The Healthy Soapbox: Fiber Fiction

I always try to include a personal introduction to Y.E.S. Supplement's monthly newsletters. I really have been stumped by this one... Until I wrote that previous blog. Please think of "When Quiet Becomes Unbearable" as the lead in to this most informative, eye-opening, and IMPORTANT newsletter that Brian and Khanada have written for all of us!

And if you make it through all of this fibertalk, there is a great recipe at the end you may like to consider sharing with your family and friends.

Stay healthy, stay informed, and above all, stay open-minded because everything you have learned from "industry" is pretty much off the mark, as witnessed by the real life results of the "man on the street".

I love you!

Cam

*****

Fiber Fiction
April / May 2008
 
Fiber-fiction and the supposed decrease in cancer contraction rates--physicians have been misled, again.

The number of myths and urban legends on the cause and prevention of cancer are mind-boggling. The extent to which various companies, governing bodies, health officials, and lobbyists have pushed their products and bad science on us has pre-conditioned us to believe that what we are told about the benefits of fiber are true.

Advertisers often go to great lengths to keep these myths alive and well in our minds while cancers continue to ravage our bodies at unprecedented levels! If everything they claimed about fiber were true, we should be getting healthier! Take a simple look around and you will see that this is not the case. We do not need such massive amounts of fiber for our digestive system to work properly or to prevent colon cancer.

In 2004, the cancer journal, Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, stated that colon cancer is not helped by eating fiber Dr. Gilbert Omenn stated in a 2000 New York Times article on this subject: "There's not a shred of [cancer fighting] evidence from these trials. ...the surprising results [no cancer protection] showed the need to rigorously put belief systems to the test, especially when you are making recommendations to literally hundreds of millions of people." He concluded with, "...it is time to abandon the idea that fiber can help prevent colon cancer." (Emphasis added)

As referenced in my landmark book, "The Hidden Story of Cancer," fiber actually worsens colon cancer rather than helping it. Even the Cancer Institute finally agrees with this conclusion. The true tragedy lies in the fact that those following this advice and eating the most fiber get the most colon cancer! This fact was reported in 2000 in the Lancet, the world's premier medical journal.[i] There is a general misconception that plant foods are loaded with vitamins that we benefit from; unfortunately, these nutrients are locked away in the plant fiber, or cellulose, which cannot be digested by humans.[ii] Herbivores are able to break down the cellulose and get to the nutrients, but due to our digestive tract design, humans cannot!

Scientists have shown through real-life research in third world countries that grain- and legume-based diets high in phytates do the exact opposite of what we incorrectly assume: they generally have a depressing effect on absorption of minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, and copper.[iii]

Non-chelated minerals (minerals not bound to amino acids, which are only available from meat sources) ionize in the gastrointestinal tract. Once this occurs, the "positive" ions combine with the "negative" ions so they often negate each other, i.e., maximum bioavailability doesn't occur. To make matters worse, the fiber you have consumed binds the ionized minerals into complexes that are non-absorbable and not bioavailable -- you excrete them.

The overall results of many real-life research tests concluded that all the subjects tested were found to be in negative mineral balance (i.e. having much less than required because the fiber REMOVES them) for the supplemented minerals. The highly-promoted high-fiber diets we are exposed to prevent us from getting the minerals we need, causing more harm than good.

We have had years of "fiber fiction" ingrained into us by nutritionists and physicians who believed in the "hype and marketing" of fiber while ignoring their biochemical studies. Fiber cannot be absorbed, or utilized by the human digestive tract in any way, shape or form. It is not a food fit for human consumption and science proves this time and time again.

I went on the record over a decade ago saying fiber is not food for a human being and that it irritates, rather than aids the colon. I predicted fiber eaters would develop the most colon cancer, and they did!

Newsflash from 2002: Fiber KNOWN NOT to Reduce Colon Cancer Risk

In 1999 and 2000 the world's best medical journals published the truth of "fiber fiction": that those who ate the most fiber got the most colon cancer-the opposite of the expected result! The following statements were clearly explained in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, a cancer journal published by the American Association for Cancer Research.[iv] :

"[The researchers administered the patients a] cereal supplement of either 13.5 or 2.0 grams per day. ...No protective effect for adenoma [benign glandular tumor leading to cancer] recurrence was observed for those randomized to the high-fiber group as compared to those in the low-fiber group... Patients in the high-fiber intervention arm of the WBF trial reported side effects such as nausea, diarrhea and abdominal bloating more frequently than those in the low fiber group..."

Finally, "The results of this study show that neither fiber intake from a wheat bran supplement nor total fiber intake affects the recurrence of colorectal adenomas, thus lending further evidence to the body of literature indicating that consumption of a high-fiber diet, especially one rich in cereal fiber, does not reduce the risk of colorectal adenoma recurrence." (Emphasis added.)

The results showed that even a whopping six times more fiber in the diet makes no difference in increased cancer protection. Added to that was the glaring fact that the poor patients eating the most fiber reported terrible side effects. In spite of this knowledge, recommendations to include plenty of fiber have NOT changed, even though fiber is worthless for preventing tumors leading to colorectal cancer and harmful to our general health and well-being.

The fallacy of "fiber fiction" got its start in 1971 when Irish physician and surgeon Denis Burkitt visited Africa to conduct research into the effects of western diet among Africans. He came to the (grossly incorrect) conclusion that the increase in Western diseases among Africans was due to a reduced consumption of plant foods containing dietary fiber. It is interesting to note that his contemporary, heart researcher physician George Mann's work was conspicuously omitted from Burkitt's findings. Dr. Mann studied the Masai tribes and came to the (politically unpopular but scientifically correct) conclusion that their high fat diet from animal sources did not predispose them to heart disease.

Burkitt was firmly committed to the belief that the replacement of animal products with grains was a way to "prevent cancer and heart disease" as well as "forestall world hunger." His writings on dietary fiber led to calls for increased amounts of whole grains in the American diet in order to supposedly prevent colon cancer and other diseases of the intestinal tract; Single-handledly destroying the health of millions of Americans because contrary to popular belief, fiber IRRITATES your delicate colon.

"Dietary fiber is good for you" soon became, and has continued to be a mantra that too many people have been gravely harmed by.

Newsflash 2007: Increased glucose [carbohydrate] is a strong risk factor for colorectal cancer

It is glaringly obvious that fiber will not protect us from colorectal cancers; rather, it makes the problem of colon cancer much worse. What is the main problem? Once again, it is the opposite of what we are told: Carbohydrates. The following conclusions, recently published in the medical journal,Gastroenterologyv, shed light on this fact:

"Over the course of a 4-year follow-up evaluation ... For both insulin and glucose, we found higher risk [for polyps] for subjects in the high quartile compared to the low quartile... The association for glucose [carbohydrates] was most apparent for advanced carcinomas... Our findings suggest that patients with increased insulin and glucose [diabetic and overweight] are at higher risk for adenoma recurrence, and for those with increased glucose, the risk for recurrence of advanced adenoma is even greater." (Emphasis added.)

This study shows that more polyps occurred in groups with the highest blood insulin and glucose levels. The greater the increase in blood glucose and insulin (due to carbohydrate consumption), the greater the cancer risk was. The more aggressive the cancer, the more deadly carbohydrate consumption becomes. Carbohydrates are the fuel for cancerous growth and this finding re-confirms the damage incurred through carbohydrate consumption and high insulin levels.

Newsflash 2007: "No Cancer Shield Found in Fruit and Vegetable Diet"[vi]:
"More veggies not the answer" [vii]

Vegetables contain plenty of fiber. Although there has never been a scientific basis for the claim that fruits and vegetables are cancer protective, it has not stopped physicians, nutritionists, the government, and virtually the entire nutritional community leading everyone from the truth. This fallacy was once again quickly dispelled during a comprehensive study on the effects of low-fat and high fruit/vegetable diets on breast cancer patients:

"Hopes that a diet low in fat and full of fruits and vegetables could prevent the return of breast cancer were dashed Tuesday by a large seven-year experiment in more than 3,000 women... The study, conducted at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and six other facilities,found recurrence and survival rates were no better than for those who ate nine or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables than those who ate five...

"...a daily diet that included five vegetable servings, three fruit servings, 16 ounces of vegetable juice, and 30 grams of fiber.... The women were allowed to eat meat, but were told to get no more than 15 to 20% of their calories from fat... During the next seven years, the cancer returned in about the same proportion of women in both groups.

In spite of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary staring them in the face, researchers still clung desperately to the fallacy about fiber, fat, and lots of exercise that we have been fed for decades:

"In addition to exercising regularly, eating a diet that has plenty of fruits and vegetables and is moderate in fat is still one of the best ways we know to maintain health," said Caan (senior epidemiologist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California.)"[viii]

***The best these researchers can do is to tell you to keep doing what they know doesn't work because they have no idea of what does work. ***

Cancer researchers' incredible lack of understanding of what causes and prevents cancer is deplorable and these researchers' expectations prove that once again:

Their diet had 65% more vegetables and 30% more fiber, yet we know that scientifically vegetable fiber "magnetizes out" precious minerals, including the respiratory co-enzyme minerals critical for oxygen transfer.

The diet had 25% more fruit (carbohydrates) in spite of the fact that a cancer's prime fuel is carbohydrates. Fruit sugars give newly developing cancer an over-abundance of its prime fuel to overwhelm the body. How stupid can they be!?!

The diet had 13% less fat even though it should be well-known that fat-restrictive diet will minimize the vital EFAs (unprocessed omega-6 in particular) required, guaranteeing cellular de-oxygenation. Restricting natural fat by cutting back on meat consumed decreases overall protein intake. Oxygen transfer will be impeded because plenty of protein is required for maximum oxygen-transferring hemoglobin.

These conditions will guarantee the perfect environment for cancer growth, as proven by Dr. Otto Warburg, M.D., Ph.D. decades ago.

If you haven't read [Peskin's] "The Hidden Story of Cancer" or "The 24-Hour Diet", I hope this startling newsletter will motivate you to take an active role in your own and your family's health.

References:
i. Lancet, October 14, 2000; 356:1286-1287.
ii. Essentials of Biochemistry, Jay M. Templin, Research & Education Assn, 1998, pg. 185. ISBN: 0878910735.
iii. Van Rensburg et al., "Nutritional status of African populations predisposed to esophageal cancer", Nutrition and Cancer, vol. 4, 1983, pp. 206-216; Moser, P.B. et al., "Copper, iron, zinc and selenium dietary intake and status of Nepalese lactating women and their breast fed infants", American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 47:729-734, April 1988; Harland, B.F. et al., "Nutritional status and phytate: zinc and phytate X calcium: zinc dietary molar ratios of lacto-ovo vegetarian Trappist monks: 10 years later", Journal of the American Dietetic Association 88:1562-1566, December 1988.
iv. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, Sep;11(9):906-14.
v. Gastroenterology at top of page 4, your reference [2]: "Gastroenterology publication"
vi. Houston Chronicle, July 18, 2007, pages 1 and 3.
vii. The New York Times (International Edition), A14, July 18, 2007. Ref.: Journal of the American Medical Association.
viii. Medical News Today: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/77103.php. Ref.: Journal of the American Medical Association 2007;298(3):289-298.

This Month's Low-Carb Recipe: Shrimp Scampi

INGREDIENTS
1 lb. peeled shrimp
3 cloves minced garlic
3 Tbl. butter
1 tsp. minced tarragon
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. sugar or 1/8 tsp stevioside or 2 pkts stevia
1/4 cup dry white wine
salt & pepper to taste
lemon or lime if desired

PREPARATION
1. Heat skillet over medium heat.
2. Melt butter and saute garlic and tarragon until garlic is lightly brown.
3. Dip shrimp in egg and saute in skillet for 2-4 minutes.
4. Dissolve sugar or stevioside into white wine and add with salt and pepper then saute for 3 minutes.
5. Serve with slice of lemon or lime.

Makes 5 servings.
Enjoy!

DO YOU HAVE A GREAT LOW-CARB RECIPE YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE?
Submit your recipe to orders@pinnacle-press.com for consideration to be included in the NEW Cook it Cool cookbook (coming soon). If your recipe gets chosen for inclusion in Cook it Cook, you will receive a FREE copy of the book when it's released.

Your Essential Supplements, Inc., 2825 Wilcrest Drive, Suite 680, Houston, TX 77042, USA