1. If you’re trying to lose weight, lose the fat in your diet! Cutting all fat will speed weight loss.

While you’ll lose weight if you cut out any calorie-rich group of foods (and fats have more calories per gram than either protein or carbohydrates), completely eliminating fat from your diet is a very bad idea! Besides providing important calories for the energy you need to do your daily activities, fats provide essential fatty acids critical to many biological processes. Additionally, good fats line the membranes of cells helping them provide much needed anti-inflammatory activity. Fats are also important for absorbing essential nutrients like fat-soluble vitamins. For a healthy diet, be sure to eliminate unnatural fats, called trans fat, found abundantly in margarine, hydrogenated oils, as well as many baked goods, processed and convenience foods It is also best to reduce or eliminate saturated fats found in milk, cheese, butter, red meat, pork, coconut and poultry. Healthier fats (which should still be used sparingly) include: extra-virgin olive oil, avocados and nuts, especially walnuts, cashews and almonds. For omega-3 fatty acids, eat cold water fish such as salmon, freshly ground flax seeds, or sardines packed in water. 

2. In their lifetime, 1 out of 2 men, and 1 out of 3 women will be diagnosed with cancer.

True. And, in spite of Nixon declaring a “war on cancer” in 1971, statistics from the National Cancer Institute show that cancer mortality has remain virtually unchanged from 1970—2000, the last year for which this data is available.

3. If a woman has any risk factors for breast cancer, it’s important she reduces or eliminates all soy food products from her diet.

There is no data that indicates that the moderate consumption of soy foods poses a breast cancer risk. In fact, there is research indicating that for pre-menopausal women, the moderate consumption of soy foods can have a protective effect. This is due to the fact that pre-menopausal women naturally have a significant amount of estrogen, and soy (as a phytoestrogen) appears able to act as a weak estrogen, blocking receptor sites on cancer cells from hormones that could otherwise support stimulation of cancer growth. In an already existing flood of estrogen found in pre-menopausal women, these plant estrogens at most act as receptor site blockers, helping to counter growth stimulation. While one shouldn’t expect soy to have the muscle of a drug like tamoxifen, it does appear to act in a similar manner by blocking estrogenic activity. However, where there is no significant concern about the consumption of soy, even by post-menopausal women, there may be some concern when highly concentrated soy isoflavones are introduced, particularly in women with a history of estrogen positive breast cancer. In this case, the excessive consumption of concentrated soy isoflavones (not what one would get from ingesting usual amounts of soy foods) could act “estrogenically.” In effect, these isoflavones are isolated soy compounds that can work as a "weak estrogens," stimulating and promoting cell replication. Post-menopausal women have markedly reduced estrogen and thus, a phytoestrogen could work as a receptor agonist stimulating proliferation. A cautious, “play it safe” position might be to advise postmenopausal women with a history of estrogen positive breast cancer to avoid supplementing with soy isoflavone supplements altogether and possibly not overdo soy foods.   However, while that more conservative position is reasonable, my more recent opinion is that premenopausal patients will benefit from soy food intake and soy will have at most a neutral effect on post-menopausal women. I believe eventually research on soy isoflavones will demonstrate a similar effect in both cases.

4. Moderate alcohol consumption is beneficial for cancer prevention.

No, definitely not.  It's been known for a long time that alcohol increases the risk for cancers of the upper aerodigestive organs, but this is at higher levels of consumption (around 3 or 4 glasses a day). However, there is recent strong evidence that even one glass a day of an alcoholic beverage can cause a small but significant increase in breast cancer. 

5. When you’re undergoing treatment for cancer, it’s very important to rest whenever you can. The more you rest, the more energy you have to fight the disease.
   No, in fact, more and more research is showing that even modest amounts of exercise – ideally tailored to the individual needs of the patient – not only enhance quality of life, but can have a positive impact on treatment tolerance as well as outcome. There is however evidence demonstrating that rest is not only important, but it is essential aspect of care. The more marked the difference in resting/sleep activity and daytime/waking activity, the better colon cancer patients tolerate and respond to treatment. This can lead to a doubling of 5 year survivals. Evaluating rest-activity rhythms and training in circadian fitness is an important area of care implemented in the Block Center.
6. Coconut oil is the healthiest oil available today. 

No. Coconut oil contains high levels of saturated fat, which tends to promote inflammation.  A better choice is extra virgin olive oil.

7. Mammogram and colonoscopies are two of the best tools available for preventing breast and colon cancer, respectively.

Actually, neither of these are useful for prevention! This is a common misunderstanding. These screening tests are actually testing to catch a malignancy at an early stage, not to prevent it. At best it could be said that their use is to prevent a more advanced malignancy from occurring. However, both are effective screening tools that when used optimally can save lives. In terms of preventing disease, diet and lifestyle modifications are the best tools we have to help prevent disease.

8. Raw vegetables have more nutrients than cooked vegetables.  

Though there is some research suggesting that some vegetables may have more nutritional value when eaten raw, your body may better be able to digest and absorb some phytochemicals when vegetables are lighted cooked in a healthy oil (for example, tomatoes in extra virgin olive oil) The Block Center’s recommendation: eat a mixture of cooked and raw vegetables and make sure to include plenty of cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage and bok choy.

9. Organic yogurt and dairy is considered safe because the animals are not treated with hormones.

Not necessarily. While the organic label suggests that the animals aren’t given growth hormones, the yogurt is going to contain hormones because it comes from an animal. In addition, the fats found in dairy are highly inflammatory. Dairy can trigger insulin levels and IGF-1. Most important, we steer our patients away from yogurt because 80% of the protein is casein (20% is whey). Research demonstrates that casein protein can promote tumor growth. 

10. Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids are the most beneficial fatty acids.
    No.  Better choices are Omega  3s and Omega-9s.  The typical American diet, with its predominance of Omega 6 fatty acids can actually drive inflammation and promote disease.  We recommend a shift to foods richer in Omega 3 fatty acids, found in cold water fish, walnuts and flaxseed oils.  Omega-9s include monounsaturated fatty acids such as those in olive oil, avocados, and almonds.  You may hear that you need some omega-6 fatty acids. While this is true, you need not worry about intentionally consuming these. Since fats are found in nature in mixed ratios, it will be impossible to eat even a whole foods diet without getting an adequate amount of omega 6 fats to meet normal biological needs.
11. Brown sugar is better for you than white sugar.
    No, it doesn’t matter what color it is.  Refined sugar is refined sugar and should be avoided whenever possible.
12. In general, decaffeinated coffee is a better choice than regular coffee.
    No.  Decaffeinated coffee is processed with chemical solvents.  If you must have decaf coffee, we recommend Swiss water processed.  When drinking regular coffee, we suggest buying organic beans and grinding them at home yourself. Please stay clear of milk and sugar. We recommend soy or oat milk as a healthy natural creamer – and alternative to milk or cream – and agave as an alternative to sugar.
13. One in 6 women in this country will die from heart disease.
    What might be shocking is to learn that heart disease is the single leading cause of death for American women.  Women comprise 51% of the total heart disease deaths in this country, and there is research suggesting that as many as 1 in 3 women have some form of cardiovascular disease. 
14. As we get older (50+), it’s still important to adhere to a regular exercise regimen, but less time is required to achieve optimal health benefits.
    No, in fact as we age we de-condition more rapidly and have greater difficulty maintaining adequate nutritional intake, thus following optimal fitness and nutritional programs are even more essential. Maintaining an hour program through your 40’s is fine, however from 50 years onward, I encourage people (our cancer patients as well as our optimal health patients) to add a full 10 to 15 minutes of exercise daily every 5 years that goes by, and to be sure to include strengthening, flexibility and aerobic activity.
15. Self breast exams and scheduling regular medical appointments are two of the best ways to help prevent disease and illness.
    Neither should be considered preventive medicine!  Self breast exams are a helpful tool in detecting changes in the breast.  Any significant changes should be brought to your physician’s attention.   Scheduling regular medical appointments and following suggested guidelines for screening to discover disease can be helpful in diagnosing a disease in its earlier stages. 
16. There is an optimal time of day to administer many medications,
    including chemotherapy drugs.
    True. Both chemotherapy drugs and many other medications have been studied and demonstrated to have an optimal time of day when they are most effective and the best tolerated. 
17. Brown grain products are whole grain products.
    Check labels carefully! Foods labeled with the words "multi-grain," "stone-ground," "100% wheat," "cracked wheat," "seven-grain," or "bran" are usually not whole-grain products. Color is also not an indication of a whole grain. Brown does not necessary mean whole wheat or whole grain! Some brown bread has brown coloring added to achieve the brown color!  When determining if a packaged food product contains whole grain or not, look for the word "whole" in the ingredient list. Also look for the Whole Grain Stamp (see above examples). A "good source" stamp contains at least 1/2 serving of whole grains while an "excellent source" contains at least 1 serving of whole grains. Whenever possible, choose the whole grain cereal in its original form, like brown rice or whole wheat berries as opposed to flour. When using products made from flour be sure that the majority of the flour is really made from whole grains.
18. For optimal health, aim at getting 30% of your daily calories from fat.
    Many institutions recommend people get up to 30% of their daily calories from fat. At the Block Center, we generally recommend patients get 15-18% of their calories from fat, comprised primarily of the healthier unsaturated fats. Under specific circumstances, such as malnutrition, treatment related stress or post-surgical stress, this percentage may go up to 25%, possibly even higher.