6 Cancer-fighting superfoods
By Leslie Barrie
To reduce your risk of cancer, look no further than your fridge. “All the studies on cancer and nutrition point to eating plant-based foods for their phytonutrients and other special compounds,” says Richard Béliveau, PhD, chair in the prevention and treatment of cancer at the University of Québec at Montreal and author of Foods to Fight Cancer.
Aim for five to nine daily servings of all kinds of fruits and vegetables—especially these six superstars.
Broccoli
All cruciferous veggies (think cauliflower, cabbage, kale) contain cancer-fighting properties, but broccoli is the only one with a sizable amount of sulforaphane, a particularly potent compound that boosts the body’s protective enzymes and flushes out cancer-causing chemicals, says Jed Fahey, ScD. A recent University of Michigan study on mice found that sulforaphane also targets cancer stem cells—those that aid in tumor growth.
Helps fight: breast, liver, lung, prostate, skin, stomach, and bladder cancers
Your Rx: The more broccoli, the better, research suggests—so add it wherever you can, from salads to omelets to the top of your pizza.
Health.com: 13 easy pizza recipes
Berries
All berries are packed with cancer-fighting phytonutrients. But black raspberries, in particular, contain very high concentrations of phytochemicals called anthocyanins, which slow down the growth of premalignant cells and keep new blood vessels from forming (and potentially feeding a cancerous tumor), according to Gary D. Stoner, PhD, a professor of internal medicine at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.
Helps fight: colon, esophageal, oral, and skin cancers
Your Rx: Stoner uses a concentrated berry powder in his studies but says a half-cup serving of berries a day may help your health, too.
Health.com: Go wild for berries!
Tomatoes
This juicy fruit is the best dietary source of lycopene, a carotenoid that gives tomatoes their red hue, Béliveau says. And that’s good news, because lycopene was found to stop endometrial cancer cell growth in a study in Nutrition and Cancer. Endometrial cancer causes nearly 8,000 deaths a year.
Helps fight: endometrial, lung, prostate, and stomach cancers
Your Rx: The biggest benefits come from cooked tomatoes (think pasta sauce!), since the heating process increases the amount of lycopene your body is able to absorb.
Health.com: 10 tasty tomato recipes
Walnuts
Their phytosterols (cholesterol-like molecules found in plants) have been shown to block estrogen receptors in breast cancer cells, possibly slowing the cells’ growth, says Elaine Hardman, PhD, associate professor at Marshall University School of Medicine in Huntington, West Virginia.
Helps fight: breast and prostate cancers
Your Rx: Munching on an ounce of walnuts a day may yield the best benefits, Hardman’s research found.
Garlic
Phytochemicals in garlic have been found to halt the formation of nitrosamines, carcinogens formed in the stomach (and in the intestines, in certain conditions) when you consume nitrates, a common food preservative, Béliveau says. In fact, the Iowa Women’s Health Study found that women with the highest amounts of garlic in their diets had a 50 percent lower risk of certain colon cancers than women who ate the least.
Helps fight: breast, colon, esophageal, and stomach cancers
Your Rx: Chop a clove of fresh, crushed garlic (crushing helps release beneficial enzymes), and sprinkle it into that lycopene-rich tomato sauce while it simmers.
Health.com: Surprising health benefits of garlic
Beans
A study out of Michigan State University found that black and navy beans significantly reduced colon cancer incidence in rats, in part because a diet rich in the legumes increased levels of the fatty acid butyrate, which in high concentrations has protective effects against cancer growth. Another study, in the journal Crop Science, found dried beans particularly effective in preventing breast cancer in rats.
Helps fight: breast and colon cancers
Your Rx: Add a serving—a half-cup—of legumes a few times a week (either from a can or dry beans that’ve been soaked and cooked) to your usual rotation of greens or other veggies.
How Herbal combo boots immunity against diseases
A local herbal formulation has shown promise as a potential cure for wasting diseases such as cancer and Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) by boosting the body’s immunity. CHUKWUMA MUANYA writes.
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A HERBAL preparation made with local plants: Seamus indica (sesame), Saccharum officinarum (sugar cane), Vernonia amygdalina (bitter leaf); and Aloe barbadensis (Aloe vera) has been shown to boost the body’s immunity against Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), tuberculosis, malaria, infertility, cancer, pain, stomach ulcer and sickle cell disease.
The inventor of the herbal combination (SAAB Herbal Capsules), pharmacist and Deputy Director Capital Procurement, Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), Dr. Ben Amodu, told The Guardian recently at a herbal drugs exhibition organised by Pax Herbal Clinic and Laboratories Ewu, Edo State: “What it does is that it builds the immunity of a human or any living thing beyond human imagination. It stimulates the immunity of the organism. You know from the knowledge of biology that once the system of the organism is highly stimulated and the immune system boosted, any other ailment goes down. It also has anti-inflammatory and anti-analgesic or pain relieving effects.”
Amodu said unpublished efficacy study of the herbal combination has been privately done at the Nigerian Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) Abuja. He said he used the result of the efficacy and toxicity studies to obtain the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) approval.
Amodu said results of preliminary investigation of the products characterised AC1 and AC4 at the faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) indicated that the formulation possesses analgesic activity. “AC1 inhibited pain in phase 2 while AC4 inhibited pain in phase 1. This result suggests that analgesic effect of AC1 preparation on the second phase of formalin test may probably be produced by its peripheral action on inflammation,” he said.
Amodu added: “In the study characterized AC1, an animal was put into a cage, they call it non sensitive test. The animal, monkey, was subjected to a high level of pain and that saw the animal raising up the hand because of the pain. Immediately it was given SAAB it brought down the hand. It was found that it acts peripherally on the system. Its action was discovered to be similar to that of Aspirin but without the side effect of Aspirin. So in the study it was noted that it could be used in the treatment of cancer without adding any pain adjuvant.
“This is a cheering news everywhere in the world. The second one was characterised as AC4. The same test was carried out and it was found that this pain relieving effect is by central action similar to morphine but without the respiratory depressant effect of morphine.
“With this two results, the sky is the limit for Nigerian drugs and in human use in cancer. We have a situation where the cancer was stopped, prostate cancer in men. I have somebody on admission now in the village on whom this medication was administered two days ago for prostate cancer, and he called not quite long ago to say the pain has gone.”
Is there any scientific explanation for these claims?
Scientifically called Vernonia amygdalina, Bitter leaf belongs to the plant family Compositae. In Nigeria, the Edo calls it oriwo; Hausa, chusar doki (a horse tonic food containing the leaves), fatefate/mayemaye (a food prepared from the leaves); Ibibio, atidot; Igbo, onugbu; Tiv, ityuna; and Yoruba, ewuro.
Researchers say eating more of Bitter leaf soup could be the panacea for diabetes, cancer, liver damage, drug resistant microbial infections; promote safe childbirth, to mention but a few.
A Bitter leaf-based herbal anti-diabetic medication has passed human clinical trials and received a United States Patent 6531461 for the treatment of diabetes; even as the NIPRD has concluded multi-centre human clinical trials of a similar drug, ADI.
Also, a phytochemotherapy (treatment based on plant chemicals) for cancer made from aqueous extracts of leaves of Bitter leaf, collected in Benin City, has received United States Patent 6849604.
Nigeria researchers have also shown that Bitter leaf protects the liver from drug-induced damage. A study published in Journal of Medicinal Food suggests that Bitter leaf elicits hepatoprotectivity (offers protection against liver damage) through antioxidant (prevents cell death) activity on acetaminophen-induced hepatic damage in mice.
The roots and leaves decoction of Bitter leaf has also been shown to increase uterine contraction and motility for safer childbirth. It is traditionally used in western Uganda to treat various ailments such as treatment of painful uterus, inducing uterine contractions, management of retained placenta and post partum bleeding, malaria, induced abortion, antimicrobial (bacterial and fungal infections), infertility, colic pains and treatment of irregular and painful menstruation.
Until now, Bitter leaf is used in Nigerian folk medicine as a tonic and remedy against constipation, fever, high blood pressure, and many infectious diseases.
Sesame belongs to the plant family Pedaliaceae and genus-Sesamum. The genus consists of about 36 species and 19 of which are indigenous to Africa. Sesame plant is believed to have originated from Africa. It is reputed in folk medicine in Africa and Asia. All parts of the plant are useful.
Previous studies have shown how sesame leaves could be used to treat thrush (candidiasis- caused by the fungus Candida albicans), Staphylococcus infection, obesity and infertility.
Nigerian researchers in a study titled “Anti-Obesity Effect of Sesame Leaf Extract in Rat” demonstrated that sesame-treated rats significantly showed evidence of weight loss and hypolipidaemia (lowers body fat) in a dose related manner via combined effects of all the active ingredients mainly the lignans and fatty acids present in the plant.
The researchers in a study titled “Synergistic Antimicrobial Activities of Phytoesptrogens in Crude Extracts of Two Sesame Species Against Some Common Pathogenic Microorganisms” confirmed the folkloric claims of the antimicrobial effectiveness of locally consumed Sesame leaves extracts in Nigeria.
The researchers found that sesame seeds and leaves contain natural antibacterial agents that are effective against common skin pathogens, such as Staphylococcus and Streptococcus bacteria, as well as common skin fungi including thrush and athlete’s foot fungus.
The study was published in the African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
In South-West Nigeria, decoction of sesame leaves is used for the treatment of bruised or erupted skins, catarrh and eye pains. Warm waterleaf infusion is used to gargle inflamed membranes of the mouth. The decoction of both leaves and roots have been found to be effective against chicken pox and measles (anti-viral) and used as hair shampoo for Taenia capitis (antifungal properties). Taenia captis causes loss of hair on some parts of the head. It is called okpuisi eliego in Ibo.
Botanically called Saccharum officinarum, extracts of sugarcane have been shown to effectively lower cholesterol and cure ulcer in humans.
According to the report published in Current Therapeutic Research, comparison of two regimens of Policosanol (a mixture of higher primary aliphatic alcohols purified from sugar cane wax) administered at 20 mg/d in patients with type II hypercholesterolemia (the presence of high levels of cholesterol in the blood) showed that it effectively lowers cholesterol. The study was a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.
Also, a mixture of primary fatty acids obtained from sugar cane wax has obtained a U.S. patent for ulcer treatment and as anticoagulant.
Previous studies indicated sugar cane to be antidote, antiseptic, antivinous, bactericide, cardiotonic, demulcent, diuretic, intoxicant, laxative, pectoral, piscicide, refrigerant, and stomachic. It is also reported as a folk remedy for arthritis, bedsores, boils, cancer, colds, cough, diarrhoea, dysentery, poor eyesight, fever, hiccups, inflammation, laryngitis, erectile dysfunction, skin diseases, sores, sore throat, bad spleen, tumours, and wounds
Aloe barbadenis derived products, but popularly called Aloe vera in Nigeria, has been recognised for many years to have significant anti-inflammatory activity.
Published evidence has shown that this is mediated, at least in part, by inhibition of prostanoid production in damaged tissue. Studies conducted at Texas A&M University and Texas Children’s Hospital, United States, by Drs. Bob Bowden and Wayne Smith have now demonstrated that aloe extracts mediate a second anti-inflammatory mechanism by blocking certain integrins. Integrins are proteins that mediate cell adherence. It is a medicinal herb used internally for constipation and externally to relieve pain and stimulate healing of burns, wounds, sun burn and possibly frostbite.
In recent years, Aloe vera and related products have drawn a great attention from cosmetic, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries.
Aloe vera gel, which is generated in the mucilaginous cells of the inter central zone of the leaf, has been very well documented for its wound-healing, anti-inflammatory and immune-stimulatory activities.
Decades of scientific studies on Aloe chromones reveal hundreds of structures with anti-inflammation, anti-ulcer, tyrosinase inhibition, skin protection, laxative effect and other biological activities.
Traditionally, Aloe vera has been known to influence digestion and reduce or eliminate worms. Other traditional uses have been in treating stomach disorders, diabetes, arteriosclerosis, amenorrhea, or suppressed menses, menstrual complaints, infections, herpes simplex viruses, and skin diseases. It is also used as a beauty aid for the skin.
