Eating These Foods May Lower Your Risk for Cancer
KAYE: Welcome back. Big news this weekend related to cancer. MD Anderson Cancer Center has announced an aggressive program to eliminate certain cancers.</s>DR. RONALD DEPINHO, MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER: We're in a position to make dramatic impact on cancer mortality in this decade.</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You're saying if we do everything right, in five years from now, there will be far fewer people dying from cancer, right?</s>DEPINHO: Correct. I think that with the existing knowledge, and the application of what we now know, we can begin to see dramatic declines in mortality that would accelerate in years five through 10, and beyond set the stage for ultimate control of the disease.</s>KAYE (voice-over): The goal of the so-called Moon Shots program is to speed up and reduce the number of cancer-related deaths while promoting conversations around new discoveries and clinical studies. Scientists are focusing on a handful of cancers. Those include melanoma, lung, prostate, breast, ovarian and leukemia.</s>BLACKWELL: And here's more good news. There are some things you can do at home to lower the risk of cancer like making the right food choices.</s>KAYE: Fitness and nutritious expert and the author of the great book, "Body Confidence," Mark McDonald's here to tell us a little bit about this. Good morning</s>MARK MCDONALD, FITNESS EXPERT AND AUTHOR: Good morning.</s>KAYE: So you have some good news here. We have a whole bunch of really healthy stuff. But let's -- we're going to talk about some of the facts and the myths. Let's start with soy. Because you and I have talked a lot about soy, whether we should be eating it or not eating it. Fact or fiction, soy is a good source of plant-based protein and has no effect on cancer?</s>MCDONALD: So it's both fact and fiction.</s>KAYE: (Inaudible), OK.</s>MCDONALD: So it's a really good source of plant-based protein. So that's a positive thing. The negative thing is that soy actually increases your estrogen level. So when you talk about breast and ovarian cancer, that increases estrogen; that's not great for that cancer. So a better choice would be whey protein or hemp protein if you're a vegan so that you're not having that estrogen effect. But soy in moderation would be fine from a protein (inaudible).</s>KAYE: Like a few times a week maybe.</s>MCDONALD: Yes. With the cancer , though, you probably want to avoid soy completely.</s>KAYE: Completely. OK. All right, we got that sort of sorted out.</s>MCDONALD: Yes. Well, it's a good protein, just not great from the cancer side.</s>KAYE: I hear you. I got it.</s>BLACKWELL: Fact and fiction. All right. So we've got fruits and vegetables here. Let's go starting here with the blueberries. Fact or fiction, blueberries really don't help much; they're just full of sugar.</s>MCDONALD: Total fiction.</s>BLACKWELL: OK.</s>MCDONALD: So your body needs sugar to create -- yes, exactly, right, Randi?</s>KAYE: Yes. (Inaudible).</s>MCDONALD: Your body needs sugar to create energy. When you look at a blueberry, it is the low-calorie, it's full of fiber --</s>BLACKWELL: I knew you could (inaudible) blueberries sit there, I knew. I knew.</s>KAYE: (Inaudible) --</s>MCDONALD: And it's natural sugar. That's fantastic. And it provides anti-oxidants. One of the biggest things with cancer is free radicals. They're little molecules in your body that are a natural part of metabolism. But when left unchecked they cause havoc to your cells. The way you counter free radicals is fruits and veggies. Blueberries provide powerful anti-oxidants that destroy those cells.</s>BLACKWELL: Have one.</s>KAYE: Get (inaudible).</s>MCDONALD: (Inaudible) neutralize the free radicals.</s>BLACKWELL: Does one help?</s>MCDONALD: Yes.</s>BLACKWELL: Am I doing anything with one?</s>MCDONALD: Everything helps.</s>BLACKWELL: OK. (Inaudible).</s>MCDONALD: And the average person takes less than two servings of fruits and veggies a day. You need up to 12.</s>KAYE: That's crazy, right? Right.</s>MCDONALD: Yes, so you have to make sure you get these --</s>MCDONALD: -- focus on colors.</s>BLACKWELL: I could eat all of this and still not meet the requirement for the day?</s>MCDONALD: If you eat all of that, you'd be OK, because when you look at serving size, this is about the 12 servings.</s>BLACKWELL: OK.</s>KAYE: All right. So let's talk about red wine.</s>MCDONALD: Yes, ah.</s>KAYE: Fact or fiction, red wine doesn't have any benefits. This can't be true.</s>MCDONALD: That's a fiction!</s>KAYE: All right.</s>KAYE: Good thing.</s>MCDONALD: So obviously alcohol -- I don't want anyone emailing --</s>BLACKWELL: Yes.</s>MCDONALD: All right. So alcohol in moderation -- but red wine does provide antioxidants that helps counter free radicals and research has shown it helps lower stress levels at the end of a day. Now ideally you're better to get your antioxidants from here and you're better to lower your stress just from managing your stress levels better with some good exercise and lifestyle.</s>KAYE: OK.</s>MCDONALD: But in moderation, fine.</s>KAYE: Like one cup a day or one glass a day?</s>MCDONALD: Maybe one glass three times a week.</s>KAYE: I thought you were going to say three times a day.</s>BLACKWELL: I was going to say, we'll make that work.</s>MCDONALD: One glass is six ounces, not one of those big (inaudible).</s>KAYE: (Inaudible) it's all about the portion, too.</s>BLACKWELL: I can't walk around with the hurricane glass and just (inaudible) all day?</s>MCDONALD: I wrote about that in "Body Confidence." (Inaudible).</s>BLACKWELL: (Inaudible) went to a friend's house and she had this big glass.</s>MCDONALD: (Inaudible) was doing 24 ounces and thought that was a glass.</s>BLACKWELL: I read the book. So you mentioned exercise, because all of this is great, but exercise helps.</s>MCDONALD: Yes. Huge. So when you look at exercise, it causes a hormone, endorphins, to release, which are your feel-good hormones. It helps your circulation. It helps your stress management. So just getting active helps make your body work better for you. And that's really when we look at preventing cancer. And just living a higher quality of life. So maybe about three to four days a week, up to five days, at least 30 minutes of any type of activity. Once you get there you, you can increase it up to 60 minutes.</s>KAYE: And it's so good for the brain, too, right?</s>MCDONALD: Oh, it's huge. And just, you know, when you're stressed, things feel just better when you exercise compared to when you don't exercise.</s>BLACKWELL: Yes.</s>MCDONALD: It just makes you feel better. It's so good for your body.</s>KAYE: So bottom line, lots of greens, lots of veggies, lots of colors, which is what we have here.</s>MCDONALD: Yes. And -- so nutrition, stabilize your blood sugar, eat a balance of protein-fat-carbohydrates, that's why you have yogurt, nuts, some good oatmeal, drink your water, manage your stress, manage your sleep. And just make it a lifestyle. And that's how we're going to be cancer.</s>KAYE: What is it about the yogurt?</s>MCDONALD: So yogurt's just a good balance. So like when you look at Greek yogurt, a lot of yogurt has a lot of carbs and not a lot of protein. Greek yogurt has more protein, so there's an equal balance of protein, fat and carbohydrates in Greek yogurt. It's fantastic.</s>KAYE: All right. You taking notes?</s>BLACKWELL: Yes, because I'm glad you have the ones with the fruit in it, because I just can't do the plain.</s>MCDONALD: Yes --</s>BLACKWELL: I can't.</s>MCDONALD: -- the plain is a little healthier --</s>BLACKWELL: I can't.</s>MCDONALD: -- but once again we got to do what's realistic. So then we have a solution for you.</s>BLACKWELL: So then we add the blueberries.</s>MCDONALD: Exactly.</s>KAYE: But these are my blueberries.</s>BLACKWELL: All right. OK.</s>MCDONALD: And some nuts.</s>BLACKWELL: A little territorial over the blueberries?</s>KAYE: No, but I mean, you can mix in, you know, not into the yogurt, but there's broccoli. There's all kinds of things. Green tea even is also really good for helping to fight cancer.</s>MCDONALD: Huge. We were going to talk about green tea. So when you start looking at it, food tastes good. You've just got to get creative, get educated and really enjoy it and understand how you can make it a permanent part of your world and lifestyle. And together, you know, we're going to change the world. We're going to really teach people how to live the life that they want.</s>KAYE: Yes.</s>BLACKWELL: Lots of great information, Mark. Thank you. We've got wine three times a week, blueberries every day.</s>BLACKWELL: All right. So how do you turn serious topics like jobless numbers and negative campaign ads into gut-busting jokes? This political season, it may be easier than you think. We'll show you how the pros do it.