Eating walnuts may not be able to prevent all cancers. It may just slow some of them down. But, since walnuts are full of beneficial nutrients it makes sense to include them in a healthy diet.
A new study conducted by a team of researchers at Marshall University, and recently published in the journal
Nutrition and Cancer,
has revealed that just modest, daily amounts of walnuts are sufficient
to significantly lower the risk of breast cancer in mice.
To test
the anti-cancer properties of walnuts, the mice involved in this study
were genetically altered to develop breast cancer at an accelerated
rate. The study evaluated the effects of dieting with and without
walnuts, across the entire life-span of two tested groups of mice - one
group was fed walnuts from conception to weaning, through the mothers,
and later received walnuts directly into its daily diet, while a control
group of mice was fed a regular diet, without walnuts.
Elaine
Hardman, associate professor of biochemistry at Marshall's Joan C.
Edwards School of Medicine, who led this research project, firmly
believes in the possible health benefits of foods, stating that "food is
important medicine in our diet".
What we put into our bodies
makes a big difference, it determines how the body functions, our
reaction to illness and health. The simple stuff really works: eat
right, get off the couch, and turn off the TV. The results of her study
stand to support her claims: the mice that were fed small amounts of
walnuts had developed cancer at less than half the rate of the mice that
had been fed a regular diet.
Moreover, the test mice that did
develop cancer eventually had much smaller and less frequent tumors,
suggesting than walnuts effectively slowed down cancer progression, even
where a genetic predisposition existed. Hardman trusts that the
walnuts' high content of omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and, more
notably, cholesterol lowering phytosterols, is to be credited for these
amazing results in mice.
Moreover, vitamin E consumption and
breast cancer development seem to be inversely proportional - the more
vitamin E the mice consumed, the slower their cancerous tumors
developed. Hardman also added that the walnut amounts given to the test
group throughout the trial would equate to roughly 2 ounces of walnuts
per day for average humans.
While scientific studies such as this
one cannot accurately determine whether the health benefits documented
are a direct result of something that is added to the diet, rather than
of something that is removed from it, Hardman reminds us that additional
studies conducted in the past support her hypothesis as well.
Walnuts,
especially when raw, have the highest content of antioxidants in all
known nuts, in addition to other cancer-fighting substances. At a closer
look, Hardman's research team discovered that the very gene activity of
the test mice, who were fed walnuts daily, had changed significantly in
several areas believed to be relevant to breast cancer development.
Although
the information revealed by Hardman's study is, without a doubt,
gladdening, other members of the scientific community are still
skeptical regarding the extent to which such data is relevant to humans.
Numerous
variables, such as smoking, pollution, physical fitness, and lifestyle,
make accurate prognoses on humans very difficult, as deputy director of
the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, D.C, Peter G.
Shields observed, reminding us that while beta-carotene may fight
against cancer in non-smokers, it is actually detrimental to the health
of smokers.
Sources for this article include:http://www.webmd.com/breast-cancer/...http://www.emaxhealth.com/1275/waln...
Raw Michelle - NaturalNews
