NUTRITION

Minerals versus Cancer, Part III

The Best Sources of Iron

If you are concerned about your iron intake, consider some of these sources:

* Lean meats and shellfish

* Whole grain or enriched cereals

* Dried apricots, prunes, or raisins

* Nuts and wheat germ

* Dried beans and peas

* Leafy green vegetables

Liver, especially pork liver, contains large amounts of iron. But it is also rich in cholesterol. Too many of us eat too much of cholesterol-containing foods. Egg yolk has a moderate iron content; it is high in cholesterol, too.

The iron in flesh foods, called heme iron, is best absorbed by the body. Yet studies have found no more iron-deficiency anemia among vegetarians than among meat eaters.

One possible explanation is vitamin C. It enhances absorption of the iron in foods. Vegetarians often consume more vitamin C than meat-eaters. The vitamin C may compensate for the absence of meat in their diets.

A Look at Lead

Lead has long been in the headlines. Lead poisoning has occurred too frequently among children – often from eating chips of old paint that contained lead.
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Minerals Versus Cancer, Part II

Be Careful with Supplements

Encouraged by reports linking the mineral to cancer protection, people are buying – and taking – selenium supplements. In some Asia countries, they call selenium as the king of anti-cancer substances.  But, a few words of caution are in order.

At high doses, selenium can cause health problems. Fatigue and irritability, as well as brittleness or loss of hair, have been seen in patients suffering from toxic amounts of selenium. A research scientist exposed to too much selenium developed bronchitis and skin problems.

How Much is Too Much?

According to the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council, a long term intake of 2400 to 3000 micrograms of selenium per day would be expected to cause a toxic reaction.

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Minerals Versus Cancer

Wouldn’t it be great to have a “quick fix” for every disease – pill that would prevent or cure all health problems? No one would have to give a thought to diet, exercise, or other health habits.

It is an alluring idea. Some have even proposed that the quick fix already does exist – in the form of a mineral called selenium.

But the wishful thinking is a little premature. There is some evidence that the minerals in our food play a role in preventing cancer. More research is needed, though, before we can draw any conclusions.

The Minerals in Food

Food contains a wide range of minerals. We need some of them in large amounts. Other minerals are required in very small amounts.

Nutritionists refer to the minerals needed in large amounts as major minerals. Those that we need in small amounts are known as trace minerals or trace elements.

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Vitamin C Helps You to Fight Cancer, Part III

Handle with Care

If you are nutrition-minded, you probably try not to lose nutrients in cooking.

With vitamin A, you don’t have to worry. It is tough stuff; pretty much indifferent to water, heat, and even long periods of storage. Vitamin A doesn’t dissolve in water, so it doesn’t leach into water used in cooking.

But vitamin C is very sensitive. Heat, light, and oxygen can do it in. In fact, some loss of the vitamin C in food just cannot be prevented.

With a little effort, though, losses of the vitamin can be kept to a minimum. Here are the rules:

1. The sooner fresh foods can be used, the better. Vitamin C breaks down during storage.
2. Try not to chop these foods finely all the time. The fewer pieces a food is cut into, the lower its exposure to oxygen, which destroys vitamin C.
3. The vitamin C in cabbage, cantaloupe, squashes, and strawberries is especially unstable. The sooner they are eaten after cutting, the better.

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The Right Vitamin A to Prevent Cancer, Part II

Color is the Clue

Color is sometimes the key to judging the carotene in fruits and vegetables. Deep green and yellow vegetables. Deep green and yellow vegetables are usually very good sources of vitamin A. But lighter versions of the same foods are not. For example:

• Green asparagus is rich in vitamin A. The bleached white asparagus has about one-tenth as much!
• Romaine lettuce provides  four times as much vitamin A as iceberg lettuce.
• Yellow corn has more vitamin A than white corn.
• Green beans have more vitamin A than wax beans.

Here is my favorite piece of vitamin A trivia: frozen chopped broccoli has one-third more vitamin A than the frozen spears. I am willing to bet that the leaves in the chopped version make the difference. Their deep green color is a sure sign of vitamin A!

Though fruits and vegetables supply almost half of our vitamin A, other foods do have significant amounts. Meat, poultry, and fish provide about one-fourth of the vitamin A in our diet; diary products give another 15 % or so. Eggs and other foods supply a little less than 10 %.

But it is not known whether the vitamin A in most animal foods has any value in cancer prevention. That is why the Committee on Diet, Nutrition, and Cancer restricted its recommendations to fruits and vegetables. But in this regard, however, I suggest you to learn more about the potency of vitamin A in animal sources to fight cancer posted in BlogOfHealth.co.cc.

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Vitamin C and Cancer

Beyond the Cancer Question

I would drink my orange juice and eat my green peppers even if  it weren’t  for research linking vitamin C to prevention of cancer.

Some of my reasons are the same ones that bolster the advice to eat more fruits and vegetables that supply carotene.  Like these plant foods rich in vitamin A, foods rich in vitamin C are also low in saturated fat and sodium.

What’s more, fruits and vegetables that contain vitamin C are cholesterol-free. And they provide small to moderate amounts of dietary fiber. Eaten in large amounts,  the fiber in these fruits and vegetables helps to lower blood cholesterol levels.

There is more. Vitamin C is rarely recognized for its role in iron absorption. Yet we have known for many years that vitamin C helps the body to absorb iron.

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Vitamin C, Cancer, and Kidney Stones, Part II

Vitamin C

Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble vitamin. Unlike most mammals and other animals, humans do not have the ability to make their own vitamin C. Therefore, we must obtain vitamin C through our diet.

Function

Vitamin C is required for the synthesis of collagen, an important structural component of blood vessels, tendons, ligaments, and bone. Vitamin C also plays an important role in the synthesis of the neurotransmitter, norepinephrine. Neurotransmitters are critical to brain function and are known to affect mood. In addition, vitamin C is required for the synthesis of carnitine, a small molecule that is essential for the transport of fat into cellular organelles called mitochondria, where the fat is converted to energy (1). Research also suggests that vitamin C is involved in the metabolism of cholesterol to bile acids, which may have implications for blood cholesterol levels and the incidence of gallstones (2).
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Soy Products Do Not Make You Healthy (part III)

Soy Protein is Not Complete

While fermented soy products,  such as traditional tempeh (tempe), contain protein, vitamins, anti-carcinogenic substances and important fatty acids, they can under no circumstances be called nutritionally complete. Like all pulses, the soybean lacks vital sulfur-containing amino acids cystine and methionine. These are usually supplied by rice and other grains in areas where the soybean is traditionally consumed. Soy should never be considered as a substitute for animal products like meat or milk.Claims that fermented soy products like tempeh can be relied on as a source of vitamin B12, necessary for healthy blood and nervous system, have not been supported by scientific research.²⁷

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Soy Products Do Not Make You Healthy (part II)

Marketing the Soybean

The truth is, however, that most of us are unlikely to adopt traditional soy products as their principal food. Tofu, bean curd and tempeh (tempe) have a disagreeable texture and are too bland for the Western palate; pungent and musty miso and natto lose out in taste tests; only soy sauce enjoys widespread popularity as a condiment. The soy industry has therefore looked for other ways to market the superabundance of soybeans now grown in the United States and around the world.

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Soy Products Do Not Make You Healthy

Commercial milk products have been linked to a number of disease conditions including allergies, asthma, arthritis, diabetes, auto immune diseases, childhood anemia, heart disease and cancer. Many have turned to soy products as substitutes for dairy products. A popular booklet describes soy foods as ” . . . uniformly high in protein but low in calories, carbohydrates and fats, entirely devoid of cholesterol, high in vitamins, easy to digest, tasty and wonderfully versatile in the kitchen, [which] positions them as irresistible new food staples for the evolving American (and also many other countries) diet. ¹. . . with each mouth watering soy food dish,” says the author, “comes a balanced, adequate and sustainable nutritional package.” ²

Leaving aside the question of whether products like tofu and soy milk are really “mouthwatering” and “irresistible,” those charged with providing nutritious meals for their families should carefully examine claims that newly introduced soybean products provide an easily digested and complete nutritional package, one that adequately replaces dairy products like milk, butter and cheese, which have, after all, provided nourishment for our generations.

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