One day doctors will commonly write prescriptions for diets and nutritional supplements that prevent or reverse ancer. "The future is tailored recommendations," says John Milner of the National Cancer Institute about this fledgling new science he calls "nutrigenomics." Milner says, "Up to 35% of cancers are related to dietary habits." We know enough right now to prevent at least 35% of all cancers and as much as 65% of all chronic diseases with diet and nutritional supplements.

"Cancer doesn't just arise overnight," says Milner, chief of NCI's research into nutrition and cancer prevention. "A few tiny cells gone wrong slowly grow over decades. Whether the result is a life-threatening tumor depends on genes and environment including food." The government is now recruiting 32,000 middle-aged men to confirm the results of a previous study that showed that taking a Selenium supplement reduces the incidence of prostate cancer.

Trace Mineral - Mega Benefits
In 1997, researcher conducted the first clinical study that definitively linked nutritional supplements to a lower incidence of cancer. In the study of 1312 men, researchers found that supplementing 200 mcg of Selenium daily, about twice the national average, reduced the incidence of prostate cancer by 63% (Biomed Environ Sci 1997 Sep;10(2-3):227-34). Furthermore, the study showed that selenium supplementation reduced total mortality, mortality from all cancers combined, as well as lung cancer, colorectal cancer and the incidence of all cancers combined. Previous studies have shown that Selenium levels in patients with stomach and colon cancer are lower than age-matched healthy controls (Neoplasma 1997;44(6):395-7).

Study after study is linking lifelong diets high in plant foods to lower cancer rates. It has been observed for a long time that people who eat lots of fruits and vegetables are generally skinnier. Obesity, on the other hand, is associated with significant increased risks of cancers of the uterus, gallbladder and possibly colon and prostate, while a large weight gain after reaching adulthood is linked to breast cancer. Scientists now are trying to find out which of the myriad nutrients and chemicals in different foods are most protective and how much one's genes contribute to eventual diseases.

RX: Eat More Scallions
A recent study involving 709 men from Shanghai, China, appearing in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute showed, that men who ate garlic or shallots daily reduced their likelihood of developing prostate cancer significantly (J Natl Cancer Inst 2002 Nov 6;94(21):1648-51).

Scallions were the most protective food in the group. According to the study, men who ate about a tenth of an ounce or more a day of scallions reduced their prostate cancer risk by about 70 percent. For garlic consumption of the same amount, the prostate cancer risk was reduced by about 53 percent.

Tomato Sauce Fights Cancer
Ann Hsing, author of the study and an epidemiologist for the National Cancer Institute, said the study reinforces earlier studies that have linked high vegetable consumption to a reduced risk of prostate cancer. For instance, earlier studies have found that that eating tomatoes and tomato products can lower the risk of prostate cancer. Italy, where tomato sauce and garlic are favorites, has one of the lowest rates of prostate cancer in Europe, said Hsing.

Lycopene, the chemical that makes tomatoes and watermelon red, has been shown to decrease prostate cancer by 35% (Exp Biol Med (Maywood) 2002 Nov;227(10):881-5). Cooking tomatoes with a little oil, as in pizza or spaghetti sauce, actually increases lycopene absorption. (So pizza may actually be good for you, if you make whole wheat crust and leave off the cheese.) The NCI has begun small clinical trials to find lycopene's maximum safe dose and see if giving it to prostate cancer patients before surgery helps stem their disease.

Janet Stanford, a cancer epidemiologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, said the study by Hsing and her co-authors continues to support the general finding that "eating vegetables is a good thing." Stanford said her group, in an earlier study, linked broccoli, cauliflower and related vegetables to a reduced prostate cancer risk, while a high fat diet increased the risk. "This shows that your mother was right," Stanford said. "Eat more vegetables."

Do Multivitamins Help?
In a 1998, the Annals of Internal Medicine reported that women who used multivitamins containing folic acid for at least 15 years had a 75% lower rate of colon cancer than non-users. The study concluded that using a multivitamin over multiple years could reduce the rate of colon cancer in women 55 to 69 years of age from 68 cases per 10,000 to as few as 15 new cases per 10,000. The study also showed that the benefits of taking a multivitamin were cumulative and provided no significant benefit with respect to colon cancer until after 15 years of use, when the risk reduction became markedly significant.

It will take years or the conventional medical establishment to begin prescribing anticancer diets. For now, the American Cancer Society's best advice is: Eat a wide variety of foods, including at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, and slim down. My advice is to add a comprehensive multi-vitamin to the above diet recommendations. Make sure the daily dose contains at 200 mcg of Selenium, 1000 mg vitamin C, 400 IU Vitamin E, 25,000 IU Beta-Carotene, 200 mcg Chromium, 800 mcg of Folate, 100 mcg of Vitamin B12, equal amounts of Calcium and Magnesium, and at least 20 times the RDA of all of the other B-Vitamins. I recommend Peak Advantage. It contains all of the essential vitamins and minerals sound scientific research has shown to reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, strokes, diabetes, arthritis and osteoporosis. I just makes sense to supplement!