Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 5, 1 May 1990 — ʻAi Pono, EOla [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ʻAi Pono, EOla

By Terry Shintani, M.D., M.P.H.

The Wai'anae diet and cancer

Many of our kupuna have died of cancer in recent times. Like all of you, I want this trend to stop. I don't know anyone who hasn't had a relative or a close friend die of cancer. Hawaiians have almost the highest

rates of cancer in the country, second only to Afro-Americans. This is a little scary when you thinkthat. 21 percent of all Americans die of cancer. Hawaiians have the highest rate of breast eancer in the country, the highest rate of stomach cancer, and the highest rate of female lungcancer. This is especially remarkable when you consider that cancer was rare in ancient Hawaiians. This is based on the study of over a thousand skeletal remains that showed evidence of cancer in only one set of bones. The unfortunate thing is that most of these eancers are preventable. Many of the cancers are even curable. What ean we do to help to accomplish this? The first thing is to leam and teach others what to do. The Waimanalo Health Center took some strides toward this by having a health fair on Apnl 7 to inform the community about many aspects of' health. Among other things, there were talks on la'au lapa'au. Helen 0'Connor and I were invited to present the anti-cancer aspects of the Wai'anae Diet and the Moloka'i Diet to the community. At that presentation, we shared a little aboutdietand cancer and things we could do to help prevent and cure cancer. Fight cancer through diet What are some of the things we ean do personally to fight cancer? The Nahonal Cancer Institute now recognizes diet as the number one cause of cancer. They estimate that 35 percent of all cancer is diet-related whereas about 30 percent of cancer is smoking related. The Wai'anae Diet is a great model for an anticancer diet. One reason is that the diet is only around nine percent fat compared to the average of 40 percent fat consumed by most people. This low-fat diet is likely to help people avoid breast cancer and prostate cancer. It will also help people to lose weight as a side benefit. Part of the reason the Hawaiian diet was so low in fat was that there was no frying. Today we fry foods to death. When we go to restaurants and fast food places, everything is fried. And oil, whieh is liquid fat, gets into everything. One of the best ways to remember that there was no frying in aneient Hawai'i is to remember that there were no frying pans. Everything was either baked, steamed, boiled or broiled (watch out for over-broiling). Get regular medical checkups Another important step to preventing and curing cancer is to seek help when you should. Having mammograms and getting your regular checkups is really important. It is mueh easier to cure cancer that is found early rather than when it is found after it has spread. Keep in touch with your doctor for this kind of care. In addition, if you want to work with a traditional Hawaiian healer, by all means do so but don't forget to work with your physician as well. Join community programs How ean we help as a community? There are a number of programs that are now planned or in progress that you ean participate in. They are featured on my radio talk show on KGU

AM 76 on Mondays at 7 p.m. The Amenean CancerSociety is sponsoringthe "Great Amehean Food Fight" in whieh eommunity members will be going door to door to help promote good eating to prevent cancer. You ean volunteer by calling the American Cancer Society. Project LEAN (whieh means Low Fat Eating for Amenea Now) is also planning a campaign in the stores and supermarkets. If your organization would like to participate, eall Aliee Toguchi at the state Department of Health at 548-6552. Form Hawaiian community networks In the future, there will be a Native Hawaiian Leadership Initiative network for cancer prevention that will be organized after a similar AfroAmerican organization. Any community interested in doing a native Hawaiian diet program should start organizing so that it ean plan the resources to do it. The Wai'anae Coast Compre-

hensive Health Center will be glad to provide information on how to do this. Simple steps to prevent cancer Here is a simple recipe for some steps to prevent cancer: 1. Eat the way our kupuna ate. 2. Avoid fatty and fried foods. 3. Bake, steam, boil or broil our foods. 4. See your doctor for checkups or if you have a problem. 5. Participate in community activities to prevent cancer. Dr. Shintani, physician and nutritionist, is the director of preventiue medicine at the Wai'anae Coast Comprehensiue Health Center. A majorify of its board and its 18,000 clients are natiue Hawaiian.

w <**. ^ mmam Two Australian Aboriginal educators recently visited Hawai'i to study Hawaiian immersion and cultural education programs. Garth Agius of the South Australia education department

and Kevin 0'Loughlin of Aboriginal Community College visited Kamehameha Schools, Punana Leo and Waiau schools and OHA.