(NaturalNews) A study conducted by researchers at Ulster University and published in the
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that eating 85 grams of watercress per day significantly reduced cancer damage to white blood cells and increased the body's levels of cancer-fighting antioxidants. This has led scientists to believe that the vegetable may hamper the growth of cancer cells, or even kill them.
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What you need to know - Conventional
View
• Researchers fed 30 men and 30 women 85 grams of watercress daily, in addition to their regular diets. The participants were between the ages of 19 and 35, and half were smokers.
• Among those with cancer, damage to their white blood cells decreased by 22.9 percent.
• Antioxidant levels in the blood also increased significantly over the course of the study, particularly among smokers. Antioxidants remove cell-damaging "free radicals" from the body, thus reducing the risk of cancer.
• Watercress is an aquatic, leafy vegetable that contains high quantities of iron, calcium and vitamin C.
• The study was funded by the Watercress Alliance, composed of the three largest watercress producers in the United Kingdom.
• Other scientists have criticized the study for its small sample size and disputed the claim that watercress provides a greater anti-cancer benefit than other fruits and vegetables. Karol Sikora, a professor of cancer medicine at Imperial College, called the study's conclusions "grossly overstated."
• Quote: "Population studies have shown links between the intakes of cruciferous vegetables like watercress and a reduced risk of a number of cancers.... What makes this study unique is it involves people eating watercress in easily achievable amounts, to see what impact that might have on known bio-markers of cancer risk, such as DNA damage." - Lead Researcher Professor Ian Rowland
What you need to know - Alternative View
Opinions and statements by Mike Adams
• Watercress is a well-known example of an "anti-cancer food" that contains phytonutrients known to boost the body's defenses against cancer.
• Studying the anti-cancer effect of a single food is very much a western, compartmentalized way to look at anti-cancer diets. A true anti-cancer diet includes onions, garlic, broccoli, raw sprouts, almonds, blueberries and many other foods and herbs that work synergistically to combat cancer. You cannot study one at a time and expect to get an accurate assessment of how they work synergistically.
• Many conventional scientists don't want to admit that foods contain powerful anti-cancer drugs proven to be more effective than chemotherapy, thus they attack any scientific study that shows foods, herbs or nutritional supplements in a positive light.
• Cancer is a disease that's easily prevented through food, supplements and herbs, and the disease is usually simple to reverse in early stages. Conventional medicine thrives on cancer, depending on the disease to create billions of dollars in revenue from pharmaceuticals, radiation, surgery and other hazardous treatments. The cancer industry has actually gone out of its way to suppress and censor information about anti-cancer foods or genuine prevention methods that are safe, simple and affordable.
• "Watercress is just one of many anti-cancer foods that I strongly recommend to anyone interested in preventing or reversing cancer. Combine watercress with garlic, cruciferous vegetables, raw almond milk, raw celery juice, superfoods like spirulina and chlorella, radish sprouts, supplements like zinc, selenium and reishi mushrooms, and rainforest herbs like cat's claw, and you have one of the most powerful anti-cancer treatment plans known to modern science. Conventional oncology can't even come close to the effectiveness of these anti-cancer foods, herbs and supplements." - Mike Adams, author of Natural Health Solutions and the Conspiracy to Keep You From Knowing About Them.
Bottom line
• Eating watercress helps the body fight cancer.
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