By Penelope A. Domogo, MD
Last week, I mentioned about Professor Janet Plant, a scientist from the United Kingdom, who had breast cancer. Let me continue to share her amazing healing journey.
Professor Janet’s breast cancer recurred 5X, even after she went on the Bristol diet (a kind of diet for cancer patients), mastectomy, radiotherapy and had her ovaries irradiated to induce menopause and eliminate estrogen. After being given only three months to live, she decided to take an active part in her healing and she was finally cured when she avoided all dairy products. She went on to write this very informative book on her journey to healing, entitled “Your Life in Your Hands.”. Being a scientist, she asked a lot of WHYs and her search for the answers uncovered a lot of information that led to her decision of giving up all dairy products. Plant said that the original title of the book was “What I want my Daughter To Know”. She wrote “The 63 women with breast cancer who followed my diet and survived their cancer encouraged me to publish the book. I was reluctant at first- I knew I’d get flak for it, because science is an adversarial process. But morally, I felt if I had done the research and I had the information, I should share it with others. Men and women have the right to know what I know, and to draw their own conclusions.”
Now this information from Dr. Plant has reached me and it is just morally right that I share them with you. You, dear reader, have the right to know and then draw your own conclusion and decision. Plant’s book was published in 2000. The China Study by T. Colin Campbell and his son Thomas M. Campbell was published in 2006. Together with our experience here as indigenous peoples in the Cordillera, I think these 2 books contain enough information for us to make the right lifestyle choices. Prof. Plant’s book dealt specifically but extensively with breast cancer so let us see she how arrived at her life-changing and life-giving decision.
Prof. Plant wondered why breast cancer was rare in China. She said “The disease was virtually non-existent throughout the whole country. Only one in 10,000 women in China will die from it, compared to that terrible figure of one in 12 in Britain and the even grimmer average of one in 10 across most Western countries.” Later, she and her husband realized that the Chinese don’t eat dairy products! She and her husband have worked with Chinese so they had first-hand experience on this. Here in the Philippines, you can go to a traditional Chinese restaurant and you will not find any dairy in the menu. Their desserts or snacks are not cakes or ice cream or sherbet or ice buko. No, no, a favorite Chinese dessert would be botchi. Chowking has halo-halo but then that is Filipino. How about our Igorot elders? How about our hero, Lapu-lapu? Did they ever have dairy in their diet?
Why don’t the Chinese drink milk or eat cheese? Prof. Plant says that they don’t tolerate it. I also learned in medical school that most Asians don’t tolerate cow’s milk. This is called lactose intolerance. Well, research shows that our body slows down the production of lactase, the enzyme that digests lactose, when we reach two years of age. Again in the local scene, I think a lot of us adults today would remember the “supply” of skim milk and buttermilk we had in elementary school and there were many who developed diarrhea after drinking that milk. Fortunately, this “supply” was discontinued in the 1980s. I know a lot of adults who can’t tolerate milk. What’s nature’s message with lactose intolerance? Lesson #1: Milk is only for the baby. When the baby grows teeth, it is a signal that the baby is ready to eat solid food. Why do you think we have teeth in the first place? These solid food like rice and vegetables (natural and as fresh as you can get) would give all the necessary nutrients for healthy growth and development. Lesson #2: The milk taken by the baby should be from the same species because the nutrients differ from species to species. The traditional Chinese, just like traditional Igorots, don’t feed cow’s milk to their babies- they use wet nurses if necessary. Despite their wealth, Japanese women continue to breastfeed their babies and have lower breast cancer rates. China and Japan have studied nature for many centuries and learned how to live according to nature’s laws to attain good health and happiness. They have less cancers and other degenerative diseases. Just like our parents and grandparents. Let us learn from them.
The theory why many adults now are able to tolerate cow’s milk and other dairy products is because their bodies have adapted to it after many years of exposure. But this doesn’t mean that their bodies will also be immune from the assault of heavy protein, cholesterol and female hormones from dairy. Although I am Asian, I don’t have lactose intolerance and I thought “yehey, I can have Martha’s share of ice cream!” So I had a double dose of dairy when we were in college. Until I got health problems many years later. That was when I learned those two lessons mentioned above. Well, dear reader, you don’t have to experiment with yourself or your family because many have experimented before.
What else did Prof. Plant discover? She discovered that whatever causes breast cancer is not genetic. Research shows that when Chinese and Japanese people move to America, within one or two generations later, their rates of breast cancer approach those of their host community (that is America). She said “The same thing happens when oriental people adopt a completely western lifestyle in Hongkong.” Western food includes ice cream, chocolates, spaghetti, feta cheese, yoghurt. Yes, yoghurt is also dairy. She discovered “that way back in 1989, yoghurt had been implicated in ovarian cancer.”
Here in the Cordillera, those who developed cancer of any kind don’t have any family history of cancer. This is true for the other degenerative diseases like hypertension, diabetes, kidney disease, rayuma. But just because your family has none of these diseases makes you free to indulge in milk and other dairy products. Remember what was mentioned earlier- the disease will manifest within one to two generations later. By the way, may I call the attention of our men folk. Milk and dairy products have also been implicated in prostate cancer and men can develop breast cancer, too. Men also have breasts, no matter how flat.
Researches among vegetarian Seventh Day Adventist also show high breast cancer rates. Why? They don’t eat meat but they drink milk, eat cheese, cream, yoghurt and other dairy products.
I believe that we, like Prof. Plant, are scientists. We experiment with food, with plants, with our family, with almost anything. For example, we try new methods of cooking. If the resulting dish is wolfed down by our kapamilya, then we make it again and again until we perfect it and becomes a family favorite. Farmers also experiment continually with their plants. Being scientists ourselves, we know that we can control factors that produce a healthy bean plant, a tasty vegan carbonara, etc. If we can do that with things around us, the more we can control critical factors that make us healthy. One of these critical factors that we can control is what we put in our mouth. Only you can put that food in your mouth and your babies’ mouth. Our health is literally in our hands. October is Cancer Awareness Month, let us learn from Prof. Plant and our Asian neighbors. ***
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“Lord, save your world; we strive in vain to save ourselves without your aid;
What skill and science slowly gain, is soon to evil ends betrayed.” (Hymn 373, ECP Hymnal)
