Textbook of Natural Medicine 2nd Edition Volume 2Michael T. Murray, ND
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| In short, the antioxidant benefits of fresh fruits and vegetables go well beyond the antioxidant effects of vitamins and minerals.
Several studies have shown that the risk of RA is highest in people with the lowest levels of nutrient antioxidants (e.g. serum concentrations of alpha-tocopherol, beta-carotene, and vitamin C). For example, in one study, persons with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus that developed 2-15 years after donating blood for a serum bank in 1974 were designated as cases. |
| If you are worried about constipation, a longer pre-fast period of fresh fruits and vegetables will assist elimination.
Body temperature usually drops during a fast, as does blood pressure, and pulse and respiratory rates - all measures of the slowing of the metabolic rate of the body. It is important, therefore, to stay warm. If needed, you may use a hot water bottle at night.
Breaking your fast
Breaking your fast is a good time for you to consider carefully what you are eating and why. While breaking your fast, as outlined in Table A3. |
| Sulfites have caused such a wide range of health problems, such as asthma and urticaria, that their use on fruits and vegetables has been banned in the US.65
The average person consumes an average of 2-3 mg/ day of sulfites. Wine and beer drinkers typically consume up to 10 mg/day and individuals who rely on restaurants for meals may ingest up to 150 mg/day.71
Normally, the enzyme sulfite oxidase metabolizes sulfites to safer sulfates which are excreted in the urine. Those with a poorly functioning sulfoxidation system, however, have an increased ratio of sulfite to sulfate in their urine. |
| Dietary antioxidants
The importance of consuming a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables cannot be overstated in the dietary treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. These foods are the best sources of dietary antioxidants. While the benefits of vitamin C, beta-carotene, vitamin E, selenium, and zinc as antioxidant nutrients are becoming well-recognized and well-accepted, there are still other plant compounds which promote healthy joints. Of particular benefit in rheumatoid arthritis are flavonoids, due to their neutralization of inflammation and support of collagen structures. |
James A. Duke, Ph.D.
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 Seddon found that eating antioxi-dant-rich fruits and vegetables at least five times a week cut the risk of macular degeneration in half.
Collard greens, the popular soul food, and spinach, Popeye's favorite food, stood out in Dr. Seddon's study. These vegetables contain the beneficial compounds lutein and zeaxanthin. Vegetables that contain similar compounds that may provide eye protection include bok choy, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens, radishes, turnip greens and watercress.
Dr. |
John Robbins
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 The area adopted a "get fit" program, based on reducing cholesterol and smoking through government-sponsored media campaigns, labeling meats and other foods as to their saturated fat and cholesterol levels, and converting farms that had been producing animal products to growing vitamin-rich fruits and vegetables. How much difference did it make? In the past twenty-five years, heart disease deaths in North Karelia have been reduced by an astonishing 65 percent. |
Ralph W. Moss PhD
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 The National Cancer Institute has called on all citizens to consume five portions of fruits and vegetables per day. Especially important are soy, garlic and onions, shiitake mushrooms, broccoli, clover and mung sprouts, and carrot juice.
Most of the herbal treatments deserve serious consideration. However, as a general guideline, I would especially scrutinize those that are heavily hyped, sold through multi-level-marketing or network programs, make too-good-to-be-true claims, or originate from offshore companies operating out of post office boxes in the Third World. |
Donald R. Yance, j r.,C.N., M.H., A.H.G., with Arlene Valentine
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 According to guidelines recommended by the National Cancer Institute, one must eat at least five half-cup servings of fruits and vegetables daily to lower cancer risk.
A 1991 study published in the International Journal of Cancer evaluated the relationship between cancer risk and the frequency of consumption of green vegetables and fruits in a series of case-controlled studies in northern Italy between 1983 and 1990. |
| Whole grains contain a substantial amount of insoluble fiber. fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, contain soluble fiber. The combination of these two forms of fiber promotes bowel regularity and protects against colon cancer. It is estimated that colon cancer in the United States could be reduced by as much as one-third if people just consumed more whole grains, fruits, and vegetables and less refined "white" starches. Some of the best whole grains to eat are millet, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, brown rice, barley, oats, spelt, and whole-wheat berries. Choose a diversity of grains. |
| This susceptibility can be inhibited by a diet of sulfur-rich foods, such as broccoli, cauliflower, and other cruciferous vegetables along with foods rich in carotenoids and chlorophyll (most fruits and vegetables) and flavonoids, such as green tea, grapes, berries, plums, and tangerines. Spices and herbs in this family include garlic, turmeric, and ginger.
2. Promotion. During this stage, the transformed cells are prompted by certain nutrients or metabolites to divide and multiply. As a result, minute precancerous masses are formed, but they are not yet malignant. |
| It has been shown that up to 70 percent of all cancers are related to diets that are high in animal fat, low in fiber, and lacking in sufficient fruits and vegetables. Moreover, refined and processed foods have been stripped of the nutrients and enzymes that protect against cancer.
Environment
Toxic environmental chemicals such as pesticides and industrial by-products assault the body and overtax the immune system.
Heredity
Mutant genes can be passed from one generation to another. |
| We must speak out about the unacceptably high levels of pesticides in our fruits and vegetables, about the lack of pure water and air. I believe that every voice makes a difference. We must go back to basic, simple living in harmony with nature before it is too late.
In the meantime, here are a few tips to make the home environment a safer place:
• Don't use electric blankets. They alter the electromagnetic polarization of the cell membrane; cancer cells are defined by a loss of cell-membrane polarization. |
| Recent evidence also suggests that folic acid and derivatives contribute to the protective effect of fruits and vegetables against the risk of large bowel cancers.37
Vitamin B12 and folic acid offer significant help in many areas of distress that plague cancer patients, such as anemia, fatigue, neuropathy and other nerve damage, liver weakness, and digestion. Vitamin B12 is required for the production of hydrochloric acid, which in turn is needed for protein digestion, and both supplements improve appetite and help with sleep disturbances. |
Robyn Landis
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 Canned and frozen fruits and vegetables are probably better than none at all.
Isn't it intetesting how everything comes full circle? The same foods that have been recommended for so many other reasons—their nutrients in the classic sense, their low fat content, their fiber, theit displacement of unhealthy foods—are also the foods being found to contain these health-promoting substances. Coincidence? Note also that no one has yet turned up any potent health-enhancing phytochemicals in steak, milk, or Twinkies.
At any rate, now you have yet another reason to emphasize plant foods in your diet. |
| Note also that milk products do not contain any of the kinds of special nutrients we have discussed earlier, like the phytonutrients in fruits and vegetables that are found to have cancer-protective and immune-boosting effects. Milk doesn't even provide fiber.
In 1992, the American Academy of Pediatrics announced its recommendation that whole cow's milk not be given to infants less than one year old. This was based on the link between BSA and milk-induced iron-deficiency anemia.
Dr. Lendon Smith, M.D. |
| Hundreds of studies have already shown that eating high amounts of fruits and vegetables, including carotenoid-rich ones, reduces cancer risks (and decreases risk of oral leukoplakia in smokers, a precancerous change in the mucous membrane of the mouth).
5. Even these studies showed lower cancer in nonsmokers taking the supplements; only smokets had increased cancer. (It should never surprise us when smokers get cancer, no matter what else they are doing. No supplement is a substitute for quitting smoking. |
| There were problems with these studies, though, and they don't represent the average person eating beta-carotene-rich fruits and vegetables, or taking moderate amounts of antioxidant supplements.
What's crucial to note (and what much of the media and public missed, unfortunately) is that:
1. Beta-carotene was used in isolation from the other carotenoid compounds that accompany it in foods.
2. Synthetic beta-carotene was used, and there are molecular differences between natural and synthetic that influence how the body uses beta-carotene. |
| A common source of soluble fiber is pectins from fruits and vegetables, such as apples, citrus, bananas, and carrots. Other soluble fibers include gums and mucilages.
Psyllium seed is considered to be soluble fiber, but has also received attention for its "broom-sweep" effect on the colon. Chia seed is another good choice in this category. Start slow with psyllium and chia seed—1/4 teaspoon daily, increasing to maximum tolerance until stool is normalized.
Bacterial Enzymes
High amounts of cettain bacterial enzymes present in the intestinal tract are associated with cancer. |
| I ate very little fresh food and few fruits and vegetables. I exercised haphazardly— sometimes not at all, other times obsessively. The enormous amount of coffee, chocolate, and frozen yogurt in my diet displaced food with real nutrient value. I had a high-stress job to which I devoted almost all of my time, to the exclusion of relationships and nourishing hobbies. I never felt rested and slept poorly. My immune system was constantly under fire, and I wasn't doing a single thing to ease the load, let alone to nurture and enhance its functioning. |
Earl Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D.
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 Food as medicine—There is exciting new evidence that vitamins, minerals, and naturally occurring compounds in fruits and vegetables called phytochemicals may help to prevent many different diseases, including various forms of cancer. (For more information, 1 refer you to Earl Mindell's Food as Medicine, Fireside, 1994.) For example, many foods contain natural antioxidants which may help to protect against cancer-causing elements in our environment that can promote the formation of free radicals in the body. |
Marion Nestle
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 This view is particularly unfortunate because, as I explain in Part I, advice to eat more fruits and vegetables and to avoid overweight as a means to promote health has remained constant for half a century. Confusion about nutrition is quite understandable, however. People obtain information about diet and health from the media—newspapers, magazines, television, radio and more recently the Internet. These outlets get much of their information from research publications, experts, and the public relations representatives of food and beverage companies. |
Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.
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 They also advise their patients to eat large amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables, in part to make up for the loss of animal protein and in part for the other enzymes and nutrients that these foods contain. Supplements are often given in the form of Wobe Mugos, which contain enzymes from pancreas, calf thymus, peas, lentils, and papaya (Wolf and Ransberger, 1972). |
Ruth Winter
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 Also used for coating fruits and vegetables and in defoaming agents and fatty acids. Poisonous by intravenous route. A skin irritant. May be mutagenic. 1-DECANOL • A synthetic fatty acid flavoring agent. Occurs naturally in orange and ambrette seed. Used in butter, lemon, orange, coconut, and fruit flavorings for beverages, ice cream, ices, candy, baked goods, and chewing gum. DECANYL ACETATE • See Decyl Acetate.
2-DECENAL • A synthetic fruit flavoring for beverages, ice cream, ices, candy, and baked goods. Moderately toxic by skin contact and mildly toxic by ingestion. A severe skin irritant. |
| ALKYLENE OXIDE ADDUCTS OF ALKYL ALCOHOLS • Used to assist in lye peeling of fruits and vegetables. FDA permits less than 0.2 percent in lye. ALLERGEN • A substance that provokes an allergic reaction in the susceptible but does not normally affect other people. Plant pollens, fungi spores, and animal danders are some of the common allergens.
ALLERGIC CONTACT DERMATITIS • ACD. Skin rash caused by direct contact with a substance to which the skin is sensitive. Symptoms include a red rash, swelling, and intense itching. Blisters may develop and break open, forming a crust. |
| The FDA tolerance on fruits and vegetables is 0.7 ppm. CRYPTOXANTHIN • A natural yellow coloring from corn and marigolds. See Xanthophyll.
CRYSTALLINE FRUCTOSE • Used in baked goods, frozen foods, beverages, tabletop sweeteners. It has about 1 to 2 times the sweetness of sugar and has calories. See Fructose.
CUBEBS • Piper Cubeba. Tailed Pepper. Java Pepper. The mature, unripe, sun-dried fruit of a perennial vine grown in South Asia, Java, Sumatra, the Indies, and Sri Lanka. It has a strong, spicy odor and is used in fruit flavoring for beverages (800 ppm). |
Marion Nestle
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| Its use in snacks might help some people reduce their intake of fat and calories—and, perhaps, their body weight and certain chronic disease risk factors—but its effects on absorption of fat-soluble vitamins and phytochemicals might interfere with the health benefits of fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, foods containing olestra may not contain fat, but they do contain calories—and plenty of them; olestra saves just one-third to one-half the calories of natural-fat products. |
John Robbins
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| Millions of cancer cases could be prevented each year if more individuals adopted diets low in meat and high in fruits and vegetables."14
When Prevention And Profits Don't Mix
In 1998, the National Cancer Institute announced with much fanfare that a breakthrough in prevention had occurred. A drug that had been used for chemotherapy for two decades, called Tamoxifen, had cut the occurrence of new breast cancer by 45 percent in a group of 13,388 women who were believed to have a high risk for the disease. |
Marion Nestle
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| Marketers can add value to fruits and vegetables by selling them frozen, canned, or precut, but even the most successful of such products—prepackaged and branded "baby" carrots, salad mixes, and precut fruit—raise consumer concerns about freshness and price.
Despite the focus on adding value, overabundance keeps food costs low compared to those anywhere else in the world, and this is due only in part to our high average income. The average American pays less than 10% of income for food. |
John Robbins
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| What we know_
Where most Americans get their information about foods: Advertising Amount spent annually by Kellogg's to promote Frosted Flakes: $40 million36
Amount spent annually by the dairy industry on the "milk mustache" ads: $190 million37
Amount spent annually by McDonald's advertising its products: $800 million38
Amount spent annually by the National Cancer Institute promoting fruits and vegetables: $1 million39
It's been said that for every Ph.D. there is an equal and opposite Ph.D. But the data are clear enough. |
Marion Nestle
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| The Produce for Better Health Foundation, a government-industry partnership to promote consumption of fruits and vegetables, created this "food marketing" pyramid to illustrate the disproportionate expenditure of advertising dollars in comparison to dietary recommendations. (Courtesy Elizabeth Pivonka, ©Produce for Better Health Foundation, Wilmington, DE) of tobacco and beer. As discussed in Part III, advertisers deliberately promote food brands among children and more active demands for advertised foods. |
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