Top AntiCancer Foods, Cancer Prevention Herbs, Natural Cancer Remedy

Japanese Ashitaba is a not frost tender perennial plant from the angelica genus endemic to Hachijojima. Its japanese nomenclature stems from the above-average regenerative capabilities the plant exhibits when getting injured. Harvesting a leaf at the break of day results often in a new sprout growing over night, being visible the following morning.

It is seen as a major contributor to the supposedly healthier, extended lives of the local residents what may be based on its substantial levels of vitamin B12 and chalcones that are unique to this species of angelica.

In folk medicine it is attributed to be diuretic, tonic, improve digestion, and applied topically to speed wound healing and prevent infection.

It has to be pointed out that most of this claims have yet to be proven in clinical trials, while studies substantiated furocoumarins in several plant components; an agent known to increase skin sensitivity to sunlight and may cause dermatitis.

Japanese Ashitaba contains chalcone, which is an aromatic ketone that forms the central core for a variety of important biological compounds, which are known collectively as chalcones. They show antibacterial, antifungal, antitumor and anti-inflammatory properties.

Some chalcones demonstrated the ability to block voltage-dependent potassium channels. They are also intermediates in the biosynthesis of flavonoids, which are substances widespread in plants and with an array of biological activities. Chalcones are also intermediates in the Auwers synthesis of flavones.

*Japanese Ashitaba is being studied for nerve growth factor, cancer, menopause, and a sundry of disease conditions.*

Fucoidan is a sulfated polysaccharide found mainly in various species of brown seaweed such as nori, kombu and wakame. Fucoidan have also been found in sea cucumber(Sea cucumber is a valuable Chinese foods remedy).

Substantial pharmaceutical research has been done on fucoidan, focusing primarily on two distinct forms: F-fucoidan and U-fucoidan. As a consequence of this research, U-fucoidan and F-fucoidan are now being marketed as a nutraceutical and food supplement.

*A study released in 2005 by Japanese researchers have indicated that F-fucoidan can induce apoptosis in human lymphoma cell lines.*

Fucoidan are believed in anti-tumor, anti-cancer, block cancer cells from developing and growing. It also provide anti-coagulant and anti-thrombotic effects that improve blood circulation. The substance appears to modulate the immune system and antioxidant actions as well.

Japanese sea-farmers have grown wakame for centuries and they still are the main producers and eaters. Japanese like to eat wakame which is a popular food in Japanese cuisine.

Wakame is a rich source of Eicosapentaenoic acid, an Omega-3 fatty acid. It has one of the higher nutrient:calorie ratios, and among the very highest for a vegetarian source. A typical 1-2 tablespoon serving of Wakame is roughly 3.75-7.5 kcals and provides 15-30 mgs of Omega-3's. Wakame also has high levels of calcium, iodine, thiamine and niacin.

Wakame contains Fucoidan. Fucoidan is a sulfated polysaccharide that can induce apoptosis in human lymphoma cell lines.

*However, the high iodine content of wakame has been blamed for thyroid problems.*

K

Kombu or konbu, also called dashima or haidai, is edible kelp from the family Laminariaceae widely eaten in East Asia, such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong.

Most kombu is extensively cultivated on ropes in the seas of Japan and Korea. Over 90 percent of Japanese kombu is cultivated, mostly in Hokkaido, but also as far south as the Seto Inland Sea.

Kombu is used extensively in Korean and Japanese cuisines. Kombu is also used to prepare a seasoning for rice that is going to be made into sushi. Kombucha(seaweed tea or kombu tea) is a beverage brewed from dried and powdered kombu.

In China(and Hong Kong), kombu is also used as a traditional Chinese herbal remedies soup.

Nutrition and health effects

Kombu is a good source of glutamic acid, an amino acid responsible for umami, the Japanese word used for one of the five basic tastes in addition to salt, sweet, sour, and bitter, identified in 1908. Several foodstuffs in addition to kombu provide glutamic acid or glutamates. Monosodium glutamate (MSG), is often used as a food additive and flavor enhancer.

Kombu contains iodine, a mineral that is essential for normal growth and development. It is also a source of dietary fiber.

*However, the high iodine content of kombu has been blamed for thyroid problems.*

Nori is the Japanese name for various edible seaweed species of the red alga Porphyra including most notably P. yezoensis and P. tenera, sometimes called laver. Finished products are made by a shredding and rack-drying process that resembles papermaking. Japan, Korea, and China are the current major producers of nori, with total production valued at up to US$2 billion per year.

Nori is commonly used as a wrap for sushi and onigiri. It is also a common garnish or flavoring in noodle preparations and soups. Nori is most typically toasted prior to consumption. A very common and popular secondary product is toasted and flavored nori, in which a flavoring mixture is applied in combination with the toasting process.

Nori is a source of vitamin A, B, C1, iodine, protein, fiber and carotene. It also contains a great deal of calcium and iron.

For example, 100 g of dry yaki-nori has 41.4 g of protein, 3.7 g fat, 44.3 g carbohydrate, 280 mg of calcium, 300 mg magnesium, 2.4 mg potassium, 3.6 mg zinc, and 11.4 mg of iron.

The amount of contents differ slightly because of season, time of harvesting, temperature, and nutrients available in the sea water and also the streaming which transports fresh nutrients.

Medicinal mushrooms that may anti-cancer:

Edible Mushrooms
-- Agaricus Blazei Murill
-- Hericium Erinaceus
-- Enokitake / Flammulina velutipes
-- Agaricus bisporus
-- Pleurotus ostreatus / Oyster mushroom
-- Pholiota nameko
-- Lentinula edodes
-- Hypsizigus marmoreus
-- Auricularia auricula-judae
-- Tremella fuciformis

Taiwan / Chinese Herbal Remidies
* Antrodia camphorata (Taiwan)
* Cordyceps / Caterpillar fungus (Chinese)
* Maitake / Grifola frondosa / hen-of-the-woods (Chinese)
* Ganoderma lucidum (Chinese)
* Phellinus linteus (Chinese)
* Fu ling / Poria cocos (Chinese)

Immune Builder - Medicinal Mushrooms and Mushroom Polysaccharides

Mushrooms are not plants: they are a fungus. Mushrooms are good for health. They may inhibit growth of cancer.

For close to 5,000 years, mushrooms have been consumed for medicinal purposes. The concept of a medicinal mushroom is most established in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Russia, Eastern European and Baltic countries.

Research suggests medicinal mushrooms may be able to alter the immune response. Compounds in medicinal mushrooms most responsible for up-regulating the immune response, are a diverse class of polysaccharides (typically beta-glucan polysaccharides).

Although very few have been rigorously studied, recent reports have revealed the mechanism of action and structure-function attributes of some of these molecules. Certain polysaccharide immunomodulators have been identified that have profound effects in the regulation of immune response.

Agaricus Blazei Murill is grown mainly in southeastern Brazil. Agaricus is well known as a medicinal mushroom, especially in Japan, due to published research indicates Agaricus exhibit anticancer activity, may halt cancer growth, may increase immune cells and make immune cells more powerful.

In Japan, Agaricus is the most popular complementary and alternative medicine used by cancer patients.

According to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, "There is some proof showing Agaricus extract may benefit patients with certain cancers. But more studies are needed to confirm these observations."

Hericium erinaceus is an edible mushroom and medicinal mushroom, called "monkey head mushroom" in Chinese.

In traditional Chinese medicine, Hericium erinaceus has long been considered a herbal and medicinal mushroom and a study on rats in 2005 showed that some compounds in the mushroom, like threitol, D-arabinitol, and palmitic acid may have antioxidant effects, may regulate blood lipid levels and may reduce blood glucose levels.

Ying (1987) reports that pills of this mushroom are used in the treatment of gastric and esophageal carcinoma.

Heal Yourself by a cheap Medicinal Mushroom - Enokitake

Enokitake Mushroom is long, thin white mushroom used in Asian cuisine. This mushroom are cultivars of Flammulina velutipes also called golden mushroom or golden needle mushroom.

In Japan, (China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) enokitake mushroom is traditionally used for soups, but can also be used for salads and other dishes.

Research (From Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan) indicates enokitake mushroom contains an antitumor polysaccharide (Protein-poly saccharide) that exhibited potent anti-tumor activity against tumor/cancer cell (sarcoma SC-180).

Enokitake Mushroom are extensively used as a natural cancer remedy in Japan and Taiwan.

Enokitake mushrooms possess antioxidants like ergothioneine.

Research at the National University of Singapore first published in 2005 stated that the stalk of the golden needle mushroom contains a large quantity of a protein, designated Five, which helps to regulate the immune system. Animal testing indicated possible uses for vaccines and cancer immunotherapy.

It also contains flammutoxin, a cytolytic and cardiotoxic protein that may possibly be poorly absorbed orally.

Maitake mushroom is a traditional and valuable Chinese and Japanese medicine to enhance the immune system. Researchers have also indicated that whole maitake has the ability to regulate blood pressure, glucose, insulin, and both serum and liver lipids, such as cholesterol, triglycerides, and phospholipids, and may also be useful for weight loss.

Maitake is rich in minerals (such as potassium, calcium, and magnesium), various vitamins (B2, D2 and niacin), fibers and amino acids. One active constituent in Maitake for enhancing the immune activity was identified in the late 1980s as a protein-bound beta-glucan compound.

Maitake research

In 2009, a phase I/II human trial, conducted by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, showed Maitake could stimulate the immune systems of breast cancer patients.

Small experiments with human cancer patients, have shown Maitake can stimulate immune system cells, like NK cells. In vitro research has also shown Maitake can stimulate immune system cells. An in vivo experiment showed that Maitake could stimulate both the innate immune system and adaptive immune system.

In vitro research has shown Maitake can induce apoptosis in cancer cell lines as well as inhibit the growth of various types of cancer cells. Small studies with human cancer patients, revealed a portion of the Maitake mushroom, known as the "Maitake D-fraction", possess anti-cancer activity. In vitro research demonstrated the mushroom has potential anti-metastatic properties. In 1997, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved an Investigational New Drug Application for a portion of the mushroom.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maitake

Vegetables of the family Brassicaceae (also called Cruciferae) are called Cruciferous vegetables. Some of them may protect against cancer.

Cruciferous Vegetables:
- Brassica
- Broccoli
- Brussels sprout
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Chinese Broccoli (kai-lan)
- Chinese Cabbage
- Daikon (also called white radish)
- Mustard
- Radish
- Rapini
- Wasabi

(Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have discovered that 3,3'-diindolylmethane in Brassica vegetables is a strong androgen receptor antagonist in human prostate cancer cells.)

Daikon is root vegetable in the family Brassicaceae(Cruciferous Vegetables), commonly available white in color. Daikon is also called White Radish, Japanese radish, Oriental radish, Chinese radish and Mooli. Despite being known most commonly by its Japanese name, it did not originate in Japan.

Although there are many varieties of daikon, the most common in Japan, the aokubi-daikon, has the shape of a giant carrot, approximately 20 to 35 cm long and 5 to 10 cm in diameter. One of the most unusually shaped varieties of daikon cultivated in Kagoshima Prefecture is the turnip-shaped sakurajima daikon, which often grows as large as 50 cm in diameter and weighs as much as 45 kg.

In Japanese cuisine, many types of pickles are made with daikon including takuan and bettarazuke. Daikon is also frequently used shredded and mixed into ponzu (a soy sauce and yuzu juice condiment) as a dip. Simmered dishes are also popular such as oden. Cut and dried daikon is called 'Kiriboshi-daikon'(literally, cut-dried daikon) which is a common method of preserving food in Japan. Daikon radish sprouts ('Kaiware-daikon') are used for salad or garnishing of sashimi.

Daikon is very low in food energy, high in dietary fiber, vitamin and anti-cancer compound. Daikon is a weight loss remedy, also used for other specific medicinal purposes.

Cauliflower is one of several vegetables in the family Brassicaceae(Cruciferous Vegetables). It is an annual plant that reproduces by seed. Typically, only the head (the white curd) of aborted floral meristems is eaten, while the stalk and surrounding thick, green leaves are used in vegetable broth or discarded. Cauliflower is nutritious, and may be eaten cooked, raw or pickled.

Its name is from Latin caulis and flower, an acknowledgment of its unusual place among a family of food plants which normally produces only leafy greens for eating.

Cauliflower and broccoli are the same species and have very similar structures, though cauliflower replaces the green flower buds with white inflorescence meristem.

Nutrition

Cauliflower is low in fat, high in dietary fiber, folate, vitamin C and carotenoids, possessing a very high nutritional density. As a member of the brassica family, cauliflower also contains several phytochemicals which are beneficial to human health, including sulforaphane, an anti-cancer compound released when cauliflower is chopped or chewed.

Boiling reduces the levels of anti-cancer compounds, with losses of 20-30% after five minutes, 40-50% after ten minutes, and 75% after thirty minutes. However, other preparation methods such as steaming, microwaving, and stir frying had no significant effect on the compounds.

Along with other brassica vegetables, cauliflower is a source of indole-3-carbinol, a chemical which boosts DNA repair in cells and appears to block the growth of cancer cells.

The compound also appears to work as an anti-estrogen, appearing to slow or prevent the growth of tumors of the breast and prostate. A high intake of cauliflower has been found to reduce the risk of aggressive prostate cancer.

Cauliflower also contains other glucosinolates besides sulfurophane, substances which may improve the liver's ability to detoxify carcinogenic substances.

Broccoli is a plant of the Kale family Brassicaceae (formerly Cruciferae). Broccoli most closely resembles cauliflower, which is a different cultivar group of the same species.

Culinary

Broccoli is usually boiled or steamed, but may be eaten raw and has become popular as a raw vegetable. Boiling reduces the levels of suspected anti-cancer compounds in broccoli, with losses of 20 - 30% after five minutes, 40 - 50% after ten minutes, and 77% after thirty minutes.

However, other preparation methods such as steaming, microwaving, and stir frying had no significant effect on the compounds. Steaming broccoli for 3-4 minutes is recommended to maximize the anti-cancer compound, sulforaphane.

Broccoli and Kiwi Juice

Ingredients
2 kiwi fruits
60g broccoli
100ml water

Seasonings
1 tbsp lemon juice
honey or sugar to taste

Method
1. Cut broccoli into small pieces. Peel kiwi fruits and cut into slices.
2. Put broccoli, kiwi fruits and 50ml of water into a blender and blend well.
3. Add remaining water. Strain and pour into a glass.
4. Stir in lemon juice and honey/sugar. Serve.

Kimchi represents Korea's best known healthy food. Kimchi is a traditional Korean dish, made of vegetables with varied seasonings. There are hundreds of varieties of kimchi, but the main vegetable ingredient is Chinese Cabbage.

Chinese Cabbage is also used in Japanese cuisine.

*Chinese Cabbage(also called Napa Cabbage) are Believed to Protect Against Colon Cancer.*

This is one of my favorite vegetable soup. Healthy, tasty and easy, so I make this Chinese Cabbage soup at least twice a week.

Ingredients
- 250g Chinese Cabbage (also called Napa Cabbage)
- 1 tomato
- 1 egg
- 2 slices ginger
- some chopped spring onions

Seasonings
dash of salt
dash of pepper
3 teaspoon of oil

Method
1. Beat egg and stir it till well beaten. Cut tomato into slices and set it aside.
2. Heat the oil and fry egg in a pot till the egg cooked. Let the egg stay in the pot.
3. Bring 5 cups of water and add into the pot to a boil.
4. Put Chinese Cabbage into the pot and cook it for 2 minutes.
5. Add the slices ginger and tomato into the soup and cook it for 1 more minute.
6. Put some chopped spring onions, pepper and salt into the soup.
7. Combine well and serve!

Wasabi is a member of the Brassicaceae family, which known as "Japanese horseradish", its root is used as a condiment and has an extremely strong flavor. Its hotness is more akin to that of a hot mustard rather than the capsaicin in a chili pepper, producing vapors that stimulate the nasal passages more than the tongue.

Wasabi is generally sold either in the form of a root which is very finely grated before use, or as a ready-to-use paste (either real wasabi or a mixture of horseradish, mustard, and food coloring), usually in tubes approximately the size and shape of travel toothpaste tubes.

In some restaurants the paste is usually prepared as needed by the customer using the root and a grater directly; once the paste is prepared, it will lose flavor within 15 minutes.In sushi preparation, covering wasabi until served preserves flavor, and for this reason, sushi chefs usually put the wasabi between the fish and the rice.

The chemicals in wasabi that provide its unique flavor are the isothiocyanates and research has shown that isothiocyanates can activates enzymes in the liver which further helps in detoxifying cancer causing substances before they can do damage to the body.

Wasabi not only prevents tumor growth, but also posses anti-bacterial properties. Regular consumption of wasabi will stop the growth of certain strains of bacteria that causes food poisoning.

• #1 Wakame
• #2 Kombu
• #3 Agaricus Blazei Murill
• #4 Enokitake
• #5 Wasabi
• #6 Eggplant
• #7 Daikon
• #8 Maitake
• #9 Japanese Ashitaba
• #10 Sweet Potatoes