Anticancer: A New Way of Life

Anticancer has been a bestselling phenomenon since Viking first published it in fall 2008. Now, a new edition addresses current developments in cancer research and offers more tips on how people living with cancer can fight it and how healthy people can prevent it. The new edition of Anticancer includes:

• The latest research on anticancer foods, including new alternatives to sugar and cautions about some that are now on the market
• New information about how vitamin D strengthens the immune system
• Warnings about common food contaminants that have recently been proven to contribute to cancer progression
• A new chapter on mind-body approaches to stress reduction, with recent studies that show how our reactions to stress can interfere with natural defenses and how friendships can support healing in ways never before understood
• A groundbreaking study showing that lifestyle modification, as originally proposed in Anticancer, reduces mortality for breast cancer by an astounding 68 percent after completion of treatment
• New supporting evidence for the entire Anticancer program

“A common-sense blueprint for healthy living.”
—Chicago Tribune
 
“Fills an important gap in our knowledge of how patients can contribute to their own care by supplementing conventional medical treatment. I recommend this book to anyone interested in preventive medicine and integrated, complementary approaches to patient care.”
—John Mendelsohn, MD, president, MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas
 
“Resonating with cancer support communities . . . and recommended nationwide on internet message boards.”
—Los Angeles Times
 
“Life affirming . . . filled with practical advice that enables cancer patients to overcome their initial feelings of helplessness and to adopt a proactive attitude of survivorship.”
—The Seattle Times
 
“Servan-Schreiber’s writing offers much more than science. It is full of passion . . . and compassion for his patients dealing with the emotional aspects of serious or terminal illness.”
—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
 
“Enormously compelling evidence and arguments for participating in our own health by supporting our deep natural capacity for healing. Everybody should read this book and enact its simple but potentially lifesaving recommendations.”
—Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, author of Wherever You Go, There You Are
 
“Anticancer’s message is optimistic, the advice scientifically sound, and the prose highly readable.”
—Fort Worth Star-Telegram
 
“Presents a compelling combination of one doctor’s story of his battle with cancer along with his research into how to fight the disease . . . Readable and moving.”
—Body & Soul Magazine

David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, was a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and cofounder of the Center for Integrative Medicine. He codirected an NIH laboratory for the study of cognitive neuroscience and published more than ninety articles in scientific journals. His pioneering book Anticancer: A New Way of Life became an international bestseller and was translated into more than forty languages. He is also the author of The Instinct to Heal and Not the Last Goodbye. Following a yearlong battle with a relapse of brain cancer, Servan-Schreiber died in July 2011.

Foods That Act Like Medications

From ANTICANCER: A New Way of Life by David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD

Foods That Act Like Medications

If certain foods in our diet can act as fertilizers for tumors, others, to the contrary, harborprecious anticancer molecules. As recent discoveries show, these go far beyond the usual vitamins,minerals, and antioxidants.

In nature, when confronted with aggression, vegetables can neither fight nor flee. To survive,they must be armed with powerful molecules capable of defending them against bacteria,insects, and bad weather. These molecules are phytochemical compounds with antimicrobial,antifungal, and insecticide properties that act on the biological mechanisms of potentialaggressors. They also have antioxidant properties that protect the plant’s cells from dampnessand the sun’s rays (by preventing cellular “rust” from forming when the cell’s fragile mechanismsare exposed to the corrosive effects of oxygen).

Plums, Peaches, and Nectarines: It’s Time for Stone Fruit

Berries have recently found some competition: peaches, plums, nectarines, etc. (collectivelyknown as stone fruit), whose anticancer virtues were previously unknown. According to agroup of researchers in Texas who reviewed more than a hundred species, these fruits—particularlyplums—are at least as rich in anticancer elements as small berries. In this time ofeconomic recession, it’s good to know that a single plum contains as many antioxidants as ahandful of berries and costs far less. In laboratory tests, stone fruits have also demonstratedtheir efficacy against breast cancer cells and cholesterol.

Probiotics

The intestines ordinarily contain “friendly” bacteria, which help digestion and facilitate regularbowel movements. They also play an important stabilizing role for the immune system.Among the most common of these bacteria are Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillusbifidus.

It has been demonstrated that these probiotics inhibit the growth of colon cancer cells.Their effect on the facilitation of bowel movements also lowers the risk of colon cancer by reducingthe time the intestines are exposed to carcinogenic substances in food. Probiotics thusalso play a role in detoxification. In addition, according to a 2006 Korean study, probiotics improvethe performance of the immune system, as well as increasing the number of NK cells.Organic yogurts and kefir are good sources of probiotics. Soy yogurts are usually enrichedwith probiotics. These precious bacteria are also found in sauerkraut and kimchi.Finally, certain foods are prebiotics, which means they contain polymers of fructose, whichstimulate the growth of probiotic bacteria. Examples are garlic, onions, tomatoes, asparagus,bananas, and wheat.

Green Tea

Rich in polyphenols, including catechins (and particularly epigallocatechin gallate-3, orEGCG), which reduce the growth of the new vessels needed for tumor growth and metastases.It is also a powerful antioxidant and detoxifier (activating enzymes in the liver that eliminatetoxins from the body), and it facilitates the death of cancer cells by apoptosis. In the laboratory,it enhances the effects of radiotherapy on cancer cells.

Turmeric and Curry

Turmeric (the yellow powder that is one of the components of yellow curry) is the most powerfulnatural antiinflammatory identified today. It also helps stimulate apoptosis in cancercells and inhibit angiogenesis. In the laboratory, it enhances the effectiveness of chemotherapyand reduces tumor growth.

Take note: To be assimilated by the body, turmeric must be mixed with black pepper(not simply with peppers). Ideally, it must also be dissolved in oil (olive, canola, or linseed oil,preferably). In store-bought curry mixes, turmeric represents only 20 percent of the total. Soit’s better to obtain turmeric powder directly.

Recommendations for use: Mix ¼ teaspoon of turmeric powder with ½ tablespoon ofolive oil and a generous pinch of black pepper. Add to vegetables, soups, and salad dressings.A few drops of agave nectar can remove the slightly bitter taste.

Ginger

Ginger root also acts as a powerful antiinflammatory and an antioxidant (more effectivethan vitamin E, for example) and has protective effects. It acts against certain cancer cells.Moreover, it helps reduce the creation of new blood vessels. A ginger infusion tea also helpsalleviate nausea from chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

Recommendations for use: Add grated ginger to a vegetable mix while it is cooking in awok or frying pan. Or marinate fruits in lime juice and grated ginger (a touch of agave nectarmay be added for those who prefer more sweetness). Make an infusion by cutting a smallpiece of ginger (about an inch) into slices and steeping in boiling water for ten to fifteenminutes. Can be drunk hot or cold.

Cruciform Vegetables

Cabbages (brussels sprouts, bok choy, Chinese cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.) containsulforaphane and indole-3-carbinols (I3Cs), which are powerful anticancer molecules. Sulforaphaneand I3Cs are capable of detoxifying certain carcinogenic substances. They preventprecancerous cells from developing into malignant tumors. They also promote the suicideof cancer cells and block angiogenesis. In 2009, at the Cancer Research Center of the Universityof Pittsburgh, biologist Dr. Shivendra Singh and his team studied the impact of sulforaphane—an antioxidant contained in cruciform vegetables—on prostate cancer in mice.

They made two radical new discoveries. First, consumption of sulforaphane three times aweek considerably increases the action of NK cells against tumors (by more than 50 percent).Second, tumor-carrying rats that consumed sulforaphane were shown to have half as muchrisk of developing metastases as those that did not.

Take note: Avoid boiling cabbage and broccoli. Boiling risks destroying sulforaphaneand I3Cs.

Recommendations for use: Cover and steam briefly or stir-fry rapidly in a wok with alittle olive oil.