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 2004
John McDougall
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PO Box 14039,
Santa Rosa, CA
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High Carb Diet Linked
to Breast Cancer – More Deceit
Friday’s (August 6,
2004) newspapers worldwide scared some people into
believing there is further reason to follow the low-carb
diet craze, with headlines like, “High carb diet
linked to breast cancer – Study finds Mexican women
who ate lots of carbohydrates twice as likely to get
disease” (San Francisco Chronicle).
According to this newspaper article, these women
from Mexico City were getting their main
carbohydrates from tortillas, soft drinks, and
bread. You might think it is time to change your
diet – as far away from what McDougall recommends as
possible. Now is not the time for people to make
the switch to Atkins or South Beach to save their
breasts, but rather now is the time to sort out the
undeniable truth.
Confusion has been
created – and I believe willfully so by reporters
and researchers – by lumping highly processed
foods, like sugars and refined flours, and natural
carbohydrates, like starches (corn tortillas),
vegetables and fruits, together. The only excuse
for such obviously irresponsible reporting is that
sensational headlines justifying people’s bad habits
sell newspapers and flatter the egos of researchers
by providing them a moment in the spotlight.
The truth, as mentioned
much later in the article, is that the
cancer-producing diet is one high in sodas and
desserts, and lacking in insoluble fiber from whole
grains, fruits and vegetables.
What the Study
Actually Says
The study published in
the August 2004 issue of the journal Cancer
Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention clearly
reported more breast cancer in women who ate more
calories, protein, total carbohydrates, sucrose, and
fructose.1 Sucrose is table sugar and
fructose is the primary sugar found in soft drinks
(sodas); usually reported as high fructose corn
syrup. Eating more fiber and starch (often
referred to as complex carbohydrates), both only
found in plant foods, meant less breast cancer
according to the study.
The explanation for
carbohydrates increasing breast cancer rates was
that an increase in dietary carbohydrate raises
blood sugar and insulin levels. This results in an
elevation of Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1),
which raises the risk of cancer. IGF-1 does play an
important role in cancer, however, research shows
this growth-stimulating hormone is increased in our
diets primarily by animal proteins,2 and
especially those derived from dairy products.3
My guess is these important facts were overlooked
because this information did not fit into the
authors’ pet theory.
Regardless, what is
clear is that the diet of Hispanics in Mexico and
the USA has progressively deteriorated over the past
50 years, and as a result, their rates of obesity,
type-2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer of the
breast, colon, and prostate have increased as
expected.4,5 If you have been to a major
city anywhere in Mexico, or Central or South
America, like Mexico City, then you know what I am
talking about. There is a fast-food restaurant on
every corner; the supermarket shelves are lined with
greasy corn and potato chips, and other “junk”
carbohydrates; and meat and dairy products are
coveted by people wanting to share in the American
dream.
Women Following the
Traditional Mexican Diet Have Much Less Breast
Cancer
The truth about the diet
of women of Mexican ancestry and breast cancer is
summed up in an article from the New York Academy
of Science6, “…the age-adjusted rate
of breast cancer in countries such as Mexico is
among the lowest in the world. In addition, although
one of the fastest-growing minority groups in the
United States, Hispanic women living in this country
have been shown to have the lowest incidence of the
mortality rates from this disease across most
geographic regions of the United States. Therefore,
one might speculate that dietary factors, which have
been shown to play a role in breast cancer
prevention, may account for this difference. It is
well recognized that the traditional Hispanic diet
is rich in protective nutrients such as dietary
fiber. It is known that through complex mechanisms,
dietary fiber works to reduce the amount of
estrogens in the body.”
The traditional Mexican
diet has been one of corn (tortillas), beans, fruits
and vegetables. This kind of eating is associated
with very low rates of breast cancer and all other
diseases common to people living in Western
societies.7 There are many qualities of
traditional plant-based foods that prevent diseases,
qualities that include their dietary starch, fiber,
vitamins, minerals, and other phyto-nutrients. On
the other hand, animal-based, and highly-processed,
foods encourage cancer growth because they lack
these plant-food ingredients and are high in
cholesterol, fat, protein, and environmental
chemicals.8
Breast cancer in Mexico
is on the rise, affecting younger women with more
frequency for one obvious reason. The younger
generations are targeted by, and most easily fall
prey to, the marketing efforts of the food
industries. Articles like this one that appear in
our press serve to confuse people and further
compound our worldwide health problems. Newspaper
reporters who write this nonsense, and researchers
that allow this dishonesty to go on uncorrected,
should be ashamed of themselves, and may someday be
held accountable for the human suffering caused by
twisting the truth.
References:
1)
Isabelle Romieu, Eduardo Lazcano-Ponce,
Luisa Maria Sanchez-Zamorano, Walter Willett, and
Mauricio Hernandez-Avila
Carbohydrates and
the Risk of Breast Cancer among Mexican Women
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2004 13:
1283-1289.
2) Yu H. Role of the
insulin-like growth factor family in cancer
development and progression. J Natl Cancer Inst.
2000 Sep 20;92(18):1472-89.
3) Holmes MD. Dietary
correlates of plasma insulin-like growth factor I
and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3
concentrations. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev.
2002 Sep;11(9):852-61.
4) Jimenez-Cruz A,
Bacardi-Gascon M, Turnbull WH, Rosales-Garay P,
Severino-Lugo I. A flexible, low-glycemic index
mexican-style diet in overweight and obese subjects
with type 2 diabetes improves metabolic parameters
during a 6-week treatment period. Diabetes Care.
2003 Jul;26(7):1967-70.
5) Rivera JA, Barquera
S, Campirano F, Campos I, Safdie M, Tovar V.
Epidemiological and nutritional transition in
Mexico: rapid increase of non-communicable chronic
diseases and obesity. Public Health Nutr.
2002 Feb;5(1A):113-22.
6) Jones LA, Gonzalez
R, Pillow PC, Gomez-Garza SA, Foreman CJ, Chilton
JA, Linares A, Yick J, Badrei M, Hajek RA.. Dietary
fiber, Hispanics, and breast cancer risk? Ann N
Y Acad Sci. 1997 Dec 26;837:524-36.
7) Malin AS, Qi D, Shu
XO, Gao YT, Friedmann JM, Jin F, Zheng W. Intake of
fruits, vegetables and selected micronutrients in
relation to the risk of breast cancer. Int J
Cancer. 2003 Jun 20;105(3):413-8.
8) Kushi L, Giovannucci
E. Dietary fat and cancer. Am J Med. 2002
Dec 30;113 Suppl 9B:63S-70S. Review.
9) Romieu I,
Hernandez-Avila M, Lazcano-Ponce E, Weber JP,
Dewailly E. Breast cancer, lactation history, and
serum organochlorines. Am J Epidemiol. 2000
Aug 15;152(4):363-70. |
