all right [Music] our lifetime risk of developing an invasive cancer not like some superficial skin cancer like ductal carcinoma the breast but serious cancer is about 40 percent two in five of us are going to get a cancer diagnosis in our lifetimes what can we do to reduce our risk only about five percent of cancers are caused by problem genes we inherited from our parents the other 95 are caused by mutations in our DNA we acquire in our lifetimes for example based on a genetic analysis of lung cancer smokers May acquire an average of one
DNA mutation for every 15 cigarettes smoked smoking is bad but the number one cause of these mutations is our diet and that's not even including the cancers attributed to obesity I've got tons of videos on dietary approaches to prevent cancer but what if you already have it well-meaning professionals sometimes counsel cancer patients that eat whatever you want right given the time constraints that doctors face Maybe understandable that the treating oncologists the the treating cancer doctor may be reluctant to engage in a conversation about nutrition but given the critical role that diet may play perhaps it
should be a critical part of their job to be able to answer patients questions about nutrition before and after cancer treatment and not default to the unhelpful it doesn't really matter eat whatever you want which may not be in the best interest of the patient the official recommendation of the American Institute of cancer research leading Authority on dying cancer is that those with cancer should follow the same diet that helps prevent cancer from taking root in the first place that means more whole grains vegetables fruits and beans while limiting fast food processed food meat soda
and alcohol similar recommendations have been put forth by other cancer authorities more fruit vegetables whole grains and beans and less salt sugar meat and alcohol cancer survivors adhering to these guidelines do seem to live significantly longer at least older female cancer survivors the only group in which it's been looked at so far they had that there are certain foods that may be beneficial in Cancer Care including beans berries cruciferous vegetables flaxseed garlic green tea tomatoes and others but you know emphasize it's not about a single Magic Bullet food or component but the combination of foods
in a predominantly plant-based diet here's how some popular diets used by cancer patients stack up the so-called alkaline diet gets high marks for being vegetable focused and encouraging people to cut down on animal Foods the keto diet does the worst though they get points for keeping people away from refined grains alcohol and soft drinks macrobiotic diets you really kind of win the day being closest to a whole food plant-based I centered around whole grains vegetables and beans though may not be advising enough fruit paleo diets are a mixed bag with insufficient whole grains and beans
and too much meat and the vegan diet starts out strong but doesn't necessarily preclude all manner of vegan junk food have any of these diets been put to the test I've done a video on the abject failure of the keto diet the alkaline diet was tried on 11 lung cancer patients they lived an average of 20 and a half months which is about 40 percent longer than most patients have historically lived but there was no direct control group the only diet proven in a randomized control trial to reverse the progression of cancer was Dr Dean
Orange's Whole Food plant-based lifestyle program which I've covered before most randomized controlled trials to data and diet and cancer are like this right feasibility studies just to see if like you can even get cancer patients to eat healthier period otherwise what's the point of even running the study here they did fine they could get patients with head and neck cancer to ramp up green leafy and cruciferous vegetable intake up to nine cups a week so it's at least something you could test we don't yet have outcomes data but look why wait what's the downside of
trying to eat healthier it may even save your life another way cardiovascular disease competes with breast cancer as the leading cause of death for older women diagnosed with breast cancer researchers fall more than 60 000 women diagnosed with breast cancer over the age of 65. for an average of nine years by which time half had died and the number one cause of death was actually cardiovascular disease edging out the breast cancer and so choosing a healthy diet centered around whole plant Foods the only diet ever proven to reverse heart disease in the majority of patients
May save your life whether you have cancer or not [Music]
