Susan Luck gives her 12 steps to preventing breast cancer from eating organically to supplementing your nutrition to avoiding plastics.

1. Choose your food wisely – eat as organically as possible, and limit animal fats as endocrine disruptors and heavy metals accumulate in the food chain. The higher your animal protein source, the greater the potential toxics load. Choose seasonal and local foods. Fish consumption: Large deep water “fatty” fish like tuna and swordfish may contain high levels of synthetic chemicals and heavy metals, so eat them infrequently. Wild caught salmon and cod are better choices.
2. Avoid Pesticides – if you can’t buy all organic food, try to pick and choose. Certain crops are more heavily sprayed than others. The Environmental Working Group data base (www.ewg.org) offers guidelines on the fruits and vegetables containing both the highest pesticide residues and the lowest. Produce containing the highest pesticide levels include: peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, lettuce, grapes, pears, spinach, and potatoes. Wash all fruits and vegetables thoroughly before consuming, or peel them if they are not organically grown.
3. Supplement your nutrition – Take a broad spectrum daily multivitamin, containing essential fatty acids and antioxidants to ensure rich nutritional and support for your body’s optimal functioning. In today’s world, we strongly recommend supporting your body with the essential tools it needs to function optimally particularly when it is challenged on a daily basis by so many synthetic substances. Unfortunately, much of our food supply is contaminated, shipped long distances and lacking the necessary nutrients, even when we think we eat well. Nutrients that have substantial research for supporting breast health include: Vitamin D 3, Cruciferous vegetables including broccoli and watercress, high in glucosinolates and sulforaphane, green tea, curcumin, alpha lipoic acid, and resveratrol.
4. Support your body’s natural ability to detoxify by exercising and sweating on a regular basis. Use a sauna or steam bath. Get regular sleep (you detoxify at night) and drink plenty of filtered water.
5. Consume plenty of fiber found in your whole grains, beans, vegetables, fruits, seeds (flax) and nuts.
6. Drink antioxidant beverages like green tea containing antioxidants that can assist the body to rid itself of toxins. Other researched protective antioxidants include pomegranate, blueberry and raspberry juices.
7. If you are planning on getting pregnant and breastfeeding, be vigilant about chemicals and put your energy into what you can eliminate and become the healthiest you can. Follow guidelines on fish for pregnant women listed at: http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancyhealth/fishmercury.htm
8. Become an environmental detective – investigate the chemicals in your home, work, and community environments.
9. Know your water supply – Find out whether your local community’s water testing program checks for hormone- disrupting chemicals and heavy metals. Not all household filters work effectively on chemicals and, unfortunately, not all bottled water is checked either. Read your water quality reports. If you drink purified water out of plastic bottles, do not leave the bottles in your car or the hot sun for any length of time; heat activates the molecules in the plastic, which increases the rate at which the polycarbons leach into the water.
10. Avoid using plastics – If you do, the safest plastics are marked with the recycling codes 2, 4, and 5. Never let infants chew on soft plastic toys and never microwave food in a plastic bowl or covered in plastic wrap. A good rule of thumb is that the softer the plastic, the more chemicals. Buy in bulk and store foods in glass jars. Reuse hard plastic tubs. Limit use of plastic bags and cling wrap products. Assess the amount of plastic in your life and try to reduce it by five. For example: Bring a reusable mug to your local coffee stop. Buy a refillable glass or earthenware water jug. Invest in glass food storage containers that can be washed and reused for a lifetime. Use reusable cloth totes for groceries.
11. Exercise your rights as a consumer – never doubt the power of consumer demand. Ask for green products when you don’t see them in your neighborhood stores. If you have a talent for organizing and recruiting people, use it to develop community ordinances regarding the use of chemicals in public places. It took a while to legislate no-smoking areas; hopefully “chemical-free” will not be far away. Encourage our youth to learn more about environmental issues and to pursue research into redesigning our future.
12. Become a community advocate – Support local and federal clean air and water initiatives. Write to your local and state representatives and encourage them to vote for a healthy future. Support elected officials who make a clean environment their priority.

Together, we can create a healthier future for us all.

The media is abuzz with the latest research news on the potential impact of cell phone use on human health. The most recent research study by the Radiation Research Trust, a UK-based charity, focuses on the health effects of electromagnetic fields from wireless technologies. The report released on August 25th, 2009, and signed by global researchers, builds on the work by Swedish researchers that was presented in September 2008 at the first international conference on mobile phones and health, headed by Professor Lennart Hardell of the University Hospital in Orebro, Sweden. The Swedish study stated that “children and teenagers” are five times more likely to get brain cancer if they use mobile phones”. The report, experts say, raises fears that today’s young people may suffer an “epidemic” of the disease in later life.

The European Parliament voted last year by 522 to 16 to urge ministers across Europe to bring in stricter limits for exposure to radiation from mobile and cordless phones, Wi-fi and other devices, partly because children are especially vulnerable to them. Children are more at risk because their brains and nervous systems are still developing and because – since their heads are smaller and their skulls are thinner – the radiation penetrates deeper into their brains.

The following is from University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute Based on Advice from an International Expert Panel

Analysis Of Recent Studies

Electromagnetic fields generated by cell phones should be considered a potential human health risk. Sufficient time has not elapsed in order for us to have conclusive data on the biological effects of cell phones and other cordless phones — a technology that is now universal.
Studies in humans do not indicate that cell phones are safe, nor do they yet clearly show that they are dangerous. But, growing evidence indicates that we should reduce exposures, while research continues on this important question.
Manufacturers report that cell and wireless phones emit electromagnetic radiation. Electromagnetic fields are likely to penetrate the brain more deeply for children than for adults.

Modeling in the diagram below estimates that young children are more susceptible to electromagnetic fields due to smaller sized brains and softer brain tissue.

1) Electromagnetic fields from cell phones are estimated to penetrate the brain especially in children.

Figure 1. Model estimate of the absorption of electromagnetic radiation from a cell phone based on age (Frequency GSM 900 Mhz) (On the right, color scale showing the Specific Absorption Rate in W/kg).

2) Living tissue is vulnerable to electromagnetic fields within the frequency bands used by cell phones (from 800 to 2200 MHz) even below the threshold of power imposed by most safety standards ( 1.6 W/Kg for 1g of tissue), notably an increase in the permeability of the blood-brain barrier and an increased synthesis of stress proteins.

The most recent studies, which include subjects with a history of cell phone usage for a duration of at least 10 years, show a possible association between certain benign tumors (acoustic neuromas) and some brain cancers on the side the device is used.

However, human epidemiological studies on cell phones conducted to date cannot be conclusive. Due to their recently increased use, we are not yet able to evaluate their long term impact on health. Even where an association between exposure and cancer is well established and the risk very high — as with tobacco and lung cancer — under similar study conditions (in other words with people who smoked for less than 10 years) it would be difficult, if not impossible, to identify an increased risk of cancer, as the risk appears mostly 15 to 35 years later.

The Ten Precautions

Given the absence of definitive proof in humans of the carcinogenic effects of electromagnetic fields of cell phones, we cannot speak about the necessity of preventative measures (as for tobacco or asbestos). In anticipation of more definitive data covering prolonged periods of observation, the existing data press us to share important prudent and simple measures of precaution for cell phone users, as have been variously suggested by several national and international reports.

These measures are also likely to be important for people who are already suffering from cancer and who must avoid any external influence that may contribute to disease progression.

1. Do not allow children to use a cell phone except for emergencies. The developing organs of a fetus or child are the most likely to be sensitive to any possible effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields.

2. While communicating using your cell phone, try to keep the cell phone away from the body as much as possible. The amplitude of the electromagnetic field is one fourth the strength at a distance of two inches and fifty times lower at three feet.
Whenever possible, use the speaker-phone mode or a wireless Bluetooth headset, which has less than 1/100th of the electromagnetic emission of a normal cell phone. Use of a headset attachment may also reduce exposure.

3. Avoid using your cell phone in places, like a bus, where you can passively expose others to your phone’s electromagnetic fields.

4. Avoid carrying your cell phone on your body at all times. Do not keep it near your body at night such as under the pillow or on a bedside table, particularly if pregnant. You can also put it on “flight” or “off-line” mode, which stops electromagnetic emissions.

5. If you must carry your cell phone on you, it is preferable that the keypad is positioned toward your body and the back is positioned toward the outside of your body. Depending on the thickness of the phone this may provide a minimal reduction of exposure.

6. Only use your cell phone to establish contact or for conversations lasting a few minutes as the biological effects are directly related to the duration of exposure. For longer conversations, use a land line with a corded phone, not a cordless phone, which uses electromagnetic emitting technology similar to that of cell phones.

7. Switch sides regularly while communicating on your cell phone to spread out your exposure. Before putting your cell phone to the ear, wait until your correspondent has picked up. This limits the power of the electromagnetic field emitted near your ear and the duration of your exposure.

8. Avoid using your cell phone when the signal is weak or when moving at high speed, such as in a car or train, as this automatically increases power to a maximum as the phone repeatedly attempts to connect to a new relay antenna.

9. When possible, communicate via text messaging rather than making a call, limiting the duration of exposure and the proximity to the body.

10. Choose a device with the lowest SAR possible (SAR = Specific Absorption Rate, which is a measure of the strength of the magnetic field absorbed by the body). SAR ratings of contemporary phones by different manufacturers are available by searching for “sar ratings cell phones” on the internet.

Conclusion

The cell phone is a remarkable invention and a breakthrough of great social importance. Our society will no longer do without cell phones. None of the members on the expert committee has stopped or intends to stop using cell telephones. This includes Dr. David Servan-Schreiber, a 16 year survivor of brain cancer. However, we, the users, must all take precautionary measures in view of recent scientific data on the biological effects of cell phone use, especially those who already have cancer.

In addition, manufacturers and service providers must also assume responsibility. It is their responsibility to provide appliances and equipment with the lowest possible risk and to constantly evolve their technology in this direction. They should also encourage consumers to use their devices in a way that is most compatible with preserving their health.
In the early 1980’s, the owners of asbestos mines were reduced to bankruptcy as a result of lawsuits brought by the families of deceased exposed workers. A few years later, a key executive of Johns Manville, the most prominent company, drew lessons from the years of struggle of his industry against medical data and the scientists who were drawing attention to the risks of asbestos. He concluded with regret that greater warnings for the public, the establishment of more effective precautions, and more extensive medical research “could have saved lives, and probably also shareholders, the industry, and the benefits of its product.”

We call on the cell phone companies to provide independent access to records of use so that appropriate studies can be carried out.
That is what we wish for today’s cell phone industry. We do not need to ban this technology, but to adapt it – to harness it – so that it never becomes a major cause of illness.

Children face unique hazards from pesticide and other toxic chemical exposures. They take in more pesticides relative to their body weight than adults in the food they eat the air they breathe, and the care products applied and absorbed through their skin Their developing organ systems often make them more sensitive to all toxic compounds. The U.S. EPA, National Academy of Sciences, and American Public Health Association, have all voiced concerns about the danger that pesticides pose to children. The body of evidence in the scientific literature increasingly shows that pesticide exposure can adversely affect a child’s neurological, respiratory, immune, and endocrine system, even at low levels and can continue to affect health throughout the life cycle. Several pesticides, including organophosphates, are also known to cause or exacerbate asthma symptoms and can also act as hormonal disruptors, associated with both male and female reproductive problems.

Pesticide Exposure during Pregnancy

Pregnant women exposed to household pesticides may increase the risk of their children developing leukemia, according to a recent study conducted in France. These findings add more weight to the role that pesticides play in childhood blood cancers and may shed light on the actual causes of the disease. In this study, parents of leukemia patients were more likely to have used pesticides and
insecticides either at home or in the workplace. “Exposure to these chemicals increase risk for blood cancers, particularly if children are exposed in the womb”, the authors conclude and caution.

“The consistency of the findings with those of previous studies raises the question of the advisability of preventing pesticide exposures and use by pregnant women.” The associations between pesticide use during pregnancy and childhood leukemia are strong enough that limiting or eliminating their use during pregnancy is advisable, according to researchers and health advocates.

In addition, there is also a growing body of research that has identified associations between developmental and neurological problems and exposure during pregnancy to a growing number of household chemicals and cleaning products. This list includes, but is not limited to, paints, glues and solvents, cigarette smoke and pesticides. The broad class of compounds that may increase risk indicates that there may be common features associated with developmental cell signaling that are altered by often multiple exposures to these compounds. Most importantly, the research confirms that children and babies in particular, with their development and growth of organs and tissues, are especially vulnerable to chemicals in the environment.

Practicing the Precautionary Principle Recommended

The precautionary principle aims to provide guidance for protecting public health and the environment in the face of uncertain risks. “When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically”.

Web sites for more information on pesticides in the environment and safer choices:

www.pesticidefreeschools.org
www.pesticideinfo.org
www.panna.org

Breast cancer prevention requires addressing the real issues surrounding the global increase in incidence of breast cancer. Public health education, corporate responsibility, and governmental regulation of toxic chemicals and poor quality modern foods must be included in addressing the factors contributing to today’s cancer epidemic. Environmental factors influence an array of molecular mechanisms and consequently influence disease risk and gene expression.

A growing number of studies show that a parent’s diet and environmental exposures can influence DNA expression and have an effect on health outcomes later in life. Genetic studies provide insights to further understand fetal origins of adult disease. Epigenetics holds that environmental factors from our diets, stress responses, and chemical exposures can affect our genetic fate by turning genes on and off and that information can be passed down to future generations. Evidence therefore is accumulating that toxic exposures during in utero, and childhood, leads to an increased risk of breast cancer.

Women in the United State face a greater lifetime risk of breast cancer than any previous generation, even though only about 5 percent have a known genetic link.

According to a report published last year, WHO, released it’s first ever country by country analysis of environmental health and disease. The International Agency for Research on Cancer reports that breast cancer is now the most common form of cancer in women worldwide, with the highest rates in industrialized nations. In the United States, a woman’s lifetime risk of breast cancer has tripled during the past 40 years, with estimates of one in six women having a diagnosis in their lifetime. Global research estimates that a women’s cumulative exposure to environmental estrogen compounds may be responsible for up to 50% percent of all breast cancers today.

To compound the problem of our toxic environment, we have refined away much of the nutritional value of our food supply and replaced it with artificial colorings, preservatives, flavorings, conditioners, etc. This poor quality diet-combined with extensive use of antibiotics in medicine and agriculture-may have predisposed many of us to experience a kind of  ‘internal’ pollution.

According to Dr. Walter Willet at the Harvard School of Public Health and the American Institute for Cancer Research, a recent study reviewing 4,500 scientific studies concluded in a 650 page report that 40% of Cancers are avoidable. “The bottom line: eat a plant based diet, maintain moderate weight throughout life, and get some exercise.”

Endocrine Disruptors

Of all the common pollutants we are exposed to, the most harmful are those potent substances known as hormone disruptors, estrogen mimickers, or xenoestrogens. These pervasive chemicals, common in our daily lives and contained in most of our personal care products, household cleaners, pesticides, and plastics, have the potential to disrupt our hormonal and endocrine balance and cause chaos to many systems including the immune system, increasing the risk of cancer and other diseases.

The Good News: What we can do

Increasingly, scientists are examining the role specific natural plant compounds play in increasing the body’s natural defense system .

Nutrigenomics is the study of the response of humans to the natural qualities in food and the phytochemicals in nature. The understandings of nutrigenomics encourages foods and plant based supplements that can be matched to individual human genotypes to benefit the health of those individuals and enhance normal physiological processes.Currently, in major cancer centers, researchers are studying the effect of concentrated nutrients on gene expression and cell signaling pathways. Nutrients including resveratrol, curcumin, sulforaphane, and Vitamin D3 have been researched for their use as both protective agents as well as for the chemotherapeutic role in the treatment of cancer, including breast cancer.

Summary of Protective Nutrients

Vitamin D3

Research estimates that as many as 50 percent of breast and colon cancer cases could be prevented by increasing intake of vitamin D, according to a study that backs continued calls for higher upper limits of this essential vitamin.

Published in the journal, Nutrition Reviews, researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) compiled data from observational studies showing an inverse link between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and these cancers. They took previous results one step further by looking into the dose-response gradient between serum 25 (OH)D and the risk of both cancers.

The findings confirm what some researchers have long been advocating: we does not consume enough vitamin D and that it needs to be made more available to consumers through public awareness as well as increasing recommended dosing. According to the study’s projections, in North America, a 50 percent reduction in colon cancer incidence would require universal intake of 2000 IU (International Units) per day of vitamin D3, and a 50 percent reduction in breast cancer would require 3500 IU per day.

Resveratrol

Resveratrol is classified as a polyphenol because of its chemical structure. Polyphenols make up a huge group of plant compounds that are further broken down into other classifications such as flavonoids, and proanthocyanidins. Naturally created by certain vines, pine trees, peanuts, grapes, and other plants, resveratrol also contains anti inflammatory, neuroprotective, and antiviral properties. Reservatrol is currently in trials at Anderson Cancer Center for use as a potential chemotherapeutic agent.

Sulfurophane

Three recently published scientific studies reinforce the protective power of sulforaphane, the naturally-occurring antioxidant in broccoli and broccoli sprouts by demonstrating three new aspects. Sulforaphane is the most characterized isothiocyanates (ITCs), which are identified in cruciferous vegetables. Sulforaphane is viewed as a promising agent in cancer prevention. Because of its ability to induce cancer cell apoptosis, it inhibits progression of benign tumors to malignant tumors and interrupts metastasis.

Green Tea Polyphenols

The polyphenols in green tea are catechins with multiple linked ring-like structures. Polyphenols are a form of bioflavonoids with several phenol groups. The dominant and most important catechin in green tea is (-) Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG), a potent antioxidant.

Curcumin

Curcumin research has been extensively published in peer-reviewed medical journals detail it’s ability to protect against cancer. In addition to its capacity to intervene in the initiation and growth of cancer cells and tumors—and to prevent their subsequent spread throughout the body by metastasis—curcumin also has been shown to increase cancer cells’ sensitivity to certain drugs commonly used to combat cancer, rendering chemotherapy more effective in some cases.

RESEARCH

Vitamin D and prevention of breast cancer: pooled analysis.
J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2007 Mar;103(3-5):708-11
Garland CF, Gorham ED, Mohr SB, Grant WB, Giovannucci EL, Lipkin M, Newmark H, Holick MF, Garland FC.Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California-San Diego,
Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and risk of post-menopausal breast cancer–results of a large case-control study

Carcinogenesis. 2008 Jan;29(1):93-9. Epub 2007 Oct 31. .Abbas S, Linseisen J, Slanger T, Kropp S, Mutschelknauss EJ, Flesch-Janys D, Chang-Claude J. Division of Cancer Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany.

The Role of Resveratrol in Cancer Therapy
Aggarwal BB, Bhardwaj A, Aggarwal RS, Seeram NP, Shishodia S, Takada Y. Cytokine Research Laboratory, Department of Bioimmunotherapy, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Sulforaphane Inhibits Human MCF-7 Mammary Cancer Cell Mitotic Progression and Tubulin Polymerization

The American Society for Nutritional Sciences J. Nutr. 134:2229-2236, Nutrition and Cancer Steven J. T. Jackson and Keith W. Singletary3 Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801

Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) stabilizes p27kip1 in estrogen- stimulated MCF-7 cells through downregulation of the Skp2 protein. Huang HC, Way TD, Lin CL, Lin JK. Endocrinology. 2008 Aug 21.
Green tea intake, MTHFR/TYMS genotype and breast cancer risk: the Singapore Chinese Health Study. Inoue M, Robien K, Wang R, Van Den Berg DJ, Koh WP, Yu MC. Carcinogenesis. 2008 Oct;29(10):1967-72.