BREAST CANCER: PREVENTION AND NUTRITIONAL INTERVENTIONS

According to Russell Blaylock in his book, Natural Strategies For Cancer Patients, after age 50, about 40% of men will have cancer cells in their prostate and yet only a small % will develop a full blown prostate cancer. However, after age 70, the incidence goes up to about 70%. After age 50 in women, about 40% will have some cancer cells in their breasts, but again, most will not get breast cancer. Why is that? Blaylock says our immune system allows the cancer cells to lie dormant and not kill them until some trigger allows the cells to come out of dormancy. Diet is one of those triggers and he points out what we all know, that our typical Amcerican diet of Omega 6 to 3 ratio may be up to 30 or 60 to one instead of 3:1.

Sara Wood, ND on Breast Cancer and it’s prevention and nutritional interventions. She stated that 1 in 8 women will develop breast CA in their lifetime with 40,000 US deaths/year (2000 cases of breast cancer in males). With it receiving such notoriety and many women actually in a panic to prevent it and find it on their yearly exams, what can we do to educate our family, friends and patients on avoiding the risk of breast cancer??? While there is a long list of potential breast ca risk, I believe that Dr. Wood gave some really good fundamentals. Here we go:

• Vitamin D: The NHANES study found 90% of people with darker pigmented skin were deficient and 75% of the white population were deficient. She stated that 85,000 cases of breast cancer (BC) could be prevented by just supplementing with Vitamin D and/or more time in the sunlight. Vit D binds to receptors that promote cell differentiation (a very good thing) and apoptosis (programmed cell death, another very good thing), and acts as ann aromatase inhibitor and down regulates the expression of estrogen receptors. Wood quoted a San Diego study where supplementing with 3500 iu/day of Vit D reduced BC y 50%. Note that the current average D intake is 230 iu/day!!! Labrix will have a simple finger stick Vitamin D test available in May for a wholesale price of $65. Their number is 877-656-9596. Optimal range is around 70 ng/ml. Nutri-west has an excellent source of Vitamin D3 called Vitamin D-400 and wholesales for $4.80 for 100 tablets. I probably use a lower dose than many physicians, however, I also treat if needed the low gastric HCL and compromised gallbladder function with products like Hypo-D and GB-Plus, which typically increases all fat soluble vitamin absorption (A, E and K) plus vitamin D. I think this is an extremely important part of the epidemic low Vitamin D levels we see.
• Iodine: Dr. Woods again mentioned that the breast is the second most concentrated source of iodine stores in the body, second to the thyroid and this may be why thyroid issues are more common in the female as they compete for the small amount of iodine available. Japanese women with one of the lowest occurrence rates of breast cancer, consume 13.8mg/day of iodine (remember there is only 77 mcg of iodine in one gram of iodized salt). It’s estimated that 70% of the world population is deficient, with popular author Brownstein commenting that out of 3000 patients he tested, 95% were deficient. Without going into too much detail, one of the reasons our society is so deficient is the increasing exposure to other halogen family elements that compete for the iodine receptors, such as bromine, chlorine and fluorine. Bromine replaced iodine in bread (dough conditioners), bromine is in most bottled juices to keep the fruit from precipitating out of solution, it’s in Mountain Dew, etc. We know plenty about our exposure to fluorine an chlorine. Always consider iodine supplementation in Fibrocystic Breast Disease now called Fibrocystic Breast Changes (FBC) which should help decrease their pain. Among the many beneficial actions of iodine in breast cancer, it induces apoptosis and disrupts proliferation. A loading dose of iodine in extremely deficient patients may require 4 tabs/day of 12.5 mg for a total of 50 mg/day. A maintainance dose may be as low as one tab per day. Nutri-West has an iodine product I use called Iodine Rescue, which was formulated by Dr. Jay Mead that supplies 12.5mg of iodine/tablet and has a wholesale price of $12 for 90 tablets. Labrix also has a 24 hour urine test to estimate iodine saturation and levels.
• Progesterone: Topical progesterone is one of those no-brainers in breast cancer. It protects against BC and treats FBC. Estrogen decreases by 40% during menopause but progesterone decreases by 90% and many women continue to make estrogen from adipose cells and aromatase conversion. Progesterone protects from what Dr. John Lee termed “Estrogen Dominance”. For a great treatise on this subject refer to his book “What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Breast Cancer”.
• Omega-3 Oil: I mentioned Dr. Blaylock at the beginning of this newsletter commenting on the immune and inflammatory side-effect of too many omega 6’s and not enough 3’s. This is a standard recommendation in my practice for most of my patients, because most all of us do not get enough omega-3 consumption and way too much omega-6. Dr. Dan Murphy formulated for Nutri-West the Complete Omega-3 Essentials (capsules) and the Complete Hi-Potency Omega-3 Liquid. Both oils also contain ALA and GLA for specific action on EPA metabolism and protected by dark capsule or dark bottle and plenty of Vitamin E. I mentioned stomach and gallbladder function above, and here again, if a concentrated oil like this bothers a patient’s digestion, count on that patient having a sluggish gallbladder.
• Phytonutrients such as resveratrol, DIM, I3C and Green Tea Extract: The four nutritional suggestions above I make to many of my female patients for just good immune and hormone health on a preventive basis. However, if the patient is in a high risk group or has had breast cancer I then consider different phytonutrients such as these. I use Total Veggie and Total Protect which gives support in all these areas plus more.
• Saliva Test: Almost without exception, my patients with PBC, female hormone imbalance, high risk for breast cancer or who may have had breast cancer are going to run a saliva test and check cortisol DHEA, Testosteone, Estradiol and Progesterone levels (from Labrix). I think that it’s essential to know what their free hormone levels are and then to know if your nutritional/lifestyle interventions are balancing the hormones properly. Excess cortisol is catabolic and plays havoc with the immune system. It’s a cornerstone of what I do in practice. If you don’t have my simplified adrenal assessment questionnaire and protocol, let me know and I will send it to you.