“Functional foods,” “nutraceuticals,” “designer foods” and “medicinal foods” are terms that describe foods, and key ingredients isolated from foods, that have non-nutritive or tertiary functional properties. Researchers, healthcare practitioners, laypersons, and the popular media use these words interchangeably. The purpose of this article is to detail valid scientific and pertinent clinical information on the effects of toxic exposure on breast cancer risk and whole foods recognized for their ability to detoxify chemicals from the body.

Breast cancer is second only to lung cancer as the most common cause of cancer mortality in the US. Further, in the year 2000 alone, 182,000 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed and there were 40,800 associated female deaths in the US as a result. In fact, breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women between the ages of 35 and 54. (1) A key contributing factor, that is supported by clinical research, to the onset of breast is toxic exposure, in the form of synthetic hormone replacement therapy and chemicals in the food, air and water supply.

he Toxic Effects of Synthetic Hormone Replacement Therapy

A woman’s chance of developing breast cancer significantly increases with age

As a woman ages, she will naturally approach menopause and the cessation of ovarian function, increasing her chances of taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to reduce symptoms commonly associated with menopause and to prevent the onset of heart disease and osteoporosis. In fact, surveys by the North American Menopause Society show that about a third of US women ages 45 to 65–some 16 million women–use hormone supplements, either estrogen alone or combined with progestin. Disturbingly, HRT increases a woman’s risk of breast cancer, sometimes by more than 50% and, we now know, it fails to prevent heart disease and in fact increases a woman’s chance of developing a life-threatening blood clot or a stroke. The now famous study (2) published in 2002 in the Journal of the American Medical Association provided definitive evidence that the use of combined HRT (meaning conjugated equine estrogens and medroxyprogesterone acetate (PremPro) significantly increases a woman’s chance of developing breast cancer. This was a randomized, placebo-controlled trial, which was a component of the Women’s Health Initiative, a multi-part study begun by the National Institutes of Health that enrolled more than 160,000 postmenopausal women at 40 US medical centers between 1993 and 1998.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of long-term hormone replacement therapy in preventing diseases in postmenopausal women such as heart disease, breast and colorectal cancers, and osteoporosis. Over 16,000 menopausal women with an intact uterus participated in this trial, receiving conjugated estrogens (at .625 mg/day) plus medroxyprogesterone acetate (at 2.5 mg per day) combined in one tablet or placebo. Considered one of the largest studies of women’s health ever taken, it made headlines when the review committee for the study halted the study three years early (final results were due out in 2005). They determined that the number of cases of invasive breast cancer in the combined HRT group crossed the boundary established for the study as a signal of increased risk.

For example, the estrogen/progestin therapy used in this trial resulted in a 26% increase in breast cancer. The combined HRT also resulted in:

* 41% increase in strokes

* 29% increase in heart attacks

* Doubled rates of blood clots in legs and lungs

* 37% fewer incidents of colorectal cancer

* 33% fewer hip fractures

* 24% fewer total fractures

It is interesting to note that other parts of the WHI trial, including a study evaluating the effects of estrogen alone (Premarin), in postmenopausal women without a uterus, continued. This study continued irrespective of the fact that a cohort observational study involving over 44,000 postmenopausal women without a uterus, published in same issue of JAMA (334-341) by Lacey et al. (3) found that estrogen-only HRT resulted in a 300% increase in ovarian cancer. Finally, in March of this year, the NIH discontinued this phase of the trial because estrogen had no

effect on preventing heart disease after 7 years of continuous use, and it was shown to increase the risk of stroke. A separate report points to “probable” dementia and/or mild cognitive impairment associated with estrogen-alone therapy. (4)

Toxic Exposure from the Air, Water, and Food Supply

Beyond the toxic effects of synthetic HRT, which women have been exposed to for decades, environmental chemicals in the air, water and food supply have a well-documented effect on breast cancer risk. For the last 40 years, substantial evidence has surfaced on the hormone-like effects of environmental chemicals such as pesticides and industrial chemicals in humans.