Mar 09
23
Mushrooms, Green Tea Linked to Lower Cancer Risk
When it comes to making sure we do everything that is possible in our power to help prevent breast cancer, there are definitely some dietary items that we should consider consuming more heavily in our diet. Of course, most of them are naturally occurring foods – well make that, all of them are, and they are almost always brightly colored foods or foods that are darkly colored green or purple or blue . A good example is grapes, blueberries, acai berry and broccoli and kale, just as a few examples of what I’m talking about when I say brightly and darkly pigmented.
Well, there is some new evidence that two foods that are widely consumed by Chinese women, green tea and mushrooms, both fresh and dried, but more so fresh of course, are linked to significantly lower rates of breast cancer. They found that extracts taken from mushrooms actually may have anti tumor properties and help to fight cancer in the female body.
They have also found that compounds found in green tea in abundance called polyphenols (you may have heard of them, they’re quite the buzz as a natural health compound these days that is found in many foods that are healthy in so many other ways also), helps to fight several different kinds of cancer by improving the defenses the body puts up when faced with various forms of cancer. This means that green tea really is healthy, and you should start considering drinking it instead of coffee if you don’t already.
I have to admit though, the mushrooms kind of surprise me. I mean, they’re essentially a fungus, they are pale in color, and they aren’t really bitter, which is a characteristic of some of the foods that are dense in antioxidants. However, I absolutely love mushrooms, so this is a delightful information for me to hear, as I’m sure other mushroom lovers are happy to hear also!
There is probably more to come on this study, but it sounds really promising, and it gives comfort to know that we at least can control some of the factors that contribute to breast cancer, even though we can’t control our genetics.
