Tag Archives: Cancer Risks

Dietary Fats: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Not all fats are bad. In fact, dietary fats are essential for nutrition and health. What really matters is the type and amount of fat you eat. Pull up a chair and let’s go through Dietary Fats 101.

Why is dietary fat necessary?
It’s a source of energy.
It facilitates vitamin absorption.
It makes food taste better.
Importantly, fats serve as a rootstock of calories and nutrients for infants/toddlers during their growth and development.

When is it bad?
When too much consumption contributes to these serious health problems:
1. Heart disease
2. Cancer development
3. Weight gain

How much total dietary fats do you need?
As recommended for an adult, your total fats should be limited to 20-35% of daily calories.

Not all fats are the same.

The “Good Fats”—healthy fats, i.e., monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.
S, olive oil_3814726474_8b1f2d9bcd_ssalmon_233231473_1c32f39b54_tGood fats lower risks of cancer and other chronic diseases. But not all “good fats” are created equal. When choosing good fats, quality is another factor to watch out for. Take an example of omega-3 essential fatty acid— the higher its content, the better.

The “good fats” can be found in the following dietary sources: olive oil, certain vegetable oils (such as canola, safflower, and corn), avocados, nuts (almonds, walnuts), fish like salmon and tuna (rich in omega-3 essential fatty acid), and flax seed.

The “Bad Fats”—saturated fats cheese_4297462_78426774bf_thumb
Saturated fats come from butter, cheese, cream (ice cream too), red meat, poultry skin, whole milk, and solid shortening, to name a few sources.

The “Ugly Fats”—trans fats (processed fats, hydrogenated fats)
Fr.Fries n cheese_422692736_b6975bd810_mTrans fats are actual opponents of your health because they raise your risks for heart disease and cancer. If you’d rather not keep company with the “bad fats”, you definitely don’t want to be found at the dinner table with the ugly ones. These ugly fats like to hang out at the local fast food joints or in processed food items. Dietary sources include fast foods, fried foods, margarine, cookies, crackers, donuts, muffins, and shortening, as well as any foods made with “partially hydrogenated oils.”

Now your fat intake regime is clear –

  • Consume good fats.
  • Reduce/replace bad fats.
  • Avoid trans fats as best you can.

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Remember: The key is to replace saturated and trans fats with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which is more effective in preventing heart disease and cancer than reducing overall fat intake. Your body will enjoy the company.

What’s your thought on dietary fats?

Photo credits: olive oil (by Flavio@Flickr), salmon (by rick ),  cheese (by Joi), and delicious fries (by Joe Shlabotnik )

Trans Fats and Processed Fats: The Consequence

These days, probably everyone knows about the evils of trans fats. But do you know that despite public knowledge, people may not be aware they are consuming a good portion of trans fats? What are trans fats exactly? How do they impact our health? And on a practical note, how do we avoid them?

Trans fats (or trans fatty acids, TFA) are formed through an industrial process called hydrogenation, in which hydrogen is added to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid. So, they are processed fats. TFA are also found in small amounts in various animal products such as beef, pork, lamb, and the butterfat in butter and milk.

How bad are trans fats?
1. Trans fats raise total blood cholesterol levels, particularly LDL (bad) cholesterol.
2. Trans fats lower HDL (good) cholesterol levels. Higher LDL and lower HDL may increase the risk of heart disease, the leading killer of men and women in the U.S.
3. Trans fats may increase inflammation, a process in which your body responds to injury. It’s known that inflammation plays a key role in the blockage of blood vessels, as well as in the development of cancer.  Trans Fat_1430996646_77cda80359_m

How do you know if the food contains trans fats?
Be careful about the words printed on the food package or Nutrition Facts Label.
Here’s how you should interpret such words:
“hydrogenated”/”partially hydrogenated” = trans fats
“shortening” = containing trans fats
“Trans Fats: 0 grams” = likely and/or actually containing trans fats
or  “Trans Fats: 0 grams” = contains less than 1 gram per serving, meaning if a food package contains several servings, you may end up consuming several grams of trans fats.

What are food sources of trans fats?
Here are some common foods that often contain trans fats :
- Margarine
- Red meats (beef, pork or lamb, esp. as the main dish or processed food)
- Cookies and crackers
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- Microwave popcorn
- White bread
- Fast foods (e.g. fried chicken, biscuits, fried fish sandwiches, French fries, etc)
- Foods at many restaurants

If you eat out a lot, be cautious, as there are no food labels that come with your meal, and many restaurants use trans fats. The lack of regulations for labeling restaurant foods could be profitable for the restaurants, yet hurtful to your health.

You can also check out 10 Surprising Foods That Contain Trans Fats.

Here is the problem:
It is hard to evaluate the trans fats content in food items, thereby making consumption difficult to monitor. For example, do you know what you get from one doughnut at breakfast? More than 3 grams of TFA.  How about one large serving of french fries? More than 5 grams of TFA.

Although the FDA requires trans fats to be listed on the nutrition label, there are no labeling regulations for fast foods or restaurant foods. So, foods containing the unhealthy fats can even be advertised as “cholesterol-free” and “cooked in vegetable oil.” Plus it’s easy to be fooled, because food labels can read, “Trans Fats: 0 grams” when actually those foods contain trans fats. Needless to say, many folks are misled by marketing tricks or advertisements that often disguise lies under a thin veneer of facts.

Solutions:
Only you can say “NO” to trans fats, which is the most effective one.

In addition, limit trans fats intake to less than 1 percent of your total calories per day, as the American Heart Association recommends. This means if you need 2,000 calories a day, you should consume less than 2 grams of trans fats (i.e. less than 20 calories trans fats).

Photo Credit: by Mykl Roventine

The Dirt on Household Cleaners: Hazardous or Beneficial?

Are you ready for the Spring Cleaning? What cleaning products do you use to make your home clean and sparkle? Without realizing it, people have put health hazards in their homes while using many popular cleaners. Additionally, they may use spray bottles with these potentially toxic chemicals that go into the air they breathe. With tiny droplets and residue, the risks are substantially increased from asthma to cancer.

What’s hiding in those “cleaning agents”?

Toxic ingredients in household cleaning products contain carcinogens, i.e., cancer-causing chemicals, in addition to endocrine disrupters and neurotoxins. Several carcinogens, classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), are commonly found in household cleaners. Here are some examples:

A carpet cleaner may contain perchlorethylene, a known carcinogen.
A paint stripper may contain methylene chloride, listed as a possible human carcinogen.
Moth balls and moth crystals contain either naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene, listed as a possible human carcinogen.
Laundry detergents may contain trisodium nitrilotriacetate (NTA), listed as a possible human carcinogen.

Other known carcinogens such as benzene, formaldehyde, vinyl chloride, and carbon tetrachloride are also present in household cleaning products. (Learn more about their cancer-causing properties in this in-depth article “Eliminate Cancerous Roots in Our Homes”)

The ugly truth is that it often takes years and decades to develop cancer, through continual exposure to hazardous chemicals or even possibly long after chronic exposure. It’s such a sad consequence, given the fact that, with the right knowledge, we can control the exposure and avoid cancer risks discussed here.
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What paths do these toxins travel?

1. They can remain on any surface you’ve cleaned.
2. They can enter your body via inhalation, contact, or possible ingestion.
3. For a pregnant woman, these chemicals or toxins can migrate through her own body into that of her baby, where they can damage the developing brain or other organs. As a result, a baby could be born with a defect or illness.
4. They can cycle back into your home. Although you may feel safe after watching the used chemicals disappear down the drain or toilet, it is possible for them to leach back into the tap water systems.

The point is — Even if the amounts are tiny, they can build up over time, contaminating the water we use to drink or cook, shower in, and wash our clothes and dishes. So, make sure what you’re using at home is safe, not just convenient. Think before you pour any chemicals down the drain.

More importantly, take action to protect yourself and your loved ones. Go through your household cleaners, such as bathroom disinfectants, glass cleaners, drain cleaners, oven cleaners, dish detergents, garden pesticides, paints, paint strippers, stain removers, furniture polish, detergents, degreasers, and even flea powders. Check to see if any toxic and cancerous ingredients are present, and safely eliminate them.

Check our website for options.

Spring Cleaning: Control Indoor Dust

Many people are aware of health risks from exposure to outdoor pollution or sources like cigarette smoke, but many remain ignorant of health hazards from indoor dust.

What can indoor dust do to your body?

Crawling_1345796643_4159cd3fba_mOn the surface, dust may seem trivial, more of an annoyance than a health risk. However, think about it carefully. Dust contains various harmful substances, such as bacteria, viruses, mold, lead, endocrine disrupters, and cancer-causing chemicals. Because indoor environments have a limited volume of air, low levels of dust and pollutants can make up higher concentrations of these particles per breath, contributing to higher levels of risk to the human body.

The most vulnerable are young children. They spend a lot of time indoors, often at floor level, playing and putting toys or objects in their mouths. They may swallow indoor dust via a hand-to-mouth behavior as they play on the floor, becoming exposed to harmful chemicals in the dust. This reality, coupled with physiological factors including a smaller body size and an immature immune system, make children particularly at risk from pollutants in indoor dust.

How can you reduce health risk from indoor dust?

Fortunately, we can control indoor dust. Spring cleaning is an excellent opportunity to do so. Here are seven simple yet effective ways to control dust and pollutants in your home:

1. Use a wet cloth, instead of “dry dusting” them around.

2. Leave your shoes near the door, if possible. A recent study revealed that most floor dust is actually tracked in from the outside and may contain potentially harmful substances.
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3. Regularly replace filters on heating and air-conditioning systems. The filters help remove dust from indoor air, as long as they are cleaned, well maintained, and/or periodically replaced.

4. Install an air purifier. Air-purification devices can help reduce the amount of pollutants present in closed indoor spaces.

5. Decorate with house plants. House plants not only convert carbon dioxide to oxygen but also absorb some pollutants to make air cleaner. However, not all house plants can function efficiently in filtering out pollutants or toxins from indoor air. Make sure to pick the right one.

6.  Open windows and use a fan when cleaning. The act of cleaning stirs settled dust into the air. When cleaning, point the fan toward the window or use the fan against the window to blow dust outside.

7.  Change the bags in your vacuum cleaners often. Vacuum cleaners whose bags are overfull will not function properly, only dispersing dust into the air – very counterproductive indeed.

Photo Credit: by whgrad

What else can you add to the list? What experience can you share?

How to Reduce Cancer Risks with Meat Preparation

Meat, pork, beef, and chicken are delicious. However, how it’s prepared or cooked may raise your cancer risk. Cooking meat such as beef, pork and fish at high temperatures can create a cancer-causing chemical called heterocyclic amines (HCAs). Frying, broiling, and barbecuing produce the largest amounts of HCAs because the meats are cooked at very high temperatures. So, here’s a word of caution: avoid burning or high-temperature heating (e.g. oven > 350°F) of these meats for extended time.

meatNow you might be wondering, “But how do I cook delicious meats without producing any carcinogens?”

1. Prepare with extra time. For you barbecue chefs out there, trim the excess fat and remove the skin from any meat you are grilling, then marinate the meat for at least 30 minutes before grilling, because the marinade will serve as a coating or a barrier.

2. Practice carcinogen-free grilling techniques. Keep the gas jets low or wait until the charcoal turns into glowing coal before you start cooking. During grilling, turn the meat frequently to avoid charring, and control the flames of the grill and the grease that drips from the meat.

3. Scrape off any black parts!

4. Use other ways of cooking. The most common and easy one is using a conventional oven, where roasting or baking may be done at lower temperatures, thereby forming lower levels of HCAs.
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5. Another alternative is the pressure cooker. Again it mainly uses steam based on a lower temperature, not only lowering carcinogen exposure, but also keeping the meat well-moist and tasty. Extra bonus: time-saving!

6. Then there’s the slow cooker. Stewing or boiling may be done at or below 212°F (100°C) which creates negligible amounts of cancer-causing chemicals.

7. Quick stir-fry, but not deep-fry. Because it’s done quickly, a lower level of the carcinogen is formed.

8. Add cancer-fighting ingredients or antioxidant-rich herbs as necessary seasoning. For example, use garlic, because it has a strong anti-microbial effect and potential cancer-fighting power. Plus it contains health-promoting antioxidants like flavonoids and can stimulate the immune system. Other antioxidant-rich herbs such as basil, oregano, or thyme can be your smart choices too.

What other techniques do you use or can be added to the list?