This Cancer Fighter Isn't Even on their Radar Screen

By Al Sears, MD

If you're a man in this country, you've probably heard a lot about skyrocketing rates of prostate cancer. With good reason: it's the second leading cause of cancer death in American men.

Today I'll tell you about a little-known weapon in the battle against this man killer. It's a basic, plentiful mineral, but few doctors know much about it -- or its health benefits. It's called boron.

Boron is one of nutritional science's ugly stepchildren. It's a "trace element," meaning it's toxic in high doses, but vital to health in small amounts. It's also toxic to animals and insects, which is why it's still used as a commercial pesticide in the form of boric acid.

That's one reason people don't know about boron. Another is that researchers didn't even recognize its role as an essential nutrient until the late 1980s. They stumbled on it by chance while conducting animal studies.

Add that to the mainstream medical establishment's focus on drugs and surgery to deal with prostate cancer, and you can see why boron's not on the radar screen. You won't find it in most multi-vitamins. And most men don't get enough of it through diet alone.

That's a big problem, because all men really need it.

Boron's one of your prostate's most potent allies. Scientific research has revealed that it can cut your risk of prostate cancer in half. One recent study compared the eating habits of 76 men with prostate cancer with those of 7,651 men who were cancer-free. The men whose diets were the most boron-rich were 64% less likely to develop prostate cancer than those who got the least boron in their diet.¹

Boron's power is not only preventive; it may become an alternate form of prostrate cancer treatment in the future. In mice, boron shrank prostate tumors by 25-38% and reduced PSA levels by 86 to 88%.²

What's more, boron has the power to reverse the signs of aging. It acts like an iron shield against arthritis by blocking the enzymes that cause pain and inflammation.³ It's crucial to bone strength and brainpower, with increasing benefits as people age. Boron keeps bones from losing calcium and magnesium. It also keeps your mind razor-sharp by improving eye-hand coordination, attention span, and even short- and long-term memory.⁴

Now you can understand why you should know about boron. But how can you get enough of it?

One way is through diet, of course. Foods rich in boron include fruits, nuts, and legumes. Plums (and prunes), red grapes, apples, pears, and avocados all contain boron. I tell my patients to make all-natural trail mix their snack food of choice -- all those raisins and nuts are a great source of boron.

Another surefire way to get enough boron is to take a supplement. I recommend 3-6 mg per day.

References

1. Zhang Z-F et al. FASEB Journal. 15:(2001)A1089.
   
2. 2. Gallardo-Williams et al. Proceedings of the American Cancer Association. 43(2002):77.
   
3. Hall et al. Archiv der Pharmazie (Weinheim). 328(1995):39-44.
   
4. Penland JG. Environmental Health Perspectives. 1994. 102 Suppl 7:65-72.

[Ed. Note: Dr. Sears, Chairman of the Board of Total Health Breakthroughs, is a practicing physician and the author of The Doctor's Heart Cure. He is a leading authority on longevity, physical fitness and heart health. For more information, click here.]

Positive Thinking: Hard-Soled Soul: Tough Talk About a Soul-Full Life By Dr. Matthew Anderson

In my recent articles about living a soul-full life I have taken an introductory stance. Today I want to leave the paved path and venture into rocky territory and the more intense and challenging aspects of soul-fullness.

Since very little cuts through so well and quickly to soul as great poetry here are brief soul-filled poems by two incredibly insightful poets, Rainer Maria Rilke and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

"Sometimes a man stands up during supper
And walks outdoors, and keeps on walking,
Because of a church that stands somewhere in the East.
And his children say blessings on him as if he were dead.
And another man, who remains inside his own house,
Dies there, inside the dishes and in the glasses,
So that his children have to go far out into the world
Toward that same church, which he forgot."
- Rilke

It is often sufficient for the waking of soul to simply read Rilke's words, but I will add just a few. Intuitively we all recognize the truth in these two crucial and unavoidable choices. We can answer the call of the soul and walk out towards our destiny or we can die inside the dishes and leave the hard work of soul to our children. There seems to be no middle ground, though many of us struggle daily to find one. Our lives are soul-full or they are not.

Now two stanzas from an equally poignant piece (Holy Longing) by Goethe.

"Tell a wise person, or else keep silent,
Because the Massman will mock it right away.
I praise what is truly alive,
What longs to be burned to death.............
And so long as you haven't experienced
This: to die and so to grow,
You are only a troubled guest
On the dark earth."

Soul seeks what is truly alive. It has no interest in that which is lukewarm and insipid. Soul begs us to burn and as Goethe states so clearly, until we learn this truth we remain a "troubled guest on the dark earth."

The average person, the "Massman", has little awareness of soul and its yearning for burning. He and she laugh when a soul-seeker voices her desire for a deeper and more meaningful existence. But we who want to know the hard edges and soft innards of this mystery, another poet called the "blessed catastrophe" (Hafiz), are not willing to settle for the soulless same-old, same-old. We listen for the seminal sound, during supper, that beckons us to stand up and walk out and keep walking towards a far away church or synagogue or temple or mountain or desert. And we are never the same again.

[Ed. note: Dr. Matthew Anderson is an author (The Prayer Diet), counselor and national columnist/expert on weight loss, motivation, self-management and relationships. To find tough-minded, outside-the-box guidance for taking charge of your life and/or your weight including Eating to Kill, click here.]

Healthy Recipes: Tomato Buttermilk Soup By Kelley Herring

This light and tangy summer delight is packed with potassium -- a mineral that helps to keep blood pressure at a healthy level.

Time To Table:1 hour
Serves: 6

Nutrient Spotlight
Excellent Source of potassium
Good source of fiber, vitamin B6, folate, niacin, copper
Healing Nutrients: Lycopene
Gluten-Free

Ingredients
12 medium organic red tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 cup organic buttermilk (low fat)
1 medium organic scallion, minced
1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt
2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 cups chopped organic yellow cherry tomatoes (quartered)
2 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped
1 Tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp organic lemon juice

Preparation
Season the chopped tomatoes with Celtic sea salt and let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes. In a blender, puree the tomatoes. Strain the puree through a coarse sieve set over a medium bowl. Stir in the buttermilk. Season the soup with pepper and refrigerate until chilled, at least 30 minutes. In a bowl, toss the cherry tomatoes with the basil, scallion, oil and lemon juice. Ladle the soup into shallow bowls. Spoon the cherry tomato salad in the center of each soup and serve.

Nutrition Information
91.13 kcal Calories, 13.7 g Carbohydrate, 1.63 mg Cholesterol, 3.34 g Total Fat, 3.56 g Fiber, 4.12 g Protein, 1.04 mcg Selenium, 260.41 mg Sodium, 8.51 g Sugars, 0.68g Saturated fat, 0 trans Fat, 1.96 g Monounsaturated fats, 0.65 g Polyunsaturated fats

[Ed. Note: Kelley Herring is the Founder & CEO of Healing Gourmet. She is also the creator of Healing Gourmet's Personalized Nutrition Software and Editor-in-Chief of the Healing Gourmet book series published by McGraw-Hill, including Eat to Fight Cancer, Eat to Beat Diabetes, Eat to Lower Cholesterol and Eat to Boost Fertility. For more information, click here.]

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These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise’s Total Health Breakthroughs [Issue 06-20-08] which offers alternative solutions for mind, body and soul. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.totalhealthbreakthroughs.com/