Causes of Cancer

by W. John Diamond, M.D.
and W. Lee Cowden, M.D.
with Burton Goldberg

Diet and Nutritional Deficiencies

Food can make or break our health and, increasingly, factors related to food -- its quality, its nutritional constituents, even how it is grown and processed -- are considered a primary agent for contributing to the initiation and promotion of cancer. According to the National Academy of Sciences, 60% of all cancers in women and 40% of all cancers in men may be due to dietary and nutritional factors .⁶²

One of the major factors accounting for the steady rise in cancer incidence and mortality rates is nutritional imbalances. The rise of degenerative disease has paralleled the adoption of an overly refined and adulterated, high-protein, high-fat diet over the past 100 years. After World War II, the U.S. population shifted away from regular consumption of whole grains and fresh vegetables, and instead increased its consumption of less wholesome, overly refined foods.

This so-called affluent diet is high in fat, which can more readily concentrate such chemicals as pesticides, preservatives, and industrial pollutants. The National Research Council's extensive report, titled Diet, Nutrition, and Cancer, provided strong evidence that much of the rise in cancer incidence may be related to typical U.S. dietary practices, among other factors.

Excessive intake of animal protein

The high intake of animal protein is associated with an increased risk of breast, colon, pancreatic, kidney, prostate, and endometrial cancer. Excessive protein may produce large amounts of nitrogenous waste in the intestine, some of which can be converted to the highly carcinogenic compounds nitrosamines and ammonium salts. Heavy-protein diets may also cause the buildup of metabolic acids in the body and cause large amounts of calcium to leach from the bones, a serious detriment in the case of bone cancer, when bone calcium reserves tend to be mobilized and depleted.

A causal relationship between red meat consumption and cancer is supported by several large studies conducted in the U.S. Specifically, women with the highest level of meat consumption had double the rate of breast cancer compared to those who consumed small amounts of meat.⁶³ Men who ate red meat over a five-year period were nearly three times more likely to contract advanced prostate cancer than men consuming mainly vegetarian fare.⁶⁴ High rates of colon cancer have recently been linked to regular intakes of beef, pork, or lamb.⁶⁵ In each of these studies, the meat-eating risks are associated with fat intake as well, since American meats are typically high in fat.

Fried Foods

Worldwide, a clear association consistently appears between the highest rates of breast, colon, and prostate cancers and nations that have the fattiest diets.⁶⁶ But the link between cancer and meat eaters' exposure to toxic chemicals goes even deeper. All fried and broiled foods contain mutagens, chemicals that can damage cellular reproductive material, but fried and broiled meats have far more mutagens than similarly prepared plant foods.

Be wary of contaminated fish

Industrial and agricultural pollution has resulted in chemicals such as mercury, nickel, oil, hydrocyanic acid, and lactronitrile getting absorbed by ocean-borne plankton. From there, the toxins travel up the food chain, becoming concentrated in the tissues of large, fatty predatory fish, like tuna and swordfish. Industrial chemicals such as PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and methylmercury tend to accumulate in significant amounts in some fish and most shellfish. According to toxicologists, it takes only 1/10 of a teaspoon of PCBs to make a person severely ill or possibly cause cancer.

Excessive fat intake

Fat intake, especially animal fat, is one of the key factors consistently implicated in higher cancer rates.⁶⁷ The cancers most closely associated with high fat intake include breast, colon, rectum, uterus, prostate, and kidney.⁶⁸ Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, commonly found in processed foods, are considered a major contributor to the carcinogenic effect of fats.⁶⁹ Some evidence suggests that saturated fat consumption may be a factor.

In breast cancer studies conducted on laboratory mice, tumor growth was enhanced by a high-fat diet only after a chemical carcinogen had been introduced.⁷⁰ This suggests that fat is probably not an initiator but a promoter of cancer. Studies of fat's suppressive effects on the immune system, as well as fat's ability to generate free radicals, support this interpretation.

Eicosanoids

Eicosanoids are hormone-like substances produced from the metabolism of arachidonic acid and other fatty acids. Produced by nearly every cell in the body, eicosanoids are highly potent substances: as little as one billionth of a gram can have measurable biological effects.⁷¹ The human body produces a variety of eicosanoids that direct a diverse range of functions, including immune-cell activity, platelet aggregation, inflammation, steroid hormone production, gastrointestinal secretions, blood pressure, and pain sensation.

Evidence suggests that one of the eicosanoids, PGE2, promotes the development of various cancers by paralyzing certain key parts of the immune system (specifically the natural killer cells), stimulating inflammatory processes, and promoting the proliferation of tumor cells. Omega-3 fatty acids appear to reduce PGE2-induced inflammation, inhibit tumor cell proliferation, and enhance immune system function, as demonstrated in a study in which omega-3 fatty acids slowed or delayed the development of metastases in breast cancer patients. Specifically, women who had high fatty tissue content of alpha-linolenic acid (the main omega-3 EFA) were five times less likely to develop metastases than women with a low content .⁷²

Excessive intake of refined carbohydrates/sugar

Sugar and white-flour products are believed to have a direct effect on cancer growth, as well as acting to nullify the positive effects of protective foods such as fiber.⁷³ In addition, they can significantly add to the risk of breast cancer, says cancer researcher Wayne Martin, of Fairhope, Alabama. "When someone eats sugar, the body produces insulin, and insulin can promote breast cancer just as estrogen does," he explains.

Sugar is remarkably effective at lowering the immune system's ability to work properly. Eating only three ounces (100 g) at one sitting can reduce the ability of the immune system's white blood cells to destroy bacteria. The immune-suppressive effect starts within 30 minutes after sugar ingestion and can last for up to five hours. As the average American consumes about five ounces (150 g) of sucrose (granular sugar found in processed foods) daily, the immune system of many people is chronically suppressed from dietary factors alone.⁷⁴

Excessive intake of iron

Iron overload refers to an excess of body iron. A Danish study found that iron overload significantly raises the risk of developing cancer.⁷⁵ Two other reports suggest that even moderately elevated iron accumulations in the body may increase cancer risk.⁷⁶ Much of the cancer in the U.S. population today may be related to overconsumption of red meat, a rich source of iron.

Neal Barnard, M.D., of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, states: "Although it is unclear whether the iron in the meat promotes tumor growth any more than the fat does, iron definitely contributes to free-radical production, which only increases one's risk of getting cancer."⁷⁷ Cooking in iron pots or skillets, fortified bread, rice, and pasta products, and multivitamins with iron are further sources of exposure. Iron fortification is largely unnecessary as iron deficiency is uncommon in the U.S., except occasionally in menstruating women.

Excessive intake of alcohol

Regular, heavy consumption of alcohol, including beer, is associated with an elevated cancer risk.⁷⁸ According to Charles B. Simone, M.D., of Princeton, New Jersey, an alcohol habit can greatly increase the risk for cancers of the breast, mouth, throat (pharynx, larynx, and esophagus), pancreas, liver, and head and neck. Alcohol can accelerate the growth of an existing cancer by suppressing NK cells, immune cells that would otherwise help repel cancer.⁷⁹

Excessive intake of caffeine

Found in coffee, tea, colas, and chocolate, caffeine is thought to be a factor in the development of cancer of the lower urinary tract, including the bladder. Studies have found the rates for these cancers to be significantly higher in people who drink more than three cups of coffee a day.⁸⁰ Caffeine can cause damage to genetic material and impair the normal DNA repair mechanisms, thereby adding to the potential risk for cancer.⁸¹

Intestinal Toxicity and Digestive Impairment

Many illnesses, such as a number of cancers, most allergies, infections, liver disease, acne, psoriasis, and asthma, start in the intestines. The intestines become clogged, toxic, and diseased by what and how we eat and by how poorly we eliminate waste material. Once the bowel is toxic, it creates toxicity for the entire body and an inability to absorb the nutrients necessary for health.

Around 1900, most people in the U.S. had a brief intestinal transit time. That means it took only about 15 - 20 hours from the time food entered the mouth until it was excreted as feces. Today, many have a seriously delayed transit time of 50 - 70 hours. This means there is more time for the stool to putrefy, for harmful microorganisms to flourish, for probiotics to die off, and for toxins to develop and poison the tissues.

When you eat mucus-producing foods, this further slows down the transit time. Mucus-producing foods are nearly all foods aside from most vegetables and fruits; however, the most mucus-producing foods are milk products. Other foods include meats, fish, fowl, eggs, soybeans, oily seeds and nuts, and cooked beans and grains (but not beans and grains that have sprouted). Fruits and vegetables tend to cause the mucous material in the intestines to break down and be eliminated.

As this sticky mucoid false lining builds up in the small intestine, it blocks absorption of essential nutrients into the bloodstream and it produces a hiding place for bacteria, fungi, yeast, and parasites that are harmful to human health. When these abnormal life forms start growing too freely in the intestines, they kill off Lactobacillus acidophilus and other "friendly" bacteria. They also create a situation called dysbiosis (an imbalance among intestinal microflora), in which the contents of the intestines putrefy and harmful chemicals are generated.

The result is a toxic bowel and a body-wide condition of toxicity as toxins leak out of the intestines into other tissues. If there are too many toxins, the lymphatic system becomes blocked and overloaded and can no longer drain and filter poisons efficiently. As toxins build up in all the tissues, the result can be swelling of the torso and legs and damage to the immune system, liver, and other organs.

An additional cause of intestinal toxicity results from the decreased production of hydrochloric acid and pepsin in the stomach as people age. Undigested proteins that pass into the small and large intestines without being broken down into their constituent amino acids produce toxicity. This is because bacteria convert these proteins into nitrosamines and other cancer-causing agents, or because the undigested food proteins are absorbed intact through the intestinal wall into the bloodstream, creating "circulating immune complexes." These complexes put an unnecessary strain on the immune system so that it becomes less capable of identifying and attacking cancer cells. This makes it easier, and more likely, for a cancer process to gain a footing in the organism.

References for this article.

This article is excerpted from the Alternative Medicine Guide's Cancer Diagnosis - What to do next, by W. John Diamond, M.D. and W. Lee Cowden, M.D. © 2000. Reprinted with permission of the publisher, AlternativeMedicine.com.

For more info or to order this book.

This article is excerpted from 

The Alternative Medicine Guide's Cancer Diagnosis - What to do next,
by W. John Diamond, M.D. and W. Lee Cowden, M.D.
For more info or to order this book.

About The Authors

W. John Diamond, M.D., a board certified pathologist, has extensive training in alternative medicine, including in medical acupuncture, classical homeopathy, and neural therapy. He is currently the medical director of the Triad Medical Center in Reno, Nevada, associate and alternative medicine consultant to the Bakersfield Family Medicine Center and Heritage Physician Network in Bakersfield, California, medical director of Botanical Laboratories, and director of the Associated Complementary Medicine Research Group, both in Ferndale, Washington. W. Lee Cowden, M.D. is board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, and clinical nutrition. Dr. Cowden is accomplished in applied kinesiology, electrodermal screening, homeopathy, reflexology, acupuncture, acupressure, biofeedback, and color, sound, neural, magnetic, electromagnetic, and detoxification therapies. Dr. Cowden now conducts clinical research and teaches alternative medicine at the Conservative Medicine Institute in Richardson, Texas.

Other articles by these authors:
Emotions & Their Role in Cancer; and
Diet & Nutrition as Cancer Medicine

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