Are Your Habits Giving You Cancer?

Angiogenesis is the process through which new blood vessels form from pre-existing vessels, feeding cells with oxygen, nutrients and also removing waste products.

Under normal conditions, angiogenesis is fundamental to good cell health. But when it comes to cancer, angiogenesis becomes the villain, helping the growth and spread of cancer cells.

Numerous studies have found that you daily habits can contribute to the formation, growth and spread of cancer. In one such study, researchers at Mass General Hospital and The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health studied 130,000 patients and determined that 50% of all cancers are preventable – caused by unhealthy habits.

We pick up most of our habits from our parents, family and our environment, according to the latest research.

In a Brown University Study in which 50,000 families participated, the researchers found that most of your lifelong habits are forged by the age of 9.

In another study, Nicolas Christakis, head researcher at Yale University, found that habits spread like a virus thorough your social networks. Your social network includes your home, school, neighborhood, workplace, gym, etc.

Since we pick up many of our eating habits from our parents, family and our environment, our diet can either inhibit or stimulate angiogenesis, making cancer, in part, a habit-driven disease.

Thus, one of the keys to minimizing cancer is to forge healthy eating habits that inhibit angiogenesis or add antioxidants to your diet, which helps prevent cancer.

In general, processed foods stimulate angiogenesis. Processed foods are essentially most of the foods that you find up and down the aisles in supermarkets.

Healthy, organic, whole foods inhibit angiogenesis and are packed with antioxidants. These can be found in the perimeter of your supermarket, outside and around most of the aisles.

Specifically, which foods inhibit angiogenesis and help prevent cancer?

• Tomatoes contain Lycopene, a substance that inhibits angiogenesis. The concentration of lycopene increases by cooking tomatoes.
• Red Wine contains Resveratrol, an antioxidant that kills bacteria, viruses and fungi. It also increases energy production within each cell, preventing damage and stimulating repair functions within the cells. Pinot Noir and Bordeaux contain larger concentrations of resveratrol.
• Blueberries/Rasberries decrease oxidative stress within each cell, inhibiting angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis, the lymphatic form of angiogenesis.
• Dark Chocolate contains polyphenols and flavanols, antioxidants which inhibit angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis.
• Coffee and Green Tea are loaded with antioxidants which help clean and maintain cell health.
• Other foods which act as inhibitors include: oranges, grapefruit, lemons; apples, pineapples, soy beans, kale and bok choy, garlic and olive oil.

Most people don’t think about their habits until they have to. Heart attacks, diabetes, strokes and diseases like cancer, force their victims to confront and change their habits. Don’t wait. Forge healthy eating habits now, before it’s too late.

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