Sandhya Raghavan
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Written By: Sandhya Raghavan | Published : October 16, 2017 1:28 PM IST
There are enough reasons to distance ourselves from the highly-processed western diets with its unhealthy dependence on sugar, white flour and meat. When it comes to food wisdom, the Orient was light-years ahead of the Occident. Asian diet has been primarily comprised of healthy ingredients that have been known to fight cancer like turmeric, cumin and fenugreek seeds. Among them are also mushrooms and green tea, two ingredients that are prized for their many therapeutic benefits, one of which is anticarcinogenic activity.
Mushrooms
For centuries, the ancient eastern system of medicine has used mushrooms for their therapeutic qualities. And if you love mushrooms, there's more delicious news to sink your teeth into. Your favourite fungi may have some amazing breast cancer-fighting benefits. Mushrooms are also used to complement chemotherapy and radiation therapy since they ameliorate the side effects of cancer such as nausea, bone marrow suppression, anaemia and reduced resistance. Of late, there are a lot of studies that prove mushrooms are replete with active compounds such as lentinan, krestin, hispolon, lectin, calcein, and polysaccharides A and B.1
A study says that oestrogen, the female hormone responsible for the development of breast cancer can be brought down by compounds such as flavones and isoflavones in white button mushrooms. These compounds inhibit aromatase activity and stop the proliferation of breast cancer cells.2
Green tea
Lately, green tea is all the rage in the weight loss industry, valued mostly for its metabolism-boosting effects. But the benefits don't stop there. In 1997, scientists observed that green tea had a preventive effect on breast cancer among Japanese women, especially those who drank more than ten cups a day.3 Another study showed that drinking five or more cups of green tea in a day may prevent breast cancer recurrence in stage 2 and stage 3 cancers.4
In 2009, a group of scientists observed around 1009 Chinese women between the ages 20-87 with histologically confirmed breast cancer. They found that the women who consumed mushrooms and green tea daily had a reduced risk (by 89 percent!) of breast cancer.5 That's indeed a big difference. By simply adding green tea and mushroom to the diet, both of which are widely available in India, women can significantly bring down the risk of cancer.
Mushrooms can be had steamed or sauteed. It can also be used to replace meat in curries thanks to its flavour and texture. But never eat it raw. Here are eight ways in which you can include mushrooms in your diet. Also read how you can cook the mushrooms correctly.
Green tea can be freshly brewed and had throughout the day, but in limits since it can have certain adverse effects. Although the studies indicate that around 5-10 cups should be had per day, you can stick to around three cups a day. That way, you can reap its benefits without the tea interfering with iron absorption.
References:
1. Patel, S., & Goyal, A. (2012). Recent developments in mushrooms as anti-cancer therapeutics: a review. 3 Biotech, 2(1), 1 15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13205-011-0036-2
2.Grube, B. J., Eng, E. T., Kao, Y. C., Kwon, A., & Chen, S. (2001). White button mushroom phytochemicals inhibit aromatase activity and breast cancer cell proliferation. The Journal of nutrition, 131(12), 3288-3293.
3.Li, M.-J., Yin, Y.-C., Wang, J., & Jiang, Y.-F. (2014). Green tea compounds in breast cancer prevention and treatment. World Journal of Clinical Oncology, 5(3), 520 528. https://doi.org/10.5306/wjco.v5.i3.520
4.Seely, D., Mills, E. J., Wu, P., Verma, S., & Guyatt, G. H. (2005). The effects of green tea consumption on incidence of breast cancer and recurrence of breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Integrative cancer therapies, 4(2), 144-155.
Chicago
5.Zhang, M., Huang, J., Xie, X., & Holman, C. A. J. (2009). Dietary intakes of mushrooms and green tea combine to reduce the risk of breast cancer in Chinese women. International journal of cancer, 124(6), 1404-1408.
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