Cancer Prevention with Dr. Tania Benatar
Content Courtesy of the Forever Young Podcast with Christiana Egi and Cherrie-Marie Chiu.
On an episode of the Forever Young Podcast, we had the opportunity to talk about cancer prevention with Dr. Tania Benatar. Dr. Tania is a Research Associate at the Sunnybrook Health Science Center. She has a Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Toronto and has done research in Stem Cell Research and Cancer Research. We learned how to prevent cancer from our bodies by maintaining good health through eating good food, getting the right amount of exercise, and rest. We hope our readers are able to take something from this article and have taken action to safeguard themselves against disease. Christiana Egi and Dr. Tania are partners in wellness. They share a common interest in helping people live their best lives, sharing information on the promotion and maintenance of health and wellness as well as weight management. Listen to the full episode below or continue reading to find out more about cancer prevention from Dr. Tania!
Cancer is a loss of normal growth control, simply put. It’s a disease caused by uncontrolled vision of abnormal cells in parts of the body. A combination of mutations in damaged cells can create an uncontrolled growth to the point where you get a malignant growth of the tumor. There is another way our body deals with it and that is our immune system. Let’s call it the cancer immunity cycle. Our bodies are already built to fight cancer. When a cancer cell dies in our body it releases little protein bits of itself. These little protein bites (or antigens) get picked up by antigen-presenting cells, and they go to a lymph node for draining. Then, the antigen-presenting cells present the antigens to T cells. The T cells have now been activated, and they are then able to travel around the body looking for tumor cells. When T cells arrive at a location where tumor cells are present, they enter their environment and essentially kill the tumor cells. This all happens if our immune systems are healthy. That is pretty awesome of our bodies!
What are free radical damage and its connection to cancer? Free radical damage happens as a result of radiation pollution, stress, poor nutrition, UV rays, eating lots of addicts and pesticides. A healthy, stable molecule has paired electrons but when these electrons are unpaired as a result of something such as UV rays, it leads to instability in the cells. it leads to a vicious cycle of damaged cells due to this free radical damage. Read more about free radical damage here.
Antioxidants help us with the situation, allowing it to stabilize and become less reactive. So, having access to antioxidants on a regular basis can be good for your body and its immune system.
So, how do we understand how to keep our immune system healthy, so that this process can occur in our bodies? There are loads of information out there about things we can do, or foods we should eat to protect ourselves against cancer. There are also a lot of things that put us at risk for cancer. For example, as we age, our immune systems are not as strong as before. Smoking can expose our bodies to all kinds of chemicals that can actually cause mutations in our DNA. We must also protect ourselves from the sun because UV damage can also create mutations in our bodies. Some people, unfortunately, have certain genetic changes, but those genetic factors do not lead to a definite direction of cancer.
The list is long, but it is hopeful because there are many things we can do to help prevent cancer in our bodies. Cancer is not that scary when you know that there are things you can do to protect yourself against it.
Exercise is important because it reduces stress and that can be extremely detrimental to our bodies. If you are exposed to chemicals at work or at home, try to minimize that, as well as certain types of infections, which can also raise your risk.
Keep yourself extra healthy. Eating an unhealthy diet can lead to obesity, which causes inflammation - an environment in which cancer thrives. You want to have to eat a healthy diet. Getting the right kinds of foods and antioxidants can do wonders for your body!
80% of our immune system is actually found in our gut - so all health and disease begin in the gut as well. We want to keep our gut healthy by reducing inflammatory grains in certain situations, like gluten and sugar. Sugar actually feeds cancer and bad bacteria in our gut called the microbiome. Essentially if you lose protective bacteria in the gut, you may be at more risk of getting cancer. Having a healthy gut microbiome is important to have a long and healthy life. It is recommended to take a high-quality probiotic supplement. Our gut is very sensitive to things we consume such as high sugar, high fats, and high carbs. Try to stick to a diet that consists of lots of fruits, vegetables, antioxidants, lean protein, and healthy fats. Find more information about how to keep your gut health in check on our blog or listen to our podcast episode on Gut Health!
Now that we know that the majority of cancers are due to lifestyle and environmental issues, we know that most of these can be prevented. However, even when the inevitable happens, you have to realize that there are nutritional options that can be combined with cancer therapy, to make us respond better or even give us a better outcome. Let food be your medicine and use it as a preventive measure - that is where you can be your healthiest. Follow Dr. Tania’s journey on her wellness website, EdenbrookWellness which offers lots of advice on how to live your best and healthiest lives! We hope this encouraged our readers to be more conscious about their gut health and immune system and was encouraged to take a step to make a healthier life decision today. Remember, you’re never too old to become younger!
The Forever Young podcast is created and produced by Christiana and Cherrie Marie Chiu. Produced and engineered by Elisse Hill. The podcast represents our opinions and those of our guests. The content should not be taken as medical advice. It is for informational purposes only. Please consult your health care professional for any medical questions. If you like our show, please tell your friends and leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. New episodes are available every other Wednesday. Have questions? Email us at ourforeveryoungpodcast@gmail.com.
