Cancer: Taking action

Dr Kristi Funk Breast cancer: facing up to a grim reality and how to fight back

On a 'normal' day cancer surgeon Dr Kristi Funk is kitted out in medical scrubs and preparing to make an incision that she knows, for most women, should never be necessary. On any other day, she goes out of her way to explain why.

Speaking at a recent Food Revolution Summit she said the medical fraternity had made good progress in the treatment of various cancers but, "there’s still a long way to go to stop people getting cancer in the first place." It’s a situation that deeply concerns her because research shows that 80 to 90 per cent of breast cancers alone “are under our control.”

Acceptance of this fact was a hard thing for many women to handle, and when she speaks out about it, she often receives kickback on social media from cancer patients.

“I get so brokenhearted when I get this backlash and I hear about it on social media or elsewhere,” she says. “Like, are you saying that I caused my cancer? How dare you. You're making this my fault? You're shaming me? I'm going through this terrible time and now you're telling me I did this to myself?

“I have to say that it does break my heart because it's not my intention at all to shame in any way. I find it actually quite the opposite, like, incredibly empowering. Would you rather it be truly up to fate and genetics? So it's like, I guess I'll just sit around for the next however long I have until it comes back and kills me.

“I think it's the most encouraging, exciting news to find out that every time you lift a fork to your mouth, every time you think or don't think, every time you exercise or don't exercise, every time you make choices in your life you can empower literally the cells inside your body with anticancer nutrients. With decreasing inflammation. Decreasing blood vessel growth called angiogenesis which all cancers require to survive inside of you. Decreasing growth factors and free radical formation. I think that's the best news a woman with breast cancer can possibly hear - you are not defenseless against this disease.

“There is so much that I would love to show and teach you that you can be doing on a daily basis, plus or minus if you need it, the surgery, the radiation, the chemotherapy, the antiestrogen therapy. But you can be arming yourself with weapons, unleashing them on a daily, minute-to-minute basis.”

Polls show that only 23 per cent of American women are aware there are any dietary steps that can be taken that would lower their chances of developing breast cancer. And among American

"When you look at all women diagnosed with breast cancer, literally only 5–10 per cent can point to an inherited genetic mutation as the major contributor to their cancer." Kristi Funk, MD, is a board-certified breast cancer surgeon and physician, a women's health advocate, and the best-selling author of Breasts: An Owner's Manual. She practices as a breast surgeon at the Pink Lotus Breast Center in Los Angeles. She has helped thousands of women through breast cancer treatment and recovery, including well-known celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Sheryl Crow. This article was compiled from an interview conducted by John Robins of the Food Revolution Summit.

foodrevolutionsummit.org

women with less than a high school education, only three per cent are aware that what they eat has any effect on their breast cancer risk.(8) Stats like this don’t surprise Dr Funk and she’s clear where the blame belongs, “unfortunately, the physician community doesn't receive any nutritional science in all of their undergrad, medical school, or residency years. Pearls of wisdom “Then, when you emerge for the first time into your practice, you're so excited to finally do what you've been training so hard at for eons. You work hard all day; do you think you're going home to crack open some nutrition journal for pearls of wisdom you can pass on to your patients for free? Something you don't even think is there because, if they existed, someone should have told you along the way, right?” She says the outcome creates a “terrible misconception” that leads to more helplessness than need be for breast cancer patients when they talk to their medical oncologist – the doctor in charge of chemotherapy if required. “You see this doctor, especially for the first five years, every three months. Women repeatedly tell me, I asked so and so; ‘What else can I be doing?’ The answer is always — they mean it, though — is nothing. They're not hiding a secret or anything, they just genuinely are like, “Oh, honey. You did everything you were supposed to do. You just live your life. Don't worry about this cancer. We'll monitor you. You just go on living.” Another misconception Dr Funk likes to knock on the head is the

idea that genetics play a major role in breast cancer occurrence. A study found that 87 per cent of women who get breast cancer do not have a mother or a sister who has had the disease.(5) So, does this mean that genetics matter less than what most women think?

“That is exactly what it means. This isn't to minimize the impact that genetics do have when they exist. Specifically, I'm talking about inherited genetic mutations such as BRCA, CHEK2, PALB2. There are a host of approximately 19 different gene mutations that we know about currently that definitely elevate your risk substantially, such that you would increase your surveillance strategy, maybe even consider prophylactic mastectomy.

“But when you look at all women diagnosed with breast cancer, literally only 5–10 per cent can point to an inherited genetic mutation as the major contributor to their cancer. In other words, 87 per cent of women don't have a first-degree relative. I would say up to 90 per cent of all breast cancer is largely under our control through the choices that we make every single day.”

Dr Funk says research clearly shows that if a woman exercises regularly, doesn't smoke, and shifts her eating pattern towards whole food plant-based eating, her odds of getting breast cancer drop dramatically.

“They plummet. All of the science repeatedly shows at least a 50 percent drop if women espouse all of those healthy behaviors and that diet. But it's up to 90 per cent in several other studies.(6,7) And my intense research has shown again and again that diet is a far greater contributor to illness, and breast cancer specifically, than genetics or family history.

“I'm not saying gene mutations like BRCA. Literally, women have up to an 87 per cent chance of breast cancer and a 44 per cent chance of ovarian cancer with a BRCA1 mutation. Even then, though, I see the most exciting studies about soy consumption, about exercise — in BRCA mutation carriers — dramatically reducing their risk.

“It's a very pervasive, false, fixed idea in the minds of physicians, and therefore patients everywhere think that 'oh, you know, breast cancer? It doesn't really run in my family. That's not our thing, no. No. Obesity, that's our thing.' I hear that a lot. And I also hear, 'my grandmother had... Well, that was my dad's mom, so never mind. Okay, I'm not sure when that started.' But, newsflash! We are half our father's DNA. So the paternal line of family history matters just as much, equally, as the maternal line. Top five food list

Dr Funk has a top five food list she recommends to anyone with cancer or who is recovering from cancer. She places these foods on a top five list because they have the most science, in breast cancer patients specifically, to show a decrease in occurrence, recurrence, and death for high versus low consumption of: • Cruciferous vegetables • Soy • Flaxseed • Berries • Allium vegetables – onions, chives, leeks etc

She also issues a stern warning regarding the consumption of animal protein and animal fat.

“Every time you chew and swallow animal protein and animal fat you increase estrogen which fuels 80 per cent of breast cancer. You increase growth factors, in particular IGF1, insulin-like growth factor. You increase blood vessel formation to those cells, angiogenesis, the birth of new blood flow.

“All cancers requires angiogenesis to occur if they plan to grow beyond the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen. And animal products do that; angiogenesis, create inflammation, and free radical formation. Ultimately it all ends up tipping the scales of oxidative stress so that your immune system is just handicapped, and it can't get to all the cancers and disable them.

“On the flip side, you chew and swallow plants, fruits, vegetables, legumes, lentils, beans, peas, nuts, seeds - all of a sudden, it just dies because there's nothing there that it needs. That's the power of food. Let's say you have a red grape. Boom,

resveratrol is circulating through your system. Green tea has been shown to eliminate breast cancer stem cells from Petri dishes."(9,10)

She is also a big fan of consuming up to one and a quarter cups of broccoli sprouts a day. They contain sulforaphane which is also found in bok choy and cabbage.

“To me, it's just astounding that the chemicals in food have the power to eliminate this little mastermind of a cancer cell that's thought to be responsible for all recurrence of metastases in women.”

Berries also get a big thumbs up from Dr Funk.

“I put two cups of berries in my smoothies. Interestingly, frozen berries more rapidly release the polyphenol heavyweights than fresh berries. But either fresh or frozen is, fine. Berries have these antioxidant free radical scavenging powers that come from compounds like ellagic acid and anthocyanins. What they do, though, is pretty basic. In plain English, they mess with cancer cell signals. All cancer cells inside your body crosstalk with hundreds of other cells and genes, turning them on or off to suit their little individual needs in order to grow and metastasize. Berries mess with the signaling.

“They literally tell cancer, ‘you know, I think your time in this body is done now. It's time to commit suicide,’ (apoptosis). Berries also inhibit angiogenesis, which, as mentioned previously, is the birth of blood vessels that bring more blood to cancer cells so they have the nutrients they need to grow."(17) Seizing the moment

When breast cancer patients seize the moment of a frightening diagnosis to dramatically change their diet, their exercise, their alcohol consumption, etc. Dr Funk says they will often come back to her with words like:

“Hey, you know, I was doing this so I could feel empowered that I'm reducing my risk of breast cancer recurrence. But it turns out, I've lost 30 pounds. I no longer have joint pain. My rheumatoid arthritis that had me unable to open a peanut butter jar is gone. I have smoother skin, better bowel movements. My cholesterol's down … I mean, maybe its not the same woman saying all of those things, but it certainly all happens,” she says.

One area where Dr Funk has had to do major back-track however is in her beliefs around soy. For 18 years she regaled against it and now, as she puts it, has some “misinformation” to undo.

“I told every breast cancer patient to spit soy out of her mouth. I'm like, “look, it's a plant-based estrogen. Your cancer is fueled by estrogen. You think that little cancer cell is discriminating taste on where the estrogen came from, your ovary versus edamame? It doesn't care, it's getting fueled. You can't eat soy.

“I said that for 18 years. Then, I went to write my book, Breasts: The Owner's Manual, and went into the science.(1) Every single fact in my book I back with research. I have references, 60 pages of references in the back because I wanted the book to be correct. I don't want to be spreading misinformation. I wanted it to be bulletproof, because I knew bullets would fly. An embarrassing oops

“I dove into the soy research simply to back with facts everything I've been telling my patients all these years. Embarrassingly, wrong. Not just is soy safe to consume, it is on my top five list because it repeatedly and reproducibly — in tens and tens of thousands of women, with and without breast cancer — decreases the occurrence, recurrence, and death from breast cancer consistently between 20 and 65 per cent. The magic number that recurs repeatedly in human studies on soy and cancer, breast cancer, is a 32 per cent reduction."(11,12)

In her defense she says there were many studies in the 80s and 90s in particular where they grafted human breast cancer cells onto mice.

“When you feed these mice soy, the cancers grow. Boom. That's all I knew, so that was the end of my research. Soy makes breast cancers grow in mice, and why wouldn't it do it in you?

“The answer is — turns out that mice metabolize the isoflavones, those are the estrogen molecules, the plant-based estrogens like genistein and daidzein in soy — they metabolize it entirely differently than humans. Sometimes we behave like mice when we're trying to figure out what chemotherapy works and whatnot, and many times we don't. And this is a story about when we radically don't.

Mushrooms are also potent anti-cancer foods and you don’t have to buy the most expensive varieties to get the benefits they offer, Dr Funk says.

“You would think that you'd have to get all fancy with your portobellos or chanterelle mushrooms to have the anticancer power, but they contain fewer flavones and isoflavones than the little old cheapie white button. Button mushrooms carry the highest estrogen blocking abilities of all mushrooms that have been evaluated, and it inhibits aromatase.

“A daily intake of a mere 10 grams (equivalent of half of one button mushroom) dropped breast cancer rates in one study in Chinese women by 64 per cent compared to age-matched no mushroom eaters.(14) So, I absolutely would advise adding mushrooms to, say, a brown rice bowl or, another grain like farro. Put in your cruciferous vegetables, some mushrooms, and sprinkle it with chives or green onion from our allium family.”

Finally, a quick word on cancer-fighting smoothies. Drinking a smoothie is better for you because the plant fibre isn’t completely removed as with juicing. Dr Funk recommends her cancer patients enjoy them a few times each week. Drinking them slowly gives the stomach better ability to absorb their nutrients. Check out Dr Funk’s antioxidant smoothie on her Cancer Kitchen website at: pinklotus.com/smoothie