selection of healthy green vegetables

This article from holistic health and fitness coach Elly McGuinness discusses the importance of eating fruit and vegetables with a high level of phytonutrients known as salvestrols. A diet abundant in organically grown produce will help ensure a daily intake of salvestrols which aids the body in ridding itself of cancer cells as they arise.

How choosing organic could help protect you from cancer

“Plant-based foods are well known for their vitality-providing properties as a result of being high in vitamins, minerals and other nutrients.  A vitamin and mineral supplement might contain say twenty different vitamins and minerals, any of which could be synthetically derived.

Synthetic or natural, a supplement cannot replicate the life-giving properties of foods that are found in nature.  A head of broccoli or a single apple can contain not twenty, but hundreds of nutrients that all have their own magical way of interacting and providing nourishment for our bodies.”

Phytonutrients comprise a large range of important substances that help protect plants from threats such as germs, bugs and fungi, and many have been shown to have a beneficial effect on human health.  Some of the more commonly known phytonutrient groups include carotenoids, flavonoids, and polyphenols.

According to Web MD[i], more than 25 000 phytonutrients are found in fruits vegetables, beans, grains, nuts and tea, again reiterating the point that it is unlikely that we can replicate this complexity and interaction via a supplement pill.

Salvestrols are a class of phytonutrients that are emerging as having huge potential in the prevention and treatment of cancer.  This unique class of phytonutrients in essence works by interacting with an enzyme found in cancer cells and producing a toxin that causes death of that cancer cell, whilst leaving non-cancerous cells unaffected.[ii]

Numerous studies have linked diet and cancer and this link becomes even more probable just by recognising that there is a higher incidence of cancer in the developed world as opposed to the underdeveloped world.[iii]  Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption with an added focus on organically grown produce would likely have significant and far reaching benefits.

Professor Gerry Potter and his Salvestrols research team analysed thousands of fruit, vegetable and herb samples.  Through this, they discovered that salvestrols were present in very small amounts and often not at all in produce found in the local supermarket while much of the organic produce they tested had salvestrols in abundance.[iv]

Modern farming practices have had a huge impact on the life-giving properties of the food we consume.  When we understand the links between soil health and the subsequent health of our bodies, we begin to understand the consequences of depletion of tiny by hugely important compounds such as salvestrols.

To reiterate, salvestrols are part of the plants protection mechanism from bugs and other pathogens.  If a plant is not subject to pathogens because chemicals (e.g. pesticides) are used to keep those pathogens away, then the plants do not receive a signal to produce salvestrols[v], thus reducing the nourishment that the plant provides for our bodies.  Studies that have found higher antioxidant levels in imperfect produce (e.g. apples with scars)[vi] [vii] are likely a result of the plants innate protection mechanisms kicking into place as it works hard to fight back.

A diet abundant in organically grown fruit and vegetables will help ensure a daily intake of salvestrols to aid the body in riddling itself of cancer cells as they arise[viii].  Those who are already at risk or who are fighting active disease may wish to explore supplementation of their organic diet with Salvestrol supplements.” Elly McGuinness

The information in this article is not intended to replace advice given by your primary care physician. 

green juice in glass

What foods naturally contain a high level of salvestrols? I found this information from canceractive.com 

The list of foods includes:  Broccoli, cabbages, kales, savoy, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kohlrabi, Chinese leaf, spinach, chard, lettuces, watercress, green beans, broad beans, garden peas.

Artichokes (globe), red & yellow peppers, beansprouts, celery, salad rocket, avocado, pumpkins, squashes, gourds, marrows, zucchini, cucumbers, melons, gherkins.

All red fruits such as strawberries, raspberries, grapes and plums plus blackcurrants, red currants, blackberries, blueberries, mulberries, cranberries, bilberries.

Apples, pears, pineapples.

And herbs such as parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, basil and mint.

[i] http://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/phytonutrients-faq
[ii] Linking Diet & Cancer:  Salvestrols.  Nature’s defence against cancer.  By Brian A. Schaefer.  2012 Clinical Intelligence Corp, page 36.
[iii] http://globocan.iarc.fr/Pages/fact_sheets_cancer.aspx
[iv] Linking Diet & Cancer:  Salvestrols.  Nature’s defence against cancer.  By Brian A. Schaefer.  Page 39.
[v] Linking Diet & Cancer:  Salvestrols.  Nature’s defence against cancer.  By Brian A. Schaefer.  Page 40.
[vi] http://publik.tuwien.ac.at/files/PubDat_194363.pdf
[vii] http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10535-011-0176-6#/page-1
[viii] Linking Diet & Cancer:  Salvestrols.  Nature’s defence against cancer.  By Brian A. Schaefer.  Page 51.
Photos by Lukasz Szmigiel and Artur Rutkowski