Meat and Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer is linked to what we eat. In particular, eating too much meat has proven to increase our risk for developing colorectal cancer (Stephen, 2007; Stephen, 1999).

Meat, eggs, and dairy –  animal based protein –  has the potential to become a carcinogen in our body (see Food Science below).

An alternative, plant based Therapeutic Food protocol, replaces animal based protein with plant protein, nurtures the body with fiber, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and more.

The Therapeutic Food Protocol for support against colorectal cancer:

• Be Regular– 2 heaping tablespoons for breakfast
• Beta Glucan High Potency Synbiotic– 1-2 heaping tbl for breakfast

The idea with these two products is to use them as a meal replacement multiple time a week.  As a breakfast drink you can add the above to a tall glass, add some fresh or frozen berries, some flax seed,  and add liquid- a 50/50 blend of water and organic pineapple juice.  And, it is replacing a meal where you normally had some meat and animal derived protein like bacon, sausage, ham, eggs.  The goal is to reduce these things.

And the Therapeutic Foods do so much more.

The Be Regular (on the shopping cart you’ll see the Energy Sustain) is organic chia, amaranth, buckwheat, quinoa and millet.  There is no gluten and it tastes great.  It has a good amount of plant based complete protein, vitamin, minerals, and essential oils.

The Beta Glucan Synbiotic provides pedigreed lactic acid bacteria.  They are fermenting bacteria, not putrefying bacteria and they put an inhibitory pressure on the growth of the putrefying strains.  The probiotics reduce and bind heterocyclic amines and nitrosamines – well established in research as extremely carcinogenic molecules. One hot dog has as many nitrosamines as five cigarettes.  They are found in unprocessed meat as well:  beef, chicken, and pork.   See Food Science below.

Food Science:

Reduction in the consumption of meat results in the reduction of the risk of colon cancer.

Stephen and fellow researchers (1999) looked a why African Americans get more colorectal cancer that Native Africans.  Colon cancer is extremely rare in Africans, while it’s 50 times higher in African Americans.  And, what’s interesting, it wasn’t because the Africans ate more fiber because their modern African diet is highly processed, low in fiber and yet there has been no dramatic increase in colon cancer.  The one big difference in their diets was that the diet of African Americans is rich in meat where as the native Africans diet is so low in meat and saturated fat.  Africans diet is more plant based with very little meat and saturated fat consumed weekly.  So much so that the Africans have a total cholesterol levels averaging 139, compared to over 200 in the US.

How does the extra meat eating cause cancer?

As observed by Cummings et al. (1979), the typical American diet has high level of animal protein intake, and because of that, up to 12 grams of protein per day can escape digestion and reach the colon where it is putrefyied by putrefying bacteria.  The byproduct of the putrefaction decomposition process is the production of, among other gases, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide gases which are cytotoxic.  Hydrogen sulfide impairs cytochrome oxidase, tissue metabolism, mucus formation, and DNA methylation

The difference between plant proteins and animal proteins reaching the colon is that the animal protein contain a lot of the sulfur containing amino acids like methionine, where plant protein doesn’t and hence very low hydrogen sulfide production.

This animal protein does more than just putrefy. It causes an increase in the cancer promoting growth hormone called IGF-1 (Levine, 2014).  Remove meat, egg whites, and dairy proteins from your diet, and our bloodstream can suppress cancer cell growth about eight time better because the blood levels of IFG-1 are greatly reduced (Ornish, 2005).

It is well established in medical science that heterocyclic amines (blackened meat derived carcinogens) and nitrosamines are potent carcinogens—one hotdog has as many nitrosamines and nitrosamides as five cigarettes.  The pedigreed bacterial species in the Beta Glucan Synbiotic have been shown to neutralize these carcinogenic molecules.

Bibliography:

• Alberg AJ, Sarnet JM. (2003). Epidemiology of lung cancer. Chest Journal; 123(1_suppl): 21S-49S.
• Cummings et al. (1979). The effect of meat protein and dietary fiber on colonic function and metabolism. Am J Clin Nutr; 32: 2094-2101.
• Levine et al. (2014).  Low Protein Intake is Associated with a Major Reduction in IGF-1, Cancer, and overall mortality in the 65 and Younger gut not Older Population. Cell Metab; 19(3): 407-417.
• Ornish et al. (2005). Intensive Lifestyle changes may affect the progression of prostate cancer. The Journal Of Urology; 175: 1055-1070.
• Stephen et al. (1999). Rarity of Colon Cancer in Africans is associated with low animal product consumption, not fiber. AJG; 94: 1373-1380.
• Stephen et al. (2007). Why do African Americans Get More Colon Cancer than Native Africans? American Society for Nutrition; 137(1): 175S-182S.