AND eat soy! – A lot of natural medicines turn out to be green and one of the best of these is green tea. The recession has something to do with this too: Green tea and soy are the types of foods that women consume who are not in the lowest socio-economic class, which is a group that tries to avoid sugar and processed foods. Scientists have noticed that women from poor backgrounds are more likely to die from breast cancer, and they want to know why. They’ve discovered a reason that has nothing to do with getting mammograms or with the quality of their medical care after they are diagnosed.

It has to do with genetics: Poor lifestyles (eating the wrong kinds of food, not exercising) may trigger a key gene mutation that has been linked to a body’s poor ability to fight off cancer.

Scientists discovered the amazing properties of green tea when they gave breast cancer patients the equivalent of 10 cups of green tea a day. Researcher Vassiliki Papadimitrakopoulo cautions against any recommendations that green tea could definitely prevent cancer and says that, while encouraged by the results, “We cannot with certainty claim prevention benefits from a trial this size.”

Have some soy along with that tea: A recent study identifies a new class of therapeutic agents found naturally in soy that can prevent and possibly treat colon cancer, the third most deadly form of cancer. This may be the key to fighting colon cancer.

Researcher Julie Saba says, “I would be comfortable recommending soy products as a change in the diet that could protect against cancer. The more that soy is studied, the more of these protective agents are found, so it’s a very healthy diet choice.”

Although there is a concern regarding the safety of soy food consumption among breast cancer survivors, researchers have found that women in China who had breast cancer and a higher intake of soy food had an associated lower risk of death and breast cancer recurrence. This means that breast cancer survivors should eat soy. They should also stick to no more than three alcoholic drinks per week.Researcher Xiao Ou Shu says, “Soy foods are rich in isoflavones, which have been hypothesized to reduce the risk of breast cancer. However, their estrogen-like effect has led to concern about soy food consumption among breast cancer patients.”

When Shu and his team examined the association between soy isoflavone intake with breast cancer recurrence and survival, using data from the Shanghai Breast Cancer Survival Study, they found indications that “moderate soy food intake is safe and potentially beneficial for women with breast cancer.”

But don’t have beer with your Chinese food: A study of almost 2,000 women who had recovered from breast cancer found that even moderate drinking gave them a 30% higher risk of recurrence.

BBC News quotes cancer specialist Caitlin Palframan as saying, “We already know that regularly drinking alcohol can increase a woman’s chances of developing breast cancer. This study may suggest that alcohol consumption could also play a role in the likelihood of the disease coming back. The good news is that alcohol consumption is something we can change.”

BBC News quotes researcher Lee Baker as saying, “Deprivation alone doesn’t cause breast cancer, but can affect prognosis when [this gene] is damaged as a result of lifestyle choices commonly associated with deprivation.”

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