Breast Cancer, Diabetes and Insulin: What you Know Could Save Your Life

Happy Columbus Day to you all! We celebrate Columbus Day today in remembrance of the discovery of America in 1492. So today, I thought it apropos to write about something that was not discovered today but that could have just as great an impact on our lives. In my last blog, I spoke of early detection of diabetes using insulin instead of current methods using blood sugar. Moving forward, I will introduce the link between insulin and other medical conditions that may be as valuable as the discovery of America because it may save your life!
So on the day we celebrate discovery and the month we celebrate breast cancer awareness (this month marks the 25th anniversary of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month), I am going to write about something everyone should know: The link between insulin and breast cancer.
What we know about higher insulin levels:
1. A link exists between high insulin levels, overweight and both diabetes and breast cancer. Women with diabetes are 20% more likely to get breast cancer than women without diabetes. http://www.diabeticcareservices.com/diabetes-education/breast-cancer-and-diabetes
2. High insulin levels are linked to increased breast cancer risk for all women but especially true for post-menopausal women
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090709170819.htm
3. High insulin levels contribute to breast cancer recurrence, http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/100/8/530
4. Higher insulin levels indicate a lower rate of breast cancer survival regardless of weight. Both overweight and thin women with high insulin levels have a lower chance to survive breast cancer. http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/320/7248/1496/a
Help yourself live a healthy life. Eat foods that do not provoke blood sugar spikes to help keep insulin levels in normal levels.
1. Non-starchy vegetables
2. fish, poultry, meat
3. nuts and seeds and nut butters
4. low glycemic fruit
5. legumes
6. Misc., shredded coconut, avocado, olives, real butter, ghee
We know that some carbohydrates are converted to sugar rapidly in our bodies and insulin is automatically released to bring blood sugar down. Avoid foods that have this affect on our bodies.
1. Sweets, desserts and commercially prepared foods that contain partially hydrogenated oil, high fructose corn syrup or corn syrup, maltodextrin, sugar
2. high glycemic carbohydrates, potato, pasta, rice, cold cereal
3. large meals
A nutrition team at the University of Connecticut has supporting evidence of the link between eating high carbohydrate food and insulin responses http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/134/4/880 and health experts agree, http://www.ultraprevention.com/healing/insulin_resistance.htm.
So I urge you to speak to your doctor about checking insulin levels as part of your annual check-up. Howard Strickler, M.D., M.P.H. believes that checking insulin levels to screen and identify breast cancer early would prove to be a useful tool in breast cancer prevention. “It is also possible that screening non-diabetic postmenopausal women for high insulin levels could prove useful in identifying individuals at high risk for breast cancer,” says Dr. Strickler, http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-01/aeco-hil010909.php.
There is a common denominator amongst breast cancer and diabetes and insulin is its name. This advice could save your life or the life of someone you know, act now. Get insulin levels tested! If you want to take a quick test to determine if you may have high insulin or hormone levels, check out my book on Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/Stubborn-Fat-Fix-Metabolic-Exercise/dp/159486828X.