New weight loss diet that also claims to beat breast cancer

Posted in Latest Research ... October 12th, 2010

Dr Mary Flynn, a leading US dietician with over 25 years experience, has written a new book called ‘The Pink Ribbon Diet’  which aims to help women lose weight as well as beat breast cancer. As excess weight is a known risk factor for the disease, reducing weight is key to either preventing or fighting breast cancer. The diet is based primarily on the Mediterranean-style diet that emphasises wholegrains, fruit, vegetables and olive oil. Unlike the Mediterranean diet, Dr Flynn does not emphasise oily fish. Foods to restrict include meat (both red and white) and seafood, not because she believes they promote cancer, but because they crowd out other more nutritious foods, such as fruit and vegetables, from the diet. Milk, cheese, yoghurt and eggs are all permitted, as is the occasional glass of red wine, although daily caloric intake should not exceed 1500 calories. The use of good fats, particularly olive oil, is emphasised as is the reduction of Omega 6 fats (primarily from vegetable oils) due to their excessive presence in today’s diets .  Olive oil helps reduce inflammation, which is a feature of carcinogenesis, as well as assisting in the absorption of cancer fighting nutrients.

Just Nutrition viewpoint   

This is great advice from Dr Flynn as it pulls together research on a wide range of cancer-fighting nutrients to produce an easy-to-follow diet that helps beat cancer as well as lose weight. Olive oil is a great addition to the diet and should be the main cooking oil and base oil for salad dressings. Flax seed oil is also a good oil to include but should never be heated and should be stored in the fridge. It is also important to limit sources of ’bad’ fats in the diet that promote inflammation – saturated fat (meat & dairy), ‘trans’ fats (fried foods and foods baked at very high temperatures) and hydrogenated fats (some margarines, biscuits, cakes and processed deserts and sweet foods). Dr Flynn’s diet does not emphasise oily fish; instead she believes that restricting Omega 6’s is enough to get a balance of the healthy fats. I still think  oily fish is a good addition to the diet (because of the anti-inflammatory Omega 3’s) but unfortunately, due to our polluted waters, intake should be restricted to 2 servings per week. Fish oil supplements are a great alternative as they allow for a good intake of Omega 3’s but without the pollutants (these should have been removed in the manufacturing process).

Dr Flynn also highlights a very relevent point – the over-abundance of Omega 6’s in today’s diets. There is very frequent mention, rightly so, of the importance of Omega 3’s but it is worth noting that the balance between the two groups of essential fatty acids is also very important. Fifty years ago the ratio between Omega 6’s and Omega 3’s was roughly 3:1, now it is the order of 20:1. This has been caused by the relative decline of Omega 3’s in the diet coupled with the vast increase in the consumption of Omega 6’s, principally from vegetable oils such as corn, sunflower and safflower. However these vegetable oils contain polyunsaturated fatty acids which means they are easily oxidised into rancid, often highly toxic, fats. Add to this the fact that such oils are often heated to extremely high temperatures when used to deeep-fry foods then the situation becomes much worse. These fats become ‘trans’ fats which are highly toxic and often cacinonogenic. Olive oil is an Omega 9 oil and is much more stable; it does not convert into ‘trans’ fats and therefore is an ideal cooking oil.  Nuts and seeds contain a mixture of Omega 6’s and Omega 3’s and are an ideal way to consume these fatty acids in a healthy and beneficial form. The use of vegetable oils should be curtailed and, under no circumstances, should they be heated.

The work of Dr Flynn also highlights an area of research that is gaining significant attention in medical circles, namely the role of insulin and Insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF) in carcinogenesis. Insulin is a hormone released by the body in response to the consumption of carbohydrates. Highly refined carbohydrates such as white rice, bread & pasta raise the blood sugar much more quickly than complex carbohydrates that still retain the fibrous component. A high level of insulin in the blood (hyperinsulinemia) has typically been linked to metabolic syndrome, but is also now being increasingly linked to certain types of cancer, principally colorectal cancer but also to breast cancer. Dr Flynn’s diet is essentially a low Glycaemic Index (GI)  diet which may partly explain the positive impact it seems to have on both weight loss and breast cancer.