Professor Jane Plant is author of Your Life in Your Hands (on breast cancer) and Prostate Cancer (both published by Virgin) and has become a leading promoter of a plant-based diet for health and cancer prevention. Here, we invited Professor Jane Plant to answer your questions.
Q: If one has breast cancer, would you recommend to remove the cancer cells and then follow a good diet, or just the diet?
PJP: I recommend conventional cancer treatment PLUS my diet and lifestyle recommendations. Often people appear to do better on conventional treatment, with less side-effects, if they follow my diet.
Q: Should we all avoid milk from animal sources, and are there still dangerous hormones in organic milk, goats milk or yoghurt?
PJP: Absolutely. Any milk, organic or otherwise, contains hormones and growth factors. ANY animal dairy, from horses to camels, or even rats, will contain growth hormone factors. Yoghurt is just as bad as milk. If you want probiotics just have a capsule of dairy-free probiotics or a soya yoghurt.
Q: What do you think about eating chicken and fish?
PJP: If you have active cancer, I recommend no meat or fish. But when you have been in remission for at least six months I recommend small amounts of animal protein, eg a maximum of three times a week, which can include organic chicken and white fish, ideally from Iceland or Greenland. The problem with oily fish is that PCBs and other fat-soluble pollutants tend to accumulate in them more than white fish. It is better to get your omega 3s from a purified PCB-free supplement.
Answers to these questions & more are available to 100% Health Club Members
My cancer was oestrogen positive and I have been advised to not have soya – should I really avoid it?
What amounts of soya do you feel that an individual suffering from breast cancer should take each day and in what form is the soya best taken?
My mother and grandmother both had breast cancer. How can I prevent it?
Should women submit themselves to regular breast screening?
I would like to ask whether there have been any serious studies to determine environmental causes of breast cancer?
I am confused about grapefruit as it’s been suggested they should not be included in a breast-cancer-prevention diet. I have one grapefruit every two weeks. Is that acceptable?
Has a study ever been done on the correlation between blood type and breast cancer in women?
I notice that the tamoxifen I am prescribed contains lactose. Should I worry about this – and is there a non-lactose option?
What’s your view on Gastro-Intestinal Stromal Tumours (GISTs)?
What advice would you give for a man who has breast cancer? Do you know if the same hormone that causes prostrate cancer is also the cause of male breast cancer?
None of the medical professionals I encountered in the course of treatment for my breast cancer have advised anything to do with diet or drinking alcohol. Is it that they don’t know or understand the benefits of a better eating regime, or are they afraid to speak out against a ‘normal’ British diet?
Does draining breast lumps with needles spread the cancer cells?
My doctor wants to switch me from Tamoxifen to Arimidex (or a similar aromatase inhibitor). What’s your view on these drugs? Is natural progesterone cream an alternative to Tamoxifen?
