One of the most exciting reports I have ever read, Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk – What We Can Do Now, was released this week by the President’s Cancer Panel, along with significant coverage by Nicholas Kristof in The NY Times, Lyndsey Layton in The Washington Post and Liz Szabo in USA Today.

This signals a pivotal change in how we approach cancer (and, I hope, how we approach other illnesses that have increased in our lifetimes). The report acknowledges that we face “grievous harm” from chemicals that surround us every day and that we have “grossly underestimated” the amount of illness caused by these exposures – illness “that could have been prevented through appropriate national action.”

Why is this so exciting? By recognizing the importance of chemical and environmental causes of disease, we open the door to achievable environmental solutions. We can run in the right direction as we race toward prevention – not just race toward a cure. This report is about cancer – but the same issues apply to asthma, autism, learning disabilities, allergies, and more.

And it starts with kids. The report highlights the game-changing Environmental Working Group studies on umbilical cord blood that I helped EWG develop and release, where we found 180 carcinogens in babies (and 217 chemicals that were toxic to the brain or nervous system), even before the babies were born – chemicals that could set a trajectory for disease much later in life.

Parents can take simple steps right now to lower their children’s risk, from the cleaners you use in your home, to the plastics you use around food and beverages (watch our for BPA and phthalates!), to the sunscreens you put on your family’s skin.

In particular, the report highlights the value of organic food. There are ten foods (eleven, if you count wine) that I see as most important to choose organic.

And we can work together to change our chemical laws, under which the government has only assessed about 200 chemicals for safety out of the 80,000 chemicals on the market.

It’s a new era in our fight against cancer. It’s a new era for health.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, colon cancer is the third-most common cancer in both men and women, and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the US.

Since colon cancer tends to strike people over the age of 50, parents with kids at home might not be thinking about colon cancer prevention right now, especially if you’re dealing with everything from potty training to soccer practice to keeping everyone in the house flu free. I’d guess that most of the DrGreene.com community hasn’t had a colonoscopy, which is recommended for older age groups.

We who are busy wiping noses and going to PTA meetings are fortunate, in a way, that colon cancer has gotten so much attention as more cases come to light. This means that researchers are looking into more ways to prevent the problem so that we may not have to face the dismal news of a cancer diagnosis.

Aside from the always-applicable advice to eat more fresh vegetables and other fiber-rich whole foods, two recent studies give us even more hope for colon cancer prevention and provide more reasons to love two of my favorite nutritional building blocks: soy and vitamin D.

In one exciting recent study, results suggest that a family of natural fat molecules in soy, called sphingadienes, both prevent colon tumor cells from forming within the body (prevention) and are even potent at causing already cancerous cells to die (possible treatment) Click here for more information to help you sort out the soy facts from the myths.

The vitamin D study reported that people with higher levels of vitamin D have a 40 percent lower risk of colon cancer. This is consistent with a number of other studies about the protective effects of vitamin D.

It’s so simple to make changes to your life today to capitalize on these newfound insights into this deadly disease. Vitamin D is the sunshine vitamin: our body makes its own nutrients when our skin is exposed to sunshine. But most of us have learned to cover up with sunscreen and protective clothing (which we should). Click here to learn how much sun exposure is needed to get plenty of vitamin D. If you’re not sure your child is getting enough from the sun, I recommend getting at least 400 IU a day from some kind of milk or from a multivitamin or vitamin D3 supplement.

And adding soy to your diet in the form of foods made from the whole soybean can also give you the other health benefits of this wonderful bean. With the other benefits of vitamin D and soy, you’ll get much more out of the switch than just a reduction in the risk for colon cancer.

Your turn… what’s your favorite soy recipe or food, and how do you get your vitamin D?

Fryst H., Oskouian, B., Bandhuvula, P., Gong, Y., Byun, H.S., Bittman, R., Lee, A.R., Saba, J.D. “Natural Sphingadienes Inhibit Akt-Dependent Signaling and Prevent Intestinal Tumorigenesis.” Cancer Research, 15 Dec 2009, 69(24):9457-64.

Jenab, M., et al. “Association Between Pre-Diagnostic Circulating Vitamin D Concentraion and Risk of Colorectal Cancer in European Populations: A Nested Case-Control Study.” BMJ, 2010, 340:b5500.

Choices we make with our children can strongly influence their odds of getting cancer for the rest of their lives. Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective, released in November 2007, is comprehensive analysis of over 7000 different scientific studies.

Based on these, the expert panel makes 8 core recommendations (and two special recommendations) for cancer prevention. Among other things, this is the first major report to recommend breastfeeding for preventing cancer in both mothers and their babies. The potential benefit from following all of these recommendations is huge (preventing as many as 1/3 of all cancers), but for many families they may feel overwhelming. Knowing the targets, though, may help to make some steps in the right direction. The report includes recommendations for all of us, but I will focus here on how their recommendations apply to children:

1) Get lean and stay lean.  Aim for a body mass index (BMI) towards the lower end of the normal range throughout childhood and adolescence (and maintain this as an adult). This may be one of the most important ways to prevent cancer later in life. Excess fat increases levels of circulating hormones linked to cancer, and makes it more likely that cells undergo abnormal growth.

2)  Get moving. Aim for 60 minutes or more of moderate activity, or 30 minutes or more of vigorous activity, every day. And limit sedentary habits such as watching television – especially where there is child-targeted marketing of junk food or sugary drinks.

3) Don’t think calories.  Think calorie density.  Calorie density is the number of calories per a certain weight of food (usually 100 grams). Watch out for calorie dense foods! Feed kids ‘fast foods’ sparingly, if at all. (By ‘fast foods’ they do not mean foods that are convenient, or ordered at chain restaurants, but foods that are high calorie density, eaten in large portions, and that easily become large parts of the diet — such as burgers, fried chicken pieces, French fries, shakes, or sodas. Avoid sugary drinks, and choose calorie-dense foods sparingly. Calorie-dense foods are those with 225 calories or more per 100 gm. The target is to have the diet average about 125 calories per 100 gm, with some foods lower and some foods higher than the average. Per 100 grams, fruits and vegetables usually have 10 to 100 calories; cereals and legumes between 60 and 150, and breads, lean meats, fish, and poultry between 100 and 225 calories.

4) Plant foods rock! — mostly. Kids should get at least 5 servings a day of fruits and non-starchy vegetables (more servings would be even more protective). Include whole grains or legumes at every meal (while limiting white rice or things made from white flour, such as bread, pasta, pizza, cakes, pastries, cookies or biscuits). Between the fruits and vegetables and the whole grains, most  of the foods that children eat should be of plant origin.

5) Animal foods with caution. For those kids who do eat red meat, they should aim for less than 18 ounces a week.  (Note: From my perspective, the issue with red meat is mostly the hormones found in conventional beef. Grass fed organic beef is far preferable.) Poultry or fish could be good options instead. It’s also best to minimize or avoid processed meats – especially those treated with nitrates, nitrites or other chemical preservatives. This would include many brands of ham, bacon, pastrami, salami, sausages, and hot dogs, as well as some hamburgers. The panel did not recommend reducing dairy, eggs, fish, or poultry for cancer prevention.

6) No alcohol for kids. Kids should not be exposed to alcohol, even before they are born. For cancer prevention, alcoholic drinks should be avoided entirely by children and by pregnant women. In addition, they recommend limiting alcoholic drinks to two per day for adult men, and one per day for non-pregnant adult women.

7) Manage molds and salt. Preservation, processing, and food preparation makes a difference. Limit salty foods, and processed foods with added salt. No one should get more than 2400 mg a day of sodium. (Kids shouldn’t get more than 1500 mg of sodium a day before age three, 1900 mg a day before age eight, or 2200 mg a day before age thirteen.) Don’t eat moldy foods made from grains or legumes, such as bread or peanut butter. Suspect hidden molds if these foods have been stored too long at room temperature.

8) Dietary Supplements. Aim to meet a child’s nutrition needs from real food. Except for Vitamin D supplements for exclusively breastfed babies, supplements have not been linked to cancer prevention in kids. (I recommend a multivitamin safety net for other purposes.)

Special Recommendation 1 – Breastfeeding. Aim to breastfeed exclusively for six months, and to continue breastfeeding as other foods are introduced. This has been shown to reduce the lifetime cancer risk for both the baby and for the mother.

Special Recommendation 2 – Cancer Survivors. The above core recommendations are all the more important for kids (and adults) who are cancer survivors. The report recommends that survivors receive the support of a trained nutrition professional to help them meet these goals for the future.

World Cancer Research Fund / American Institute for Cancer Research. Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective. Washington DC: AICR, 2007

In Okinawa, Japan more of the people live to be over 100 years old than any place else in the world. The Okinawa Centenarian Study examined lifetime eating habits of 600 residents of Okinawa who were over 100 years old. Tofu, a non-fermented soy food, has been an important part of their diet for hundreds of years. The study concludes that high consumption of whole soy foods (about two servings a day) is one of the main reasons that elderly Okinawans have 80 percent fewer heart attacks and 75 percent fewer hormone dependent cancers (including breast, prostate, ovarian and colon cancer) compared to Americans. The Okinawans also have a lower rate of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. The centenarians in the study shared several lifestyle factors, including regular physical activity and low-calorie diets containing an abundance of soy foods, vegetables and fish.

Based on all of the available evidence, I suggest about two servings a day of soy foods as part of a balanced diet rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and healthy sources of protein, calcium, and omega-3 fatty acids.

But the cautions of the naysayers raise an important point. Soy ingredients have spread rapidly in the American diet. We know that soy in some amounts and some forms can be beneficial to our health. We also know that some soy ingredients (partially hydrogenated soybean oils – as with any partially hydrogenated or trans fat) are not healthy. But there are many new soy compounds for which we don’t yet have enough experience or data.

More From This Series
Part 1 of 4 – Is Soy Healthy for Your Family?
Part 2 of 4 – Soy Wars
Part 3 of 4 – The Bottom Line on Soy
Part 4 of 4 – Which Soy to Choose?

The more servings of French fries that women had eaten way back when they were preschoolers, the more likely they were to develop breast cancer as adults, according to a Harvard study in the August 10, 2005 online International Journal of Cancer.

We know that diet and cancer are often linked, and that changes in pre-pubertal breasts could lead to later cancer. This study was based on data spanning over forty years from the Nurses’ Health Study, which follows thousands of nurses over time. The mothers of the nurses were asked to describe their preschool. Out of 30 foods analyzed, French fries were the only food linked to higher breast cancer rates (whole milk during the preschool years was linked to a slightly lower than average rate). For every weekly serving of fries the adult risk of breast cancer rose 27 percent! Even though high fat diets have been associated with increased breast cancer risk, in this study the French fry effect is not just the fat. Other high fat foods such as hot dogs and ice cream were not associated with the increased risk.

While this one study is not enough to prove that fries cause cancer, it is consistent with cancer concerns arising from the acrylamide in fries. A survey of the American diet found that for today’s toddlers, French fries are the number one ‘vegetable’ consumed. Fries are the most common side item in kids’ meals. And they are even a top seller in school cafeterias. Breast cancer strikes more than 200,000 women in the U.S. each year.

In a Herculean effort to draw attention to breast cancer, a group of women climbers, including several breast cancer survivors, reached the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro this summer.  Through their climb they also helped to raise money for breast cancer research. 

While you may not be “up for” climbing a mountain, there are many other things you can do to help stop breast cancer.  A score of companies are making contributions to breast cancer research during the month of October.

You can help the cause by sipping pink grapefruit tea, or by adding organic olive oil to your pantry.

Until Dec. 31, in the United States you can make a difference by purchasing the Breast Cancer Research postage stamp. It was issued in July 1998 and to date, the stamp has raised nearly $33 million for breast cancer research.

You can also remind your friends to practices monthly breast self-exams  — especially pregnant and nursing moms.  Breast cancer is the most common cancer in pregnant and postpartum women– it occurs in about 1 in 3,000 pregnancies — and is often undetected due to breast changes during pregnancy and lactation.   I believe it is also missed because many women turn their attention toward their developing child.

Please join me in fighting breast cancer – you may not be able to climb Kilimanjaro, but you certainly can take good care of yourself and remind your friends to do the same.

Dr. Greene has been concerned about acrylamide since 2002 when The World Health Organization convened an emergency expert panel in to evaluate the potential health threats of acrylamide, a known toxic substance possibly created by heating starchy foods to high temperatures.

The initial study in Sweden that suggested starches produce acrylamide, conducted early in 2002, was viewed with skepticism. But the formation of acrylamide in this way has now been confirmed by independent studies in England, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, and the United States.

The WHO expert panel unanimously concluded that the results of these studies are valid. They also unanimously agreed there is a major concern that the levels of acrylamide found in some potato chips and French fries could cause cancer. The amount of acrylamide varies from brand to brand, and between cooking techniques. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has commissioned testing of levels in some US brands. The acrylamide in a large order of fast food fries was at least 300 times the amount allowed by the EPA in a glass of water. One brand studied contained 600 times the EPA amount.

Besides agreeing on their cancer concern, and on the validity of the studies done so far, the panel called for urgent new research to further define the scope of the risk and the extent of the problem. In the meantime, they are urging a balanced diet with lots of fruits and vegetables, while decreasing the amounts of fried foods. They said it is too early to specify which fried foods should be avoided.

Based on the evidence currently available, I would go further. In good conscience, I could not recommend that children eat French fries, potato chips, or corn chips until further research is in, or until the brand has been tested and found to have low levels. I recognize that French fries and potato chips are favorite items on kids. menus everywhere, but the benefits just do not justify the risks!

I would also like to see labeling on foods to indicate the presence and amount of acrylamide, so that people can make an informed choice about the risks for themselves and for their kids.