? Well, that's another story. I'm not a fan. But in reality, as I said before, I am not a fan of most bars. **

Coming Up

Saturday I will post some things about me that you may have never known. Curious?? You should be! Have a great day everyone, and thanks for reading :)