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Melissa Etheridge, who was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer in 2004, is now blaming an acidic diet and western lifestyle for her medical problems. She told Access Hollywood that the disease isn’t genetic or random, but that it feeds off of stress and a diet high in meat and processed foods. So is the singer spreading bad rumors about why people get breast cancer? In our opinion, not really.
Etheridge isn’t the first to claim that diet and lifestyle choices contribute to cancer, and her ideas about an acidic diet aren’t new, either: Last year, Kris Carr‘s book “Crazy Sexy Diet”—a book touting the merits of an alkaline, vegan diet for prevention and treatment of cancer—hit the New York Times bestseller list, bringing previously fringe ideas about lifestyle and prevention closer to the mainstream. The basic idea is that by eating more vegetables and certain fruits, it’s possible to encourage a less acidic environment in your body, which discourages the development of disease in your cells. Etheridge offers a similar explanation:
I’m healthier now than I’ve ever been because I’m understanding what breast cancer is… It’s when your health is out of balance, when you’re too acidic… It’s not like a disease that finds you or something in your genes. It’s actually your own cells going bad.
Our own western lifestyle is one of the reasons that half of us have cancer – because our western lifestyle is so acidic; the food we eat causes acid… the meats, the processed foods… and it’s really taxing us, and that’s why we’re seeing this epidemic.
Again echoing the advice of Carr and other advocates of prevention through lifestyle, she emphasizes that stress is a big contributing factor: “You can eat bad, you can sit around and watch TV and not get sick, but if you are stressed, you’re going down.”
And even if you don’t believe that going vegan and eating a strict alkaline diet (which mostly consists of green vegetables), you’d be foolish not to consider diet and lifestyle a big risk factor. Even doctors who don’t advocate the same ideas as Etheridge or Carr will tell you that diet, exercise and limiting stress are important for preventing cancer and other common diseases.
That said, we do think Etheridge’s claim that cancer isn’t a disease that “finds you” or is in your genes is a glib response to evidence that genes are a huge risk factor for some cancers—breast cancer among them. While a healthy lifestyle can certainly help protect us against cancer and even increase our survival rates, breast cancer in particular is highly genetic, so if it does run in your family, it’s important to maintain a healthy lifestyle and see a doctor for regular screening.
Photo: FayesVision/WENN.com
 | Video: Kris Carr’s New “Crazy Sexy Diet” |
There has been a cure for cancer around for a long time look up Dr.Gerson. I was DX w/ stage 3 Breast CA in 2010; underwent Chemo (which also causes cancer) I did not learn about DR. Gerson’s diet therapy until after SX . I wish I had been told so I could explore options. My oncologist insisted on radiation, but I refused. I fired her & found an MD who would listen to me. Even this MD did not once discuss the importance of nutrition.After my DX, my partner and I went organic and recently are now Vegan. No Franken or GMO foods!!!!! We feel so much better and have more energy!
“but knowing your family history is an important tool for prevention, too.”
I don’t agree.. That knowledge shouldn’t be the base on which you adjust your lifestyle. Good or bad genes, positive or negative family history, diseases of affluence such as cancer can be switched on and off by your diet and lifestyle (for extensive research see The China Study by T. Colin Cambell).
2nd generation immigrants from countries with hardly any of our western diseases have the same percentage of CVDs, cancer etc. as we have. This means that their ’5 times less cancer sensitive’ genes have not prevented them.
It is nutrition and lifestyle that has most effect.
i wanna be tested to see if i carry these genes,,,,,,,,,,,,, brca1 and brca2, how do i do it, just go to my general practiceioner>?? or the cancer specialist??
help
Yes, Acidic diet + stress + lack of spiritual ‘alignment’ (lack of relationship with higher power) = dis-ease
How exactly do you define “highly genetic”? Given that only 5 to 10% of all breast cancer is genetic, I’m not sure I agree with your emphasis on genetics. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110527080332.htm)
I have been screened for the the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes and fortunately have not inherited them. However, given that my identical twin (also free of BRCA1 & BRCA2) was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 33, I think I’ll choose a “glib response” as you say and clean up my diet and lifestyle.
Amen Dani!
“That said, we do think Etheridge’s claim that cancer isn’t a disease that “finds you” or is in your genes is a glib response to evidence that genes are a huge risk factor for some cancers—breast cancer among them. ”
Not exactly accurate. While it’s true that having the 2 known BC genes dramatically increases your chance of getting the disease, MOST women who are diagnosed with breast cancer do NOT have either of these genes.
Thanks for the comment, Stacey. According to the National Cancer Institute, women who inherit the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes are five times more likely than the general population to develop breast cancer. That may not mean that MOST women who are diagnosed have the disease, but it is an important factor for women to be aware of, and I think it’s irresponsible to say otherwise.
I’m all for women believing that diet and lifestyle can change their odds through diet and lifestyle, but knowing your family history is an important tool for prevention, too.