FIGHTING CANCER : THE HOLISTIC WAY ( PART 5 )

In the previous article, “Nutritional Healing For Cancer”, I wrote about the foods and nutrients that should form part of our daily diet which may help fight cancer when taken in higher amounts, especially through supplements. This article discusses nutritional products which are specifically meant for cancer treatment, although they are also beneficial for treating other chronic diseases, and for general health.

I must stress that these nutritional therapies do not replace medical treatment. Those who opt for chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy can safely take these as they are extracts of food, and thousands of cancer patients on conventional therapy have consumed them without adverse effects. Those who refuse medical treatment should not face the cancer without fighting, and these nutritional therapies should be considered.

As a medical doctor, I must mention that although some research has been done on these nutritional therapies, many do not have the same kind of scientific studies equivalent to that required of drugs. Unfortunately, because of this, many nutritional therapists have been branded as quacks. Perhaps some made unfounded claims that these therapies can definitely cure cancer. Although there are many documented cases of complete cure through nutritional therapy, no such promise should be made. Since the best of modern medicine can cure only about 5% of advanced cancers, any equally effective ( or ineffective ) treatment without the side-effects should be welcome.

With that proviso, there is sufficient experience in their use to safely recommend them as adjuvant/complementary ( for those on medical treatment ), or alternative ( for those who refuse medical treatment ) therapy. Like any treatment, early and consistent therapy always gives better results than if done later, so it is best to commence nutritional therapy earliest possible. Being nutrients, these therapies can also be safely combined.

If you are a cancer patient considering nutritional therapy, you should get the advice of a health professional experienced in treating cancer patients with nutrition.

Whatever is your choice, the monitoring should still be done by your doctor or oncologist, as the effectiveness of nutritional therapy cannot be assumed without objective proof of regression, remission or total cure by medical examination and tests.

AGARICUS

Agaricus blazei murill is a mushroom native to Brazil, but its healing properties are most studied and utilized by the Japanese and Koreans. In ordinary doses, it is a potent health supplement, with immune-boosting effects. For cancer-fighting ability, it is 15 times stronger than Lingzhi, which is perhaps the most famous mushroom health supplement.

For cancer treatment, concentrated liquid Agaricus ( or even Lingzhi ) extracts are used. Some doctors in Japan even use purified Agaricus extracts as intra-venous cancer treatment. These treatments have benefited patients with various types of cancer.

ARABINOXYLANE COMPOUND
Arabinoxylane is produced by hydrolyzing rice bran using enzymes from mycelia of shiitake mushroom. This is a classic example of a powerful nutritional therapy obtained from a simple source. It qualifies as a biological response modifier, or BRM, which is the definition for any material entering the body that boosts the immune system, does not cause any toxic side effects, and is completely safe.
This polysaccharide has powerful immuno-modulation effects, causing overall stimulation of the immune system, like T-cell function, B-cell function and especially, natural killer cell ( NKC ) activity. NKCs constitute about 15% of our white blood cells, and are the first line of defense against cancer and viral infections.
It has been extensively researched by Dr. Mamdooh Ghoneum of the Department of Immunology, Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. According to him it is useful for early and advanced cancers, especially if the patients have undergone chemotherapy or radiotherapy, as it can help rescue the immune system damaged by these treatments. It is most beneficial for leukemias and multiple myeloma.

BETA-GLUCAN

Beta-glucans are complex polysaccharides found in oats, barley and mushrooms. They are the active ingredients in mushroom extracts that give them their immune-boosting powers. Like arabinoxylane, they stimulate immune cells, including NKCs, and are anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-cancer. Agaricus has stronger cancer-fighting ability than Lingzhi because of the higher content and types of beta-glucan it contains.

Pure beta-glucan is now available, and is used in high doses to fight cancer. The most notable is yeast-derived 1,3/1,6 beta-glucan because it is the most biologically active, has many other health benefits, and is also the cheapest to produce!

MARINE EXTRACT

This is a remarkable product from Vanuatu islands in the Pacific. It is an extract of several marine species, including the sea-cucumber ( gamat ). Although gamat health supplements have flooded the market over the last decade, we have not have documented evidence of cancer being cured from our local products. The Vanuatu marine extract was featured in an Australian news report after a lady fully recovered from terminal leukemia, while a set of twins ( children ) also suffering from leukemia were both cured after taking the extracts. The report rightly included a caution from a medical doctor that no extensive study has been done on the product, and that the several successful cures reported cannot be generalized.

My opinion is that when a nutritional therapy can repeatedly do what modern medicine failed to do, it should be encouraged. Although no double-blind studies will be ever be possible on products such as this, the several documented cases are enough to justify recommendation to those who opt for nutritional therapy for their cancers, with no promises of course. When many have tried, that itself will become an informal study.

PROBIOTIC PASTE

As explained earlier, probiotics ( friendly or good bacteria ) are important requirements for our continued good health. Those of us who have used high doses of probiotics have also noticed many cancer patients benefiting from it. There are those cancer patients, who for whatever reasons, refused medical treatment, and various nutritional therapies were tried on them. And high-dose probiotic therapy improved the health and even caused cancer regression in several cases.

For cancer therapy, the high dose required makes it more practical to use concentrated probiotic paste. I recommend a paste that is further enhanced by Papua Red Fruit ( Buah Merah / pandanous conoideus ), which is a huge red fruit traditionally used in Indonesia for various ailments, and recently found to have anti-cancer properties. This paste is manufactured in Malaysia. A friend of mine who is a spiritual healer uses this to complement his spiritual healing for cancer patients.

Another nutritional cancer therapy formula combines probotics and enzymes. Invented in Canada and backed with some promising studies, it is however much more expensive than the local probiotic therapy.

TRANSFER FACTOR (TF)

Transfer factors, which are small molecules carrying “inherited memory” of disease-fighting information from mother to child, are the fruits of modern technology when applied to nutritional science. TFs are extracted from colostrum or eggs and were found to be the most powerful in stimulating NKC activity, when compared to many other immune-enhancers that work through NKC stimulation.
TF products have been available in Malaysia for several years as a health supplement. Although many have claimed that they attained various health benefits, the results in treating cancer have not been commensurate with the claimed increase in NKC activity.

I suspect that the main reason is that insufficient doses have been used. For most nutritional supplements used for nutritional cancer therapy, I have advocated the highest safe doses. TF, like many other nutritional products, does not have a toxic dose, and therefore there is no worry of overdose. So those who hope to find cure in such products should take the highest affordable doses, because these products are also not cheap.

This, however, does not apply to all supplements or nutritional therapies, as many also cause toxicity if taken too much. The best is to seek the advice of an expert on the products or therapies you are considering.

OTHER HERBAL AND NUTRITIONAL PRODUCTS

There are many more nutritional products used to treat cancer, and I don’t claim to know all of them. There are even cancer-fighting supplements that utilize the healing properties of zeolites, which are naturally occurring crystalline alumino-silicate minerals that can be found in rock deposits.

I had already written about an organic, raw foods supplements made of 30 different veggies, grasses, grains, nuts and herbs used by a Korean oncologist successfully to treat his patients, that caused him to be sacked from his hospital because he was not practicing “conventional” medicine.

Flor Essence is a western herbal medicine concocted by a nurse ( Caisse, hence her formula is also called Essiac ). In ordinary doses it is used as a tea for detoxification. In regular, concentrated doses, it is used for many years for cancer therapy. Although formulated many years ago, modern scientific analysis has found it to have very powerful anti-oxidant capacity.

Laetrile or B17 was mentioned under nutritional supplements. This has caused so much controversy in USA such that it has been banned there, and those who use them for therapy have been charged for quackey. However, many cancer patients still go over to Mexico to get their supplies because they know of friends or others who have been cured of cancer using it.

QIGONG – THE MOST IMPORTANT HOLISTIC STRATEGY

May I remind that in my opinion, the first step in the holistic fight against cancer is to recharge your cells and body with qi ( life-force ) so that all the oxygen, water, and nutrients you take to fight the cancer cells and enhance the health of the non-cancer cells will be fully utilized. Qi is the key to cell survival and healing. Qi can jump-start the defunct healing mechanisms of the sick and dying cells, and kill the robust mutant cancer cells.

Combined with the anti-cancer diet, anti-cancer supplements, and anti-cancer nutritional therapies, qigong can give you more than a fighting chance to defeat cancer. This has been proven many times over, and those who practice anti-cancer qigong ( especially Guolin Qigong and the Amazing Qigong Walk ) can attest to this.

Cancer can be defeated. That is my belief.