Natural Organic Remedies for Cancer

The War on Cancer

The War on Cancer was declared by President Richard Nixon in 1971 when he signed the National Cancer Act. It’s intent was to fund research that would find the cure for cancer. The National Cancer Institute was allotted an initial $1.6 billion dollars for the first three years to wage this war.

The highest rate of new cases and deaths come from lung cancer, prostate and breast cancer and colon cancer. (1) We are losing the War on Cancer not because of a lack of effort – we have brilliant doctors and researchers that have dedicated their lives to finding a cure. We are losing the War on Cancer not because of a lack of resources – we have the world’s cutting edge technology and methods available to us and we spend billions of dollars every year on it. The reason why we are losing the War on Cancer is because it is being fought on the wrong front. Actually, we shouldn’t be fighting a war on disease in the first place. It’s a battle that can’t be won. Instead of focusing on fighting disease, now is the time to concentrate on creating health.

What Is A Tumor?

Harold Varmus won the Nobel Prize in 1976 for discovering the first “oncogene” which spurred the theory that cancer is caused by mutated genes.
If a gene becomes damaged, most of the time the mutation causes the cell to become so dysfunctional that it dies off immediately. Or your immune system recognizes it as an abnormal cell and destroys it itself. But some mutations alter the cell just enough so it still survives, but also to behaves very strangely.

In the case of cancer, the damage causes the cell to first proliferate uncontrollably (tumor growth). The cell just keeps dividing and dividing, over and over, ignoring the natural signals for it to stop that normal cells obey. A tumor now forms which is actually mass of your own tissue cells that have simply grown out of control and don’t die off as they are supposed to (apoptosis). As the tumor gets bigger and bigger, the cancer takes up more and more of your body’s available nutrients, feeding only itself at the sacrifice of all of your other cells. Eventually, the tumor uses up so much of your body’s energy that the rest of your body starves and begins to waste away as the tumor takes over more and more of your body’s energy and resources. Pieces of the cancer tumor can also break off and invade other tissues throughout your body (metastasis). When the cancer metastasizes, the tumor starts growing in yet another part of your body, now taking up even more of your body’s nutrients and energy.

Once the cancer has reached this point, where there are many different tumors spread throughout your body, it cannot keep up in fighting it off. Your organ systems start shutting down and eventually your body surrenders to the cancer.

What Causes Mutations To Form?

Down at the biochemical level, molecules are in their most stable state when their electrons are paired with another electron. If all of its electrons remained paired, as they should be, the molecule functions as it should within your body. But a “free radical” is formed when a molecule looses one of its electrons. This unpaired electron is a very unstable energetic state and creates tremendous damage in your body. The free radical becomes highly reactive chemically within the cell and steals an electron from wherever it can get one. It does this because it makes the original free radical more stable now that its electron is now paired again. But it just created another free radical with its unpaired electron. And then that one steals another electron from somewhere else and so on and so on. This “autocatalytic cascade” continually perpetuates itself leaving a path of destruction within the cell. The cell membrane can be so damaged by free radicals that it kills the cell. The cell’s organelles can be damaged as well which will eventually destroy it too.

An Ounce Of Prevention Is Worth A Pound Of Cure

If you live in the United States, your risk for developing some form of cancer in your lifetime is 1 in 3 if you’re a woman, 1 in 2 if you’re a man. (3)
Once the cancer cells take a hold in your body and have grown large enough that it can be detected by medical diagnostic equipment, often it’s too late. At this point, the medical treatment options open to you are surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation. And those options have their own inherent risks, side effects and low success rates.

First of all, you must reduce your exposure to carcinogens, substances that are known to cause cancer: Toxic chemical agents in the environment (asbestos, ground water contamination, gas fumes, car exhaust, plastic bottles, etc.) Tobacco smoke (the National Cancer Institute says we could prevent 30% of all cancer deaths by just by getting people to quit smoking) Artificial sweeteners (saccharin and aspartame have been shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals and it’s just a matter of time before others are found to be unhealthy for you as well) (4) Artificial preservatives and artificial flavorings in processed foods Pesticides used in growing plant and grain foods Hormones and anti-biotics used to grow factory farmed animals as food Refined sugar (increases inflammation and free radicals in the body) Trans fats, hydrogenated fats & partially hydrogenated fats Synthetic ingredients used in soaps, shampoos, toothpastes, makeup, household cleaners, laundry detergents, etc. And this is by no means an exhaustive list of all of the carcinogens that you may be exposing yourself to on a day-to-day basis. As you can see, it would be virtually impossible to eliminate your exposure to ALL of these elements, especially when it comes to toxins in today’s environment. They are all around you, all the time – in the air you breathe, the water you drink and the food you eat. No matter how clean you live, you will always be exposed to a certain amount of carcinogens. Therefore, it’s necessary to provide yourself with extra protection so your body can stay healthy.

Anti-Oxidants To The Rescue

It’s important to note that free radicals are formed naturally in your body everyday. They are created through normal cellular processes involving oxidation-reduction reactions all the time. But the damage they inflict on the cell is minimized because your immune system uses anti-oxidants to protect itself. Anti-oxidants are complex molecules that grab up the unpaired electrons before the free radical causes structural damage inside the cell. They sacrifice their own electrons to feed the free radicals. Therefore, they break the free radical chain mechanism without itself becoming a free radical. If you don’t have enough of these free radical protectors, then your body will be more likely to be damaged by the oxidative stress and your health will suffer. Unfortunately, your body’s natural ability to produce its own anti-oxidants declines with age.
Fortunately, the majority of these “cancer protectors” come in natural forms that your body can get from a healthy diet and lifestyle. As you’ll soon see though, it can be difficult for you to get all the anti-oxidant support you need from your diet alone in our modern world. But thankfully, simple alternative solutions are available for you to protect yourself from cancer.

1. Vitamin D
Your body makes Vitamin D naturally when it is exposed to sunlight. You also get it in your diet by eating such foods as salmon, eggs and shitake mushrooms. Vitamin D reduces the risk of cancer by stimulating cell differentiation, increasing cancer cell death and reducing metastasis. (5)
To synthesize the healthy amount of Vitamin D you need on daily basis however, it is recommended that you get at least 20 minutes of bright sunlight exposure to large area of skin (think bathing suit full body sun exposure).
But think how of how often you get that kind of full body sun exposure for 20 minutes, everyday. And that’s sun exposure without sunscreens, moisturizers or make up that blocks the UV rays penetration of your skin where your body can make the Vitamin D. Ask yourself: Do you get in your bathing suit for 20 minutes everyday for your Vitamin D synthesizing time?
It shouldn’t surprise you then that recent research shows that the majority of Americans are deficient in Vitamin D. Healthy blood levels of Vitamin D are between 50-70ng/dL but most people test in the 20-30 range or lower. But thankfully, you can supplement with Vitamin D and it will have the same cancer fighting effects.

Cancer risk has been shown to be cut in half with the addition with as little as 1000 IU of Vitamin D. Ideal amounts are 2,000-4,000 IU per day.(6)
There are a number of important factors for you to take into consideration when taking Vitamin D as a supplement:
• Take it in the Vitamin D3 form – the potency of D3 is 87% greater and it is converted 500 times faster into its active form than the cheaper, synthetic D2 form.(7) Unfortunately, Vitamin D2 is the form that is most commonly prescribed by medical doctors even though your body doesn’t absorb it well and it has a harder time making use of it.
• Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin – which means that it can accumulate in your body tissues if you take too much. Taking up to 10,000 IU/day can be safe so the recommended dose of 2,000-4,000 IU/day should be perfectly safe for you to take (most people only get 250-300 IU of Vitamin D from their diet). But to be sure, have your blood tested and monitored by your physician to prevent reaching toxic levels of Vitamin D.

2. Fruits and Vegetables
Fruit and vegetable intake has a highly protective effect for most types of cancer (8) including stomach, esophagus, lung, oral cavity, pharynx, endometrium, pancreas and colon cancers. (9)
People with low fruit and vegetable intakes have TWICE the risk of developing cancer than people with high intakes. (10)
In fact, a report by the American Institute of Cancer Research stated that dietary change alone (to one that is more plant based with more fruits and vegetables) could prevent 3-4 million cases of cancer worldwide every year. (11)
The anti-oxidant support you get from fruits and vegetables is so important that the risk of cancer associated with low fruit and vegetable intake is only exceeded by that of smoking. (12)
But, just like trying to get enough Vitamin D from sun exposure alone, it is difficult to get all of the nutrients you need from your daily diet alone.
To get the bare minimum of nutrients from your diet, you need to eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables everyday according to the USDA. But to have superior cancer protection levels, you should be eating twice as much as this. And that’s A LOT of fruit and veggies.

3. Omega 3 Fish Oils
Although research is conflicting about whether or not Omega 3 fish oils help prevent cancer, one thing is certain: Omega 3 fish oils help control inflammation in the body. And since inflammation creates free radicals and free radicals put you at risk for cancer, supplementing your diet with Omega 3’s is a good choice. In addition, Omega 3 fish oils have been shown to help prevent the development of heart disease, decrease your of risk of heart attack and stroke, lowers high triglyceride and cholesterol levels and may even help with certain types of arthritis. (13)
Take 1,000-2,000mg per day of high quality Omega 3 fish oils to protect your health.