Cancer Connection

Some forms of cancer can also be attributed to inflammation gone awry. Recent research indicates that inflammation plays either a leading or supporting role in many of the most common types of cancer – colon, stomach, lung and breast. Chronic inflammation wreaks havoc in the body by creating an ideal environment for free radicals, rogue molecules that travel through the body leaving a path of destruction in their wake. If a healthy cell’s DNA is damaged by free radicals, it may mutate. As it continues to grow and divide, it may set the stage for a cancerous tumor. Free radicals stimulate inflammation and thereby perpetuate the inflammatory cycle.

Chronic inflammation alone won’t always spark cancer, but left untreated it may create      a more hospitable place for cancer cells to thrive, according to Dave Grotto, director of nutrition education at the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Care in Chicago.

Colon cancer is one of the most common examples of a cancer that feeds on inflammation. Chronic inflammation  is thought to heighten the risk of colon cancer by allowing free radicals to flourish in the intestines. Although scientists have long known that people with long-term inflammatory bowel disorders,  such as ulcerative colitis  and  Crohn’s  disease, have an increased risk of colon cancer, they are only now beginning to point the finger at inflammation.

In a study published last February in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers followed 22,887 adults for more than 10 years to determine if a link existed between colon cancer and inflammation.

They found those participants who developed colon cancer had significantly higher plasma levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), an inflammatory marker used to measure one’s level of inflammation, than their disease-free counterparts.  (See BELOW  “Take the CRP Test,”  on measuring CRP levels.)

The good news: Unlike many uncontrollable risk factors for serious illness, such as family history of heart disease or living in a polluted city, chronic inflammation is something you can control and even prevent through diet and exercise. Here’s a closer look at how both can influence inflammation.

Anti-Inflammatory Eating

Most foods either rev up inflammation or tamp it down. A diet high in trans-fatty acids, carbohydrates and sugar drives the body to create inflammatory chemicals. On the flip side, a diet heavy on vegetables, lean meats, whole grains and omega-3 fatty acids puts   the brakes on the inflammatory process.   http://www.gapsdiet.com/

Early humans consumed an excellent balance of pro-inflammatory fats (mainly omega-6s) and anti-inflammatory fats (such as omega-3s and -9s). People today, however, often chow down on 30 times more bad fats than good. “The typical American diet is priming people for inflammation,” says Jack Challem, author of The Inflammation Syndrome (John Wiley & Sons, 2003). “It’s like sitting in a parked car with your foot on the gas. Eventually you’ll overheat.”

But your diet doesn’t have to be a recipe for disaster. In fact, dozens of foods, herbs and spices can help the body douse inflammatory hot spots.

For evidence, witness recent studies of rheumatoid arthritis. In one, published in the journal Rheumatology International (Jan., 2003), German scientists studied 68 patients with the crippling disease. Some were asked to eat a typical Western diet for the duration of the eight-month trial, while the rest followed an anti-inflammatory diet, which included cutting back on meat and high-fat dairy foods. A subset of each group also took fish-oil supplements. By the study’s end, those in the anti-inflammatory-diet-only group reported a 14 percent decrease in joint tenderness and swelling compared to those in the Western diet group. Fish-oil supplements boosted the results even further, bringing the final tally of those feeling a marked improvement up to 31 percent in the anti-inflammatory-diet group.

The bottom line? If you have an inflammation-related illness, such as atherosclerosis or arthritis, altering your eating habits may help you tame your symptoms, or even change the course of the disease. And if your genes or a sedentary lifestyle put you at risk for chronic inflammation, eating right may make the difference between staying healthy or drifting downhill.

Here is a simple five-step diet plan to help you fight inflammation.

1. GET FRIENDLY WITH FISH: Fish overflows with two key omega-3 fatty acids: eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (EPA and DHA for short). Both are potent anti-inflammatories. Studies show that people who eat fish regularly are less likely to die from a heart attack or stroke, or develop Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, studies have shown that eating omega-3-rich fish just once a week may lower a person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s by up to 60 percent.

To reap fish’s health perks, nutritional experts recommend indulging in a fish dish at   least twice a week (baked or broiled, not fried). To get the most omega-3 fatty acids, stick to either fresh or frozen coldwater fish, including mackerel, salmon and tuna.  Avoid oil-packed tuna, since the omega-3s tend to leach into surrounding oil.

You also need to watch out for fish that may contain toxins, especially if you’re in a      high-risk category. Women who are either pregnant or hoping to be should avoid shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish, all of which may hold potentially dangerous levels  of mercury, which can damage a developing fetus. (Nursing mothers and young children also should avoid these fish.) Studies have shown some albacore tuna (often packaged as canned white tuna) has unsafe mercury levels.

This past March, the FDA and Environmental Protection Agency published a joint statement recommending that pregnant women, nursing mothers and children eat no more than 6 ounces of albacore tuna each week, or approximately one serving.

There are options for vegetarians, too, though they’re not ideal. The body can make its own EPA and DHA from omega-3 fats (called alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA), which are found in flaxseed, wheat germ and walnuts (as well as some oils).  But you’d better be hungry.  The body’s mechanism for converting plant-based omega-3s isn’t particularly effective.  You’ll need to eat four times as much ALA to equal the amount of bioavailable omega-3s found  in a 3-ounce serving of fish.

Although flaxseed is often touted as an equal substitute to fish oil, it just can’t compete, says Jim LaValle, a naturopathic physician at the Longer Living Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio, and author of The Cox-2 Connection (Healing Arts Press, 2001).

Vegetarians concerned about inflammation should consider fish-oil supplements. If fish oil is out of the question, focus instead on lowering intake of bad fats and ingesting more good fats, including extra virgin olive oil, wheat germ oil, hemp oil and flaxseed oil.

2. CHOOSE FATS WISELY: The body uses fatty acids to make prostaglandins, the main hormones that control inflammation. Because the body must make do with what’s   at hand, a diet heavy in pro-inflammatory fats will fan inflammation.

Conversely, meals that balance pro- and anti-inflammatory fats cool things off. Fats to avoid include safflower oil, sunflower oil, corn oil and all partially hydrogenated oil. Fats that get a green light are fatty coldwater fish, extra virgin olive oil, canola oil, walnuts and flax (plus those listed above).

Begin tackling fat by cutting out the worst offender: trans-fatty acids.

“If your diet is rich in trans-fatty acids, you’re going to drive your body to make more inflammatory chemicals,” says LaValle. The top sources for trans-fatty acids are vegetable shortenings and hard margarines, but most processed foods also contain them in various levels. Soon, trans-fatty acids will be easier to spot, thanks to new legislation requiring food makers to add trans-fatty acids to ingredient labels by 2006.

3. EMBRACE YOUR INNER HERBIVORE: Fruits and vegetables are storehouses of antioxidants and other anti-inflammatory compounds. The best sources are brightly colored fruit and vegetables, such as blueberries, strawberries, bell peppers and spinach. “Anytime you go with a large variety of colors, you get a powerhouse of phytochemicals, some of which have anti-inflammatory effects,” says Melanie Polk, director of nutrition education at the American Institute for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C.

An easy way to up your phytochemicals is to select foods that are deeper shades of colors than you already eat, Polk says. For salad greens, choose the darker spinach over iceberg; grab a ruby strawberry instead of a banana.

For a simple way to eat more plant-based foods, Polk suggests using your dinner plate as a measuring tool. Ideally, two-thirds of the plate should be covered with plant-based foods, including fruit, vegetables, whole grains and beans, she explains. The remaining one-third can be filled with lean animal protein, like a chicken breast or fish fillet. Consider eating more anti-inflammatory herbs, like ginger and turmeric, and augmenting your diet with antioxidant supplements.

4. CUT BACK ON WHEAT AND DAIRY:  Not heeding food intolerances and sensitivities is a one-way ticket to chronic inflammation, and no two foods are bigger triggers than dairy and wheat. For people who suffer from lactose intolerance or celiac disease (gluten sensitivity),  as the stomach treats dairy and wheat products as hostile invaders. It Often it only takes one bite of bread or a spoonful of ice cream to kick the immune system into high gear.

Does Sugar Cause Cancer?

I had a member of our Facebook group doing really well on a vegan diet for over a year after receiving immunotherapy in Guangdong Sheng, China,  for Leiomyosarcoma. As cancer caused her body to crave sugar she caved to the cravings and was back at Fuda 3 months later. http://www.fudahospital.com/en_asp_new/  I say,  yes sugar causes cancer!!!

The idea that cancer cells thrive on sugar has been around at least since the 1924 publication of Dr. Otto Warburg’s paper, On Metabolism of Tumors. Warburg was a  Nobel Prize-winning cell biologist who hypothesized that cancer growth was caused when cancer cells converted glucose into energy without using oxygen.  This was an interesting assertion, in part because we know that healthy cells make energy by converting pyruvate and oxygen.  The pyruvate is oxidized within a healthy cell’s mitochondria.  Since cancer cells don’t oxidize pyruvate, Warburg thought cancer must be considered a mitochondrial dysfunction.

But that’s not how cancer works. Cancer is caused by genetic mutations, either inherited mutations, or those that are acquired over time through exposure to carcinogens or as a consequence of the normal metabolism of cells.

Learn more

Although healthy cells and cancer cells do convert their food to energy in different ways, that difference is an effect, not a cause, of cancer. (Learn about the   differences between cancer cells and normal cells.)

 

Relationship between sugar and cancer is now clearer, scientists say

Belgian scientists say they’ve made a research breakthrough in the relationship between sugar and cancer.

Researchers found yeast with high levels of the sugar known as glucose overstimulated   the same proteins often found mutated inside human tumors, making cells grow faster. The finding, published in Nature Communications on Friday, aims to shed light on how cancer develops.

Johan Thevelein, Wim Versées and Veerle Janssens started researching sugar’s link to cancer in 2008 to try and better understand what’s called the Warburg effect, when tumor cells make energy through a rapid breakdown of glucose not seen in normal cells. That energy fuels tumor growth.

The research “is able to explain the correlation between the strength of the Warburg    effect and tumor aggressiveness,” Thevelein, from KU Leuven in Belgium, said in a release. “This link between sugar and cancer has sweeping consequences.  Our results provide a foundation for future research in this domain, which can now be performed with a much more precise and relevant focus.”

While it’s a monumental finding for the research team, it’s not a medical breakthrough.    It also doesn’t prove that eating a low-sugar diet could change a cancer diagnosis.

More: Myths about breast cancer debunked: Family history often has nothing to do with diagnosis

More: Obesity rates skyrocketing, and health experts say it’s time to change how we’re dealing with the problem

“The findings are not sufficient to identify the primary cause of the Warburg effect,” Thevelein said in a release. “Further research is needed to find out whether this primary cause is also conserved in yeast cells.”

Victoria Stevens, a cancer researcher with the American Cancer Society who was not involved in the study, said this research is great, but it comments only on “about one product made during the breakdown of glucose to produce energy.”  In other words,         it’s a small step in a long process.

“They are providing a potential way (the Warburg effect) could be a cause of cancer,         but they are a long way away from saying this could actually happen,” Stevens said.

VIB, KU Leuven and Vrije Universiteit Brussel researchers conducted the study. VIB is a life sciences research institute that works with five universities, including KU Leuven, and is funded by the Flemish government.    https://globalnews.ca/news/3814185/sugar-and-cancer/ 

How does sugar play a factor in mental health? High sugar intake exerts a toxic effect on mental health by causing leptin and insulin resistance in the body which has been known to suppress the activity of a key hormone called BDNF, which is critically low in depressed patients. Sugar consumption triggers a cascade of chemical reactions in your body that promote chronic inflammation. In the long term, inflammation disrupts the normal functioning of your immune system, and wreaks havoc on your brain.

Toxic Chemicals In Our Food and Environment

Similarly, toxic chemicals in our food and environment contribute to the loss of healthy gut bacteria, which leads to Candida Albicans overgrowth (commonly called “yeast”). When someone has a yeast overgrowth, they crave carbohydrates and sweets, which destroy the gut lining even more. When left untreated, Candida grows into a plant-like structure complete with roots. As these roots gain strength, they break through the intestinal walls and allow the yeast to travel to the sinuses, throat, reproductive organs, lungs, and skin; often resulting in what is thought of as a chronic sinus infection, chronic urinary tract infection, inflammatory bowel syndrome, and thrush or sores in the mouth.

Once established in the sinuses, it feeds on the glucose, which is abundant in the fluid around the brain causing a depletion of food for the brain and resulting in brain fog, muscle and pain syndromes, or cognitive dysfunction.

Candida is a living thing; it eats and has waste products. The waste products are a perfect “fertilizer” for harmful bacterial infections. Bacteria are also living things that eat food and have waste products. Years of recurrent bacterial infections leaves a perfect “fertilizer” in the body for parasites.

Yeast Overgrowth

Microscopic parasites that exist in our water, food supply, and in the earth around us    pass through our bodies constantly. If someone has a yeast overgrowth, those parasites will feed on the waste products and grow and stay around. They get stronger, lay eggs,   and can eventually make toxic the entire body and brain.

In order to get rid of the parasites, you must get rid of the yeast; and in order to get rid      of the yeast, you must get rid of sugars in the diet. That includes table sugar, fruit juices, pastas, breads, and all simple carbohydrates for long enough to cleanse the gut from the yeast overgrowth.

Once the gut is compromised, there must also be some detoxification of the body and brain, and there must be a conscious, consistent plan to repair and rebuild good flora in the gut. First detoxifying the brain then repairing and reseeding the gut have been shown to have tremendous beneficial effects on autism,  ADD/ADHD,  mood swings of bipolar, dyslexia, dyspraxia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia & learning disabilities. It is when we identify the true culprit of disease and address it at its core we all progress on the journey to a happy and healthy life.

HOW MUCH SUGAR SHOULD YOU EAT?

No one should eat more than 50 grams of sugar in a day, but most Americans consume far more than this amount. A recent study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association showed a significant correlation  between consuming too much sugar and an increased risk  of dying from cardiovascular disease.  This study was carried on for fifteen years, and included more than 30,000 Americans. It studied the difference between those whose calorie consumption contained less than 10% sugar vs. those whose diets contained 25% or more sugar. As you have probably guessed, those with the high sugar consumption were twice more likely to die from heart disease than those who limited sugar.

So how much sugar should you be eating? Women should not consume more than 25 grams of sugar a day, and men should not consume more than 37 grams of sugar a day. When you stop to think that a snickers bar contains 27 grams of sugar, you realize that your snacking habits have to change. If you want to avoid metabolic syndrome, obesity, and heart disease, one of the best things you can do is to cut the sugar out of your life,        or at least monitor it very closely.

Start reading labels! Read the sugar grams and realize that your “bank account”       absolute limit is 50 grams. If you exceed that, you are risking heart disease and obesity.

If you are already struggling with health issues, your bank account sits at 25 and 37 grams (women/men).  Don’t exceed your “bank account” limits!  Also,  avoid any “food” product that contains high fructose corn syrup as it will derail your best attempts at good health.

How does the sugar in fruit compare to the sugar in processed foods like soda or cookies?

Everyone loves a sweet treat, but on average, Americans eat nearly 66 pounds of added sugar per person per year. It’s easy to exceed the daily recommended sugar intake when     a 12 oz soda has about 11 teaspoons of added sugar.   But what about the sugar in fruit? Should people be worried about how much fruit they’re eating?  Dr. Kimber Stanhope,         a Nutritional biologist at UC Davis, walks us through the science.

Preview  Is Sugar in Fruit Different Than Sugar in Soda?

 

 

 Preview  Is Fruit Sugar The Same As Processed Sugar?

 

Get a Move On

Although the role of exercise in staving off chronic inflammation is less well documented than dietary changes, experts still tout physical activity as one of the best ways to keep inflammation at bay. The best part? It doesn’t matter how you move – just get out and go. The indirect results of exercise on inflammatory diseases are bountiful.

Running for an hour or more per week lowers a man’s risk of developing heart disease by 42 percent, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association (Oct. 23, 2002). People who exercise regularly are also less likely to be overweight, which lowers the odds of suffering from an inflammation-related illness.

Exercise also may directly muffle inflammation. In studies, both aerobic and nonaerobic exercise have been shown to lower levels of C-reactive protein, or CRP (the body’s marker for inflammation). The lower the body’s CRP, the less inflammation is present.

In a recent study published by the American Heart Association, researchers at the Cooper Institute in Dallas recruited 722 men to observe how fitness affects inflammation. The men’s fitness levels were measured by how long they could walk on a treadmill at gradually rising inclines. Inflammation levels were calculated by performing blood tests for CRP.

In the end, researchers saw a clear trend toward lower CRP levels among those men who aced the treadmill test and higher CRP levels among those who struggled. Among the men in the lowest fitness group, 49 percent had dangerously high CRP scores. Conversely, only 16 percent of those in the highest fitness group had elevated CRP levels.

The rub is that scientists aren’t sure exactly how exercise diffuses inflammation. One theory is that exercise goads the body into making more antioxidants, which then seek  and destroy free radicals associated with prolonged inflammation. William Joel Meggs, MD, PhD, author of The Inflammation Cure (McGraw-Hill, 2004), believes exercise may fool the body into thinking it’s younger than it is.  “If the body senses it has a biological need to stay healthy, it will produce more antioxidants to control inflammation and slow the aging process,” he says.

For more on how and why to exercise as you age, see “Power Aging.”

To maximize the anti-inflammatory properties of exercise:

MAKE IT A HABIT: Aim for 30 minutes daily of moderate physical activity, such as walking, running, swimming or even yard work. Remember, a little each day is more beneficial than squeezing in a week’s worth of exercise on the weekend.

MIX AND MATCH: For your best shot at lowering CRP levels, get a mixture of both aerobic exercise, such as walking, running or riding a bike, and moderate weightlifting, either at a gym or with small hand weights at home.

DON’T OVERDO IT: If you find yourself hobbled for days after each trip to the gym,   dial down your workout. An overzealous workout can leave muscles and joints sore,  which may ultimately fuel the inflammatory fire instead of quell it.

RECRUIT YOUR MIND: “Mental states are important,” says Meggs. “We know           that angry, hostile people have higher CRP levels than people who keep their cool.”        The thinking goes that cortisol, a stress hormone, triggers the body to release a host          of chemicals that contribute to the inflammatory cascade.

Activities that calm the mind, such as meditation and guided imagery, lower CRP levels,   he says. Better yet, try combining a meditative focus with physical movement in practices like yoga, tai chi or qigong. (For more on this topic, see “Emotional Biochemistry” in the Nov./Dec. 2003 Experience Life.)

Squelching chronic inflammation with diet and exercise is in many ways a no-brainer. Certainly health experts have touted much of this same advice (less junk food, more vegetables and regular exercise) for years.

But who knows, maybe understanding the inflammation connection will be enough            to convince more folks to straighten up and fly right – particularly if keeping a lid on inflammation turns out  to  be  the secret of healthy aging, or wellness in general,  as Meggs suggests. “Inflammation may also well turn out to be the elusive Holy Grail of medicine,”  he notes, “the single phenomenon that holds the key to sickness and health.”

Preview  Stress, Inflammation & Chronic Disease

 

Preview  video Reduce Inflammation in the Body

w/ Makeda Voletta aka The Body Scientist