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HITTING
AT ITS ROOTS
...but good old-fashioned prevention works best.
THE
SENTINELS
Research shows that certain plant essences can prevent for help regress
breast cancer
 INDOLES:
Found in vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli, they help
balance the flow of estrogen in the body.
PHYTO-ESTROGENS:
They are believed to reduce the body's estrogen levels, although how this
happens is not yet known. They are mainly found in flax seed and soya.
Chinese and Japanese women who regularly consume soya have dramatically
lower incidence of the disease.
CAOTENE:
Found in carrots, yellow and orange fruit. Contains large amounts of absorbable
vitamin A which combats cancer-causing free radicals. One glass of carrot
juice a day can help shrink in situ tumours.
LYCOPENE:
Found in tomatoes, watermelon and guava. Another free radical scavenger
useful in cancer prevention. Cooked tomatoes are better than raw ones.
FLAVENOIDS
AND CATECHINS: Found in green and black tea. Chinese women who drink
green tea have a lower incidence of the disease.
LIVING
WITH CANCER
A
Survivor's Tale
Rhea
Nanavati is 29. Young for a mother of two. And far, far too young to have
cancer. They discovered it by accident when she was nursing her second
baby. "I was putting on my bra when suddenly my fingers brushed against
a little lump under my left armpit," recalls she. "Just a swollen
milk gland," shrugged her doctor. "Stop being a hypochondriac,"
teased her husband Rahul. But eight months later, when she stopped nursing,
the pea-sized knot was still there.
They went
to a leading Mumbai oncologist who advised a routine biopsy. "It's
probably nothing," he assured them. After all, the odds were stacked
in her favour: she was young, healthy, had just been through two successive
pregnancies, and nursed her babies for a total of 18 months-all surefire
guarantees against breast cancer.
But even
nature can be thrown off course by the stress of juggling a career with
two small children, living on pizzas and Diet Coke, and burning both ends
of the candle. The biopsy showed cancerous cells. Worse, they had spread
to the lymph nodes under her armpit. "The disease is well into the
second stage," said the doctor gently, "I'm afraid we'll have
to remove the entire breast." Says Rhea: "In that single moment
I knew it would probably be better to give up and die. But I had to think
of my husband and children. I had to be brave for them."
When the
treatment started she shaved off her head and got herself a wig. Every
morning, Rhea drove to the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai for radiotherapy.
Each session lasted barely 45 minutes but felt like an eternity. She learnt
to cope. And when the first waves of nausea hit her, she told herself
it wasn't half as bad as being pregnant.
Today Rhea
is back to "normal". The prognosis: 50-50, like those biscuits
they advertise on TV. A little sweet, a little salty. Like life itself.
But for the first time in 29 years Rhea is savouring the taste.
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The
Indian industry has increased its decibel level of whining. Instead, it
should get the government to deliver, says INDIA TODAY Associate Editor
V. Shankar Aiyar in 
