As I discussed on Monday, women in Mongolia — who rely on a diet full of red meat and full-fat dairy — have the lowest rates of breast cancer in the world.
While this finding goes against what most mainstream doctors have been preaching for decades, it makes a lot of sense to me…
For one, dietary fat simply isn’t the enemy it’s been made out to be. Period. In fact, dietary fat has a protective effect against many chronic diseases — including breast cancer and prostate cancer.
Second, as I pointed out last time, it’s important to note the women in Mongolia typically eat free-range, grass-fed red meat and dairy. Which makes all the difference, for one big reason…
Key nutrient linked to major health benefits
Red meat and full-fat dairy from ruminant animals that eat grass — including cows, goats, and sheep — contain high levels of a key nutrient called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). And ongoing research links CLA to dramatic reductions in inflammation, obesity, and chronic disease — including many different types of cancer.
Essential nutrients like CLA, fats, and other vitamins are produced by breaking down and fermenting cellulose from grass — which is indigestible to humans — in a compartment in their digestive system called the rumen, which contains billions of probiotic (healthy) bacteria.
These grass-eating animals are essentially natural vegetarians by design. They can easily break down and convert all of these protective plant nutrients.
But the human digestive system isn’t equipped the same way. Instead, we need to eat free-range, grass-fed meat and full-fat dairy from these animals for optimal nutrition. So it makes sense that, over thousands of years, we learned to breed livestock to ensure this important nutritional boost remained in our regular diets.
It also makes sense that CLA provides protection against cancer…
Lab studies demonstrate anti-cancer effects of CLA
In one recent lab study published in the journal Cancer Research, researchers gave two groups of mice a carcinogenic chemical that causes breast cancer. The first group received a standard diet without CLA. The second group received a standard diet with CLA.
Turns out, 80 percent of the mice on the standard diet without CLA developed breast cancer. By comparison, just 40 percent of the mice fed a regular diet with CLA developed breast cancer. That’s a 50 percent reduction!
Furthermore, other studies show that when animals with established breast cancer were fed a diet with CLA, the cancer cells actually took up the CLA, resulting in decreased tumors.
So, how does this work?
Research shows that when animals consume foods with CLA, it actually becomes incorporated into the breast tissue itself, which includes adipose (or fatty) tissue. Again, it’s not so surprising that a nutrient found in animal fat would seek out fatty tissue in the human body and serve a protective role.
Ironically, mainstream medical oncology spends a fortune trying to figure out how to localize toxic treatments to a cancer tumor, instead of allowing it to spread throughout the body, poisoning all our normal cells.
But Nature provides a perfectly safe and effective way to localize CLA directly in the susceptible breast tissue.
Other recent studies with CLA have focused specifically on prostate cancer…
CLA targets prostate cancer too
In one recent study, mice with prostate cancer were given CLA or linoleic acid. (High amounts of linoleic acid are found in vegetable oils like canola and corn. Previous lab research links it with high rates of cancer.)
Turns out, the cancer spread (or metastasized) in 80 to 100 percent of the mice fed linoleic acid. But it spread in only 10 percent of the CLA-fed mice.
In other lab studies, researchers link CLA to reduced cancer in the colon, liver, and skin. And as time goes on, I anticipate the list will grow.
Plus — many of these studies found that adding CLA to the diet for just four months was enough to stop cancer induction. In fact, a benefit was seen even in as little as three to five weeks!
CLA has other known benefits, including better glucose tolerance, improved weight loss, and increased lean body and muscle mass.
All these findings make sense, as I often talk about the importance of getting more protein for maintaining muscle mass, especially as we get older. Typically, we think of eating meat to get more protein.
Of course, getting more protein typically also means getting more fat, since these two nutrients occur together in foods.
Which brings me to my next point…
Seven simple tips for getting more CLA in your diet
Some studies show Americans get as little as 150 mg of CLA per day. But you need much more to achieve optimal health.
Here are a few good rules of thumb to follow:
- Always choose free-range, grass-fed red meat, which has the highest amounts of CLA. They also contain important fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, and E.
- Always choose free-range, grass-fed, full-fat butter, cream, milk, and yogurt — the types of dairy with the highest amount of CLA. (Skim and low-fat milk contain much more sugar and none of the good fats.)
- Cheese is also a good source of CLA, with cottage and ricotta cheese having the highest amounts.
- For meat, lamb has the most CLA, followed by beef. Turkey also has a moderate amount. But chicken and pork are poor sources. Chicken is also very high in linoleic acid, which you don’t want. (Just another reason I often question why people think chicken is healthier than other meats, like beef and lamb.)
- Cook your vegetables and sear your meat with grass-fed butter. (Vegetable oils — such as corn, olive, peanut, and safflower are completely lacking in CLA.)
- Cook your eggs in grass-fed butter.
- Put grass-fed cream in your coffee.
You can learn more about the importance of fat in protecting against cancer in my online Authentic Anti-Cancer Protocol. You can learn more about it or enroll today by clicking here.
Sources:
- “Mammary Cancer Prevention by Conjugated Dienoic Derivative of Linoleic Acid,” Cancer Res1991;51:6118-6124.
- “Opposite effects of linoleic acid and conjugated linoleic acid on human prostatic cancer in SCID mice,” Anticancer research1998;18:1429-1434