Consultation
Integrative Medicine and Cancer:
Real Change for the Real World
Nutrition and Cancer:
Once Folklore, Now Science
1. Phytonutrients Against Cancer:
My work as a cancer specialist ensures that each day, I see suffering. I make every effort to alleviate it. I reassure my patients. I struggle - as does every oncologist I know - to find effective treatments for a disease that is tenacious and proverbially hard to manage.
The prevention of cancer is not a complete mystery anymore. We now have a better understanding of what causes cancer. We also know that some of our most faithful defenders are to be found in copious abundance in the plant kingdom that surrounds us, the green world without which our lives would be inconceivable. Scientists now call those defenders phytonutrients. Phyto is Greek for plant; therefore, phytonutrients are plant nutrients. In my book Dr. Gaynor"s Cancer Prevention Program, I discuss the scientific basis and practical use of nutrition in lowering cancer risks.
2. What Causes Cancer:
Cancer is a family or group of diseases that occur in all human and animal populations (with the interesting exception of sharks) and that may arise in any tissue of the body that is composed of potentially dividing cells. The cells in which cancer occurs show two characteristics. They no longer exhibit normal growth but instead grow uncontrollably, and they no longer carry out the specific body tasks for which cells normally exist but instead simply function as cancer cells. Dividing and multiplying, the cancer cells transmit these characteristics to their cellular offspring. As the cancer grows, the host animal suffers adverse effects caused by invasive growth in the original tumor site or by metastatic spread to other sites in the body.
Currently, Americans have a one in three chance of developing cancer and one in six chance of dying of it.
The disease reaches into three of every four families, and therefore most people have known a close relative who battled it. Between 1950 and 1985, there was a 37 percent increase in cancer incidence among Caucasians and an even larger increase among African Americans. The most common cancer in Western countries is lung cancer, followed in descending order by colon and rectal cancer, prostate cancer and pancreatic cancer.
3. Nutrient Antioxidants:
A wealth of antioxidants and phytonutrients that may be even more protective that the basic vitamins and minerals, however, are assembled around you in your local grocery store. These are the other antioxidants, the ones that aren"t very often talked about in newspaper or news magazine articles, but they may be almost as important as the others for protecting you. In a sense, the food you see on your produce shelves is nothing but bags of chemicals that Mother Nature has manufactured for your delight in widely varying colors, flavors, sizes and shapes.
Nonetheless, you can"t be too well protected in a land where one of every three people eventually winds up hearing the words "You have cancer."
4. Omega-3 Oils and Other Fats:
A diet high in deep and cold-water fish (haddock, cod, salmon, tuna, halibut, mackerel, sardines) has been associated with a decreased risk of both hear disease and cancer. As far as we know, this is principally because these fish contain a type of oil called omega-3 fatty acid. This remarkable substance is concentrated in the flesh of cold-water fish because omega-3 oils don"t solidify until the temperature drops to - 103o Fahrenheit. Therefore, the colder the water a fish lives in, the more omega-3 its body requires and possesses, simply to keep it warm enough. We could actually get the same excellent substance by eating polar-bear burgers or whale steaks, but since most of us don"t indulge, it"s probably best to stick to fish.
There is one big study from Europe that is really an eye-opener. British scientists compared the mortality data for breast and colorectal cancer in 24 European countries. They found that cancer rates rose with increased consumption of animal fat, but cancer rates decreased when fish and fish oil consumption increased. The loser cancer rates associated with fish and fish oil consumption were statistically significant whether the intakes were measured in the current time period or 10 years before or up to 23 years before. For both men and women, the cancer rates fell when the fish consumption went up.
5. Soy and Genistein:
Soy, one of the richest sources of protein in the plant kingdom, contains biologically active compounds called isoflavones that have been shown to have a startlingly wide range of activity in the body. These substances - genistein, diadzen, and glycitein, three of the most common varieties - are phytoestrogens; that is, they are plant estrogens. Extensive research has demonstrated that the isoflavones found in soy can lower cholesterol levels, regulate hormonal balance in women and stop hot flashes, help prevent osteoporosis and protect against cancer by a startling variety of different modes of operation. We may eventually conclude that the isoflavones - genistein in particular - are one of nature"s own anticancer nutrients, and we won"t even have to go into the Amazon jungle to find it.
6. Cruciferous Vegetables:
These nutrients are important inducers of detoxifying enzymes, and there are medical studies to prove it. Doctors and scientists under the direction of Leon Bradlow, Ph.D., at Strang Cancer Prevention Center found that many children with recurrent vocal cord polyps have had complete resolution of this condition when given a regular regimen of cabbage juice. Bok choy, broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale, and cauliflower are called the cruciferous vegetables. Indole-3-carbinol is a nutrient found in these vegetables that can shift the estrogen metabolite in a woman"s body to a type which causes less proliferation of breast tissue.
7. Minerals:
Without minerals, the human organism is entirely inconceivable. A little bit of this or that rock is one of your natural building blocks, a traveler circulating from cell to cell down the pathways of your veins, perhaps the provoker of some crucial enzymatic reaction. That being so, it"s sensible to take shortages and excesses of important minerals quite seriously. Would it surprise you to learn that such imbalances can critically affect the functioning of your body especially your immune system?
8. Mushrooms:
The fact that maitake is apparently the most powerful immune system stimulant and cancer fighting among the Oriental mushrooms is interesting because three different anti-cancer drugs have already been extracted from other mushrooms and approved by the Japanese Health and Welfare Ministry (the equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These are lentinan, derived from shiitake; schizophyllan, derived from suehirotake; and PSK, derived from kawaratake. PSK, widely sold in Europe and Japan, is by some accounts, the best-selling cancer drug in the world. All the evidence seems to show that although PSK certainly cannot handle cancer on its own, it does provide effective support to chemotherapeutic regimens.
9. Grass Juices:
Many scientists now suspect that the earth"s grasses may be good for us as well as for the cows. Extracts of wheat, barley and alfalfa are rich in flavonoid compounds that have a wide variety of beneficial effects. They have been shown to have antiviral, antitumor, and anti-inflammatory activities. One flavonoid in young green barley leaves - glycosyl isovitexin - is one of the most powerful antioxidants yet discovered. Chlorophyllin, the sodium-copper salt of chlorophyll is abundantly present in all grass juices and appears to be an excellent antioxidant.
10. Ginseng:
Dr. T.K. Yun from South Korea did a study on 1,987 people in 1995. This was what is called a case-control study: a patient without cancer is studied for each patient with cancer and a comparison of various factors is made. The results for ginseng were very similar to those of the earlier study. Patients who had been taking ginseng for one year had a 36 percent lower cancer incidence than did nonconsumers of the herb; patients who had been taking it for five years or more had 69 percent less. Ginseng showed the most protective effect against cancer of the ovaries, larynx, esophagus, pancreas, and stomach. There seemed to be no significant effect on breast, bladder, thyroid, and cervical cancers.
11. The Complete Cancer Prevention Plan:
Our complete anticancer plan is based on a simple well-established premise; cancer is seldom the result of one event; it is the product of innumerable actions and choices that occur over a lifetime. Cancer seems mysterious only because, coming often without warning, it can strike the young and apparently healthy as well as the old and debilitated. This mystery, however, is based entirely on our lack of knowledge. If we could see what was happening inside us during the years- or more often decades - that preceded the moment when the cancer first appeared, we would be able to watch its progress. It would then be robbed of all its mystery and would not seem inevitable.
Real Change for the Real World
Nutrition and Cancer:
Once Folklore, Now Science
1. Phytonutrients Against Cancer:
My work as a cancer specialist ensures that each day, I see suffering. I make every effort to alleviate it. I reassure my patients. I struggle - as does every oncologist I know - to find effective treatments for a disease that is tenacious and proverbially hard to manage.
The prevention of cancer is not a complete mystery anymore. We now have a better understanding of what causes cancer. We also know that some of our most faithful defenders are to be found in copious abundance in the plant kingdom that surrounds us, the green world without which our lives would be inconceivable. Scientists now call those defenders phytonutrients. Phyto is Greek for plant; therefore, phytonutrients are plant nutrients. In my book Dr. Gaynor"s Cancer Prevention Program, I discuss the scientific basis and practical use of nutrition in lowering cancer risks.
2. What Causes Cancer:
Cancer is a family or group of diseases that occur in all human and animal populations (with the interesting exception of sharks) and that may arise in any tissue of the body that is composed of potentially dividing cells. The cells in which cancer occurs show two characteristics. They no longer exhibit normal growth but instead grow uncontrollably, and they no longer carry out the specific body tasks for which cells normally exist but instead simply function as cancer cells. Dividing and multiplying, the cancer cells transmit these characteristics to their cellular offspring. As the cancer grows, the host animal suffers adverse effects caused by invasive growth in the original tumor site or by metastatic spread to other sites in the body.
Currently, Americans have a one in three chance of developing cancer and one in six chance of dying of it.
The disease reaches into three of every four families, and therefore most people have known a close relative who battled it. Between 1950 and 1985, there was a 37 percent increase in cancer incidence among Caucasians and an even larger increase among African Americans. The most common cancer in Western countries is lung cancer, followed in descending order by colon and rectal cancer, prostate cancer and pancreatic cancer.
3. Nutrient Antioxidants:
A wealth of antioxidants and phytonutrients that may be even more protective that the basic vitamins and minerals, however, are assembled around you in your local grocery store. These are the other antioxidants, the ones that aren"t very often talked about in newspaper or news magazine articles, but they may be almost as important as the others for protecting you. In a sense, the food you see on your produce shelves is nothing but bags of chemicals that Mother Nature has manufactured for your delight in widely varying colors, flavors, sizes and shapes.
Nonetheless, you can"t be too well protected in a land where one of every three people eventually winds up hearing the words "You have cancer."
4. Omega-3 Oils and Other Fats:
A diet high in deep and cold-water fish (haddock, cod, salmon, tuna, halibut, mackerel, sardines) has been associated with a decreased risk of both hear disease and cancer. As far as we know, this is principally because these fish contain a type of oil called omega-3 fatty acid. This remarkable substance is concentrated in the flesh of cold-water fish because omega-3 oils don"t solidify until the temperature drops to - 103o Fahrenheit. Therefore, the colder the water a fish lives in, the more omega-3 its body requires and possesses, simply to keep it warm enough. We could actually get the same excellent substance by eating polar-bear burgers or whale steaks, but since most of us don"t indulge, it"s probably best to stick to fish.
There is one big study from Europe that is really an eye-opener. British scientists compared the mortality data for breast and colorectal cancer in 24 European countries. They found that cancer rates rose with increased consumption of animal fat, but cancer rates decreased when fish and fish oil consumption increased. The loser cancer rates associated with fish and fish oil consumption were statistically significant whether the intakes were measured in the current time period or 10 years before or up to 23 years before. For both men and women, the cancer rates fell when the fish consumption went up.
5. Soy and Genistein:
Soy, one of the richest sources of protein in the plant kingdom, contains biologically active compounds called isoflavones that have been shown to have a startlingly wide range of activity in the body. These substances - genistein, diadzen, and glycitein, three of the most common varieties - are phytoestrogens; that is, they are plant estrogens. Extensive research has demonstrated that the isoflavones found in soy can lower cholesterol levels, regulate hormonal balance in women and stop hot flashes, help prevent osteoporosis and protect against cancer by a startling variety of different modes of operation. We may eventually conclude that the isoflavones - genistein in particular - are one of nature"s own anticancer nutrients, and we won"t even have to go into the Amazon jungle to find it.
6. Cruciferous Vegetables:
These nutrients are important inducers of detoxifying enzymes, and there are medical studies to prove it. Doctors and scientists under the direction of Leon Bradlow, Ph.D., at Strang Cancer Prevention Center found that many children with recurrent vocal cord polyps have had complete resolution of this condition when given a regular regimen of cabbage juice. Bok choy, broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale, and cauliflower are called the cruciferous vegetables. Indole-3-carbinol is a nutrient found in these vegetables that can shift the estrogen metabolite in a woman"s body to a type which causes less proliferation of breast tissue.
7. Minerals:
Without minerals, the human organism is entirely inconceivable. A little bit of this or that rock is one of your natural building blocks, a traveler circulating from cell to cell down the pathways of your veins, perhaps the provoker of some crucial enzymatic reaction. That being so, it"s sensible to take shortages and excesses of important minerals quite seriously. Would it surprise you to learn that such imbalances can critically affect the functioning of your body especially your immune system?
8. Mushrooms:
The fact that maitake is apparently the most powerful immune system stimulant and cancer fighting among the Oriental mushrooms is interesting because three different anti-cancer drugs have already been extracted from other mushrooms and approved by the Japanese Health and Welfare Ministry (the equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These are lentinan, derived from shiitake; schizophyllan, derived from suehirotake; and PSK, derived from kawaratake. PSK, widely sold in Europe and Japan, is by some accounts, the best-selling cancer drug in the world. All the evidence seems to show that although PSK certainly cannot handle cancer on its own, it does provide effective support to chemotherapeutic regimens.
9. Grass Juices:
Many scientists now suspect that the earth"s grasses may be good for us as well as for the cows. Extracts of wheat, barley and alfalfa are rich in flavonoid compounds that have a wide variety of beneficial effects. They have been shown to have antiviral, antitumor, and anti-inflammatory activities. One flavonoid in young green barley leaves - glycosyl isovitexin - is one of the most powerful antioxidants yet discovered. Chlorophyllin, the sodium-copper salt of chlorophyll is abundantly present in all grass juices and appears to be an excellent antioxidant.
10. Ginseng:
Dr. T.K. Yun from South Korea did a study on 1,987 people in 1995. This was what is called a case-control study: a patient without cancer is studied for each patient with cancer and a comparison of various factors is made. The results for ginseng were very similar to those of the earlier study. Patients who had been taking ginseng for one year had a 36 percent lower cancer incidence than did nonconsumers of the herb; patients who had been taking it for five years or more had 69 percent less. Ginseng showed the most protective effect against cancer of the ovaries, larynx, esophagus, pancreas, and stomach. There seemed to be no significant effect on breast, bladder, thyroid, and cervical cancers.
11. The Complete Cancer Prevention Plan:
Our complete anticancer plan is based on a simple well-established premise; cancer is seldom the result of one event; it is the product of innumerable actions and choices that occur over a lifetime. Cancer seems mysterious only because, coming often without warning, it can strike the young and apparently healthy as well as the old and debilitated. This mystery, however, is based entirely on our lack of knowledge. If we could see what was happening inside us during the years- or more often decades - that preceded the moment when the cancer first appeared, we would be able to watch its progress. It would then be robbed of all its mystery and would not seem inevitable.
Consultation
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