Cancer Articles

Melanoma causes, prevention, and management are known. There are natural strategies that can prevent and reverse melanoma. The truth is melanoma isn’t different from other types of cancers. It is dependent on your internal environment. The sun may have very little to do with the development of this condition. When you think melanoma, you think sun exposure. The fact that the rates of melanoma have gone up by 3.1 percent a year since 1992, may reflect changes in both our lifestyles, and a liberal use of suntan creams.

Suntan Lotions and Creams

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the ingredients in sunscreens marketed today have been used for many years and the agency does not have any reason to believe these products are not safe for consumer use.

The list of ingredients can vary from one brand to the next: the list of approved ingredients. Aminobenzoic acid-carcinogen implicated in cardiovascular disease, Avobenzone-carcinogen, Dioxbenzond-skin toxicity, carcinogen, and hormone disruptor, Diazolidinly Urea-carcinogen, affects the endocrine system, central nervous system and compromises the immune system, Methylparaben-interferes with  genes, Octocylene-affects liver, and carcinogen, Octyl methoxycinnamate-carcinogen, disrupts liver function, Oxybenzone-carcinogen and causes vascular disease, Phenoxyethanol, carcinogen, endocrine disrupter, Titanium dioxide-carcinogen when in nanomaterial form, and Zinc Oxide, toxic to the reproductive system.

Then there is retinyl palmitate a form of vitamin A, which is found in about 41% or sunscreens and is a photocarcinogen, which means it is a cancer-causing agent when exposed to sunlight. In a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) study, researchers applied creams contain retinyl palmitate to animals’ skin, and then exposed them to sunlight. The study showed an increased incidence of skin cancer in these animals.

These are the safe ingredients; I hate to speculate on what is not considered safe. After all the research and development (R&D) money spent to withdraw these products would have shareholders in the company looking for new investments. The real benefit from suntan products comes from the commercialization. and sales.

Real Protection

Real protection doesn’t come from an over zealous application of chemical containing suntan lotions. The ozone level may be disappearing, but that may not be as applicable in terms of skin cancer. What is missing in the skin cancer guidelines is the many integrative solutions.

Facts

A new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center found that patients with decreased core muscle density were more likely to see their melanoma spread to other organs. They found it isn’t how old you are but how frail you are. Younger patients in poor health can have worst outcomes than older patients who are fit. What they found it was the underlying vitality of the patient that predicted the outcome.

Deficiencies of micronutrients are frequently found in cancer patients. There are some reports that blood levels of folic acid is 60 to 85% lower in people with cancer. There is conclusive evidence that a folic acid deficiency increases metastatic activity in cultured melanoma cells.

There are numerous studies and clinical evidence that high doses of melatonin can prevent and reverse melanoma. Melatonin suppresses ultraviolet (UV)-induced damage to skin cells. It shows strong antioxidant activity in skin cells exposed to UV light. There are a few studies that seem to suggest that selenium in vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Kale and Brussel sprouts helps your body target melanoma.

Vitamin D especially vitamin D3 fights melanoma. There are many  articles and clinical trials that show the positive effect Vitamin D3 has on killing melanoma cells.

There is a hidden gem that hasn’t been given much coverage. Dr. Dianne Godar of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had this to say: UVB light appears to be protective against melanoma. This is because your body produces Vitamin D in response to the UBA radiation. Dr. Godar points out the well know fact that the melanoma epidemic began long before sunbed usage, and that the dramatic melatonin increase occurs primary in indoor workers, not outdoor workers.

Low vitamin D levels actually predict melanoma, and all-year tans protect against melanoma. Melanoma patients who get sun live longer than those who don’t.

Conclusion

We are meant to survive in the environment that has sustained us for thousands of years. The sun sustains life on this planet. Never before in the history of man was the sun’s image so tarnished. If anything our contact with the outdoors is less then ever. We have withdrawn from our natural surrounding.

These are the factors that have a direct roll in the melanoma epidemic: One, is our reliance on pharmaceuticals (suntan lotion), two, the standard American diet which causes deficiencies of micronutrients, lack of adequate sunshine. From an evolutionary perspective sunshine is essential.

There is a cancer study, which may radically transform how you look at this condition. Most research has to do with altering the process through physical means. There are scientist studying cancer cells response to emotional signals. We may be able to emulate and extrapolate these findings to slow or stop cancer from spreading.

A cancer  diagnosis

Many people weren’t feeling that terrible before they heard the news. You are the same person you were before you heard this. The real question is what do you do.

Current Thinking is Changing

When you do the standard treatment it is to survive. However, when you do some alternative methods it takes the apathetic approach and turns it into passionate commitment to living to the fullest. The history of standard treatments shows a system on a collision course with your physical health. There is a quiet revolution, which is making people take notice of a different way to ride the storm. The catastrophic proportions of the condition and the treatment options need to be revisited.

Make a Plan

Its okay to look at other solutions, and then try to tailor your own program. Yes, that can incorporate standard western modalities. The idea is to apply it smart. Most people don’t have an idea of what they are being offered and what the statistical outcome is.  It takes time to research the oncologist recommendation. The one thing to remember is there is no magical fix.

To create a plan you need facts. The best approaches are meant to rebuild and restore your health. This is priceless, there is a relationship between your physical emotional and environmental conditions and cancer. The mission is to put together a program that works for you. The first step is to know what a healthy body needs to function. 

What has been misleading is the fact that once the C word bomb is dropped there is nothing that you can do. This is so far from the truth. You feel like you are in a different world with new rules. The rules are the same follow a healthy lifestyle.

Emotions and Environment

A healthy lifestyle includes and is not exclusive of of one’s emotional makeup. Geneticist Professor Matthew During’s findings published in the Journal Cell offered some powerful evidence that social connections and an individual’s mental state plays a role in cancer development and progression. Matthew has show that animals interaction with the environment has a profound influence on the growth of cancer.

Mice are natural sociable creatures like humans. When in laboratory settings are usually housed in groups of five or so for laboratory experiments. They are provided with all the food they want and allowed to play all day.

Sounds good so far, however, when the mice with tumors, were placed in an enriched environment with between 15-20 mice, and more space and things to do, which included toys, hiding places and running wheels, their disease often went into spontaneous remission. Tumor mas shrunk by an average of 77 percent and the volume by 43 percent. The best part 1 in 20 of the of the Cancer ridden mice showed no evidence of disease.

The animals did show lower levels of a hormone produced by a fat called leptin, indicative of a significant shift in metabolism, Reducing leptin leaves slow down the development and spread of cancer. Cancer cells thrive on leptin.

What this shows: you can’t look at any disease without looking at your life. Those that argue that standard western care is the only course of action aren’t looking at the big picture.

The cancer lifesaving natural interventions are the ones that you do to change your internal environment. Cancer is a multifaceted process that most people don’t realize that they have control of. The things that contribute to pathological conditions, including cancer are the food one eats, the air one breaths, the water one consumes, the amount of radiation one receives, the amount one exercises, and how one handles stress.  There are natural interventions that are capable of putting the odds in your favor. The control of the environment that the cancer cells thrive in can be changed. The only one who could do that is the person themselves.

The Missing Data

On many levels cancer is an environmental and deficiency state. By environment I mean the terrain that your cells live and take a bath in everyday. This is evident by the steady rise in cases. The rapid rise in cases is attributed to people living longer. In some of the long lived people of the world who reside in their traditional culture age doesn’t seem to be a factor. It is a fact that the numbers are going up for all age groups.

The missing data is what can help reverse the trend.  All anyone has to look at is what has changed in the culture to put the population at risk. It is obvious if you just look around at the lifestyle habits that have become the norm.

The Food Supply

The biggest change is in the American diet. This is a critical component of the rise in this condition. Simple carbohydrates may seem like a simplistic response when talking about the initiation and progression of cancer. Taking a careful look at the biological explanation makes this a very logical conclusion.

Low Carbohydrate Diet

According to a study published in Cancer Research, a journal of The American Association for Cancer Research and reported on June 15, 2011 eating a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet may reduce the risk of cancer and slow the growth of tumors already present.

This data makes previous generations had a diet that was lower in carbs, and the number of cases were smaller. The information that the public gets is confusing, less red meat, low fat, and breakfast cereals are a healthy diet. If this was true where are all the healthy people. Are they hiding under the layers of fat?

The meat blame game may come from the fact that we are consuming meat in a highly toxic form. From feeding cattle grains, and sometimes cement dust, moldy food sources, giving them hormones and antibiotics and then claiming meat causes all sorts of conditions is really dumb science.

Calorie Restriction

Calorie restriction with optimal nutrition. It has been proven that calorie restriction with optimal nutrition triggers favorable gene expression. A study in the July 20,2011 issue of Carciongenesis points to this conclusion: A diet with reduced calories slowed the growth of mammary tumors and metastases.

Insulin and Leptin

Calorie restriction lowers the levels of insulin, and leptin, while increasing adiponectin in tumors. If you know nothing else about what makes cancer cells survive, this is the information that is a must. Insulin and leptin are involved in the carcinogenesis of breast cancer. Many studies have demonstrated that obesity, frequent snacking increase colon cancer risks. Leptin concentrations are higher in people who are overweight. Insulin releases in response to food, leptin releases in response to insulin.

This process operates well in healthy individuals. The problem is our bodies were never meant to handle the American diet. We have and epidemic of insulin resistance which produces the chronically high levels of leptin.

Colon cancer cells love leptin and thrives on it. Leptin has the ability to encourage colon cancer cells to reproduce. Breast cancer cells express higher levels of leptin and it’ receptor than normal mammary cells. There is significant correlation between leptin levels and lower survival of breast cancer patients.

Adiponectin

Adiponectin is a protein hormone that modulates a number of metabolic processed, including glucose regulation. Adiponectin is exclusively secreted from adipose tissue (fat). The more fat the less adipnectin released. The hormone helps suppress the metabolic conditions that may result, in type 2 diabetes, obesity, atherosclerosis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and risk factors for metabolic syndrome.

After adjustment for body mass index (BMI) women with higher adiponectin levels had a reduced risk for breast cancer. This was true for post menopausal women, where most of the cases occur.

The next article will tell you how to take the first step in reversing cancer.