The traditional diet of Greece and cancer.

[julierene]

I don't mean to be a bad girl here, but I hope to provoke thought on this issue of diet. Diet plagues me... I have had a very good diet for a long time, and still managed to get breast cancer at age 28 because of my genetics. Is it possible that people in other countries have better genetics because they are in a different gene pool - per say? Over time, I have heard that if you take a chinese woman to the US and feed her american foods, that she will develop the same risk for breast cancer, so I feel compelled that there may be genetic factors that supercede dietary factors. Meaning, if you have bad genetics, no matter what you do, you will get cancer. If you have good genetics, you may be able to sway your risk if you eat better. But do you have any way of knowing what your risk are if you could potentially get a bad genetic combination at conception? I think it's always a good idea to eat right, but I wouldn't hold out my hopes on it preventing cancer or curing our cancer.

[R.B.]

From the little I have read on genetics there are clearly those who carry higher risks of particular diseases.

Dietary change is not going to eliminate disease but can be a significant modifier of risk. For example I have previously posted this tale but I have read that vascular / heart disease was so rare at the turn of the 1900s that students would rush to see a case as they did not want to miss the opportunity.

Around 70 % is the figure most generally quoted for the increase of western diseases over those with more culturally traditional diets, and lack of access to refined western food.

Diet can and does manipulate expression of genes by significant amounts. ("Expression" Our gene pool is largely similar but we use or expression different amounts according to environmental factors - Most have the same basic ingredients in the kitchen cupboard but they "express" it in their cooking in different quantities according to cultural factors. )

I have previously tried to formulate a scenario where those who considered themselves on a very healthy diet high in polyunsaturates low in fat etc in fact had high omega six compared to omega three. As I keep reiterating it is not about absolute quantities it is about balance.

All of the evidence is that diet does pay a large part in the overall risk factor when looking at issues on a population wide basis.

BC is a dreadful disease. I cannot begin to understand how you feel having contracted it so young. If you have been healthy it must feel like a double whammy.

I too have read lots of health books etc, juiced, etc for many years and it was only about a year ago that I realised that my avid pursuit of polyunsaturates was actually very bad news as it was pushing my omega three six balance way out from the ideal of somewhere around one to one ( or may be even 2:1). I suspect I was not the only one falling into this trap.


My limited field of knowledge relates to what I have read on fats. I would urge all to look VERY closely at their dietary intake in terms of balancing the omega threes and sixes. This can only be done by knowing or looking up the approximate fat contents of the foods you eat until you get to have an reasonable idea of what you are likely to be consuming. For most on a western diet omega three supplementation will be needed. Sources are limited so this is likely to include flax seed and oily fish or fish oil, or algae based products for vegetarians.


RB