healthmedicinet

• Professor Jane Plant was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987
• She believes the disease is inextricably linked to animal products
• In 1993 after discovering her cancer had returned she was warned by doctors she had just months to live
• She and her husband Peter, also a scientist, drew on their experiences of working in China, noting the low rate of breast cancer in Chinese women
• They researched studies showing Chinese women who move to Western countries increase their risk of breast cancer
• The now 69-year-old decided to follow a strict non-dairy diet
• In six weeks her tumour had gone and within one year she was in remission
• She has documented her experience and research in a new book Beat Cancer: The 10-step plan to help you overcome and prevent cancer
  

By
Lizzie Parry

Published:

06:09 EST, 2 June 2014

|
Updated:

06:18 EST, 2 June 2014

Scientist Professor Jane Plant says her dairy-free diet has helped her fight breast cancer for 20 years

A scientist and cancer patient who cut dairy products from her diet nearly 20 years ago claims doing so has helped her beat the disease.

Jane Plant, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987, said she believes the disease is inextricably linked to animal products.

In 1993 when Professor Plant, now 69, was struck down once again by breast cancer for a fifth time, doctors warned she had just months to live.

The secondary tumour, this time a lump the size of half a boiled egg, was growing on her neck.

Writing on her website, Prof Plant said: ‘I felt awful and looked very pale, thin and ill.

‘Despite the awfulness of my situation, my scientific knowledge and experience clicked in to save my life.’

Drawing on her experiences of working in China, Prof Plant was aware that Chinese women had historically shown very low rates of breast cancer.

‘My husband Peter and I had both worked in China on environmental problems in the past.

‘I suddenly remembered that a wonderful epidemiological atlas presented to me by my Chinese colleagues showed a background rate of breast cancer of one in 100,000 women, compared to a rate of one in 10 in much of the West at that time.

‘I had checked that the information was correct with senior academics that I knew well in China and also with some Chinese doctors who told me that they had hardly seen a case of breast cancer in their careers.’

Yet for those Chinese women who moved to live in the U.S., UK or Australia and who lived on western diets, the rates were more in line with western rates.

Prof Plant said together with her husband, she asked the question she credits with saving her life, “Why don’t Chinese women in China get breast cancer?”‘

She added: ‘I knew that Chinese women living on
western diets for example in Singapore or in Chinatown in Britain did
have breast cancer.

‘I asked Peter the question that I believe saved my
life, “Why don’t Chinese women in China get breast cancer?”

‘We
brainstormed the subject for just a few minutes and decided that it must
be diet related. We then remembered two incidents.

‘Peter remembered
when his Chinese colleagues had produced powdered cow’s milk on a field
expedition for him because they did not drink it themselves, in fact at
that time in the early 80?s they did not even have a dairy industry.’

The revelation inspired Prof Plant to switch to a dairy-free, Asian-style diet.

‘I decided I had nothing to lose by giving up the two low fat organic yoghurts I was eating a day each day,’ she added.

She cut out animal protein such as meat, fish and eggs and also banished all milk products.

Within six weeks – during which time she was undergoing more conventional treatment, including chemotherapy – the lump on Prof Plant’s neck disappeared.

In her new book Beat Cancer, Prof Plant gives a 10-step plan to ridding your diet of milk, cheese and yoghurts, to help beat cancer

THE SCIENCE BEHIND PROF PLANT’S THEORY

Prof Plant believes while going dairy-free helped her breast cancer, it could prove beneficial for those patients diagnosed with colorectal, lymphoma and throat cancer.

‘We have all been brought up with the idea that milk is good for you,’ Prof Plant told the Telegraph.

‘But there is evidence now that the growth factors and hormones it contains are not just risky for breast cancer, but also other hormone-related cancers, of the prostate, testicles and ovary.

‘Cows’ milk is good for calves – but not for us.’

Beat Cancer explores the science of epigenetics, how genes ‘behave’ and are regulated, including how they are influenced by the environment.

Scientists understand cancer-causing genes may not become active, until particular conditions arise in the body, to effectively switch them on. Equally the science suggests those that can be switched on, can also be switched off.

Prof Plant said it means what a person eats can have a genetic impact.

Scientists believe cancer cells are hypersensitive to chemical messenger proteins called growth factors, as well as hormones, including oestrogen.

Growth factors are produced by the body, and perform vital tasks such as making cells grow.

The risk of cancer comes when we have abnormally high levels of growth factors in the blood, circulating the body.

Prof Plant and Djamgoz state the same growth factors and hormones, responsible for the growth of cancer cells, are found in food that comes from animals.

They say certain foods provide the ‘fertiliser’ cancer cells need to grow, with the main protein in cows’ milk being considered the most dangerous.

A leading U.S. nutritional scientist Prof Colin Campbell at Cornell University, has aruged that cows’ milk should be regarded in the same category as oestrogen, as a leading carcinogen.

Prof Plant told the Telegraph: ‘Cow’s milk has been shown to contain 35 different hormones and 11 growth factors.’

For those patients already diagnosed with cancer or those shown to be at high risk of developing the disease, Prof Plant advocates, among other things, cutting out all dairy – from cows, sheep and goats, and whether organic or not.

Within a year, she was in remission and lived cancer free for the next 19 years.

She
published her story in her international bestseller Your Life In Your
Hands, which was credited with helping thousands of cancer patients.

But three years ago, the demands and pressures of writing another academic book, led Prof Plant to let her diet slip.

She
said she let herself believe the odd egg sandwich from the College
canteen would ‘do no harm, even it it contained butter or spread’.

‘And what about my check-ups?’ she added. ‘Unfortunately I had stopped attending these about 10 years ago.

‘At the time I told myself it made me too anxious and after all I had found all my cancers myself.

‘Unfortunately I had also stopped checking myself.’

She said when her husband pointed out a large lump beneath her collar bone, she persuaded herself it was just scar tissue.

‘It was not until I was admitted to hospital as an emergency – unable to breathe – that I took any action to help myself.

‘Scans carried out at the time showed that the lump beneath my collar bone, was cancer.

‘It had also spread to the lining of my right lung, which also had several small metastases in it.

‘Later
I checked back on what I had been eating. I found that even the falafel
from the canteen contained milk powder and I had been eating calves’
liver cooked in butter about three times a month at a local restaurant
where I entertained visitors.

BEAT CANCER – HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR DIET TO FIGHT THE DISEASE

CUT OUT…

Milk, including skimmed and semi-skimmed

Hard cheese

Soft or cottage cheese

Yoghurt

Creme fraiche, fromage frais, cream

Butter and veggie margarines

Dairy ice cream

Milk chocolate

Refined and processed oils prepared using high temperate and/or pressure

Refined (especially white) bread, flour, pasta and rice

Any foods containing preservatives, colourings and artificial flavourings

LIMIT…

Fresh meat

Fish or shelfish

Eggs

Salt (use sea salt), monosodium glutamate, sodium sulphite and baking soda

Coffee

REPLACE WITH…

Almond, soya, coconut, oat or rice milk

Tofu or bean curd

Hummus

Soya or coconut yoghurt

Coconut or soya cream

Soya spread, hummus or peanut or nut butters

Soya or coconut ice cream

Dark chocolate

Extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil for cooking or sunflower or sesame oil for salad dressings

Unrefined wholegrain breads, flours, pasta and rice

Make your own fresh food and juices using fresh fruit and vegetables

EAT LOTS OF…

Unrefined carbs – noodles, pasta rice, bread

Broad beans, cannellini and butter beans

Nuts such as cashew, pistachio and walnuts

Herbs and spices, such as basil, parsley, cinnamon and tumeric

Balsamic, cider, white or red wine vinegar

Fruit – choose fresh, frozen or bottled

Homemade juices

Tap water and herb teas

Prof Plant was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987 and believes the disease is inextricably linked with animal products. Picture shows breast cancer cells dividing

‘Now I once again check labels carefully and make sure I ask about ingredients whenever I eat out.’

‘I went straight back to my oncologist
– who prescribed a small daily dose of the oestrogen-suppressor drug
letrozole, which I continue to take,’ she added.

‘Importantly I went back on my Plant
Programme 1 diet, began regular meditation again and ensured that I
started walking regularly as I used to do before my workload became too
intense.

‘Fortunately my cancer was fully in remission again in less than
six months, but it was a frightening time.’

In
her latest book, Prof Plant, a professor of geochemistry at Imperial
College London, advises people of the importance of diet when fighting
cancer.

Co-written with
Mustafa Djamgoz, professor of cancer biology at Imperial, the book is
hailed in its foreward, written by Prof Sir Graeme Catto, president of
the College of Medicine, as ‘important’ and one which should be ‘taken
seriously’.

Prof Catto adds:
‘This is not a conventional cancer book. You will find many of the
things you read illuminating, some of the information may be surprising
and even, at times, shocking.

‘However all of the information is backed up by scientific researched and fully referenced.’

Beat Cancer
draws on a study more than 30 years ago that claims more than a third of
all cancers might be attributable to dietary factors.

Prof Plant advises eating more plant foods and less red meat, sugar, salt and fat.

She urges people fighting the disease to take regular exercise and reduce their stress levels.

The
book advises people to opt for organic foods. But the more radical
suggestions are that by totally excluding diary products, cheese, milk,
butter and yoghurt, you can successfully halt the disease ‘in its
tracks’, by preventing the cancer cells of the conditions they need to
grow and spread.

‘Beat Cancer: The 10-Step Plan to Help
you Overcome and Prevent Cancer’ by Prof Mustafa Djamgoz and Prof Jane
Plant is published by Vermilion (£14.99)

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