Preventing breast cancer with healthy food choices

Susan Wadia-Ells got tired of seeing her friends getting breast cancer. She got tired of feeling as if the American Cancer Society's only response to preventing breast cancer was early detection.

This is a food column, so I'm not going to jump too deeply into the battle over testing, but I do believe something is out of whack — or else a person's right to take action, to take responsibility for our own lives is dismissed — when the first recommended step against cancer is to get tested, rather than go for a brisk walk and consider the food you will set on the table that day, and where it comes from.

Wadia-Ells, a wellness advocate with graduate degrees in politics, energy economics and women's studies, is founding director of Know Breast Cancer, a national breast cancer prevention project. The 2011-2012 North Shore Initiative of Know Breast Cancer will seek to educate the women of Essex County — Massachusetts has the fifth highest rate of breast cancer in the country — about "Seven Easy Ways" to help prevent the disease from occurring, active methods a woman can adopt to help keep from getting sick.

No. 6 is to eat low-estrogen foods. In most cases this means organic foods because they're raised free of the hormones that are either a chemical by-product of production or intentionally added to get the heaviest chicken and the most milk as quickly as possible.

The American Cancer Society recommends "eating healthy foods," as in fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains; the Know Breast Cancer campaign is much more specific. It means eliminate foods from your diet with added hormones. Milk from cows given the hormone supplement rBGH is certainly at the top of the list of foods to avoid, but there's plenty that's less obvious. Chicken and beef that's not organic, while not necessarily injected with hormones, often gets plenty of them — undocumented — in their feed. Remember, the point is to get animals heavy fast. Hormones do that. So the best option if you're eating poultry or beef is to choose what's labeled organic, which may mean choosing these proteins less often because organic is almost always more costly.

Atrazine is one of the most commonly used herbicides in this country; it's also famous among environmentalists and food rights activists for its endocrine disruptor activity. In the United States, atrazine is used in most commercial corn, sugar cane and soy production. The American Cancer Society does not list it as a known carcinogen and the EPA approves it, but the European Union banned atrazine in 2004 for its power to tinker significantly with our reproduction systems, from lowering sperm counts to disrupting menstruation. Acting as an aromatase stimulator, meaning it encourages estrogen, atrazine has been well documented to turn boy frogs into hermaphrodites. There are plenty of health concerns there for men and women, and an enormous argument for organic foods whenever possible.

Soy has what's known as phytoestrogens, or plant-based estrogens. These are considered "weak" estrogens, but ones that park themselves easily in the spaces progesterone is waving them into, thus taking up estrogen space without inspiring cell growth the way some estrogens can, particularly in response to something like an estrogen-receptive tumor. Phytoestrogens also keep the immune system strong and attack free-radicals, according to Wadia-Ells. Clarifying some confusing messages about soy, Know Breast Cancer endorses it. But, remember, almost all non-organic soy in this country is grown in fields laced with atrazine, so organic soy is again the proper choice. In fact, fermented soy products — miso, natto, and tempeh — seem to have the most health benefits.

Dairy in general is packed with hormones, particularly commercially produced milk. A story printed in the Harvard University Gazette profiling a Chinese scientist and Harvard School of Public Health fellow, indicated that cow's milk without added hormones is still dangerously high in estrogens. The article begins by citing that natural estrogens are 100,000 more powerful than chemical, including that of herbicides.

Modern dairy cows are milked nearly 300 days a year. Much of that time they are pregnant. Cows in the later stages of pregnancy have 33 percent higher levels of estrogen in their milk than milk from non-pregnant cows. When the Harvard scientist compared commercially produced milk with raw milk raised in a rural area, from cows milked for only five months a year and only in the early stages of pregnancy, they found the hormone levels of the commercial milk to be 10 times higher in progesterone.

That's significant reason to eliminate dairy, which led me to wonder about cultures with record longevity credited to diets of daily yogurt. Remember, Wadia-Ells claims that studies show soy's benefits are mostly evident when the product is fermented; it's about miso, not soy-enriched energy bars. In fact, fermentation — what I consider a wonder food with powerful nutritional properties — has enzymes that break down aromatase, the building block for estrogen. Thus the argument returns in favor of yogurt, at least organic yogurt, and perhaps more fermented foods in general.

To celebrate the 2011 Essex County education initiative, there will be a Know Breast Cancer Gala Reception from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, April 9, at the home of Stephen and Isabella Bates, 2 Masconomo St. in Manchester. In memory of the Cape Ann artist Carleen Muniz, a Charles Movalli painting has been donated for raffle, tickets for which are available at various sites on the North Shore. For more information go to www.knowbreastcancer.net.

It's difficult to keep up with the grocery list of do's and dont's. The Know Breast Cancer recommended food list is more complex than just employing common sense. It means keeping your eyes out for those hidden hormones, which often means doing as much reading as cooking, studying scientific literature beside cookbooks. So I'm going to share a recipe from Nina Simonds, cookbook author and expert in Asian cooking. This recipe is so lusciously flavorful and texturally sublime, the only list it needs to be on is "Favorite Recipes." Just remember to look for organic tofu.

Barbecued Tofu

11/2 pounds Nasoya brand firm tofu*

For marinade

3/4 cup hoisin sauce

1/3 cup rice wine

3 tablespoons soy sauce

11/2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1. Slice tofu in half lengthwise and place in a shallow baking dish or pan.

2. Combine the marinade ingredients and pour over the tofu, carefully lifting the pieces to allow the marinade to flow underneath. Let sit for at least one hour at room temperature.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a cookie sheet or sheet pan with heavy aluminum foil.

3. Remove the tofu from the marinade and arrange on the foil-lined baking sheet.

Pour the marinade on top and bake for 35 minutes. Remove and cool.

4. To serve, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices and place on a platter. Drizzle some of the cooked marinade on top.

* Do not use silken tofu, which is too delicate. Also, most Nasoya tofu is sold in 14-ounce packages. The quantity of marinade is fine for 28 ounces but, since people prefer more sauce, I usually double the amount of marinade.

Instead of pouring all of it over the tofu to bake, I reserve some marinade and cook it down - and then drizzle it over the finished dish.

This recipe is very forgiving. The tofu can be cooked hours in advance and held at room temperature. I have found that it suffers from refrigeration.

Variations include adding five-spice powder, chili paste, or crushed chili flakes.

Food for Thought runs weekly in the Times' Taste of the Times section and is written by Heather Atwood, an author and mother from Rockport. Questions and comments can be sent to Heather at heatheraa@aol.com. And follow her blog at gloucestertimes.com/foodforthought.

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