Vinegar Friday

TGIVF!

With all the focus on breast cancer this month, I thought I would pass on some nutritional anti-cancer tips and, of course, they have to do with apple cider vinegar!

ACV helps to prevent cancer because it contains beta-carotene, vitamin C and calcium. Why are these three nutrients importants?

• Beta-carotene can change into retinoic acid in the body. This is used to treat cancer of the blood and bladder, and protects the stomach, larynx, lungs, esophagus and breast.
• Vitamin C also protects the breast, as well as the stomach by boosting the activity of the white blood cells.
• Calcium, when paired with vitamin D, adheres to the fats in the intestine, which reduces ability to promote cancer. In this case, the colon is protected.

In addition to ACV, adding the following foods to your diet will increase beta-carotene, vitamin C and/or calcium: broccoli, carrots, green peppers, red peppers, salad greens, strawberries and tofu.

If you enjoy barbecued meat, you have probably heard the warnings about the carcinogens in meats cooked on the grill. I have good news for you, and you might just want to tuck this info away for next year's barbecue season. According to researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laborartory in California, there is a way to reduce the heterocyclic amines in the meat. When it was marinaded with the following anticancer recipe, these acids were significantly minimized. At least that is what Jim Felton, Ph.D., division leader in molecular and structural biology discovered. Here's the recipe these scientists came up with:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 cloves crushed garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons mustard
1/4 cup cider vinegar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
6 tablespoons olive oil

Yum. It makes me want to go fire up the grill right now!

In 2005, a charity in the United Kingdom called Cancer Research UK, named vinegar the "Food of the Week" because of its healing and cleansing properties and its anti-cancer elements.

A daily dose of apple cider vinegar will not provide you with an insurance policy guaranteeing you will not get cancer, but it will boost your chances of living a cancer-free life. According to the American Cancer Society, dietary changes can help lower your risk of breast cancer, prostate cancer and cervical cancer, calling these changes your best safeguard against cancer.

So, if you are concerned about cancer, consider adding an ACV cocktail to your daily regimen. But, as I stated before, make sure you stick to organic apple cider vinegar, complete with the "mother." I find the taste a bit nastier than commercial-grade ACV, but I am counting on the long-term health benefits and sticking with it.

Keeping it healthy with vinegar,

Hana