Archive for the ‘Breast cancer’ Category
Is Vitamin D Really a Cancer Fighter?
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The information being published about vitamin D in the health media are generally very favorable about encouraging folks to make certain that they get sufficient vitamin D. It turns out that vitamin D is not really a vitamin, but it is a hormone that interacts with more than two thousand genes in our bodies. We have vitamin D receptors everywhere in our bodies. In terms of cellular health vitamin D has been shown to support the prevention of certain cancers including cancers of the prostate, breast, pancreas, and colon. All the medical studies performed to date indicate that more is better when it comes to the level of vitamin D in the blood.
For example in the case of breast cancer, women who are deficient in vitamin D when they are diagnosed with cancer are more than 70% more likely to die of it compared with women with sufficient levels of vitamin D. After heart disease, breast cancer is the deadliest killer of women in the United States. Exposure to the sun and a vitamin D rich diet significantly reduce the risk of breast cancer for women.
For men only heart attacks and lung cancer claim more men that prostate cancer. Exposure to sunlight that allows our bodies to make our own vitamin D has been shown to reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer by more than 65% for men who had the highest exposure to sunlight. Those men who had the lowest exposure to sunlight were three times more likely to develop prostate cancer. This is good news for seniors who want to take preemptive aging steps to foster their prostate health.
Preemptive Aging Foods for Seniors
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Seniors who are concerned about taking preemptive aging steps to safeguard their senior health need to take the first step and choose foods that promote senior health. The foods at the top of the preemptive list are the foods that preempt cancer which is one of the leading enemies of senior health. The good news for seniors is a follows. Foods that preempt cancer are some of the tastiest foods around. In the first place are all the colorful berries that include blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, raspberries, strawberries, and so on. Most of the berries contain tumor fighting compounds such as polyphenols and ellagic acid which are the enemies of cancer. Another winner is chocolate as long as it is 70% cocoa which is true for some of dark chocolate bars. It turns out that cocoa contains polyphenols similar to the berries and it also contains antioxidants. As an added bonus, cocoa contains a class of chemicals known as catechins that offer protection against cancer and heart disease. Finally seniors can moderately choose daily to imbibe a glass of red wine for its high concentration of resveratrol content that is provided by the grape skin. The resveratrol contributes in some unknown way to suppress metabolites associated with cancer growth. In summary, drinking a daily glass of red wine, eating some dark chocolate, and consuming a variety of berries throughout the week can provide an array of preemptive aging foods for seniors who are concerned about protecting their senior health against cancer.
Walk Frequently for Senior Health.
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The latest statistics show that about 50% of American adults to not engage in exercise despite the common knowledge that exercise is very beneficial for a healthy life. Seniors who are concerned about taking preemptive aging steps to foster their senior health need to take the big important step of exercising frequently. It turns out that one of the simplest exercises that many seniors can perform is walking. For seniors even walking slowly can lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. Obviously walking farther, faster, and more frequently will provide greater benefits for senior health. It turns out that walking is a generally ideal exercise for many seniors, because it can be tailored to each person’s ability and needs.
Walking at any level of exertion will increase breathing and heart rate which will improve the health of the entire circulatory system including the heart. Walking regularly will generally improve balance, coordination, and leg muscle strength. A recent study reported that very senior men who walked more than two miles a day reduced their risk of dying by 50% compared with those who walked less than a mile every day. It turns out that walking which improves cardiovascular health usually results in attaining a healthy weight, because obesity is the enemy of good health. Obesity is linked to cardiovascular disease and many cancers. Among the cancers that strike seniors breast cancer afflicts women and prostate cancer afflicts men. Walking can promote a healthy weight, prostate health in men, and breast health in women.
Can Sunlight Reduce Cancer Risk?
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About 30 years ago a research paper was published that raised the question of the connection between sunlight and reduction of cancer risk. The paper elaborated on the obvious conclusion that followed from sunlight’s effect on humans ability to synthesize vitamin D in its golden presence. The data that triggered the study was geographical data of the incidence of cancers across the United States of America. The southern half of the USA had a lower death rate from cancer than the northern half, but the northeast had the highest rates. For example its rates for colon cancer were twice as high as the southwest region. At the time it was published most of the medical establishment rejected it, but today the paper’s conclusion about the benefit of vitamin D for reducing the risk of cancer have been validated by many medical studies.
The best known studies include breast cancer and colon cancer, but other studies have validated the benefits of adequate vitamin D for 17 other cancers including prostate cancer. It is estimated that if everyone maintained even moderate levels of vitamin D that the deaths from many common cancers would be reduced by about 60%. For folks such as seniors who do not absorb the sun very well and those who live in a region where the sun is not high in the sky, supplements are available. This is very good news for seniors who are concerned about taking preemptive steps against cancer to protect their senior health. In particular senior women can reduce their risk of breast cancer and senior men can protect their prostate health by supplementing with vitamin D.
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How B Vitamins Help Senior Women
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Senior women who are concerned about their senior health need to make certain that they get enough of the B vitamins, because they reduce the risk of breast cancer by 38% and other cancers by 25%. The B vitamins lower homocysteine levels which keep women’s bones strong and promote cardiovascular health, too. It turns out that the risk of age-related macular degeneration was reduced for senior women who took the B Trinity on a daily basis. The healthy trinity of B vitamins that include B6, B12, and folic acid (vitamin B9) definitely improves cardiovascular health for both senior men and women by lowering the level of homocysteine. As an added benefit they reduce the risk of stroke as well. For both senior women and men Vitamin B12 boosts energy, helps keep the brain from degrading, and improves longevity.
Despite all these myriad health benefits why don’t the B vitamins get the press that C, D, and A do? Although some multivitamins list various B vitamins in their ingredients, they don’t tell you what health benefits they bring to the senior health table. Fortunately some of the latest research on vitamin B6, B12, and folic acid (vitamin B9) has uncovered numerous health benefits that improve our health and the health of seniors in particular. Major benefits conferred by the B Trinity for seniors include contributing to the prevention of cardiovascular disease, to the reduction of the risk of cancer, and to a lowered risk of osteoporosis.
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The Big Four Lifestyle Changes for Senior Health
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Now that the Federal Government has passed Health Care Reform legislation this would be an appropriate time to take take a serious look at what each one of us can do to reform our individual health care practices. Seniors need to be particularly attentive to taking care of our senior health by the choices that we make in terms of the foods we consume, supplements that we take, and the exercise schedule that we follow. When you get right down to the nittygritty there is a lot that seniors and boomers can do to prevent or preempt diseases from ever getting started. This becomes more serious for folks the older we get, because of the special issues that affect senior health. We can choose our lifestyle so that we head in a direction with a high probability of attaining greater health or in an opposite direction with an equal probability of coming down with one of the big three diseases.
The big three killer diseases are cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. A small number of lifestyle changes can reduce the probability of seniors contracting one of the big three by 80%. Instead of raising your health insurance premiums these lifestyle changes will very likely keep them steady and in some cases may actually lower them. These lifestyle changes are attainable by most folks, but they do require sincere commitment. The alternatives for not embracing these changes are higher health insurance premiums for everyone, seriously degraded quality of life and early death. The big lifestyle changes can be reduced to four. They include eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, maintaining a healthy weight, and not smoking. As one motivation coach put it, “Where attention goes, energy flows, and the result shows”. Practicing the healthy four lifestyle changes will help seniors preempt cancer, promote cardiovascular health, and avoid diabetes.
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Can Green Tea Block Cancer?
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In Asia where folks frequently consume green tea researchers have discovered that the rates of many cancers are much lower than in parts of the world where folks do not consume a lot of green tea. The researchers were pleasantly surprised to discover this link between heavy green tea consumption and low rates of cancers. The lower hormonal cancer rates in Asia for breast cancer and prostate cancer are well documented. In addition to these demographic results, labs tests have zeroed in on the apparent compounds in green tea that are responsible for blocking cancer. The research in the lab identified the extracts from green tea known as polyphenols as the compounds that stopped cancer cells from growing in the lab tests.
In terms of particular cancers, a noted British news source reported that consuming green tea may block lung cancer. In Asia a researcher reported that people who did not drink green tea were at least five times more likely to get lung cancer compared with green tea drinkers. This report indicated that the results of avoiding lung cancer applied to smokers and non-smokers alike; green tea drinkers were five times less likely to get lung cancer. This is very good news for seniors who are concerned about finding preemptive steps they can take to reduce their risk of age-related cancers and foster their senior health.
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Pick the Right Type of Vitamin D
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Recently the major health publications and the press have been promoting the significant health benefits that result when folks consume an adequate amount of vitamin D. Sadly some of the reports fail to identify the form of vitamin D that produces the better health results which are especially important for achieving senior health. The form of vitamin D that produces the better health results and last for a longer time is the same form that our bodies synthesize using sunshine. This is the form of vitamin D that is sometimes called the “sunshine vitamin” which is vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). The form of vitamin D that is often put in many multivitamins is the vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) form which is not utilized in our bodies as well as is the vitamin D3 form.
Seniors who are concerned about taking preemptive aging steps to protect themselves against as many as 27 age-related diseases need to verify that they are getting the vitamin D3 form. This is particularly true in the winter months when the amount of sunshine is at its yearly lowest. Seniors who are deficient in blood levels of vitamin D3 are at greater risk to their cardiovascular health and to contracting cancers, particularly the hormonal ones.
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Can Phytoestrogens Aid Senior Health ?
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Phytoestrogens are food sources that provide targeted health benefits over and above the basic nutritional value found in other foods. Some have been shown to preempt aging, particularly in the case of age-related diseases. For example the isoflavones, which are a major class of phytoestrogens and lignans, which are another major class, have been studied and shown to reduce the risks for heart disease, osteoporosis and certain cancers for the folks that consumed them. Lignans are found in significant quantities in a variety of foods including whole grains, vegetables, legumes and berries. Lignans are found in flax seeds and sesame seeds, too. The lignans in sesame seeds provide a synergistic effect with vitamin E to provide an anti-aging effect.
One study in the British Isles found that men with the highest consumption of lignans had the lowest incidence of prostate cancer. Parallel studies in Europe of postmenopausal woman who consumed a greater amount of lignans in their diet showed a reduced risk of breast cancer. A similar result was found in the case of pre-menopausal women; those with the highest consumption of lignans showed the lowest risk for breast cancer. This is good news for seniors, both women and men, who are looking for dietary means to preempt aging and improve their senior health.
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Lower Your Senior Risks for Cancer
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A number of years ago a signature line of a show business fellow was that ‘You are what your eat’. For seniors who want to reduce their risks of various cancers, this statement about what we eat is very true. Certain foods are known to lower our age-related risks for contracting cancers including breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, and so on. Conversely, a number of foods are known to be associated with higher risks of contracting those same age-related cancers. As we age our cells are subjected to an accumulation of mutations in our genes that make us more vulnerable to contracting cancer. These mutations affect the way our genes regulate cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. In order to avoid cancer we need to restore our gene functions to a healthy state.
We can foster healthy healthy gene functions by the foods and supplements that we consume. By eliminating or greatly reducing the foods that increase our risk of cancer such as red meat, high fat dairy and sweets and replacing them with foods that support our gene health we can reduce our risk of cancer. The foods that allow us to take preemptive aging steps against cancer are vegetables, soy products, cruciferous vegetables, soy isoflavones, dietary lignans, and vitamin D3. The soy isoflavones in particular are associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer and prostate cancer.
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