The medical industry is losing the cancer battle. Arm yourself with cancer-fighting nuts.
Despite a decades-long, multi-billion dollar war on cancer, the global burden of this deadly disease is expected to rise 50% in just the next five years. A handful of nuts a day could help protect you.
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota took note of science finding that nuts are heart healthy. They asked whether nuts could also protect against cancer. They conducted a meta-analysis of 36 observational studies including 30,708 patients on the disease-preventive powers of nut consumption. They included 16 cohort studies along with 20 case-control studies.
Their results published in Nutrition Reviews concluded that nut consumption was linked with an overall decrease in cancer risk. In particular, it was inversely associated with risk of colorectal cancer, endometrial cancer, and pancreatic cancer.[ii]
The combined studies which ranged from 4.6 to 30 years of follow-up found that, compared to patients eating the least nuts, those consuming the most nuts had:
a 24% lower risk of colorectal cancer, a 42% lower risk of endometrial cancer, and a 32% lower risk of pancreatic cancer. In addition, those eating more nuts had a 15% lower risk of cancer in general.
he authors found no links between nuts and other types of cancers.
The researchers noted some possible explanations for the cancer powers of nuts including fiber, protein, minerals, phytosterols, and phenolics compounds. Some of the most powerful anti-cancer nutrients in nuts include vitamin E, selenium, quercetin, resveratrol, and folic acid.
Earlier studies had already established that nut antioxidants improve heart health. In fact, nuts have also been linked to a 20% lower risk of death in general.
Other studies have shown that nuts can also help:
Prevent gallstones and diverticulitis Improve sleep by boosting melatonin Protect bone health Increase cognitive function Based on their research, the authors suggested eating five servings (28 grams each) of nuts per week.
And don't worry about the fat content or calories. Diets that include nuts have been proven not to increase body weight, body mass index, or waist circumference.[iii]
Just one caution. Nuts can be difficult to digest because they contain enzyme inhibitors. They are also high in phytic acid which can block absorption of minerals in the body.
Soaking nuts helps disarm the phytic acid. Buy organic raw nuts and soak them in water salted with Celtic sea salt or another high quality unrefined sea salt. Most nuts can soak eight hours or overnight. But some, like cashews, become slimy if you soak them more than six hours.
After they've soaked, drain the nuts and roast them on a cookie sheet in a warm oven at the lowest heat – about 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Or use a dehydrator.
Mother ‘frustrated’ over school’s hemp oil policy USA TODAY NETWORK Haley Dover, Burlington (Vt.) Free Press 7:29 p.m. PDT October 10, 2015
(Photo: GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS)
BRISTOL, Vt. — On an October afternoon, Aurora Husk walked out of Bristol Elementary School with her shoulders slumped and a frown on her face.
Her mom was there to pick her up, and Aurora was unhappy about missing class. Aurora was due for her second dose of hemp oil that day. She takes three doses each day to treat her seizure disorder.
"It's disruptive for her, whatever she's involved in she has to stop and come outside with me," Aurora's mother, Megan Vaughan, said. "I feel like it's a disruption to my child, but I'm going to do it because she needs it."
The 10-year-old from Bristol has experienced as many as 40 seizures a day since she was 8 weeks old, Vaughan said. Aurora has an inoperable scar on her brain from a burst blood vessel and suffers from a condition called electrical status epilepticus.
Megan Vaughan administers a dose of hemp oil to her 10-year-old daughter Aurora Husk outside the Bristol Elementary School on Friday, October 2, 2015. Husk, who has intractable epilepsy, is not allowed to consume the oil on school property. Her mother comes to the school twice a day to give her two of her three daily doses. (Photo: GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS)
Since this past spring, Aurora has been taking CBD hemp oil to treat her condition. Therapeutic hemp oil has been a topic of debate in recent months as state officials expanded regulations to allow Vermont's four medical marijuana dispensaries to produce those products.
Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell acknowledges that hemp oil can provide some therapeutic benefit in treating seizure disorders. He wrote in an April memo that residents should not fear prosecution for possessing hemp oil products.
Still parents, including Vaughan, face difficulties when trying to arrange for their children to receive hemp oil doses during the school day.
"They look at me like I'm packing heroin in my daughter's lunchbox or something," she said, referring to the school's staff.
Vaughan said the school nurse at Bristol Elementary will not keep the oil product in her office.
The school principal could not be reached for comment.
Aurora can only receive the hemp oil off of school grounds, Vaughan said. Twice a day — at 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. — Vaughan drives to the school to pull Aurora out of class and walk her around the block, where she administers the dosages.
The oil has to be administered two hours before or after Aurora takes her seizure medication, so the time that Aurora gets her hemp dosages is important, Vaughan said.
USA TODAY Federal drug regulators caution hemp oil sellers
The process takes about 15 minutes, Vaughan said, which amounts to nearly half a class.
Some days Vaughan can't make it to the school on time, or even at all, due to work commitments. Vaughan's mother helps out or Aurora has to miss a dose.
Karen Richards, executive director of the Vermont Human Rights Commission said a student’s need for hemp oil could fall under the public accommodations act, assuming the student has a disability.
The commission makes recommendations as to whether they believe discrimination occurred in a particular case. The department has yet to investigate the hemp oil issue, but Richards said she has heard of the problems parents are facing.
The real issue is the difference between federal and state law regarding hemp and medical marijuana, she said pointing to the memo from the attorney general's office.
"It is not a legal substance under federal law," she said, referring to hemp. "We have the same issues with medical marijuana."
"You may have it in the state, but you're still in violation technically of federal law."
Schools that receive federal funding are at risk of losing that money if the school is found holding drugs, Richards said. Schools are required to commit to maintaining a drug-free workplace to receive federal funding.
Breena Holmes, director of maternal and child health at the Vermont Department of Health, said there is a manual that establishes protocol for how school staff should administer medications.
For a prescription medication, schools are required to obtain written permission from both the parent and a medical provider, according to the manual. Medications must also be in a current pharmacy-labeled bottle.
For non-prescription medications, a school must obtain written, phone or email documentation from a parent, and the medication must be left in the original store-labeled bottle or container.
Medications cannot be given without the proper permissions, according to the manual. Guidelines for how school employees can look out for drug and alcohol abuse are also detailed.
"It is not clear where hemp oil fits in the current guidelines and it may not fit in either of these current categories," Holmes said.
Vaughan said she wants a better explanation for why the school can't give her daughter the "medicine" that she sees as helping to reduce Aurora's seizures.
Vaughan said she feels the school has a duty to follow through with Aurora's Independent Education Plan.
"We have children with disabilities in a public school, they have an IEP so it should fall under the disability clause," Vaughan said.
"Who's to say a mom isn't cooking with hemp oil at home?" she added. "You can buy this at the co-op, you can use it as a fiber."
Regardless of whether the school agrees to administer Aurora's hemp oil, Vaughan plans to continue providing the treatment.
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