Chinese women and breast Cancer; a theory about Dairy Products?

My wife of 25 years passed away in the year 2000. She was a health diet and exercise type person. When she was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer she did all the stuff along with the chemo like a good little trooper and died 20 months later. There was more than one time I prayed that if someone had to die let it be me and spare her. She was one of the best people I have ever known and I am not saying that because she is dead.

I am remarried to a wonderful girl now and very happy with my new mate of 5 years....so no I am not destitute or miserable as some who have gone through this sort of thing; I am very lucky and well loved.

I came across this article at a Chinese defense web sight and thought it interesting in that my Asian wife (not Chinese but I am sure there was one in the wood pile long long ago) really has very little use for dairy products. Western Men get Prostate cancer and the article touches on that too.....Anyway I thought the article was worth reading and the possibilities.

www.chinesedefence.com...

[QUOTE]

Welcome to Chinese Defence Forum

By Prof. Jane Plant, PhD, CBE

Anyone who has come into contact with breast cancer will know that certain risk factors – such as increasing age, early onset of womanhood, late onset of menopause and a family history of breast cancer – are completely out of our control. But there are many risk factors, which we can control easily.
These “controllable” risk factors readily translate into simple changes that we can all make in our day-to-day lives to help prevent or treat breast cancer. My message is that even advanced breast cancer can be overcome because I have done it.
The first clue to understanding what was promoting my breast cancer came when my husband Peter, who was also a scientist, arrived back from working in China while I was being plugged in for a chemotherapy session.
He had brought with him cards and letters, as well as some amazing herbal suppositories, sent by my friends and science colleagues in China .
The suppositories were sent to me as a cure for breast cancer. Despite the awfulness of the situation, we both had a good belly laugh, and I remember saying that this was the treatment for breast cancer in China , then it was little wonder that Chinese women avoided getting the disease.
Those words echoed in my mind. Why didn’t Chinese women in China get breast cancer? I had collaborated once with Chinese colleagues on a study of links between soil chemistry and disease, and I remembered some of the statistics.
The disease was virtually non-existent throughout the whole country. Only one in 10,000 women in China will die from it, compared to that terrible figure of one in 12 in Britain and the even grimmer average of one in 10 across most Western countries. It is not just a matter of China being a more rural country, with less urban pollution. In highly urbanized Hong Kong , the rate rises to 34 women in every 10,000 but still puts the West to shame.
The Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have similar rates. And remember, both cities were attacked with nuclear weapons, so in addition to the usual pollution-related cancers, one would also expect to find some radiation-related cases, too.
The conclusion we can draw from these statistics strikes you with some force. If a Western woman were to move to industrialized, irradiated Hiroshima , she would slash her risk of contracting breast cancer by half. Obviously this is absurd. It seemed obvious to me that some lifestyle factor not related to pollution, urbanization or the environment is seriously increasing the Western woman’s chance of contracting breast cancer.
I then discovered that whatever causes the huge differences in breast cancer rates between oriental and Western countries, it isn’t genetic.
Scientific research showed that when Chinese or Japanese people move to the West, within one or two generations their rates of breast cancer approach those of their host community.
The same thing happens when oriental people adopt a completely Western lifestyle in Hong Kong . In fact, the slang name for breast cancer in China translates as ‘Rich Woman’s Disease’. This is because, in China, only the better off can afford to eat what is termed ‘ Hong Kong food’.
The Chinese describe all Western food, including everything from ice cream and chocolate bars to spaghetti and feta cheese, as “Hong Kong food”, because of its availability in the former British colony and its scarcity, in the past, in mainland China .
So it made perfect sense to me that whatever was causing my breast cancer and the shockingly high incidence in this country generally, it was almost certainly something to do with our better-off, middle-class, Western lifestyle.
There is an important point for men here, too. I have observed in my research that much of the data about prostate cancer leads to similar conclusions.
According to figures from the World Health Organization, the number of men contracting prostate cancer in rural China is negligible, only 0.5 men in every 100,000. In England, Scotland and Wales , however, this figure is 70 times higher. Like breast cancer, it is a middle-class disease that primarily attacks the wealthier and higher socio-economic groups, those that can afford to eat rich foods.
I remember saying to my husband, “Come on Peter, you have just come back from China . What is it about the Chinese way of life that is so different?”
Why don’t they get breast cancer?’
We decided to utilize our joint scientific backgrounds and approach it logically.
We examined scientific data that pointed us in the general direction of fats in diets.
Researchers had discovered in the 1980s that only l4% of calories in the average Chinese diet were from fat, compared to almost 36% in the West.
But the diet I had been living on for years before I contracted breast cancer was very low in fat and high in fiber.
Besides, I knew as a scientist that fat intake in adults has not been shown to increase risk for breast cancer in most investigations that have followed large groups of women for up to a dozen years.
Then one day something rather special happened. Peter and I have worked together so closely over the years that I am not sure which one of us first said: “The Chinese don’t eat dairy produce!” [END QUOTE]

We're not cows, so why should we drink another animals milk in adulthood?

Despite what the milk-nuts claim, milk really isn't something adults should be drinking in large quantities. I do like a good cheese though.

Originally posted by 727Sky
The suppositories were sent to me as a cure for breast cancer. Despite the awfulness of the situation, we both had a good belly laugh, and I remember saying that this was the treatment for breast cancer in China , then it was little wonder that Chinese women avoided getting the disease.
Those words echoed in my mind. Why didn’t Chinese women in China get breast cancer? I had collaborated...

Chinese women do get breast cancer.

In the West where medicine is more universal and recorded, rates of cancers can be compared. China does not have a healthcare environment like the West. Therefore, it is likely that incidents of breast cancer and myriad other ailments are undiagnosed and / or unrecorded, covered up or hidden by the government authority. Therefore, appearance of low rates of breast cancer hides the reality.

Chinese women suffer because thy do not have access to Western level health care, nor an open government.

The absence of statistics is not proof that there is not a problem.

Regards

Regards

reply to post by 727Sky


Somehow my silly brain didn't get the message... Until YOUR post...

From the very first part of the article it states:

"Anyone who has come into contact with breast cancer will know that certain risk factors – such as increasing age, early onset of womanhood, late onset of menopause and a family history of breast cancer "

Early onset womanhood.
Late onset menopause.

Now lets look at something in US milk. Growth Hormones... Also found in meat like chicken and beef.

If my brain clicked correctly here I remember that these growth hormones have something to do with estregen..

When you get too much estrogen your body balances with too much testosterone. In the opposite way body builders can grow boobs if too much testosterone is present.

I forget exactly How it goes but either women with too much estrogen or too much testosterone are at higher risk of breast cancer...

I think it's Largly Hormone balance..

@ other poster:

In the West where medicine is more universal and recorded, rates of cancers can be compared.

Those rates should be compared and if I am right about my above post you should see that Europe, australia, japan, should all have lower rates of breast cancer based on the fact that they banned growth hormones..



Link

somatotropin (rBST), recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), or artificial growth hormone. Four large pharmaceutical companies, Monsanto, American Cyanamid, Eli Lilly, and Upjohn, raced to develop commercial rBST products and submitted them to the FDA for approval.[3][4] Worldwide, Lilly was first to market with sales in Mexico, Brazil and other countries that have approved their BST products for commercial sale.[5] Monsanto licensed Genentech's patent,[2] and was first to get FDA approval, and marketed their product as "Posilac".[6][7] In October 2008, Monsanto sold this business, in full, to Lilly for a price of $300 million plus additional consideration.[8]

rBST has not been allowed on the market in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Israel and all European Union countries (currently numbering 27), by 2000 or earlier.

In the United States, public opinion has caused a number of products and retailers to become rBST-free

Thanks for the replies: My wife was 42 when she died and from all outward appearances was not in a menopausal state. She had estrogen and genetic based cancer according to the oncologist and test results.

I feel better with more energy when I am overseas (at farm) and I suppose it is due to diet or maybe it is just more exercise? Everything is fresh or still kicking before being eaten and is free range or just hooked out of a lake or pond. 40 years ago you never saw a really fat person but with all the European foods that are available now it has been my observation that where there never was obesity before there is now but on a small %.

My energy level at he farm could also be due to there is always something fun to do or experience, dunno just my non scientific take on the subject..

It does bug me that our food supply in the US contains all kinds of stuff I (not being a researcher) would consider not appropriate for general consumption. Our water supplies are not something that turns me on either. But it is what it is.

reply to post by 727Sky


I have been doing a lot of research trying to find the common ground here.. Seems Asia and Africa are the best places to avoid breast cancer.. I started thinking it could be colder climate related because of this, but as it turns out Australia breaks that rule..

Mexico is one of the biggest importers of American beef but they seem to have much much lower breast cancer rates than the US..

Is Milk consumption high in South Korea?

Looking at Obesity rates they actually match up ok against the breast cancer rates.. It's not an exact match and some countries are way off, which to me means my next thing to figure out is what is making these people more inclined to be obese in these countries and which countries break this rule.. Do they eat more to get fat? Or do the eat normal, but genetically the population has different hormone balance that increases their weight anyway..

link

SATURDAY, Oct. 20 (HealthDay News) -- American boys are entering puberty at a younger age now than they did several decades ago, new research reveals.

Specifically, investigators discovered that males are showing the first signs of sexual maturity six months to two years earlier, with blacks having a significant head start relative to whites and Hispanics.

The study does not pinpoint what exactly is driving the trend toward earlier puberty, nor does it identify an underlying mechanism that might explain any racial differences.

However, the finding builds on what most experts consider definitive research from the 1990s, which confirmed that American girls are also entering puberty at a younger age today than in decades past.

This next part of the article has an interesting factoid.. Males are also going through puberty earlier in the US, which you would not expect to see if Hormone disruptive chemicals are the cause.. Doesn't disprove, just unexpected.. I'll try and find why..

the environmental issues that we have long associated with earlier puberty in girls, such as being overweight and environmental exposure to endocrine [hormone]-disruptive chemicals, would actually be expected to slow puberty in boys, not hasten it. So, to see the same thing in boys is actually somewhat surprising."

For the study, the authors tracked more than 4,000 boys seen as patients between 2005 and 2010 at one of 144 pediatric health providers in 41 states and one Canadian province.

Puberty onset was determined by the first signs of genital and pubic hair growth and testicular enlargement.

The result: Black boys were found to begin maturing sexually at an average age of just over 9, followed by white boys at just over 10 and Hispanic boys at between 10 and 11.

Death rates by ethnicity fit the above three groups... Black people having the most deaths from breast cancer and earliest puberty, followed by white people, and followed by hispanic people

Apparently obesity can be a cause of early puberty.. Another relation to early puberty is problems with the adrenal gland.. I'm thinking this is where I need to look to find the main cause... The Cause of the Cause of the cause that is..


It's looking more and more like genetics have the main role to play, but which genes? Are my future kids more safe because my family goes through puberty on the later side?


A good thing to note at least through 2009 the death rates according to CDC do seem to be slightly decreasing in most race groups.



Kind of got carried away there haha.. I still havn't read your article after the first lines.. hahah Guess I should go back and do that now..

The biggest thing in the article I posted was the full tumor reduction and disappearance after stopping all dairy products...Was it the Chemo or the dairy..enquiring minds want to know?

The darker the color, the more lactose intolerant a population:


Notice that the darker colored countries have lower cancer rates.

reply to post by MystikMushroom


Well, you just imploded my whole second post, haha.. Dang. It was fun trying to figure it all out though, and useful too..
Now that I did all that pre-work looking at all the stats of cancer I look at your map and it hit me like a ton of bricks..

Good show...
And note taken..
No more milk for me..


Could I get away with cheese though?

reply to post by Dustytoad


I know!! A glass of wine, cheese, and crackers goes over pretty well around here....She stopped everything = nothing dairy to include cheese.

LOL!

I'm pretty lactose intollerant these days (it was something I began to develop as I reached adulthood for some reason).

I can handle cheese just fine. Part of the reason is that cheese is actually partially digested for you. The acids they use to curdle the milk are not that unlike your own stomach acids. Ever puked up milk before?

Back in the day they used to put the milk into cow stomachs to create the curds & whey. Then they'd smash and press all the curds together...viola, cheese!

Oh, and cheese is yellow because of a dye they use

I don't eat loads of cheese, certainly not enough to cause detrimental health....but chugging gallons of milk a week is probably not a good idea these days.

reply to post by 727Sky


Are you sure that all cases of breast cancer are being recorded?

Untill your really sure what the number of unreported breast cancer, or other cancers, is in china making the claim that milk is killing chinese people seems far fetched.

Originally posted by Wertdagf
reply to post by 727Sky

 

Are you sure that all cases of breast cancer are being recorded?

Untill your really sure what the number of unreported breast cancer, or other cancers, is in china making the claim that milk is killing chinese people seems far fetched.

I am not personally claiming anything....I read the article like I suppose you did....Her tumor went away and she believes it is due to dairy products as does her husband..... She and he are PHD researchers, no?.. My wife is Asian (Laos/Thai) and says breast cancer is very rare in her part of the woods; they never used to consume dairy products or very rarely.

There is stomach cancer (they eat some very spicy and hot peppers during their lives) but she never new anyone who had breast cancer..I have known over 30 women in the USA who got it but I am old..So I would say take what you want from the article and place it in your hummmm file or discard....It is just one person's study and experience...that I found interesting.

Yes Milk probably not good for Human Adults, but I cant help drinking gallons of Iced Coffee.........Chinese dont drink coffee either....that's a Rich Persons taste......so does coffee give you cancer??

Another thing......there are boobs and there are bOObs........

I think most ( most!! some Japanese girls excepted)..... Asian woman have boobs....

Most Average (Generalized some) European women have bOObs .......I would think there is more fat content in Europeans bOObs....than Asian boobs. Also European women are generally "Bigger" (Fatter?) overall anyway....its to deal with the cold weather.

Asian wife ...Mmmmmmm.