Breasts: An Owner’s Manual: Every Woman’s Guide to Reducing Cancer Risk, Making Treatment Choices and Optimising Outcomes. Kristi Funk
and inhibit angiogenesis.26 Frozen berries more rapidly release these polyphenol heavyweights than fresh berries, but either fresh or frozen, throw them into oatmeal, smoothies, and salads—nobody’s looking, go ahead and just pop them straight into your mouth. I also love the Indian gooseberry, which has 124 times the antioxidant power of a blueberry, and works synergistically within the body to extinguish oxidative damage from free radicals.27 You can use it in the powdered form, amla, as I do in my Antioxidant Smoothie recipe at the end of this chapter.
#4: Apples
Can an apple a day keep breast cancer away? Seems so! The flavonols and catechins in all apple peels and the anthocyanins in red apples work against every metabolic pathway cancers try to take, at least in animal models.28 Daily apple eaters (not pie, people) have 24 percent less breast cancer than those eating fewer apples.29 Extracts from the peel stop cancer cells in the lab ten times more effectively than from the flesh of the same apples, so eat them whole or blended, but not juiced.30
#5: Tomatoes
One of the carotenoids, lycopene, colors tomatoes bright red and is most concentrated in the skin. As a powerful antioxidant, lycopene exhibits anti-inflammatory and anti-angiogenesis abilities, both plausible reasons for the reported decrease in breast cancer among women with high tomato intake.31 Unlike most phytochemicals, which are best consumed in their raw state, heating tomatoes for fifteen minutes increases the lycopene bioavailability by 300 percent.32 They are fat-soluble, so bump up absorption even more by sautéing or roasting them in a touch of olive oil.
#6: Mushrooms
Mushrooms aren’t technically fruits, vegetables, or even plants—they’re fungi, but they’re also delicious and nutritious. Who would’ve guessed that fancy mushrooms like portobello, chanterelle, and oyster have fewer flavones and isoflavones than the little ol’ white button?33 True, the buttons carry the highest estrogen-blocking abilities of all these mushrooms and inhibit an enzyme, aromatase, which normally converts precursors of estrogen to its cancer-causing active form. A daily intake of 10 grams or more—the equivalent of half a button mushroom—dropped breast cancer rates in Chinese women by 64 percent compared with age-matched “no mushroom” eaters, and by 89 percent when they sipped a halfcup of green tea to boot.34 Studies credit polysaccharides in medicinal mushrooms with stimulating immune response pathways and exhibiting direct antitumor ninja skills.35
#7: Garlic, Onions, Leeks, Shallots, Chives, Scallions
Crush, chop, or chew them, but these immunity-boosting bulbs need to be fresh to unleash the antiproliferative and antioxidant protection of the phytochemical allicin.36 A French study showed an astounding 75 percent drop in breast cancer with eleven to twelve weekly servings of the allium vegetables such as garlic and onions.37 Vampires were also reported missing.
#8: Turmeric and Spices
Could curcumin, the most active ingredient in the pungent yellow herb turmeric be the reason breast cancer rates in India are five times less than in Westernized countries? Curcumin decreases estrogen, induces cancer cell apoptosis, suppresses inflammation (COX-2 inhibition), and inhibits free radicals.38 In fact, human blood samples were exposed to free radicals in a lab one week, and when this exposure was repeated on fresh samples from the same people the following week, they sustained half the oxidative DNA damage. What changed in one week? The study subjects merely consumed one daily pinch of turmeric.39 Piperine, found in black pepper, increases the bioavailability of curcumin from barely detectable to 2,000 percent higher.40 Mixing 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric powder or a quarter inch fresh turmeric root with 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper and one tablespoon of fat like ground flaxseeds helps with absorption and avoids elimination by the liver—and makes a great topping for salad, rice, or vegetable dishes. While straight curcumin is powerful, it shows less cancer inhibition than turmeric when the two go head-to-head against breast cancer cells in a petri dish, so you may as well reap all the benefit you can from turning things ochre yellow (like I did the inside of my blender) and choose turmeric.41 Avoid turmeric if you have gallstones; it stimulates gallbladder contraction, which can lead to a painful gallbladder attack.42
Spices contribute far more than color and flavor to food; they beneficially affect inflammation, free radical formation and cancer cell proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, and immune function.43 So while we’re feeling spicy, let me also suggest anticancer cooking with clove (second only to that gooseberry in antioxidant potency), ginger, paprika, cumin, cinnamon, sage, rosemary, oregano, thyme, and anything else inside the box below that you think adds zest and zing.44 Incidentally, cassia cinnamon contains much more of the blood thinner, coumarin, than does Ceylon cinnamon; coumarin can also be toxic to the liver at doses of 1 teaspoon a day, so favor Ceylon if you consume cinnamon regularly.45
HEY, HERB, LET’S SPICE IT UP
A pinch of this and a dash of that can transform bland and boring into “Yummy yummy, seconds, please!” Over 180 spice-derived phytonutrients have been explored for their health benefits, so the most impressive of these deserve some shelf space, please.46 If salt and pepper is your idea of a spice rack, try incorporating these breast-friendly herbs and spices into your cooking and experience the flavorful taste of cancer fighting:
• allspice
• barberries
• basil
• bay leaves
• black pepper
• caraway
• cardamom
• chili pepper
• chili powder
• chives
• cilantro
• cinnamon (Ceylon)
• clove
• coriander
• cumin
• curry powder
• dill
• fennel
• fenugreek
• garlic
• ginger
• horseradish
• kokum
• leeks
• lemongrass
• marjoram
• mint
• mustard powder
• onions
• oregano
• nutmeg
• paprika
• parsley
• rosemary
• sage
• saffron
• scallions
• shallots
• thyme
• turmeric / turmeric
root
#9: Seaweed
Seaweed reduces the estrogen burden in the body by promoting urinary excretion and altering the gut bacteria.47 A Korean study showed that daily consumption of gim (like a sheet of nori, the sushi wrap) drops breast cancer by over 50 percent.48 Common seaweeds include nori, wakame, arame, mekabu, kombu, dulse, Irish moss, and spirulina. Try snacking on sheets of nori instead of chips, or roll up veggies and colored rice in a nori wrap. Throw a teaspoon of powdered spirulina into a smoothie or salad dressing, or shake seaweed flakes (found online or in Asian markets) instead of salt onto any meal.
#10: