The Checklist

I've been struggling to keep track of the most important nutrients in the anti-cancer diet.

In Anti-Cancer by David Servan-Schreiber, he tells the story of a distraught wife who approached Dr. Richard Beliveau looking for any way to keep her husband, who had advanced pancreatic cancer, alive.

Dr. Beliveau (who wrote Foods to Fight Cancer) is a researcher in biochemistry and professor at University of Montreal. According to Servan-Schreiber, Beliveau,

"...runs one of the largest laboratories for molecular medicine in the world, specializing in cancer biology. Over the past twenty years, he has worked with major pharmaceutical groups such as AstraZeneca, Novartin, Sandoz, Wyeth and Merck to identify the mechanisms that make anticancer medicines work. The goal in understanding these mechanisms is to develop new medications with fewer side effects."

In other words, Beliveau is a mainstream researcher. By the time the cancer patient's wife approached him, he had started to gain a reputation as knowledgeable about what he calls "nutraceuticals."

In response to her request, he spent 48 hours gathering articles about foods that had a demonstrated effect in fighting cancer. He worked out the details on amounts and bioavailability and presented her with the a list that includes the following:

Various kinds of cabbage
Broccoli
Garlic
Soy
Green tea
Turmeric
Raspberries
Blueberries
Dark chocolate

This started him off on the serious study of cancer-fighting nutrients that resulted in his book.

That list is the foundation of my checklist. I've added more from other books and other research. I try to give Lindy some or most of what's on my list every day.

Thoughts and comments welcome!