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Miranda 96501074
Professor Michael Cheng
Writing and Reading (II)
2011/05/03
Nutraceuticals: A Fighter against Tumor
Over the thousands of years of the human history, food has been used to affect
and improve health condition in all great ancient civilization such as in China, India,
Egypt, Persia, Greece and Arabia. Taking India’s native system of traditional medicine,
Ayurveda for example, it stresses the use of plant-based medicine including sesame,
sunflower, cinnamon, ginger and so many others to treat ailments and diseases.
Chinese people also use herbs, spices and plants to cure illness. For instance, it is
written in Bencao Gangmu that sugarcane and sugar can be boiled and drunk to ease
stomach ache. Plums help with liver problems. These practices with natural plants is
easy, economical and most important of all, it works.
Nowadays, diet is till a crucial part that supports Indian, Arabic and Chinese
medicine. It can not only helps with the development of slight illness like a cold or
sore throat but can also fight against far more tricky ones like cancers listed on the top
ten causes of death in numerous countries including Taiwan. (Department of Health,
Taiwan, 2010) However, the conventional, modern western medicine does not take
food seriously and include it into the treatments of cancers. We are encouraged to take
pills, rely on conventional treatments or further undergo operations to cure diseases. I
am not here to put the blame on doctors, the pharmacy industry or the food industry
that do not seem to be comprehensive enough to curb the problem, but to explain that
we can benefit from food that has the power to lower the rate of contracting cancer or
shrink tumors. These types of food are now named nutraceuticals, a word coined by
nutrition and pharmaceutical. They are rich in compounds that can resist
microbacteria, fungi and oxidation that are essential weapons to hold back the
reaction of inflammation that lead to malignant tumor. (Servan-Schreiber, 2010)
Actually, scientists have found what makes tumors so rampant and grow, spread
without control ─ kappa B(Nuclear factor-kappa B, or NF-kappa B) ─ a
pro-inflammatory factor. As long as kappa B can be removed, tumors will not be of a
great threat to human’s lives. (Karin, 2005) Here I am focused on food available in
our daily diet in Taiwan.
To begin with, from street bubble tea stands to tea farms on the hills and
mountains, green tea is one of the most common drinks we can get everyday. It is rich
in catechins that can hinder angiogenesis that supplies nutrition needed for the growth
of malignant tumor. A tumor cell mush have normal blood supply to maintain its
growth, otherwise, it will “starve” to death. According to biochemist of the University
of Montreal, Richard Beliveau, catechins actually lessen the development of leukemia,
breast cancer, kidney cancer and skin cancer. If consumed with soyabeans, the effect
is so much better then consumed separately (Zhou, 2004). It is recommended to drink
Green tea soaked in hot water for about five minutes to release its catechins.
Every morning, having a cup of soy bean milk instead of coffee helps to stop
angiogenesis, reduce hyper-stimulation from estrogen to the human body, and thus
decelerating the growth of estrogen-dependent tumors because it contains isoflavones,
genistein, daidzein and glycitein similar to the molecule of estrogen. (Rodriguez, 2010)
These natural antioxidant plant-based compounds are stored in the blood. They are
characterized as weak estrogen as they are not active compared to estrogen in the
human body. It is known that high level of both natural and chemical estrogen is the
culprit of breast cancer. Estrogen influences the cells by passing through its receptors,
ER-alpha and ER-beta, on the cell membrane. Over-expression of ER-alpha receptor
gives cancer cells chances to grow whereas ER-beta receptor neutralizes the former.
(Rodriquez, 2010) What’s mote, it is realized that ER-beta is able to “exert a
restraining influence on cell proliferation stimulated by estrogen at ER-alpha sites,
reducing the risk of breast cancer” according to Rodriguez. This balance naturally
solves the paradox of isoflavones’ estrogen-like feature.
Another nutraceutrical is originally from India—turmeric, the main ingredient
of curry. On average, Indians consumes 1.5 to 2 grams of turmeric powder everyday.
It is the most common ingredient used in Ayurvedic medicine. No other food contains
as strong an anti-inflammatory effect as turmeric does. (Servan-Schreiber, 2010)
Curcumin is its main compound. In biolab, curcumin plays a role of suppressing
angiogenesis, cancers and forces apotosis, the process of programmed cell death
occurred in multicellular organisms, of cancer cell to happen. According to Dr Bharat
Aggarwal and his team at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in
Houston, the extraordinary effect of turmeric lies in its power to effectively counteract
NF-kappa. As a result, despite the fact that there are many carcinogens, agents
involving in causing cancer, in the environment produced by serious pollution in India,
they have so much lower rate of lung cancer (1/8), breast cancer (1/5), prostate cancer
(1/15), colon cancer (1/9) compared to people of the same age in western countries.
(Servan-Schreiber, 2010)
In addition, researchers in Taiwan discovered that our
body is not able to digest curcumin when they tried to treat cancer with pure turmeric
capsules. In fact, it has to be combined with black pepper to be digested (Cheng,
2001).
In Taiwan, shiitake, maitake, kawaratake and enokitake are popular and
consumed in hotpot, with noodles or fried with other vegetables. They appear in
patients’ plates at hospitals in conjunction with chemotherapy in Japan. These
mushrooms contain compound lentinian and polysaccharides that can enhance the
immune system. Other acid extracted from mushrooms can inhibit the activity of an
enzyme in charge of synthesis of estrogen (Chen, 2006). So it is another source
against breast cancer apart from soy bean milk. Lastly, according to researchers at
Kyushu University, patients with colon cancer can live longer if they are provided
with mushrooms after chemo therapy (Kariya, 1992).
Our body is a huge cooperative system and we can make it balanced by doing
exercise, maintaining psychological health as well as eating properly. The ancient
medical classics like Ayurveda and Bencao Gangmu have demonstrated the wisdom
of nutraceuticals in food to cure and boost health. There are many other fruits,
vegetables and food not particularly mentioned in here. Yet if all of them are
consumed together with varieties, they will play the “natural” magic and help us lead
a healthy and happier life.
Reference:
David Servan-Schreiber, (2010). Anticancer: A New Way of Life. China Times
Publishing Company.
Cheng, A. L., C. H. Hsu, J. K. Lin, et al. , ’’Phase I Clinical Trial of Curcumin, a
Chemopreventive Agent, in Patients with High-Risk or Pre-malignant Lesions,’’
Anticancer Research 21, no. 4B (2001): 2895-900.
Kariya, Y., N. Inoue, T. Kihara, et al,. “Activation of Human Natural Killer Cells by
the Protein-Bound Polysaccharide PSK Independently of Interferon and Interleukin
2,” Immunology Letters 31, no. 3(1992):241-45
Zhou J-R, Yu L, Mai Z, Blackburn GL. “combined Inhibition of Estrogen-Dependent
Human Breast Carcinoma by Soy and Tea Bioactive Components in Mice,”
International Journal of Cancer, 2004; 108(1): 8-14
Oscar Rodriguez, (2010, July). Is Soy Safe?, Life Extension Magazine, retrieved from
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2010/jul2010_Is-Soy-Safe_01.htm
Department of Health, Taiwan, 2010
Chen S, Sei-Ryang O, Phung S, Hur G et al (2006). Anti-Aromatase Activity of
Phytochemicals in White button Mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus).