Dairy products and OVCA

mom2greatkids

fellinimom said:

Dairy
I stumbled upon upon this thread and find it very interesting. My sister sent me a book about cancer fighting food and I was surprised to find out that the author thought dairy was a no-no for OCA. My oncologist encourages me to eat yogurt frequently and this author thought yogurt was one of the worst dairy choices. But calcium is important and since I'm on coumadin, I have to limit my dark leafy veggies and you can only eat so many almonds. I have switch to antibiotic/hormone free milk. But have not done so yet for cheese.

I appreciate everyone's input.

From what I understand about
From what I understand about nutrition, calcium is even more important once a woman in menopausal. My Nurse Practioner told me to eat yogurt, especially Greek yogurt (which I don't like) No two sources seem to say the same thing. It seems confusing at times to me.

Tethys41

fellinimom said:

Dairy
I stumbled upon upon this thread and find it very interesting. My sister sent me a book about cancer fighting food and I was surprised to find out that the author thought dairy was a no-no for OCA. My oncologist encourages me to eat yogurt frequently and this author thought yogurt was one of the worst dairy choices. But calcium is important and since I'm on coumadin, I have to limit my dark leafy veggies and you can only eat so many almonds. I have switch to antibiotic/hormone free milk. But have not done so yet for cheese.

I appreciate everyone's input.

Raw milk
The only milk my naturopath recommended to me is raw milk from hormone-free, antibiotic-free, grass-fed cows. The problems with hormones and anti-biotics are obvious. The grass-fed portion is due to the fact that animal products obtained from corn-fed animals are high in Omega-6 fatty acids, and low in Omega-3s. The American diet is heavy in Omega-6s which leads to chronic inflammation, which leads to cancer. Products from grass fed animals have a balance of Omega fatty acids. I am guessing this is why the book says dairy is a no-no. Availability of raw, grass-fed milk is limited. I used it for a year and made my own yogurt and keifer. Since then, however, I have learned that I have a sensitivity to dairy. Alternatives you might check into are coconut milk yogurt or almond milk yogurt. I don't know how much calcium those have. The other thing to watch with yogurt is how much sugar it contains, as keeping sugar consumption down is important.

Taking a calcium supplement is an option, but can become confusing, in that the balance of other minerals is important and the form of calcium is also important. Along with calcium, your body also needs magnesium 300 - 600 mg, vitamin K1 150 - 1,000mcg, vitamin D 400 - 2,000IU (I take more because low vitamin D levels can lead to cancer), vitamin B6 10 - 50 mg, folic acid 0.4 - 5 mg, vitamin C 100 - 1,000 mg, zinc 10 - 30 mg, manganese 5 - 20 mg, boron 1 - 3mg, silicon 1 - 10mg, stontium 1 - 6 mg, plus essential fatty acids. These doses are per day. Recently, I learned that calcium citrate does not absorb into bone, but increases the calcium levels in your blood, which deposits calcium in your blood vessels, which increases risk of heart attack. I tend to believe this because my test results show I have high calcium levels in my blood, but I am losing bone mass. I've just changed the types of supplements I'm taking with the hope that this will change. The type of calcium that is bio-available to the body is raw, whole food, plant based calcium. The only product I have found so far that obtains its calcium from such a source is Vitamin Code Raw Calcium, which obtains its calcium from algae. This supplement also contains many of the other vitamins and minerals the body needs in order to absorb the calcium. I know I sound as if I sell this product, but I don't.

The minerals to avoid in any supplement are iron and copper. Both of these feed cancer. Some calcium supplements contain copper.

carolenk

Tethys41 said:

Raw milk
The only milk my naturopath recommended to me is raw milk from hormone-free, antibiotic-free, grass-fed cows. The problems with hormones and anti-biotics are obvious. The grass-fed portion is due to the fact that animal products obtained from corn-fed animals are high in Omega-6 fatty acids, and low in Omega-3s. The American diet is heavy in Omega-6s which leads to chronic inflammation, which leads to cancer. Products from grass fed animals have a balance of Omega fatty acids. I am guessing this is why the book says dairy is a no-no. Availability of raw, grass-fed milk is limited. I used it for a year and made my own yogurt and keifer. Since then, however, I have learned that I have a sensitivity to dairy. Alternatives you might check into are coconut milk yogurt or almond milk yogurt. I don't know how much calcium those have. The other thing to watch with yogurt is how much sugar it contains, as keeping sugar consumption down is important.

Taking a calcium supplement is an option, but can become confusing, in that the balance of other minerals is important and the form of calcium is also important. Along with calcium, your body also needs magnesium 300 - 600 mg, vitamin K1 150 - 1,000mcg, vitamin D 400 - 2,000IU (I take more because low vitamin D levels can lead to cancer), vitamin B6 10 - 50 mg, folic acid 0.4 - 5 mg, vitamin C 100 - 1,000 mg, zinc 10 - 30 mg, manganese 5 - 20 mg, boron 1 - 3mg, silicon 1 - 10mg, stontium 1 - 6 mg, plus essential fatty acids. These doses are per day. Recently, I learned that calcium citrate does not absorb into bone, but increases the calcium levels in your blood, which deposits calcium in your blood vessels, which increases risk of heart attack. I tend to believe this because my test results show I have high calcium levels in my blood, but I am losing bone mass. I've just changed the types of supplements I'm taking with the hope that this will change. The type of calcium that is bio-available to the body is raw, whole food, plant based calcium. The only product I have found so far that obtains its calcium from such a source is Vitamin Code Raw Calcium, which obtains its calcium from algae. This supplement also contains many of the other vitamins and minerals the body needs in order to absorb the calcium. I know I sound as if I sell this product, but I don't.

The minerals to avoid in any supplement are iron and copper. Both of these feed cancer. Some calcium supplements contain copper.

Some thoughts on calcium:
Some thoughts on calcium: You are right, Tethys, random calcium supplementation is not always a good idea for women. I was at a lecture where a doctor showed a graph highlighing the correlation between calcium supplementation and calcium in the arteries--as the amount of daily intake of calcium went up, so did the arteriosclerosis!

There is a big campaign by the dairy industry to get people drinking milk when that probably isn't such a good idea either. Unless you ingest "hormone free" milk/dairy products, you are getting a regular dose of bovine growth hormone in your dairy products--any type of growth hormone will promote the growth of cancer, too.

A while back, Carlene started a thread on the new anti-ovarian cancer drug that is being developed from shrew venom. The drug is supposed to be going into phase I clinical trials soon. When I looked into the new drug, I found out that the drug acts to block the calcium channels on the ovarian cancer cells. According to what I could learn about the drug, ovarian cancer cells are LOADED with calcium channel receptors. The malignant cells use calcium to promote themselves.

The main reason we are at risk for osteoporosis is because we have low estrogen--not because we need more calcium. Vitamin D is the hormone that directs calcium to the bone as does weight-bearing exercise. Women who have an extra 50 lbs or more on their body usually have bones that are denser just from carrying around the extra weight. So there is one advantage to being a big girl.