Powerlifting USA Magazine

POWER NUTRITION

 

August 2010 - Vol. 33 No. 10

POWER Q & A

by Anthony Ricciuto | aricciuto[at]NutritionXP3.com
www.NutritionXP3.com

 

Can Vitamin C help Prevent Cancer?
Q: I really liked the article you did about junk food being as addictive as heroin. Oh my gosh, once I saw the title you had me hooked to read the entire thing from start to finish. You are so right too; many lifters are addicted to soda pop and junk food of all kinds. We as lifters do have a bad reputation among other sports being known as the big fat strong guys and I know you don’t have to be fat to be strong. Some good examples are Marius Pudzianowski who won the World’s Strongest Man multiple times and Derrick Poundstone who has won the Arnold Classic Strong Man as well. These guys are massive strong men yet they sport a lean and strong physique. Now that so many strongman competitors are leaning up, I think this is something our sport should be trying to follow in as well. All that extra body fat is not healthy and for all the guy lifters who are proud of a big gut that sticks out like they are nine months pregnant with quintuplets, you need to screw your head on straight thinking that this is good for your heart health. Yeah, you might be able to belly bench a lot with that big gut, but at what cost to your heart and cardiovascular system. I agree with you fully that lifters eat way to much junk food and I want to thank you for making an attempt to educate us on how to live a stronger and healthier life. I am not saying we need to be bodybuilders here, but where do we draw the line? When a male lifter is packing over 35% body fat there is something wrong here with the picture. It’s time to step away from the ice cream and get your fat ass on the treadmill. Anyways, sorry for the ranting, but I had to get this off my chest. My question is about Vitamin C in relation to cancer. I heard someone at the gym saying it may prevent or help fight cancer. Is this true? If you can give me some insight on this topic that would be great. Thanks in advance for getting back to me and if you can print your reply in the magazine I would love that.
Sincerely, Julie Rotondi

 

A: I am so happy to hear that you liked my article last month. I try to bring you new and cutting edge information every issue and help educate the powerlifting community on the finer aspects of natural performance enhancement and health longevity. Wow, you really know how to sock it to all these lifters, eh? I thought I was hard on them and then you come and lay the smack down like some kind of Nutrition Gestapo. All joking aside, it is good to see someone that wants to see change in the sport because it will not only improve the health of these lifters, but also their performance in the long run. When I had read your question, you had me on the ground about getting your ass on the treadmill and to push away the ice cream. Your sense of humor is fantastic. Now in relation to your question about Vitamin C and cancer prevention, your friend at the gym was correct indeed. You see, in a couple recent studies they have found some very promising results that everyone reading this will be glad to hear. I am going to attempt to put this information into some basic lingo. This is something I will try to do so that you don’t simply turn the page. I know if I get too scientific on you and lose your interest it won’t benefit any of us. As I was scouring through some studies I found one in the Journal of Angiogenesis Research that really had some great information. It showed that when there are high levels of Vitamin C in the blood it can beneficial in fighting this horrible disease due to its effects on preventing angiogenesis. Basically this big word here just means that it prevents the new growth of blood vessels that feed these cancerous tumors. This is very important because the large majority of cancer treatments have this main goal—to cut off the supply of blood vessels that nourish and feed these tumors. One of the many downsides of using pharmaceuticals to promote angiogenesis is that there are some horrible side effects and anyone that has used these drugs in the past or know someone that has can attest to what it can do; basically make you feel like crap.


The scientists used two different assays to take a look at both outcomes. The first was done as an ex vivo study performed on rat tissue. The second study was performed as an in vivo study performed on mice. Now both of these studies showed that by using high dose Vitamin C intravenous infusions new blood vessel growth was inhibited. These little mice were given a substantial dose here which was around 430 mg. of Vitamin C per kg. of weight. When they looked at the in vivo assay, the Vitamin C treated tissue had 30% less blood vessel growth than the tissue that was not infused with any Vitamin C at all. This 30% reduction was for both the number of vessels and also the vessel densities as well. This is fantastic news to say the least. So as you can see, taking Vitamin C has another health benefit that many were unaware even in the nutrition and medical communities.


As I dug deeper into this topic, more good news seemed to sprout up before my eyes and, of course, I have to share it with all my loyal readers. In another journal that I know is read by the large majority of powerlifters (sorry for the blatant sarcasm, but I couldn’t withhold myself), another new study published in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications had some interesting information in regards to Vitamin C supplementation and Mesothelioma. For those of you who don’t know what this is it is a rare and deadly form of cancer that currently has no cure. I know this really sucks, but never give up hope. Even radiation, chemotherapy and surgery have not beaten this horrible strain of cancer that affects tens of thousands of Americans. Japanese researchers decided to take a look at the effects of high dose Vitamin C and its relations to this disease. The researchers used pharmaceutical grade ascorbic acid (Vitamin C for all you non nutrition gurus) in high concentrations and found that in vitro (which is in a test tube for all of you who skipped your biology class in high school), it caused Mesothelioma cell death. These Japanese researchers didn’t stop there–these guys were on a mission. Next they found that this high dose of Vitamin C also inhibited Mesothelioma tumor growth in vivo (which was performed on living mice with malignant Mesothelioma). This is some fantastic news. Of course if you have Mesothelioma and are currently taking chemotherapy, do not start mega dosing Vitamin C in hopes of getting rid of the disease. There have been studies that have shown that there is an interaction between Vitamin C and Chemotherapy drugs, so before you do this consult with your doctor to discuss the protocol beforehand. New studies are on going right now to research further on how to take advantage of both of them while avoiding interactions. So the researchers were quite excited due to the fact that this was the first study in which Vitamin C has been shown to cause Mesothelioma cell death. As you can seem nutrition and medicine are marching on to find a cure for cancer and hopefully in our lifetime this will become a reality.


I have preached the use of Vitamin C since I started writing for PL USA over eight years ago and all my athletes can attest that I am a big believer in supplementing with it in their nutrition programs. So among all the other health benefits like improving immune function, healing soft tissues, improving your recovery from training, increasing Testosterone levels and more, you can now add to the list these new findings that has shown some real promise for those that want to prevent this disease before it starts. So take it from me, get yourself some time-released Vitamin C and take at least 1000 mg. three times daily. You will notice less colds and infections. You will find that you are not as sore from your training sessions and recover quicker as well. These are just a few of the many benefits that this wonder vitamin has to offer and if you are not currently taking it I highly recommend you look into supplementing with it for your performance and long term health as well.

 

Kick the Can to the Curb
Q: I am a university student trying to make ends meet, but at the same time I want to still eat healthy. I try not to eat at the cafeteria too often because most of the food there is horrible to say the least. That last article about fast food burgers had my jaw on the floor considering I would eat several per week. It makes me think of just how much window cleaner I consumed over the years. Well, thanks to you that is a thing of the past as I try and prepare most of my meals. I have a question about canned foods. What is your take on them—are they healthy? Is there something I need to watch out for in them that I may not be aware of? I eat at least one to two cans of food daily, whether it be some type of tuna or canned beans because it’s quick and very convenient. Is this okay to do? You seem to know the finer things that the media doesn’t seem to want us to know about so I leave it to you to tell us the truth of what is really going on behind the scenes. I really like how you bring to light what food companies and the FDA don’t want us to know. Please keep it real and keep reporting to us all this valuable information.
Yours in strength, Brian Rotike

 

A: Hey Brian, it’s great to hear from an aspiring student. I remember those days back in university like it was yesterday. Keeping your head buried in books for hours at a time; the stress of getting those essays in on time and then exams. Oh boy, am I glad that is all over with. I can fully relate to you wanting to eat healthy and on a budget, but I am sorry to say canned foods are not the way to go. There are many different reasons why I am against eating them, but this one alone will most likely be enough to keep you away. Hey, all you powerlifters reading this I know you love those canned macaroni in sauce and all the other kiddy noodle canned products out their like raviolis and such. Put the can down and read this as this may be the last time you ever use your can opener again.


Now I want to shed some light on what is known as Biphenol-A or for short BPA. You may see some new plastic water bottles that say BPA free on them and that is a good thing. BPA is something you want to completely stay away from right from the start. Most people don’t know this, but BPA can cause a tsunami on your endocrine health. It can wreak havoc on your thyroid function among many other problems. To make this worse it can also affect your fertility. It can help create the perfect environment for ovarian disease. I have even seen links between BPA and obesity. All right powerlifters don’t completely blame the BPA in your cola bottles as the main reason for your bloated stomach because those chocolate tacos that you wolf down by the half dozen can also be a contributing factor. One other major thing I hate about BPA is also that it is related to cancer. It has been shown to help proliferate prostate cancer cells by binding to a mutant form of androgen receptor that is expressed in a subpopulation of prostate cancer cells. That sounds good, doesn’t it? Let’s not forget its estrogen activity that it is known for as well. New studies have shown that it may also block Testosterone synthesis. Oh yeah, that is exactly what a powerlifter needs—nothing like ruining your natural Test levels! Yep, good ol’ BPA is something that you want to stay away from like a plague. Now most people are aware that BPA is heavily known for its role in plastic bottles and food containers. But guess what—BPA has now shown its ugly head in a place you would least expect it. Yes you guessed right, it’s also in your canned foods. Wow, you ditch the plastic containers only to find out that you are getting a nice hefty dose of “cancer enhancer” BPA now available in your canned goods. Oh yeah, sign me up, I just can’t get enough BPA in my regular diet, so I better start supplementing with canned foods. Sorry for the sarcasm, but as you can see there should not be BPA in canned foods, but guess again…it’s in there. Let’s take a look at some really good information that will blow your mind once again on what dirty tricks are going on in the food industry. According to an article in the Tribune Business News, The National Workgroup for Safe Markets tested a whopping 50 different brand name foods. You know what they found? Yep, you guessed it, contaminants by the boat loads—well maybe not boatloads, but enough to endanger your health. Get this, they found contaminants and BPA in 46 out of 50 of the cans they tested. That is a whopping 92% containing contaminants that are harmful to your health. That says a lot for the food industry and the food governing body (you know who I’m talking about here) that is supposed to be monitoring them. To make matters worse, many of the cans actually contained higher levels of BPA than even the FDA allows. What does that tell you? Stay far away from canned foods if your health means anything to you. Now the grand kicker here, the big Pooba in the “BPA Awards” most honored food product was none other than Del Monte French Style Green Beans from Wisconsin. It scored a mind blowing 1,140 parts per billion of BPA. Whooo-eee! That is a tremendous amount of BPA in a single can of goods if I do say so myself. Other top contenders included Wal-Mart Great Value Green Peas found in Kentucky. Let’s not forget Healthy Choice Old Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup from Montana. This doesn’t sound so healthy to me; maybe they should consider a name switch. If eating that is a “healthy choice” then what is not eating healthy? Agent Orange?


So as you can see, it doesn’t matter if you buy cheap generic canned foods or gourmet ones—they still have BPA in them. To make matters worse, if you are eating from cans on a daily basis, this is exposing your body to these harmful chemicals way too much and can be creating the perfect environment for different health ailments down the road. I know canned foods are cheap and with you being a student it probably made sense for you to buy them especially with time considerations and cost. But as you can see here, your health is worth much more than the few cents you save in the grocery line. I recommend you buy fresh produce and stay away from all canned goods no matter if they are your favorite spaghetti treat, canned beans, and fruit punch drinks or that tapioca pudding you love so much. Make it fresh because in the end it will be much better for your health, believe me.


I know I sound like a party pooper and love to rain on your parade, but the bottom line is that I write this column every month to look out for all of you lifters. If I don’t keep you up to date on what is really going on in the food and health industry who will? You can be sure that the food companies are not going to be the ones to let you in on the bad news or the so called food governing bodies that are supposed to be watching out for your health and best interest either. I know after this article I will get tons of emails about this BPA stuff and I am sure you will be requesting a full article on it. Not a problem for those of you who would like to see one, please feel free to drop me an email and I will for sure include it in an upcoming issue. So please stop eating canned foods—especially in the amounts that you are doing daily because what it may do to your health years from now can be a very scary thing. So until next month, train hard, eat clean and stay away from the canned foods because your health depends on it!