Balancing oestrogen

Pumpkin seeds

This blog gets to explore what I’m planning to do around balancing oestrogen. We know that hormones can be a driving force in many cancers - not just prostate and breast. In previous blogs I’ve covered my protocol before, during and after radiotherapy. My most recent blog is a useful intro to this blog (see here).
 
Now that my hormone injection is wearing off it feels OK to try and balance my hormones - tackling oestrogen before might have impacted on the efficacy of the treatment? I was unable to establish how true that might be but it didn’t feel right adding more of anything into the body before the chemicals have made their way out….? I’d welcome others thoughts on this.

Hormone tests

Linseeds/Flaxseeds

Back in November 2017 I did have my oestrogen measured and it was normal. I then started six months of hormones following my transurethral hyperthermia treatment so by December 2018 it was way above normal (see here). I then restarted hormones last year ahead of my radiotherapy; the impact of them is starting to get less. I am considering a further test now but am now aware that there are there different types of tests. Urine is used in research but not so common in clinical practice. Previously I used blood serum but it is argued by Nasha Winters and Jess Higgins Kelley in their book ’The Metabolic Approach to Cancer’ that that is great for some hormones but limited for hormones like oestrogen. They suggest saliva is best for evaluating oestrogen.


Ideas for my plan of action

1. Environmental Oestrogens - I touched on this in my last blog (see here) - and I have attempted to remove these from my life for many years but got much stricter after my cancer diagnosis. Nasha and Jess’ book lists some of the common ones to remove like dioxins, bisphenol-A, phthalates, papabens and more.

2. Stop eating commercial meat and dairy - I have also stopped this since diagnosis but will share in another blog more details about this. 

3. Detox - all hormones are processed by the liver so protecting and supporting the liver during an oestrogen detoxification protocol is paramount.. The latest adjustment to my protocol, a month ago, was to include a 4 week Liver Detox. There are loads of these around and I sought advice for my own situation from a naturopath; the Renew Life was recommended but I understand that the make up of it in the UK has changed and the newer version would not have been so suitable for me. However I was fortunate to find one of the last old packets on sale. In the morning the key ingredients of the capsule are dandelion root, turmeric root, artichoke leaf extract and tinospora cordifolia stem powder. In the evening they have powders of L-Methionine, N-Acetyl-Cysteine, DL-Alpha-Lipoic Acid and L-Taurine. A number of these I’ve covered previously in blog posts.

The impact of detoxing varies widely and in previous detoxs I’ve managed well with few side effects. However this time I have had a fair few headaches and feeling grotty at times. It is often hard to distinguish what is causing what. Certainly there is also an impact in terms of stress from staying and working at home and the last effects of the hormone injection that I had prior to the radiotherapy. The hot flushes have been worse and waking me several times at night again; could this also be the detox as well as the stress?

I have not managed to keep up with my four saunas each week, at times only managing once a week, however the evidence is clear that they can help. I also have not tried fasting for a host of reasons including my low body weight. While I won’t explore fasting now (despite significant benefits), I will recommit to the saunas. 

Another option to help with the detox which I was taking before is Milk Thistle (i); there are over 120 published studies in PubMed on the effects of milk thistle on the liver. However I have stopped this, as to do this alongside the Renew, would be overkill!

4. Eat healthy - key are phytoestrogens - these are weak forms of oestrogen and work the same way as human oestrogens. Nasha and Jess claim they are largely misunderstood in Western medicine and that it is the chemical oestrogens that should be avoided. If we eat a balanced diet with naturally occurring phytoestrogens our hormones will be balanced. While Chris Woollams writes about the importance of a Rainbow diet (vi). He highlights among many other useful tips that; "Pulses, beans, lentils, peas, chickpeas, green vegetables, carrots, red peppers, broccoli, cabbage and herbs all increase your phytoestrogens and protective carotenoids. In 1900 we derived 30 per cent of our protein from pulses; now it is less than 2 per cent. That is an example of how much our natural protection has declined".

Here are some of the suggestions I've come across from various sources:

- Soy - some doctors will say avoid but the evidence is much less clear and points in my mind to soy being totally possible in my plan: see my previous blog here. Update 8/07/20: See this article re soy and breast cancer: https://nutritionfacts.org/2020/07/09/what-does-drinking-soy-milk-do-to-hormone-levels/

- Cruciferous vegetables - including broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, radish and more. Studies show that DIM and indole-3-carbinol (I3C) are the active components. The highest concentrations are found in garden cress and mustard greens. I3C is released when these foods are chewed and converted to DIM by the action of the stomach acid. Interestingly fermented cruciferous veg doesn’t have the same amounts of I3C but they do have other benefits so I won’t exclude them but I can’t include them as being key in the hormone balancing plan! Indeed I eat lots of cruciferous veg, raw and sautéed daily but have also previously supplemented with the I3C (i) and am considering restarting supplementation to support the rebalancing. It is worth noting that curly kale is among the highest concentrations of lignans - more on lignans below - and also kale has the highest amount of kaempferol - another important factor for those of us living with cancer - again more on that below.

- Apples - they have calcium-D-glucarate in higher quantities than many other fruit and veg - this stuff apparently helps balance the microbiome and helps the body excrete oestrogen and environmental toxins. Smaller, green, wild crab apples are best - less sugar and more phytonutrients - but I struggle to get hold of any of those other than when the neighbours tree fruits. Indeed it is hard to get even green apples if you want organic.

- Ground flaxseeds (linseeds) - these have high concentrations of lignans and have been part of my protocol since soon after I was diagnosed. However I had not appreciated for a long time, that freshly ground flaxseeds easily oxidise, so should not be stored for longer than five hours or used in cooking. If you have to store then store in fridge. Amazingly in one study flaxseeds were shown to be just as effective as tamoxifen in reducing the reoccurrence of breast cancer and can slow the growth of breast cancer (ii). It seems ground flaxseeds lignans bind to oestrogen in the bowel and help eliminate it. They also can bind to male hormone receptors and promote the elimination of testosterone which Nasha and Jess suggest is helpful for prostate cancer prevention and management. Flax oil and whole flaxseeds do not have as much effect. See also previous blog about flaxseeds and their impact on Alpha-Linolenic Acid (iii). Suggested amounts of ground flaxseeds vary - but up to two to three tablespoons per day sounds liek what many are recommending.

- Sesame seeds - like flaxseeds they are a good source of lignan’s and have found to be just as beneficial as ground flaxseeds. They are thought to be one of our oldest foods and have been found to have many other benefits including immunoregulatory and anti carcinogenic activity. They are also prone to oxidation so keep in fridge and don’t cook at high temperatures. See more below about sesame seeds.

- Coumestans - Nasha and Jess note these ‘hormone-balancing stars’ are found in a variety of plants; highest in red clover sprouts, spinach and Brussell sprouts. Red clover is used to help with menopausal symptoms and has been shown to inhibit some cancers like ovarian but they warn that your doctor should monitor your body response. 

I have recently sprouted some red clover and also have in the past been a drinker of Sir Jason Winters tea! He does several varieties of tea that include red clover and some have suggested they could be useful for cancer. He makes no such claims. One of the tea recipe mixes has chaparral and one has sage. Well, sage is supposed to be great for those of us with hot flushes; they didn’t seem to help. I am also aware you need to take sage with care as it can interact with many drugs and is poisonous if taking too much. Having said that a friend found it very useful in a tea several times a day to help manage his flushes. Chaparral has much less research and no evidence re impact on cancer - it also needs care when taking, as among other things, it can impact with the liver and also should be taken with other herbs like uva ursi or borage. Red clover is also a key ingredient of the Essiac tea; a famous brew that I have also tried but that is for another blog. It is worth noting that it is often the synergistic effect of the herbs that makes them more potent and useful in tackling cancer.

- Flavonols - another ‘hormone-balancing star’ is found in cocoa (over 85%), onions, kale (yet again), cranberries and romaine lettuce. These dietary flavanols have been found to reduce breast and pancreatic cancer risk. It is the flavanols that include compounds like quercitin and kaempferol - these have been found to be useful - particularly kaempferol where it can be used to help reverse breast cancers resistance to some of the chemotherapy agents.

- Rosemary - a sacred plant with several anti-cancer and hormone balancing properties. It seems it can help remove oestrogen and also protect against the nasty HCAs that come from meat cooked at high temperatures - that’s why they say throw Rosemary on barbecue meat.

- Thyme - has anticancer effects and one study showed it induced significant cytotoxicity in breast cancer cells (iv). Nasha and Jess suggest a few sprigs in your warm lemon water in the mornings.

- Mushrooms - there is a lot of research around breast cancer and oestrogen so it was great to see this two minute film from Michael Gregor here (vi) when he looks at the top seven veg that has an impact on oestrogen - bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, celery, green onions, and spinach dropped aromatase activity by about 20%, but it was mushrooms that forced down the estrogen-producing enzyme more than 60% - even button mushrooms were shown to have an effect. Research since doesn’t have quite the same huge results but still strong indications that mushrooms are likely to have an impact on cancer.

Update 24 Note 2024: Latest research supports the idea that white mushrooms may help to prevent prostate cancer progression: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20241112/Study-uncovers-why-white-button-mushrooms-may-help-prevent-prostate-cancer-progression.aspx

- Nettle root - see blog post in next days on this and my visit to an intuitive herbalist - update 28/04/20: see blog re nettle root here.

- B vitamins - update 28/04/20 - it was suggested this is one key item I missed off this list; B3 for example is key in oestrogen metabolism and detoxification while B6 binds to oestrogen helping to detox excess amounts of these hormones. B1 and B2 have been shown to get rid of oestrogen in rats. However there are also some studies showing that B vitamins may play a role in the creation of oestrogen in some situations so do check it out; on balance where I am at I will do a short course of B vitamins as they are also very helpful with stress.

- Boron - update 28/04/20 - another suggestion since completing this blog is boron - I have taken this on and off since being recommended in Germany while on my hormone treatment. Apart from other benefits previously covered Boron is also necessary for the metabolism of the sex hormones testosterone and estrogen - researchers believe that boron influences estrogen receptors by allowing the body to more easily use the estrogen available.

Seed cycling

I’ve not tried this but it intrigues me...Seed cycling is basically a naturopathic remedy that aims to balance oestrogen and progesterone levels by eating flax and pumpkin seeds during the first half of the menstrual cycle and sunflower and sesame seeds during the second half. However Nasha and Jess suggest it could be useful for men too. So it would work like this:

Days 1-14 (after the new moon for men or following menstruation for women); 1 tablespoon each of ground flaxseeds and ground pumpkin each day - can add fish oil if suitable during this time.
Days 15-28; 1 tablespoon each of ground sunflower seeds and ground sesame seeds each day - can add primrose oil during this time. Sesame seeds are available with their hulls intact (unhulled) or with the shells removed (hulled). The unhulled are higher in calcium, which has been shown to reduce symptoms in the luteal phase but are high in oxalates which may not be appropriate for some people.

Sprinkle your ground seeds into oatmeal, on salads, in yogurt, or blend into smoothies. It is apparently useful to avoid the seeds you are not having ie in days 1-14 avoid sunflower and sesame seeds. However it seems there is no medical evidence (bar that on the flaxseeds) to support the impact of the seed cycling but I’ve now seen a number of claims about it being helpful (v).

Laser cut paper by Rogan Brown; imagining a microbiome

What else?

I’ve probably missed lots….clearly this is a tricky area and as always check out with your doctor and I say again this is only my thoughts based on what I have read. Do do your own research for what you need and check into your intuition (vii). Other key factors to consider include ensuring good sleep and ensuring your liver and microbiome are working well. The focus of this blog has been oestrogen; there are of course other important hormones like cortisol which needs at least one blog to itself! Melatonin is another key hormone  that also impacts on oestrogen - Chris Woollams of CancerActive writes of it:

"Importantly, it regulates our natural oestrogen and growth hormone levels, has 5 epigenetic ways of correcting cancer cells and will affect the receptor sites that oestradiol would like to jump on. Research suggests supplementation, and even top US cancer center Sloan Kettering feel it has a clear action against estrogen-driven cancers and helps relevant drugs become more effective” (vi).

I have also written about Melatonin here (viii) but at the moment it still does not feel right for me to supplement with it.

Update 16/5/22 On hormones: https://www.canceractive.com/article/the-reality-of-lowered-testosterone-and-higher-oestrogen-in-men-counters-orthodox-theories-of-prostate-cancer

Update 4/7/22: 'first direct evidence that human prostate progenitor cells are estrogen targets and that estradiol in an androgen-supported milieu is a carcinogen for human prostate epithelium': https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3100619/

Update 4/5/2026: See Canceractive on oestrogen: https://www.canceractive.com/article/10-ways-to-cut-estrogen-levels-naturally

Notes
(i)  https://myunexpectedguide.blogspot.com/2019/01/current-supplement-protocol-for.html

(ii) For example see: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15897583/
(iii) https://myunexpectedguide.blogspot.com/2019/07/another-look-at-my-ethythrocyte.html
(iv) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01635581.2012.719658

(v)  https://hormonesbalance.com/articles/how-to-use-seed-rotation-to-rebalance-your-menstrual-cycle/

(vi) https://nutritionfacts.org/video/breast-cancer-prevention-which-mushroom-is-best/ and for research see: http://meetinglibrary.asco.org/content/83362-102 and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3201963/

(vii) https://www.canceractive.com/article/oestrogen-is-a-major-driver-in-many-cancers

(viii) https://myunexpectedguide.blogspot.com/2020/02/following-my-intuition-no-to-melatonin.html

The pandemic and cancer are not stories of war

I came across this great article which so resonated with me (i). The few times I have been able to listen to the news I have heard Boris Johnson talk about us being 'at war', the 'frontline' staff and the 'army of volunteers'. None of that sat comfortably with me. Yes it makes us only too aware that the situtation is very serious but...

In the article in Open Democracy, Professor Hanna Meretoja in Finland writes: "to talk about patients “battling for their lives” risks implying that those who survive fought so hard that they made it, whilst those who fail to survive lost their battle because their fighting spirit wasn’t strong enough."

She then likens it to her own experinces of cancer, where the military metaphor is so embedded in our culture. I wrote about this very same issue a while back in my blog 'The Dangers of a Single Story' - and even made the draft of a short film with my cousin about the battle metaphors. See those here (ii).

I have found it fascinating that there is no research that says a strong fighting spirit would help us to survive either cancer or for that matter, I assume, the coronavirus. Indeed the very opposite is true; this paper by David Hauser from last August concludes that "Battle metaphors undermine cancer treatment and prevention and do not increase vigilance" (iii).

So we should not be praising those who survice the virus or cancer for winning 'a successful battle', anymore than those who die should be blamed for not fighting hard enough. When we look at the facts survival is about a host of reasons like access to treatments, our immune systems and so much more.

As, Hanna goes onto say our health workers are not soldiers; "what healthcare professionals practice is care, not war...The narrative of war is used as a legitimizing discourse. Wars inevitably have casualties. Wars require sacrifice. The narrative of war heroes is used to justify putting health workers at risk. It distracts us from structural inequalities, including the high exposure of low-paid women to the virus."

And what the heck! Where is the Personal Protective Equipment, protectiuon in care homes and proper salaries for our workers?

By focusing on the situation as a war means we miss the chance to consider the complexities - whether that is the pandemic or cancer. Here's Hanna again: "Instead of seeing the pandemic in terms of destructive and divisive narratives like the “survival of the fittest” or nations competing in the war against the virus, shouldn’t we see it as a lesson on the fragility of life? The Queen asks us “to take pride” in the British response to the crisis, but isn't this a time when humility takes us further? If we turn away from the narrative of war, we can envision how a new global awareness of mutual dependency could give rise to a stronger sense of solidarity, which may help us build a more socially - and environmentally-just world for future generations.

"The future of humankind depends on the path we decide to take, and that path largely depends on how we narrate the pandemic and the lessons to be drawn from it as we move forward. Let’s make sure these narratives hold open the possibility we now have to leave behind an unsustainable way of life and to imagine a world based on solidarity and care".

Yes the power of storytelling - it does make a difference how we talk about the pandemic or cancer.



Notes

(i) https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformation/stop-narrating-pandemic-story-war/
(ii) https://myunexpectedguide.blogspot.com/2019/01/dangers-of-single-story.html
(iii) https://psyarxiv.com/a6bvd/

Why are hormonal cancers on the rise?

Inherited or not? Artist Tamsin van Essen 'Medical Heirlooms' incl cancer

My hormones are trying to balance. The word ‘hormone’ comes from the Greek meaning 'to stir up’ - I can certainly feel the battle going on inside me as my own hormones seem to be tackling the last of the injection I had ahead of my radiotherapy. In this blog I want to look more generally at hormones then in the next blog look at what that might mean for me and trying to balance them.

Hormones are crucial to so many aspects of our lives; growth, fertility, metabolism, fertility and more. Hormone-related cancer are now among the most common cancers with prostate topping the league. And numbers are increasing all the time. Earlier this year it was announced that in 2018 there were nearly 50,000 registered cases of prostate cancer; that is around 8,000 more than in 2017. Public Health England says it is because more men are getting tested. 

I’m sure Stephen Fry, Rod Stewart and Bill Turnbull sharing their prostate cancer diagnosis have all helped to encourage men to be tested. The reason for the increase is certainly partly more tests - and this is linked to our aging population, poor early diagnosis rates and an increased incidence of the cancer returning unexpectedly. But I don't accept that is the whole picture.

Chris Woollams, founder of CANCERactive comments in response to these figures, “The NHS claimed that ‘survival rates were at a record high of 86%’ but didn’t explain what that meant at all. In fact given the record deaths in 2017 most probably came from people diagnosed in 2014 or before, it doesn’t take GCSE maths to see that at least one in four men are certainly not surviving...More treatments readily available in the USA – such as ablation, HIFU and proton beam therapy - need to become widely available too. It is quite absurd that NICE talks of surgery and radiotherapy as the only treatment options.(i)”

Why more hormonal cancers? 

Cancer Research UK say that the increases in cancer are not due to ‘deodorants', 'mobile phones’ or' plastic bottles' - they even produced a film to say that (ii). They argue it is largely our ageing population going together with “DNA Errors” that mean more cancers. Indeed the medical world today say cancer is caused by genetic mutations or just bad luck. As one person commented on the Cancer Research UK video: "If it's all to do with "AGE", then why the hell should I be smoke free, keep a healthy weight, drink less alcohol, be "sunsmart", be active and eat fruit and vegetables?"

I don’t think Cancer Research are doing themselves any favours with a video like that! It also seems extraordinary to me that they can so readily dismiss a host of factors that have surely had more than a passing impact on our health! For example one of the key offenders must be the thousands of endocrine-disrupting chemicals that have been released into the environment in the last 80 years. Extraordinarily less than 5% of those have been safety-tested. And why have women with the BRCA mutation (that can increase the risk of cancer) seen a tripling from 24% to 67% of them getting cancer by age 50 since 1940? Could this have anything to do with teh fact that that was when pesticides were introduced? 

Prostate cancer has risen between 1973 and 1991 by 126%. One doctor has claimed my own cancer was caused by aa pesticide - see my blog on that here (iii).

Another factor is that cancer rates vary in different countries. Take just one example, colon cancer; it is over 60 times lower in native Africans than in African Americans. They don’t have a genetic advantage but a dietary one.                                                                                                                              

Cancer is not a disease of the ageing population. We have seen massive rises amongst young people. Between the early 80s and 90s cancers in US children under ten rose by 37%. In the last sixteen years cancers affecting children in the US have risen by 40% with rates of secondary cancers also surging. Indeed in research paper after paper the evidence is that only 5-10% of cancers are caused by damage to DNA.  Poor diet, unhealthy lifestyles and more are key factors but that is for another blog.

Metabolic approach

Diet plays a crucial role; Russ cartoon

Nasha Winters and Jess Higgins Kelley in their book, “The Metabolic Approach to Cancer” (2017), take a different approach to cancer that is growing in popularity and also starting to infiltrate many oncologists working within our health service. Cancer is not a simple disease but a collection of different diseases and each one of us is different, not only in our bodies in terms of immune systems, microbiomes and more, but also our toxin exposure and lifestyles. They write: “Cancer is the most elusive, cunning, adaptable, intelligent, and innovative disease in history, and has been outsmarting us for a long time."

The Metabolic approach to cancer suggests that damage to a cell’s microchondria is what causes a cell to behave cancerously. So then it is about looking at what causes that failure. Well a number of things have been shown to cause cancer; certain viruses, certain bacteria like Helicobacter pylori, toxins like nicotine, radiation like Chernobyl, or traumas/chronic stress.

In the book Nasha and Jess look at different aspects of our bodies and mind to return us to balance. Food plays a key role yet, like many, when I was diagnosed my oncologist dismissed diet as not important. Yet to me understanding cancer as a metabolic disorder is what makes sense - and through epigenetics (see my blog on that here) we have the ability to heal. In their book they outline ten key areas that need attention including blood sugar balance, immune system maximisation, recalibrating stress levels and enhancing mental and emotional wellbeing. I really like the way they look at these issues although I have some challenges around some of the work like the ketogenic diet - but again that is for another blog. 

Hormones

Much of our food and many of the products we use contain synthetic hormones called xenoestrogens and can be stronger than our naturally occurring oestrogen. It was in the late 1940s sex hormones were approved for livestock production and in 1960 the birth control pill was approved and as noted above we have seen an explosion in their use. Some scientists estimate we are exposed to 200 hormone-disrupting chemicals every day. Amazingly one third of chemicals on the market breach EU safety rules (iv).

In a 2015 study with 174 scientists from 28 countries, 50 chemicals were identified that were all considered harmless at low doses but were found to be carcinogenic when combined with other ‘harmless’ chemicals. The list included triclosan in antibacterial soap, phthalates in plastics, titanium dioxide in sunscreen plus acrylamide in French fries, coffee and roasted nuts. The message was clear that chemicals not considered harmful by themselves could combine and accumulate in our bodies to trigger cancer. Chris Wark, author of “Chris Beat Cancer” quotes that study and writes: “We are swimming in a toxic soup with a risk that is impossible to calculate." It is hard to disagree.

We have also seen a tsunami of hormone-related conditions like auto-immune diseases, acne, endometriosis, infertility, one in five women having thyroid problems, over half of women having menopausal symptoms, breast development in girls as young as seven and even younger and depression. Nasha and Jess argue that both breast and prostate cancers are not simply ‘bad luck’ but rather “a direct result of the hormones in our food, especially meat and dairy products, daily exposures to synthetic hormone-disrupting chemicals found in products from water bottles to shampoo, and the use of synthetic and bio identical hormones in birth control and hormone replacement therapies.”

Crucial is oestrogen - there are over twenty different types of oestrogen and three groups of oestrogen; human oestrogen, chemical oestrogen and plant oestrogen. All cancer cells will grow in response to this hormone. However balancing hormones is not straight forward - something I discovered a while back - and indeed in most blog posts on hormones I cry out that I have not got a grip on this issue! I will make an attempt to get more of a grip and look at what I can do to help balance my hormones in the next blog. Update 25/04/20: Blog now live here.

Notes

(i) https://www.canceractive.com/article/prostate-cancer%20hits%20record%20numbers
(ii) https://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2015/02/04/why-are-cancer-rates-increasing/
(iii) https://myunexpectedguide.blogspot.com/2019/06/cause-of-my-cancer.html

(iv) https://www.greens-efa.eu/en/article/press/one-third-of-chemicals-on-the-market-breach-eu-safety-rules/

Soy: good for prostate cancer or not?

I’ve been reading a new book by Liana Werner-Gray ‘Cancer Free with Food’ that came out last year. It is an excellent overview which is easy to read with some great concepts to help us shift to more healthy nutrition. 

In particular I liked her section on upgrading your diet; about flooding the body with nutrients as we ‘upgrade’ our thought process. So a worse-case scenario might be processed foods, high-sugar, high fat….to upgrade would be an organic option while a best upgrade might be to use your own organic high-quality ingredients and make it yourself. As Liana Werner-Gray writes: “Living this way reduces guilt. Deprivation diets will only drive you crazy, leaving you feeling worse than when you started.”

However for me diet and nutrition wasn’t about incremental changes. I agreed with Chris Wark when he calls for the need for a 'Massive Action Plan’ and for me that meant going straight to the best upgrade where possible. Indeed changing diet after I was diagnosed was relatively easy - I will eventually get around to a blog on that. What has been less easy is unpicking those grey areas - we are all different so feeling into whether certain foods are good or bad for my particular metabolism and cancer is not so easy. I’ve already blogged on gluten and coffee, this blog is soy - an issue we recently discussed in our Wigwam group - and an issue that is not so straight forward.

As noted I really liked Liana’s book but a couple of bits in the book made me look again at the research. To be fair I guess it is not possible to write about food without some part of it being challenged by other research. Anyhow one of the bits that unsettled me was the repeat of the info regarding soy; one of her three tips for prostate cancer was to ‘avoid unfermented soy products like tofu and edamame, which can raise oestrogen levels…Fermented soy products like miso, natty, and tempeh are acceptable - and good sources of vitamin K2' (i).

Liana is not alone in saying no to soya if you have prostate cancer - or for that matter breast cancer - indeed the research is mixed and the facts are not so straight forward. I was at Trew Fields last year when I heard Professor Robert Thomas talking. He was clear that soya was OK for those with prostate or breast cancer. 

I have since bought the 2020 edition of Professor Thomas' book, ‘Keep Healthy after Cancer’. He writes, “After cancer, soya products, particularly the more easily digested such as fermented varieties reduce the risk of relapse and improve chances of overall survival.” He goes onto describe the science about how they impact on oestrogen, not in the way Liana suggests. He writes, “In sensible amounts, phytoestrogens in these foods attach to the oestrogen receptor (ER) but only have weak activity. They consequently dilute the effect of the body’s own oestrogen by blocking the receptor. Genistein (from soya) attaches to the ER in the same way as tamoxifen - inhibiting oestrogen effect on tumours.”

Indeed as they bind more weakly they wash through the body easily. Some experts like Professor Trevor Powles call them ’anti-oestrogens’. Pulses, like lentils, red kidney beans, chick pea and soya, and some herbs like Red Clover are great sources of phytoestrogens. Professor Thomas quotes research confirming the benefits of soya to those of us with both breast and prostate cancer. He suggests that a study that challenges this is from California; in that study he says the data has been influenced by cheap soya products, phytoestrogenic supplements and highly sugared ice tea which the authors included in the questionnaire as a recognised isoflavone source.

On the Canceractive website, Chris Woollams agrees, he writes that cancers that are hormonally driven can be limited by soy or soya. He explains that "There are three groups of oestrogen. Human oestrogen, chemical oestrogen and plant oestrogen. Human oestrogen is not a single hormone but a family of hormones, some aggressive, others less so. The most aggressive is oestradiol, made by aromatase enzymes in the fat stores of both men and women and which can bind to receptor sites on the membranes of healthy cells and send havoc messages into the cell. Oestradiol can drive cancers.(ii)” As noted above this is different from plant oestrogen.

In a short film by nutritionist doctor, Michael Greger (iii), soy is put 'to the test’ in terms of its role in prostate cancer - and the results are not terribly conclusive. One study of 20 men with prostate cancer who were relapsing after radiation or surgery (their PSA was rising), found that after a year of drinking three cups of soy milk a day, 6 got better, 2 got worse ands 12 remained unchanged. And again in another of Gregor’s films he looks at unfermented soy foods and shows that they could lower risk of prostate cancer (iv).

The picture gets more complicated

But wait, just to confuse the picture a bit more...Nasha Winters and Jess Higgins Kelley in their book, “The MetabolicApproach to Cancer” (2017) which I bought after hearing her talk at Trew Fields, says that 30-40% of adults produce a powerful isoflavone after eating soy - they note that these individuals may benefit most from eating soy. There is also a crucial gut bacteria that plays a role and they argue these factors are probably why research results have shown mixed benefits. It also can explain the better cancer rates in Asia than here; Asian populations are more likely to be able to produce that powerful isoflavon after eating soy. 

Another factor that Nasha and Jess point to is that Asian soy products like fermented soybeans ie tempeh and miso, may be better than Western soy products like soy milk, soy-based veggie burgers and the like. This goes against what Gregor found in terms of protection from cancer; this of course maybe different if you already have cancer. Clearly this is confusing!! Nasha and Jess note that they rarely recommend soy, but they do recommend taking hormone balance seriously.

Oestrogen levels are crucial to all of us with hormone-related cancers so this is all serious stuff. Dr. Rob Rutledge, Radiation Oncologists concludes that on balance soy is probably good for those of us with prostate cancer - I think, for me, I get from all of this, that soy is to OK in ‘sensible amounts’.


Supplements

It is worth noting that phytoestrogen supplements are to be avoided. They have been suggested in an online forum to help manage the terrible hot flushes that I have experienced while on hormone treatment - hot flushes that are still severe and waking me several times every night despite stopping the injections more than two months ago. I am told things will get better in coming weeks but it feels like my body is battling to rebalance itself. Anyway the evidence around such supplements is not huge but does look like it could have a negative impact on health - so I take that as a warning to double check any online suggestions! Don’t take my word for any of this!

Balancing hormones

To conclude, revisiting soy in this blog has been very helpful to remind me, that now, as I finish the hormone treatment, I need to seriously try and rebalance my hormones. In short that means for me in terms of reducing oestrogen, flaxseeds (uncooked and ground as they only stay fresh for 5 hours), sesame seeds and curly kale - these three are part of my diet every day - well kale not quite everyday! (italic added to make clearer)

There is a fair bit more in terms of hormones and I suggest Nasha and Jess’ book; perhaps also I will blog on this soon. I am sure that my oestrogen levels will be up after the treatment (see my recent blog here with a look at hormone levels) - they certainly were last time I took hormones.

Notes

(i) Alot of her book info is available online; here is her section about prostate cancer: http://www.cancerfreewithfood.com/prostatecancer.html#/
(ii) https://www.canceractive.com/article/soy-soya-milk-and-cowsacute-dairy 
(iii) https://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-role-of-soy-foods-in-prostate-cancer-prevention-and-treatment/ 
(iv) https://nutritionfacts.org/video/Fermented-or-Unfermented-Soy-Foods-for-Prostate-Cancer-Prevention/ 
(v) https://youtu.be/ehdpeAK9nNY at around 14mins 

New Cancer Wigwams and an 'Exercise for Well-being' forum

New website

I'm delighted to say that we have finally launched our new Wigwam Cancer Support website in the UK. I have been involved a little with the content and launch as I helped start one of the first three Yes to Life Wigwams - they are, as our website says, "a community of people living with cancer coming together to explore and share information and experiences with the aim of empowering them to gain control over their lives. A place to meet people locally, to share and provide mutual support."
  
Richard Mayon-White, who had cancer in 2016 said: “The idea was that a wigwam provides shelter that is flexible, with an informal style and not fixed in any one place. The way that the poles of a wigwam lean inwards to support each other illustrates how a successful group can offer care and help to its members”.

That support Richard mentions, is what we do in our wonderful Stroud group with some nine or ten members. I have found the group hugely supportive, knowledgeable, non-judgemental, fun and more - particularly when we have been exploring together complimentary approaches as well as the orthodox approaches to treatment. There seems to be very few places where people can come together to talk about complimentary approaches - often approaches that are pretty standard in other parts of the world. 

I'd love to see Wigwams spread across the country. I'm hoping very much that this website launch will start that spread around the country; initially people can sign up and join our forums like the one this Wednesday but also express an interest in joining a group.

 

See the website where you can read more about the groups and sign up: https://www.wigwam.org.uk

Register now for 'Exercise for Well-being' forum

As part of our nationwide launch of Wigwam, Yes to Life are delighted to bring you a second Online Forum, this time with special guest Lizzy Davis.

13 May, 16:00 – 17:00 UK time

Lizzy Davis is a Cancer Exercise Specialist with many years of experience. I joined her session at Trew Fields last year and was impressed by her sense, enthusiasm, fun and clear straight-forward approach to exercise.  As regular blog readers will know exercise is one of the key areas that I think we can do better at supporting people. See the 'exercise' tag to read more.

Update; 29/05/20: You can listen to this talk by registering with Yes to Life's Wigwam Support Groups: https://www.wigwam.org.uk/

See our first forum details re 'fear' here. 

Peter Starr on Yes to Life Show

Peter Starr, author and filmmaker, famous in the world of prostate cancer for his DVD set “Surviving Prostate Cancer without Surgery, Drugs or Radiation” (i) with 56 doctors from 8 countries on 3 continents. I haven’t managed to see the film so I was delighted to catch him on the Yes to Life, UK Health Radio Show last week. You can listen to the interview with Robin Daly at: https://www.ukhealthradio.com/player/?ep=21175

Peter was diagnosed in 2004, age 61 - I think he said Gleason 7 with a low PSA (not that that is always a useful measure - see my previous blog here). He opted out of traditional treatments, surgery, radiation, and drugs, and instead explored alternative methods to defeating his prostate cancer. In the process this led him to making the film which was frequently broadcast on Public Service Stations in the US. He also now says he doesn't think he would have had a biopsy had he known (see my blog on biopsies here).

Robert Verkerk PhD of the Alliance of Natural Health wrote of the DVDs in 2012 (ii), "When I eventually found the space to watch the movie, I quickly realised just what a feat Peter had accomplished. From the sheer amount of information and advice, from the quality, breadth and range of clinician, researcher and patient’s views amalgamated, to the immaculate  computer graphics used to help men to understand both how prostate cancer develops and how it is typically."

Peter Starr

In the interview with Robin Daly, Peter shared some of his journey with a complete change in his diet and lifestyle plus some of the new treatments since the film like HIFU and Photodynamic Therapy that are increasingly available. Peter is very soon to publish a up-to-date book 'Prostate Cancer: Why We Get It, What To Do About it’ (iii) which will present the latest developments in treating prostate cancer and apparently will lay out a case for avoiding traditional treatments. He is, however also very clear, as he says at the end of the DVD, “You can change the outcome of your disease by changing your lifestyle. But none of what you have learned from this documentary should take the place of consulting a qualified physician.”

Notes

(i) http://www.survivingprostatecancer.org/
(ii) https://www.anhinternational.org/2012/09/05/anh-intl-feature-documentary-on-prostate-cancer-essential-viewing-for-all-men-over-40/

(iii) Link to Peter’s new book: https://www.prostatecancerwhywhat.com/