Nutritional Deficiencies and Efficiencies: When Food Isn’t Enough

Nutritional Deficiencies and Efficiencies: When Food Isn’t Enough (for breast cancer survivors)

A well-nourished body boasts a thriving community of healthy cells, and healthy
cells are more resistant to oxidative stress and DNA damage, two factors that
increase the chances of their becoming cancerous. Well-nourished cells are also
capable of interacting with one another more effectively, making sure that all cells
work together as a coordinated community. What’s more, when they are damaged
or worn out, healthy cells die in an orderly process known as apoptosis.

As much as we advocate the use of whole, nutrient-dense food as a foundation
for wellness and cancer prevention, there are many instances when the purest,
freshest proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and phytonutrients (protective chemicals
made by plants) from food simply aren’t enough. We can lay the blame on depleted
soil producing less-nutritious crop yields, on toxins in our environment, on
endocrine-disrupting chemicals that throw our hormones out of balance, or on
digestive issues that prevent us from absorbing and using the nutrients available in
the food we eat. Indeed, all of these factors share some of the responsibility, because
they all lead to a state of nutrient depletion, which, in turn, leads to a state of
diminished health. That’s where targeted nutritional supplementation comes in.

Vitamin D, iodine, and selenium are just three nutrients that have been shown to
play a dominant role in cellular and immune health. Copper and iron, in excess, on
the other hand, have demonstrated the capacity to hasten cancer ’s progression. We’ll
take a closer look at the relationship of specific nutrients to the risk of breast cancer
occurrence or recurrence in chapter 5.

Immune Capability

One way of reducing your risk of breast cancer occurrence or recurrence is to
have a healthy immune system, one that recognizes unhealthy cells and destroys
them. Cancer, however, is exceedingly cunning in its ability to evade immune
surveillance, secreting chemicals designed to camouflage it and confuse our
cellular defenders. Think of it as a Trojan horse that cloaks itself in a devious array
of disguises to throw your immune system off-track. When your army of T cells,
phagocytes, and natural killer (NK) cells—the specific cells that fight cancer—is
well nourished and well rested, your immune system has a better chance of
mounting a swift and strong response to cancerous cells before they can multiply
and become dangerous.

One of the greatest risks to immune health, and one that we can completely
control, again, involves the intake of sugar and refined carbohydrates. Excess sugar
depresses immunity, as was shown as far back as the 1970s (Sanchez et al. 1973),
when subjects ingesting 75 to 100 grams of a sugar solution (about 20 teaspoons of
sugar, or the amount in two average 12-ounce sodas) showed a dramatic drop in
neutrophil count, a measure of white blood cell activity. This plunge happened
within fifteen minutes of eating a high-glycemic meal, and although the immune
suppression was most noticeable two hours after ingestion, the effect was still
evident five hours after eating. We’ll delve more into this and other factors affecting
immune health in chapter 7.