This is the first in a series of articles which shows the benefits of including mushrooms regularly in your diet to help prevent the onset of cancer and to help in the treatment of cancer too.
In Asia many types of mushrooms (from white button mushrooms, to Reishi and Shitake etc.) are often used to help in the treatment of cancer. They are even used with western medical drugs as part of standard treatments in hospitals in Japan.
They are believed to do many things, the most important of which is probably in the strengthening of the immune system which then creates more natural killer cells to attack the cancer.
In Asia many types of mushrooms (from white button mushrooms, to Reishi and Shitake etc.) are often used to help in the treatment of cancer. They are even used with western medical drugs as part of standard treatments in hospitals in Japan.
They are believed to do many things, the most important of which is probably in the strengthening of the immune system which then creates more natural killer cells to attack the cancer.
The first study we are going to examine in this blog is one carried out by Australian researchers from the University of Perth. It was carried out by Zhang and others and appeared in the International Journal Of Cancer.
They found that Chinese women who regularly eat mushrooms (and who also drink green tea daily) have 89% less risk of developing breast cancer than women who consume neither.
The team compared the diets of more than 2000 women who attended a breast clinic in China. They worked with detailed registers of the women's consumption of a variety of foods; and observed that, all other factors being equal, the more mushrooms women reported eating, the lower their risk of developing breast cancer.
They found that women who consumed an average of more than 10 g of fresh mushrooms every day had a 64% less risk of developing breast cancer than those who did not eat any mushrooms.
They also found that when they added the consumption of green tea that some of these women were drinking, the protective effect of the two factors together reached up to an 89% lower risk of developing breast cancer.
The effect was dose dependent – the more mushrooms women ate daily, the lower their risk. And the same went for the green tea - those who consumed the most green tea plus fresh mushrooms lowered their risk the most too.
Researchers found that the most commonly eaten mushroom involved in the study was ordinary white button mushrooms, which are very inexpensive and easy to get hold of.
They found that Chinese women who regularly eat mushrooms (and who also drink green tea daily) have 89% less risk of developing breast cancer than women who consume neither.
The team compared the diets of more than 2000 women who attended a breast clinic in China. They worked with detailed registers of the women's consumption of a variety of foods; and observed that, all other factors being equal, the more mushrooms women reported eating, the lower their risk of developing breast cancer.
They found that women who consumed an average of more than 10 g of fresh mushrooms every day had a 64% less risk of developing breast cancer than those who did not eat any mushrooms.
They also found that when they added the consumption of green tea that some of these women were drinking, the protective effect of the two factors together reached up to an 89% lower risk of developing breast cancer.
The effect was dose dependent – the more mushrooms women ate daily, the lower their risk. And the same went for the green tea - those who consumed the most green tea plus fresh mushrooms lowered their risk the most too.
Researchers found that the most commonly eaten mushroom involved in the study was ordinary white button mushrooms, which are very inexpensive and easy to get hold of.
My thoughts on this study ...
No study can be 100% accurate, there will always be varying factors which can swing things this way and that. But the scale of the evidence here is substantial. 89% lower risk is by no means a small amount ! Even if that percentage was halved it would still be a very significant reduction.
So my advice is to add a handful or even just a few mushrooms into your daily meals as often as you can. It is a very simple and easy adjustment to make.
The same applies with the green tea, you should have three to four cups of it a day. If you are not used to green tea then initially you may not be overly fond of it's taste; but just be patient, its' flavour really does grow on you after a while !
No study can be 100% accurate, there will always be varying factors which can swing things this way and that. But the scale of the evidence here is substantial. 89% lower risk is by no means a small amount ! Even if that percentage was halved it would still be a very significant reduction.
So my advice is to add a handful or even just a few mushrooms into your daily meals as often as you can. It is a very simple and easy adjustment to make.
The same applies with the green tea, you should have three to four cups of it a day. If you are not used to green tea then initially you may not be overly fond of it's taste; but just be patient, its' flavour really does grow on you after a while !
Study Reference - Int J Cancer. 2009 Mar 15;124(6):1404-8. doi: 10.1002/ijc.24047.
