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Natural protection against a natural born killer
1st December 2006
Find a four leaf clover and you'll have great luck.
So goes the old Irish folk saying.
I can't see why the fourleaf clover should be considered lucky. Except for the fact that it's so rare. Apparently only one clover leaf in 10,000 has four leaves.
I don't particularly fancy those odds.
Why bother with luck, when you can put the odds firmly on your side with a plant known as “red clover”?
No, it doesn't look much like the clover that the Irish find lucky. But, as I used to tell the ladies when I was a slightly hefty young buck, looks aren't everything.
When it comes to fighting a modern killer, red clover is the business.
Another folk remedy that really works
For centuries, Chinese Medicine and Western folk medicine have used extracts from red clover as a diuretic, cough expectorant, and remedy for skin conditions like psoriasis.
Now modern medicine claims that it can help reduce the symptoms of the menopause and ease prostate problems.
And even fight cancer.
The reason is that red clover contains isoflavones.
These are chemicals which act like weak oestrogens. This blocks some of the bad effects of naturally-occurring oestrogen, which can cause breast, prostate and colon cancer.
One of the isoflavones, known as 'geneistin' can revert breast and prostate cancer cells back to their pre-cancerous states. It can also delay the growth of new blood vessels in tumours.
This may explain the cancer rates in Asia.
They eat a lot of isoflavone-rich foods like red clover, soya, lentils, chickpeas and beans. And their rates of prostate cancer are far lower than in the West.
Red clover can also help reduce the sypmotomns of the menopause, such as night sweats and hot flushes.
In Japan, another Asian country that loves its isoflavones, hot flushes are rarely reported.
Red Clover is available as a dried herb, and in tablets, capsules, and tinctures.
To make a “Cancer Killing Hot Flush Reducing Cuppa”… pour boiling water over two teaspoonfuls of dried Red Clover flowers. Cover, then steep for another ten minutes.
That'll put some ding in your dingaling.
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Another cancer fighting weapon
While we're on the subject of the c-word today, I want to tell you about two natrual cancer-fighting compounds.
Both are found in the same fruit. Which makes things easy, doesn't it?
Resveratrol is an antioxidant that can reduce cardiovascular and cancer risks.
It's commonly found in fruits like cranberries and blueberries. But it's dark grapes, such as the muscadine, that are absolutely chocka with the stuff.
Muscadine grapes are also loaded with pterostilbene.
Recent studies have shown that this compound is even more powerful than resveratrol.
In a series of laboratory tests, scientists from the United States Department of Agriculture studied cells taken from mouse mammary glands.
They found that pterostilbene could prevent the kind of cell damage associated with cancer-causing agents.
It can also lower blood glucose levels, making it highly effective against diabetes.
So while you're enjoying your red clover tea, why not munch on some muscadine grapes, or other dark-skinned grapes?
You could also drink some Californian red wine.
It won't help you fight cancer, as the wine-making process kills off the pterostilbene. But what the heck, just have a glass anyway.
Is that enough cancer-fighting information for you?
(“No!” the crowd shout, “WE WANT MORE! WE WANT MORE! WE WANT MORE!)
Okey dokey…
Beating cancer AND vampires
Vampires hate garlic. As do people on first dates.
Cancer cells aren't too keen on it either.
For hundreds of year, people have been using chopped up garlic to fight skin cancer. Make a poultice of garlic and castor oil, paste it onto your skin, and the tumour could shrivel and die in a matter of days.
It's all because of allicin, the chemical that gives garlic its flavor. Allicin, produced by a biochemical reaction between alliinase and alliin, is toxic to cancer cells.
Usually, when you chew garlic, the allicin is produced, then neutralised before it reaches the parts that need it..
But Israeli researchers have found a way to get these two compounds to the site of a tumour seprately. Then, when they reach the cancer cells, the idea is that they'll combine, release allicin, and start to destroys the cells.
Clever stuff, but we'll have to wait for a bit of scientific progress first.
But many people still swear by garlic as a weapon against cancer. Even if you just eat it.
In 2000, a team of researchers from the University of North Carolina found that people who eat raw or cooked garlic regularly cut their risk of stomach cancer by about a half compared with those who eat none.
Try blending up some raw broccoli, garlic juice, onions and ginger. Some experts say it's one of the most potent anti-cancer concoctions you can drink.
Sounds like it could blow away a hangover from 20 miles, too!
As always, always consult your doctor first if you're worried about a serious illness like cancer. And discuss any major dietary changes with an expert first.
Look out for Sunday's email - another Best of The Year list!
Yours, as ever
Ray Collins
The Good Life Letter
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