Fish Protects Against Cancer and Heart Disease

[Guest guest]

Fish Protects Against Cancer and Heart Disease

By Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.

 

In March, 2002, a group of Swedish scientists discovered a relationship

between eating fish and preventing cancer. Women who ate six to eight ounces

per week of fatty fish, such as herring and alaskan salmon, had forty

percent less cancer of the endometrium (uterus) than those who ate just lean

fish or no fish at all. " Our results suggest that the consumption of fatty

fish, but not other types of fish, may decrease the risk of endometrial

cancer, " they wrote .

 

The researchers speculated that the omega-3 oils found in fatty fish were

protective. Other kinds of cancer may be similarly prevented. Last year, an

article in The Lancet showed that men who regularly ate moderate to high

amounts of fish had about half the chance of developing prostate cancer than

those who didnÕt. " Fish consumption could be associated with decreased risk

of prostate cancer, " scientists reported (Lancet 2001;357:1764-1766).

 

 

Protecting the Heart

 

Eating fish may also decrease the risk of a heart attack. Last November,

American scientists published a huge survey of men in Shanghai, China. Older

men who ate at least 7 ounces of fish or shellfish per week had 59 percent

fewer fatal heart attacks than those who ate less than two ounces (Am J

Epidemiol 2001;154:809-16). Two recent articles in top journals have

confirmed these claims. The first was a study of 22,000 male doctors.

Researchers compared physicians who had died of sudden heart attacks to

others who maintained normal hearts. In particular, they compared

bloodstream concentrations of omega or n-3 fatty acids, which are primarily

found in fish oils. The men who had the highest levels of omega-3s had only

one-fifth the risk of sudden death as those who had the lowest levels. (N

Engl J Med 2002;346:1113-1138).

 

A second study, published in the Journal of the American Medical

Association, looked at the health records of 85,000 female nurses.

Researchers found that the more frequently a woman ate fish, the less likely

she was to suffer a heart attack or to die of heart disease. Those who ate

fish once a week had a 30 percent lower risk of heart attack or death as

those who never ate fish (JAMA 2002;287:1815-1821).

 

My recommendation is to eat six to eight ounces of fatty fish per week. That

said, I realize there are difficulties in doing so. Healthful fish has

become difficult to procure. In January, 2001, the FDA cautioned pregnant

women, and those of childbearing age, not to eat shark, swordfish, king

mackerel and tile fish. All of them are contaminated with methyl mercury, an

extremely dangerous form of mercury, which can cause birth defects.

Lactating women and small children were also advised to steer clear of these

fish. What these four fish have in common is that they are at the top of the

oceanic food chain.

 

" These long-lived, larger fish that feed on smaller fish accumulate the

highest levels of methyl mercury, " said the FDA, " and therefore pose the

greatest risk to the unborn child. "

 

The FDA further advises these women " to select a variety of other kinds of

fish, including shellfish, canned fish, smaller ocean fish or farm-raised

fish " (FDA Consumer Advisory, March 9, 2001). The FDAÕs position is that,

although childbearing women and young children should avoid these fish, it

is safe for all others: " Most people have no reason to limit their fish

consumption. " This is strange, considering the vast data on methyl mercuryÕs

harm to adults as well as children.

 

According to MaineÕs Natural Resources Council, the safest fish are haddock,

cod, hake, flounder, pollock, Atlantic salmon, herring, smelts, clams,

shrimp, scallops, lobster (except the tomalley, which can contain dioxin)

and canned " light " tuna (safer than canned " white " tuna). The safest

freshwater fish are brook trout, yellow perch and landlocked salmon. (Avoid

salmon that has been treated with antibiotics or dyed with artificial

colors.)

 

 

G Is For Garlic

 

In April, the number of medical publications on garlic topped 1,500, over

250 of which are related to cancer. Garlic and its cousins (onions, chives,

scallions and leeks) are probably the most intriguing of all vegetables.

Garlic lowers cholesterol, reduces the risk of heart disease, fights

infection and boosts immunity. And, as if that werenÕt enough, the data is

strong for the prevention of cancers of the digestive system, including the

esophagus, stomach, colon and rectum. The NCI is sponsoring a huge clinical

trial on garlicÕs ability to prevent stomach cancer. But why wait years for

the results of this clinical trial? You canÕt go wrong if you eat garlic,

along with other foods of the allium family.

 

Parts of China have the misfortune to be among those places with an

inordinately high rate of cancer of the stomach and esophagus. Scientists at

the Nanjing Cancer Institute compared the incidence of several cancers among

thousands of those who ate lots of allium vegetables versus thousands who

ate little or none (Jpn J Cancer Res. 1999;90:614-21). ( " Lots " in this case

means at least once per week while " little " means less than once per month.)

 

Scallions and onions may be even more powerful than garlic in preventing

some cancers. It is a good idea to incorporate all of these foods into your

weekly, or even daily, diet. I keep them all handyÉscallions with ginger and

garlic on a piece of broiled fish, sweet, red or Vidalia onions chopped up

for a tuna or mesclun salad, chives for a scoop of cottage cheeseÉthere are

numerous possibilities. If you do cook these vegetables, do so with a light

touch. Always put garlic in last when you are cooking and let it get just

soft enough to eat, never mushy.

 

 

Antibacterial Effects

 

It was Louis Pasteur who first described the antibacterial effect of onion

and garlic juices. In World War II garlic was called " Russian penicillin "

because it was the main antibiotic available on the Eastern Front. It kills

both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Garlic is effective even

against antibiotic-resistant strains. It even kills Helicobacter pylori (H.

pylori), a kind of bacteria that is implicated in the cause of some stomach

cancers and ulcers.

 

 

H Is for Herbs

 

It has not been a good year for herbs. Late last month, the Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) issued a consumer advisory linking the herb kava to

liver damage. In January, researchers claimed that the widely used herb

ephedra (ma huang) was related to strokes, heart attacks and deaths. St.

JohnÕs wort was recently said to interfere with the birth control pill,

warfarin, digoxin and theophylline. Not surprisingly, total herbal product

sales declined 21 percent in 2001. The biggest losers were St. John's wort

(down 40.5 percent), Ginkgo biloba (down 35.3 percent) and ginseng (down

32.8 percent).

 

In the face of this barrage of bad publicity, I wish to affirm the

usefulness of herbs.

 

Most herbal products are safe and can be quite effective for a variety of

ailments. According to a recent survey, 31.6 percent of patients used herbal

remedies and 59.2 percent used other dietary supplements.

 

I think it is something of a small miracle that in the face of the barrage

of advertising and media hype for prescription drugs, herbs manage to hang

on.

 

Despite their very different positions in the marketplace, drugs and herbs

are historically related. In fact, many drugs are derived from herbs. In

cancer, examples include Taxol (derived from the yew tree), vincristine and

vinblastine (from the periwinkle), etoposide and teniposide (from the

mayapple), and many others. Modern chemotherapy would be inconceivable

without its plant-derived agents.

 

But there is an essential difference between prescription drugs and herbal

teas and formulas. All of the plant-derived cancer medicines were isolated

and synthesized in a laboratory, patented by pharmaceutical companies, and

packaged as profit-making prescription drugs.

 

Herbal medicine exists in a humbler world. Across the planet, billions of

people still gather herbs in the field or grow them in their garden.

 

Increasingly, Americans seek out packaged herbs at health food stores and

co-ops. Knowledge of what seems to work is passed by word of mouth or

through writings designed for the layperson. T

 

he cost of herbs is low and although there are profits to be made, there is

little incentive to classify most herbs as drugs, since plants in the public

domain cannot be patented. Herbs are the underappreciated stepchildren of

allopathic medicine.

 

 

Are Herbs Dangerous?

Most of the widely reported serious adverse effects of herbs result from

their misidentification. In reality, fatalities resulting from

misidentification of herbs are few and far between. According to the Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention, about half a dozen people die in the US

each year after ingesting some poisonous plant that was misidentified as an

edible herb. During 1989Ð1992, the American Association of Poison Control

Centers recorded a total four deaths attributed to ingestion of poisonous

plants, about one per year. In Germany, where 65 percent of the residents

use herbs, such deaths are equally rare.

 

There have been no reported deaths from botanical medicine since they

instituted their regulatory system in 1978.

 

The Germans have a sensible system of safeguards and when they discover a

possible danger they take the product off the market.

 

In America, we act as if the end of the world were at hand. Every report of

real or potential damage is accompanied by condescending lectures.

 

Yet these lecturers say nothing about the danger of pharmaceuticals.

 

According to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association,

approximately 106,000 deaths occur each year in US hospitals because of

adverse reactions to prescription drugs used as directed (JAMA. 1998 Apr

15;279(15):1200-5).

 

And so, while herbal medicine is not without potential problems, it is much

safer than synthetic drugs.

 

The challenge today is to scientifically validate the traditions of herbal

medicine. This requires researchers who possess both a mastery of the tools

of science, especially clinical trials, and a deep appreciation of the

richness of the worldÕs many herbal traditions. One such researcher is Debu

Tripathy, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco. He has said,

" We are trying toÉapply the principles of scientific investigation to an

area of medicine that has thrived for centuries in the absence of a lot of

data to support it " (Oncology Times, April 2002). He and his colleagues have

now studied 71 Chinese herbal extracts, 19 of which show promise against

lung, pancreatic, prostate and lymph cancer cell lines. One of the most

promising, Scutellaria barbata, or skullcap, has now entered clinical

trials.

 

 

A Tragic Accident

 

Ray Rosenthal, MD, a prominent researcher of CAM treatments, died on

Wednesday, April 17, after being involved in a traffic accident in his home

state of Hawaii. He veered his bicycle to avoid hitting some pedestrians and

was run over by a boat trailer. For the last four years Ray had himself been

a lymphoma patient and was researching a book about Wolfgang Scheef, MD, of

Bonn, Germany, the innovative oncologist whom he credited with saving his

life.

 

Last summer, I had the pleasure of spending a week with Ray at a conference

in Helsingor, Denmark. He was a delightful person, knowledgeable about all

aspects of cancer. Here is a picture that I took of him at the time. I think

it shows some of his joyfulness.

 

It is ironic that Ray survived his cancer only to die in a traffic accident.

He was on his cell phone with a friend at the time and was describing the

wonderful day he was having. But his last words were, " You never know in

life...there are no promises. " He would agree that the time to live your

life is now, since you never know what fate has in store. Ray was an

exceptional physician and person and will be sorely missed.

 

 

--Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.

http://www.cancerdecisions.com/Townsend/Jul2002_frm.html

_________________

_________________

JoAnn Guest

mrsjoguest

DietaryTipsForHBP

http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest

[Guest guest]

But beware of the salmon you

eat – it has been proven that farm-raised salmon is

NOT good for you, and that it does not contain the Omega 3

fatty acids (which is the main reason to eat salmon in

the first place). Make sure you buy the

wild salmon – very hard to find these days – because it is

loaded with the Omega 3’s (because wild salmon eat algae,

which is how they get the Omega 3’s). Dr. Mercola sells

the wild salmon on his website – or just eat the

algae yourself for the Omega 3’s,

and skip the “middleman”.

 

Carol M

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Would you benefit from a

more effective and healthy immune system?

http://www.bluegreensolutions.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

-----Original

Message-----

Elaine [mem121]

 

Fish

Protects Against Cancer and Heart Disease

By Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.

 

In March, 2002, a group of Swedish scientists

discovered a relationship

between eating fish and preventing cancer. Women who ate six to eight

ounces

per week of fatty fish, such as herring and alaskan salmon,.

[Guest guest]

Is that Blue-Green algae?

Judy

 

-

Carol Minnick

Tuesday, February 17, 2004 9:31 AM

RE: Fish Protects Against Cancer and Heart Disease

 

 

But beware of the salmon you eat – it has been proven that farm-raised salmon is NOT good for you, and that it does not contain the Omega 3 fatty acids (which is the main reason to eat salmon in the first place). Make sure you buy the wild salmon – very hard to find these days – because it is loaded with the Omega 3’s (because wild salmon eat algae, which is how they get the Omega 3’s). Dr. Mercola sells the wild salmon on his website – or just eat the algae yourself for the Omega 3’s, and skip the “middleman”.

 

Carol M

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Would you benefit from a more effective and healthy immune system?

http://www.bluegreensolutions.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elaine [mem121] Fish Protects Against Cancer and Heart DiseaseBy Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.In March, 2002, a group of Swedish scientists discovered a relationshipbetween eating fish and preventing cancer. Women who ate six to eight ouncesper week of fatty fish, such as herring and alaskan salmon,. «¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§ - PULSE ON WORLD HEALTH CONSPIRACIES! §Subscribe:......... - To :.... - Any information here in is for educational purpose only, it may be news related, purely speculation or someone's opinion. Always consult with a qualified health practitioner before deciding on any course of treatment, especially for serious or life-threatening illnesses.**COPYRIGHT NOTICE**In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107,any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

[Guest guest]

Judy,

 

Yes – it’s considered a

foundational food – the basis of the entire food chain. It’s a powerful food and contains

a vast array of micronutrients. Some brands

are better than others, some are

just full of fillers – do a lot of research if you are going to consider

them as a supplement, find out how it is harvested, how it is encapsulated, how much

quality control is involved, veggie caps or animal-made

(gelatin) caps, etc. The kind I

found to be the best is dried at low temperatures (which costs more

than heat drying), but it’s the best way to preserve the beneficial ingredients.

 

 

Carol

 

-----Original

Message-----

Judy

[ramcd]

 

Is that Blue-Green algae?

 

 

Judy

 

 

 

----- Original Message

-----

 

 

Carol

Minnick

 

But beware of the salmon you

eat – it has been proven that farm-raised salmon is

NOT good for you, and that it does not contain the Omega 3

fatty acids (which is the main reason to eat salmon in

the first place). Make sure you buy

the wild salmon – very hard to find these days – because it is

loaded with the Omega 3’s (because wild salmon eat algae,

which is how they get the Omega

3’s). Dr. Mercola sells the

wild salmon on his website – or just eat the

algae yourself for the Omega

3’s, and skip the “middleman”.

Carol M

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Would

you benefit from a more effective and healthy immune system?

http://www.bluegreensolutions.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~