Your body has been hiding something from you.
Underneath the calm fa??ade, there is a war raging between your normal cells and the renegade cells called \free radicals.""
Lining every gland and organ, you have roughly 30 trillion cells on your side. However, there are some unstable bad guys, these free radicals, on the other side of the battlefield. Excessive amounts of sunlight, tobacco smoke, alcohol or fat can fuel these monsters to invade the body.
When unleashed, free radicals will attack a cell, leaving it dead or severely wounded. If the cell becomes mutated, it can grow uncontrollably and develop a cancer within your body.
However, you can reduce the threat of cancer early in life by eating healthy foods whose nutrients help defeat the free radicals.
Like historians recounting a battle, scientists in several departments at UW-Madison are working to find out what compounds within foods make them more nutritious-and better at fighting cancer-than others.
Irwin Goldman, a UW-Madison horticulture professor, is studying the relationship between food and health and how it applies to humans. In his most successful experiments, Goldman examined garlic and onions to find out why they contain sulfur compounds and how these compounds can help us. In 2001, Goldman and his team of researchers confirmed that these compounds work well and that low doses of raw onions are potent blood thinners that help fight cardiovascular disease. Three years later, Goldman continues to study onions along with beets and carrots.
Flavonoids, naturally occurring compounds in plants, are another of the many compounds researched for their medicinal value. Jess Reed, a UW-Madison animal science professor, researches how eating more foods rich in flavonoids, like cranberries and grapes, may lower levels of bad cholesterol. After feeding pigs with high-cholesterol cranberry juice powder rich in flavonoids, Reed found the pigs' levels of bad cholesterol had dropped.
Despite this finding, the diversity of flavonoids in foods and the difficulty of isolating them leads to a quandary for Reed in devising testable experiments.
""We have to recognize that these problems are not simple, and do not lie with any one compound,"" Reed said.
John Folts, professor of nutritional sciences and medicine, does similar research on the health benefits of red wine and grape juice, flavonoids and other phytochemicals.
Kirk Parkin, a UW-Madison food scientist, studies antioxidants within vegetables and has also studied the cancer-protective pigments of beets with Goldman.
""I believe there will be the opportunity to use diet to help manage [cancer] risks,"" Parkin said. ""The lack of information as to which dietary compounds are most effective at helping reduce these risks is a major reason why we are committed to doing the work we do.""
Pete Anderson, a UW-Madison lecturer in nutritional sciences, is hopeful about research that is being done both in his department and across campus. If Anderson had one thing to suggest to the students in his introductory nutrition class, it would be eating more fruits and vegetables.
""It's hard to say exactly why they're so good for you, whether it is because they're low in fat or high in fiber, phytochemicals and antioxidants,"" Anderson said. ""You can say for sure that fruits and vegetables will prevent cancer.""
Donna Weihofen, a nutritionist at the UW Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, agrees with Anderson's suggestion. She suggests the more colorful the fruits and vegetables, the more antioxidants they contain. Some examples include strawberries and blueberries. Antioxidants also extend to whole grains, another recommendation Weihofen had for students.
""Eat more whole grains and somehow, develop a taste for it now,"" she said.
For example, Weihofen suggests that if you're going to have a party, replace chips with whole grain crackers. And for those parties, keep in mind red wines and dark beers are also rich in antioxidants.
Weihofen uses the phrase ""Cancer Food Fight"" when describing what people can do to reduce the risks of cancer. Each letter of the phrase stand for a different recommendation. For instance, its first ""C"" stands for ""Concentrate on a plant-based diet.""
On a national level, the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention has studied ""primary"" prevention for people who have never had cancer before. It has come up with three summarized suggestions pertaining to diet and obesity.
The first suggestion is the same as those from Donna Weihofen and Pete Anderson-to eat more vegetables, fruits, legumes and grains. The second is to eat less salt, red meat and refined carbohydrates like white bread. Harvard's last suggestion is to use plant oils like olive oils as added fats in your diet instead of saturated animal fats.
To help college students implement these suggestions for a healthy lifestyle, a program called ""Active for Life"" at UW-Madison started this year.
""I'm excited,"" said Kellie Caven, Active for Life's program director. ""This is the first time this program is being done at a university. Usually it's done at working sites and companies.""
The 10-week program is part of the student organization Colleges Against Cancer. Working together, participants motivate one another to dedicate themselves to a healthy lifestyle for 10 weeks and continue to earn points along the way. Each day, individuals tally up points they earn for eating vegetables and fruits, drinking water or attending Active for Life educational sessions.
""The goal of Active for Life is to raise awareness of living healthy lifestyles,"" Caven said.
About one-third of cancer deaths expected to occur in 2004 could have been prevented by living a healthy lifestyle, according to the American Cancer Society. Living a healthy lifestyle includes staying fit, maintaining a healthy weight and eating nutritiously.
By making it a habit to eat the right foods, you can equip your body with the right chemicals to help you fight off cancer risks.
Editor's Note: For more information on Active for Life or Colleges Against Cancer, contact Kellie Caven at kkcaven@wisc.edu.
