Breast Cysts

The most common cause of breast lumps is fibrocystic breast disease. In this illness, one or more fluid-filled masses form as cysts, causing recurrent flare-ups of tender lumps in one or both breasts, especially before menstruation.
Breast cysts are often linked to premenstrual syndrome (PMS). The lumps are movable, and they fluctuate in size during the menstrual cycle. Breast cysts most commonly occur in women between the ages of thirty and fifty.

Hormonal changes that occur one or two weeks before menstruation cause glands to fill with fluid, producing a cyst, and this leads to swelling, inflammation and pain. What causes the cysts to develop is not fully understood, though a number of factors certainly contribute.
Hormonal imbalances result in an increase in milk – producing glands, and enlargement of cells and scaring in the breast tissue. 

The hormones oestrogen, progesterone and prolactin are all partly responsible for breast lumps, especially an increase in oestrogen or a fall in progesterone levels. An increase of oestrogen is often due to poorly functioning liver that is unable to break down excess oestrogens in the body quickly enough.
A deficiency in the essential fatty acid, gamma linolenic acid (GLA), which provides the body with the hormone-like substance prostaglandin, also plays a role in breast disease. Supplementing with Evening Primrose Oil, a rich source of GLA, is often helpful.

Wearing tight – fitting bras restricts circulation in the lymph vessels, thus hindering the removal of wastes. Women who wear bras all day, every day and at night, and especially those who wear constricting bras, are most susceptible to cysts.

Methylxanthines, found especially in coffee but also in black tea, chocolate and colas, have been linked to the development of breast cysts. 
A lack of iodine, which can cause symptoms of an under-active thyroid, can also be the cause of breast cysts.

A vegetarian diet which includes plenty of whole grains and fresh vegetables is highly recommended. Women on a vegetarian diet have been shown to excrete two to three times more detoxified oestrogens than women who eat meat. The liver needs B vitamins along with essential fatty acids for adequate oestrogen excretion, whole grains and green leafy vegetables provide B vitamins, the fiber in whole grains and vegetables, ensures proper intestinal function, which helps eliminate oestrogen.

Supplements have provided many women with relief from pain and discomfort, and should be combined with changes in diet. 

Particularly important is Evening Primrose Oil taking 3 grams each day, and Vitamin E, which softens the breast tissue at 400 IU per day.

Vitamin B6 helps reduce the size and swelling of breast cysts when associated with PMS.

Herbal remedies have been used for generations to regulate hormones which can lead to breast cysts.

Dandelion juice is very effective at reducing breast cysts – take 10ml twice a day for the two weeks before menstruation. This remedy is so good at reducing breast cysts, that it is known both here and in china for this condition.

Another herb which will help ease breast cysts is Agnus Castus, a herb which often will eliminate PMS and ease breast cysts if used at 5ml first thing in the morning through out the month before menstruation.

Breakfast Oats

A study in America has shown that seven servings of wholegrain breakfast cereals a week led to a 29% reduction in the risk of heart failure for men. This study looked at the diet of 21,376 men over 20 years. They found that wholegrain cereals and not cereals that where refined, i.e. had been processed to remove part of the grain and with it, beneficial nutrients that beneficial to health.

   Wholegrain breakfast cereals contain important nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, and oil that have been reported to lower cardiovascular risk factors and positively influence glucose and insulin metabolism, the researchers said.

    One of the best wholegrain cereals, I believe, is oats. Oats is the perfect food for infants, children and the elderly. Oats has been used as a medicine by herbalists for generations, its use as a major dietary ingredient is highly beneficial in conditions of gastric hyperacidity (with or without ulcers), gallbladder disorders including jaundice, chronic rheumatic, circulatory and skin disorders, and diabetes.

    Although oats was a classical Mediterranean food, oats didn’t flourish as a food until it spread to the more northern parts of Europe with Roman expansion. Some consider oats indigenous to these lands. Whatever the truth, it is in northern Europe that oats served for centuries to build robust constitutions that weathered the extreme climate of these lands, including cold, damp, famine, strife and plague. In the Middle Ages, oatmeal porridge (from the meal, not the flakes) was the bulk of the peasant diet.

    It is difficult to imagine a more nutritive and restorative grain. The comprehensive effect of oats is rooted in its sweet taste, which promotes solidity, growth and vitality. Oats therefore enhances flesh building, weight gain, growth - especially in children, due to its high protein count - and strength.

    Oats has the ability to ‘ground’ a person, and is very useful in people that feel low or depressed due to stress of anxiety, overwork or both. It is also used to help people come off drugs; it’s often included in anti-addiction Herbal formulae.

    A good way to see oats is as a restorative remedy. It will re-build the mind and body after it has become run down due to overwork or stress, it benefits the endocrine system, especially the thyroid, pancreas and gonads (sex glands, testes and ovaries) and is useful in all conditions where weakness of those glands occurs.

    One of my favorite ways to eat oats is cooking oat groats (the whole grain) overnight in a wide mouthed thermos flask. Just add boiling water to the oat groats and a pinch of salt and leave overnight in the thermos flask, its still warm in the morning. Beautiful with a spoon of honey. The perfect start to the day!