Why Cancer Patients Must Eat Organic Food

Organic produce is grown without chemical fertilizers or artificial pesticides. It contains more anti-oxidants than conventional fruits and vegetables.

Meat that's labeled organic comes from animals raised humanely, and without antibiotics or growth hormones added to their feed. They're allowed to roam freely and eat or graze as nature intended.

By law, in the United States, food that's labeled USDA certified organic cannot contain genetically modified ingredients. Most corn, soy and canola (rapeseed) farmed in America has been genetically modified. But it doesn't have to be labeled.

For about two decades, we've been eating a genetically modified diet. But most people are not aware of this. Or, they've heard the term "GMO," but don't really know what it means, or why certain seeds have been redesigned in a laboratory.

Organic food usually costs extra, as it's more expensive to raise a grass-fed cow than one given grains to fatten them up. Farming organic crops is also labor intensive because artificial fertilizers promote quick easy growth, but at a great expense. The plants don't get the usual micro-nutrients from the soil, which are needed for optimum health.

I've heard many people say, "I can't afford organic food."

However, if they're facing a life-threatening illness, they really can't afford not to buy it.

Many people assume the biggest issue with conventionally grown produce is that it's sprayed with pesticides and herbicides. But that's only part of the problem.

There's also evidence that commercial fertilizers, widely used in agribusiness, may play a role in the development of malignancies. One man named Jozsef Beres, PhD, devoted much of his life to exploring this possibility.

A Hungarian, he noticed that cancer rates in his homeland began to spike in the middle of the last century, when chemical fertilizers were applied to the soil. He even mapped out regions showing cancer clusters near farms that used modern agricultural methods.

Dr. Beres theorized that the prevalence of a few minerals found in the commercial crop fertilizers, which fueled the plant growth, interfered with the absorption of the full range of nutrients present in the soil. Although the crops looked healthy, they weren't, as they didn't have the correct balance of minerals.

Cancer, Dr. Beres believed, grew when certain minerals were lacking in the body. In his clinical work, he developed a supplement known as Beres Drops. This was designed for cancer patients and also for healthy people to take as a preventative.

There's evidence that pesticides cause cancer. Italian researchers found increased rates of certain types of malignancies among farmers in one region of Italy who grew certain types of crops. The kind of cancer also was tied to the crops they grew.

People who worked in fruit orchards, for instance, had higher rates of kidney, bladder and colon cancer, compared with the general population.

Some of the chemicals used in agricultural pesticides are known to mimic estrogen, which is why they are often referred to as "endocrine disruptors." These hormone-like substances can fuel certain types of tumors, as well as damage DNA.

The National Cancer Institute has also found that farm workers in America had an increased risk of developing leukemia, lymphoma and Hodgkins Disease.

Recently, some farm workers in Florida have gone public with their belief that exposure to pesticides has caused cancer in themselves and in their family members.

Many alternative medicine professionals believe an overload of environmental toxins is responsible for the epidemic of cancer we're now seeing. Right now, in the United States, a male has a one in two chance of getting cancer, and a woman has a one in three chance, according to figures from the National Cancer Institute.

Some naturopathic practitioners, as well as some integrative oncologists, believe that tumors form because the body is trying to protect itself from toxins, after the liver has reached its capacity to remove harmful substances, due to an overload. This is another reason why a clean diet is so important. Pesticides on your food will introduce poisons into your body.

Many cancer survivors who've written books and published their stories on the Internet touch upon about a common theme. Usually, it it wasn't a certain drug or enrolling in a clinical trial that saved their lives. Instead, it was adopting a very strict organic diet and taking a lot of health-enhancing supplements.

If you eat organic food, you won't be consuming genetically modified ingredients, which are now widespread throughout the food chain, at least in the United States. The majority of corn sold in America is genetically modified to withstand applications of a heavy-duty herbicide that would kill a regular cornstalk.

Any time you pick up a package of processed food, it's likely to contain either corn, soy or canola oil, all of which are likely to be genetically engineered.

Although the alleged health risks of eating GMOs hasn't been widely studied, and more research is needed, scientists have discovered a disturbing link between genetically modified corn and breast cancer in a group of rats they studied.

As I mentioned earlier, organic food cannot contain GMO's. Also, in response to consumer demand, a growing number of non-organic items found at the grocery store have labels stating that they contain no genetically modified ingredients.

Resveratrol is naturally produced by plants, and serves as a defense mechanism if the plant is attacked by harmful microbes. This substance is also a potent cancer fighter.

However, British researchers have found that spraying food crops with pesticides switches off the production of resveratrol and similar compounds, as the plant no longer senses danger or the need to protect itself.

We also lose the health benefits of consuming food filled with natural tumor fighters. Yet another reason why cancer patients need organic food.

With careful shopping, you can eat organic food for about the same amount of money you'd spend at the grocery store buying items that make up the standard American diet. You'll have to plan your meals a bit more carefully, but it can be done. It's very possible to buy organic food on a strict budget.

Pound for pound, junk food and non-healthy snacks are expensive, both in terms of financial outlay and long-term health risks.

It's even possible to buy organic snack food at reasonable prices if you frequent discount chains and overstock stores such as Aldi or Ocean State Job Lot.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These products are not meant to diagnose‚ treat or cure any disease or medical condition.

This article is not to be considered for diagnostic or treatment purposes. It was written only for the sake of discussion. People with health concerns should discuss them with a medical professional. The author assumes to responsibility for treatment decisions. Women who are pregnant or nursing should not take dietary supplements unless directed to do so by a healthcare professional.