Phytates To “Ph”ight Cancer
A compound found in plant-based foods has been shown to be the leader in anti-cancer properties that may revolutionize cancer healing and prevention
Perhaps one of the more difficult concepts I have had to overcome in understanding Western medicine, is how they continue to refuse to put nutrition at the forefront of disease prevention and care.
As I continue my studies, I keep coming across more and more information that I know could be so useful to so many people, had they had the accessibility to such information from their doctors.
It is true that most people, especially those suffering with a particularly harsh chronic disease like cancer, diabetes, kidney disease, or heart disease, rely on advice from the people who they have grown to understand are the ones who are supposed to be helping manage their disease to the best of their capability.
And I mean, they are doing it to the best of their taught capability, but how are doctors supposed to show big picture care if they are not educated in a realm of healing that impacts our everyday lives, like nutrition.
Because is it not true that eating is something you do many times a day, every day of your life? It must be valuable to our survival in a pretty huge way then.
Luckily for us, there are trained doctors who take the time to study the components of foods, and how they act on particular diseased parts of the body to find adequate care and miraculously, sometimes a full-reversal.
Dr. Greger of nutritionfacts.org is a particular hero of mine because he has dedicated his life to studying always evolving nutrition information and studies, and then compiling the information into digestible posts and videos, all relying on the foundation of science.
What are Phytates?
Phytates, also known as phytic acids, are compounds that carry a considerable amount of powerful properties.
They contain a combination of antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immune-enhancing, detox, differentiation (ability to return cancer cells to normal cells), and anti-angiogenesis (blocks nutrients and blood vessels from tumors) properties.
Their anti-cancer properties are the most impressive. It is difficult to find a single compound that carries so many cancer-fighting abilities.
Where Can we Find Phytates?
Phytate is a compound found in beans, grains, nuts and seeds.
The average daily intake of phytate in vegetarian diets is about twice that of those eating mixed diets of plant and animal foods, which may help explain their low cancer rates.
The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) completed a forensic investigation involving 500,000 studies.
Nine research teams hailing from around the world came to a consensus report that was then reviewed by twenty of the top cancer researchers on the planet.
One of their cancer-prevention recommendations was: eat legumes (all varieties of beans, split peas, chickpeas and lentils) with every meal or 3 servings per day.
Sadly, beans, nuts, and seeds are some of the foods least eaten by the standard American.
Most Americans don’t get phytates in their diet, but if they do it is through the occasional grain that is processed, not whole.
How Do Phytates Fight Cancer?
The measure of a good anti-cancer agent is how well it fights cancer cells, while leaving normal cells alone.
In vitro (in a petri dish), dietary phytates demonstrated this capability. They were shown to inhibit the growth of several different cancer cells including those of leukemia, colon cancer, breast cancer, voice-box cancer, cervical cancer, prostate cancer, liver tumors, pancreatic, melanoma, and muscle cancers.
Dietary phytates are quickly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract and rapidly taken up by cancer cells throughout the body. They are like cancer cells favorite snack that they can’t wait to get their hands on yet, not knowing it is their demise in disguise.
Using all their amazing properties detailed prior, phytate appears to affect all the principal pathways of malignancy.
Phytates can also support our immune functions.
They enhance natural killer cell activity, the cells in our body that hunt down and dispose of cancer cells.
They starve tumors by blocking angio-genesis, thereby stopping the formation of new blood vessels that feed the tumors while also disrupting current capillaries.
What is an Anti-Nutrient?
Upon your first google search, you may find phytate labeled as an anti-nutrient, and something you should be mindful of consuming.
Anti-nutrients are simply compounds that have been shown to potentially block or interfere with how your body absorbs other nutrients.
The claim is that they may decrease the absorption of nutrients in the body, however, you would have to consume anti-nutrients in incomprehensibly high volumes to suffer any of the blocking properties.
They are like cancer cells favorite snack that they can’t wait to get their hands on yet, not knowing it is their demise in disguise.
Therefore, the influence of cancer preventing and reducing that phytates bring to the table heavily outweigh any other conversation about anti-nutrients.
Other Diseases They Help:
Aside from helping to prevent cancer, dietary phytate has been reported to help prevent kidney stone formation, protect against diabetes mellitus, dental cavities, and heart disease.
Recipes to Introduce More Phytates in Your Life:
Consuming more whole grains and legumes is imperative to support a healing body when you have a cancer diagnosis.
Studies have made it clear that the consumption of red meat brings a higher risk of colon cancer specifically, however, the same study actually indicated a higher risk for those who consumed chicken and fish.
Living a plant-based diet allows you to still eat the foods you desire, just at a much smaller rate than you are now. Perhaps, you start with a Meatless Monday and move that up until you are eating mostly vegan 4-5 days a week.
That small change will impact your health, and allow your body to fight disease the way it knows how, using compounds the Earth has given us.
Here are some amazing recipes to incorporate in your diet that are high in phytates.