Joel Fuhrman - Eat To Live

82 Joel Fuhrman, M.D.

this is the exposure to trans fats and cancer-causing compounds that

are released when meat, fish, or fowl is grilled, fried, or barbecued."

Clearly, cancer causation is a complicated, multifactorial issue.

Exercise Powerfully Reduces Cancer Risk

Researchers at the University of Troms0 in Norway report that

women who exercise regularly reduce their risk of developing breast

cancer substantially. Their study involved more than 25,000 women

age twenty to fifty-four at the time of their entry into the study.

The researchers found that younger, premenopausal women (under

forty-five years old) who exercised regularly had 62 percent less

risk than sedentary women. The risk reduction was highest for lean

women who exercised more than four hours per week; these women

had a 72 percent reduction in risk.

Diet and exercise have a much more important role to play in

cancer prevention than mammograms and other detection methods.

Keep in mind that mammograms merely detect, not prevent, cancer;

they show disease only after the cancerous cells have been prolifer-

ating for many years.

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By that time the majority of cancers have al-

ready spread from their local site and surgically removing the tumor

is not curative. Only a minority of women who have their breast

cancers delected by a mammogram have their survival increased be-

cause of the earlier detection.

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The majority would have done just as

well to find it later. I am not aiming to discourage women ages fifty

to sixty-five from having mammograms; rather, my message is that

this alone is insufficient. Mammograms, which do nothing to pre-

vent breast cancer, are heavily publicized, while women hear noth-

ing else about what they can do to prevent and protect themselves

against breast cancer in the first place.

Do not underestimate the effect of a superior diet on gradually

removing and repairing damage caused by years of self-abuse. Do

not be discouraged just because you cannot bring your risk down to

zero because of your mistakes in the past. The same thing could be

said for cigarette smokers. Should they not quit smoking, merely be-

cause their risk of lung cancer can't be brought down to zero when

they quit? Actually, lung cancer rates are considerably lower (about

one-fifth) in countries that have a high vegetable consumption, even

though they may smoke like crazy.^58 Raw fruits and vegetables offer

powerful protection; leafy greens are the most protective.^59

My main point is that our population has been ignoring those in-