subject: Diet And Your Health [print this page] Lately, we've heard a lot more about how our diet have an effect on our health , especially in terms of the production of cancers. Research has proven that our diet consists of an huge variety of natural mutagens and carcinogens.
It is also apparent that we are ingesting significantly greater qualities of these substances than was formerly suspected. Maybe this natural chemical product ought to be main concern rather than the mutagenicity of industrial chemicals, food additives and pollutants in our environment. For instance, in 1989 the United States hada major publicity -generated scare regarding the plant growth regulator Alar, that is used to postpone ripening of apples so that they do not drop prematurely.
Alar was said to be carcinogenic, but when put in perspective with chemicals in our daily diets , it does not seem to be so bad. For example, the hydrazines in a helping of mushrooms are 60 times more carcinogenic compared to Alar consumed in a glass of apple juice or 20 times greater than a daily peanut butter sandwich, which often consists of aflatoxin B. Our diets include literally millions of natural chemicals; intact it isn't practical to test them all for carcinogenicity.
Animal tests and the Ames test have been used to analyze cooked food for their possibility for causing cancers; and it has been found that browed sugars or breads contains a variety of mutagens. In addition, caffeine and its close relative theobromine present in coffee, tea, cocoa, and some soft drinks might increase the risk of tumors by inhibiting DNA repair enzymes. Plants synthesize many carcinogenic or teratogenic chemicals as defense mechanism to ward off the animals that would like to consume them. Examples of plants plant carcinogens include psoralen and its derivatives, which are widespread in plants and have been used as sunscreen in France; solanine and chaconine are teratogens and are found in greened potatoes. Other food that consists of natural cicargens contains banana, basil, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, horseradish, mustard turnips, and black pepper. Additionally, red wines are thought to be responsible for the high occurrence of stomach cancers among the French people, although red wine also appears to lower the incidence of coronary heart disease. It seems that nothing can be consumed that does not contain mutagen!
One other large problem with American diet is the consumption of too much quantities of fats. The typical American takes in 40% of her/ his calories in the form of fat. Comparisons of cancer death rates in numerous national populations have supplied essential clues to the nutrational causes of cancer. Very different types of cancers appear in the United States than appear in Japan. In United States, colon, breast, and prostate cancer are most common, whereas stomach cancers are in excess in Japan. When the amount of dietary fat consumption is plotted against the number of death by breast cancer, the results are striking; the more fat in the diet, the higher the rate of breast cancer. How might fat intake cause cancer? It might be brought on by rancid fat simply because it represents a sizable percentage of the fat are very prone to oxidation, which generates a variety of carcinogenic compounds. Another most likely explanation is that may carcinogens are soluble in fats and accumulate in the fat of the animals we consume.
