Published Feb 6, 2008 in the North Island Weekender 

Q. I recently heard on the news that taking selenium will do more harm than good. Is this true?

Dr.P: This study was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in August 2007. The original 1996 study showed that taking 200mcg selenium did not affect the recurrence rate of skin cancer but reduced total cancer mortality by 50% and the incidence of lung, colorectal and prostate cancers by 36, 58 and 63% respectively. In the new analysis people from this original study were followed for an average of 7.7 years and during this time 9.7% of the people taking selenium developed diabetes and 6.5 % of those on the placebo developed diabetes. Selenium was blamed. However there are several flaws in the study to consider. The study was not originally designed to study diabetes and statisticians will say that looking for important associations that had not been thought of originally will appear simply by chance. The second weakness is that the placebo was Saccharomyces cerevisae similar to brewers yeast which contains two compounds that have a beneficial effect on blood sugar. High selenium use in this study might have appeared to increase the risk of diabetes only because the placebo decreased the risk. This is another case of one study pitted against years of research on a mineral that is important for cancer prevention, optimal thyroid health as well as improving glucose metabolism.

Q. How much green tea do I have to drink to be an effective cancer preventive?

Dr. P: You need to ingest at least 1000mg of catechins (EGCG) per day and a five ounce cup of green tea contains 50-100mg. It is often easier to ingest a green tea capsule to get a therapeutic dosage. Remember the antioxidant quality of green tea is decreased if chlorinated water is used in making the tea or if the green tea is decaffeinated.

Q. I don’t have a family history of cancer. What is my overall risk?

Dr. P: Only 5-10% of cancers are genetic. My opinion is that cancer is mainly an environmental disease, where toxins in our environment are recycled in our bodies generating carcinogens. The efficiency of the detoxification systems of the body varies genetically but can be modified using nutrition and other methods such as infrared sauna and ionic detoxification foot baths. This is where naturopathic medicine comes in. We can test your detoxification pathways to determine where the weakest links are and then recommend specific nutrients to compensate for this weakness. Cleaning up the environment will surely be one of the best ways to reduce cancers in our society. Until this happens it behooves us to take care of our own personal environment and to choose to avoid chemicals in our homes and foods and to improve our internal body environment with nutrition and cleansing.

Q. Remind me again which foods are to be avoided because of genetic modification (GM)?

Dr. P: The biggest crops in Canada that are GM are canola, soy, potatoes and corn. There is no legislation in place for labeling of GM foods in Canada so I recommend that you only use these foods if they are organic or labeled NON GM. A new book on the subject is the well researched book by Jeffrey Smith called “Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods”. It is a real eye opener!

Q. Which foods have the most pesticides in them?

Dr. P: The dirty dozen that is often spoken of in the literature include: Peaches, apples, certain brands of sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, lettuce, grapes, pears, spinach and potatoes. Note that BC hot house peppers are very clean. Washing and pealing of these foods makes little difference. The foods least contaminated with pesticides are: onions, avocado, frozen sweet corn, pineapples, mango, frozen sweet peas, asparagus, kiwi, banana, cabbage, broccoli and eggplant.

Q. I am avoiding soy in my diet since I have been diagnosed with breast cancer. What do you think?

Dr. P: I remind everyone that soy is NOT an estrogen. Hormones are not found in plants. What is found in plants are phytoestrogens which are plant molecules that are similar in shape to estrogens found in the human body but are 400 times weaker. These phytoestrogens block estrogen receptors in humans creating a balancing effect. My big concern with soy is that it is modified genetically and that people can develop allergies to it because it is everywhere in the food industry. Make sure the soy is organic and consume it in moderation. Traditionally in China soy was consumed only in the fermented form such as tofu and tempeh so consider these forms rather than soy milk and soy burgers.

Next time someone scares you away from natural medicines quoting some research ask them to show you the research. You may then have to get very good at reading how the research was done but then that is my job!

These are all tough questions and when my patients ask me it makes me do my homework too, which is always a good thing.