Vitamin D is an essential nutrient, but it is more like a hormone than a vitamin itself. It has innumerable functions throughout the body, although its fame is linked to its requirement for proper skeleton formation and prevention of rickets. In fact, Vitamin D deficiency causes growth retardation and rickets in children and will precipitate and exacerbate osteopenia, osteoporosis and increase risk of fractures in adults.
This is due to the fact that one well known function of vitamin D is to enhance the efficiency of calcium absorption from the intestine. Besides this action, though, vitamin D is key to several other functions in the body, from muscular performance to immune system function, from kidney function to cardiovascular health to fertility.
Vitamin D promotes insulin secretion (preventing diabetes), inhibits adaptive immunity but promotes innate immunity (protecting from autoimmune diseases and infections), inhibits cell proliferation and enhances cell self-death (protecting from cancer), alters cardiac contractility, stimulates sex hormones production. Vitamin D has a n important effect on reproduction in both women and men: it might influence production of sex hormones (estradiol and progesterone) in women and men, and it is positively associated with semen quality.
Notwithstanding its importance, many people (an estimated 1 billion) are vitamin D deficient (D3 level less than 20 29 ng/ml), i.e. they do not even have the minimal amount of it for correct functioning of these body systems. This is recognized as one of the most common medical conditions in children and adults. Doctors are starting to accept vit D’s important role and prescribe it, although mainly to prevent osteoporosis in post-menopause women.
But its need of supplementation does not end here.
It is calculated that approximately 90% of all vitamin D needed has to be formed in the skin under the effect of ultraviolet radiation UV B. This might be one reason for it being so low in so many people: strict sun protection, predicated in the past 30 years or so to supposedly prevent skin cancers, causes vitamin D-deficiency.
Use of sunscreens: not only do synthetic sunscreens effectively block the healing benefits of the sun, by blocking UVB rays, but they also become absorbed into the skin where they create several potential health problems. Moreover, synthetic sunscreens create a false sense of security by disabling the skin's early reaction for overexposure, the sunburn, which creates other health problems. When sunburn, the skin gets damaged by sun rays through creation of free radicals, which are responsible, among other things, for premature ageing and some cancers. That is why it is a good idea to counter these free radicals with antioxidants in the diet.
The synthesis of vitamin D in the skin is a function of skin pigmentation (at darker skin corresponds a lower synthesis) and of the solar angle, which depends on latitude, season, and time of day. Melanin absorbs 99.9% of the UVB photons into heat that is easily dissipated, which effectively avoids radiation damage that contributes to cell damage. The remaining photons are used for the transformation of 7-dehydrocholesterol found in the skin to the previtamin D3.
This 0.1% of photons use is extremely rapid and robust. The obtained forms of pre-vitamin D (D3) is biologically inactive and require activation in the liver and kidneys.
It is believed that, besides the recent lower sun exposure, also protein losses, gastrointestinal malabsorption (so common in our times) and defective skin synthesis might contribute to the elevated number of people with suboptimal level of such vitamin.
Insufficient dietary intake might be another cause: vitamin D is found in eggs and oily fish. Eggs have been (unjustly) receiving a bad name with the appearance of the cholesterol fright(1) of the past 20 years and oily fish do not get highly consumed by the general population, except probably among Inuit. Also, farmed salmon (the most commonly eaten one) has a mean content of vitamin D of approximately 25% of the mean content found in wild caught salmon. Vitamin D content in food is however minimal importance when compared to vitamin D production from the skin-sun reaction.
Association of vitamin D-deficiency has been found with various diseases including cancer (especially breast, ovarian, prostate, colorectal, multiple myeloma and Hodgkins lymphoma, pancreas, leukemia), heart failure, bone diseases, autoimmune diseases (Multiple Sclerosis, autoimmune thyroid diseases, Systemic Sclerosis, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus , Rheumatoid Arthritis, Chron’s disease), chronic kidney disease, infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases and hypertension, type II diabetes, infertility, muscular diseases (myopathies, risk of falling, fibromyalgia), asthma and neurological disorders (cognitive performance, depression, Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia).
A series of studies have suggested that low vitamin D increases risk of cancer: in a recent study researchers from Northwestern University found that vitamin D deficiency can increase the risk of aggressive prostate cancer in some men by nearly 500 percent. Lung cancer patients have a better prognosis with vit D3 enhancement by high sun exposure.
Vitamin D supplementation can also increase survival of chronic kidney disease patients. In general, and this is what science reveals, higher vitamin D levels are associated with lower overall mortality.
We hope that this article educated on the beneficial effects of moderate sunlight for providing us the vitamin D requirement for good health. For people who are not exposed to sunlight, a supplement is recommended: at present, most experts agree that daily intake of 1000- to 5000 IU vitamin D in adults and 400 IU in children could reduce the incidence of vitamin D-deficiency-related diseases.
So finally, avoid getting sunburn, but do not avoid the sun: train your skin in spring with the morning to midday sun, exposing your body 15-20 minutes at first and then longer times, without sun protection. Use the coloring of the skin as a gauge for safety against overexposure.
(1) For a complete explanation on cholesterol and cardiovascular health and how to avoid the need of statins, order the series of seminars on Cholesterol on www.puravita.co.nz
References
25 (OH) vitamin D level in Crohn's disease: association with sun exposure & disease activity. The Indian journal of medical research, 2009
Childhood asthma may be a consequence of vitamin D deficiency. Current opinion in allergy and clinical immunology, 2009
Dietary intake of vitamin D and cognition in older women: a large population based study. Neurology, 2010
Disease specific definitions of vitamin D deficiency need to be established in autoimmune and non autoimmune chronic diseases: a retrospective comparison of three chronic diseases. Arthritis research & therapy, 2010
Factors that influence the cutaneous synthesis and dietary sources of vitamin D.Archives of biochemistry and biophysics, 2007
Interaction of factors related to the metabolic syndrome and vitamin D on risk of prostate cancer. Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology, 2007
Is Vitamin D Deficiency Associated With Heart Failure? A Review of Current Evidence.
Journal of cardiovascular pharmacology and therapeutics, 2011
Melanoma and vitamin D. Molecular oncology, 2011
Nonclassic actions of vitamin D. The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 2009
Protective and toxic effects of vitamin D on vascular calcification: clinical implications. Molecular aspects of medicine, 2008
Role of vitamin d in insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity for glucose homeostasis. International journal of endocrinology, 2010
Scientific documentation of the relationship of vitamin D deficiency and the development of cancer. Journal of environmental pathology, toxicology and oncology : official organ of the International Society for Environmental Toxicology and Cancer, 2009
Seasonal and geographical variations in lung cancer prognosis in Norway. Does Vitamin D from the sun play a role? Lung cancer, 2007
Serum vitamin D concentrations are related to depression in young adult US population: the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. International archives of medicine, 2010
Skin cancer prevention and UV protection: how to avoid vitamin D deficiency? The British journal of dermatology, 2009
The role of vitamin D in cancer prevention: does UV protection conflict with the need to raise low levels of vitamin D? Deutsches Ärzteblatt international, 2010
Very low levels of vitamin D in systemic sclerosis patients. Clinical rheumatology, 2010
Vitamin D and autoimmune thyroid diseases. Cellular & molecular immunology, 2011
Vitamin D and host resistance to infection? Putting the cart in front of the horse. Experimental biology and medicine (Maywood, N.J.), 2010
Vitamin D and skeletal muscle tissue and function. Molecular aspects of medicine, 2008
Vitamin D biology: from the discovery to its significance in chronic kidney disease. Journal of renal nutrition : the official journal of the Council on Renal Nutrition of the National Kidney Foundation, 2011
Vitamin D deficiency in fibromyalgia. The Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, 2010
Vitamin D, neurocognitive functioning and immunocompetence. Current opinion in clinical nutrition and metabolic care, 2011
Vitamin D: considerations in the continued development as an agent for cancer prevention and therapy. Cancer journal, 2010
Vitamin D and fertility: a systematic review. European Journal of Endocrinology 2012
The prostate is a gland of the male reproductive system, of the size of a walnut, found just below the urinary bladder, which secretes a juice that is 50 to 70% of the semen.
The need to undertake the prostate tests which men are commonly supposed to do in order to detect presence of prostate cancer after 50 years of age has been shattered by recent research. In 2010 even the Dr. Ablin himself, the doctor who invented such test in 1970, attacked the prevention philosophy which presses men, even those who are perfectly healthy, to undertake these tests. These blood exams, called PSA (prostate specific antigen), are never 100% sure (they diagnose only 3.8 % of cancers) and they can often detect problems that are not real or of a different form and concern than a cancer. Levels of PSA > 4 ng/mL are considered abnormal by the majority of urologists and doctors, but 80% of men with levels between 4 and 10 ng/mL have either a BHP(1) (benign prostatic hyperplasia), which is not a cancer but an inoffensive enlargement of the prostate, or no conditions at all. In fact, the levels of PSA can be increased by the use of over-the-counter drugs like Ibuprofen, as well as by infections!
Early screening and results that suggest the (3.8%) possibility of cancer often lead to unnecessary treatments: painful, dangerous and expensive exams (biopsies) and potentially dangerous treatments (prostectomy, followed by hormonal therapy that reduces testosterone). These procedures would be mostly useless, as stated by a research published in 1993 in the highly respected medical journal The Lancet: in this research, 33% of autopsies on a pool of men showed presence of prostate cancer but only 1% of such individuals died from it. Also, according to two studies found in the New England Journal of Medicine, prevention through PSA does not reduce (in USA) the rate of mortality of men older than 55 years of age, or slightly reduces the rate of mortality (in Europe), but in this case 48 men over 100 would need to be operated to save 1 life; the other 47 will undertake a surgery that most probably will make them impotent, even without need! And also, according to a research published in 2008, only 2% of men with intermediate-risk prostate cancer and 5% of men with high-risk cancer die in the 10 years after diagnosis. Men with a low-risk prostate cancer live at least 10 years longer than men who are never diagnosed.
Why would such a cancer have a minimal risk of causing premature death? In the prostate, like in all organs, there are always sick and possibly carcinogenic cells, but a well functioning immune system constantly eliminates them. With age, the number of carcinogenic cells can increase, especially in the prostate. But this growth is so slow in this gland that the 80% of men with prostate cancer do not even realize they have it.
Prostate cancer treatment can cause permanent damage, including impotence (50 % of cases), heart attacks, incontinence and even death: and these risks are related to a treatment of a disease that is statistically unlikely to kill them.
Dr. Ablin never stated that PSA tests could detect prostate cancer and even less that they could make a difference between a high-risk cancer and a low-risk cancer. He believes that the present enhancement of such testing is driven by economical interests.
* BHP is very common, 50% of men over 50s are touched by it and almost all men at 80-90 years of age have it. It usually does not cause major problems, except for some cases of urinary dysfunctions. Even if a minimal issue compared to cancer, it has to be considered that some of these dysfunctions could lead to infections, inflammation or calculi in the bladder. However, it is interesting to note that 10% of problems of urinary functions are the result of undesired effects of some drugs (ex. treatment for asthma and emphysema, antidepressants, anti-allergy or anti-hypertension).
What causes BPH? “DHT” (di-hydrotestosterone) is considered being the culprit. With age, production of testosterone decreases and DHT replaces it and increases. This DHT is responsible for the proliferation of prostate cells after puberty, proliferation that takes off with such increased levels of the hormone with age. Another hormone, oestradiol, also stimulates cell proliferation; such hormone is present in men as in women and it is produced by fat cells, which explains how being overweight is a risk in prostate cancer. Diabetes also increases the risk of BPH.
What to do to prevent both BPH and prostate cancer? As any other condition, there is a genetic component in the prevalence of prostate enlargement and prostate cancer. However, controlling the environmental factors (diet, lifestyle, emotional status) can change the chances.
So, the recommendations for keeping your risks low:
- keep a stable weight, exercise regularly. Eat healthy: i.e.:
- decrease consumption of farmed animal products (milk products, salted meat and meat from battery beef) that have been related with a 31% increase of risk of BPH.
- replace red meat with fish or vegetable proteins (they reduce growth of prostate by15%)
- eat many fresh fruits and vegetables, especially apples, broccoli, green beans, bell peppers and red onions, and drink green tea: catechines and quercitine contained in high amounts in green tea and red onions and in these vegetables limit the activity of the enzyme that synthesizes dehydrotestosterone, and thus prevents overgrowth of prostate cells. Quercitine would also reduce night time needs to urinate; as a plus it is also a strong anti-inflammatory.
- consume capsules of the mushroom Reishi, which has been proven to block cancerous growth in breast, prostate, bone marrow, lungs, liver and bones, even when cells become resistant to chemotherapy. Reishi is considered by science to be a natural chemotherapeutic agent
- increase fiber intake (insoluble and from legumes) that was found to be inversely associated with prostate cancer risk
- avoid coffee, heavy alcohol and sodas which irritate the bladder. Two glasses of wine protect prostate, with an associated 33%lowered risk of BPH
- use the power of medicinal plants: the plant saw palmetto contains anti-inflammatory components and molecules that inhibit transformation of testosterone into DHT. Also nettle (Urtica dioica) contains steroids that inhibit enzymes in the prostate and limits or reduces the prostate volume while relieving symptoms. Another plant product, rye flower pollen (Secale cereale), inhibits DHT formation and growth of prostate cells
- supplement with key vitamins and minerals: vitamin E (α-tocopherol, contained in wheat germ, leafy vegetables and seeds) plays a key role in the regulation of cell growth and differentiation and has been studied as a potential chemo-preventive agent for prostate cancer. Using magnesium regularly prevents cancer growth. Magnesium chloride allows the body to better face carcinogenic aggressions.
ALWAYS ask your doctors what values really means. There are alternative tests that can be done to assess the condition of the prostate.
Some references:
Lifetime occupational physical activity and incidental prostate cancer (Canada). Cancer Causes Control. 2000
Dietary Total and Insoluble Fiber Intakes Are Inversely Associated with Prostate Cancer Risk Journal of Nutrition 2014
Genetic Variants Reflecting Higher Vitamin E Status in Men Are Associated with Reduced Risk of Prostate Cancer, Journal of Nutrition 2014
Ganoderic acids suppress growth and invasive behavior of breast cancer cells by modulating AP-1 and NF-kappaB signaling. International Journal of Molecular Medicine, 2008
The development of human benign prostatic hyperplasia with age. Journal of Urology 1984
The prevalence of prostatism: a population-based survey of urinary symptoms. Journal of Urology 1993
Obesity and benign prostatic hyperplasia: clinical connections, emerging etiological paradigms and future directions - Journal of Urology 2013
Diabetes and benign prostatic hyperplasia/lower urinary tract symptoms--what do we know? Journal of Urology 2009
Contribution of common medications to lower urinary tract symptoms in men. Archives of Internal Medicine 2011
Physical activity, obesity, and lower urinary tract symptoms. Eur Urolology 2011
Avoiding
eggs, to supposedly keep the blood cholestrol in control, is not
recommendable: eggs are the richest source of the full complex of
amino-acids (components of proteins) that Nature delivers. Not only
this, but they are also fantastic concentrates of minerals and vitamins:
egg yolks are rich in calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, thiamin, B6,
folate, pantothenic acid and B12.
The yolk also contains vitamins A, D and E, as well as omega-3 fatty acids. Egg yolks are also a rich source of choline (essential for brain function and CV function), and the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin that protect the eyes and lower the risk of macular degeneration. These elements make the egg the perfect complete food.
Several research publications now state that eating one or two eggs a day does not impact your Cho levels, in normal conditions (this does not apply for example to people with diabetes or people on a high carbohydrate diet or people with history of a heart attack).
********************
For more information on cholesterol levels, how to control them and, especially, why and ..is this necessary? check the history on 'Cholesterol, fats and cardiovascular health' on this website: http://leelawadee-silviap.blogspot.co.nz/2014/04/cholesterol-control-right-fats-in-your.html
or buy it for 5 $ (4 euors) each chapter (total of 6 chapters) to receive it in your email.
....What is finally the right food to enjoy a long healthy life, i.e. to protect you from atherosclerosis, heart attack, stroke, thrombosis, infarction, heart failure and others?
The increasing rate of cardiovascular diseases of the past few decades has given a strong incentive to research in biomedicine, biochemistry, epidemiology to try to find the culprit of such a devastating raise of coronary heart diseases, strokes, heart attacks… However what is the ‘right food’ to avoid such medical conditions has been and is still a maze of different and often opposing recommendations.
Association of saturated fats to increase of serum cholesterol and this one, in turn, to cardiovascular disease has been the accepted picture, that led to dietary recommendations supporting “safe” consumption of unsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and carbohydrates, at the expenses of cholesterol-rich food and saturated fats which would be avoided like the pest!
However, now we can state that saturated fat can actually improve – and not damage - our health: saturated fats are now saved from the trash because needed by the brain and to protect us from dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Likewise we now know better about PUFAs: of the once acclaimed health-protecting unsaturated fatty acids, the omega 6 are now feared because known to promote inflammation (including the one responsible for atherosclerosis and heart diseases) and increase many illnesses, while the omega 3 appear to be the winners, countering negative effects of other fats.
Now most (although not all) of the molecular mechanisms are better understood and the adverse effects of refined carbohydrates and PUFAs clarified. We now understand why, after saturated fats were declared demons to be avoided, in the 60s and 70s, and were replaced with PUFAs and carbohydrates in diets, we now observe an increased level of global obesity and other health complications like inflammatory diseases, and at the same time a lack of the expected decrease of cardiovascular diseases.
These confusing recommendations drove and drive many attentive eaters mad while trying to convince them every other decade that what they eat is wrong and that the new fad diet of the moment is the ‘real’ health-promoting and long-life assuring diet.
In this whole history of dietary inconsistencies and wars between good fats, bad fats, high carbohydrates versus high protein diets, the present focus on cholesterol control is another giant system of contradictory statements and misunderstood explanations.
I’ve been bathing for the past few years in studies of anatomy, physiology, physiopathology and researches or reviews of researches designed to explain the importance (necessity?) of lowering cholesterol (Cho) levels in the blood for preventing cardiovascular diseases (CVD). I’ve found many things being illogic, unexplained and harmful. I’ve seen a lot of discrepancies, contradictory research and inconclusive analysis on the matter Cho-heart.
At the same time I’ve watched people being prescribed drugs without a real knowledge of the cause of their condition, if there even is one. I’ve been following healthy people being prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs almost automatically with appearance of menopause or at later age, often without need.
Thus I’ve been feeling more and more compelled to share with people what I learned by the reading of research and reviews on the connection between Cho and CVDs and on the real need and effects (expected and collateral) of the use of cholesterol-lowering drugs, as well as on the real need to avoid saturated fats.
I will try to trace what is known by biochemistry at the present day and what seems to be the logical application of such understanding to our feeding behavior, in order to help avoid the most serious and common – old and new - diseases of the 21st century society and the need to use expensive and heavily-impacting drugs.
I am a strong believer of the need of educating ourselves to understand what health is and to accept our individual responsibility to our own health, to avoid to unconsciously fall into acceptance of drugs prescriptions without understanding what they are for and how they function and what secondary effects they might cause. I hope that this story on fats will help in this process of understanding of the human body.
This reading will be presented in chapters, delivered to your e-mailbox when ordered through the web site in What we do/Lectures.
Thank you.
What about prevention? Preventive screening like mammography has recently received quite some attention. It is possible that such screening saves a life of one woman over 1,000 or 10,000, but at the same time a number of women get surgery when they did not need it. When a cancer at a very starting stage is found, in 30 % of cases it does not develop or it regresses.
The British Medical Journal published a study on about 90,000 women between 49 and 59 years of age showing that mammography does not have ANY impact on the risk of death by breast cancer. Women who had yearly mammography for 5 years did not have less risk of death than those who had simply a physical test. As a consequence of this study, the Swiss Medical Board declared that mammography was to be abandoned and recommended that women needed to be informed of the undesired effects of such test.
The first danger of a mammography is that by compressing the breast it can cause explosion of non dangerous micro-tumors and dissemination of deadly cancer cells in the body. Further, the breast is exposed to strong radiations. Dr Samuel Epstein, professor at the University of Illinois, expert of breast cancer, is against systemic mammography and states that during menopause the breast is very sensitive to radiations and each exposure to minimal radiation would increase the risk of breast cancer of 1%, i.e. 10 % in a year. Cancer diagnostic was been wrong up to 6% of cases, meaning that 20 - 49 % women doing regular mammography tests would have a false positive after 10 tests.
Knowing or believing to have cancer can be an emotional shock that can lead to a real disease such eczema and cardiac attack. Women with a false or real positive test have to go through mostly un-necessary anxieties, biopsies, surgeries. Due to such high risks of mistake, side effects and to the zero improvement in lowering the risk of death, since 2009 in the US the Preventive Services Task Force has been asking women under 50 years of age to NOT do a routine mammography; the same agency used to ask women to have one every two years once they were 40!
An alternative test is thermography, which measures the infrared emissions to obtain body images without irradiation. An alternative you can ask your general doctor or gynecologist about.
Nutrition recommendations to prevent and treat cancer:
Eat lots of veggies (especially broccoli and all the cruciferous vegetables including water cress) and fruits (especially lemons) every day (400 g day). Lemons contain monoterpenes that have been shown in 1998 to have chemoprotective and chemotherapeutic effects in breast tumors. Monoterpenes inhibit cell growths, cell cycle progression and a gene expression in breast cancer cell lines); green tea.
Turmeric has strong anti carcinogenic effects, as stated in different research works such the Cancer Prevention Research in 2008, where it was demonstrated that curcumine inhibits breast cancer cell mobility and propagation. In the medical journals Molecular Pharmacology and in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry in 2009 – 2011 it was observed that curcumine inhibits growth of pancreas cancer cells, increases sensitivity to chemotherapy, favors lung cancer cells death, aims to cancer cells strains and can be the solution to stop a brain cancer called glyoblastome.
Supplements (already posted in a previous post, but it never hurts to repeat): using magnesium regularly prevents cancer growth. Magnesium chloride allows the body to better face carcinogenic aggressions (Delbet).
Vitamin D acts against cancer by increasing the self destruction ability of mutating cells, by helping with cellular differentiation (lost in cancer cells) and by reducing angiogenesis (forming of new blood vessels around the cancer). Vitamin D, on the side, lowers the risk of autoimmunity diseases, seasonal depression, chronic fatigue and neurodegenerative diseases.
Fish oils (omega 3 are anti-carcinogenic).
And further, supplements helping in bearing the side effects of treatments (from Dr. Hertoghe):
- coenzyme Q10 (as ubiquinol) 100- 400 mg/day
- Selenium 200 μg / day
- Vitamin A (retionol acetate) liposoluble 50 000- 200 000 UI /day or 25 - 100 mg/day
- Vitamin C : 1 - 2 g /day
Do a lot of exercise. Exercise would lower the risk of breast cancer to 30% compared to inactive women, as stated in the journals British Journal of Cancer and Onkologie and Cancer Causes Control.
Sport activates the autophagic mechanisms to destroy the daily cellular waste.
Health is not a simple state, so “To be well one has to be well in thousands of ways at once” (Sir Russell Brian).
This because the body-mind is an extremely complex system functioning in a continuous state of change, aiming to a dynamic physiological equilibrium or homeostasis. All parts of the individual are interconnected through the circulatory, nervous, endocrine and immune systems. Modern medicine as well accepts this vision and approaches it through the application of recent disciplines like neuroendocrinology, psychoendocrinology and psychoneuroimmunology.
The dynamic equilibrium of health depends on the integration of structural (physical), biochemical and emotional functions. Physical instability as muscle contractions, joint misalignments, postural disturbances interfere with health by limiting proper nerve conduction and blood and lymph circulation, consequently impairing the nutrition to the different organs. Biochemical integrity is insured by proper nutrition, which is essential for the right flow of biochemical reactions at the base of the body-mind functioning. Emotional balance is in control of human health by influence on mental, endocrine and immunological functions.
Treatment is aimed at the cause of disequilibrium and the patient is treated and not the disease. The patient is viewed as a whole person with specific and interdependent physical, mental, emotional and social aspects. When the physiological equilibrium is disturbed by external or internal forces, disease results. Natural medicine strengthens the body’s defenses and supports the physiological functions against such disturbances through the use of dietary adjustments, medicinal herbs, physical exercises, breathing, life-style changes, meditative practices, hydrotherapy, physical manipulation, counselling, social and cultural changes….
Natural medicine is a philosophical orientation towards health which employs different healing methods to aid a person’s own internal regulatory processes or homeostasis. It is aimed at the promotion of health and the prevention of disease and at the support to the body-mind in the natural healing efforts.
The rate of breast cancer is augmenting in the present times: an increase of 138% of number of breast cancers in 25 years between 1980 and 2005 has been observed only in France. Breast cancer is responsible for cancer death in women, of which about 30% are younger than 50 years of age. Cancer affects younger women more and more often, i.e. 50 % of cases affect women before 40 years of age. All cancers on their own are the second cause of death after cardiovascular diseases.
According to Prof. Henri Joyeux, an internationally recognized oncologist and digestive surgeon at Montpellier University , Cancer Institute and Hospitals, whenever a woman affected by breast cancer is operated, nobody tells her that the definite cure can be established only after 27 years beyond her first treatment. In the meanwhile it is possible to get new tumors. However, this recurrence and the onset of cancer itself are avoidable if one addresses the primary causes of such cancer.
Causes of breast tumor are several, identifiable and different for each woman:
- genetic risk: 5 to 8% of women with breast cancer present the genetic risk [with such low values I wonder if it’s worth going through preventive surgery if one has the risk genes!],
- risk caused by tobacco and drugs. (For women, due to their lower lung capacity being 30 to 50 % lower than men, the effect of smoking is catastrophic. Tobacco and marijuana are also immuno-depressant, thus they further weaken the system in face of other risks),
- risk caused by chronic stress
- risk caused by bad nutrition
- risk caused by artificial hormones
- and other risks: lack of physical exercise , atmospheric pollution, pesticides, insecticides,
In regards to bad nutrition, I would just state here two major obvious facts, supported by Professor Henri Joyeux, active educator on the dominant importance of nutrition in the prevention and treatment of cancer and the first to alert French women on the danger of the pill with a book published in 2001.
Here are the two facts:
1.being overweight and obesity are conditions in which the fat (from excess sugars, milk products and excessive animal fats) is stored in the mammary glands, and this fat is a carcinogen.
2. According to Prof Joyeux, use of milk and milk products is strictly linked to the explosion of the number of breast and prostate cancers of the last decades. More specific information on food for cancer will be given at the end of this post. However, consider this: researchers estimate that 40 % of breast cancers could be avoided in US by simple life style modifications!
As for the risk due to artificial hormones, .i.e. those NOT produced naturally by our own body… Hormones are steroids and these are growth factors. Growth factors induce cellular division in all cells. Cancer is uncontrolled cellular division. Hormonal treatment, such as the contraceptive pill and hormonal replacement therapies, increases the risk of breast cancer. For menopaused women under HRT this risk is calculated to be up to 30%.
The use of the contraceptive pill has been proven to be linked to the appearance of breast, ovarian and uterine cancer (showing earlier and earlier in life) as well as to vascular problems, phlebitis, cerebral thrombosis, heart infarction. Other ‘side effects’ of the use of synthetic hormones are libido changes, immune depression, allergic reactions, candidiasis, anxiety, insomnia, skin problems, acne, hirsutism, loss of hair, breast tenderness and headaches, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, water retention, liver tumor, ovarian cysts.
The awareness of the link between hormones and cancer has a long history (at least in the research arena). In 1932 Dr Antoine Lacassagne at the Institute Curie of Paris caused breast cancer in mouse with oestrogens. In 1971 diethylstilbestrol (DES), an oestrogenic anti-progesterone prescribed in the 60s and 70s to prevent natural abortions, was found to be responsible for giving genital cancer to the baby girls of the mothers who took it at the beginning of their pregnancy. It is now abolished for the undesired « side effects ». In 1987 the scientific journal Cancer showed that oral contraceptives increase the cellular mitosis of normal and carcinogenic breast cells in vitro. In 1998 the International Centre of Cancer Research, depending on the World Health Organization, classified oral contraceptives and replacement therapy hormones as « carcinogenic of class I - i.e. of whose the action on humans is certain ».
More recent research: last year, in a study including more than 50,000 women, the epidemiologist Lynn Rosenberg (Boston University) found that the risk of developing a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer increased to 65% in women who took the pill. In 2002 during the Women Health Study on hormonal replacement therapy the tests had to be stopped when the researchers realized that the women who were taking synthetic hormones developed a much higher risk to get breast cancer, heart attack, stroke, embolism.
Respectful organizations and scientific journals at international level such as the WHO, the American Cancer Society, the US National Cancer Institute, the International Centre of Research of Cancer , The Lancet Oncology connect the use of the pill and hormone replacement therapy to breast and cervical cancer and benign liver tumors, among other undesired effects such as thromboembolism, coronary events, stroke.
All these risks need to be further weighed by considering that, as stated in the New England Journal of Medicine, the rate of success of oral contraceptive pill protection wobbles between 80 and 95% (i.e. like a condom).
