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Beer and Wine Fight Cancer

Two foods and four drinks that fight cancer

By Dean GeePublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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Beer and Wine Fight Cancer
Photo by Dan Gold on Unsplash

We have long known that food is medicine and we should look at it this way. It’s really obvious when you think about it, our bodies are designed for nourishment through eating. The first task of food is to keep us alive and well, but in the modern world, we have prioritised the enjoyment factor and taste and ‘gut fill’ or satiety over nourishment.

But groundbreaking research is shining a brighter light on the powerful active compounds within foods, polyphenols and bioactive compounds that can protect us against disease. Prevention is always better than cure.

One particular area that is receiving quite a lot of attention is studies on the formation of new blood vessels, particularly when thinking about cancers and tumours.

If we can starve the tumours of blood supply, we cut off their nutrition, and they die. But we also need new blood vessels that don’t feed the tumours to remain healthy. The important factor here is balance. The balance needs to be right. We require healthy blood vessels to nourish healthy cells and not to nourish tumour cells.

The foods listed below are the best for keeping blood vessel creation in balance, based on scientific studies.

Good news is that the first food is coffee. The polyphenols within coffee have the effect of altering the DNA of the tumours. They alter the DNA of the tumours to suppress the growth of the tumour. Chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid are the two polyphenols have this powerful effect. I have written about chlorogenic acid in a separate article. Caffeic acid and chlorogenic acid are a tag team that destroy the DNA of the tumours.

See link below to coffee anticancer effects.

But wait! What about me! Cries green tea, green with envy from the corner of the room. Green tea has a similar effect to coffee, with the bio-actives working to suppress tumour growth but also has the benefit of protecting our DNA from damage. When making green tea, it is better to swirl the tea bag around in the cup rather than just leave it in there, and better to let it steep a little longer for a greater antioxidant effect. Some studies in a lab showed matcha green tea fights to destroy the stem cells of the cancer, this is promising for future research.

From another corner of the room we hear a protest from soy protein, who also wishes to join the party, having shown itself to be a powerful nutrient that fights breast cancer, don’t forget to get some soy protein ladies. Soy acts similarly to coffee, by stimulating a tumour suppressor gene.

Well, green tea may have been green with envy, but the tomatoes over here are red with anger. Anger towards cancer cells. Tomatoes have within them lycopene, a powerful active that is enhanced by cooking them and doing so in olive oil. This will increase their lycopene potency. Lycopene has a powerful effect on suppressing tumour blood vessel growth.

Now for the more fun beverages. Red wine has many bioactive compounds that assist with fighting cancer and even heart disease. The best known one is resveratrol. Red wine also contains quercetin and caffeic acid. Quercetin also has some antiviral properties. The problem is that red wine contains alcohol, which is detrimental to health, so as is the golden rule, everything in moderation. The best wines for powerful antioxidant effects are red, Cabernet Sauvignon, amongst them.

Beer does not to be outdone by wine, what they have found is that the hops in beer contains a special compound, which helps to fight kidney cancer, once again, beer usually contains alcohol, so moderation is the key and the recommended consumption is five beers per week.

Some simple everyday foods and beverages that have a profound effect on our health. Thank you for reading.

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5547974/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33027981/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-62136-2

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5372864/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25526570/

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About the Creator

Dean Gee

Inquisitive Questioner, Creative Ideas person. Marketing Director. I love to write about life and nutrition, and navigating the corporate world.

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