Here's Why Women In China Don't Get Breast Cancer

Professor Jane Plant was diagnosed with cancer at 42. While she was coming to terms with her condition and kept thinking that her life and career were over, it did not prevent her from fighting back. Jane’s cancer had recurred four times before she was finally able to get rid of it.

The secret to her recovery was the drastic change she adopted in her lifestyle and diet. Jane’s husband was working in China when she was diagnosed with cancer the very first time. He began to research as to why the incidence of cancer was so low in China. He figured out that the Chinese had a diet that is low in fat and rich in fiber which is very important in fighting breast cancer. It also turned out that the Chinese don’t consume much dairy. It occurred to Jane at once that before she was diagnosed, she would consume lots of dairy products. But she no longer does so. Jane has more to tell:

While Jane kept receiving several cards and letters, they couldn’t stop joking about the herbal suppositories meant to heal her. But she wondered as to what protected Chinese women from breast cancer. As she examined the issue closely with the scientific background that she and her husband had, she tried to arrive at a logical explanation. By applying their research methods, they calculated the percentage of fats in their diets. They realized that in the 1980s average Chinese diet had just about 14% calories in comparison to a Western diet that had about 36% fats. Now, Jane would still eat a low-fat diet and fiber-rich diet even before she developed cancer. Plus as a scientist, Jane was aware that fat consumption does not put one at the risk of breast cancer. There was more to it.

As her husband Peter and she were working together, it was just brought up that the Chinese don’t eat dairy products. That came as hitting the nail on the head. They felt a multitude of emotions coming at one time and felt close to a big discovery.

Jane began to think of all those Chinese friends of hers who believed that milk was for babies only. Her colleagues would even politely decline a cheese course, and several other people wouldn’t be able to tolerate milk. In fact, she felt that the Chinese found it strange that rest of the world was obsessed with milk and dairy products. It suddenly became clear to her as to how her Chinese friends would also refuse a serving of pudding with ice cream as soon as they realized what the ingredients were.

It turns out that more than 70% of the world’s population cannot digest milk sugar, i.e., lactose. And Jane had been consuming not only skimmed milk and low-fat cheese as her main sources of protein, but she had also been consuming lean minced beef, which was again a dairy cow. She was eating organic yogurts to aid her digestion and develop good bacteria n the gut.

But in 1989, Dr. Daniel Cramer of Harvard University had drawn a link between yogurt consumption and ovarian cancer in hundreds of women. This made Jane give up yogurt too alongside several other dairy products. In fact several other products such as soups, biscuits, and cakes. Foods like soy, olive and sunflower oil, margarine, to name a few, also included dairy in some or the other form, Jane noted.

By the time Jane had the fifth case of cancer, she had noticed that her lump remained the same size despite chemotherapy. But soon after she removed dairy from her diet, the lump size shrunk in days. In just two weeks her chemotherapy was over, the lump began to itch, soften, and shrink.

Apart from shunning dairy, Jane also began to practice meditation for an hour every day. Eventually, her lump disappeared altogether. Her doctor too was astonished. Although skeptical at first, her doctor now advises cancer patients to avoid dairy as well.

Watch this inspiring video of Jane:

Was this article helpful?
thumbsupthumbsdown
The following two tabs change content below.