The Cancer Fighting/Promoting Power of Foods.

No single food can reduce your risk of cancer, but the right combination of foods may help make a difference. At mealtimes, strike a balance of at least 2/3 plant-based foods and no more than 1/3 animal protein. This "New American Plate" is an important cancer fighting tool, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research. Check out better and worse choices for your plate.

Fighting Cancer With Color

Fruits and vegetables are rich in cancer-fighting nutrients - and the more color, the more nutrients they contain. These foods can help lower your risk in a second way, too, when they help you reach and maintain a healthy body weight. Carrying extra pounds increases the risk for multiple cancers, including colon, esophagus, and kidney cancers. Aim for five to nine servings a day, prepared in a healthy way.

The Cancer-Fighting Breakfast

Folate is an important B vitamin that may help protect against cancers of the colon, rectum, and breast.  You can find it in abundance on the breakfast table. Fortified breakfast cereals and whole wheat products are good sources of folate. So are orange juice, melons, and strawberries. 

Folate the rest of the day.

Other good sources of folate are asparagus and eggs. You can also find it in chicken liver, beans, sunflower seeds, and leafy green vegetables like spinach or romaine lettuce. According to the ACS, the best way to get folate is not from a pill, but by eating enough fruits, vegetables, and enriched grain products.

Cancer Fighting Tomatoes.

Whether it's the lycopene -- the pigment that gives tomatoes their red color -- or something else isn't clear. But some studies have linked eating tomatoes to reduced risk of several types of cancer, including prostate cancer. Studies also suggest that processed tomato products such as juice, sauce, or paste increase the cancer-fighting potential.

Tea  especially green tea, may be a strong cancer fighter. In laboratory studies, green tea has slowed or prevented the development of cancer in colon, liver, breast, and prostate cells. It also had a similar effect in lung tissue and skin. And in some longer term studies, tea was associated with lower risks for bladder, stomach, and pancreatic cancers.

Grapes and grape juice, especially purple and red grapes, contain resveratrol. Resveratrol has strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. In laboratory studies, it has prevented the kind of damage that can trigger the cancer process in cells. There is not enough evidence to say that eating grapes or drinking grape juice or wine can prevent or treat cancer.

Water not only quenches your thirst, but it may protect you against bladder cancer. The lower risk comes from water diluting concentrations of potential cancer-causing agents in the bladder. Also, drinking more fluids causes you to urinate more frequently. That lessens the amount of time those agents stay in contact with the bladder lining.

Beans are so good for you, it's no surprise they may help fight cancer, too.  They contain several potent phytochemicals that may protect the body's cells against damage that can lead to cancer. In the lab these substances slowed tumor growth and prevented tumors from releasing substances that damage nearby cells.

Cruciferous vegetables include broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, and kale. These members of the cabbage family make an excellent stir fry and can really liven up a salad. But most importantly, components in these vegetables may help your body defend against cancers such as colon, breast, lung, and cervix.

Dark green leafy vegetables such as mustard greens, lettuce, kale, chicory, spinach, and chard have an abundance of fiber, folate, and carotenoids. These nutrients may help protect against cancer of the mouth, larynx, pancreas, lung, skin, and stomach.

Curcumin is the main ingredient in the Indian spice turmeric and a potential cancer fighter. Lab studies show it can suppress the transformation, proliferation, and invasion of cancerous cells for a wide array of cancers.

How you cook meat can make a difference in how big a cancer risk it poses. Frying, grilling, and broiling meats at very high temperatures causes chemicals to form that may increase cancer risk. Other cooking methods such as stewing, braising, or steaming appear to produce fewer of those chemicals. And when you do stew the meat, remember to add plenty of healthy, protective vegetables.

Strawberries and raspberries have a phytochemical called ellagic acid. This powerful antioxidant may actually fight cancer in several ways at once, including deactivating certain cancer causing substances and slowing the growth of cancer cells.

The potent antioxidents in blueberries may have wide value in supporting our health, starting with cancer. Antioxidants fight cancer by ridding the body of free radicals before they can do their damage to cells. Try topping oatmeal, cold cereal, yogurt, even salad with blueberries to boost your intake of these healthful berries.

Sugar may not cause cancer directly. But it may displace other nutrient-rich foods that help protect against cancer. And it increases calorie counts, which contributes to overweight and obesity. Excess weight can be a cancer risk. Fruit offers a sweet alternative in a vitamin-rich package.

Limit alcohol to slash cancer risk. Cancers of the mouth, throat, larynx, esophagus, liver, and breast are all linked with drinking alcohol. Alcohol may also raise the risk for cancer of the colon and rectum. The American Cancer Society says that even the suggested daily limit of 2 drinks for men and 1 for women elevates the risk. Women at higher risk for breast cancer may want to talk with a doctor about what amount of alcohol, if any, is safe based on their personal risk factors.

Activation of flavonoids from foods increases their protective nature.

Methylation, a chemical process of adding structures called methyl groups to flavonoids, increases their ability to reduce inflammation and other harmful events in cells.

Methylation – the addition of a methyl group (CH4 – one carbon attached to three hydrogens) to another molecule – is an essential and vital biochemical process within the human body that is involved in a large number of biochemical pathways involving neurotransmitters, detoxification, cardiovascular health, eye health, muscle health, bone health, and redox ( antioxidant) balance. A number of specific nutrients are necessary for methylation to occur normally.

Methylation depends on you having methyl donors on board. Methylcobalamin is a form of vitamin B-12 that is a methyl donor. Methyl folate is a a form of folic acid that also supports methylation. Pyridoxyl 5 phosphate is an active form of vitamin B-6 that contributes to this precess as well. Other methyl donors include trimethylglycine and N Acetyl Cysteine.

Now scientists at the University of York have discovered that very small chemical changes to dietary flavonoids cause very large effects when the plant natural products are tested for their impact on the human immune system.

Plants are capable of making tens of thousands of different small molecules – an average leaf for example, produces around 20,000. Many of these are found in a typical diet and some are already known to have medicinal properties with effects on health, diseases and general well-being.

Now plant biologists and immunologists at York have joined forces to examine a very closely related family of these small molecules (flavonoids) to establish how tiny changes to their chemical structures affect their bioactivity.

The research, published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry, has important implications for dietary advice and may bring innovation to the development of new pharmaceuticals from plant nutraceuticals.

Researchers from the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products (CNAP) and the Centre for Immunology and Infection (CII) in the University’s Department of Biology designed experiments to test the bioactivity of plant-derived flavonoids.

Professor Dianna Bowles, a plant biochemist and founding Director of CNAP, led the research with Professor Paul Kaye, the Director of CII, who developed the robust assay system involving human cells to assess the impacts of the different structures.

Professor Bowles, who referred to the research in a panel discussion on ‘Nature’s Marvellous Medicines‘ at the recent Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition, said: “We were measuring how flavonoids affected the production of inflammatory mediators by cells stimulated by microbial products. We found that the way in which a flavonoid scaffold was decorated had massive effects on how the cells responded.

If a methyl group was attached at one site, there would be no effect; methylate another site, and the cells would produce far greater amounts of these inflammatory mediators. Therefore, the site of attachment on the structural scaffold was all-important in determining the bioactivity of the small molecule.

“Plant products in our diet have immense

molecular diversity and consequently

also have a huge potential for

affecting our health and well being.

We are only at the beginning of

discovering the multitude of their effects.”

Professor Kaye added:  “The research demonstrates the level of control that the shape of a molecule can have on its recognition by our immune system cells. This is really important since we can use information such as this to design new drugs for clinical use, as novel immunomodulators, for example”.

Reference ‘Regiospecific Methylation of a Dietary Flavonoid Scaffold Selectively Enhances IL-1βProduction following Toll-like Receptor 2 Stimulation in THP-1 Monocytes’ is published in *The Journal of Biological Chemistry* 

   Source:http://www.nutritionnews.com/conditions/inflammation-conditions/tiny-changes-to-bioflavinoids-yield-large-impacts-on-bio-activity/

Folate and Vitamin B-12 Linked to Depression

A low intake of folate and vitamin B12 is linked to a greater risk of melancholic depressive symptoms. Typical depressive symptoms are associated with melancholic depression, such as a depressed mood. Folate helps produce chemicals that control brain functions, such as sleep, mood, and appetite, and can be found in foods like green vegetables. Vitamin B12 is also a water soluble vitamin and it plays a crucial role in the function of the brain, nervous system, and formation of red blood cells.

The results from the study showed the subjects with the highest folate intake had a 50% lower risk for melancholic depressive symptoms, compared to those with the lowest intake. And the people who had the highest vitamin B12 levels had a 3 times lower risk for melancholic depressive symptoms than those with the lowest levels.

Journal of Affective Disorders 2012

Folic acid supplementation may reduce progression of atherosclerosis.

Researchers have conducted a meta-analysis of relevant randomized trials to assess whether folic acid supplementation reduces the progression of atherosclerosis as measured by carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT). This analysis included 2,052 subjects from 10 folic acid randomized trials. The analysis showed that folic acid supplementation significantly reduces the progression of CIMT, particularly in subjects with chronic kidney disease (CKD) or high cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk but not in subjects who were generally healthy with only elevated homocysteine concentrations. Furthermore, meta-regression analysis of the data showed that the baseline CIMT levels and the percent reduction of homocysteine were positively related to the effect size. Consistently, a greater beneficial effect was seen in those trials with baseline CIMT levels ≥0.8 mm, and a reduction in the homocysteine concentration ≥30%. The authors conclude "Our findings underscore the importance of identifying target populations that can particularly benefit from folic acid therapy".

Qin X, Xu M, Zhang Y, Li J, Xu X, Wang X, Xu X, Huo Y. Effect of folic acid supplementation on the progression of carotid intima-media thickness: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Atherosclerosis. 2012 Jun;222(2):307-13.

Reduced stroke risk associated with B vitamin supplementation.

This study systematically reviewed the effects of B vitamin supplementation on plasma homocysteine (Hcy), cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in randomized controlled trials. Data from 19 studies including 47,921 participants was analyzed and the results showed a significant protective effect on stroke and a decrease in blood Hcy levels with B vitamin supplementation.

Note, be sure your daily multi-vitamin provides at least 400 iu folic acid and 25 to 50 mg of the B complex vitamins, including at least 1000 mcg B-12.

Huang T, Chen Y, Yang B, Yang J, Wahlqvist ML, Li D. Meta-analysis of B vitamin supplementation on plasma homocysteine, cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. Clin Nutr. 2012 Aug;31(4):448-54.

B Vitamins Can Slow Cognitive Decline

This study found that people with mild cognitive impairment had their cognitive decline slowed by taking B vitamins. The modest doses used were easy to replicate. 800 mcg Folic Acid. 500 mcg B-12, 20 mg B-6 and they took them for two years.
Benefits seen? Significant improvements in homocysteine levels, in global cognition, episodic memory, delayed recall and semantic memory. Progression of memory impairment was slowed in the B vitamin group and not at all in the placebo group.

de Jager, Jacoby et al, 'Cognitive and clinical outcomes of homocysteine-lowering B-vitamin treatment in mild cognitive impairment: a randomized controlled trial', International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2011.