Super Immunity (10 page)

Apparently, the human body is already programmed to fight infection and fight off cancer. The immune system is like a protective force field in a sci-fi movie, but hardly anybody turns it on because they don't fuel the force-field engine, which runs on greens.

Indole-3-carbinol (I3C) and its metabolite diindolylmethane (DIM) may be especially protective against hormone-sensitive cancers; they help the body transform estrogen and other hormones into forms that are more easily excreted from the body.
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Metabolites such as DIM are formed as part of the natural biochemical process of degrading and eliminating their parent compound.

These observations in cell culture and animal studies have been confirmed by human epidemiological studies that look at the connections between cruciferous vegetable intake and cancer incidence. As cruciferous vegetable intake increases, breast, lung, prostate, and colorectal cancers decrease accordingly. Similar associations linking total vegetable intake to lower cancer incidence have been noted, but cruciferous vegetables are far more potent and have a more profound association in the scientific literature. Note the following specifics:

• Cruciferous vegetables are twice as powerful as other plant foods. In population studies, a 20 percent increase in plant food intake generally corresponds to a 20 percent decrease in cancer rates, but a 20 percent increase in
cruciferous
vegetable intake corresponds to a 40 percent decrease in cancer rates.
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• Twenty-eight servings of vegetables per week decreases prostate cancer risk by 33 percent, but just three servings of
cruciferous
vegetables per week decreases prostate cancer risk by 41 percent.
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• One or more servings of cabbage per week reduces the occurrence of pancreatic cancer by 38 percent.
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Now here's where this gets even more interesting. Not only do I3C and DIM offer dramatic protective effects against cancer, but recent studies have shown that these ITCs are important in enabling interferon responsiveness, which serves as a potent immune-system stimulator to attack microbes such as viruses. Specifically, these ITCs have been shown to increase the immune system's cell-killing capacity and heighten resistance to viral infection, with impressive results.
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DIM has already been shown to resolve cervical dysplasia, laryngeal papillomas, and warts. It is presently under investigational study as a treatment for a variety of viral infections and antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), HPV (human papilloma virus), and hepatitis.
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Of critical interest here is also that cruciferous-derived compounds work together to enhance defenses against bacterial infections, especially with the ability of certain bacteria to develop resistance to antibiotics. Of particular concern are hospital-contracted (i.e., “nosocomial”) infections, which exhibit antibiotic resistance. The bacterium known as
Streptococcus pneumoniae,
for example, causes approximately 3,000 cases of meningitis, 50,000 cases of bacteremia, 500,000 cases of pneumonia, and nearly 7,000,000 cases of otitis media in the United States, in addition to being a leading cause of mortality. Antibiotic-resistant strains of streptococcus have emerged and are now becoming widespread in certain communities. ITC compounds from greens have natural antimicrobial effects that can be utilized as an aid to boost natural cellular defenses, enabling a heightened state of resistance against these dangerous drug-resistant bacteria.
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These same green-vegetable-derived compounds also fight against
Helicobacter pylori
. This bacterium is a contributory factor to ulcer disease and is associated with a marked increase in the risk of stomach cancer. A high consumption of cruciferous greens inhibits
H. pylori:
when their ITC compounds have been tested, they have shown potential as a novel treatment for conditions caused by this bacterium.
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Even though this research has been conducted mostly in animals, with only a limited number of human participants, it contributes to the point here: the regular consumption of all these micronutrients in greens builds up a
constellation
of beneficial health effects that reduce one's chance of contracting infections and increase one's chance of overcoming them.

Another example of the protective power of cruciferous greens occurs with Nrf2, a master regulator of the antioxidant response. This complex protein, a so-called transcription factor, activates our genes to produce a broad array of protective compounds that shield against inflammation and disease.

How does this happen? Waste products in cells age us prematurely and create disease, as we saw in the earlier discussion of free radicals. There are two types of waste:
exogenous
waste that we ingest from the external environment and
endogenous
waste that builds up as a by-product of cellular metabolism. The presence and function of the Nrf2 transcription factor is critical for endogenous detoxification and free-radical scavenging. Endogenous wastes, also referred to as “reactive oxygen species” (ROS), can damage biological macromolecules and thus are detrimental to cellular health. They are called “reactive” because of their free radicals, which multiply in human tissue and cause destruction of normal cellular structures. If not rapidly removed, these reactive compounds cause disease and premature aging. It's as if a tornado were growing in strength inside your home, eventually tearing it apart from the inside out.

We are protected against these reactive wastes by a series of gene-transcribed products called “antioxidant response elements” (ARE). The Nrf2 proteins are transcription factors that bind to and activate the ARE segments of genes. These genes activate the body's own protective response, which then protects us from a variety of oxidative stress–related complications, even in situations where the administration of exogenous antioxidants, which are short-acting (such as vitamin C and vitamin E), fail. Nrf2 becomes activated (a normal function) when we eat green vegetables supplying ITCs. When we don't eat cruciferous greens, one of the most important natural defense systems in the cell (Nrf2–ARE) simply does not function. More evidence that we are dependent on the substances in greens for longevity and excellent health!

The Nrf2 factor is also responsible for preventing deposits of plaque in the inside of blood vessels. The endothelial cells that line the blood vessels are able to prevent adhesion by fat deposits when Nrf2 is activated. That's why green vegetables are so important for heart health (and even to promote reversal of heart disease): they activate the Nrf2 factor. Nrf2 then changes the proteins expressed on the endothelial cell membranes, preventing atherosclerosis deposits from binding there. Activating Nrf2 is especially critical to coronary vessels at bifurcation or curves with increased pressure, where plaque is more likely to build.
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Methods of preparation and cooking affect the availability of ITCs to be digested and absorbed. Chopping, chewing, blending, and juicing all allow for enhanced production of ITCs. In other words, these beneficial ITCs are not preformed in the plant; they are made in our mouth from glucosinolate precursors as we chew and crush the cell walls. The more cell walls that are broken, the more myrosinase (an enzyme housed in the cell membrane) that is released and can be mixed with the glucosinolates inside the cell to catalyze the reaction that makes ITCs.

Some ITC benefit may be lost with boiling or steaming, as the myrosinase enzyme can be destroyed with too much heat; so we get the maximum benefit from eating cruciferous vegetables raw. However, some production of ITC in cooked cruciferous vegetables may still occur, because the bacteria in the digestive tract have some myrosinase activity. The myrosinase-producing ability of gut bacteria can be increased with the regular consumption of—you guessed it!—green vegetables.

Keep in mind that cooking does not destroy the activity and function of the ITCs; it only deactivates the enzyme catalyzing their formation. That means if you blend, crush, chop, or juice the greens while they're raw to maximize the ITC production and then put the blended or chopped greens into a stew or soup to cook, you will still have those functioning and beneficial ITCs present after cooking.

To maximize the immune-function benefits of cruciferous vegetables, do the following:

1. Chew all cruciferous greens very, very well, trying to crush every cell.

2. Puree, blend, or chop cruciferous vegetables before adding them to stews or soups.

3. When steaming green cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and cabbage, try to undercook slightly so they are not too mushy.

Cruciferous vegetables are not only the most powerful anticancer foods in existence; they are also the most micronutrient-dense of all vegetables. Although the National Cancer Institute recommends five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables per day for cancer prevention, they have not yet established specific recommendations for cruciferous vegetables. I recommend six fresh fruits and eight total servings of vegetables per day, including two servings of cruciferous vegetables (at least one raw). Consuming a large variety of these ITC-rich cruciferous vegetables within an overall nutrient-dense diet can provide a profound level of protection against infection and cancer.

Among the amazing super foods that play an important role in keeping the immune system strong are mushrooms. Mushrooms are unique: they contain many unusual disease-fighting compounds that are just beginning to be understood.

There are several immune-supporting ingredients in mushrooms that empower the body to react quickly and powerfully when we are exposed to disease-causing pathogens such as viruses and bacteria. In most cases, we can defeat the microbes we are exposed to before any symptoms occur. Mushroom phytochemicals may even be helpful for autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus because of their anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating effects.
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If green vegetables are the king of Super Immunity, mushrooms are the queen. First of all, the compounds found in simple mushrooms have been shown in animal experiments and cell cultures to enhance the activity and function of natural killer T cells (NKT).
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NKTs detect cells infected with a virus or damaged in some way, and attack and remove them. Activated NKT cells attack the abnormal cells by releasing “killing granules” to destroy abnormal cells.

White, cremini, portobello, oyster, maitake, and reishi mushrooms have all been shown to have anticancer effects: they prevent DNA damage, slow cancer cell or tumor growth, cause programmed cancer cell death, and/or prevent tumors from acquiring a blood supply. These effects have been shown in breast, prostate, and colon cancers and/or cancer cells.
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Common mushrooms contain antigen-binding lectins (ABL), proteins that bind only to abnormal cells by recognizing a molecule on the surface of many cancer cells and then activating the body's defenses, calling them into action against those cells.
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Interestingly, after these lectins are attracted to and bind to an abnormal cell, they then become internalized into the cell and interfere with the cell's ability to replicate itself, thus preventing the spread of cancer, without having any toxicity or negative effects on normal cells.