Chemo Leaves Foul Taste

Did you know?
It's a common experience among patients who are receiving chemotherapy to have no tast for food. About two million cancer patients currently receiving certain drug therapies and chemotherapy find foods and beverages to have a foul metallic flavor, as per a medical study. In general, more than 40 percent of hospitalized patients suffer from malnutrition due to taste and smell dysfunction.

Informative URL's About Prostate Cancer

Hi Guys,

Here's a few useful links concerning prostate cancer. These I have collected over the past 12 months or so but note I have not checked them today, before posting. However, I would imagine that they are still current. I certainly found them worth exploring in the past and will revisit them over coming days as I'm sure they will have been updated.

Prostate Cancer links on the net.

As you will see, most URL's given below are of Australian web sites, simply because that's how they are on my listing. I have more URL's to follow in a few days...

The following seven URL’s are taken from: www.prostatehealth.org.au/links

The Lions Club of Australia:

www.prostatehealth.org.au

www.prostatehealth.org.au/links.html

The Prostate Cancer Research Institute of the US

www.prostate-cancer.org/tools/tools.html

(Yes, that repetition of 'tools' is correct.)

Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia

www.prostate.org.au

Cancer Voices NSW :

www.cancervoices.org.au

Andrology Australia:

www.andrologyaustralia.org

The Australian Centre for Sexual Health:

www.impotenceaustralia.com.au

Soy as Prostate Cancer Protection Yields Paradoxical Results

Hi Guys,

For years I have used soy products, most particularly soy milk and tofu, but following my diagnosis of aggressive prostate cancer last May and then the public warnings of the danger associated with taking soy, I stopped taking soy milk and moved over to rice milk and oat milk. The tofu I continue to have because my research tells me that the fermentation process used, destroys the two bad elements within soy (hence, I guess, how it is that the Chinese have been consuming tofu for hundreds of years, perhaps thousands, without any perceived ill effects.)

With that background I found the following article of special interest. It appears that consuming soy in the early stages of prostate cancer may be a good thing but definitely not if it is of the aggressive type. But how would you know? Ask a specialist? Maybe! But ask two or three and you're likely to get a different answer each time. Confused? Yep, and so are they much of the time.

The answer? Take charge of your own health and wellbeing. Do your own research, talk to medical professionals; naturopaths; homeopaths, friends and neighbours. Anyone in fact who can add a smidgen of anecdotal or clinical information that will help YOU make your own, rational judgments and decisions.

I can only hope that I cut out taking soy milk in time and that I didn't, in my earlier ignorance, worsened an already worst case scenario.

Visit us online at www.MedPageToday.com


Soy as Prostate Cancer Protection Yields Paradoxical Results

By Neil Osterweil, Senior Associate Editor, MedPage Today
Reviewed by Rubeen K. Israni, M.D., Fellow, Renal-Electrolyte and Hypertension Division, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
March 16, 2007


MedPage Today Action Points

Explain to patients who ask that that several studies have suggested that diets rich in soy may protect against some types of prostate cancer.


Explain that this study suggests that in addition to protection there may also be increased risk for advanced prostate cancer from high soy diets, although the reasons are unclear.

Review
TOKYO, March 16 -- Diets rich in soy protect against prostate cancer. Then again, they don't.

This paradoxical finding came from a study of 43,509 Japanese men. For some soy isoflavones in the diet decreased the risk of localized prostate cancer, but at the same time soy containing miso soup increased the risk of advanced prostate cancer.


So reported Norie Kurahashi, M.D., of the National Cancer Center of Japan, and colleagues, in the March issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.


"The present findings provide no clear understanding of when or how localized cancer will develop to aggressive cancer, and of the related effect of isoflavones," said Dr. Kurahashi.


The investigators recommended that Japanese men continue their high consumption of soy from foods, but they discouraged the use of supplements.


The investigators hypothesized that soy in general, and its isoflavones genistein and daizden in particular, may attenuate but not prevent the progression of latent prostate cancer. Soy isoflavones are estrogen mimics and strong antioxidants in vitro, and appear to be protective against cancer in animal models.


The Japanese study, the largest of its kind, prospectively evaluated the relationship between soy consumption and prostate cancer in men who were part of an even larger cohort study.


The men, ages 45 to 74 years, responded to a validated questionnaire which included 147 food and beverage items, including questions about portion size and frequency of consumption.


The authors focused on the consumption of miso, a soy-based soup, and at tofu in various forms, as well as natto, or fermented soybean, and soy milk. They also looked at the consumption of the isoflavones, which they estimated based on food composition tables listing isoflavone content of Japanese foods.


The study used as its baseline the five-year follow-up interval from the Japan Public Health Center-Based Prospective Study. Beginning in 1995 and continuing through 2004, there were 307 new cases of prostate cancer: 74 advanced, 220 organ-localized, and 13 of indeterminate stage.


The authors found that intake of genistein, daidzein, miso or soy foods did not have a significant effect on the risk of developing total prostate cancer (localized and advanced) for the entire cohort.


But when they broke the data down according to cancer by stage and age they found that men older than 60 in the highest quartile of intake of three of the four items -- genistein, daidzein, and soy foods -- had significantly decreased risk for localized prostate cancer versus those in the lowest quartile.


Of the men older than 60 with localized cancer, genistein was associated with a relative risk for cancer of 0.52 (95% CI, 0.30-0.90, P for trend = 0.03) in 25,538 person-years of follow-up.


Similarly, highest consumption of daidzein was associated with a relative risk of 0.50 (95% CI, 0.28-0.88, P for trend = 0.04) in 25,276 person-years, and soy foods were associated a relative risk of 0.52 (95% CI, 0.29-0.90, P for trend = 0.01).


There were no significant differences between the highest and lowest quartiles for any of the four items among men younger than 60, however.


When the investigators looked at advanced cancer among men older than 60 in a multivariate analysis adjusted for energy intake, there was a dose-dependent increase in risk for advanced prostate cancer associated with miso soup. There was a multivariable relative risk for the highest versus lowest quartile of 2.79 (95% CI, 1.19-6.55; P for trend = 0.02). Consumption of soy foods or the isoflavones was not associated with advanced prostate cancer in multivariate analysis, however.


"In the present study, we observed a dose-dependent decrease in the risk of localized prostate cancer with isoflavone consumption," the investigators wrote. "Men with the highest intake of isoflavones (as genistein, > 32.8 mg/d) had a decreased risk of prostate cancer compared with those with the lowest intake of isoflavones (as genistein, <13.2mg/d).>

New Prostate Cancer Drug

March 22nd, 2007

Hi Guys,

This looks interesting for guys with a non-responsive, aggressive prostate cancer like mine but more so, for those following the conventional medical treatment path. Currently a no-no for me.

Tamara McLean
March 22, 2007 09:06am
Article from: The Brisbane Courier Mail

New prostate cancer drug

An experimental drug designed to fight the spread of aggressive prostate cancer is showing great promise for future sufferers, Australian developers say.

A team from the University of New South Wales is working on a new therapy for prostate cancer patients who stop responding to standard hormone treatments.
The medication is still in the development stage but if new tests prove successful, it could bring relief for a group of men for whom there is currently no treatment, said study leader Dr Kieran Scott.

“We’ve seen enough positive data to know it’s worth testing in people,” Dr Scott said.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Australian men, with patients usually treated with some combination of surgery, radiation and hormone medications.

These drugs effectively limit the spread of prostate cancer in the early stages by suppressing the male hormones that tumours need to grow.

But over time cancers often stop responding to this treatment, putting men at risk of tumour growth and cancer spread to the bones.

Dr Scott said his team at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney believed it had a new oral medicine that could slow the growth of hormone-resistant cancer and stop its spread.

The medication works by blocking an enzyme which releases Omega-6 fatty acids - fats which, when consumed in the diet, have been associated with increased rates of disease.

“We think we can slow the growth of tumours that are resistant and we believe the drug may also help slow the growth of tumours in bones,” Dr Scott said.

“If we can help in those two areas then we’ll have a therapy for prostate cancer patients who currently have no good treatment.”

The team has been granted Cancer Council NSW funding for a new round of tests, with plans to manufacture and trial the experimental compound in the most severely-affected patients if they have success.

“I’ve been working in this area for 10 or 15 years and to be honest I didn’t think this would work,” Dr Scott said.

“But the data keeps me going because it keeps suggesting this approach really will work.”

Other cancer grants awarded include an investigation of genes that predispose people to melanoma and a study of new techniques to minimise breast cancer surgery side-effects.

Vitamins ! Are They Good For You?

Hi Guys,

I dare say many of you will have read much of the misinformed nonsense written in recent print media world-wide about the potential harm of vitamins but not much has been written in reply, giving the counter arguments and disputing the interpretations of the studies, or questioning the sponsorship of such studies.

In a earlier post I mentioned that last year the Chief Coroner in New Zealand had queried similar negative reports about the dangers of vitamins to human health and had been inspired to conduct a review of all recorded deaths, nation-wide. As I recall from media reports, he could not find any incidence of vitamins, or other such supplements, being the cause, or a major contributor, of a death.

Another cause of some concern is bleating from the medical profession contesting the benefits of supplements which they say are untried and untested. (Ignoring the past hundred years or so and in the case of some, herbs especially, thousands of years).

The medical profession talk of the well tested, credible, and strictly regulated drugs and pharmaceuticals used by doctors’ but that dubious claim appears to have been refuted in a recent Brisbane Courier report, wherein professor Kelman from the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, is quoted as saying “The current system for evaluating drug safety is outdated”.

It seems that currently, new medicines are judged solely on pre-marketing trials and on doctors’ adverse finding reports. Experts have warned that all new drugs should carry warning labels as part of an overhaul of Australia’s “archaic” monitoring system for new medications.

Professor Kelman is quoted as saying Australia has fallen behind the rest of the world in this matter, and that “Trials usually last no more than 12 months, so do not evaluate the increasingly common long-term use of medicines by patients with chronic disorders.”

Gents, we must counter the pharmaceutically-biased, misinformed, misinterpreted and often, drug company sponsored, studies condemning vitamins and let the truth be know. We can best do this by being well informed ourselves, fully armed with apposing argument. I have recently found a brilliant web site that most ably presents the total picture and which appears to have all the ammunition we need. CLICK on the link below…

For a wealth of information on this issue, go to:

http://www.doctoryourself.com/safety.html

See also: http://www.orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/index.shtml

Prostate Cancer and Other Forms of Cancer

Hi Guys,
Here's food for thought. No doubt some readers will be investigating prostate cancer following recent diagnosis. In which case a little background info on cancer in general won't go astray.

Understanding cancer means knowing it’s more than one disease

Although there are many kinds of cancer, they all start because of out-of-control growth of abnormal cells. Normal body cells grow, divide and die in an orderly fashion. Because cancer cells continue to grow and divide, they are different from normal cells. Instead of dying, they outlive normal cells and continue to form new abnormal cells.

Cancer cells develop because of damage to DNA, which directs all activities in each cell. When DNA becomes damaged, the body is usually able to repair it. In cancer cells, however, the damaged DNA is not repaired. People can inherit damaged DNA, which accounts for the approximately 10 percent of inherited cancers. More often, though, a person’s DNA becomes damaged by exposure to something in the environment or random cellular events.

Most cancers originate almost anywhere in the body and usually form as a solid tumor, while others, such as leukemia and myeloma, are sometimes referred to as liquid tumors (see illustration). These cancer cells involve the blood and blood-forming organs (bone marrow) and circulate through other tissues, where they grow.

The different types of cancer include:

Carcinomas: The most common type of cancer, these tumors arise from the cells that cover external and internal body surfaces. The most frequent cancers of this type in the United States are lung, breast and colon cancer.

Sarcomas: Cancers that arise from cells found in the supporting tissues of the body, such as bone, cartilage, fat, connective tissue and muscle.

Lymphomas: Cancers that arise in the lymph nodes and tissues of the body’s immune system.

Leukemias: Cancers of the immature blood cells that grow in the bone marrow and tend to accumulate in large numbers in the bloodstream.

The place where a cancer starts is called the primary site. From there, it can spread (metastasize) to other parts of the body. Regardless of where a cancer may spread, it is always named for the place it began. For instance, breast cancer that spreads to the liver is still called breast cancer, not liver cancer.

Different types of cancer can behave very differently. For example, lung cancer and breast cancer are very different diseases. They grow at different rates and respond to different treatments. That is why people with cancer need treatment that is aimed at their particular kind of cancer.

Not all tumors are malignant (cancerous). Benign, or noncancerous, tumors do not spread to other parts of the body and, with very rare exceptions, are not life-threatening.

During the second half of the 20th century, scientists uncovered many of the intricacies of cancer and developed the technology to pinpoint the exact site of the damage to a specific gene, which has had a tremendous impact on the types of therapies now available.

Adapted from an article from the American Cancer Society
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp

Does Seawater Improve a Tomato's Antioxidant Punch?

Hi Guys,
Wow! Having read this and living with the sea just meters from my front door, as well as being on grade 5 water restrictions (South East Queensland), I think I will be collecting a bucket of sea water tomorrow for my tomato plants. Apart from the fact that tomato's contain beta-carotene, vitamins C and E, and lycopene, I'm told they are especially good as an anti-cancer agent when in the cooked, or processed (tomato sauce), state.

This item taken from the Science and Nutrition Research Newsletter, http://www.foodnavigator.com which is published by:
http://www.decisionnewsmedia.com/


Breaking News on Supplements & Nutrition - Europe

Does seawater improve a tomato's antioxidant punch?

By Stephen Daniells

16/03/2007- Growing tomatoes in diluted seawater significantly increased the levels of antioxidant vitamins C and E, says new research from Italy.

The research, focusing on standard 'salad' tomatoes and varieties genetically engineered for ripening, suggests opportunities for antioxidant-enhanced fruit and extracts produced in parts of the world with critical water shortages.

"The controlled use of alternative water resources, such as diluted seawater, could be a valid tool to face drought in the Mediterranean region," wrote the authors, led by Riccardo Izzo, in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Metastases to the Bone

Hi Guys,

I thought you’d be interested in this article because, as you probably know, when prostate cancer spreads its invariably goes to the bones. When my aggressive prostate cancer was diagnosed last May I was told markers indicated a high probability of the cancer having started on its journey to my bones, although follow up tests at the time were inconclusive. Ten months later I have not considered further tests because knowing would not achieve anything at this juncture. I’m hell bent on maintaining my alternative medicine regimen and all the signs to date are very positive health wise and as for my quality of life, it is truly great.

I hope that you find this item informative…

Metastases to the Bone
Disease Site of Metastases to the Bone:

Metastases is the term used to describe the spread of cancer from its site of origin to another location in the body. Bone is one of the most common locations in the body to which cancer metastasises. Any type of cancer can spread to the bone.The most common metastasising cancers are those of the breast, lung, kidney, thyroid and prostate.

Incidence of Metastases to the Bone:

Bone metastases are common, however, its true incidence is unknown, as it is dependent on the prevalence of certain types of cancers in the community which predispose to bone metastases.

Predisposing Factors of Metastases to the Bone:

Bone metastases are found more commonly in middle-aged to elderly people; they are uncommon in children. The major cancer types which tend to metastasize to bone include multiple myeloma, breast, prostate, lung, kidney, and thyroid cancers. However, a number of factors are involved - the probability of bone metastasis can be assessed only by knowing the prevalence of the cancer and its preference for bone in a particular ethnic group.

Natural History of Metastases to the Bone:

Bone metastases results in injury to bone tissue. There are two types of bone lesions: lytic lesions, which destroy bone material, and blastic lesions, which fill up bone with extra cells. Normal bone is in a constant state of remodelling - being broken down and rebuilt. Cancer cells that have spread to the bone disrupt this balance between the activity of cells that break down bone (osteoclasts) and cells that make bone (osteoblasts).

Bone metastases may be found anywhere in the skeleton, but generally occur in the central parts. More than 90% of all metastases are found in the back, pelvis, upper leg, ribs, upper arm, and skull. Complications of bone metastases include pain, increased risk of fracture, raised calcium levels in the blood, and a decreased blood cell count.

Prognosis of Metastases to the Bone:

Once cancer has spread to the bone, prognosis tends to be poor and treatment is generally aimed at minimising symptoms and improving quality of life. Bone metastases often have a significant impact on a patient’s quality of life by causing reduced mobility and pain, and complications such as high calcium levels, bone marrow suppression and fractures.

Investigation of Metastases to the Bone:

Tests which may be done if bone metastases are suspected include:
# Blood tests.
# ECG (if the patient has an irregular heartbeat).
# X-rays.
# Whole body bone scan looking for metastases.
# CT scan / MRI scan to assess local disease.

Treatment Overview of Metastases to the Bone:

The goal of treatment for bone metastases is to relieve pain and reduce the risk of fracture. Treatment may consist of surgery, radiation therapy, pain medications, and/or bisphosphonate drugs.
# Surgery may be required if there is immediate risk of fracture. Metal rods, plates, screws, wires, nails, or pins can be inserted to stabilise the bone at risk.
# Radiation Therapy: For metastatic lesions without immediate risk of fracture, radiation is effective for reducing localised bone pain and progression of the cancer.
# Medications: A groups of drugs called ‘bisphosphonates’ have been shown to reduce the risk of fractures caused by metastatic bone lesions, as well as treating bone pain and controlling raised calcium levels. Painkillers may be required if bone pain is interfering with the patient’s quality of life.

Drugs used in the treatment of this disease:

Supportive care drugs

* Zoledronic acid
(Zometa)

Other

* Sodium clodronate
(Bonefos)

For further information, please go to the VirtualCancerCentre.com site from whence this came:
http://www.virtualcancercentre.com/diseases.asp?did=708

Sugar Feeds Cancer!

Hi guys,

This is a very important article emphasizing yet again the need to control ones sugar intake. If you are not checking your sugar intake from just about every food item on your supermarket shelves then you are placing yourself at risk. You will even find excess sugar in products sold in so-called, health food shops. I rigorously check all my food items for it sugar content (and for sodium) and avoid adding additional sugar to my beverages, etc.

http://www.alternativehealth.com.au/Articles/sugar_&_cancer.htm

This article is used with permission from:

Dr. Jon J. Brooks, M.D. - Trustee

The Alternative Medicine Research Foundation USA

It puzzles me why the simple concept “sugar feeds cancer” can be so dramatically overlooked as part of a comprehensive cancer treatment plan. Of the 4 million cancer patients being treated in America today, hardly any are offered any scientifically guided nutrition therapy beyond being told to “just eat good foods.” Most patients I work with arrive with a complete lack of nutritional advice. I believe many cancer patients would have a major improvement in their outcome if they controlled the supply of cancer’s preferred fuel, glucose. By slowing the cancer’s growth, patients allow their immune systems and medical debulking therapies–chemotherapy, radiation and surgery to reduce the bulk of the tumour mass–to catch up to the disease. Controlling one’s blood-glucose levels through diet, supplements, exercise, meditation and prescription drugs when necessary can be one of the most crucial components to a cancer recovery program. The sound bite–sugar feeds cancer–is simple. The explanation is a little more complex.

The 1931 Nobel laureate in medicine, German Otto Warburg, Ph.D., first discovered that cancer cells have a fundamentally different energy metabolism compared to healthy cells. The crux of his Nobel thesis was that malignant tumours frequently exhibit an increase in anaerobic glycolysis - - a process whereby glucose is used as a fuel by cancer cells with lactic acid as an anaerobic by-product - - compared to normal tissues. The large amount of lactic acid produced by this fermentation of glucose from cancer cells is then transported to the liver. This conversion of glucose to lactate generates a lower, more acidic pH in cancerous tissues as well as overall physical fatigue from lactic acid build-up. Thus, larger tumours tend to exhibit a more acidic pH.4

This inefficient pathway for energy metabolism yields only 2 moles of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) energy per mole of glucose, compared to 38 moles of ATP in the complete aerobic oxidation of glucose. By extracting only about 5 percent (2 vs. 38 moles of ATP) of the available energy in the food supply and the body’s calorie stores, the cancer is “wasting” energy, and the patient becomes tired and undernourished. This vicious cycle increases body wasting. It is one reason why 40 percent of cancer patients die from malnutrition, or cachexia. Hence, cancer therapies should encompass regulating blood-glucose levels via diet, supplements, non-oral solutions for cachectic patients who lose their appetite, medication, exercise, gradual weight loss and stress reduction.

Professional guidance and patient self-discipline are crucial at this point in the cancer process. The quest is not to eliminate sugars or carbohydrates from the diet but rather to control blood glucose within a narrow range to help starve the cancer and bolster immune function. The glycemic index is a measure of how a given food affects blood-glucose levels, with each food assigned a numbered rating. The lower the rating, the slower the digestion and absorption process, which provides a healthier, more gradual infusion of sugars into the bloodstream. Conversely, a high rating means blood-glucose levels are increased quickly, which stimulates the pancreas to secrete insulin to drop blood-sugar levels. This rapid fluctuation of blood-sugar levels is unhealthy because of the stress it places on the body.

Sugar in the Body and Diet

Sugar is a generic term used to identify simple carbohydrates, which includes monosaccharides such as fructose, glucose and galactose; and disaccharides such as maltose and sucrose (white table sugar). Think of these sugars as different-shaped bricks in a wall. When fructose is the primary monosaccharide brick in the wall, the glycemic index registers as healthier, since this simple sugar is slowly absorbed in the gut, then converted to glucose in the liver. This makes for “time-release foods,” which offer a more gradual rise and fall in blood-glucose levels. If glucose is the primary monosaccharide brick in the wall, the glycemic index will be higher and less healthy for the individual. As the brick wall is torn apart in digestion, the glucose is pumped across the intestinal wall directly into the bloodstream, rapidly raising blood-glucose levels. In other words, there is a “window of efficacy” for glucose in the blood: levels too low make one feel lethargic and can create clinical hypoglycemia; levels too high start creating the rippling effect of diabetic health problems.

The 1997 American Diabetes Association blood-glucose standards consider 126 mg glucose/dL blood or greater to be diabetic; 111125 mg/dL is impaired glucose tolerance and less than 110 mg/dL is considered normal. Meanwhile, the Paleolithic diet of our ancestors, which consisted of lean meats, vegetables and small amounts of whole grains, nuts, seeds and fruits, is estimated to have generated blood glucose levels between 60 and 90 mg/dL. Obviously, today’s high-sugar diets are having unhealthy effects as far as blood-sugar is concerned. Excess blood glucose may initiate yeast overgrowth, blood vessel deterioration, heart disease and other health conditions.

Understanding and using the glycemic index is an important aspect of diet modification for cancer patients. However, there is also evidence that sugars may feed cancer more efficiently than starches (comprised of long chains of simple sugars), making the index slightly misleading. A study of rats fed diets with equal calories from sugars and starches, for example, found the animals on the high-sugar diet developed more cases of breast cancer. The glycemic index is a useful tool in guiding the cancer patient toward a healthier diet, but it is not infallible. By using the glycemic index alone, one could be led to thinking a cup of white sugar is healthier than a baked potato. This is because the glycemic index rating of a sugary food may be lower than that of a starchy food. To be safe, I recommend less fruit, more vegetables, and little to no refined sugars in the diet of cancer patients.

What the Literature Says

A mouse model of human breast cancer demonstrated that tumors are sensitive to blood-glucose levels. Sixty-eight mice were injected with an aggressive strain of breast cancer, then fed diets to induce either high blood-sugar (hyperglycemia), normoglycemia or low blood-sugar (hypoglycemia). There was a dose-dependent response in which the lower the blood glucose, the greater the survival rate. After 70 days, 8 of 24 hyperglycemic mice survived compared to 16 of 24 normoglycemic and 19 of 20 hypoglycemic. This suggests that regulating sugar intake is key to slowing breast tumour growth. In a human study, 10 healthy people were assessed for fasting blood-glucose levels and the phagocytic index of neutrophils, which measures immune-cell ability to envelop and destroy invaders such as cancer. Eating 100 g carbohydrates from glucose, sucrose, honey and orange juice all significantly decreased the capacity of neutrophils to engulf bacteria. Starch did not have this effect.

A four-year study at the National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection in the Netherlands compared 111 biliary tract cancer patients with 480 controls. Cancer risk associated with the intake of sugars, independent of other energy sources, more than doubled for the cancer patients. Furthermore, an epidemiological study in 21 modern countries that keep track of morbidity and mortality (Europe, North America, Japan and others) revealed that sugar intake is a strong risk factor that contributes to higher breast cancer rates, particularly in older women.

Limiting sugar consumption may not be the only line of defence. In fact, an interesting botanical extract from the avocado plant (Persea americana) is showing promise as a new cancer adjunct. When a purified avocado extract called mannoheptulose was added to a number of tumour cell lines tested in vitro by researchers in the Department of Biochemistry at Oxford University in Britain, they found it inhibited tumour cell glucose uptake by 25 to 75 percent, and it inhibited the enzyme glucokinase responsible for glycolysis. It also inhibited the growth rate of the cultured tumour cell lines. The same researchers gave lab animals a 1.7 mg/g body weight dose of mannoheptulose for five days; it reduced tumours by 65 to 79 percent. Based on these studies, there is good reason to believe that avocado extract could help cancer patients by limiting glucose to the tumour cells.

Since cancer cells derive most of their energy from anaerobic glycolysis, Joseph Gold, M.D., director of the Syracuse (N.Y.) Cancer Research Institute and former U.S. Air Force research physician, surmised that a chemical called hydrazine sulphate, used in rocket fuel, could inhibit the excessive gluconeogenesis (making sugar from amino acids) that occurs in cachectic cancer patients. Gold’s work demonstrated hydrazine sulphate’s ability to slow and reverse cachexia in advanced cancer patients. A placebo-controlled trial followed 101 cancer patients taking either 6 mg hydrazine sulphate three times/day or placebo. After one month, 83 percent of hydrazine sulphate patients increased their weight, compared to 53 percent on placebo.15

A similar study by the same principal researchers, partly funded by the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., followed 65 patients. Those who took hydrazine sulphate and were in good physical condition before the study began lived an average of 17 weeks longer. The medical establishment may be missing the connection between sugar and its role in tumorigenesis. Consider the million-dollar positive emission tomography device, or PET scan, regarded as one of the ultimate cancer-detection tools. PET scans use radioactively labelled glucose to detect sugar-hungry tumour cells. PET scans are used to plot the progress of cancer patients and to assess whether present protocols are effective.18 In Europe, the “sugar feeds cancer” concept is so well accepted that oncologists, or cancer doctors, use the Systemic Cancer Multistep Therapy (SCMT) protocol.

Conceived by Manfred von Ardenne in Germany in 1965, SCMT entails injecting patients with glucose to increase blood-glucose concentrations. This lowers pH values in cancer tissues via lactic acid formation. In turn, this intensifies the thermal sensitivity of the malignant tumours and also induces rapid growth of the cancer. Patients are then given whole-body hyperthermia (42 C core temperature) to further stress the cancer cells, followed by chemotherapy or radiation.19 SCMT was tested on 103 patients with metastasised cancer or recurrent primary tumours in a clinical phase-I study at the Von Ardenne Institute of Applied Medical Research in Dresden, Germany. Five-year survival rates in SCMT-treated patients increased by 25 to 50 percent, and the complete rate of tumour regression increased by 30 to 50 percent.

The protocol induces rapid growth of the cancer, then treats the tumour with toxic therapies for a dramatic improvement in outcome. The irrefutable role of glucose in the growth and metastasis of cancer cells can enhance many therapies. Some of these include diets designed with the glycemic index in mind to regulate increases in blood glucose, hence selectively starving the cancer cells; low-glucose TPN solutions; avocado extract to inhibit glucose uptake in cancer cells; hydrazine sulphate to inhibit gluconeogenesis in cancer cells; and SCMT.

A female patient in her 50s, with lung cancer, came to our clinic, having been given a death sentence by her Florida oncologist. She was cooperative and understood the connection between nutrition and cancer. She changed her diet considerably, leaving out 90 percent of the sugar she used to eat. She found that wheat bread and oat cereal now had their own wild sweetness, even without added sugar. With appropriately restrained medical therapy–including high-dose radiation targeted to tumour sites and fractionated chemotherapy, a technique that distributes the normal one large weekly chemo dose into a 60-hour infusion lasting days–a good attitude and an optimal nutrition program which included Sam’s formula nine times/day, she beat her terminal lung cancer. I saw her last month, five years later and still disease-free, probably looking better than the doctor who told her there was no hope.

Call For Better Prostate Cancer Biopsies

Hi Guys,

If you read between the lines in this article you will see that it further evidences the fact that, as far as treatment for prostate cancer is concerned, conventional medicine is still flying blind. Treatment is still very much trial and error, a choice of this poison over that. The overall success of which depends entirely on the tunnel blindness or pragmatic wisdom of your particular specialist, or specialists - and just you try to get them to agree on anything. Picking a modern thinking, outside the square, specialist is a roll of the dice, unless you properly investigate and qualify them first.

GO to my site at: http://www.prostateruminate.com/blog