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Page 67
them on top of the stove, stirring with a wooden spoon until toasted. Sprinkle over salads or grain dishesthey are quite tasty.
Another common spice, used for several thousand years in the Far and Middle East, is black cumin. It is an annual herb with strong immunomodulating and interferonlike activity. Its active principal, nigellone, displays anticancer and immune-enhancing abilities. Studies have shown that 2 grams per day of this spice can significantly enhance cytotoxic T-cells and increase natural killer-cell activity. Black cumin in extract form inhibits cancer and endothelial cell progression and decreases the production of the angiogenic protein fibroblastic growth factor (FGF) produced by rumor cells. The fibroblastic growth factors contained in breast cancer, prostate cancer, and melanoma cells have all been shown to be suppressed by black cumin. The endothelial cells in these cancers reverted to a nonangiogenic state when exposed to the neutralizing influence of this common spice. 22
It is amazing that so many common herbs and spices, used for centuries in traditional cooking, have such incredible promise for suppressing the initiation, progression, and invasion of cancer. (See table 3.3.)
Sea Vegetables
Learn to cook with various kinds of seaweed, or use them as condiments to sprinkle on your food. In some dishes, they can actually be used instead of salt. In fact, I suggest that seaweed be used in your daily diet as a salt substitute. You can use it in soups (miso soup with seaweed is a powerful cancer-fighting food), grain dishes, or salads or as a main vegetable. Dulse is delicious in salads.
Many species of seaweed, including wakame, kelp, and bladderwrack, have shown antitumor activity. Wakame has shown the strongest antitumor activity so far. Seaweed is nature's richest, most bioavailable source of organic iodine, a substance lacking in the average American diet and directly related to the high incidence of thyroid disorders. Many of my patients with ovarian or breast cancer are deficient in iodine and show signs of low thyroid function.
Seaweeds are also an excellent source of calcium and potassium and are rich in all minerals. They help in the removal of radioactive and toxic heavy minerals. I am thankful to herbalist Ryan Drum for teaching me the importance of this neglected food.

 
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