In our household, a cup of hot milky tea has long been the answer to life’s setbacks, big and small; the boy who didn’t call, the assignment that bombed… or the words from your doctor you hoped you’d never hear.
When the air is thick with anxiety and fear, the best way to fill the silence is to fill the kettle; it was the first thing Mum did when she returned from the hospital following her hysterectomy.
So, although it sounds ridiculous to those who long ago exchanged lattes for espressos and who have always eschewed butter for olive oil, giving up dairy was one of the hardest things Mum has ever had to do.
Aside from her milky tea addiction she’s also eaten yoghurts or kefir almost daily, cooked with cream and cheese (her Moussaka is legendary) and always had a generous helping of parmesan on her pasta.
But no more.
After her diagnosis three different experts urged Mum to give up dairy – and after some consideration she completely cut it out.
So why is dairy so bad for cancer?
I’ll let Professor Jane Plant answer that one.
Professor Plant is one of the world’s leading geochemists and best-selling author of Your Life in Your Hands. The book documents her recovery from breast cancer, which she attributes to giving dairy the heave-ho.
Plant was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987. Despite a radical mastectomy, 35 radiotherapy treatments and five irradiations of her ovaries the cancer came back – 5 times.
The final time, when a malignant lump appeared on her neck, the doctors told her there was little they could do.
‘I was so upset, I asked them to just give me an injection and put me down,’ said Plant when I spoke to her a few days ago. ‘Positive thinking wasn’t there at all… but then I heard my son asking for me and that sort of made me get my act together.’
Plant started chemotherapy, which the doctors believed would give her three to six months of life. She used every minute of that time to get to the bottom of why she had cancer.
Her mind flashed back to an image of global cancer mortality rates she’d previously studied and she wondered ‘Why don’t Chinese Women get Breast Cancer?’
According to 2008 figures (which you can view here) the incidence of breast cancer for women in China is 21.6 for every 100,000, in America the rate is 76, in Australia it’s 84.8 and, shockingly, in France it’s 99.7.
Plant knew these differences weren’t genetic, since migrational studies demonstrate that when Chinese or Japanese people move to the West, the rates of breast (and prostate) cancer go up.
‘In China they call breast cancer ‘Rich Women’s Disease’ and when you asked the people what that meant they said it was, ‘people who eat Hong Kong food’ – in other words ‘western food,’ said Plant.
Plant recalled catering for a dinner party in the eighties, at which a group of Chinese scientists all politely refused desert – after learning that it contained ice-cream.
Suddenly the crucial difference dawned on her.
The proof is in the pudding
Plant’s first chemotherapy sessions produced no effect – her malignant lump was still the same size.
But within days of giving up dairy her lump started to shrink – and within weeks it disappeared. Her cancer, deemed incurable, has not returned.
After decades of research Plant now knows why dairy products are such bad news for hormonal cancers.
Mostly, it’s due to the huge amount of hormones and growth factors they contain – more specifically, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1).
IGF-1 naturally circulates in the human blood. During puberty, IGF-1 stimulates the growth of breasts and it’s also present in human breast milk – it’s part of nature’s formula to ensure the growth of a newborn.
IFG-1 is also in cow’s milk, but in much higher levels.
In Your Life in Your Hands, Plant wonders:
‘ What happens if the chemicals designed to stimulate cell growth in newly-born animals send similar signals to adult tissue?’
In 1998 an American and Canadian research team found that among premenopausal women, those with the highest IGF-1 concentration in their blood had almost three times the risk of developing breast cancer – among women younger than 50, the risk was increased seven times.
Interestingly one of the ways in which the breast cancer drug Tamoxifen is thought to work is by reducing circulating IGF-1 levels
It’s a shame that taking it comes with an increased risk of uterine cancer.
Then there’s prostate cancer.
Numerous studies, in peer-reviewed journals, have now shown that increased levels of IGF-1 are a strong predictor of prostate cancer.
And bad news for yoghurt lovers – back in 1989 Harvard Researchers discovered it was implicated in ovarian cancer.
Of course there are other reasons modern dairy is a massive health concern.
According to the PETA website, the majority of cows raised by the dairy industry are intensely confined and ‘treated like milk-producing machines and are genetically manipulated and pumped full of antibiotics and hormones that cause them to produce more milk.’
In Israel public disapproval of some of the more nasty contaminants in milk led to the banning of certain pesticides and herbicides used on dairy cows in 1978.
The result?
Breast cancer deaths in Israel plummeted between 1978-1986. You can read about it here.
The Plant Programme
Since her recovery Plant has devised a diet to prevent and overcome hormonal cancers such as breast and prostate cancer. She has prescribed the programme to 63 women with breast cancer, all of whom are now cancer free.
One thing Plant encourages above all else, is to swap dairy for soya products which are packed with phytoestrogens (but, but..! I can hear some of you screaming. Don’t worry, we’ll get to that).
So how do phytoestrogens protect us from cancer?
‘Plant oestrogens are about a thousandth the ‘oestrogenicity’ of animal hormones. They have a high binding capacity, so they bind onto breast tissue and protect you from animal oestrogen. Some herbalists will tell you these plant oestrogens work rather like Tamoxifen.’
Plant has a gift for making the most complex scientific concepts easy to understand and I’d urge anyone wanting to take responsibility for their health to read her book, which is both personal and thoroughly researched.
I’ve learnt so much from Your Life in Your Hands – for instance that brazil nuts can contain a radioactive substance (who knew!) But one subject I have to disagree with Plant on, is soy milk.
Good Soy, Bad Soy
For centuries the Chinese and Japanese have produced their soy products – like tempeh, natto and miso– through natural fermentation processes.
These FERMENTED soy products can lower cholesterol, alkalinize the blood and produce anti-carcinogenic activity.
Natto, in particular, is known as a potent blood thinner.
Soy milk, however, is not fermented. In fact, it’s usually ‘Franken-soy’ we’re eating according to Dr Al Sears. In other words, it usually comes from Genetically Modified Monsanto soy beans (a whole other story).
Modern research has also suggested that non-fermented soy can depress thyroid function, cause reproductive problems (in men and women) increase heart disease and cancer risk and loss of libido.
The soy in processed food has also often been cooked in a petroleum-based hexane solvent, bleached and ‘deodorized’ ( to remove the solvent and soy’s ghastly smell).
Thinking twice about your soy latte?
The Alternative
Oat milk is not a bad option, since it contains literally oats, water and celtic sea salt – and tastes quite nice on cereal.
Mum has finally got used to drinking oolong tea ( a combination of black and green), she now makes mash with olive oil and cooks a lot more Asian than Italian food.
But she still buys unpasteurized milk for the rest of the family.
If you’re clued-up on Weston Price you’ll know that primitive cultures around the world – like the African Maasai tribes – have long been aware of the immune boosting benefits of drinking raw milk. It contains disease-fighting antibodies and fat-soluble vitamins A, D and E that pasteurization alters by up to 66%. It also contains important precursors to glutathione.
Despite mountains of evidence proving the enormous benefits of raw milk, Plant believes unpasteurized milk is still a hazhard for cancer patients, due to the insulin like growth factors it contains.
I’m no expert, so I’ll let you make your own mind up about that.
In our family we’re currently experimenting with different degrees of ‘lactose-free.’
Mum has completely given it up, as has my brother; I still occasionally have a dash of raw milk in my coffee and my sister has given up butter, her morning latte (she’s now starving at lunch time) and, with great pain, parmesan… sort of:
‘ Now I just cook with the parmesan rind – does that count?’ she said the other day.
Being too puritanical is probably also carcinogenic.
For comments click here
Thanks for your info on milk. I was bought up on unpasteurised milk as we had 2 cows.
My kinesiologist Denise has said to give up all dairy as it is not good for you.
I can do without my coffee and have herbal tea instead but I love cheese and yoghurt…
Rose
Love reading your updates – they are very well set out and full of info with all the relevant facts and links.
I have been off dairy for about 30 years. Most people are affected by dairy in some way but either don’t realise it or are willing to live with the symptoms. For me, it was itchy eyes, phlegmy chest and runny nose to the extent where I had to carry a large box of tissue with me ALL the time (kind of like a second handbag!) Once I stopped dairy and got it out of my system I ditched the tissues. On the odd occasion that I have ice cream (I’m human) I know I’ll have to suffer the consequences…..
Keep up the good work informing people about health.
Thanks for the article, Laura. It touches on one of my dilemas. I’ve heard it so many times: dairy is no food for grown-up people. But then there is also the Budwig diet, where it is adviced to eat 1 cup of quark mixed with 6 tablespoons of flaxseedoil everyday, to flood cells with electron rich foods. Other dairy foods are not recommended in the diet. I have taken on having this mixture for my smoko and it’s such a treat to eat something else then veggies. But in the back of my mind the no-dairy tapes still plays.
Do you have any comments on this.
Thanks for all your fantastic work, very much valued and appreciated.
Eka
Hi Eka – thanks for your feedback. I was wondering when someone was going to mention the Budwig diet! It’s so confusing isn’t it. Mum was following the Budwig protocol for a few months but has now stopped. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence about the awesome benefits of the the diet… but also a lot of conflicting evidence about Flaxseed oil and cottage cheese. I’m certainly no expert on the subject, and I think, ultimately, it comes down to whether it makes your body feel good and, in the case of cancer, whether you’re seeing results. Would anyone else care to weigh in on this subject?
Thanks for raising, and answering, questions on your blog that seem to meet me where I am on any given week. I have long not included dairy in my diet- though milk chocolate is a caveat to that. But it’s the controversy surrounding soy that has confused me to the point where i just get stuck sometimes. It seems like a no-brainer that milk which is designed to make calves grow big, with all manner of chemicals thrown into the mix just cannot ever be regarded as a healthy food. Regarding soy milk, my naturopath recommends the ‘Bonsoy’ brand as being healthful, and says that organic tempeh and tofu, which are generally made from non-g.m.o. beans are all good.
First, I would like to thank you and your family for going thru this experience with your mother and sharing it with the world. I lost my mother in May to cancer and my time to research and learn how to help her was very limited. I know now chemo and radiation should not have even been options for her, yet these were the only ones offered. Your website is addressing so many things that are extremely important in cancer treatment and recovery. My question about milk does pertain to a few things. I do agree that milk (any product) is meant for newborns and growth. At some point we as humans are probably supposed to ween our children off of milk as a animal would its babies. Also coming from 3rd generation cancer (mom, grandmother, great grandmother) all on maternal side, do you feel there might be blood type considerations as well? In my research I have found ‘Eat Right For Your Blood Type Diet’ to be very accurate and functional to most alternative cancer diets. Which could explain why Budwig diet might work for some (B type I believe). Also, have you any reference to rice or almond milks? Or is this just defeating the purpose to be dairy free? I do not have cancer but with my family history I am aware how much my diet will influence my chances to fight and survive it in the future. Once again thank you for your amazing blog, you are saving countless lives. All my thoughts are with your mom and your family during this fight.
Dear Jenn, thank you for taking the time to read my blog and get in touch. I’m so sorry to hear about your Mum. No doubt you’re still very much grieving and my heart ( and Mum’s) really goes out to you.
Thank you for bringing up the point about blood-types. For years Mum was really interested in the idea of the blood-type-diet, but more recently she’s been reading up on metabolic typing – which is based on the strengths and weaknesses of a person’s autonomic nervous system. I’ll be writing a blog about this soon!
As for rice milk and almond milk – I had rice milk with my breakfast for years… until I realised that it was enriched with canola oil and thought better of it! A quick look at the list of ingredients on the back of the carton should tell you all you need to know – I’m sure some brands are much better than others.
Thanks again for taking the time to comment Jenn and stay in touch.
Laura, thank you and Gemma for sharing so much of your experiences and learning – i really appreciate it! I feel much more positive and empowered in my recovery after reading your posts… ! i find the language around cancer treatment to be incredibly negative and your writing is like fresh air – thank you so much.
Hi Laura,
We’ve never met but I’m your second cousin, mum came over and used your mum’s infrared sauna the other day, loved it! I just wanted to tell you how much I’m enjoying your blog (and mum too) I started reading it this week and have already read all the entries and got some friends onto it too! I think it’s really important work that you’re doing, my mum was saying the other day that when she first got sick she found it really hard to find out about alternative treatments, so I’m hoping your blog is a sign of changing times, it’s certainly very insightful. Love to you and your family and keep up the good work!
Thank you Cass! I’m so glad to hear that your Mum came around for a sauna – and it means a lot that she likes the blog, she is one very strong woman. Thank you for spreading the word! Lots of love x
Back to the coffees, my naturopath told me that the bad effects of milk are eliminated by the coffee, so a cappucino or two a day wouldn’t harm, she said. I have started to find it too milky and am enjoying my long black with a slice of lemon now, very fitting for the hot weather.
I think you are absolutely brilliant!!! Thank you for finding me on Twitter so now I can follow your journey and retweet your messages. Be Brave and Fight Like A Girl !
http://www.healincomfort.com
1:26 min overview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J0U7Ou4nAo
Cherie B. Mathews, Austin, TX
GREAT INFO there! I’ve heard of Swiss Blue Cheese (fermented from milk) doing wonders to kill cancer cells. May be it should be explored further. Cutting down on meat and milk greatly reduced my acne and now I am a vegan.
Hello, as an Immunologist with great positivesfrom patients, including myself, from I believe, the Budwig diet & also NO processed meats & NO Sugar ! & NO Dairy which I do call the NO-NO diet do agree with the above posts, personally and Scientific
Reports, the good question re: Cottage cheese is dairy and why in the Budwig, is due to the high Proton charge delivered from the exceedingly important Flaxseed oil renders it in a non Dairy state, hence it is actually good for you BUT only due to the exact mix of
Flax to Cottage cheese – scientific perspective and proof now for over 50+ years of this Diet and being or going Vegetarian also aids the cause.
I am nit aware of the Bonsoy brand of soy, but I do include a small portion of
Soy (I’ll research Bonsoy) but Vitasoy Rice does not have Csnola oil !! So brand of choice and as I’ve read always check ingrdients as they DO change not for the better always:)
Thanks for tge Blog and let’s keep us all in front of $$ power when it comes to our Health:)
I trust this has been helpful for you and others staying or getting back to the ‘Health road:)
Kind regards
Deborah W
I found all this fascinating. I had breast cancer and a mastectomy in ’03, but refused chemo, despite strong pressure from the oncology team at the Royal United Hospital in Bath. I went instead to the Bristol Cancer Help Centre, where I read Jane Plant and gave up all cow’s milk to use goat’s milk products. What is the scene re goat products and the hormones they use? Also, I like Rice Dream as a milk substitute, but is that lower in calcium? I have been amazed at how little interest the breast care and oncology teams show in self help and patient research. It’s such a pig- headed ‘doctor knows best ‘ approach, and yet you’re accused of being arrogant if you have your own ideas. I have had from 03 until 2010 free from all cancer, but an MRI scan in Nov 2010 picked up the fact I had ‘extensive metasases in my bones’, (their words), and that was why I was getting back pain. I felt for a time that I had been arrogant in refusing chemo long ago and that my days were now numbered. But right now, coming out of a spell of depression, I feel stronger and that it’s worth the fight to stay alive. The bone cancer isn’t progressing quickly and they only want to see me every six months. I feel more confident now 14 months after this devastating second diagnosis to refuse chemo again, as I agree it’s poison. We all need to believe in these harsh treatments we are being given.Thank you for you brave and truthful campaign. I am a writer and have kept diaries and personal accounts of all this battle royal I’ve had and if I can help in any way , please ask. Best wishes – Sue Le Blond, Wilts.