Colon cancer, also called colorectal cancer when it affects the rectum as well, is one of the most prevalent types of cancer. The third most common cancer (after breast and lung cancers), approximately 4.4 percent of men (1 in 23) and 4.1 percent of women (1 in 25) will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer in their lifetime. When the numbers of men and women are combined, it’s the second most common cause of cancer deaths.

Something else that’s alarming? Colorectal cancer rates are even climbing among young people. Only about 5 percent of colon cancer cases are believed to be inherited, which means it’s highly likely that there’s a lot you can do to protect yourself.

Fortunately, in general, the rate of people being diagnosed with colon or rectal cancer each year continues to decline, largely because more people are getting screened and also changing their lifestyle-related risk factors, including learning how to prevent colon cancer.

What are some colon cancer symptoms to be aware of that may indicate a problem? Early signs of colon cancer can include abdominal pain and blood in your stools, although it’s also possible for other disorders to cause these same symptoms. When detected and treated in its early stages, colon cancer can usually be overcome. Research regarding colon cancer survival rates shows that about 90 percent of people with early stages of colon cancer (localized) will live at least five years after being diagnosed. Sadly, once the cancer progresses to stage 3 or 4, about 13 percent to 74 percent will live at least five years.

The earlier that colon cancer is diagnosed, the easier it is to treat. Should you ever be diagnosed with colon cancer, you’ll have the best chances of recovering when you get treatment right away. Below you’ll find much more about the most common colon cancer symptoms, along with ways to lower your risk starting with diet and lifestyle changes.

What Is Colon Cancer?

Colon, or colorectal cancer, is cancer that affects the colon and/or rectum. When cancer is found in both the colon and rectum it is called colorectal cancer, but when it’s found only in the colon it is called colon cancer (or sometimes bowel cancer).

• The colon, which is also called the large intestine, is located between the small intestine and the rectum. It’s about 1 to 1.5 meters long (about 5 feet) and a part of the larger, lower intestinal canal.
• The colon has several parts, including: an appendix, ascending intestine, transverse intestine, and the S-shaped large intestine, which ends at the rectum. The rectum and anal canal make up the last part of the large intestine and are 6 to 8 inches long.
• The colon contains two layers of smooth tissue that are covered by mucosa, which help to absorb nutrients. In the lower large intestine fluids are absorbed and waste is compacted to form stool, which is then stored in the rectum prior to a bowel movement, which eliminates it.

Colon cancer commonly starts developing when small benign clumps of cells that are called adenomatous polyps form in the colon. These can remain non-cancerous or start to form cancerous cells. What are early signs of colon cancer? Abnormal stools (including changes in frequency and appearance) are one of the first indications that a problem may be developing in the colon. Other colon cancer symptoms include changes in appetite, weight loss, nutrient deficiencies and weakness.

Symptoms

How does colon cancer affect a person’s body? Many times colon cancer in its early stages won’t cause any noticeable symptoms. But once it spreads and progresses it can start to change the way that stools are formed, fluids are balanced, nutrients are absorbed and the way that other organs function.

Is there pain associated with colon cancer that might alert you to a problem? Some people with colon cancer experience abdominal pain, although not everyone does. The later the stage of colon cancer, the higher likelihood there is that pain and other colon cancer symptoms will become noticeable and interfere with everyday life.

The most common colon cancer symptoms include:

• Abdominal pain, cramping, bloating or discomfort.
• Changes in bowel habits and stool consistency, such as having diarrhea, constipation, or narrowing and thinning of the stools. Some people experience alternating bouts of constipation and then diarrhea. These symptoms affect almost everyone from time to time, so it’s only really concerning if they last for several weeks or more.
• Bloody stool, which is a sign of rectal bleeding. Stools might also look unusually dark or tar-like but not bloody.
• Weakness and fatigue.
• Nausea or vomiting.
• Changes in appetite and/or unintended weight loss.
• Low red blood cell count (anemia). This can cause symptoms associated with malabsorption of nutrients and anemia, including fatigue, weakness and brain fog.
• Jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes).

Risk Factors

Risk factors for colon cancer include:

• Being over the age of 50 (more than 90 percent of people who get colon cancer are over the age of 50).
• Eating a poor diet, especially one high in processed meats, lots of conventional red meat, fried foods, hydrogenated or trans fats, refined grains and other processed foods. Diets that don’t include enough fruits, vegetables and other sources of fiber are linked with a higher risk for colorectal cancer.
• Being obese.
• Being sedentary (not getting enough physical activity).
• High consumption of alcohol, especially among adult men.
• Smoking or using tobacco products.
• A history of other digestive/colon problems, such as pre-cancerous colon polyps, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) or hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer (HNPCC).
• Having type 2 diabetes.
• Being African-American. Although it’s not exactly clear why, African-Americans have the highest colon cancer diagnoses and mortality rates out of all the racial groups in the United States. Globally, people who are of Eastern Europe descent seem to have the highest risk.
• Having a family history of cancer.
• Exposure to cancer-causing agents in the environment, including ultraviolet radiation, asbestos, arsenic, radon gas and other chemicals.

Colon Cancer Stages

The CDC recently recommended that adults over the age of 45 have regular colon cancer screenings performed, especially if they are at an increased risk of developing cancer. The age formerly had been 45. The goal of screening for colon cancer is to find the cancer as soon as possible and prevent it from spreading. Screening helps doctors to detect pre-cancerous growths called polyps, which can removed in order to help stop the growth of cancerous tumors.

Colon cancer stages depend on which parts of the colon are affected; if the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes; and if other organs or tissues are impacted (in other words, if the cancer has metastasized). Many times a cancerous tumor that forms in the colon will remain localized (it won’t spread). But in some cases the cancer can spread to other parts of the body including the small intestine, liver, diaphragm or pancreas. When cancerous cells are carried in the bloodstream to other locations in the body, it makes the cancer much harder to treat.

Cancer stages are split into numbers and letters. Numbers range from 0–5, with 0 being the least severe and 5 being the most. Letters A, B and C can be used to indicate sub-stages, with A being less severe and C being more severe. Some doctors also grade cancers, ranging from grade 1 to 4, which indicate how cancer looks when examined under a microscope compared to normal tissue.

Below are the stages of colon cancer and what makes them unique:

• Stage 0 (carcinoma): Diagnosed when cancer has not grown beyond the inner layer (mucosa) of the colon or rectum.
• Stage 1: Diagnosed when cancer has grown through the superficial lining (mucosa) of the colon or rectum. The cancer has not spread beyond the colon wall or rectum (it is localized).
• Stage 2: Cancer has moved through the wall of the colon or rectum. It has not spread to other parts of the body via the bloodstream and has not infiltrated the lymph nodes.
• Stage 3: Cancer has moved to the lymph nodes, a part of the lymphatic system that helps remove waste from the body and prevent illnesses. At this stage the cancer has still not spread to other organs or parts of the body.
• Stage 4: Cancer has spread to other organs and is now difficult to treat.

Conventional Treatments

How do you detect colon cancer? In its early stages colon cancer can be diagnosed in several ways:

• A doctor might find that a patient has noncancerous polyps on a screening test. Polyps usually cause no colon cancer symptoms. When a patient is at an increased risk for having colon cancer, such as due to having risk factors like a family history and being over the age of 50, doctors will usually recommend screenings in order to detect cancer as early as possible.
• A doctor can perform a physical exam by placing pressure on the stomach and intestines, or by inserting one finger into the rectum. Your doctor will check for signs of colon cancer such as inflammation, blood and pain.
• A rectoscopy can be performed to test for the presence of cancerous cells in the colon or rectum. A small tissue sample might be taken in order to perform a biopsy.
• A colonoscopy can also be performed, in which a flexible tube is inserted into the rectum. Tissue samples can also be taken during a colonoscopy.

Treatments for colon cancer will depend on the stage of cancer. Typical treatments can include one or more of the following:

• Surgery, performed to remove polyps, part of the colon lining (a procedure called an endoscopic mucosal resection) or affected lymph nodes. A partial colectomy surgery might also be needed, which involves removing cancerous parts of the colon and then reconnecting healthy portions of the colon and rectum.
• Radiation, which is used to help shrink tumors.
• Chemotherapy, which helps to destroy cancerous cells and prevent spreading.
• Targeted drug therapies or immunotherapy, which are usually used to treat advanced stage cancers and work by targeting specific cells.

How to Prevent Colon Cancer

What are some ways you reduce your risk for colon cancer? Below are strategies for helping to prevent colon cancer, as well as managing colon cancer symptoms such as diarrhea, bloody stools and pain.

1. Increase Antioxidant and Fiber Consumption

Eating foods that promote inflammation and provide little nutritional value has been linked to higher risk for cancer colon. These foods include factory-farm-raised red meat (such as beef, pork or lamb) and processed meats (such as hot dogs, salami and some deli/luncheon meats). It’s even riskier if these meats are cooked at very high temperatures, such as barbecued or roasted.

A November 2017 study published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) found evidence that increasing fiber intake following colon cancer diagnosis offered patients benefits including improved odds of survival. The eight-year long study included 1,600 adults diagnosed with stage 1–3. All participants completed food-frequency questionnaires for up to eight years following their diagnosis. Researchers found that for every additional 5 grams of dietary fiber that someone ate per day, they experienced a 22 percent decrease in colorectal cancer mortality and a 14 percent decrease in all-cause mortality.

Below are some of the best high-fiber foods to start including in your diet:

• Avocados
• Berries
• Apples and pears
• Coconut flakes
• Figs and dates
• Artichokes
• Okra
• Green peas
• Winter or acorn squash
• Brussels sprouts
• Turnips
• Sweet potatoes
• Beans and legumes, such as black beans, lentils, chickpeas or adzuki beans
• Nuts like almonds or walnuts, flax seeds and chia seeds
• 100 percent whole grains like quinoa, brown rice, buckwheat and rolled oats

There are also other cancer-fighting foods to eat regularly due to how they help lower inflammation and improve nutrient deficiencies. These include:

• Leafy greens like kale and spinach
• Sea vegetables and algae
• Fresh herbs and spices like turmeric, ginger, basil, parsley or oregano
• Raw garlic
• Citrus fruits
• Mushrooms, carrots, beets, tomatoes and bell peppers
• Other cruciferous veggies like broccoli and cauliflower
• Organic, grass-fed or pasture-raised meats
• Wild-caught fish like salmon, mackerel, sardines or herring
• Green tea
• Yerba mate — a study found that yerba mate leaves have both anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer capabilities and that the caffeoylquinic acid derivatives killed colon cancer cells
• Cocoa
• Olive and coconut oil

2. Maintain a Healthy Weight

If you have a history of colon cancer, then staying at a healthy weight may help prevent it from returning. Being overweight or obese has been linked to higher risk for colon and rectal cancer. You can work towards losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight by eating an anti-inflammatory diet, managing stress, getting enough sleep and regularly exercising. Obesity is linked to higher cancer incidence in both men and women, but adult men who are obese seem to be impacted most.

3. Stay Active and Get Enough Exercise

People who are more physically active have better protection against developing colon cancer, as well as overall improvements in health. Some research has found that getting regular exercise may reduce your colon cancer risk by 40 percent to 50 percent! It might also be helpful while in recovery since it improves well-being and can lower stress, depression or anxiety.

Exercise helps to reduce inflammation, improve circulation, support the immune system and can help you control your weight. Getting enough physical activity can also reduce your risk for type 2 diabetes, which is linked to higher colon cancer risk.

4. Limit Alcohol Consumption and Quit Smoking

Studies have found that people who drink high amounts of alcohol and smoke or use tobacco products are more likely to die from colon cancer compared to moderate drinks and non-smokers. Keep your alcohol consumption in check by having no more than two drinks a day if you’re a man, or one drink a day if you’re a woman.

For help quitting smoking, talk to your doctor about useful interventions; speak with a therapist; or start an online program that specializes in smoking cessation.

5. Treat Underlying Health Issues (Such as IBD)

People who have a history of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s, may develop dysplasia, which are cells in the lining of the colon that are normal but can become cancerous over time. If you have a history of any health condition that affects your colon, then be sure to get screened regularly.

You can also take steps to prevent IBD flare-ups, although you won’t always be able to control your disorder at all times:

• Eating a therapeutic diet
• Reducing systematic inflammation
• Managing stress
• Getting enough rest and sleep
• Using supplements, such as calcium, vitamin D, probiotics and omega-3 fish oil supplements
• Preventing nutrient deficiencies
• Eliminating certain foods, such as:
  • Gluten
  • Some FODMAPs
  • Caffeine and alcohol

6. Manage Rectal Bleeding

• If it doesn’t worsen colon cancer symptoms or cause pain, eat high-fiber foods that help to relieve constipation, including: cooked green vegetables, beans, squash, prunes, figs, warm bone broths and herbal peppermint tea. Avoid refined flour, pasteurized dairy products, alcohol, caffeine and fried foods.
• If you have hemorrhoids, cleanse yourself only with natural soaps that don’t contain harsh chemicals, alcohol or perfumes. Use plain water to wipe yourself and then dry your bottom afterward. A colon cleanse would not be recommended.

7. Reduce Diarrhea, Constipation & Nausea

If you deal with diarrhea and constipation during your recovery or due to a related illness, here are steps that can help:

• Drink enough water throughout the day. Prevent dehydration when exercising, when you’re sick or when it’s very hot/humid outside.
• Avoid eating very big, high-fat meals. Spacing out meals may make digestion easier.
• Eat enough fiber, but not too much that it worsens symptoms.
• If you have constipation, try having foods and beverages that act as natural laxatives, including: prune juice, psyllium husk, aloe vera, chia and flax seeds, flaxseed oil, cooked leafy greens, probiotic-rich foods like coconut kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut and kimchi, and coconut water. You can also consider taking magnesium supplements or using fiber supplements (although there isn’t evidence this will prevent cancer).
• Incorporate stress-relieving activities into your day, such as yoga, meditation, reading, walking outside, etc.
• If you have nausea, sip on ginger herbal tea or use ginger essential oil. You can also diffuse peppermint or lemon essential oil in your home, try slowly walking outdoors to get fresh air, keep your home cool, and try meditation and acupuncture.

Precautions

If you have any of the colon cancer signs and symptoms mentioned above, rather than panicking it’s best to visit a doctor. Colon cancer symptoms can be similar to those caused by a number of other illnesses, such as hemorrhoids, irritable bowel syndrome, or inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease. In other words, just because you have unusual bowel movements or pain doesn’t mean you have cancer.

That being said, don’t ignore persistent pain or symptoms, especially unusual blood in your stool. Keep up with annual doctor’s appointments and always discuss any risk factors that you may have for cancer with your doctor.

The post Colon Cancer Symptoms & the Prevention Diet appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Considered to be among the healthiest fats to consume, omega-3s benefits include those related to heart health, mental illnesses, brain decline, inflammation, autoimmune diseases and even cancer.

A new study found a link between consumption of omega-3s and breast cancer (BC), specifically that when premenopausal women and obese women consumed more of these healthy fats, they had a lower risk of developing BC. As explained below, omega-3s seem to fight cancer development due to their ability to reduce inflammation and effects of too much estrogen.

Study Findings: Omega-3 and Breast Cancer in Obese Women

A 2022 study published in the journal Menopause found that when pre- and postmenopausal women consumed more omega-3s from their diets, they benefited from enhanced protection against developing breast cancer.

Omega-3 fatty acids are types of polyunsaturated fats, also called PUFAS, which are known to help fight inflammation and support normal immune function. There are several types, including a-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) and docosahexaenoic acid, with DHA and EPA (the types found in oily fish) the most sought after.

This particular study wanted to determine if any association exists between breast cancer risk in adult women and intake of PUFAs, especially omega-3 PUFAs. The study included more than 3,100 participants who completed food frequency questionnaires and health-related surveys.

Results showed that higher intake of omega-3s, especially from marine/seafood sources, was associated with lower risk of breast cancer among both pre- and postmenopausal women.

Here are more details about the study’s main findings:

• Associations between BC risk and dietary PUFA intake was most evident among premenopausal women and women who were at increased risk of BC or who already had breast cancer.
• A decreased risk of breast cancer was significantly associated with increased omega-3 intake in obese/overweight women but not in women of normal weight.

What It Means (How to Get More Omega-3 in Diet)

Many adults, especially those who eat a modern, processed diet, don’t consume enough omega-3 fats. To make matters worse, it’s very common to consume too many omega-6s, which are found in vegetable oils and many packaged foods.

This study, among others conducted in the past, demonstrate the importance of consuming healthy fats, including omega-3 fatty acids, on a regular basis. Higher intake of omega-3s has been shown in many studies to help protect against conditions including:

• High cholesterol
• High blood pressure (hypertension)
• Type 2 diabetes
• Arthritis
• Macular degeneration
• Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia
• Osteoporosis 
• And others

How can you add more omega-3s to your diet?

The human body cannot make its own omega-3 fats — therefore there’s a need to consume them from food sources. The best sources include oily fish, nuts and seeds. Supplements are another way to increase your intake.

Here’s a list of the best omega-3 foods and sources:

• Fish, including wild-caught salmon, sardines, mackerel, anchovies, white fish and tuna
• Nuts and seeds, such as flaxseeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds and walnuts. Note that plant-based foods are high in the type of omega-3 fatty acid called ALA, so you’ll need to eat more of them to get the same effect as their animal-based counterparts.
• Egg yolks
• Natto
• You may also benefit from taking a high-quality omega-3 supplement, such as fish oil or a capsule. Aim to get between 250 and 500 milligrams of EPA and DHA combined each day.

Does omega-3 increase estrogen levels, or does omega-3 block estrogen?

Studies have found somewhat mixed and conflicting results when testing the effects of omega-3s on estrogen levels. Overall, these healthy fats seem to benefit estrogen levels in adult women. For example, one study found that supplementation with omega-3s plus vitamin D3 decreased estrogen in premenopausal women, which may help defend against hormone-related cancers.

Another study found potential anticancer roles of omega-3s through effects on estrogen signaling. Omega-3 seem to convert pro-proliferative estrogen in a way that blocks breast cancer cells from growing.

Research suggests that EPA and DHA may be effective in helping to fight BC due to several other mechanisms, including reducing proinflammatory lipid (fat) derivatives, inhibiting inflammation and cytokine production, and decreasing growth factor receptor signaling.

Are omega-3 good for cancer patients? Can cancer patients take omega-3 fish oil?

In most cases, yes. Some research shows that fish oil can help improve treatment outcomes among people battling some types of cancer. However, some patients undergoing chemotherapy may be advised to avoid fish oil.

As one study explains, “Accumulating evidence states that n-3 PUFAs may exert an antitumor action by altering lipid composition of the plasma membrane.” In other words, these fats seem to defend cells against becoming damaged and cancerous, and they may also stop them from spreading.

That being said, if you’re being treated for cancer you should always discuss any supplements you’re taking with your doctor.

Other Ways to Help Combat Breast Cancer and Obesity

Aside from eating a healthy diet and avoiding processed foods, other ways you can lower your risk for breast cancer and obesity include:

• Getting enough exercise on a regular basis.
• Not consuming too much alcohol or smoking cigarettes.
• Limiting exposure to chemicals and carcinogens, such as heavy metals and environmental pollutants. Well-known carcinogens include asbestos, nickel, cadmium, radon, vinyl chloride, benzidine and benzene.
• Managing stress, since chronic stress takes a toll on the immune system and also causes increases production of “stress hormones,” which are linked to weight gain.
• Avoiding sleep deprivation.

Conclusion

• A new study found a link between consumption of omega-3s and breast cancer, specifically that when obese women and premenopausal women consumed more of these healthy fats they had a lower risk for BC.
• High intake of n-3 PUFAs seems to be associated with a lower risk of BC because these fats help fight inflammation and cytokine production, and they can normalize effects of estrogen.
• Consuming more omega-3 fatty acids is also helpful for defending against many other conditions, like heart disease, arthritis and diabetes.
• The best sources include oily fish, nuts, seeds and fish oil supplements.

The post Omega-3s May Help Lower Breast Cancer Risk in Women with Obesity appeared first on Dr. Axe.

As cancer and metabolic disorder rates rise simultaneously, researchers have evaluated the effects of nutrition and what types of diets have a greater impact for cancer prevention.

A recent review of data found that when looking at a plant-based diet vs. keto diet, two diets that have become popular in oncology, plant-based eating may have greater benefits for cancer incidence reduction.

Study Findings: Plant-Based vs. Keto Diet for Cancer

A July 2020 review published in JAMA Oncology evaluated a plant-based diet vs. keto diet for cancer reduction. Although the two diets are starkly different, both are associated with weight loss, reduced inflammation and decreased insulin levels, according to researchers.

A plant-based diet is also associated with increased fiber and phytochemical intake, while the keto diet has exhibited anticancer effects by increasing beta-hydroxybutyrate, a ketone that has been studied for its impact on cancer cells.

An analysis of data on both diets showed that there’s more support for plant-based diets as opposed to the keto diet as part of a lifestyle that’s associated with reduced cancer risk. However, researchers noted that there’s currently no rigorously tested approaches that support the recommendation of any particular diet to treat cancer.

What It Means

Researchers found that when comparing plant-enriched diets vs. keto diet for the reduction of cancer risk and improvement of metabolic disorders, the current collective evidence supports a plant-based diet.

The keto (or ketogenic) diet involves severely cutting carb consumption while increasing fat intake to switch the body into ketosis, a metabolic state that allows the body to burn fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates. The keto diet has proven to have antitumor effects and is thought to produce an unfavorable environment for cancer cells.

Plant-based diets include the consumption of fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains and healthy fats. Interventional trials on cancer prevention have indicated that increasing fruit and vegetable intake, while reducing fat intake, is beneficial because it mitigates common cancer risk factors, such as inflammation, excess body fat and insulin resistance.

Studies have found that plant-based diets improve breast cancer treatment and prevention. A meta-analysis based on over 3 million subjects even found that plant-based diets reduced the risk of cancers of the digestive system.

While there’s evidence that both a plant-based diet and ketogenic diet may reduce the risk of cancer, a diet high in whole foods and lower in fats is more effective for the general population.

Cancer Prevention Tips

Because cancer is not a single disease, but a group of related diseases, there are many risk factors that may contribute to cancer incidence, including those related to your diet, lifestyle, environment and genes.

There are certain measures you can take to reduce the risk of cancer, including the following:

• Eat cancer fighting foods, including fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, nuts and seeds
• Maintain a healthy weight
• Avoid processed foods
• Avoid foods made with added or artificial sugars
• Engage in physical activity
• Get enough sleep
• Reduce stress
• Don’t smoke or drink alcohol excessively
• Drink filtered water
• Reduce the use of chemicals in and around your home
• Maintain healthy levels of vitamin D

Conclusion

• A recent review published in JAMA Oncology found that when comparing the effects of a plant-based diet vs. keto diet for cancer reduction or prevention, a plant-based diet appears to be more effective.
• Although there’s evidence that both diets may help to reduce cancer incidence or improve cancer status, a diet high in nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables, and low in fats, has proven to be beneficial for reducing cancer and metabolic disease.
• In addition to eating a diet rich in whole foods, other cancer prevention tips include maintaining a healthy weight, engaging in daily physical activity, avoiding processed and sugar-loaded foods, reducing chemical exposure, getting enough sleep, and drinking filtered water.

The post Evaluating a Plant-Based Diet vs. Keto Diet for Cancer appeared first on Dr. Axe.

The topic of grilling carcinogens is probably the last thing you want to focus on while heading up for a summer cookout. The truth is when we’re playing softball, enjoying a family picnic or watching fireworks, there’s a good chance you’re in front of a grill firing up some hot dogs, burgers, shrimp, ribs or even veggie kabobs.

Normally, we just write off this time as a once-per-year gorge fest, turning a blind eye to any health concerns as well. I’m not saying that your burger and bratwurst bonanza can’t pack on pounds and clog your arteries, but the good news is that summer cookouts don’t have to be bad for you in other aspects, such increasing your risk of cancer.

With just a few simple steps, you can not only avoid grilling mistakes and drastically lower the amount of grilling carcinogens hiding out in your meals, but you can make them taste much better, too.

What Are Grilling Carcinogens?

All meats have amino acids, such as creatine, and sugars. If you grill them at very high temperatures, though, those substances naturally produce molecules called heterocyclic amines (HCAs), toxic compounds also found in cigarette smoke. We’ve known about these cancer-causing agents for 15 years now.

We can’t change the fact that meat is composed of amino acids and sugars. It is what it is.

We also can’t change the fact that meat can form chemicals that are really, really bad for you. What we can control is the total amount of HCAs we eat. The easiest way to do this is to control how well-done you take your meat and what kind of meat you eat.

• Well-done meat contains 3.5 times more HCA than medium-rare meat.
• When you compare different types of meats, sadly (and tragically), the highest concentration comes from bacon. The second highest is from fried pork, followed by beef and then chicken. (This particular study didn’t look at fish.)

Where the Burn Is Best

This is great news for people who veg out at the grill. Feel free to singe away and flame it up.

Plants don’t have the combination of creatine and sugar found in meats, nor do they have the fat drippings that smoke up into the other grilling-induced carcinogens called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Grilled pineapple is fabulous with a bit of sesame oil over it. We grill apricots and peaches in exactly the same way, and they’re luscious.

What If You’re a Meat-o-Phile?

Sure, you want to be healthy but … bacon. Yes, you want to consume fewer carcinogens but … ribs. And you’d love to go all lean and green but … salmon.

The good news is cutting back on your carcinogens doesn’t mean you have to cut back on flavor, meat or even grilled meat. Below are some simple and tasty suggestions to help you minimize your exposure to cancer-causing compounds before, during and after you grill.

Reduce Grilling Carcinogens

Pre-Grill

The Cancer Research Center of Hawaii found that a teriyaki marinade reduced HCAs by 67 percent. A turmeric-garlic sauce reduced them by 50 percent. The key here is to use a thin, vinegar-based sauce, sans sugar.

Compare that to a thick, concentrated commercial barbecue sauce with additive sugars, which can actually triple the number of HCAs in meat.

The researchers performed experiments to find out how herbs and spices can lead to HCA reduction in meats. Basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory, marjoram, oregano and thyme possessed powerful anticancer action in grilled meats. Most of these herbs are rich in three compounds — carnosic acid, carnosol and rosmarinic acid — all of which are potent antioxidants.

So be sure to include these tasty, cancer-fighting herbs in your marinade.

Mid-Grill

You have many settings on your barbecue, but don’t opt for the blowtorch approach when it comes to grilling meat. To avoid creating carcinogens, start on a medium-high temperature, and flip the meat often. This avoids charring, and that prevents HCAs.

Another great technique, in case you have multiple burners within your grill, is to grill up each side quickly, and then turn off the burner that lies directly under the meat while keeping the other burners on. That basically transitions your grill into an oven.

Post-Grill

Once you’ve cooked the food, there is one very commonsense thing you can do to maximize flavor and minimize carcinogens: Don’t eat char.

Think about it. Char.

It’s just burnt meat. It’s carbon.

I know you like the idea of going all caveman with your singed side of mammoth, but char doesn’t even have any flavor. Don’t eat it — cut it off.

If you do this one simple thing, you’ll eliminate many of the HCAs that do form despite your marinade protection.

Conclusion

Even briefly marinating foods is effective in reducing the amount of carcinogens — in some cases by as much as 92 percent to 99 percent. As a rule, use about one-half cup of marinade for every pound of food, although large pieces may need more to cover the food’s surface adequately.

The amount of marinating time is up to you because it only takes a few minutes to get the full cancer-preventing effect. Longer times will just add more flavor — good health has never been so tasty.

By going low and slow and refusing to eat char, you’ll be able to get outside, grill and add flavor to your barbecue without compromising your health.

Will Clower, Ph.D., is the founder & CEO of Mediterranean Wellness and has worked with companies all over the world to improve the health of their employees by providing the tools they need to incorporate the Mediterranean dietary habits into their daily lives.

Dr. Clower, author of The Fat Fallacy and The French Don’t Diet Plan, applies his neuroscience doctorate to explain how the Mediterranean culture can help people lose weight, improve heart health and liver longer.  He applies this behavioral neuroscience training to the science of eating behavior.

Dr. Clower’s work has been featured on Dr. Oz, The View, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, USA Today, New York Times and Readers Digest.

The post How to Lower Grilling Carcinogens by Up to 99%! appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Artemisinin, a major active command in the Artemisia annua plant species, is one of the most commonly prescribed therapy in traditional Chinese medicine.

It was first developed as a drug to treat malaria and has since become the standard treatment for the disease worldwide. Today, researchers are exploring its use as an alternative therapy for cancer treatments.

Because it reacts with iron-rich cancer cells to produce free radicals, artemisinin works to attack specific cancer cells, while leaving normal cells unharmed. Although more research on the therapeutic is needed, the reports to date are promising.

What Is Artemisinin?

Artemisinin is a drug derived from Artemisia annua, an Asian plant also known as:

• sweet wormwood
• sweet Annie
• annual mugwort
• annual absinthe
• qing hao
• qinghaosu

The plant has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for 2,000 years to threat fevers, headaches, bleeding and malaria. Today, it’s used to make therapeutic capsules, teas, pressed juice, extracts and powders.

A. annua is grown in Asia, India, Central and Eastern Europe, as well as in temperate regions of America, Australia, Africa and tropical regions.

Artemisinin is the active constituent of A. annua, and it’s used as a drug to treat malaria and has been researched for its efficacy against other conditions, including osteoarthritis, Chagas disease and cancer.

Cancer Research

Research on artemisinin for cancer suggests that the constituent may work as an alternative therapy, but more clinical studies are still needed. What’s known so far is that artemisinin may help create cancer-killing free radicals in the body.

It works similarly to fight cancer to how it fights malaria, by reacting with iron-rich cancer cells to produce free radicals that go on the attack. Some research even indicates that artemisinin is much more specific in targeting and killing certain cancer cells than other cancer treatments, which means that normal cells can survive with this method.

Artemisinin derivatives, such as dimers, trimers and hybrids, are currently being researched and used as a potential therapeutic alternative to current chemotherapies to combat cancers such as leukemia.

Recent studies show that its derivatives possess both in-vitro and in-vivo activities against various types of cancer. Its anti-cancer effects come from its ability to initiate apoptotic cell death, inhibit cancer proliferation, reduce metastatic growth and promote the formulation of new blood vessels.

Research published in 2021 notes that artemisinin has shown therapeutic activity against leukemia, multiple myeloma and lymphoma cells. Artemisinin drugs have also exhibited good tolerance and few side effects when used in combination with standard chemotherapies.

The “synergism” of flavonoids and artemisinin in cancer treatment has also been reported. Flavonoids have been shown to enhance the anti-cancer effects of artemisinins by increasing their bioavailability and half life values.

These benefits have been reported in several cancer cell models, including on pancreatic, breast, colon and prostate cancers.

Other Benefits

In addition to the plant extract’s potential benefits for cancer treatment, it’s been used for thousands of years for other health conditions, including the following:

1. Used to Treat Malaria

Artemisinin has proven to exert antimalarial effects, which are due to its free radical scavenging properties. The herbal drug reacts with the high levels of iron in the parasite and produces free radicals, which destroys the cell walls of the malaria.

It has even proven to be effective against highly drug-resistant strains of the disease.

2. Reduces Inflammation

The use of artemisinin against inflammatory-driver respiratory disorders has been investigated, and reports show that they attenuate inflammation by regulating pro-inflammatory cytokines.

There’s evidence highlighting artemisinin’s effects against inflammatory conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease and osteoarthritis.

3. Has Antimicrobial and Antiviral Effects

The secondary metabolites in Artemisia annua, including monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes and phenolic compounds, exhibit antimicrobial effects.

There’s also recent research suggesting that A. annua extracts inhibit viral infections and can serve as a cost-effective therapeutic for fighting viruses.

Although more research is needed, there are reports indicating that artemisinin may have the following benefits as well:

• Reduces cholesterol
• Controls seizures
• Fights obesity
• Fights diabetes

Risks and Side Effects

Research suggests that artemisinin is generally well-tolerated, but some people may experience side effects, including:

• nausea
• vomiting
• skin rash
• vertigo
• ringing in the ears
• digestive complaints
• tremors
• liver damage

It should not be combined with certain medications. People with gastrointestinal disorders or ulcers should not take artemisinin or use products derived from A. annua. It should not be taken with anti-seizure medications, either.

Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should not use sweet wormwood unless doing so under the care of a health care provider.

Supplements and Dosage

Artemisinin supplements are available in many forms and can be used orally, intravenously or rectally. The sweet wormwood plant is also used to make teas, juices and extracts, which is used traditionally to treat malaria and reduce inflammation.

The People’s Republic of China lists the daily dose of Artemisia annua for fever and malaria as 4.5 to nine grams of dried herb prepared as an infusion. This is the preparation that’s been used for clinical trials.

For readymade supplements, doses vary depending on what it’s being used for.

A specific dosage for optimal efficacy has not yet been established, but taking 400–800 milligrams daily is often recommended for reducing inflammation, fighting fever and malaria, and combating infections. This dose range has shown to be safe for six to 12 months, with no apparent artemisinin side effects.

Conclusion

• Artemisia annua is a plant that has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years for the treatment of fever, inflammation and infections. Artemisinin, one of the main constituents in the plant, is used in combination therapies for the treatment of malaria, and recent research indicates that it’s a useful tool for cancer treatment as well.
• Artemisinin supplements can be taken orally, intravenously and rectally in a clinical setting, under the care of a doctor. It’s known to be well-tolerated, but artemisinin side effects are possible and can include nausea, dizziness, skin rash, digestive issues and tremors.

The post Artemisinin for Malaria, Viral Infections and Cancer Prevention appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Pancreatic cancer is considered to be one of the most deadly of all cancers. (Only one in 10 diagnosed with this condition survives for five+ years.) Not only is it very difficult to treat, but it’s hard to screen for and to detect in its early stages.

Although pancreatic cancer is a relatively rare type of cancer compared to others, such as skin or breast cancer, it’s expected to remain one of the most lethal cancers in the decades to come. This is why researchers are determined to find more early warning signs in hopes of stopping this type of cancer from progressing.

In 2022, a study uncovered an association between type 2 diabetes and pancreatic cancer. Type 2 diabetes affects more than 37 million Americans (about one in 10).

How are the two connected? Let’s find out below.

Study: Diabetes an Early Warning Sign of Pancreatic Cancer

It’s been known for tears that pancreatitis and diabetes are both risk factors for pancreatic cancer. In addition, researchers have recently learned that pancreatic attacks among diabetics seem to be even riskier.

A 2020 study conducted at the University of Auckland School of Medicine in New Zealand followed 139,000 people for 18 years. Participants involved in the study either had type 2 diabetes or pancreatitis (an inflammation of the pancreas) or both conditions at the same time.

Findings from the study showed that adults who developed diabetes after an attack of pancreatitis were seven times more likely to get pancreatic cancer compared to adults with type 2 diabetes who did not develop diabetes after pancreatitis.

Another study conducted in 2008 uncovered that people who are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are between six and eight times more likely to be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer within three years of their diagnosis compared to the general public.

Why is pancreatic cancer more prevalent in diabetics?

Diabetes affects the pancreas, which is a small organ tucked in the upper abdomen behind the stomach. The pancreas contains specialized cells that produce insulin, a hormone that regulates blood sugar (glucose) levels.

While there’s still more to learn about the link between type 2 diabetes and pancreatic cancer, scientists now believe type 2 diabetes may develop in some people who have cancer “hidden” in the pancreas. In other words, dysfunction of the pancreas due to cancer may trigger changes in insulin production and diabetes.

Diabetes and pancreas issues also share many of the same risk factors, such as heavy alcohol consumption, smoking, a poor diet and obesity.

Recently, researchers have also identified a gene, called UCP-1, that seems to help predict whether someone with diabetes will develop pancreatic cancer.

Other Signs and Symptoms to Look Out For

Type 2 diabetes can cause a range of symptoms that usually develop over the course of several years. While the condition is worsening, many people are unaware that they have diabetes and therefore fail to get diagnosed or treated.

If you’ve developed type 2 diabetes or prediabetes (higher than normal blood sugar level), which occurs before type 2 diabetes, you may not have any symptoms at all, or you may experience some.

Type 2 diabetes symptoms can include:

• Weight changes
• Changes in appetite
• Increased thirst
• Frequent urination
• Fatigue
• Blurred vision
• Poor wound healing

While type 2 diabetes is a serious health condition that can sometimes be life-threatening, it’s not as deadly as pancreatic cancer in most cases.

Pancreatic cancer is often “silent but deadly” because it doesn’t tend to cause symptoms until it progresses. When it is detected at an early stage it’s usually because someone had an unrelated abdominal scan or surgery done, and then the cancer was found.

Anther tricky thing about pancreatic cancer symptoms is that they’re commonly “nonspecific,” meaning they can be attributed to other conditions.

While they’re not always obvious, signs and symptoms of pancreatic cancer — which can start developing 18 to 36 months before diagnosis, can include:

• Stomach pains/abdominal discomfort
• Constipation
• Weight loss
• Fatigue
• Muscle loss and weakness
• Changes in blood lipids (cholesterol and triglycerides)
• Increased body temperature

If you have chronic pancreatitis — which can create scar tissue and make it difficult to produce insulin properly and absorb nutrients — you’ll likely have some symptoms. Chronic pancreatitis symptoms, which is a big risk factor for pancreatic cancer, include:

• Nausea and/or vomiting
• Weight loss
• Diarrhea
• Digestive upset
• Oily or fatty foul-smelling stools that float
• Clay-colored or pale stools
• Deep abdominal pain and tenderness that radiates to the back
• Glucose intolerance

How to Lower Risk of Diabetes and Pancreatic Cancer

To help protect yourself from pancreatitis, pancreatic dysfunction, diabetes and potentially cancer, experts recommend these lifestyle changes (even if you already take insulin or other diabetes medications):

• Eat a healthy diet from as young an age as possible. A pancreatitis diet and one that protects against diabetes emphasizes whole, unprocessed foods with lots of antioxidants, fiber, vitamins and minerals (think: veggies, fruits, herbs, fish, whole grains, olive oil, etc.).
• Limit or avoid processed foods with added sugar, refined grains and poor-quality oils/fats.
• Maintain a healthy BMI, since obesity interferes with metabolic health and insulin sensitivity. This is very important for reversing diabetes naturally.
• Stay active, since exercise helps promote insulin sensitivity and can help protect against obesity.
• Quit smoking and using tobacco. (Smoking doubles the risk of many forms of cancer.)
• Avoid excess alcohol consumption, which can cause inflammation of the pancreas and other organs.
• Protect yourself against workplace/environmental exposure to certain chemicals, like those used in dry cleaning and metal work industries.
• Keep up with regular doctors’ visits and exams, especially as you age. About two-thirds of pancreatic cancer cases occur in those 65 and older. If you have a family history of cancer or inherited genetic mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, be sure to mention this to your doctor.

When visiting your doctor for annual exams, discuss whether your blood glucose level has been rising, especially if it’s happening rapidly and is difficult to control. If you’ve recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and are starting medication, be on the look out for warning signs of pancreatic-related issues.

Conclusion

• What is the relationship between pancreatic cancer and diabetes? Both of these conditions affect the pancreas (an organ that produces the hormone insulin, which regulates blood sugar levels).
• A recent study found that pancreatitis significantly increases the risk of pancreatic cancer in individuals with type 2 diabetes.
• It’s speculated that some people may develop diabetes after pancreatitis attack (inflammation of the organ) because they actually have hidden cancer growing in the pancreas.
• To help limit your risk for both diseases, eat an anti-inflammatory diet, maintain a normal BMI, exercise, quit smoking and drinking lots of alcohol, and discuss your family history and genetic susceptibility with your doctor.

The post The Connection Between Diabetes and Pancreatic Cancer appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Just last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lowered the recommended age for colorectal cancer screening from 50 to 45. The CDC did this after years of research and analysis determined that colorectal cancer rates have been increasing among young people both in the United States and across the globe.

Unfortunately, these trends don’t appear to be going in the opposite direction anytime soon. In fact, a new peer-reviewed study found that, even more alarmingly, late-stage colon cancer is on the rise in young adults.

Study: Late-Stage Colon Cancer in Young Adults on the Rise

The study, “Shifts in the Proportion of Distant Stage Early-Onset Colorectal Adenocarcinoma in the United States,” was published in the February 2022 edition of the American Association for Cancer Research’s Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention journal. For the study, researchers from New Orleans, New York and Colorado analyzed 2000–2016 Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results data among 103,975 patients with adenocarcinoma, an aggressive form of cancer that usually is not diagnosed until it reaches later stages.

The study authors compared results from 2000–2002 to results from 2014–2016 among four age subsets: 20–29, 30–39, 40–49 and 50–54-year-olds. They also made determinations on colon-only adenocarcinoma, rectal-only adenocarcinoma and colorectal adenocarcinoma (both colon and rectal cancer).

Here is what they found:

• Colon-only, distant (late-stage spread) adenocarcinoma increased 49% in 30–39-year-olds.
• Rectal-only, distant cancer increased 133% in 20–29-year-olds, 97% in 30–39-year-olds and 48% in 40–49-year-olds.
• In addition, colorectal cancer distant-stage proportions saw the largest increases in 20–29-year-olds.

They also found rates increased more in Black and Hispanic patients.

The researchers ultimately concluded:

Youngest patients show greatest burdens of distant colorectal adenocarcinoma. Although affecting all races, burdens are higher in NHB and Hispanic subgroups, although case counts remain relatively low.

Optimizing earlier screening initiatives and risk-stratifying younger patients by symptoms and family history are critical to counteract rising distant stage disease.

This analysis did not look at the causes or reasons why colon cancer in young adults and all adults is rising, but we know genetics and lifestyle factors play a role. Some common causes and risk factors for colorectal cancer include:

• obesity
• consumption of processed meats
• low levels of physical activity
• fiber deficiency

How to Help Prevent Colorectal Cancer

As the study suggests, it’s imperative that anyone who notices potential colon cancer symptoms — including abdominal pain, cramping, bloating, discomfort, changes in bowel habits and stool consistency, bloody stool, weakness, fatigue, changes in appetite, etc. — should see a doctor and get a colorectal cancer screening. In addition, once you turn 45, the CDC recommends getting a colonoscopy every 10 years, and high-risk patients may need screening at a younger age and more frequent testing.

Of course, doing everything you can to decrease your risk and help prevent colon cancer is your best bet. Here are some natural ways to help stave off colon and rectal cancers and hopefully help reverse the trend of colon cancer in young adults rising:

• Eat more fiber- and antioxidant-rich foods.
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Move your body through exercise and activity, and avoid a sedentary lifestyle.
• Drink less alcohol, and don’t smoke.
• Treat underlining gut issues.
• Eat a healthy, anti-inflammatory diet, and avoid processed, cancer-causing foods.
• Keep your doctor up to date and informed on your own medical history and your family’s medical history, particularly a history of cancer.

Conclusion

• A new study found that late-stage colon cancer in young adults is on the rise.
• By comparing available data on adenocarcinoma patients across 16 years, researchers found large increases in rates among patients aged 20–54. The largest increases came in 20–29-year-olds, and rates also appeared to increase more among Black and Hispanic patients.
• Genetics and lifestyle factors, including obesity, poor diet, lack of exercise and low fiber intake, play a role in colorectal cancer.
• The CDC recommends every adult should be screened for colon cancer starting at age 45.
• In addition, eating a healthier diet, watching your weight, exercising and treating underlining health issues can help lower your risk for colorectal and several other forms of cancer.

The post Analysis: Late-Stage Colon Cancer on Rise in Young Adults appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Scientists have identified a common chemical linked to early death, and the downside is that (at least in America) it’s still legally found in thousands of products — some of which may be right under your feet.

Researchers from NYU Langone investigated phthalates, plasticizing chemicals used in everything from vinyl flooring, siding and shower curtains to food wraps, food packaging and cosmetics. The findings suggest a huge toll on not only human health and survival, but the economy, as well. Phthalates may cause up to 100,000 premature deaths a year in older American adults, along with $40 to $47 billion in lost productivity.

As the study lays out, previous research already linked exposure to phthalates to all sorts of health problems, including:

• Breast and thyroid cancers
• Premature birth
• Gestational diabetes
• Childhood and adult obesity
• Adult diabetes
• Endometriosis
• Infertility

One prominent discovery in the most recent research involves the connection between high phthalate levels in urine and higher risk of death due to cardiovascular disease. (The link was even more pronounced in men.)

“Our findings reveal that increased phthalate exposure is linked to early death, particularly due to heart disease,” says study lead author Leonardo Trasande, MD. “Until now, we have understood that the chemicals connect to heart disease, and heart disease in turn is a leading cause of death, but we had not yet tied the chemicals themselves to death.”

And although this type of study doesn’t provide direct “cause-and-effect” evidence, the team says it plans on further studying the specific biological mechanism that could underline phthalates’ contribution to shortening lives. In particular, researchers will look at the role phthalates may play in hormone regulation and inflammation.

Chemical Linked to Early Death

Phthalates are known as one of the “Dirty Dozen” endocrine disruptors, and are also categorized as obesogens for their obesity-promoting characteristics. In this most recent study, “high-molecular weight” phthalates, like di-2-ethylhexylphthalate (DEHP) were most closely linked to premature death among 55 to 64 year olds.

DEHP is found in medical equipment like IVs and ventilators, but it’s also used in some plastic food packaging and in vinyl products, including flooring and siding. DEHP is often used in tubing for dairy and many other food processing applications. Because of its broad use, breakdown metabolites are found in most Americans.

The main route of exposure is likely ingestion through food contact, and as consumer products break down. Low-income communities, and/or communities with high populations of black and brown residents, are particularly at risk. Not only do they face exposure through food and products, but the actual PVC plants manufacturing vinyl are often located in these neighborhoods.

Landfills are another hotspot for DEHP contamination. DEHP has even been detected in tomatoes grown with biosolids, the “sewage sludge” left over in wastewater treatment plants that non-organic farmers are allowed to use to grow our food. Phthalates are even detected at levels 200+ times above the legal limit in dollar store toys.

“Our research suggests that the toll of this chemical on society is much greater than we first thought,” says Dr. Trasande, who also serves as director of NYU Langone’s Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards. “The evidence is undeniably clear that limiting exposure to toxic phthalates can help safeguard Americans’ physical and financial wellbeing.”

How to Protect Yourself

It is virtually impossible to completely protect yourself from phthalates because they are so widespread. In fact, authors of this study say: “Regulatory action is urgently needed to reduce these preventable exposures.”

Other things you can do:

• Avoid vinyl/PVC products as much as possible.
• Avoid synthetically scented personal care products, candles and air fresheners that contain other types of phthalates  connected to health problems.
• Opt for unscented laundry detergent, cleaning products and personal care products. Nix perfume and cologne.
• Call your federal representatives and senators and tell them to support meaningful chemical regulation laws.
• Stand up in solidarity for communities and help them reject PVC plants, landfills and other toxic industrial invasions that threaten the health of our most vulnerable.
• Avoid eating take-out and at restaurants as much as possible.  On average, people who are eating food prepared outside of the home have nearly 35 percent higher levels of phthalates circulating in their bodies compared to people who eat food prepared at home.
• Avoid store food in and eating from plastics, particularly plastics No. 3, 6 and 7.
• Avoid washing plastics in dishwashers and heating food in plastics in the microwave.
• Opt for fresh or frozen foods as much as possible, and shy away from overpackaged, over processed foods.

Final Thoughts

• A first-of-its-kind study links certain phthalates to 100,000 premature deaths in America a year.
• Phthalates are chemicals that make plastics soft and flexible. The type of phthalate linked to early deaths and heart disease in this study is known as DEHP, and it’s used in vinyl/PVC production.
• DEHP is commonly used in medical equipment like IVs. It’s also used in food processing tubing and other equipment, along with food packaging materials.
• This new study estimates that phthalates could be linked to up to $47 billion in lost wages in the U.S. annually, due to premature deaths.
• All-cause mortality was linked to phthalates, but the link was especially strong for heart disease-related deaths.
• Phthalates are widespread and detected in most Americans. Researchers and consumer safety groups suggest the only way to truly protect citizens is for strong regulatory action.

The post ‘Everyday’ Chemical Linked to Early Death, Costs U.S. Billions appeared first on Dr. Axe.

In more bad news for the sunscreen industry (and consumers trying to find the best sunscreens), scientists are asking the Food and Drug Administration to pull more than 2,000 products off the market due to contamination threats from a possible human carcinogen.

A petition filed with the FDA on Aug. 5 urged the agency to remove all sunscreens containing the ingredient octocrylene from commerce, citing the ingredient’s tendency to break down into a harmful, potentially carcinogenic ingredient called benzophenone.

Benzophenone was patented as a weed-killing chemical in 1954 by Monsanto.

The petition filers, Joe DiNardo, a toxicologist with a backgrounding in the cosmetics industry, and Craig Downs, PhD, executive directory of Haereticus Environmental Laboratory in Virginia, cited research showing that even under normal temperatures (and also in high temperatures), the common sunscreen ingredient octocrylene degrades into problematic benzophenone.

The World Health Organization classifies benzophenone as a possible carcinogen.

Despite its widespread occurrence in sunscreen, the petition notes that FDA has a “zero tolerance” policy for this contaminant in other areas of contact, such as food additives and food containers.

This is the latest blow to sunscreen makers and comes less than a month after Johnson & Johnson issued a voluntary sunscreen recall due to carcinogenic benzene contamination in its Neutrogena and Aveeno spray sunscreen product lines.

This new petition’s call for removing any sunscreens containing the octocrylene ingredient is also far-reaching, impacting big brands like Coppertone, Banana Boat and more.

Sunscreen News Brings New Worries

In fact, FDA’s own previous testing found that octocrylene easily absorbs through human skin and can remain in the bloodstream for days after application. Other research suggests up to 70 percent of the ingredient can be absorbed through the skin. Its use is linked to skin allergies, aquatic toxicity and the potential for endocrine disruption. In a review of the scientific evidence published this Spring, the European Commission noted that contamination with benzophenone should be monitored and limited to trace levels.

“It is critical that sunscreen products sold to the public should reduce the risk of UV damage and skin cancer without causing harm themselves,” says David Andrews, PhD, senior scientist at Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit that has been closely following the science on sunscreen safety and efficacy for more than a decade. “There are numerous ingredients and contaminants that may be present in sunscreen that have shown the potential for harm. The FDA should ensure that there is adequate safety data supporting the use of all sunscreen ingredients on the market, and it should set health protective limits on contaminants such as benzene and benzophenone.”

Safer Sunscreen on the Horizon?

Andrews explains that the FDA is expected to propose sunscreen rules this Fall as required by the CARES Act signed into law earlier this year. “The FDA has not made any public statements on what to expect in the final rule, but in 2019 they proposed a number of significant changes with respect to required UVA protection and sunscreen safety testing,” he says.

According to EWG’s Guide to Sunscreen database, the majority of top-scoring products use zinc oxide as the active ingredient for UV protection.

But many public health experts have been cautioning for years that sunscreen should not be your only defense against excessive sun exposure.

To better protect yourself from overexposure and potentially dangerous sunscreen ingredients:

• Play outside in the sun during the early morning or late afternoon hours, when the sun is less intense.
• Find or make shade.
• Opt for sun-protective clothing, including wide-brimmed hats.
• Wear sunglasses.
• Check the UV index and avoid direct sun during the highest index days.
• Completely avoid spray/aerosol sunscreens and sunscreens mixed with insect repellant.
• Choose safer sunscreens.

The post More Concerning Sunscreen News: Potential Carcinogen Could Lurk in 2,000+ Products appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Johnson & Johnson issued a voluntary sunscreen recall after benzene, a known carcinogen, was detected in 14 different spray sunscreen products.

The recall only involves aerosol products, a type of sunscreen that DrAxe.com and many public health advocates have been urging people to avoid for years for a host of different reasons.

Sunscreen Recall Details

Johnson & Johnson’s July 2021 spray sunscreen recall includes 14 products in the following five sunscreen lines. All SPFs and sizes of the following lines are impacted across the United States.

Consumers are urged to stop using these sunscreens immediately:

• Neutrogena Beach Defense aerosol sunscreen
• Neutrogena Cool Dry Sport aerosol sunscreen
• Neutrogena Invisible Daily defense aerosol sunscreen
• Neutrogena Ultra Sheer aerosol sunscreen
• Aveeno Protect + Refresh aerosol sunscreen

According to Johnson & Johnson, benzene is never used in any of its sunscreen products, and the company is actively investigating the cause of the contamination issue.

Even before this voluntary, in-house batch testing, the sunscreen industry was feeling the heat. In May, Valisure, an independent laboratory, tested 300 popular sunscreen and after-sun products and found that 27% contained concerning levels of benzene. (These 222 products did not contain benzene, according to Valisure records, although some could contain other harmful ingredients like oxybenzone, fragrances and more.)

“The FDA should set and enforce standards for chemical contaminants in everyday products like sunscreen so that consumers don’t need to rely on independent testing from labs like Valisure,” says David Andres, Ph.D., senior scientist at Environmental Working Group (EWG).

The results of the Valisure testing in earlier this year prompted a petition urging the FDA to take stronger regulatory action to protect consumers from this known carcinogen. The petition lists sunscreen samples that contained benzene.

‘Out of an Abundance of Caution’

Long-term exposure to high levels of benzene can cause leukemia or other cancers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Still, Johnson & Johnson states that the levels recently detected in some of its sunscreen products aren’t expected to cause negative health impacts.

“Daily exposure to benzene in these aerosol sunscreen products at the levels detected in our testing would not be expected to cause adverse health consequences,” Johnson & Johnson said in its statement Wednesday. “Out of an abundance of caution, we are recalling all lots of these specific aerosol sunscreen products.”

While levels may be low, public health experts say there is no safe level of exposure when it comes to benzene, particularly for children. Benzene can trigger DNA mutations that can set off health issues that won’t show up for years after exposure in some cases.

Benzene is widely used in the United States and ranks in the top 20 percent of chemical production volume. Industries use benzene to create the following products:

• Plastics, including nylon and synthetic fibers
• Dyes
• Detergents
• Pharmaceuticals
• Pesticides

Benzene also turns up in:

• Oil
• Gas
• Cigarette smoke

Problems Plague Spray Sunscreens

There are other problems when it comes to spray sunscreens, too. Proper sunscreen coverage is challenging, since aerosol sunscreen distributes unevenly on the skin. This often gives people the sense of false protection.

It can also lodge deep into the lungs, and we don’t fully understand how this impacts human health yet, although scientists are actively researching this.

To opt for the best sunscreens, look for products scored 0 to 2 on on EWG’s annual sunscreen safety report. (The lower the score, the safer the ingredient formulation.)

Here are some recommended sunscreens with safer safety profiles, according to EWG:

• Badger Kids Broad Spectrum Natural Mineral Sunscreen Cream, SPF 40
• Badger Sunscreen Cream, Unscented, SPF 30
• Coppertone Defend & Care Face Sunscreen Lotion, Oil Free, SPF 30
• Neutrogena Clear Body Breakout Free Oil-Free Sunscreen Lotion, SPF 30
• thinksport Everyday Face Mineral Sunscreen Lotion, Naturally Tinted, SPF 30+
• Waxhead Sun Defense Skin Nourishing Sunscreen Lotion, SPF 30

Conclusion

• Johnson & Johnson issued a voluntary sunscreen spray recall involving 14 products in five product lines.
• The impacted product lines includes Neutrogena and Aveeno aerosol sunscreen sprays.
• Earlier in the year, independent lab testing found widespread benzene contamination in 27 percent of popular sunscreen and after-sun products tested.
• In general, avoid spray sunscreens. They contain chemicals that could lodge deep into your lungs and offer inferior protection due to coverage issues, according to EWG.
• Use EWG’s Guide to Sunscreens database to look for safer sunscreen options.

The post Sunscreen Recall Targets 14 Popular Sunscreens Tainted with Known Carcinogen appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Turns out America’s drinking water woes expand far beyond lead. A class of common chemicals used in everything from nonstick pans and stain-treated carpets, clothing and furniture to fast-food packaging is a source of widespread contamination in certain pockets of the United States. Could you be drinking water harboring PFAS contamination?

According to a 2020 report by Environmental Working Group (EWG), tap water sampling from 44 places in 31 states turned up PFAS contamination. Contamination turned up on large metropolitan areas like Miami, New Orleans, Philadelphia and New York City suburbs. Based on the tap water findings, and the news that PFAS is even turning up in rainwater, analysts from EWG believe virtually everyone is being exposed to this chemical linked to thyroid disruption and cancer.

Only one testing site, where people get their water from 700-foot wells in a Mississippi town, came up clean in testing. Despite widespread contamination across the United States, this chemical isn’t commonly tested for in drinking water because PFAS chemicals are not regulated in a way that requires widespread testing and disclosure.

And leaked FDA documents that were presented at a scientific conference in Helsinki, Finland, show that PFAS have been detected in dairy products, poultry, red meat, fish, leafy greens and store-bought chocolate cake. In fact, the PFAS levels were double or more the current federal advisory level!

Thankfully, Congress is taking action. Representatives Debbie Dingell (D) and Fred Upton (R), both from Michigan, recently introduced comprehensive, bipartisan legislation to protect all Americans from the PFAS.

The PFAS Action Act of 2021 creates a national drinking water standard for select PFAS chemicals, designates PFAS as hazardous substances to allow the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up contaminated sites, limits industrial discharges and provides $200 million annually to assist water utilities and wastewater treatment facilities.

“It’s time that these chemicals are properly addressed to protect the American people from the hazardous substances we know these forever chemicals are,” Dingell said. “Setting drinking water standards and designating PFAS as hazardous substances under the EPA’s Superfund program will accelerate the clean-up process in communities and at military facilities all across this nation.”

Details of the PFAS Action Act of 2021

The PFAS Action Act would:

• Require the EPA to establish a national drinking water standard for PFOA and PFOS within two years that protects public health, including the health of vulnerable subpopulations
• Designate PFOA and PFOS chemicals as hazardous substances within one year and require the EPA to determine whether to list other PFAS within five years
• Designate PFOA and PFOS as hazardous air pollutants within 180 days and require the EPA to determine whether to list other PFAS within five years
• Require the EPA to place discharge limits on industrial releases of PFAS and provide $200 million annually for wastewater treatment
• Prohibit unsafe incineration of PFAS wastes and place a moratorium on the introduction of new PFAS into commerce
• Require comprehensive PFAS health testing
• Create a voluntary label for PFAS in cookware

“We need deadlines to ensure that the EPA will take the steps need to reduce PFAS releases into our air, land and water, to filter PFAS out of tap water and to clean up legacy PFAS pollution, especially near Department of Defense facilities,” said Faber. “We applaud Reps. Dingell and Upton for continuing to make PFAS pollution a priority.”

PFAS chemicals are man-made chemicals that have so far been found in the drinking water of more than 2,000 communities. They are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic. These chemicals have been linked to harmful human health effects, including cancer, reproductive and developmental harms, and weakened immune systems.

In January 2020, the House passed the PFAS Action Act by a vote of 247 to 159. Is your representative on the list?

• Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.)
• Fred Upton (R-Mich.)
• Dan Kildee (D-Mich.)
• Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.)
• Haley Stevens (D-Mich.)
• Bill Posey (R-Fla.)
• Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.)
• David Rouzer (R-N.C.)
• Jamie Raskin (D-Md.)
• Chris Pappas (D-N.H.)
• Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.)
• Ann McLane Kuster (D-N.H.)
• Gwen Moore (D-Wis.)
• Andy Levin (D-Mich.)
• Peter Welch (D-Vt.)
• Ron Kind (D-Wis.)
• Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.)
• Chellie Pingree, (D-Maine)
• Lori Trahan (D-Mass.)
• Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.)
• Jesús G. “Chuy” García (D-Ill.)
• Andy Kim (D-N.J.)
• Ro Khanna (D-Calif.)
• Brendan F. Boyle (D-Pa.)
• Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.)
• Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fl.)

PFAS Contamination Findings

You know that chocolate cake with icing that you grab from the grocery store? Well the PFAS detected in one sample were more than 250 times higher than the federal guidelines for drinking water, according to the Associated Press.

In response to these findings, an FDA spokesperson said that the agency thought the contamination was “not likely to be a human health concern, despite the fact that the tests exceeded the existing federal recommendations for PFAS levels.

So why is all of this information problematic? PFASs, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of chemicals found in common household items like nonstick products; they’re also used extensively in the military. Concerns of major PFAS health risks continue to mount, with a 2018 review by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealing the health effects associated with PFAS exposure include cancer, liver damage, decreased fertility,  pregnancy-induced hypertension and an increased risk of thyroid disease and asthma.

This is a problem that may be affecting you at this very moment. According to the EWG, an estimated 99 percent of American currently have some degree of PFAS contamination. Can that really be possible? The American Cancer Society website states, “Studies have found that it is present worldwide at very low levels in just about everyone’s blood. Higher blood levels have been found in community residents where local water supplies have been contaminated by PFOA. People exposed to PFOA in the workplace can have levels many times higher.”

What Is PFAS?

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances known as PFAS are also referred to as “forever chemicals” because they remain in our soil and water — and our bodies — for a long time. This family of man-made chemicals is used in all kinds of products and industrial applications to make surfaces resistant to water, lipids and stains. Nonstick cookware is one of the best household examples of PFAS usage. But widespread contamination is also blamed on plants that manufacture these chemicals and the widespread use of the chemical in firefighting foams.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), PFAS can be found in:

• Food packaged in PFAS-containing materials, processed with equipment that used PFAS or grown in PFAS-contaminated soil or water
• Commercial household products, including stain- and water-repellent fabrics, nonstick products (for example, Teflon), polishes, waxes, paints, cleaning products and firefighting foams (a major source of groundwater contamination at airports and military bases where firefighting training occurs)
• Workplace, including production facilities or industries (for example, chrome plating, electronics manufacturing or oil recovery) that use PFAS
• Drinking water, typically localized and associated with a specific facility (for example, manufacturers, landfills, wastewater treatment plants, firefighter training facilities)
• Living organisms, including fish, animals and humans, where PFAS chemicals have the ability to build up and persist over time

The Toxic History of PFAS

It all started in 1946 when a company named DuPont provided consumers with a new line of Teflon® nonstick cookware. Teflon® is a brand name for a man-made chemical known as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is another man-made chemical used to make Teflon. PFOA is a type of PFAS.

This cookware, while innovative at the time, has lead to the environment, animals and human beings experiencing PFAS contamination. The problem is that companies using PFAS in their manufacturing have factories known to pollute the water and air around them with these toxic chemicals.

This is yet another example of lax U.S. laws that allow chemicals into widespread use before being tested for long-term impacts on human health.

Fast forward to 2001 when a Teflon plant caused widespread PFAS contamination to drinking water in West Virginia. More and more examples of PFAS contamination in the environment, as well as in humans beings, continue to arise.

Stories like these lead to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to form the PFOA Stewardship Program in 2006, given the major concerns of PFAS detection in drinking water and the U.S. population. To make matters worse, the agency realized that these chemicals weren’t going away anytime soon due to their persistence in the environment as well as their long half-life in people.

The EPA asked eight top companies in the PFASs industry to agree to a reduction in PFOA facility emissions and product content by 95 percent no later than 2010, and to also work toward complete elimination of PFOA from emissions and product content no later than 2015. The participating companies included Arkema, Asahi, BASF Corporation (successor to Ciba), Clariant, Daikin, 3M/Dyneon, DuPont, and Solvay Solexis.

Another historical source of PFAS is military airports using aqueous film forming foams (AFFFs) which combine fluoro- and hydrocarbon-surfactant technologies to put out fires. AFFFs are also called firefighting foams. Military bases, civilian airports and firefighter training sites are also known for using this foam.

So where are we at today? According to the EPA, “Certain PFAS chemicals are no longer manufactured in the United States as a result of phase outs including the PFOA Stewardship Program in which eight major chemical manufacturers agreed to eliminate the use of PFOA and PFOA-related chemicals in their products and as emissions from their facilities. Although PFOA and PFOS are no longer manufactured in the United States, they are still produced internationally and can be imported into the United States in consumer goods such as carpet, leather and apparel, textiles, paper and packaging, coatings, rubber and plastics.”

Why is there such concern over PFAS contamination? As time goes on, studies continue to unveil the dangerous possible side effects of PFASs. According to the CDC, some, but not all, studies in humans with PFAS exposure have shown that certain types of PFASs may:

• Affect growth, learning, and behavior of infants and older children
• Lower a woman’s chance of getting pregnant
• Interfere with the body’s natural hormones
• Increase cholesterol levels
• Affect the immune system
• Increase the risk of cancer

Mapping It Out

You’re probably wondering if the town you live in is being affected by PFAS contamination. An interactive map created by the EWG is now said to be “the most comprehensive resource available to track PFAS pollution in the United States.”

If you look at the map, right away you’ll likely notice that certain areas actually contain clusters of water systems that tested positive for PFOS, PFOA or another contaminant. States with notable clusters include California, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Colorado, New York and North Carolina.

Check out the EWG Interactive Map: PFAS Contamination In the U.S. to see more information about where you live and to spread this link around so more people can be aware of possible contamination in their area.

Government’s Past Actions

As mentioned earlier, the EPA started its PFOA Stewardship Program in 2006. In 2012, the EPA added PFOA and five other PFCs to the list of contaminants to be monitored in a selection of public water systems around the United Stated. This data is reported to the EPA under the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule 3 (UCMR3) and is publicly available. In fact, this public information is actually how some people found out about PFSA contamination in their water supplies.

In 2016, the EPA issued a non-regulatory lifetime Health Advisory (HA) of 70 parts per trillion (ppt) for individual and combined PFOA and PFOS in drinking water. A lifetime Health Advisory refers to a concentration that is not expected to cause adverse health effects over a lifetime of consistent daily exposure at that level.

Currently, the EPA does not have a national or legally enforceable limit for PFAS chemicals in drinking water. Some states have taken matters into their own hands. A few states initiated their own standards of acceptable PFAS levels, with the strictest being Vermont at 20 ppt.

Another example of states making an effort to improve the problem is New Jersey. In April 2019, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, for example, officially proposed safe drinking water standards (also referred to as maximum contaminant levels or MCLs) for PFOA and PFOS.

Here are EWG’s “Health-Based Standards” for PFAS:

• PFAS in drinking water: 1 ppt as the total concentration for the sum of all PFAS
• PFAS in groundwater and cleanup of contaminated sites: 1 ppt as the total concentration for the sum of all PFAS

In February 2019, EPA released its Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Action Plan. According to this plan, “Where deemed appropriate and necessary, the EPA will prioritize preventing environmental contamination and identifying approaches that reduce the costs of PFAS management faced by local communities.” The plan also says that in 2019, the EPA will invite the public to comment on its efforts to date, including “recommending additional information the Agency should consider in its regulatory determination.”

PFAS vs. PFOA vs. PFOS

All these acronyms with similar letters can get a bit confusing. What are PFOA, PFOS and PFAS? Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) are fluorinated compounds that fall under the larger umbrella of compounds known as perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

In other words, PFAS are a group of man-made chemicals that include PFOA and PFOS. (A new chemical known as GenX and many other chemicals also fall under the category of PFAS.) PFOA and PFOS are the most commonly found and most studied PFAS chemicals.

Both of these PFAS have been voluntarily phased out by the industries that previously used them for their ability to repel both water and oil.  Before they were phased out, PFOA and PFOS were both commonly added to products to make them non-stick, waterproof or resistant to stains.

Although companies stopped using them years ago, PFAS contamination continues to be a major concern all over the United States, since companies who used PFASs like PFOS and PFOA contaminated the soil, water and air around their factories well into the 1970s. A scientific review published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology found: “The global historical industry-wide emissions of total PFCAs from direct (manufacture, use, consumer products) and indirect (PFCA impurities and/or precursors) sources were estimated to be 3200−7300 [metric tons].”

The worrisome part? It only takes tiny exposures to trigger possible health impacts.

PFAS contamination persists in the environment and our bodies today. The EPA reveals: “In the environment, some PFAS break down slowly, if at all, allowing bioaccumulation (concentration) to occur in humans and wildlife. Some have been found to be toxic to laboratory animals, producing reproductive, developmental, and systemic effects in laboratory tests.” According to the EPA, PFOA has specifically been linked with cancer while PFOS has been associated with thyroid hormone disruption.

Levels in Water vs. Our Bodies

We now know that PFAS contamination is an issue for our waterways, drinking water, soil, air, animals and human beings. According to the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, PFAS chemicals are even detected in polar bears in the Arctic.

According to a scientific review published in 2017, when it comes to PFAS exposure through drinking water, “children can have the highest exposures due to their higher intake on a body weight basis. In order to protect populations from PFAS exposure from drinking water intake, drinking water and drinking water sources should be monitored nationwide. Contamination occurs often at certain hot-spots and in the past these hotspots have mostly been discovered by chance.”

Another scientific article published in 2017 reveals that “empirical observations and toxicokinetic models consistently demonstrate that serum PFOA levels in adults increase on average by more than 100 times the drinking water concentration.” So in other words, drinking water with PFAS contamination may result in humans having an even higher level of PFAS in their bodies than the source of the toxic pollution (drinking water)!

What You Can Do About PFAS Contamination

To avoid PFAS on a personal level, steer clear of products that contain PFAS including:

• Contact your federal representative and demand they support The PFAS Action Act of 2021
• Non-stick cookware
• Food packaging, including microwave popcorn bags and fast food wrappers
• Stain-resistant carpets and furniture
• Outdoor gear with a “durable water repellent” coating

Instead of non-stick cookware, consider healthier nontoxic options of cookware. You may also want to consider avoiding fabrics treated with nonstick chemicals including Teflon, Scotchgard, Stainmaster, Polartec, and Gore-tex.

You can have your water tested for PFAS by a private company. You can also take a look at the EPA’s Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR) Data and U.S. State Resources about PFAS.

If you have PFAS contamination in your drinking water, there are some things you can do to help yourself. For starters, you can use certain types of water filters. Both granular activated carbon (GAC) and reverse osmosis (RO) filters are known to decrease PFAS substances. Both systems are known to help, but it’s important to note that they provide less water flow than a standard water faucet. The state of Michigan (which currently has water contamination issues) provides information comparing a GAC system vs a RO system.

You can visit Congress.gov to receive alerts regarding this bill. For more information on how to call or write your Congress regarding H.R. 1976: PFAS Detection Act of 2019, you can check out GovTrack.

Unfortunately, PFAS contamination is a public health concern that isn’t going away anytime soon. Hopefully, more will be done at the federal and/or state level to improve this problem for us all. In the meantime, you can do what you can to reduce your exposure to hazardous man-made chemicals like PFAS.

And again, the takeaway? We need to elect officials who are working for us, not toxic industries that pollute us for centuries.

Leah Zerbe contributed to this report. 

The post PFAS Contamination: Congress Introduces Legislation to Help Clean Up ‘Forever Chemical’ Mess appeared first on Dr. Axe.

It’s no secret that what you eat has immense effect on your health, and it turns out you can actually eat to beat disease. No one know this better than Dr. William Li, MD, author of the book “Eat to Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body Can Health Itself.”

Li has been featured on numerous media outlets, and he’s also the author of over 100 scientific publications, including research published in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Lancet. He’s also served on faculty at Harvard Medical School and has spent decades practicing medicine.

I was lucky enough to talk with Dr. Li on my podcast, where he shared insights on how to combat cancer and other diseases through diet by activating the body’s five health defense systems. Here are his insights on how to eat to beat disease.

The Study of Food

One of the biggest breakthroughs for Dr. Li during his career was the realization that while the practice of medicine is vital and life-changing, a lot of his formal training focused on treating diseases and little on prevention.

“When I went to medical school, I was really taught about health for maybe a few courses, and then everything else was about disease and what we should do to stamp it out, treat it, cut it burn it, give chemotherapy or antibiotics. That’s really how I entered the world of medical practice,” he says. “It is really just waiting for the horse to come out of the barn, which is illness, and then throwing the kitchen sink, ideally, smartly at it.

“… I started to realize after many years of practice that the science was advancing so rapidly for treating disease and yet it didn’t seem like it was being applied to actually preventing disease, and you know prevention is really the mirror image of treatment.”

Li realized that you can’t really use drugs as a prevention method so in order to focus on disease prevention, he shifted his attention to food. That led him to start researching the effects of food on health in the same manner medical researchers studied drugs, utilizing the same tools and methods to understand just how powerful food can be — and how to eat to beat disease.

“I grew up uh eating traditional Asian cuisines and Mediterranean cuisines, whole foods freshly cooked not too much, designed to be really tasty. So I always felt that food was something that sustained me and sustained my well-being,” says Li.

“… As an adult on my own eating in the cafeteria or hospital food, traveling around and going to restaurants, I started to realize we’ve actually lost touch with what our own history and cultures actually have given us, which is something pretty elemental that speaks to the body.”

The focus for many today is on dieting, which can cause its own issues. Most diets are strict and exclusionary, and that can make them difficult for people to follow and sustain.

“I just felt like there’s got to be a better way to do this, and what I discovered is when it comes to food and health, in fact it’s not just about the food — it’s about how our body responds to what we put inside it,” Li says. “You have to understand first before you choose any diet and any food combination how your body responds to keeping your health intact.”

What Li found working for more than 30 years with Dr. Judah Folkman, a pioneer in the medical field, is that health is critically dependent on circulation. When circulation is excessive, it can feed diseases like cancer, while lack of circulation can cut off oxygen and nutrients to tissues so they die off — which in turn can promote disease.

“Lab research has shown when a cancer that doesn’t have a blood supply suddenly gets one, that tiny little tumor can grow 16,000 times in only a couple of weeks. That’s enough to kill somebody. That’s led to the development of more than 18 medicines that cancer doctors use to cut off the blood supply to cancers,” Li says.

“Using the same tools to discover medicines that can interfere to cut off a blood supply to starve a cancer, I’ve actually been able to test food, and when you test food in those systems, you can test them head-to-head, side-by-side, you wind up seeing that green tea, soy, lavender, citrus fruits, broccoli — they can stand up right next to cancer drugs.”

The 5 Health Defense Systems

The body is designed to protect health, while environmental factors all around are trying to get in.

“Think of our body as a fortress. If you remember a medieval castle, you got the moat, you got the tall, sloping walls, you’ve got the little slits in the walls where people could shoot arrows out, you’ve got the little tiger traps, little holes with spikes in middle it, you got the winding staircases — all these things. A fortress is designed to protect itself from invaders,” says Li. “That is exactly our body except that rather than stone structures or spears, it’s actually biology.”

There are five main health defense systems, according to Li:

1. Blood or circulation/angiogenesis — The body grows blood vessels that feed every cell in the body.
2. Stem cells in bone marrow — Help us heal from the inside out and regenerate our organs as we age or when we’re injured.
3. Microbiome — This is the healthy gut bacteria, and humans have almost 40 trillion gut bacteria. “You know how a pregnant mom says, ‘I’m eating for two?’ We’re eating for 40 trillion, and that’s leading to a whole new insight into what we eat and how it impacts our gut defense,” says Li.
4. DNA — Our DNA is hardwired to protect us against the assaults from the environment.
5. Immune system — “It is more powerful than we ever thought because we now know that even an elderly person in their 80s, their immune system is so powerful that it can not only help resist infection, but it can help resist cancer as well.”

“These five health defense systems are at play all the time, and when we sit down to eat something we are either building up and fortifying and boosting these defense systems or we’re taking it down and destroying it, ” says Li.

“Everybody who thinks about food and health according to the traditional ways that have been everywhere for the last few decades, it’s about what program should I get into and what things should I cut out and what do I need to eat every single day. Here’s the news flash, which is good news: There’s no one size fits all. It’s about our individual preference, what our bodies seek, what we enjoy — and by the way, the enjoyment’s really important because if you can pick something that’s healthy that you enjoy, then you are already ahead of the game.”

How to Eat to Beat Disease

In “Eat to Beat Disease,” Dr. Li touches on 200 foods that can help boost immunity and activate the health defense systems. Here are some of the top foods to eat to beat disease:

1. Soy

“There’s a belief out there that soy is actually dangerous for your health because it can cause breast cancer, and we believe this because there’s a plant estrogen in soy that we know is there, and we know that some types of human breast cancers can be activated by human estrogen. However, if you look at soy plant estrogen vs. human estrogen, they don’t look anything alike, and it turns out the science shows us that plant estrogens actually counter the effects of human estrogens so they actually black human estrogens almost like a drug does,” says Li.

“There’s a study of 500 women who already have breast cancer, and it was studied that those women with breast cancer who actually ate more soy had better survival — they had about a 30 percent reduced risk of dying from breast cancer — and those who ate more soy were able to decrease the risk of having the cancer come back.”

A note is to be wary of highly processed foods, including in soy products. A lot of soy milk is overly processed and contains unnecessary and sometimes harmful additives.

That’s why I’m a proponent of natto, a fermented soy. It’s also why I’m in favor of fresh foods instead of buying juiced foods.

Eating blueberries or an apple vs. buying blueberry juice or apple juice — it’s better to eat the whole, fresh fruit that hasn’t been processed or had any unhealthy ingredients added.

Flaxseeds have a similar compound as soy that can protect against disease, along with lavender, vitex, clary sage. They can actually balance estrogen.

2. Tomatoes

“There’s a lot of people out there saying tomatoes are harmful because they’re related to the nightshade plant,” says Li. “In fact, tomatoes don’t have any of the poisons of nightshade, and in fact there is a really important natural chemical called lycopene which is present in tomato.

“Lycopene in tomato has been studied. There’s a study of 35,000 men, and they looked at their intake of tomatoes, cooked tomatoes, and found that those men who ate two to three servings of cooked tomatoes actually had up to a 30 percent lowered risk of developing prostate cancer.

“In those men who did develop prostate cancer, the more tomatoes they ate, the less aggressive their prostate cancer because lycopene is anti-andorgenic, which means it cuts off the blood supply feeding cancers. It starves cancer in this really remarkable way.”

3. Green Tea

Drink two-plus cups of green tea a day. It floods the system with natural bioactive chemicals that come from the tea plant that can actually cut off the blood supply to tumors, actually even kill cancer stem cells. It also protects blood vessels.

4. Tree Nuts

Pistachios, almonds, cashews, macadamias and walnuts are some of the best options.

“A major study of over 700 people from the American Society of Clinical Oncology showed that people who ate a couple handfuls of walnuts a day, about 15, a week actually had up to a 50 percent reduction in death if they had stage 3 colon cancer, and if they had their cancer successfully treated, it also markedly decreased the risk fo their cancer coming back,” shares Li. “A couple handfuls of nuts as a snack is a really great way to reduce your risk of cancer.

“It turns out nuts not only have healthy omega-3 fatty acids that can cut off the blood supply feeding cancer cells, but they also have insoluble fiber. They’re a great source of fiber.

“This insoluble fiber feeds our microbiome and activates our immune system. It lowers inflammation, which lowers cancer risk.”

What Does Dr. Li Eat to Beat Disease?

First and foremost, Dr. Li stresses “there’s no single food you need to eat all the time. It’s eating diversity, mostly plant-based foods, minimal processing like ultra-processed foods and cutting down on your meat also reduces your risk of cancer as well.”

Instead, he says to focus on dietary patterns, such as the Mediterranean diet and traditional Asian diets.

In addition, he likes to focus on plant-based foods and tries to build his meals around a vegetable. So what does Dr. Li typically eat to beat disease each day?

Breakfast

“When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is reach for either green tea or coffee,” Li says.

“Coffee contains caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, all these natural bioactives that are amazingly healthy for you. They increase your telomeres, which slows down cellular aging. They’re anti-androgenic so they cut off the blood supply feeding cancers, and they make our blood vessels actually healthier. Many lower the risk of dementia.

“… I’ll have tea or coffee every day. Every day I love a bit of fruit in the morning or granola. I tend to eat pretty lightly in the morning.”

Lunch

“Lunch to me is varied, but I always try to something plant-based.

“Occasionally I’ll skip lunch, and if you skip lunch a few times a week, you’re actually fasting, which we know actually cuts off the blood supply feeding cancers. It helps your body manage blood sugars better, reboots your immune system, helps your stem cells regenerate in your body.”

Dinner

“For dinner, I build my main meal around the vegetable. I think about meat as the condiment as opposed to the main.

“For instance, I look at a salad — it’s mostly vegetables, some tomatoes and carrots and other good things, and there might be a little egg in it, or chicken or tuna or anchovies. They’re additions to the main.”

Conclusion

Based on his book “Eat to Beat Disease” and his extensive research over decades in the field, here are Dr. Li’s top tips to eat to beat disease:

• When you make a food choice, it’s not about extremes. It’s actually about reasonableness. Think about how your body defends itself against the disease that you have or the disease you want to prevent.
• Don’t stress about your diet. Stress actually makes every disease worse. If you have heart disease, stressing about what you eat makes your blood pressure go up, which is worse for your heart. If you’ve got cancer, stress actually makes the tumor grow faster because it suppresses your immune system, and it causes blood vessels to actually grow to feed the cancer. When you’re stressed you actually change your microbiome, which is trying to lower inflammation in your body so there’s nothing good about being stressed about diet.
• If there’s one thing that I actually really want people to understand it’s that if you actually are comfortable about thinking about how your body normally defends itself against disease, how it tries to stay healthy, and you feed those defenses, you don’t have to stress because you can choose from a lot of different kinds of food in order to eat to beat disease.
• That is really the secret to lowering your stress. You can choose wisely and start with things that you already enjoy.

The post Eat to Beat Disease: How to Eat for Optimal Health appeared first on Dr. Axe.

If you’re trying to lose weight, there’s no doubt about it: Changing your diet is more important than exercising. (That’s the topic of one of my favorite mythbusters, in fact.) But does that mean you should skip exercising altogether? Absolutely not — considering exercise reduces chronic disease and can sometimes even replace some medications.

While working out might not be the No. 1 factor in shedding pounds, it’s vital for so much more than weight loss. Not only do the benefits of exercise include feeling happier and boosting energy levels, but it’s a proven way to reduce the risk of chronic diseases and cancer — who doesn’t want that?

It’s amazing that at a time when so many gadgets, devices, medications and drugs are available, one of the best ways to reduce the risk of chronic diseases is still totally all-natural, free and available to most of us.

Don’t miss out on your very own “miracle cure” — get out there and exercise!

How Exercise Reduces Chronic Disease

It’s now generally accepted that lack of exercise is a major cause of chronic diseases. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, today chronic diseases are the most common, expensive and, critically, the most preventable of all health problems.

In fact, heart disease and cancer, both considered chronic diseases, accounted for 48 percent of all deaths in the United States in 2010.

Studies show that the fact that there is way too much sitting in our lives and we’re more sedentary than ever before doesn’t help. This can lead to accumulation of intra-abdominal fat (or visceral fat) which is dangerous when it comes to disease risk.

Which common diseases can be eliminated or prevented through physical activity? There’s evidence suggesting that diseases that can be prevented by exercise include:

• Heart disease and markers, including high blood pressure and high cholesterol
• Type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance
• Cancer
• Depression and anxiety
• Neurodegenerative diseases, including dementia
• Obesity
• Asthma
• Joint pain/arthritis
• Renal failure
• Thrombosis
• Mobility impairments

What are the negative effects of lack of exercise?

As a 2017 report published by the American Physiology Society explains:

physical inactivity, itself, often plays an independent role as a direct cause of speeding the losses of cardiovascular and strength fitness, shortening of healthspan, and lowering of the age for the onset of the first chronic disease, which in turn decreases quality of life, increases health care costs, and accelerates mortality risk.

A sedentary lifestyle has been linked to health problems including:

• reduced gray matter in the brain
• increased depression and anxiety
• loss of strength and mobility
• impaired immune function
• worsened heart health

As explained by researchers at the Fred Hutchinson’s Prevention Center, “exercise reduces overall body fat and hidden intra-abdominal fat, the most dangerous type of fat.” Recent studies have linked this type of fat to cancer and other chronic diseases not only in women, but in men as well.

Even if those who exercise regularly don’t see dramatic weight loss, prevention of intra-abdominal is a key way in which exercise fights disease and a reason why exercise reduces chronic disease risk.

Related: 10 Minutes of Exercise a Day Could Save Your Life If You’re 40+

Benefits of Exercise for Fighting Disease

There are numerous reasons why physical activity boosts overall health. Here are some of the many ways in which staying active protects both your mental and physical health:

• Gets your blood flowing— For starters, your body demands glucose, or stored sugar, to give it energy. It also requires adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, to keep going. Because our bodies store limited amounts of both, we need more oxygen to create more ATP. More blood starts flowing to your muscles to provide them with the oxygen boost they need.
• Circulates more oxygen— To get oxygen circulating, your heart rate quickens, enabling your body to circulate blood more quickly and efficiently where it’s needed. Because the human body is awesome, the more you exercise, the better your heart becomes at getting that oxygen around speedily. Keep at it and you’ll notice that an exercise that once wiped you out is now a lot easier — plus, your resting heart rate will go down.
• Improves your mood and attention — With all that blood swirling around, some of it is sure to go to your head. That’s actually a good thing. It gets your brain cells fired up, making you feel more energized and alert while also protecting the brain against inflammation.
• Gives you more energy — You know how you might be exhausted before starting a workout and by the end, you’re feeling pretty peppy? Thank your brain for that. It also releases neurotransmitters like endorphins and serotonin, giving you that post-workout high.

In a 2015 report, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, a consortium of 21 medical institutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland, called exercise a “miracle cure.”

How can exercise treat diseases? Below is more about some of the ways in which exercise reduces chronic disease:

1. Fights Heart Disease

One of the most obvious places exercise reduces chronic disease is in this category.

Heart disease is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases in America. In fact, 610,000 people die annually in the U.S. from heart disease — that’s one in four and second only to cancer.

It’s the leading cause of death for nearly every ethnicity in the country, too.

One 2018 study found that the number of adults with dyslipidemia, hypertension and diabetes who adhere to the physical activity recommendations is very low. This is a shame considering that exercise fights heart disease in a variety of ways.

It lowers high blood pressure, reducing strain on your heart to pump blood throughout. It also increases good HDL cholesterol.

We usually hear how bad cholesterol is — but why do our bodies need cholesterol?  The good kind is critical for proper neurological function, repairing scar tissue and regulating hormones.

As your body becomes more adept at circulating blood, you’ll enjoy improved circulation. That means a reduced risk of blood clots, which often lead to strokes or heart attacks.

2. Defends Against Diabetes

In 2012, 9.3 percent of Americans were living with diabetes — that’s 29.1 million people.

Evidence suggests that there’s a positive link between diabetes and exercise. Exercise can actually play a major role in both preventing and managing diabetes.

Staying active allows your blood sugar to stabilize and assists insulin in absorbing glucose. Because muscles use glucose more effectively than fat does, working out regularly prevents high blood sugar levels, which is what actually causes diabetes.

Exercise also improves circulation, reduces bad cholesterol levels and alleviates stress, all of which can increase glucose levels. Additionally, studies have demonstrated that diabetic, cardiac and cancer patients have reduced hospital admissions, improved diabetic control and improved quality of life scores when following a healthy diet and exercise program.

3. Helps Prevent Musculoskeletal Diseases

Musculoskeletal diseases are a fancy way of saying diseases affecting the joints, skeleton and muscles, like arthritis or osteoporosis. Because exercising puts extra weight on your joints, conventional thinking assumes that it would actually lead to more joint-related diseases, not less.

However, regular exercise actually increases strength and flexibility by increasing your mobility range. It also reduces pains associated with musculoskeletal diseases.

Finally, it increases stability which is beneficial or preventing falls and injuries.

4. Boosts Brain Health

Perhaps one of the biggest ways that exercise reduces chronic disease is by improving brain health. This has a chain reaction on the body.

For example, according to writers at Harvard Medical School, the brain triggers signals of inflammation, and inflammation is at the root of most diseases.

Exercising also stimulates chemicals in the brain that affect the growth of brain cells, particularly in the hippocampus. This is the part of your brain that’s mostly responsible for memory and is most likely to decline as you age, which can lead to dementia.

The more you exercise, the more of these chemicals you produce.

Research also shows that regular physical activity like exercise improves the integrity of white matter in the brain. White matter is linked to quicker neural conduction among regions of the brain and higher cognitive performance.

Disease like multiple sclerosis, dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases are affected by a deterioration or changes in white matter.

5. Defends Against Certain Types of Cancer

Exercise has long been advocated as a way of reducing the risk of certain types of cancers, like breast, colon and endometrial cancers.

A recent study conducted by the National Cancer Institute pooled together data of nearly 1.5 million people ranging in age from 19 to 98 years old in both the U.S. and Europe. This gave researchers the the ability to study people with many different cancers — not just the common ones, but also some rarer forms.

Increasing physical activity was found to lower the risk of 13 types of cancers, including liver and kidney cancers and myeloid leukemia.

How do we explain the connection between exercise and cancer? For people who already have cancer, exercising when possible can improve physical condition, strengthening the body to better withstand treatment.

It can also improve one’s mood, help increase appetite, aid with sleep and support a healthier immune system.

Consult with your doctors to choose the best type based on your treatment plan and situation.

Is exercising better than drugs or medication?

Many experts now believe that exercise can be a very effective way of preventing chronic diseases and reducing symptoms. It might even lead to reducing or eliminating prescription medications.

Ideally, work with a doctor who takes a holistic approach to your health before eliminating any prescribed drugs or courses of medication. Don’t be afraid to look around until you find the right doctor.

Some, for instance, might even prescribe exercise as a therapy, considering exercise reduces chronic disease risk.

How Much Exercise Do You Need?

Now that you know how and why exercise reduces chronic disease risk, let’s talk about how much adults require to reap these benefits.

Are you worried you’ll need to go from couch potato to marathoner? Not so fast! You don’t actually need a crazy amount of exercise to reap all the health benefits.

For most adults, the American Heart Association recommends about 40 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise three to four times a week (or at least 150 minutes total perk week). This is believed to be enough to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Remember, that’s 40 minutes total of accumulative exercise— you can split it anyway you’d like. Ideally you’ll do a combination of aerobic exercise and strength-training each week.

Compared to adults, children are encouraged to get at least 60 minutes (one hour) or more of physical activity each day to maintain their health.

Aerobic Exercise Recommendations:

Aerobic activity (or “cardio” as it’s sometimes called) is considered moderate or vigorous intensity activity that gets you breathing harder and your heart beating faster. Examples include running, cycling, fast walking and CrossFit workouts.

Turning to high-intensity interval training workouts is a terrific option. HIIT workouts beat conventional cardio by delivering the same physical benefits in a shorter amount of time, usually 20–30 minutes.

These workouts involve alternating exercising at high levels of intensity with exercising at a less intense level for short periods of time. If you have a difficult time making time for exercise, HIIT and tabata workouts can easily be squeezed into your day.

However, it’s OK if HIIT is not your thing. The key is finding out what is.

If you love to cycle but want to do it in the comfort of your home (and if it’s within your budget), consider checking out and investing in a Peloton bike.

HIIT-style workouts may be too tough for older adults or those who are ill, so gentler exercise would be more appropriate in this case. If you enjoy swimming, hit the local pool a few times a week, or take your dog on a brisk walk after dinner

Strength-Training Recommendations:

A 2019 report published in Frontiers in Physiology states, “there is an emerging body of evidence showing that resistance exercise training appears to be as effective as aerobic training in reducing risk of several chronic diseases.” Resistance training seems to be especially helpful for mitigating risk of mobility disabilities in older adults.

Strength training is considered all muscle-building workouts that work most of your body’s major muscle groups, such as your legs, hips, back, chest, abs, shoulders and arms. Examples include using free weights, doing movements like squats and lunges, using elastic bands, or lifting your own body weight.

You can even do vinyasa yoga classes or a fun group fitness workout involving props like blocks, weights and bands.

It’s best to aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise weekly, plus muscle-building exercise for an additional 10 to 20 minutes several times per week. The CDC recommends that adults do muscle-strengthening activities at least two days a week.

Risks and Side Effects

While recent studies have revealed that exercise is generally safe for people of all ages, even those with pre-existing conditions like heart disease and cancer, it may need to be modified depending on the persona’s abilities.

For many people who are already suffering from certain condition, especially older adults, vigorous exercises might not be an option. If you’re experiencing serious pain, fatigue or other ailments from chronic disease, getting out of bed might be an achievement, never mind running miles at the gym.

If that’s the case, don’t give up on exercise. Work with your doctor or physical therapist to design a program you can do.

Can’t walk a mile? Try walking around the block.

Tai chi can be a good way to tap in to the mind-body connection even with limited mobility, too.

Keep an eye on how you feel as you ease into exercise. Slow down if you experience dizziness, unusual shortness of breath, chest pains or an irregular heartbeat.

Overall, remember that anything is better than nothing, and finding a workout you enjoy will ensure you keep at it regularly. The opportunities are endless!

Conclusion

• Hundreds of studies show that regular exercise can cut your disease risk. What can exercise prevent? Some conditions it helps defend against include heart disease, diabetes, obesity, dementia, depression and arthritis.
• Exercising regularly is preventative medicine if you don’t already have a chronic disease. It is also a proven way of managing or reducing symptoms, such as instability, pain, asthma and weakness.
• Some of the key ways exercise reduces chronic disease risk is by reducing inflammation, lowering blood pressure, protecting brain cells, reducing visceral fat and weight gain, and improving insulin sensitivity.
• Adults need a total of at least 150 minutes of aerobic exercise per week, plus muscle-building exercises for about 20 minutes at least two times weekly.

The post Exercise Reduces Chronic Disease, Even Cancer Risk! appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Student loan debt, high home prices, uncertain job security … millennial life often isn’t always as rosy as it might seem, and now there’s something else to add to the list: colorectal cancer rates.

Usually thought of as a cancer that hits the 50-plus crowd, colorectal cancer rates are actually decreasing among that age group. Disturbingly, however, there’s been a rise of the disease among young adults, which was once considered quite rare.

With the recent death of actor Chadwick Boseman, who died at age 43 of colorectal cancer, more and more people are paying attention to the amount of young people being impacted by this deadly disease.

One recent report shows that half of all new diagnoses are in people under age 66. The diagnosis rate for this specific type of cancer is dropping in older people and rising in younger adults.

Why is this happening, and what kind of natural cancer treatments or preventative measures should be taken?

Colon, Rectal Cancer Increasing Among Gen X, Millennials 

The troubling information first attracted attention with the release of a study by the American Cancer Society published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The study found that the majority of colon and rectal cancers — nearly 90 percent — are still among people ages 50 and over.

But researchers also report that while colorectal cancer rates have been steadily declining among people born between 1890 and 1950, they’ve been sharply rising with each generation since 1950, by about 1 percent to 2 percent a year, for adults in their 20s and 30s.

That means someone born in 1990 would have twice the risk of colon cancer and four times the risk of rectal cancer at the same age than if they were born in 1950, according to the researchers at the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute, which helped fund the study.

A 2020 report shows that colorectal cancer is expected to cause more than 50,000 deaths in 2020, including 3,640 deaths in people younger than 50 years.

When these cancers show up in younger adults, they’re often diagnosed at a much more advanced stage. Doctors often confuse the symptoms with something else, like hemorrhoids, since colorectal cancer rates among this age group used to be uncommon.

While colonoscopies, which check for pre-cancerous growth (polyps), are recommended for adults over the age of 50, there’s no standard recommendation for younger adults at this time — because, until now, there’s never been a real need.

What Are Colorectal Cancers?

Colorectal cancer is used to describe cancer that begins in the colon or the rectum, which are both part of the large intestine. They’re usually grouped together because they both share many similar features.

Colorectal cancers usually begin with the growth of polyps along the lining of the colon or rectum. This is what colonoscopies look for. Most polyps are benign, but some can eventually turn into cancer.

According to the American Cancer Society, the wall of the colon and rectum is made up of layers, and colorectal cancer begins in the innermost layer, though it can grow outward. Once the cancer cells are in the wall, they’re able to grow into blood vessels or lymph nodes, traveling outside the colon or rectum and into the rest of the body.

The stage of a person’s colorectal cancer depends on how far into the wall the cancerous cells have gotten and whether it’s spread to different parts of the body.

Potential Reasons for Increasing Colorectal Cancer Rates

It’d be great news if we knew exactly why colorectal cancer rates are rising among young people. Unfortunately, researchers aren’t quite sure what’s brought about the increase in colorectal cancer rates among a younger crowd, but they do have their suspicions.

Our genetics likely haven’t changed drastically since the 1950s. What is dramatically different are the foods we eat, our sedentary lifestyles and ever-increasing rates of obesity.

The study even points to the fact that, if young adults as a group hadn’t also had long-term declines in alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking, rates of colorectal cancer would be even higher. While we might have turned our noses up at those vices, others have taken their place.

Proven lifestyle factors that can increase the risk of colorectal cancer include:

• being overweight
• consumption of processed meats
• low levels of physical activity
• low levels of fiber consumption

In fact, the rise of colorectal cancer is parallel to the rise in obesity. Additionally, emulsifiers, which are additives often used in processed foods to improve the texture and extend the shelf life, have been linked to colon cancer.

What’s interesting about the study is that while it recommends that, as a nation, we encourage preventative behavior to quell the rise in colorectal cancer among younger adults, it’s also realistic in acknowledging that health policy changes are necessary.

It points to a need for physicians to be trained in spotting warning signs of the disease in younger folks. It also notes that younger people are three times more likely to be uninsured than those over 55 years old. Affordable health care, the researchers maintain, has an effect on earlier detection rates.

Ways to Help Prevent Colorectal Cancer

While the headlines are alarming, colorectal cancer among young adults, though increasing, is still nowhere near common.

The American Cancer Society estimates that there will be 95,520 new cases of colon cancer and 39,901 new cases of rectal cancer.  Of those, only about 13,500 are expected to be diagnosed in Americans under 50 years old.

Still, if you want to reduce your risk of colorectal cancer, no matter what your age, there are several lifestyle changes you can make.

1. Get Moving

With most of us spending our days behind computer screens, binge watching Netflix episodes or addicted to our smartphone screens, we’ve become much more sedentary than people just a generation or two ago were.

A sedentary lifestyle leads to a host of health effects, none of which are positive: heart disease, diabetes and poor circulation.

Too much sitting is a culprit, too. Even with a desk-based workday, however, you can inject more movement into your day.

Reduce the amount of emails you send, and get up and talk to a co-worker or family member (in this day of work-from-home) instead. Go for a lunchtime or after-dinner walk.

Set a timer to remind you to get up and move, even if it’s to grab a glass of water, every half hour. Walk to errands when possible, or park the car farther away.

Use a fitness tracker. Every bit counts!

2. Overhaul Your Diet

One study specifically points to the fact that foods like processed meats and nutrient-empty refined carbohydrates, along with not enough fiber-rich foods, could be adding to the upward trend in colorectal cancers.

The more we understand about our bodies, the more we uncover how unhealthy these foods are. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a disease or condition that isn’t worsened by these types of foods.

A lot of it has to do with inflammation. Just two weeks of a Western-style diet, heavy in refined carbohydrates and low in fiber, led to increased inflammation in the colonic wall.

Research shows that a switch from a traditional diet heavy in fish and plants to a Western diet has been attributed to a rise of colorectal cancer in Japanese adults in just one generation.

The healing foods diet is one of the easiest ways to transition into eating better for your body. It naturally reduces inflammation while giving you a huge variety of different whole foods to choose from.

If you’re already fairly diligent in what you eat, you might want to experiment with going low-carb or adding more high-fiber foods to your menu.

Most importantly, choose the best cancer-fighting foods that you can. Lots of fruit and vegetables can help lower the risk of cancer and offer protective elements so these should be the bases of your diet.

On top of that, obtaining enough healthy proteins and fatty acids keeps your immune system working properly and prevents muscle wasting, deficiencies, and hormonal and nerve problems.

3. Avoid Smoking and Excess Alcohol

You’re not still smoking, are you? Whether you’re smoking tobacco or electronic cigarettes, the best thing you can do for your health is to quit immediately.

Though a glass of wine can be healthy for you, one glass for women and two glasses for men are the recommended allowances. More than that regularly can spell trouble for your health and waistline.

4. Inform Your Doctor of Family History

If someone in your family, particularly a first-degree connection (your parents or siblings), has had colorectal cancer, it’s important to share that information with your primary care physician. Your doctor can help you better closely monitor any changes in your health, and recommend earlier screening or even genetic testing.

Final Thoughts

• The upward tick in colorectal cancer rates among young adults is troubling, but it’s still low. Adults under 50 who are diagnosed tend to have more advanced cancer, as it is often misdiagnosed as something else.
• While doctors are unsure of what exactly has caused the rise in colorectal cancer rates over the last few generations, the rise in obesity, the types of foods we eat and our sedentary lifestyles all likely play a role.
• By making lifestyle changes, you could help reduce your risk not just for colorectal cancers, but an array of other diseases, too.

Read Next: 4 Key Facts from Dr. Quillin’s Talk on Cancer-Fighting Foods

The post Colorectal Cancer Rates Increasing Among Young People appeared first on Dr. Axe.

When you’re creating a meal or spraying a stray dandelion in your yard, you probably don’t think about glyphosate toxicity. Still, glyphosate is the most commonly used agricultural pesticide in the world — and a go-to weedkiller in lawns and gardens across America. And although you would never purposely add it to your food or drinking water … you’re still probably consuming it every day. (It’s used so heavily, it’s now detected in rain samples, too.)

The unfortunate truth is, glyphosate is virtually impossible to avoid, so you and your loved ones are probably at risk from its toxic effects right now — unless you take active steps to defend yourself.

The Inside Track on Glyphosate

Glyphosate’s primary use involves killing weeds, but it was first patented as a metal chelator (remover) because it binds to minerals (like calcium) to clear them out of pipes. That’s great for pipes, but not for people who need essential minerals to stay strong and healthy.

The herbicide also causes a devastating impact on our internal ecosystem. It kills off beneficial bacteria (probiotics) while giving dangerous pathogens a competitive edge. Research indicates that glyphosate creates and speeds up antibiotic resistance in disease-causing bacteria such as salmonella and E. coli.

In its central role, glyphosate is the most widely used agricultural pesticide in the world, but it’s often combined with other toxic herbicides including:

• Atrazine
• 2,4-D (2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid)
• Dicamba
• Neonicotinoid insecticides

That’s why the vast majority of our conventional food supply is contaminated with glyphosate, almost always along with other toxins. And as we’re finding, these dangerous combinations spell disaster for our personal and planetary health.

Glyphosate Toxicity: The Many Dangers

Glyphosate poses an enormous health risk because of our constant exposure. And though each instance of contact with glyphosate may seem small, they all add up — especially since this everyday toxin “tricks” your body into storing it, by mimicking other essential nutrients.

That puts you at higher risk for many troubling health issues, including:

• Deficiencies in essential minerals such as manganese and iron that can lead to diabetes, dementia, and anemia symptoms
• Overgrowth of pathogens in the gut (dysbiosis or “leaky gut”), which disrupts immune function and increases inflammation, putting you at risk for dozens of chronic diseases
• Disruption of vital biochemical processes (like detox methylation), which can lead to toxin overload, autoimmune disease and cancer
• Reduced neurotransmitter production, which can cause depression, anxiety, and cognitive decline

Since glyphosate contamination is extremely difficult to avoid, you need to defend yourself against it every day.

Pesticides Taint Most Foods

Most plant foods sold in the U.S. come bathed in pesticides. According to the USDA, more than 225 different pesticides can be found on fruits, vegetables, and grains commonly consumed in the U.S. (See the Dirty Dozen list for more details.) Even organic foods are not always spared, since pesticides like glyphosate and others can find their way into organic farms via wind drift or other means.

Glyphosate itself contaminates hundreds of the most common foods. Even though each food may contain only trace amounts of glyphosate, those traces add up to an oversized daily dose. Here’s just a small taste of foods that contain glyphosate in popular brands:

• Granola bars
• Bottled orange juice
• Rolled oats
• 100% whole grain pasta
• Hummus

While it may seem impossible to avoid glyphosate and other pesticides, there are things you can do to protect yourself and your family from the harm these toxins can cause. Emphasizing organic foods and products is an important first step. Even though organic produce may still contain some pesticide or toxin residues, levels will be far lower than conventionally-grown items.

There’s also a new, independent certification that manufacturers can obtain to verify products as glyphosate-free. While still in the early stages, this new certification may be something to keep an eye out for, as awareness about the dangers of glyphosate continues to climb.

Protect Yourself from Glyphosate Toxicity

There are several things you can do to minimize — and even eliminate — glyphosate contamination, but the most important is to protect your body with natural defenders. That way, as we are chronically exposed to glyphosate, our bodies can safely deal with it before long-term damage is done.

The most effective glyphosate defense team includes:

Citrus pectin: A soluble fiber known to detoxify heavy metals and clear cholesterol through its superior binding powers

Alginates (purified from kelp): Proven to protect against pesticide toxicity and effectively remove heavy metals and toxins

Glycine: An amino acid needed to create glutathione — a powerful detoxifier and antioxidant that also protects the liver against toxicity. Interestingly, the body can mistake glyphosate for glycine during protein synthesis, tricking it into storing toxic glyphosate in tissues and organs. By supplementing with extra glycine, we can prevent glyphosate from being stored, enhance glutathione activity, and help support healthy protein production.

The top glycine-rich sources include collagen and bone broth, but it’s also found in legumes, meat, dairy, poultry, eggs and fish. Even some fruits and vegetables contain glycine, like spinach, cabbage, kale, bananas and cauliflower.

Gingko biloba: An ancient herb found to be a powerful protector against glyphosate toxicity

Organic Iceland kelp: A rich source of protective minerals including iodine, which prevents the absorption of radioactive ions and toxic pesticide halogens like fluoride, bromide, and chlorine

Probiotics and prebiotics: Needed to restore beneficial gut bacteria killed off by glyphosate

In my practice, I recommend a targeted detox formula with these detox binders, to safely remove glyphosate and other agricultural toxins, prevent them from being stored in the body, and support thyroid, GI health, and other areas.

Pesticides and environmental toxins represent a daily problem that require daily solutions—especially since our levels of exposure are on the rise. Supporting your body with safe, natural detoxifiers offers the best defense against glyphosate along with other pesticides and toxins, with additional protective benefits for long-term health and wellness.

The post Glyphosate Toxicity Alert: How America’s #1 Weedkiller Tricks Your Body Into Absorbing It appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Research suggests that diet and physical activity are important risk factors, and one-third of the breast cancer cases could be prevented by lifestyle intervention. Did you know that incorporating certain foods into your diet may help prevent breast cancer naturally? The best foods for breast health are those that supply ample nutrients, while fighting disease and promoting overall wellness.

Best Foods for Breast Health

Among breast cancer cases, only 5 percent to 10 percent were because of genetic defects, while 90 percent to 95 percent were attributable to environmental and lifestyle factors, including diet and obesity. Bringing cancer-fighting foods into your diet is a natural approach to preventing disease and improving quality of life.

Here’s a breakdown of the best foods for breast health:

1. Spinach

Spinach and other leafy greens are incredibly rich in vitamins, minerals, enzymes and antioxidants. They are also very low in calories and sodium, two things you want to look out for when eating for breast health.

Leafy greens, like spinach, also serve as natural sources of glucosinolates, which studies show may work to inactivate carcinogens and help reprogram cancer cells to die off.

2. Blueberries

Blueberries are considered a superfood because they are high in disease-fighting antioxidants. They are also a super nutritious high fiber food, which is recommended by researchers for breast health.

Blueberries are especially high in proanthocyanidin antioxidants, which help reduce free radical damage and promote healthy aging.

Other excellent berry options include raspberries, strawberries, cherries and goji berries.

3. Broccoli

Several studies have reported that consuming cruciferous vegetables like broccoli on a daily basis helps avoid the occurrence of cancer.

This is due, in large part, to the glucosinolates that work to protect plants. These compounds have anti-tumor effects and help prevent metastasis.

In addition to broccoli, some other excellent choices are cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and cabbage.

4. Walnuts

Walnuts are rich in omega-3 fatty acids that control inflammation, and they supply protein, fiber and micronutrients.

A study conducted on mice found that a walnut-containing diet inhibited the growth rate of human breast cancers that were implanted in the mice and reduced the number of mammary gland tumors.

5. Olive Oil

Olive oil has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds. Researchers believe that the consumption of olive oil as part of the Mediterranean diet contributes to its beneficial effects of cancer prevention.

A 2011 study published in Lipids in Health and Disease concluded that olive oil consumption is associated with lower odds of developing breast cancer compared with the lowest intake of olive oil.

6. Avocados

Avocados are rich in micronutrients, including vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin B6, folate and potassium. They are also high in fiber and packed with healthy fats.

Research out of Iran indicates that because avocado is rich in phytochemicals, it may play an important role in the inhibition of cancer cell growth.

7. Chickpeas

Chickpeas are rich in protein, fiber, omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, and folate. They provide essential nutrients and plant-based fiber, which is so important for breast health.

An animal study found that chickpea lectin (proteins in the bean) exerted anticancer activity and could be used as a source of medicine for breast cancer treatment.

Any beans are recommended as part of a breast cancer diet, including black beans, kidney beans and lima beans.

8. Lentils

Lentils are also nutrient-rich food that’s high in protein, fiber and iron. They are filling too, which means that adding lentils to your meal will keep you full longer and possibly reduce your caloric intake.

Research highlights that the polyphenols and other bioactive compounds in lentils contribute greatly to the legume’s ability to reduce the incidence of disease like cancer, diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease.

9. Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes provide complex carbohydrates, fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C and several other important nutrients. They help aid weight loss because they are very filling, which can help reduce your caloric intake.

Sweet potatoes are also rich in antioxidants, including beta-carotene, which has protective effects against free radical damage.

An animal study published in Scientific Reports found that compounds in sweet potato may have potential anti-tumor effects and may inhibit metastasis of breast cancer.

10. Turmeric

Turmeric is one of the most powerful foods for breast health because of its active ingredient curcumin. This compound has been found to decrease tumor size and fight breast cancer.

According to researchers, “curcumin modulates breast carcinogenesis through its effect on cell cycle and proliferation, apoptosis, senescence, cancer spread and angiogenesis.”

Potential Breast Cancer Diet

We know that certain foods help fight disease and can even prevent your risk of breast cancer, but how else can you prevent breast cancer naturally? Including these dietary and lifestyle factors into your “breast cancer diet” can help tremendously.

1. Consume More Fresh Fruit and Vegetables

Research says that one of the healthiest things you can do for your breast health is consume more fresh fruit and vegetables. Not only do these foods provide essential nutrients, including fiber, vitamins, minerals and powerful antioxidants, but they are also lower in calories, which helps you to maintain a healthy weight.

Plus, the connection between a plant-based diet and breast cancer is encouraging.

2. Eat High-Fiber Foods

A systematic review and meta-analysis published in Oncotarget found that dietary fiber consumption is significantly associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer, particularly in postmenopausal women. Eating plant sources of fiber is an important part of a breast cancer diet.

3. Opt for Natural Sweeteners

Although studies evaluating the effects of artificial sweeteners on cancer risk have mixed conclusions, there is limited evidence to suggest that consumption may increase the risk of certain cancers. In addition, high sugar intake is associated with obesity, a major risk factor for breast cancer.

Natural sweeteners are a healthier option for overall health. Americans consume way too much sugar on a daily basis, leading to inflammation and major health issues.

Some of the healthiest sugar substitutes include stevia, raw honey, maple syrup and coconut sugar.

4. Limit Alcohol

Studies suggest that the incidence of mortality from alcohol-attributable breast cancer is large. According to researchers, “an estimated 144,000 breast cancer cases and 38,000 breast cancer deaths globally in 2012 were attributable to alcohol, with 18.8 percent of these cases and 17.5 percent of these deaths affecting women who were light alcohol consumers.”

5. Avoid Conventional Dairy

Conventional dairy may contain additives, like emulsifiers, that alter the composition of your gut microbiome and cause systemwide inflammation. Plus, there is some research that shows high-fat dairy is related to a higher risk of mortality after breast cancer diagnosis.

You’re much better off sticking to cultured dairy to provide the body with beneficial probiotics.

6. Avoid Processed Grains

Processed or refined grains are very difficult for the body to break down, so they cause gut problems and may lead to inflammation, leaky gut syndrome and improper nutrient absorption.

Instead of eating packaged and processed foods, like frozen dinners, boxed pastas and store-bought baked goods, opt for using whole grains in home-cooked meals. Some great options are quinoa, barley, teff, millet and oats.

7. Choose Organic

Conventional foods are likely contaminated with noxious chemicals from pesticides and herbicides, which can negatively affect your health. To avoid consuming these harmful chemicals, buy organic and ideally locally grown foods whenever possible.

This is especially important when eating any of the “dirty dozen” foods.

You also want to avoid animal products that contain hormones and antibiotics by purchasing pasture-fed, locally raised meats. Look for labels indicating that they are hormone- and antibiotic-free.

These contaminants can affect estrogen disruption and increase the risk of health issues like breast cancer.

8. Maintain a Healthy Weight

Being overweight or obese is a risk factor for postmenopausal breast cancer.

Weight management plays an extremely important role in preventing breast cancer, as well as in rehabilitation and recovery. It reduces biomarkers of inflammation, improves lifestyle behaviors and improves quality of life.

9. Exercise Regularly

Research shows that regular moderate physical activity reduces the risk for developing breast cancer and increases survival rates. Moving your body every day is important for breast health and could involve walks outdoors, light jogging, yoga, pilates, swimming, biking, weight lifting and more.

Other dietary and lifestyle choices that promote breast health include:

• getting enough sleep
• spending time outdoors
• quitting smoking
• eating lean, organic proteins
• sticking to healthy fats

Risks and Side Effects

In addition to eating a nutritious diet full of foods that benefit your breast health, there are other factors that are important for cancer prevention, including not smoking, reducing toxic exposure and getting enough sleep.

These foods help your body to maintain health or heal itself, but make sure you add them to a balanced, healthy diet.

Final Thoughts

• What’s the best food for breast cancer patients? Studies show that nutrient-dense foods that provide protein, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals are the best foods for breast health.
• In addition to eating the best foods for breast health, it’s important to avoid problematic foods, reduce alcohol consumption, maintain a healthy weight and exercise regularly.

The post What’s the Best Way to Eat for Breast Health? appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Rolling Stone recently published an article exploring an ongoing secret of the oil-and-gas industry — and everyone who values his or her health needs to hear about it — regardless of political loyalties.

It turns out that wastewater produced by gas and oil wells — and trucked across U.S. neighborhoods in a disturbingly haphazard way — is filled with toxic compounds linked to cancer and more.

You may wonder — how can laws allow this? The truth is many elected officials are actually fighting for looser restrictions on toxic waste and applauding the “regulatory relief” that allows for our current (and dire) situation. Why? Well, money, of course.

Plenty of officials are turning their heads and pretending there’s no problem with the gas-and-oil industry and fracking for natural gas. In fact, pipelines, compressor stations, power plants and shipping terminals are being developed across the U.S. at a shocking pace — at a major cost to American citizens. Much of this gas is headed to the coast for export, while others will be used to create more single-use plastic pollution.

Major Findings Everyone Needs to Know About

Within the oil-and-gas industry, there’s a major problem that few are talking about — brine. What’s brine? It’s a salty substance that surges out of U.S. gas-and-oil wells. But get this, nearly one trillion gallons of this waste product is produced every year. According to Rolling Stone author Justin Nobel, “that’s enough to flood Manhattan, almost shin-high, every single day.”

The major issue with brine — it needs to go somewhere. After it’s collected in tanks, trucks pick it up and haul it away to treatment plants or injection wells; some is dumped right back onto American lands.

But that’s not the worst of it. Rolling Stone uncovered that this gas-and-oil waste is not only toxic, it’s radioactive. And we’re not just talking trace amounts here. “The Earth’s crust is in fact peppered with radioactive elements that concentrate deep underground in oil-and-gas-bearing layers,” Noble wrote. When oil and gas is extracted, this radioactivity is pulled up to the surface and carried in the brine.

We’ve known that small amounts of radiation are emitted from many common natural substances and many gas-and-oil industry representatives brush off concerns about the radioactivity of brine. But this Rolling Stone piece highlights the findings of a brine hauler who secretly stashed samples in his backyard shed after learning radioactivity levels were far higher than he was lead to believe.

When the Center for Environmental Research and Education at Duquesne University tested the samples, the results were shocking. In a nut shell, the brine consisted of extremely high radium levels — well above the restrictions set in place for hazardous-waste sites.

In terms of radium levels (which are measured in picocuries per liter), here’s a simple breakdown:

• The Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires industrial discharges to remain below 60 pCi/L
• Samples collected by the brine hauler measured 3,500 to 8,500 pCi/L
• Brine examined from sites in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York averaged around 9,300 pCi/L
• The highest recorded sample level was 28,500

We know that radium poses insidious health effects on the human body. It’s known as a “bone seeker” and is linked to devastating impacts on the skeletal system (including certain bone-related cancers). It’s also linked to birth defects, respiratory ailments and heart problems.

Think this only affects gas-and-oil industry workers? That may have been true in the “old days,” when waste wells were far removed from population centers, but with fracking, that’s no longer the case. Here’s what’s happening today…

• Regulations allow fracking wells closer to people’s homes.
• As of 2016, fracking accounted for more than two-thirds of all new wells in the United States.
• There are currently about 1 million active oil and gas waste wells, across 33 states, with the biggest growth occurring in the most radioactive area, the Marcellus shale areas of Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York.
• Legislators designed specific exemptions to allow the fracking industry to exist in our communities.

In addition to the radioactive waste being produced by the oil and gas industry, there are also pipes, pumps and filters in industry plants that are coated with radioactivity.

Insane Ways Industry Deals with Oil & Gas Wastewater

For starters, radioactive gas and oil wastes are stored and dumped across America, posing major health risks to industry employees, but drinking water sources, the land we use to grow food and the public. The is an entire waste stream most of the public knows little (or nothing) about, which involves toxic wastes being:

• Transported along U.S. highways, usually is unmarked trucks
• Handled by under-protected, ill-informed workers
• Leaked into waterways and wastewater treatment plants that can’t properly filter out contaminants
• Dumped in regional landfills
• Stored in dumps that aren’t equipped to contain the contaminants
• Spread on local roads as an de-icing agent
• Used to suppress dust on dirt roads, even in populated areas and close to farmlands
• Used in commercial products, like at-home de-icing agents

There are even reports of brine haulers being directed to dump the waste into abandoned mine shafts and a storm drain that empties into a community creek.

A study conducted by researchers at Duke found high levels of radium in river and stream sediment at levels 650 times those found upstream from industrial waste treatment plants.

Despite plenty of lawsuits, samples and anecdotal reports on the significant dangers of radiation-laced brine, state legislators from Ohio and Pennsylvania have pushed bills that actually protect the practice of brine-spreading. Legislation in Pennsylvania is also attempting to restrict the Department of Environmental Protections’s ability to test products containing brine.

And when state officials are pressed about the dangers of gas-and-oil industry waste, the most common reply is that they are “in accordance with federal and state air-quality statuses.” Well, that’s not too hard to do, considering there are no regulatory standards for brine.

Health Effects of the Oil & Gas Industry

Sadly, there hasn’t been enough research or testing on the health impacts of gas-and-oil brine exposure, or even exposure to pipes laced with toxic radiation. And, of course, the industry tends to dismiss the link between waste exposure and medical conditions.

A review published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health evaluated 20 studies involving health outcomes in populations living near oil and natural gas operations in the United States.

Of the epidemiological studies included in the systematic review, the following health issues or symptoms were reported by people living in areas close to oil and natural gas wells:

• Early infant mortality
• Preterm birth and high-risk pregnancy
• Low birth weight
• Depression
• Stress and fatigue
• Muscle and joint pain
• Urinary bladder cancer
• Central nervous system tumors
• Cardiology and neurology hospitalizations
• Congenital heart defects
• Neural tube defects
• Childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia
• Pneumonia
• Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS)
• Chronic pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Asthma and upper/lower respiratory infections
• Throat, nasal and eye irritations/burning
• Nosebleeds
• Gastrointestinal symptoms
• Sleep disturbances
• Migraines

We can’t make a clear link to these health conditions and toxins produced by wells, and further research is needed. (Remember, it took decades to definitely prove smoking causes lung cancer.) However, based on data, recent legal cases and the studies that do currently exist, we do know that there’s a strong link between the oil and gas industry and the following health threats…

1. Cancer

Radium, the radiation found in brine, emits what’re called alpha particles, which, when ingested or inhaled, can quickly mutate body cells. Scientists believe that each exposure to radium, especially at levels found in brine, increases a person’s risk of cancer.

A 2017 analysis conducted by Yale Public Health measured the impact of water contaminants and air pollutants related to oil and gas development. Researchers found 55 known, probable or possible human carcinogens. Twenty of these compounds are believed to increase the risk of leukemia/lymphoma.

The Wall Street Journal also recently reported on a string of rare sarcoma cancer cases around Washington County, Pennsylvania. Four counties in southwest Pennsylvania saw a roughly 40 percent increase in Ewing’s sarcoma cases in the last 10 years compared to 10 years prior. Of these recent cases, six cases of this rare cancer cropped up in a single school district. Another 10 children in nearby school district also developed other forms of cancer.

If you look at a map of active fracking wells in Pennsylvania, the connection seems obvious. Since 2003, corporations fracked more than 1,800 wells in Washington County alone.

2. Respiratory Conditions

The radium found in brine attaches to dust and is easily inhaled. And when an industry worker dealing with radioactive brine gets radium on his clothes and goes home to his family, they, too, are exposed to dangerous levels.

A 2016 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine also found a link between asthma symptoms and unconventional natural gas development (fracking). In Pennsylvania, where corporations drilled more than 6,000 wells between 2005 and 2012, reserachers found a statistically associated increased odds of mild, moderate and severe asthma exacerbations.

And a 2017 study published in Preventive Medicine Reports demonstrates an association between a range of health problems and unconventional natural gas development. Of the 135 health assessments conducted between February 2012 and October 2015, adults who lived within 1 kilometer of a well reported symptoms including throat irritation, cough, shortness of breath, sinus problems and wheezing. Other symptoms reported include headaches, stress or anxiety, sleep disruption, nausea and fatigue.

3. Skin Issues

A 2015 study published in Environmental Health Perspectives assessed the relationship between household proximity to natural gas wells and reported health symptoms. Researchers found that dermal symptoms were among the most common issuess and occurred most frequently among people living less than one kilometer from a well.

A 2019 article published in Environmental Health News suggests that fracking is linked to increased hospitalizations for skin issues, including everything from acne and eczema, to ulcers, rashes and diaper rash.

4. Burning Eyes, Nose and Mouth

One of the most common complaints among brine haulers and people living close to gas and oil wells is a burning sensation in their eyes, nose and throat. Nose bleeds are also commonly reported, according to a survey taken by residents of Washington County in Pennsylvania; so is loss of smell.

What You Can Do

When it comes to the regulation of radioactivity in oil and gas waste, there doesn’t appear to be one federal agency that’s in charge of setting clear standards and assuring compliance. The Environmental Protection Agency itself admitted to this.

And it’s also true that gas and oil brine isn’t even required to be handled as a hazardous waste. Apparently, this was an economic decision dating back to 1988. Labeling billions of barrels of waste as hazardous would have cause a severe economic impact to the industry, despite the concerning levels of lead, arsenic and other toxins. Today, instead, we’re dealing with the economic impacts of polluted air, water, diseases and likely early death.

Because brine isn’t considered hazardous, storage in our communities is allowed. The Department of Transportation has no jurisdiction over how it travels along community roads, passing schools, homes and waterways.

To address this major, life-threatening issue involving the gas-and-oil industry, there needs to be policy changes. The industry tends to put blame on the consumers, denies the health risks associated with their wells and praises loose regulations that lend to their profits. The high costs, in essence, are externalized to taxpayers. In addition to that, the U.S. government subsidizes fossil fuels at the rate of about $20 a year, with 80 percent going to natural gas and oil subsidies. Globally, when factors like healthcare costs and the full impact of pollution remediation related to fossil fuels are factored in, the number is a whopping $5.2 trillion, according to the International Monetary Fund.

We need policy changes that will include:

• Strict standards to ensure the safety of oil and gas industry workers and their families
• Regulations protecting waterways from waste contamination
• Regulations on waste driving routes so that they aren’t in more populated areas, by schools or close to waterways
• Banning brine-spreading (when brine is spread on rural roads for de-icing and reducing dust), which is currently legal in 13 states, including New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and Michigan

In the end, we have to figure out if we can actually perform fracking safely. And until we know the answer to that, public health experts say we should pause new development.

We all need to hold policymakers and the oil and gas industry accountable, making sure they have to follow the same rules as other industries. An organization called Open Secrets reported that the gas and oil industry paid out $28+ millions dollars to political candidates — $23 million to Republicans and almost $5 million was to Democrats.

One bill that deals with making the industry more accountable is called the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, or H.R. 763. This bill proposes a carbon fee and dividend that would make oil and gas companies pay for the true cost of their products. The idea is to encourage market-driven innovation for clean energy technology, and to discourage harmful pollution that negatively impacts our health and environment.

The pushback on this bill is that there will be an added cost that will likely be passed down to consumers. But, in return, citizens would receive monthly dividend checks that is anticipated to more than handle the increased costs for middle- and lower-income households. The money isn’t kept by the government, but rather given back to households to use as they see fit.

If you’d like to estimate your monthly financial impact under this bill, use this personal carbon dividend calculator.

True Cost of Oil & Gas Extraction

According to research published by the American Public Health Association, approximately 17.6 million people in the U.S. live within one mile of an active oil and/or gas well. Data suggests that for these people, there’s a higher risk of health problems, which will likely increase their healthcare costs. And the true cost of oil and gas extraction doesn’t stop there. Here’s a breakdown of just some of the financial impacts:

• Healthcare costs: In a 2008 report, public health costs of just one gas drilling region of Arkansas topped $10 million. With about a million gas and oil wells in America, you can only imagine the rise in healthcare costs going forward.
• Drinking water cleanup: When groundwater is contaminated with toxins due to oil and gas extraction, it isn’t cheap to clean that up. Reports show that water clean up in small areas affected by fracking costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more.
• Environmental impact: American forests and rural areas are being cleared for fracking, causing an increase in pollution, expansive nutrient-generated “dead zones” due to this pollution and a decrease in animal populations. Gas and oil industry wastes are also poured on roads, seeping into farmland and impacting American crops. How much will it cost to clear this pollution? Environment America suggests it would take $1.5 to $4 million dollars per year for every well.
• Use of water: An estimated single well requires 2 to 8 million gallons of water. To get this water, tanker trucks take about 200 to 300 trips to the well bringing water, and 400 to 600 trips away from the well with water waste.
• Infrastructure damage: This truck-heavy industry impacts roadways and quality of life for residents. Environmental America reports that truck traffic needed just for water delivery to one fracking well causes the same amount of local road damage as nearly 3.5 million car trips. Multiply that by the number of wells in America (about a million), and again for the waste haulers.

Although natural gas is touted for its reduced production of carbon dioxide, compared to coal, Americans are paying the true cost of natural gas with their health, contaminated water, contaminated drops and infrastructure damage. And when the entire lifecycle of natural gas is considered, some researchers find it’s actually more polluting than coal. Can an American healthcare system already strained afford this? 

Final Thoughts on Fracking Radiation & Conventional Oil & Gas Health Risks

• A 2020 Rolling Stone bombshell report uncovered a massive radioactive waste health threat exposing millions of Americas to cancer-causing contamination.
• This waste, called brine, contains radium — an extremely dangerous radiation that affects the skeletal, respiratory and cardiovascular systems. People living in closer (or semi-close) contact with brine report short-term symptoms like burning eyes, throat irritation, rashes, migraines, fatigue, joint and muscle pain, sleep disturbances, nose bleeds and respiratory conditions.
• It turns out that waste from gas and oil wells isn’t categorized as hazardous, so it’s commonly put into unmarked trucks, driven through populated areas and disposed of — being put back into soil or water. It’s even used on rural roads, where it seeps into waterways. In other areas, it winds up in landfills unequipped to handle high levels of radiation.
• Many members of government and the gas and oil industry do not have your back on this. Policy changes are necessary to protect the lives of Americans (and the environment) exposed to these toxins. Consider examining politician’s policy proposals on the natural gas industry. Support is gaining for H.R. 763, a market-based proposal that that would make industry pay for the true cost of extracting oil and gas. The collected money would be returned to U.S. households monthly and is expected to more than cover the increased costs for low- and middle-income households.

The post Rolling Stone Uncovers Fracking Radiation Bombshell — And Everyone Needs to Read It appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Does hair dye cause cancer? Let’s just say if you’re one to touch up your locks every month or so, you may be shocked to read about the scary connection researchers just discovered.

The results of a new study suggest the risk of breast cancer increases with more frequent use of chemical hair products, including permanent hair dye and hair straighteners.

For women using permanent dyes every five to eight weeks, for instance, the risk of breast cancer increases by about 60 percent in African American women and eight percent in white women.

Researchers suggest that although it’s unlikely the use of chemical hair products alone will determine a woman’s risk of breast cancer, avoiding these chemicals may beneficial. It’s one more way a woman can reduce the risk of becoming one of the one-in-eight women who develop breast cancer in the United States.

Does Hair Dye Cause Cancer: Study Takeaways

A study published in December 2019 in the International Journal of Cancer found that women who use permanent hair dye regularly were 9 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than those who didn’t use these products.

The study used data from the Sister Study. It looked at 46,709 women ages 35 to 74 who had a sister with breast cancer, but who were breast cancer-free themselves. The Sister Study, conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, sought to find causes of breast cancer by studying the environment, genes and experiences of breast cancer patients and their sisters.

The questionnaires given during study enrollment asked for hair product uses in the past 12 months. During the study follow-up, which was a mean of 8.3 years later, 2,794 breast cancer cases were identified.

Here’s what researchers learned from the data based on hair product use:

• Permanent dye use was associated with a 45 percent higher breast cancer risk in black women and a seven percent higher risk in white women.
• The risk of breast cancer increased among women who use permanent hair dye more frequency (every five to six weeks or more), especially among African American women
• Women who used personal straightener products had a higher breast cancer risk, and the more they used the products the greater the risk.
• Women who used hair straighteners at least every five to eight weeks faced about a 30 percent higher risk of  developing breast cancer.
• Nonprofessional application of semipermanent dyes and straighteners was not associated with a significant increase in breast cancer risk.

As you can see from the study data, women of color were much more impacted by chemical hair products than white women. Researchers can’t explain this disparity, but in the questionnaire, researchers asked participants what type of hair products they used. Because black and white women tend to use different types of hair products, that may be a factor.

Darker hair dyes often contain more chemicals, so they may be of greater concern, too.

Some may argue that these findings may not give us a clear understanding of how chemical hair product use is linked to breast cancer risk, as the participants in the Sister Study have a family history of breast cancer. But this data highlights, at the very least, that environmental factors, like the chemicals we use on our bodies, can pose negative impacts on our health.

Does Hair Dye Cause Breast Cancer? Top 10 Concerning Chemicals in Hair Dye

According to researchers from the National Institute of Environmental Health Services, “many hair products contain endocrine-disrupting compounds and carcinogens potentially relevant to breast cancer.”

There are three types of hair dyes:

• Temporary dyes that only cover the surface of your hair, but don’t penetrate the hair shaft
• Semi-permanent dyes that do penetrate the hair shaft, but wash out after five to 10 washings
• Permanent hair dyes that cause long-lasting chemical changes in the hair shaft

According to the American Cancer Society, permanent hair dyes contain colorless substances, including aromatic amines and phenols, that become dyes in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. A chemical reaction occurs, allowing the substance to permanently dye your hair until it grows out.

Environmental Working Group provides the following health risks of common hair dye ingredients:

1. Ammonia: Respiratory irritant and potential endocrine disruptor
2. Hydrogen peroxide: Respiratory and skin irritant; may burn skin, damage eyes and cause allergic reaction
3. P-phenylenediamine: Potential carcinogen that causes organ system and blood toxicity; may cause allergies and immunotoxicity; causes occupational hazards
4. Resorcinol: Potential endocrine disruptor and carcinogen that may cause allergies and immunotoxicity; contributes to occupational hazards, and may cause skin, eyes and lung irritation
5. Toluene-2,5-diamine sulfate: Potential carcinogen and immunotoxic agent
6. Methylisothiazolinone: May cause neurotoxicity, irritation and immunotoxicity
7. Artificial fragrance: High potential for allergic reactions and immunotoxicity; potential cause of organ system toxicity
8. Methylparaben: Potential endocrine disruptor and may cause biochemical or cellular level changes
9. 1-Naphthol: Potential carcinogen; may cause immunotoxicity and irritation
10. Ethanolamine: May cause organ system toxicity, irritation and allergic reactions

How do these chemicals work together to permanently dye your hair? First, ammonia (or ethanolamines when using an ammonia-free product) pulls apart the many layers of hair proteins, allowing for the dye to penetrate the hair shaft. Then hydrogen peroxide strips the hair and helps coloring agents, like p-phenylenediamine, to dye the hair.

Many of the dyes found in permanent hair dyes are called coal tar dyes and are usually formed as a by-product of hydrocarbon solvents. During the combustion or burning of coal, a thick brown-black liquid is generated. This chemical material is then used in cosmetic ingredients as dying agents, although they are known to have carcinogenic effects.

The Concern Over Straighteners

Researchers found that chemical relaxer and straightener products may contain hormonally-active compounds. The association between straightener use and breast cancer was similar among black and white women, but the data indicates that these products are more commonly used by black women.

The most problematic ingredient in hair straighteners, like the keratin treatment or Brazilian blowout, is formaldehyde. It’s a known carcinogen and may increase your risk of getting cancer, even at low levels that don’t cause noticeable symptoms.

Just smelling formaldehyde can cause irritations to your throat, eyes and nose — sometimes causing nose bleeds, a cough or sore throat. If this is your body’s response after smelling the chemical, imagine what happens when it’s applies directly to your hair and scalp?

Formaldehyde also impacts the central nervous system, leading to mood changes, insomnia, memory impairment and headaches.

And if you think you’re safe when using formaldehyde-free treatments, that may not be the case. Formaldehyde-free versions usually contain methylene glycol, which actually releases formaldehyde when it’s heated. Considering a hair iron at 450 degrees or higher is used during the hair straightening process, it seems like even formaldehyde-free options are dangerous.

Natural Alternatives

1. Use Natural Hair Lighteners

Instead of stripping your hair with hydrogen peroxide, try using ingredients that lighten your hair naturally. Some totally safe and surprising ingredients that you can use to lighten your hair include:

• Chamomile
• Baking soda
• Lemon
• Raw apple cider vinegar
• Sea salt

Generally, applying any of these ingredients to your hair and leaving it on for 20 to 60 minutes will help to lighten your hair without the danger of hydrogen peroxide.

2. Cover Grays or Go Darker With Henna

Henna powder is a safer, more natural alternative to permanent hair dye. Henna is a pure plant dye, so it doesn’t contain any chemicals. Of course, you’ll want to purchase henna powder from a reputable company and read the ingredients carefully.

To use henna powder, it needs to be combined with a ½ cup or more of boiling water. Then allow the mixture to sit overnight. When you apply it the next day, let it sit for around two to three hours and then rinse well.

Be sure to wear gloves when working with henna, and avoid dying your skin by applying a barrier oil (like coconut oil) along your hairline.

Lush makes a range of colors and doesn’t test on animals. Just be sure to do a patch test to ensure that you like the color and you don’t experience any allergic or adverse reactions to the henna.

3. Go A Shade Darker With Coffee

Did you know that a cup of joe can serve as a natural hair dye for anyone looking to go a bit darker? It won’t have the same effects as permanent hair dye, but it will give your hair a little boost when you need it.

All you have to do is mix brewed dark-roast coffee with coffee grounds and any natural leave-in conditioner.

Apply your concoction to your clean, damp hair and let it sit for at least an hour. Then wash it out.

4. Use Natural Keratin Hair Products

Using natural shampoos, conditioners and hair masks with keratin can help to smooth your hair and make it easier to straighten. Keratin works to repair your hair, giving damaged strands a much smoother and healthier appearance.

There are a number of keratin hair products on the market. As always, go with a reputable company that values using natural, non-toxic ingredients. Check the EWG Skindeep database for safer options.

5. Try A Natural Deep Conditioner

Have you ever used natural, toxic-free oils in your hair to add shine and tame frizz? Argan oil and coconut oil are both hydrating and healing oils that can help to give your hair a smooth look and feel.

Simply warm about a teaspoon of either oil in the palm of your hands and then massage it into your hair and scalp. Put a shower cap on and sleep like that for the night. In the morning, wash your hair as usual.

Final Thoughts

• Based on data collected in the Sister Study, researchers found a connection between permanent hair dye use and increased breast cancer risk. Hair straightening is also been linked to breast cancer development.
• Researchers found that African American women who dyed their hair every five to eight faced the highest risk of breast cancer.
• Emerging findings suggest chemical hair products do play a role in cancer risk, but we know that this isn’t the only factor that contributes to a person’s risk.
• Avoiding hair products that are made with toxic chemicals, especially permanent hair dyes and straighteners, is surely one way you can work to reduce your risk of breast cancer.

The post Does Hair Dye Cause Cancer? New Study Raises Concerns appeared first on Dr. Axe.

We’re making great strides in the treatment of cancer — 16.9 million survivors in the United States can testify to that. But this doesn’t mean it’s easy, as any patient will tell you. Cancer acts with innate intelligence, like it has a mind of its own, and uses sophisticated mechanisms to survive at any cost. In order to stay ahead of the disease, we have to outwit it at every turn. And part of that means better understanding galectin-3.

While we may never completely eradicate cancer from this world, groundbreaking discoveries have the potential to give us the upper hand against this aggressive disease. If cancer is smart, we have to be brilliant — and with leading-edge integrative strategies, we can be.

For more than 30 years, I’ve specialized in the integrative treatment of cancer, designing individualized protocols that combine diverse modalities into a comprehensive care plan based on each patient’s unique story. Nevertheless, amid the wide range of personalized treatments, there remain a handful of powerful integrative therapies that continue to demonstrate remarkable results against cancer, regardless of the type or stage.

The goal is to eliminate the disease and simultaneously restore health, and in my decades of research and working with patients, I’ve seen many outcomes that other doctors would call “miraculous.” We call it simply, integrative medicine. And while not every patient will become a miracle, every patient has the potential to be, based on the power of our innate healing capacity.

The secret is how to uncover it.

From Survival to Wellness

As an integrative MD and researcher, licensed acupuncturist and life-long practitioner of Buddhist meditation, I’ve developed a unique perspective and methodology around mind-body medicine, and specifically, our innate abilities to heal ourselves and others. At the same time, fascinating research continues to unravel the vast network of mechanisms that connect our mind and emotions to our physical health.

From these advancements, one thing has become crystal clear: In order to activate our innate healing abilities, to overcome cancer or any condition, we have to shift our biochemistry from a state of struggle and survival, to a state of harmony and wellness. Amid the constant barrage of stressors — environmental toxins, destructive emotions, fast-paced lifestyles — we have to find a way to turn off the biochemical alarm that’s constantly triggering our fight or flight responses.

These responses are a natural part of our immediate survival drive, but over time, they fuel inflammation, degeneration and cancer progression.

So how exactly do we solve this paradox? Because, obviously, we want to survive any life-threatening condition. In such cases our first instincts, as well as prevailing medical standards, call to arms an epic battle. But as the saying goes, no one wins in war. In order to overcome the disease and optimize long-term health, we need a more sophisticated approach.

Luckily, a large and fast-growing body of research has given us a specific therapeutic target to achieve this goal: the biological protein galectin-3. Thousands of published studies show how galectin-3, an adhesive cell surface protein with roles in cellular development and injury repair, acts as the number one driver of cancer progression and metastasis, as well as the initial alarm that controls the biochemical response to fight or flight survival. When the body perceives itself to be under attack, it produces more galectin-3, which in turn triggers a cascade of inflammatory signals, all of which fuel cancer and chronic diseases.

Disarming Galectin-3, Cancer’s Bodyguard

Galectin-3 allows tumor cells to stick together, develop blood supply, metastasize and evade the immune system. Galectin-3 also prevents apoptosis of cancer cells, and forms a protective barrier around tumors to shield them from attack. Essentially, cancer is using it for its own independent survival within our bodies. For these reasons, galectin-3 is termed, “the guardian of the tumor microenvironment.”

When we block the activity of unhealthy galectin-3 in the body, we can halt and reverse tumor growth, reduce metastasis, and restore proper immune function against the cancer. And according to the extensive body of published data, there is one way to do this: with a specific, researched form of the natural supplement, modified citrus pectin (MCP), derived from citrus peel pith. With over 50 published studies and counting, researchers at Harvard, the NIH and other renowned institutes are increasingly interested in the singular ability of this MCP to halt and reverse the devastating actions of galectin-3, in cancer as well as heart disease, kidney failure, arthritis and much more.

This researched form of MCP has a very specific molecular weight and structure which allows it to enter the circulation from the digestive tract, and bind to the carbohydrate receptors on galectin-3 molecules, safely disarming them.

Its anticancer effects are apparent in significant clinical results. One recent clinical study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology showed that this MCP effectively slowed PSA doubling time and cancer progression in patients with biochemical relapse of prostate cancer.

Mind-Body-Galectin-3

What if we could use our minds to reduce galectin-3? Research shows we can. One fascinating new study demonstrated that after 60 days of daily meditation practice, galectin-3 levels among heart disease patients were significantly reduced, compared to their original baseline.  This makes sense, since galectin-3 functions as the master alarm that sounds off ceaselessly when the body is under stress. This study also supports previous research showing that regular meditation reduces other pro-cancer proteins like TNF-alpha and CRP — these inflammatory markers are triggered by the master regulator, galectin-3. This is why I use meditation as an integral part of my medical and healing practice.

Strategy of Synergy

Based on extensive research and decades of clinical experience, I’ve found that targeting galectin-3 allows us to address a key cause of cancer development and progression, supporting and enhancing the body’s ability to overcome the disease. The shift from survival to wellness and harmony serves as the foundation of a truly holistic model of medicine, which we apply extensively in our clinic, Amitabha Medical Clinic in Santa Rosa, California.

The use of MCP, as well as the application of mind-body exercises, are two proven methods to address unhealthy galectin-3. In cases of aggressive cancer, a more intensive treatment called Therapeutic Apheresis can also be used. This advanced blood filtration treatment reduces inflammatory compounds and growth factors, as well as galectin-3, and can significantly change the outcome of cancer treatment.

When we address galectin-3, we see enhanced results when we layer additional therapies that work synergistically with this approach. For example, Apheresis provides critical benefits when used prior to chemotherapy, enhancing chemo’s efficacy and reducing side effects. By disrupting galectin-3’s protective mechanisms, we also allow other therapies — conventional and holistic — to reach the tumor for greater anti-cancer benefits.

One particular extract that exhibits remarkable ability against cancer is pure honokiol, a highly active molecule derived from Magnolia officinalis bark. Honokiol may be nature’s “smart drug” against cancer and other conditions; it works on numerous cellular and genetic pathways to halt cancer growth and metastasis, trigger apoptosis, reduce inflammation, decrease free radical formation and protect neurological function. Multiple published papers on this unique extract demonstrate its effectiveness and safety, including one study showing it works synergistically with MCP.

Additional therapeutic adjuncts include medicinal mushrooms for broad-spectrum immune support, as well as researched botanical and nutrient formulas with unique anticancer mechanisms. The goal is to create a multifaceted strategy that targets cancer’s multiple survival mechanisms with diverse, synergistic treatments.

Paradigm Shift

The more data that emerges on galectin-3, the more we see how it serves as the master regulator of our health and disease axis. In cancer, it’s a primary conductor. When we address unhealthy galectin-3 expression with proven methods, we effectively treat not just cancer, but numerous life-threatening conditions as well. We increase our longevity and health-span significantly, by balancing our biochemical alarm system.

This is how we can shift out of survival mode, and into a state of health, wellness and longevity.

Isaac Eliaz, MD, MS, LAc has been a recognized expert in the field of integrative medicine since the early 1980s, with a specific focus on cancer, immune health, detoxification and mind-body medicine. He is a respected formulator, clinician, researcher, author and educator. As part of his commitment to the advancement of integrative medicine, Dr. Eliaz partners with leading research institutes and has co-authored numerous peer-reviewed papers on innovative therapies for immune enhancement, heavy metal toxicity and cancer prevention and treatment. He is founder and medical director of Amitabha Medical Clinic and Healing Center in Santa Rosa, CA, where he and his team of practitioners pioneer individualized treatments for cancer and chronic illness.

The post Galectin-3: Disarming Cancer’s Bodyguard appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Tips for beating cancer should always include dietary components, but all too often, this part of cancer treatment is ignored.

We turned to William Li, MD, world-renowned doctor and author of the New York Times bestseller Eat to Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself to learn more about his thoughts on using food to activate our bodies’ innate healing abilities.

Q: Could you share a list of the top surprising foods linked to cancer?

A: There’s a laundry list of foods that increase risk for cancer, and these include some disturbingly common foods such as processed meat, which is classified as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization, and grilled meats.

Grilling meat produces polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). These are carcinogens that form when oils from the meat drip into the flame and smoke. The rising smoke deposits the carcinogens right on the meat. High grilling temperatures also convert amino acids and proteins in meat into toxic heterocyclic amines (HCA).

And if you don’t carefully clean the grill surface and leave the black char, the next time you put food on the grill, you are coating it with carcinogens.

Q: We often hear that the body “wants to be well” and has an incredible capacity to heal itself. Why, do you think, don’t more oncologists talk about food choices when a person is diagnosed with cancer?

A: The body is hardwired with health defense systems that work to help us resist diseases, including cancer, from the time we are born to our last breath. These health defenses, which I describe in my book Eat to Beat Disease, are:

• Angiogenesis
• Our regenerative system
• Our microbiome
• DNA protection
• Our immune system

These systems help our body heal itself. However, when they are weakened or damaged, cancer can develop.

Oncologists aren’t trained to look at health defenses — they are trained to diagnose and treat the cancers that have evaded them. The treatments involve surgery, drugs and radiation — food is not part of their traditional toolbox. And all doctors have little to no education or training when it comes to nutrition.

All of this is changing because oncologists are beginning to recognize the impact of food in cancer treatment.

For example, a study by oncologists of 826 patients with Stage III colon cancer undergoing treatment found that those who ate two servings of tree nuts each week had a 57 percent improvement in survival.

Another oncology study of 249 patients with various cancers who were being treated with immunotherapies found that those who did not respond were lacking a healthy bacterium in the gut microbiome called Akkermansia. The only way to grow Akkermansia is by consuming foods like pomegranate, cranberries and mangoes. This is emerging evidence that food can collaborate with medicine to improve cancer treatment. Oncologists are starting to pay attention.

Q: If someone is newly diagnosed with cancer, what are the most important foods to start working into the diet right away?

A: Everyone is different, and it’s important to individualize diet based on a person’s needs. For example, someone with diabetes tolerates foods differently from someone with celiac disease. But, there are some general principles for using food as medicine, especially when it comes to cancer.

We know cancers grow blood vessels to feed themselves, so it’s important to eat foods that can starve cancer by cutting off these bad blood vessels. These are called antiangiogenic foods, which include: soy, tomatoes, green tea, oily fish, berries and brassica vegetables.

We also know that cancers are especially dangerous because they contain cancer stem cells, which can keep cancers coming back after treatment. New research shows that cancer stem cell-killing foods exist, including purple potatoes, green tea, coffee and walnuts.

We know a strong immune system can help wipe out cancer cells. Immune-boosting foods include: broccoli sprouts, blueberries and chili peppers.

Eating prebiotic foods that contain fiber, like mushrooms and beans, can feed healthy gut bacteria, which helps lower inflammation and improve immunity. Other microbiome-boosting foods include fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut and yogurt.

Knowing your health defenses, and which foods boost them, is key for using diet to fight cancer. But remember, food is not a cure, so diet is an important part of the toolbox along with modern treatments, like immunotherapy or antiangiogenic therapy.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

A: There are some foods that people should really think twice about consuming, because they disrupt the health defenses that help you avoid cancer. These are: processed meat, sugar sweetened beverages, artificial sweeteners, and ultra-processed foods.

These foods are everywhere, and part of the typical American diet, but consuming them regularly should be considered a risk. Your health defenses can be boosted or lowered by different foods. Choose the ones that boost your health.

William W. Li, MD, is an internationally renowned physician, scientist and author of the New York Times bestseller Eat to Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself.

His groundbreaking work has led to the development of more than 30 new medical treatments and impacts care for more than 70 diseases including cancer, diabetes, blindness, heart disease and obesity. His TED Talk — Can We Eat to Starve Cancer — has garnered more than 11 million views.

Dr. Li has appeared on Good Morning America, CNN, CNBC and the Dr. Oz Show, and he has been featured in USA Today, Time Magazine, The Atlantic and O Magazine. He is president and medical director of the Angiogenesis Foundation. More information can be found at: www.drwilliamli.com and on social media @drwilliamli

The post Tips for Beating Cancer: Activate Your Body’s 5 Health Defense Systems appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Finding ways to kill cancer stem cells has been one of the holy grails in cancer research. While this is a target of biotechnology companies working on cancer treatment, scientists have already discovered dietary factors (cancer stem cell-killing foods) that have the ability to kill cancer stem cells, at least in some forms of cancer.

Cancer stem cells are responsible for initiating many cancers, as well as igniting the recurrence of cancers after treatment. Here are the top cancer stem cell-killing foods…

Green Tea and Matcha Tea

Green tea has many useful functions, including the ability to kill cancer stem cells. Scientists at Nanjing Medical University and Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center in China studied the effect of the green tea polyphenol, epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), in the lab and found that it could reduce the growth of colon cancer stem cells by 50 percent.

In addition, EGCG forced the cancer stem cells to commit cell suicide through the process of apoptosis. Another study from the University of Salford in England showed that matcha green tea, a form of powderized tea leaf, can interrupt the metabolic pathway of breast cancer stem cells, depriving them of energy and causing them to die. The effect of the EGCG in green tea on targeting cancer stem cells may help explain the protective effects of tea against colon and other cancers.

Purple Potatoes

Originating from Peru, purple potatoes were prized by the ancient Inca for their nutritive benefits. They contain the bioactive anthocyanin, a blue-purple pigment that also gives many dark berries their hue. Scientists at Penn State University explored the effect of purple potatoes on cancer stem cells. In the lab, they fed mice that are at high risk for developing colon cancer the dietary equivalent of one purple potato (Purple Majesty variety) each day for a week.

They compared the effects of the potato with that of an anti-inflammatory drug called Sulindac, which is known to suppress colon polyps and colon cancer development. After one week, the colons of the mice were examined. The mice fed purple potatoes had 50 percent fewer tumors. When the colon tissues were more closely examined under the microscope, there was a 40 percent increase in the killing of colon cancer stem cells compared to the group that did not eat purple potatoes. They found that the cancer stem cells in mice fed purple potatoes were deprived of key survival factors.

When the scientists removed the cancer stem cells from the mice and exposed them to a purple potato extract, they found the extract caused a twenty-two-fold reduction of aggressiveness in the behavior of the cancer stem cells.

The scientists prepared the purple potato in different ways, including baking, dicing, and freeze-drying, yet the bioactive cancer stem cell-fighting components appear to be stable even under different conditions and preparation techniques. Given their effects, purple potatoes may have in addition to their marvelous color features unique cancer-fighting properties that traditional white potatoes do not.

Walnuts

Walnuts are popular tree nuts that are eaten raw, roasted, candied, or even pickled. They are nutrient dense and contain bioactives like gallic acid, chlorogenic acid, and ellagic acid. As described earlier, eating walnuts is associated with a reduced risk for developing colon cancer and also improves survival in patients who have colon cancer. Scientists from Ewha Womans University, Seoul National University, and Sungkyunkan University in South Korea studied a walnut extract for its ability
to kill cancer stem cells.

In the lab, they grew colon cancer stem cells isolated from a patient, and exposed the cells to a walnut extract. After two days of exposure, the number of cancer stem cells treated with walnut extract declined by 34 percent. By six days, there was a stunning 86 percent suppression of cancer stem cell growth. The potent effect of walnuts on cancer stem cells might help explain the results of the study of 826 patients with stage 3 colon cancer who had a 57 percent lower chance of death, and a 42 percent lower chance of cancer recurrence associated with eating nuts. If you have colon cancer, eating walnuts may literally save your life.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Extra virgin olive oil contains a class of bioactives known as secoiridoids, which represent up to 46 percent of the total polyphenols present in olive oil. These natural chemicals are absorbed in the small intestines and can be detected in the blood plasma and in urine, proving their presence and availability in the body.

Scientists from Spain showed in the lab that olive oil secoiridoids could dramatically reduce the growth of breast cancer stem cells. When mice were injected with breast cancer stem cells that were exposed to secoiridoids, as many as 20 percent of the mice did not develop tumors. In the 80 percent that did develop tumors, the tumors were fifteen times smaller and grew at a much slower rate than untreated breast cancer cells. This result is consistent with the suppression of breast cancer stem cells.

The power of the olive oil secoiridoids on stem cells was evidenced at the genetic level: after the breast cancer stem cells were exposed, the bioactives changed the activity of 160 genes involved with controlling stem cells. One gene was reduced in its activity fourfold, while the activity of another gene that antagonizes cancer stem cells was increased thirteen-fold. The health-protective power of extra virgin olive oil now extends to targeting dangerous stem cells.

Other Foods That Target Cancer Stem Cells

Other noteworthy bioactives found in foods can suppress cancer stem cells. Genistein is found in soy. Luteolin occurs in celery, oregano, and thyme. Quercetin is found in capers, apples, and peppers. All three of these compounds kill prostate cancer stem cells. Luteolin is especially potent and can shut down the activity of prostate cancer stem cells twenty-fold. The bioactive of green tea, EGCG, has also been shown to work together with the bioactive quercetin to inhibit prostate cancer stem
cells, as well.

Some bioactives play dual roles. They can promote healthy functions in a defense system while combating the opposite effect in the same system. Chlorogenic acid helps maintain normal circulation through angiogenesis in healthy tissues, while it can simultaneously starve dangerous tumors by cutting off their blood supply.

Similarly, chlorogenic acid enhances normal stem cell function for organ regeneration, but it also cripples cancer stem cells. In fact, scientists at Nihon University in Japan found that chlorogenic acid blocks the genes supporting lung cancer stem cells, and it increases the activity of genes that kill cancer cells by one-thousand-fold. How the bioactives work in dual fashion is not well understood.

Foods high in chlorogenic acid include coffee, carrots, and stone fruit, like apricot and plums. Scientists at Seoul National University in Korea discovered that resveratrol, the bioactive found in red wine, grapes, peanuts, pistachios, dark chocolate, and cranberries, could interfere with the growth of breast cancer stem cells by 60 percent. Ellagic acid is another bioactive that
has been discovered to target breast cancer stem cells. Foods high in ellagic acid include chestnuts, blackberries, walnuts, and pomegranates.

Ketogenic Diet’s Potential Role

The ketogenic diet involves eating a high-fat, very low-carbohydrate diet that mimics fasting for the purpose of generating ketones in the body.

Ketones are created from fat stored in the body when carbohydrates are not available for metabolism to make glucose. The ketones are used as an energy source by cells in place of glucose. This dietary strategy, although difficult to sustain, has been used for decades to help control epilepsy and is being explored to help treat glioblastoma, a deadly brain tumor.

While normal healthy cells can adapt to use ketones as an energy source, cancer cells cannot adapt the same way because they rely on glucose to keep up with their high energy demands. When glucose is low, tumors have difficulty growing. Ketones also interfere with the ability of cancer cells to obtain energy, making tumors more likely to respond to treatment when the patient is adopting a ketogenic diet. In lab mice with brain tumors, the ketogenic diet can shrink tumors by 50 percent and
lengthen survival.

To explore the impact of a ketogenic diet on glioblastoma stem cells, researchers at the University of Florida in Gainesville obtained cancer stem cells from patients with glioblastoma whose tumors had been surgically removed. The cells were grown in incubators with normal glucose, low glucose, or ketogenic conditions. In low-glucose conditions, brain cancer stem cells were stunted in their ability to grow compared to normal glucose conditions. This supports the idea that high sugar consumption, which may stimulate cancer stem cell growth in cancer patients, should be avoided. When the cells were exposed to ketone bod-
ies in addition to low glucose, there was a more than twofold suppression of glioblastoma stem cells.

Glioblastoma was used to study the ketogenic effect, in part because of the importance of cancer stem cells in this disease. Even if this cancer is successfully removed or treated initially, the glioblastoma stem cells help it return aggressively. Avoiding added sugar and adhering to a ketogenic diet are strategies that may be helpful in fighting brain tumors.

Cancer Stem Cell-Killing Foods: Putting It All Together

Your stem cells are always at work, but as you age, they slow down and can use some help. Eating foods that mobilize your stem cells can boost your body’s intrinsic ability to protect and maintain your organs. Regenerative eating, which stimulates stem cells from within, is a whole new way to think choosing which foods and beverages to consume every day.

Keep in mind that Asian and Mediterranean dietary patterns commonly contain ingredients that have been shown to help your stem cells. And be aware that other patterns, such as high-fat, high-salt or high-sugar diets, can stun them — not something you want to do frequently.

If you are fighting a chronic disease, activating your stem cells may be important for helping you overcome the damage it does to your tissues. If you’ve had a heart attack or a stroke, your stem cells can help save your heart and rebuild your brain. In these situations, powering up your stem cells is a way to fight for your health, regain your strength, and keep your
body functioning the way it needs to for a long life.

If you want to improve fitness, eating regenerative foods will help you improve blood flow, and have more energy and better endurance. If you are an athlete or in training for physical performance of any kind, you’ll want to recruit those stem cells to build muscle. If you are middle-aged and want your body to stay youthful, if you’ve had surgery and need to heal fast, or if you are recovering from an illness and want to bounce back to health quickly, eating foods that increase your circulating stem
cells may be one way to achieve your goals.

Finally, not all stem cells are your friend. Cancer stem cells are extremely dangerous. If you have cancer, or have ever had it, your number one focus should be to kill those cancer stem cells. There’s no medicine that can do this yet, but there are a growing number of foods, and their bioactives, that are being studied for their suppressive effects on cancer stem cells. Fortunately, foods that target cancer stem cells do not harm beneficial stem cells.

Excerpted from Eat to Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself. Copyright© 2019 by William W. Li, MD. Reprinted with permission of Grand Central Publishing. All rights reserved.

William W. Li, MD, is an internationally renowned physician, scientist and author of the New York Times bestseller Eat to Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself.

His groundbreaking work has led to the development of more than 30 new medical treatments and impacts care for more than 70 diseases including cancer, diabetes, blindness, heart disease and obesity. His TED Talk, Can We Eat to Starve Cancer?, has garnered more than 11 million views.

Dr. Li has appeared on Good Morning America, CNN, CNBC and the Dr. Oz Show, and he has been featured in USA Today, Time Magazine, The Atlantic and O Magazine. He is president and medical director of the Angiogenesis Foundation. More information can be found at: www.drwilliamli.com and on social media @drwilliamli

The post Top 5 Cancer Stem Cell-Killing Foods appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Surveys show that the consumption of sugary drinks has increased in the last several decades on a global scale, up approximately 40 percent from 1990 to 2016.

When health authorities warn against consuming “sugary drinks,” they are usually referring to those made with added sugar, such as soda, juices and sweetened teas or energy drinks. However, findings from a large new study suggest that in addition to these beverages, even 100 percent fruit juice, which is high in natural sugars, may also be problematic when it comes to disease development.

What are the negative effects of sugary drinks, according to the latest research? Some include having a negative impact on cardiometabolic health, diabetes risk, body weight and obesity, and according to recent studies, even cancer risk. For example, researchers involved in a 2010 study estimated that among all worldwide yearly deaths from diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, about 178,000 were attributable to sugary drink consumption.

Compared to studies investigating the relationship between sugar and obesity or heart disease, the association between the negative effects of sugary drinks and the risk of cancer has not been investigated much until recently. Emerging research is now showing that drinking beverages high in sugar can put you at greater risk for cancers including breast, pancreas, gallbladder and endometrial cancer.

Related: What Is Functional Soda (& Is It Good for You)?

The Study: Sugary Drinks Raise Risk of Cancer

In July, 2019, the journal BMJ reported on results from the NutriNet-Santé prospective cohort study, which focused on investigating whether drinking sugary drinks could raise participants’ cancer risk. The objective of the study was to “assess the associations between the consumption of sugary drinks (such as sugar sweetened beverages and 100 percent fruit juices), artificially sweetened beverages, and the risk of cancer.”

The study, which included 101,257 healthy French adults with an average age of 42 years, included data for 97 sugary drinks and 12 artificially sweetened drinks. The sugary drinks group consisted of all sugar sweetened beverages containing more than 5 percent of simple carbohydrates, as well as 100 percent fruit juices (with no added sugar). This includes soft drinks (carbonated or not), syrups, 100 percent juice, fruit drinks, sugar sweetened hot beverages, milk-based sugar sweetened beverages, sport drinks and energy drinks. Artificially sweetened beverages included all beverages containing non-nutritive sweeteners, such as diet soda, sugar-free syrups, and diet milk-based beverages.

The mean intake of sugary drinks and artificially sweetened beverages in the study was 117.3 mL/d, or about 4 ounces (1/2 cup). Results from the study suggest that a 100 mL (or 3.4 ounces) per day increase in the consumption of sugary drinks is associated with about an 18% increased risk of overall cancer and a 22 percent increased risk of breast cancer.

According to the BMJ article, results showed that consumption of sugary drinks was significantly associated with the risk of overall cancer and breast cancer. The consumption of artificially sweetened beverages, however, was not associated with the risk of cancer.

A finding that may come as a surprise for many people? Even the consumption of 100 percent fruit juice was significantly associated with the risk of overall cancer. These findings suggest that “sugary drinks, which are widely consumed in Western countries, might represent a modifiable risk factor for cancer prevention.”

How might sugary drinks increase cancer risk?

It’s believed that there are at least several significant negative effects of sugary drinks. There’s plenty of evidence that consuming sweetened beverages is associated with increased risk of obesity, which in turn, “is recognized as a strong risk factor for many cancers.” Excess weight is considered a strong risk factor for mouth, pharynx, larynx, oesophageal (adenocarcinoma), stomach (cardia), pancreatic, gallbladder, liver, colorectal, breast (postmenopause), ovarian, endometrial, prostate (advanced) and kidney cancers.

Sugary drinks seem to even promote gains in visceral fat/adiposity (deep abdominal fat) independently of body weight; visceral fat is linked to growth of tumors (tumorigenesis) through alterations in adipokine secretion and cell signalling pathways.

Aside from contributing to weight gain/obesity, researchers believe that mechanisms underlying a link between sugary drinks and cancer might involve insulin resistance caused by consumption of a high glycaemic load. Certain chemical compounds in sugary drinks, such as 4-methylimidazole in drinks containing caramel colorings may also be possibly carcinogenic to humans, based on research by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Pesticides in fruit juices and artificial sweeteners such as aspartame might also play a role in carcinogenesis that contributes to cancer formation.

Related: Quinine in Tonic Water: Is It Safe? Side Effects, Potential Benefits & More

Better Alternatives to Sugary Drinks

Drinking plain water is the single best way to stay hydrated, since water contains zero calories or sugar and is essential for overall health for many reasons.

What else can you drink aside from regular water that will keep you hydrated without contributing extra calories and sugar to your diet?

Here are some of the best healthy drinks that make great alternatives to sugary beverages:

• Water with fruit slices or lemon/lime juice
• Coconut water
• Unsweetened coffee
• Unsweetened teas (green, white, black, herbal like turmeric tea, dandelion tea or peppermint tea, etc.)
• Fresh squeezed vegetable juices or low-sugar fruit juices (unsweetened), such as tart cherry, cranberry, blueberry, celery, parsley juice, etc.
• Bone broth
• Kombucha
• Unsweetened kefir (“drinkable yogurt”) or goat milk

Should artificially sweetened beverages be consumed in place of sugary drinks?  While artificially sweetened beverages (ASBs) were not linked to cancer risk in the study mentioned above, they have been associated with certain health problems in other studies. For example, a number of studies have linked ASBs to higher incidence of hypertension, obesity, type 2 diabetes and impaired glucose intolerance, changes in gut microbiota, and potentially more cravings, headaches and other symptoms.

The post Sugary Drinks Raise the Risk of Cancer — Does This Include Fruit Juice? appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Breast cancer now affects about 1 in 8 U.S. women at some point during the course of their lifetime. It is the second most common cancer among women (after skin cancer) and the second leading cancer-related cause of death.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimates that as of 2018, approximately 260,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer are diagnosed each year in the U.S. alone. (1) Although survival rates for breast cancer have gone up in recent decades, screening options remain a very controversial issue.

Clinical trials regarding breast cancer screening technologies, including mammograms, have overall shown conflicting results. More than 85 percent of U.S. women aged 40 years or older have had at least one screening mammogram in their lifetime. (2) Today, not all experts agree on which screening procedures should be recommended to the public, especially in younger women who are under the age of 50.

In March 2019, for the first time in more than 20 years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed amendments to key regulations regarding the quality and safety of mammography services. The FDA has now admitted that while mammography may be the best screening test to search for breast cancer, it does not find all breast cancer — especially in patients with high breast tissue density, which makes it harder to find breast cancer on a mammogram.

Mammograms are now known to be less reliable in women with dense breasts, which is estimated to be more than half of all women over the age of 40. Because of this, going forward healthcare providers will need to give women more information about risks associated with dense breasts and other factors that can make it more difficult to accurately screen for breast cancer.

The Standard Mammogram Recommendations

Mammograms are performed today for two reasons: They help detect breast cancer and also help confirm a diagnosis if another screening option shows the presence of cancerous cells. Mammograms might be able to help screen for breast cancer in some cases, but they do nothing to help prevent or treat breast cancer (in fact, the opposite might be true).

Whether or not to be screened for breast cancer by undergoing a yearly (or bi-yearly) mammography can be a very confusing and difficult choice. There are dozens of different opinions available today regarding how often to be screened, starting at what age, and what the potential risks of various screening options might be. To help you make an informed decision, it’s important to understand the benefits, limitations and risks of all your screening options.

The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) released a revised recommendation in 2009 stating that women in their 40s should NOT necessarily have yearly mammograms, and need to carefully the weigh the risks considering their personal situation. This recommendation conflicts with those of the American Cancer Society (ACS) and other authoritative groups, leaving women unsure of what to do in order to help protect themselves from cancer.

The American College of Physicians has also made recommendations similar to the USPSTF, and the National Breast Cancer Coalition has routinely warned women of the limitations and potential for harm that mammograms hold.

Current Breast Cancer Screening Recommendations:

Below is the current summary of mammography recommendations released by the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force as of 2009: (3)

• Women, Ages 50–74 Years: biennial screening (every two years) mammography is recommended. The USPSTF states “there is high certainty that the net benefit is moderate, or there is moderate certainty that the net benefit is moderate to substantial.”
• Women, Before the Age of 50 Years: The USPSTF states “The decision to start regular, biennial screening mammography before the age of 50 years should be an individual one and take patient context into account, including the patient’s values regarding specific benefits and harms.”

According to women’s health expert Dr. Christine Northrup, The United States Preventive Services Task Force is a trustworthy, influential government-appointed group that offers non-bias guidance to doctors, insurance companies and policymakers. They revised their guidelines in 2009 after reviewing all of the available evidence, and changed their recommendations regarding mammograms as to advise women to start regular breast cancer screening at age 50 (every two years) instead of at age 40. (4)

Although other screening options exist, and mammograms won’t help treat cancer even in women over 50, the USPSTF feels they can be beneficial for detecting cancer in women at a high risk.

On the other hand, the American Cancer Society offers these recommendations regarding breast cancer screening: (5)

• Women ages 40 to 44: should have the choice to start annual breast cancer screening with mammograms if they wish to do so. The risks of screening as well as the potential benefits should be considered.
• Women age 45 to 54: should get mammograms every year.
• Women age 55 and older: should switch to mammograms every two years or have the choice to continue yearly screening.

The guidelines above are meant for women at average risk for breast cancer. Women with a personal history of breast cancer, a family history of breast cancer, a genetic mutation known to increase risk of breast cancer (such as BRCA), and women who had radiation therapy to the chest before the age of 30 are known to have an even higher risk for breast cancer.

Although The American Cancer Society does support mammograms because they can sometimes help detect cancer in its early stages, such as ductal carcinoma in situ or DCIS, they also point out that “mammograms are not perfect.” They state on their website that “mammograms miss some cancers. And sometimes more tests will be needed to find out if something found on a mammogram is or is not cancer. There’s also a small possibility of being diagnosed with a cancer that never would have caused any problems had it not been found during screening.”

History of Mammogram Research

One reason that mammograms remain controversial is that much of the research done to determine their pros and cons was carried out decades ago, when the quality of imaging devices was much poorer. Clinical trials to determine if mammograms are beneficial and safe were first conducted in the 1970s, and since this time these trials have been criticized for having many flaws and limitations.

The U.S., Sweden, Canada and the U.K. all conducted trials in the ’70s that showed women had a better chance of detecting breast cancer in its early stages if they were screened using mammograms while also receiving usual medical care, compared to women who were not being screened with mammograms but still receiving usual medical care.

Because of this finding, it was determined that it was unethical to purposefully withhold mammogram screenings from certain women going forward for the sake of research. That meant that well-controlled, randomized, blinded trials comparing mammograms to no mammograms were mostly discontinued after the ’70s, making it hard to draw definitive conclusions.

Since this time other studies have found that mammography tends to be less accurate in women under the age of 50. Two reasons why mammograms are now recommended for women over 50 (but often not for those who are younger) is that there are fewer breast cancer cases in younger women to begin with, and secondly that younger women have denser breast tissue that makes mammograms less accurate.

Mammograms are most accurate in post-menopausal women who have more fatty breast tissue, but less so in younger women. Research has revealed that the benefits of mammography are mostly limited to women between the ages of 55 and 69, but that “no statistically significant benefits are seen outside this age range.” (6)

The facts above about the inaccuracy of mammograms in younger women, coupled with recent findings that mammograms can pose certain risks, have led some health authorities to change their minds about whether women should receive mammograms. New findings are constantly being released, and opinions often change — but as you’ll learn, there are very real risks for undergoing yearly mammograms and following up “false positives” with risky conventional treatments.

Potential Dangers of Mammograms

In 2001, the Cochrane Institute carried out an analysis to study findings about mammography screening and pointed out that overall screening can actually be harmful because it frequently leads to overdiagnosis and overtreatment. They also found that many advocacy groups and websites in favor of mammograms accepted sponsorship from the mammogram industry without restriction. This results in certain organizations promoting the benefits of mammograms without also revealing the risks and drawbacks. (7) This is same issue is also a problem when it comes to treating cancer naturally versus with more aggressive approaches.

How and why mammograms can increase cancer risk:

1. Overdiagnosing and Overtreating

Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a type of cancerous cell present in 10 percent of all women, and in 15–60 percent of women in their 40s. DCIS means that abnormal cells have been found in the lining of the breast milk duct, but that they have not spread outside of the ducts into the surrounding breast tissue. DCIS itself is not life-threatening, but having DCIS can increase the risk of developing an invasive breast cancer later on.

So although detection of DCIS cells can be dangerous in some women, this isn’t always the case. As Dr. Michael Cohen of Sloan-Kettering Hospital says, “It may stay there a women’s whole life and never invade surrounding tissue … we don’t know how to tell the one that won’t spread from one that will.”

This creates a big problem for doctors, because if a mammogram picks up DCIS cells in a woman’s breast, there’s no way to know how to respond with and manage their condition appropriately. A host of invasive and dangerous steps might be taken as part of a treatment plan for cancer in response to DCIS cell abnormalities, even before they ever even have the chance to progress. Oftentimes the recommendation after DCIS is detected is for the patient to start treatment with surgery, radiation, hormone therapy or chemotherapy to stop cancer from progressing.

Since mammography screening was first introduced in the 1970s, DCIS detection has increased dramatically. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) reported the incidence of DCIS in 2004 to be 32.5 per 100,000 women. This is considerably higher than the 5.8 per 100,000 was that estimated in 1975. (8) Some speculate that radiation and pressure to which women are subjected to during mammograms is responsible for a high percentage of the increase in DCIS, but even if it isn’t, there’s a real concern for overtreating DCIS and causing negative side effects.

2. Increases Radiation Exposure

Mammograms expose your body to very high levels of radiation — some even speculate radiation that is 1,000 times greater than a chest x-ray. (9) It’s been theorized that ionizing radiation mutates cells, and the mechanical pressure can spread cells that are already malignant (as can biopsies).

Aside from mammograms not being very accurate in younger women, another potential danger is that the breast tissue of women under 40 (pre-menopausal women) is highly sensitive to radiation. The Breast Cancer Organization points out that “diagnostic radiation from mammography in women under 40, or possibly in women before menopause in general, may well carry an increased risk of cancer associated with radiation alone.” They also state that radiation is very dangerous for pregnant women − even more so than chemotherapy!

Breast cancer risk increases by 1 percent for every additional unit of radiation. The Department of Epidemiology and Radiology at University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands has found that among all high-risk women, average increased risk of breast cancer due to low-dose radiation exposure was 1.5 times greater than that of high-risk women not exposed to low-dose radiation. High-risk women exposed before age 20, or with five or more exposures, were 2.5 times more likely to develop breast cancer than high-risk women not exposed to low-dose radiation!

Research published by Harvard Medical School also states that for every 1 gray of radiation (a unit that measures the absorbed radiation dose), a woman’s risk for heart disease rises by 7.4 percent. (10)

3. Causes Increased Stress and Anxiety

Most people aren’t aware that all of us have cancerous cells in our body to some degree, but our immune system is able to fight them very effectively, provided we don’t have nutrient deficiencies or toxicity of some sort in our bodies. We are led to believe that cancerous or mutates cells are completely abnormal and alarming, but this is not in fact the case. As you’ve seen above, overreacting and overtreating detected cancerous cells can do more harm than good in some cases.

One thing that might surprise you about cancer: Our stress levels and beliefs about our own health can impact if we actually become sick or stay healthy. Clinical studies done over the past 30 years have provided strong evidence for links between “chronic stress, depression and social isolation and cancer progression.” (11) It’s speculated that the high amount of undue stress that occurs when a person believes that they have cancer can cause them to succumb to a lack of hope and further illness.

High amounts of anxiety, stress, and a lack of hope is not something to take lightly − studies have found that for some people optimism and a positive outlook might actually increase health and chance of achieving recovery. (12) Dr. Joseph Mercola agrees. He states that, “Just thinking you may have breast cancer, when you really do not, focuses your mind on fear and disease, and is actually enough to trigger an illness in your body. So a false positive on a mammogram, or an unnecessary biopsy, can really be damaging.” (12)

The FDA’s Stance on Accuracy of Mammograms:

According to a March 2019 statement released by the FDA, “As part of our overall commitment to protecting the health of women, we’re proposing new policies to modernize our oversight of mammography services, by capitalizing on a number of important advances in mammography, like the increased use of 3-D digital screening tools and the need for more uniform breast density reporting….Today’s proposed rule would help to ensure patients continue to benefit from advances in new tools and robust oversight of this field.”

The FDA’s 2019 proposed amendments are intended to:

• Improve communication and medical decision making between patients and their doctors. New language in mammogram reports will help ensure patients have access to information about the impact that risk factors like breast density and others have when it comes to developing breast cancer.
• Provide patients and their healthcare providers with more information about breast density. “Dense breasts” are considered breasts with a higher proportion of fibroglandular tissue compared to fatty tissue. Dense breasts have been identified as a risk factor for developing breast cancer. It’s estimated that more than half of women over the age of 40 in the U.S. have dense breasts.
• Better explain how breast density can influence the accuracy of mammography services. Dense breasts can obscure signs of breast cancer and lower the sensitivity of mammogram images. Dense breast tissue makes it harder for doctors to see signs of cancer, which means mammograms can be less accurate. The goal is for patients with dense breasts to better understand their personal risk and to speak with their health care provider about screening and treatment options based on their individual situation.
• Health care professionals will also now be provided information about three additional categories regarding breast cancer risk, including “known biopsy proven malignancy.”
• Additionally, new regulations will likely be established for mammography facilities regarding the information they share they patients. Facilities will need to notify patients if testing does not meet the FDA’s quality standards, this way patients (such as those with high breast density) will know if they should seek out other imaging tests in addition to mammograms.

Facts About Mammography Risks

• Mammography screenings induce a lot of unnecessary procedures, anxiety and costs. A large-scale Swedish study found that 726 women of 60,000 who underwent mammograms were referred to oncologists for treatment. But roughly 70 percent of those women were actually cancer-free! (13) The proportion of false positive results was particularly high in women under 50 years old. A whopping 86 percent of the women under 50 who were referred for further treatment wound up being found to be cancer-free.
• Another analyses done by the Nordic Cochrane Center involving 800,000 women found no statistically significant reduction in breast cancer mortality in the first nine years of a mammogram screening program. (14)
• The Lancet reports that mammograms are very inaccurate in younger women. (15) Of the 5 percent of referrals to oncologists after mammograms are performed, studies show that between 20–93 percent of cases are believed to be “false positives.” How could the number of inaccurate diagnoses be so high? The belief is that in a very high percentage of those who receive false positive diagnoses, the inaccurate diagnoses is made due to unclear readings as a result of high breast density.
• Another study, conducted by members of the Radiological Society of North America found that a woman who has yearly mammograms between ages 40 and 49 has about a 30 percent chance of having a false-positive mammogram at some point in that decade. (16) Research also shows that a whopping 62 percent of women don’t even want to take false-positive results into account when deciding about screening options.
• A Canadian study spanning 13 years involving 39,405 women concluded that mammography screening does not result in a decrease in the absolute rate of advanced breast cancer and does not reduce mortality when compared to physical examination only. The researchers concluded that women aged 50–59 years consider the option of an annual physical examination plus regular self-examination as an alternative to annual mammograms. (17)

A Better Option Over Mammography

Thermography is a new, non-invasive technology that does not use radiation or compression to screen for breast cancer. Breast density also does not affect its results, meaning it’s accurate in younger women, too. It’s painless, easy to perform, can be performed in pregnant women, lower in cost than mammograms and can be just as effective and accurate (if not more). (18)

Thermography measures infrared heat from your body and interprets the information in images that can tracked over time to look for changes. Using thermography, doctors can detect cancerous tumors in its early stages, offering patients the best chance of recovery.

Of course, prevention is also key. Eat a healthy diet with cancer-fighting foods, get enough exercise, reduce stress and limit toxin exposure to lower your risk as much as possible.

The post Mammograms Do Not Find All Breast Cancers appeared first on Dr. Axe.

What is thermography? Thermography is a state-of-the-art, and potentially life-saving, method of detecting cancer by using thermal imaging. The technology used to perform thermograms is considered one of the most reliable for risk assessment and detection, especially in the case of breast cancer — as opposed to potentially cancer-causing mammograms.

The Breast Thermography website calls the thermography procedure “one of the most important adjunctive breast imaging procedures available today.” (1)

A Key Tool in Risk Assessment

Early detection of breast cancer is one of the keys to significantly improving survival rates; in fact, it’s estimated that up to 95 percent of breast cancer cases can be overcome when the cancer is detected in its earliest stages.

Every year, more than 70,000 adult men and women between the ages of 15 and 39 are diagnosed with cancer in the U.S., with breast cancer being the most common, and also most deadly, type in women in this age group. (2) Today, doctors don’t typically order mammograms for women under the age of 40, and because up to 75 percent of women who get breast cancer have no family history of the disease, detection often comes late.

Over the past 20 years, thermography (also sometimes called infrared thermography, or IRT) has come a very long way, and today doctors rely on using ultra-sensitive, high-resolution digital infrared cameras to track thermal (heat) patterns throughout patients’ bodies. Thermography is performed as a 15-minute non-invasive test — there is no compression, radiation or contact involved, explains explains Dr. Alexander Mostovoy, DHMS, BCCT, of the Thermography Clinic Inc.

Doctors can also perform full-body imaging scans using thermography to predict if any areas of the body show signs of abnormality or inflammation. If  thermography results appear abnormal, a patient’s doctor is alerted to changes that could indicate early stages of disease development that could lead to cancer. If a disease like breast cancer is suspected and later confirmed, a doctor can continue closely monitoring the patient’s progress and come up with the best cancer treatment plan to combat the disease before it’s able to progress.

How Thermography Works

Photo: Thermography Clinic Inc.

Thermographic cameras work by detecting heat that naturally emits from the body. Results of thermal imaging tests are known as thermograms.

Infrared thermography is the technique of converting infrared energy (radiant heat) into an image that can be seen. All substances in the universe give off some heat in the form of radiation naturally, and the amount of radiation emitted increases with temperature. (3)

In other words, infrared energy emitted from an object is directly proportional to its temperature. Thermography tests can track variations in body temperature from one person to another, and also to track changes in the same person’s surface temperature over time. But it’s important to point out that heat radiating from the body is not the same thing as dealing with radiation therapy.

While it’s been researched most extensively for its role in detecting breast cancer, the benefits of thermography can also be applied to the rest of the body. Other than helping to provide risk assessment relating to breast cancer, thermography imaging is used to track changes in women with fibrocystic conditions, infections, allergies and even cardiovascular diseases that affect the arteries. (4) Thermal imaging cameras are even used in airports to detect illnesses (like the swine flu) or concealed weapons, by firefighters to detect smoke and find trapped civilians, and utilized by the military as part of surveillance protocols.

The primary reason that thermography tests are so beneficial is that they offer an earlier, more reliable way to detect abnormal cellular activities and suspected tumor growths compared to other tests like self-examinations.

Thermography imaging tests are both precise and sensitive, picking up on even subtle changes in the body that can signify a lurking problem. They are also inexpensive and don’t require any exposure to radiation or invasive procedures, limiting barriers to testing.

Key Facts About Thermograms:

• Thermal vision tests are designed to detect fast-growing, active tumors. The tests demonstrate heat patterns that can be strongly indicative of abnormalities, including those associated with breast cancer. They can also be used to evaluate sensory-nerve irritation or significant soft-tissue injuries and to identify pain sources. (5)
• The primary way that thermal imaging works is by detecting temperature variations related to blood flow and demonstrating abnormal patterns associated with the progression of tumors. When the body is viewed through a thermal imaging camera, warm areas stand out against cooler areas, and changes in patterns can be tracked over time. Because cancer cells are growing and multiplying very fast, blood flow and metabolism are higher in the areas near a growing tumor, which means skin temperature near these locations increases. (6)
• Thermography is not invasive, is low-cost, and does not require use of radiation.
• These tests can be especially helpful in the intervals between other types of screenings, including mammographies (which are usually not indicated for women under 50 years old). (7) Approximately 15 percent of all breast cancers occur in women under 45, which means risk assessment in this age group is still very important. Breast cancer tends to be more aggressive when it strikes this young population of women.
• Thermogram results differ from person to person, so once a “baseline” thermal image is recorded, it’s kept on file to compare against future evaluations. Some experts describe thermogram results as being like a “thermal fingerprint,” since they are unique to each person and only change if pathology (disease) develops.
• Doctors track a patient’s thermal image recordings in order to ensure that their images remain consistent and stable for several years in a row, which signifies that they aren’t experiencing abnormal changes.

Breast Cancer Thermography Research and Effectiveness

The American Cancer Society estimates that 230,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer are diagnosed every year among U.S. women alone, and that of these cases, about 1,200 women under the age of 40 die every year from breast cancer. (8)

Although they aren’t intended to treat cases of cancer, thermography tests are being performed today on many adult women as part of early risk assessment programs for breast cancer. They’re even commonly recommended for women under the age of 50, the age group that mammograms might be the least accurate for. This gives women of all ages the best possible protection against breast cancer by offering the opportunity to establish risk factors early on.  Thermography has the ability to identify patients at the highest risk and actually increase the effective usage of mammograms imaging procedures afterwards.

• One of the primary advantages of thermography is that it’s usually performed years before conventional mammograms are ordered. This allows doctors to identify patients who are at a higher risk for cancer development so that they can be monitored more carefully
• Following thermography indicating a potential problem in the breast, it’s very common to utilize other tests like mammography or ultrasound to confirm if there is a lesion, growth or tumor forming. Because various tests are used together to give the patient the best chance of a full recovery and positive outcome, thermography has been called “an adjunct to the appropriate usage of mammography, and not a competitor.”
• As of now, the American Cancer Society does not recommend thermography as a replacement for mammograms. Thermography can be used to supplement information from a mammogram to help identify cancer, the organization notes.

Thermography tests can also detect subtle changes in breast temperature that indicate a variety of breast diseases other than cancer, too. These include other forms of fibrocystic syndrome or Paget’s disease. A detection of abnormal heat patterns will then lead your doctor to prescribe follow-up procedures, in order to properly diagnose your condition and confirm if, or if not, you’re developing cancer.

Is Thermography Always Safe and Effective?

Here’s what you need to know first before having a thermogram done:

• In February 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety communication to warn patients that thermography is “not cleared by the FDA as an alternative to mammography and should not replace mammography for breast cancer screening or diagnosis.” At the same time the FDA also issued a warning letter to a clinical in California that offers thermography to patients stating that the clinic was “illegally marketing and distributing an unapproved thermography device as a sole screening device for breast cancer and other diseases.” This is the sixth time the FDA has sent warning letters to manufacturers for marketing unapproved thermographic devices and/or making misleading claims about thermography.
• The FDA has stated that in their opinion, people who substitute thermography for mammography may miss the chance to detect breast cancer in its earliest and most treatable stages.
• The FDA does consider IR Thermography to be a safe practice when used as an adjunctive tool in cancer screening; thermography tests were FDA registered as of 1982. However, thermography is still considered an “alternative screening option” for cancer and is not intended to replace other procedures.
• The latest version of the The American Cancer Society’s Guidelines for Breast Cancer Screening does not consider thermography alone an effective way to screen for cancer. (9) The FDA remains concerned that women will believe thermography tests can replace mammograms altogether, and they advise all patients to still receive regular mammograms according to screening guidelines and recommended by their health care providers. (10)
• Thermography is painless and does not require the use of invasive procedures or even radiation, and there is no contact. However, it’s not 100 percent accurate (no test is) and is best used along with other detection methods.
• Thermographers should always a hold certification from a professional school. Check with your provider to make sure the facility is following all approved codes of ethics and quality control guidelines.

Pre-Imaging Protocol Guidelines

Prior to having a thermal imaging test done, you’ll be expected to prepare by following these guidelines:

• Avoid attending physical therapy, getting a massage, or having a test using electromyography done on the same day as thermography
• Wear loose clothing to the test
• You shouldn’t exercise within 4 hours of your test, since this can affect your internal body temperature
• Don’t drink anything very hot or cold for at least 2 hours before the test, however you can eat normally
• Avoid smoking at least 2 hours before the test
• Don’t use any products including lotion, deodorant, perfume, powder, etc. on your skin before the test
• Don’t have a thermal imaging test if you have a sunburn on your skin. And following the test stay out of the sun for the day

What to Do After Thermography

If your thermography is abnormal, wondering what you do next?

If your doctor suspects a problem based on your thermogram results, you’ll be closely monitored and offered a number of treatment paths. Ultimately you want to make sure that your thermography results are interpreted by an adequately trained and experienced doctor who can help you make the best decisions about your treatment plan.  No matter what avenue you choose to go down in order to slow the progression of your disease, there are several things that you can do to help you manage (and hopefully completely overcome) your health condition:

• Eat a nutrient-dense diet and limit consumption of processed, packaged foods. Make sure to include plenty cancer-fighting foods including leafy greens, probiotic foods and berries.
• Consider trying the Gersen Therapy or Budwig Protocols and vegetable-juicing, in order to supply your body with plenty of healing nutrients and antioxidants.
• Exercise regularly, manage stress and get plenty of rest.
• Avoiding too many cocktails. Alcohol and breast cancer risk are intricately linked. The more you drink, the higher your risk of developing breast cancer.
• Improve your body’s ability to detox by utilizing supplements (such as turmeric/curcumin, medicinal mushrooms, pancreatic proteolytic enzymes, potassium, omega-3 fish oils and vitamin B12). Even consider trying safe and effective coffee enemas.
• Spend about 20 minutes outdoors everyday in order to produce enough vitamin D.
• Find support in whatever way works for you, whether it’s online, joining a support group, or through prayer.
• Research other alternative cancer treatments including oxygen therapy, hyperbaric chambers, vitamin C chelation therapy and frankincense essential oil.

Final Thoughts

Thermography is a safe, contact-free, radiation-free tool that can be used in risk assessment for several diseases, including breast cancer. Thermography should not take the place of other recommended screenings, but serve be a powerful tool to track diseases in your body that could point to early disease development.

The post Thermography: Breast Cancer Detection + Better Risk Assessment appeared first on Dr. Axe.

A “sustainable agriculture company” focused on “empowering farmers ­— large and small — to produce more from their land while conserving more of our world’s natural resources such as water and energy” sounds like the type of company you’d want to support.

And why wouldn’t we want to use an “excellent tool” that helps farmers and homeowners “control weeds in a wide variety of situations” while posing “no unreasonable risk to people, the environment or pets” in our gardens or our communities? After all, who would turn down a product that ensures healthier crops and doesn’t affect the environment around it? It seems like a win-win.

That’s just what Monsanto wants you to believe about its flagship product Roundup — but it couldn’t be further from the truth, as Monsanto is potentially killing us.

What Is Monsanto and How Powerful Is This Company?

Monsanto is an international agriculture company based out of St. Louis, Mo., whose history dates back to the early 20^th century. It began by producing the artificial sweetener saccharin and later moved on to producing chemicals like Agent Orange, widely used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War and later found to be carcinogenic.

After selling off its chemical divisions after numerous environmental violations and lawsuits, today Monsanto sticks to the biotechnology and agriculture business. Whether you’re familiar with the brand or hadn’t heard of it before today, you’ve almost surely consumed a Monsanto-associated product. Genetically altered seeds from Monsanto can be found in alfalfa, canola, cotton, sorghum, soybeans and sugarbeets. In fact, Monsanto’s patented genes are present in about 95 percent of U.S.-grown soybeans and 80 percent of our corn. (1)

But the real money maker for Monsanto is Roundup. Developed in 1974, the herbicide is designed to control weeds, grasses and broadleaf plants in both farmland and home gardens, thanks mainly to its active ingredient, a chemical called glyphosate. Roundup is the most popular weedkiller in the world and it shows — the product accounted for around a third of Monsanto’s $15.8 billion in sales in 2014, according to the company’s annual report.

What sounds like a harmless protectant has actually led to more herbicide use, an increase in genetically modified crops, and a host of potential health and environmental problems lawmakers seem reluctant to confront. In fact, the World Health Organization declared in March 2015 that glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic to humans”: in other words, it probably could cause cancer in humans. So why has this product been touted as safe — and what does this mean for us as consumers? Let’s dig in.

The Monsanto Roundup Takeover

Monsanto Roundup was created in 1974 as the company shifted its focus from chemicals and plastics to agriculture. The herbicide quickly became a farm favorite; it was considered benign to crops yet powerful. By inhibiting an enzyme essential to plant growth, according to Monsanto, it would kill anything green and unwanted in the fields that threatened harvests, while remaining safe for humans and animals. (2)

Of course, using Roundup widely brought certain difficulties for farmers ­— using Roundup widely would kill weeds, but it also could kill healthy crops along with it. So in 1996, Monsanto introduced Roundup Ready crops, also known as “glyphosate tolerant crops.” These Roundup-resistant crops were designed to help control weeds by allowing farmers to treat their fields with the pesticide without fear of hurting crops ­— in short, a miracle product for farmers.

The Roundup Ready crops spread like wildfire. In 2014, Roundup Ready crops accounted for 94 percent of soybeans and 89 percent of corn. (3) Between the two, these crops cover more than half of America’s farmland.

But nature wasn’t going down without a fight. After decades of being sprayed with Roundup, new weeds began sprouting. Known in farming circles as “superweeds,” these weren’t dying, even after Roundup treatment. And because of the high probability that weeds treated with Roundup wouldn’t survive, the ones that did all passed down their survivor gene, rendering Roundup helpless in killing them.

Because Roundup-resistant crops are so ubiquitous, the efforts to save them from superweeds can lead to higher food prices, lower crop yields and more expensive techniques, less environmentally friendly techniques, like regular plowing, to combat them. Most alarmingly, farmers are turning to additional, often more toxic herbicides to combat the Roundup-resistant superweeds, undermining the claims made by Monsanto that Roundup Ready crops are better for the environment.

What’s So Dangerous About Monsanto Roundup?

OK, you’re thinking. Monsanto Round and Roundup Ready crops seem to have given farmers the short end of the stick. But for the average consumer who purchases their fruits and vegetables at the supermarket, does it really matter? Oh yes.

The WHO Links Glyphosate to Cancer

One of the main concerns about Monsanto Roundup, the most-used weed killer in the world, is its active ingredient glyphosate. According to a group of scientists convened by the World Health Organization, glyphosate is probably carcinogenic to humans. (4) A carcinogen is an environmental factor that can lead to cancer, either by changing a cell’s DNA or causing other changes within the body that increase the chance of DNA changes.

What makes carcinogens like glyphosate so frightening is that long-term effects aren’t always immediately apparent. It works in tandem with other factors so that, over time, it makes other diseases and conditions more likely to occur.

In the medical journal The Lancet, scientists discussed several studies that showed people with occupational glyphosate exposure (say, farmers), had increased risks for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, even after the study was adjusted for other pesticides. They also mention that “glyphosate has been detected in air during spraying, in water, and in food,” and point out that glyphosate “induced DNA and chromosomal damage in mammals, and in human and animal cells in vitro” (i.e. during pregnancy). (5)

Glyphosate’s Wide Reach

However, exposure to glyphosate doesn’t stop at just farmers. In fact, Monsanto Roundup leads us to a long chain of exposure that affects almost every single one of us and isn’t so easy to get out of.

About 75 percent of the food available at the grocery store contains genetically modified organisms (GMOs). (6) These usually will contain glyphosate residue, as they were grown from Roundup Ready crops, particularly alfalfa, corn and soy.

But even if you try to only eat non-GMO foods and don’t consume any of those products on their own — let’s say you hate corn, alfalfa and soy and are also gluten-free — they’re often ingredients in processed foods you might indulge in, like snack foods, canned soups and potato chips. Additionally, any animal who ate crops treated with Roundup ­— they nibbled on GMO corn, for example — will have traces of it in its meat.

And the amounts are rising. Thanks to the rise of Roundup-resistant crops, farmers now spray indiscriminately and without fear of destroying crops in the process. That means that while in the past, we might have gotten a bit of herbicides in our food, the levels today are much higher; in fact, Environmental Protection Agency data shows that in 2007, farmers used about 185 million pounds of glyphosate, or about double the amount they used in 2001. (7)

What does all that glyphosate you’re unwillingly consuming mean? Aside from its links to cancer, research shows that glyphosate’s ability to inhibit certain enzymes in the human body actually enhance environmental toxins and induce disease. (8) The consequences are “most of the diseases and conditions associated with a Western diet, which include gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, fertility, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.” It’s also been linked to Parkinson’s disease and prion diseases. (9)

Yikes.

Interestingly enough, most studies involving glyphosate focus on the chemical on its own. But while it’s the main ingredient in Roundup, it’s far from the only one. Now, new studies are showing that the inert ingredients in Monsanto’s Roundup — that is, the substances aside from the active ingredient that are added to the herbicide — increase Roundup’s toxic effects. (10) One specific ingredient was found to be more deadly to human embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells than Roundup itself; researchers called the finding “astonishing.”

Other countries are taking notice. In Argentina, where Monsanto’s Roundup has turned the country into the world’s third-largest soybean producer, a report by the Ministry of Health revealed that, between 2005 and 2009, cancerous tumors were double the national average in the areas where GMO crops are grown and agro-chemicals like Roundup are used. (11) Now, more than 30,000 doctors and health professionals in Argentina are urging the government to ban Monsanto products. (12)

In Colombia, after the WHO’s announcement that glyphosate probably causes cancer, the President is currently reviewing recommendations made by its Ministry of Health to suspend the use of Monsanto Roundup as the country fights the growth of illegal coca crops. (13)

We Don’t Have a Clear Picture

While many scientists believe that the benefits of genetically engineered crops have been overstated and those treated with herbicides may pose more serious health and environmental risks than previously reported, it’s impossible to get a full look. That’s because of a chilling practice employed by Monsanto and other agricultural companies restricts the research done on their genetically engineered seeds. (14)

In order to purchase a GMO seed from Monsanto, a customer must sign an agreement limiting what can be done with the seeds. Guess what’s on there? You got it: independent research. Those scientists who fail to adhere to the agreement can be sued by Monsanto.

While studies do still get published, the only ones that are published are those that have received the thumbs up from seed companies. In other cases, studies that were allowed to take place were later blocked from publishing by the companies because the results weren’t positive. While companies have taken steps in recent years to be “transparent” and bolster their public image, we’re still in the dark about Monsanto’s seeds. (15) For example, a (non-binding) agreement with the USDA allows the federal agency to study crop production practices, but restricts it from taking a closer look at things like the health risks of GMO crops.

The kicker? Monsanto’s claims that its engineered crops allow for higher production hasn’t been substantiated. (16) Turns out, while some crop yields of GMO corn delivered a bit more than their non-GMO counterparts, some didn’t and others actually yielded less.

Herbicide Drift

As if disease, cancer and a lack of transparency weren’t enough, Monsanto Roundup can also affect farms that have chosen not to use the product. Welcome to herbicide drift, where herbicide spray contaminates unintended targets. Drift “damages crops … hurts wildlife, and contaminates water supplies. Herbicide drift can also deposit illegal residues on eatable crops, especially organic crops or processed crops that are checked for contaminants.”

There are ways for farmers to reduce herbicide drift, but it’s hard to control. Particles can move long distances because of high wind or changes in temperature. And, of course, they’re also carried by our friends in nature. A 2015 study found that 62 percent of conventional honey and a whopping 45 percent of organic honey contained levels of glyphosate above the minimum established limits. (17) That’s right, even the organic honey was contaminated. Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible for modern day honeybees to avoid things like herbicides, pesticides and other toxins in their hunt for nectar.

Additionally, conventional beekeepers often use pesticides to protect bees from parasites in the hive. Beeswax retains chemicals so, over time, these pesticides make their way into honey. (18) While organic beekeepers stay away from these chemicals, if they purchase wax, it’s more than likely they’ll get a dose of glyphosate; 98 percent of commercially sold wax contained at least one pesticide.

Interestingly enough, the study also looked at where the honey was produced. The honey from countries that allowed GMO crops had the highest levels of glyphosate in their honey — the U.S.-made honey contained the highest levels.

How to Reduce Monsanto Roundup’s Grip

Knowing what we do about Monsanto Roundup and its far-reaching effects, it’s easy to feel like there’s nothing we can do. In fact, there is plenty we can do to fight dangerous Monsanto. From buying organic to supporting those companies — like Chipotle recently moved to offering only non-GMO foods — and small-scale farmers who choose not to buy into GMOs, we have power.

Buy Organic and Local

Organic vegetables on a stand at a farmers market with a sign reading locally grown. By definition, GMOs are prohibited in organic products. (19) Organic farmers cannot plant GMO seeds; organic cows cannot eat GMO corn, and your cereal cannot contain GMO ingredients.

That’s not to say your food is completely safe ­— the honeybee example above proves that organic food might not be 100 percent glyphosate and GMO-free. But the fact is still that the organic honey contained less traces of the chemical than the conventional options. Organic farmers also take different measures to reduce the chances of cross-pollination with GMO crops.

Additionally, take the time and get to know your local food producers. Becoming a certified organic farm can be too costly for small-scale farmers who are, in practice, growing organically.

Chat with them at your local farmers’ market and ask about the methods they use to protect their crops from weeds (organic farmers can still use certain pesticides!), what their animals are fed and where they get supplemental ingredients from (for products like jam or baked goods).

And if you’re weighing the cost of adding more organic products to your family’s food budget, keep in mind that organic products can also have more nutritional value.

Beware, unless its organic, of any food with canola, corn and soy in its ingredient list — as it’s more than likely it contains GMOs and the effects of Monsanto Roundup.

Let Your Favorite Companies and Legislators Know You Don’t Want GMOs

Chipotle is pledging to prepare food using only GMO-free ingredients. Tyson’s Chicken, America’s largest poultry producer, announced that by September 2017, it aims to eliminate all human antibiotics in its chickens. (20) Panera Bread is crossing artificial sweeteners, preservatives and meat from animals raised from antibiotics off its ingredient list. Whole Foods is requiring all products in its U.S. and Canadian stores to indicate if they have GMOs by 2018. (21) In Vermont, GMO-labeling activists have won the first round in requiring that GMO foods sold in the state be labeled. (22)

Consumers have spoken about non-GMO foods and the like; fortunately, the food industry is listening. The tide is turning but not fast enough. So tell your favorite brands and legislators that you don’t want GMOs and Monsanto Roundup in your food — or, at the very least, you want to have a choice in whether you consume them or not.

Monsanto Roundup might have a grip on our agriculture right now, but it doesn’t have to be this way forever. The more we can spread the word about the dangers of Roundup and Roundup Ready crops, the better chance we have of getting GMO-free food.

The post Monsanto Roundup Linked to Infertility and Cancer appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Colorectal cancer —  now the second most common cause of cancer death in the U.S. — usually begins as a “polyp,” which is why another name for colon polyps is “colorectal polyps.” The type of colon polyp called an adenoma is a known precursor of colorectal cancer. While in some cases small colon polyps will develop into colon cancer over time, most colon polyps remain small, are non-cancerous and are generally harmless.

How common is it to have polyps in the colon? Polyps are considered “very common” in adults over the age of 60, who have about a 25 to 30 percent chance of having a polyp. However they are much less common among younger adults, such as those in their 20s or 30s. (1)

Doctors highly encourage adults over the age of 50 to visit their doctors for regular colorectal screenings, since finding a colon polyp in its earliest stages greatly limits the chances of complications. Certain lifestyle changes can also help to reduce your risk of developing colon polyps and colorectal cancer, or to support recovery — including eating an anti-inflammatory diet, quitting smoking, exercising, getting enough calcium and vitamin D, and maintaining a healthy weight.

What Are Colon Polyps?

A colon polyp (or colorectal polyp) is an extra piece of tissue, or a small clump of cells, that grows on the lining of the colon. (2) Colorectal polyps can grow in any part of the colon — also known as the large bowel or large intestine, which solid waste moves through before leaving the body — usually forming on the left side of the colon and/or in the rectum. (3) The rectum, where feces is stored before being excreted, begins at the end of the large intestine and ends at the anus.

Types of Colon Polyps:

There are two main types of colon polyps: non-neoplastic polyps and neoplastic polyps (which include adenomas/tubular adenomas). (4)

• Non-neoplastic colon polyps usually do not become cancerous. These include hyperplastic polyps, inflammatory polyps and hamartomatous polyps.
• Neoplastic polyps are more likely to become cancerous, although they don’t always. These include adenomas and serrated types.
• Neoplastic polys are typically larger. Determining colon polyp size is an important part of diagnosis because larger polyps pose a greater risk of causing cancer.

An adenoma (a type of neoplastic polyp) is a tumor of glandular tissue. According to the American Cancer Society, “An adenoma is a polyp made up of tissue that looks much like the normal lining of your colon, although it is different in several important ways when it is looked at under the microscope.” (5) It’s estimated that two-thirds of colon polyps are the precancerous type called adenomas, and that only about 5 percent of adenomas progress to cancer. (6)

Adenoma polyps are not a type of cancer, but they are considered pre-cancerous (meaning that they can turn into cancers). However, most patients with adenoma polyps will never develop colon cancer.

Adenomas can have several different growth patterns, including: tubular and villous, or a mixture of both (called tubulovillous adenomas). Most are tubular adenomas that are small (less than one-half inch), while some are larger adenomas with a villous growth pattern that are more likely to have cancers develop in them.

When viewed under a microscope, polyps that are only mildly abnormal are said to have low-grade (mild or moderate) dysplasia, while polyps that are more abnormal and look more like cancer are said to have high-grade (severe) dysplasia.

Symptoms and Signs

Not everyone with colon polyps will be aware that they have them; in fact, most of the time colon polyps don’t cause any noticeable symptoms.

When they do occur, the most common colon polyps symptoms include: (8)

• Rectal bleeding (which can also be caused by other conditions, not polyps, including hemorrhoids, or tiny tears in the tissue of the anus). You may notice blood on your underwear or on toilet paper after a bowel movement.
• Blood in your stool or other changes in your poop color, such as dark red streaks or black stools.
• Stomach pain, abdominal cramping and aching/tenderness near the bowels. Large colon polyps are more likely to cause pain because they may partially obstruct your bowel.
• Constipation or diarrhea.
• Developing anemia due to iron deficiency and prolonged bleeding. Bleeding from polyps can deplete your body of iron, making it difficult to produce red blood cells and carry oxygen throughout your body, leading to symptoms like fatigue, weakness and shortness of breath.

Causes and Risk Factors

Colon polyps develop when cells grow and divide in an abnormal way inside the colon or rectum, leading to a growth that may become big enough to obstruct the bowel. This can happen to due inflammation of the large intestine, or mutations in certain genes that cause cells to continue dividing when they normally wouldn’t.

Research suggests that colon polyps causes and risk factors that can increase your chances of developing colon polyps include: (9)

• Being over the age of 50.
• Being male. Studies indicate that men are more likely to have colonic neoplasms and twice as likely to have advanced lesions compared to women. Advanced neoplasia polyps affect about 2.9 percent of women in their 50s compared with 4.7 percent of men of the same age.
• Having a personal or family history of colon polyps or colon cancer.
• Suffering from leaky gut syndrome (aka intestinal permeability) or inflammatory gastrointestinal issues or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease.
• Metabolic syndrome and having type 2 diabetes.  Individuals with type II diabetes have a 3-fold increase in colon cancer compared with nondiabetic individuals.
• Obesity or being overweight. Studies conducted in Germany, Japan and the U.S. have found a two- to three-fold increased incidence of colorectal neoplasms in overweight individuals.
• Suffering from chronic inflammation, including having high circulating levels of glucose and lipids that create an oxidative environment.
• Having high serum IGF-I (insulin like growth factor) concentrations than the general public.
• Being a smoker.
• High alcohol consumption.
• Lack of exercise/a sedentary lifestyle.
• Having a rare hereditary disorder that affects the intestines and can cause colon polyps to form, including: Lynch Syndrome (aka hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer), Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP), Gardner’s Syndrome, MYH-Associated Polyposis (MAP), Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome or Serrated Polyposis Syndrome.
• Being African-American (African-American are also at higher risk of developing colon cancer).
• Being deficient in calcium and/or suffering from vitamin D deficiency.

Diagnosis

You should visit your doctor if you start noticing new symptoms like abdominal pain, bloody stools and unexplained changes in your bowel habits — especially if you’re at an increased risk of developing polyps or colorectal cancer (for example if you have a family history of colon cancer).

Because you can have colon polyps and not experience any symptoms at all, it’s important to have regular screening tests after the age of 50, such as a colonoscopy. Polyps are least likely to develop into cancer or cause other problems if they are removed when they are small and their in early stages. A study called The National Polyp Study found that colonoscopic surveillance was associated with a 76 to 90 percent reduction in cancer incidence. (10)

Screening tests used to diagnose colon polys include: (11)

• Colonoscopy or virtual colonoscopy, a minimally invasive test that uses a CT scan to view the inside of your colon. A colonoscopy is an outpatient test in which a long, thin flexible tube with a camera and a light on the end are inserted into the colon.
• Flexible sigmoidoscopy, when a tube is inserted in your rectum to examine the last third of your large intestine.
• Stool-based tests to look for blood.

If your doctor finds a colon polyp during a screening exam (an examination of your bowel), he/she will discuss whether the poly may be cancerous or pre-cancerous.

Are large colon polyps usually cancerous? When it comes to colon polyp size, the larger a polyp is, the more likely it is to be cancerous. This is especially true of especially with neoplastic polyps, including adenomas and serrated types (which look flat under a microscope). But to reiterate, having an adenoma does not mean you will definitely develop cancer.

How long does it take for a colon polyp to turn into cancer? It’s believed that it may take around 10 years for a small adenoma to transform into a cancerous polyp. (9) Because cancer can take a long time to form, this is why it’s so helpful to screen early and remove polyps before it’s too late.

Conventional Treatment

To help prevent cancer from potentially forming, doctors commonly remove colon polyps and test them. It’s most important to have a colonoscopy performed if in the past you’ve: had one or more adenomas within the previous 5 years, you’ve had more than two adenomas measuring 0.4 inches (about 1 centimeter) or larger, you’ve had more than 10 adenomas, or you’ve had a very large adenoma that was recently removed.

Colon polyps treatment typically includes:

• Removal of adenoma polyps. If an adenoma is found during a colonoscopy, it is usually removed and biopsied to check for cancer. Polyps can be removed in several ways, such as witha wire loop (polypectomy) or a liquid that is injected into the tissue surrounding the polyp to make it separate. A laparoscopy can also be performed by inserting an instrument called a laparoscope into the bowel.
• Surgery to remove a large adenoma. When an adenoma becomes too large to remove during colonoscopy, surgery may be needed to have the adenoma removed.

Unfortunately, it’s common for polyps that have been removed to come back. Around 30 percent of patients will develop new polyps after removal, which is why follow-up tests are recommended over the next 3–5 years. There’s some evidence that taking a daily aspirin or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may reduce the risk of new polyps forming, but this is not a guarantee and may contribute to side effects.

4 Natural Remedies for Symptoms of Colon Polyps

1. Eating a Healthy, Anti-Inflammatory Diet

Prior to having screening tests done to look for colon polyps (including a colonoscopy), it’s recommended that you eat a low-fiber diet for four to five days to reduce the chances that fiber will remain in your colon wall and block the doctor’s view.

What type of diet is best if you’ve been diagnosed with colon polyps? A healing diet that includes plenty of antioxidants, fiber and essential nutrients helps to protect the large intestine and may be beneficial for fighting cancer.

• Include plenty of fruits and vegetables in your diet. Some of the best for protecting against cancer include: cruciferous veggies like broccoli and cauliflower, leafy greens like kale and spinach, sea vegetables, berries, citrus fruits, mushrooms, carrots, beets, tomatoes and bell peppers.
• Incorporate other nutrient-dense and cancer-fighting foods into your diet such as: fresh herbs and spices like turmeric, ginger, basil, parsley or oregano, herbal infusions, fresh green juices, green tea, matcha tea, cocoa powder, organic, grass-fed and/or pasture-raised meats, wild-caught fish like salmon, mackerel, sardines or herring, olive and coconut oil, nuts, seeds and raw garlic.
• Reduce consumption of added sugar, refined grains, foods with additives and preservatives, and alcohol. Have no more than two alcoholic drinks a day if you’re a man, or one drink a day if you’re a woman.
• Eventually, increase your fiber intake. Replace processed grains with 100 percent whole grains like quinoa, brown rice, buckwheat and rolled oats. Other high-fiber foods to have often include: avocados, berries, apples and pears, coconut flakes, figs and dates, artichokes, winter or acorn squash, Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, beans and legumes, flax seeds and chia seeds.
• Increase your consumption of calcium (from foods, not supplements), which studies suggest can help prevent recurrence of colon adenomas. Foods high in calcium include: raw milk, yogurt, kefir, fermented cheeses, kale, sardines, broccoli, okra, kale beans and almonds.
• Consider having more plant-based meals and eating less meat, especially processed meat like hot dogs, cold cuts, cured meats like salami, deli meats, etc. Some studies have found that people who eat diets high in meat (especially processed meat and red meat) have higher rates of colon cancer.

2. Alleviating Vitamin D Deficiency

Research has shown that vitamin D may be protective against colorectal cancer and is supportive of immune function in general. For example, a 2014 study published in the World Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology states that “several studies confirmed that increasing vitamin D₃ lowers colon cancer incidence, reduces polyp recurrence, and that sufficient levels of vitamin D₃ are associated with better overall survival of colon cancer patients.” (12)

In the past, if you were at an increased risk for colon polyps, your doctor might recommend taking 1,000 milligrams per day of calcium supplements for help with cancer prevention, depending on your age. However, recent studies suggest that calcium supplements and vitamin D supplements may actually raise your risk of colon polyps. (13)

Studies investigating the effects of calcium and vitamin D supplements on polyp prevention have yielded inconsistent results overall. Recently, a randomized clinical trial tested the use of calcium and vitamin D supplements over the course of 10 years in preventing colorectal polyps. Findings showed that 6–10 years after the start of supplementation, participants had a higher incidence of serrated polyps if they took calcium, either on its own or with vitamin D. However, no such link was found for vitamin D taken on its own.

Given this recent finding, it’s now suggested that adults who have, or have ever had, precancerous serrated polyps — particularly women and those who smoke — should avoid taking calcium and vitamin D supplements.

A better way to prevent vitamin D deficiency is by encouraging your body to naturally make its own vitamin D, which happens when you expose your skin to sunlight for about 15–20 minutes. If you live in a cold climate or don’t spend much time outdoors, discuss with your doctor whether you should be supplementing.

3. Staying Active and Maintaining a Healthy Weight

Stay physically active and getting regular exercise not only has helps you to maintain a healthy body weight, but also has anti-inflammatory effects.

Exercise may even be protective against colon polyps and colorectal cancer due to mechanisms like: reducing inflammation, improving circulation, supporting the immune system, improving digestive function, reducing stress, and helping to prevent diabetes and obesity. Certain studies have even found that getting regular exercise may reduce your colon cancer risk by a whopping 40 percent to 50 percent! (14)

A sedentary lifestyle and being overweight or obese have been linked to higher risk for colon and rectal cancer, so find some type of exercise that you enjoy and can stay consistent with — whether it’s waking, jogging, swimming, cycling, weight lifting, etc. You can work towards losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight by eating an anti-inflammatory diet, managing stress, getting enough sleep and regularly exercising.

4. Reducing Chronic Inflammation

Inflammation of the bowel, which may or may not lead to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), can increase your risk for polyps and growths that may become cancerous over time. Some steps you can take to reduce inflammation and improve digestive health include:

• Eating a therapeutic diet. You may need to work with a dietician/functional medicine doctor if you have IBD in order to help heal your condition with a specific type of diet.
• Managing stress and getting enough rest and sleep (7-9 hours per night for most adults).
• Quitting smoking and drinking excessive alcohol.
• Taking supplements, such as vitamin D, probiotics and omega-3 fish oil supplements.
• Preventing nutrient deficiencies, such as in calcium.
• Eliminating certain foods if necessary, such as: gluten, dairy, some FODMAPs, caffeine and alcohol.

To help control inflammation. your physician might recommend that you start taking aspirin daily to reduce your overall colon cancer risk. There have been mixed findings about how effective aspirin is in the situation. Talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits of using aspirin or an NSAID drug for added protection against colon conditions.

How to Prevent Colon Polyps

How do you prevent polyps in the colon from forming? While preventing them isn’t always possible, below are ways that research suggests you can help reduce your risk for colon polyps:

• Quit smoking. For help quitting smoking, talk to your doctor about useful interventions; speak with a therapist; or start an online program that specializes in smoking cessation.
• Eat an anti-inflammatory diet that includes plenty of vegetables, fiber and high-antioxidant foods.
• Treat calcium and vitamin D deficiency by eating calcium-rich foods and exposing your skin to sunlight.
• Avoid excessive alcohol consumption.
• Limit the amount of processed meat and red meat you consume.
• Take steps to maintain a healthy weight, such as by eating well, staying active, exercising and practicing mindful eating.
• Talk to your doctor about preventative options and genetic screening tests if you have a family history of colon polyps or a hereditary disorder that causes colon polyps.

Final Thoughts

• A colon polyp (or colorectal polyp) is an extra piece of tissue, or a small clump of cells, that grows on the lining of the colon.
• The type of colon polyp called an adenoma is a known precursor of colorectal cancer, however, most colon polyps remain small, are non-cancerous and are generally harmless.
• Many people don’t experience any noticeable colon polyp symptoms, but when they do occur, they can include: rectal bleeding, bloody stools, abdominal pain, constipation and diarrhea.
• Risk factors for colon polyps include: having a family history of personal history of polyps and/or colorectal cancer, being male, being over 50, smoking, being overweight or obese, having inflammatory bowel disease, experiencing chronic inflammation, and being African-American.
• Four natural remedies for symptoms of colon polyps include eating an anti-inflammatory diet, alleviating vitamin D deficiency, staying active and maintaining a healthy weight as well as reducing chronic inflammation.

The post 4 Natural Remedies for Colon Polyps Symptoms appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Each year more than 60,000 people are expected to be diagnosed with some type of leukemia. Leukemia accounts for 3.6 percent of all new cancer cases. (1) According to the National Cancer Institute, leukemia is a broad term for cancers that affect blood cells. (2) Adults over the age of 55 are most likely to be affected by leukemia; however, children can also develop leukemia. In fact, leukemia is the most common cancer in children younger than 15. Early leukemia symptoms can sometimes be vague and confused with other illnesses or conditions.

What causes leukemia? It’s not entirely clear why some people develop leukemia and others don’t; however, risk factors that seem to play a part in some cases of leukemia include: genetic factors, family history, exposure to certain chemicals, smoking, and having been treated for another type of cancer with radiation or chemotherapy.

Is leukemia curable? Advances in leukemia treatment have come a long way in the past several decades. For example, the overall five-year survival rate for leukemia has more than quadrupled since 1960. Almost 60 percent of leukemia patients now survive five years or more after receiving a diagnosis. Leukemia treatment options include chemotherapy, radiation, biological therapy, stem cell transplants, and others. While leukemia cannot always be prevented, healthy lifestyle and dietary habits may help limit your risk and help you recover with treatment.

What Is Leukemia?

The definition of leukemia is “Cancer that starts in blood-forming tissue, such as the bone marrow, and causes large numbers of abnormal blood cells to be produced and enter the bloodstream.” (3) In addition to affecting the body’s blood-forming tissues, leukemia also impacts the lymphatic system, making it more difficult to fight off infections.

Leukemia is the most common cancer in children and adolescents/teens, especially the type called acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), and, to a lesser extent, acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Leukemia is estimated to account for almost 1 out of 3 cancers in children and teens.

Some people refer to leukemia as a group of blood cancers. Blood cancers affect the production and function of your blood cells and usually start in bone marrow where blood is produced. It’s common for white blood cells to be affected by leukemia, which normally have the role of protecting the body from pathogens and infections. In many cases of leukemia the bone marrow produces abnormal white blood cells that don’t function as they normally would, leading to decreased immunity and reoccurring infections. Low white blood cells, low platelets and abnormal red blood cells are the underlying causes of widespread leukemia symptoms.

Leukemia prognosis (the chance that the patient will recover and survive) depends on a number of factors, for example: the patient’s age, their overall health, history of any other cancer, genetics, and whether they have been treated for cancer in the past. Treating leukemia as soon as possible can help to improve survival rates.

Signs & Symptoms of Leukemia

Leukemia symptoms vary from person to person depending on the specific type of leukemia they have. Early leukemia symptoms can also sometimes be vague and confused with other illnesses or conditions, such as a temporary fever, the flu, or autoimmune condition.

Some of the most common leukemia symptoms can include: (4)

Leukemia Types

There are many different types of leukemia that both children and adults can suffer from. Even though the different types are all referred to as leukemia, not all types have much in common except for the fact that they affect the bone marrow and blood. Knowing the specific type of leukemia you have is very important because this will help you make treatment decisions and know what to expect in terms of symptoms and prognosis.

The type of leukemia that someone is diagnosed with depends on the type of blood cells that become cancerous. Leukemia types also differ when it comes to how quickly or slowly they tend to progress (called “the speed of progression”). (6) Leukemia is often described as being either acute (fast growing) or chronic (slow growing). Some forms of leukemia are more common in children, while others occur mostly or only in adults. The four broad subtypes of leukemia are acute lymphoblastic, acute myelogenous, chronic lymphocytic, and chronic myelogenous. (7)

Below is more about the different types of leukemia, classified according to how fast they progress and the type of white blood cell that’s affected:

• Acute leukemia — when abnormal blood cells are immature blood cells (blasts) that multiply rapidly, causing the disease to progress very quickly. Acute lymphocytic leukemia (or ALL) is the most common type of leukemia in young children but can also develop in adults. Acute myelogenous leukemia (or AML) is the most common type of acute leukemia in adults.
• Chronic leukemia — involves more mature blood cells that replicate or accumulate more slowly. Compared to acute leukemia, chronic leukemia tends to cause less noticeable symptoms and can go undiagnosed for much longer (sometimes years). Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (or CLL) is the most common chronic adult leukemia.
• Lymphocytic leukemia — affects lymphoid cells (or lymphocytes), which form lymphatic tissue and make up the immune system.
• Myelogenous leukemia — affects the myeloid cells, which are involved in cell differentiation and help red blood cells, white blood cells and platelet-producing cells to form.
• Hairy cell leukemia —  a rare, slow-growing cancer where bone marrow makes too many B cells (lymphocytes). Abnormal B cells look “hairy” when viewed under a microscope, hence the name of the disease.
• Myelodysplastic syndromes (also called “bone marrow failure”) — the name for a group of bone marrow disorders in which bone marrow does not produce enough healthy blood cells.
• Myeloproliferative disorders — the name for a group of slow-growing blood cancers in which bone marrow makes too many abnormal red blood cells, white blood cells, or platelets.

Leukemia Causes & Risk Factors

Experts still don’t know exactly why leukemia develops, although it’s believed that it’s due to “a combination of genetic and environmental factors.” (8)

Leukemia forms when someone’s blood cells acquire mutations in their DNA, changing how the cells develop and function. Cancerous cells can grow and divide more rapidly than usual, and also continue living when normally they would die. As abnormal cells continue to proliferate they “crowd out” healthy blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. One common type of DNA change that can lead to leukemia is known as a chromosome translocation, in which DNA from one chromosome breaks off and becomes attached to a different chromosome. This can negatively affect the body’s ability to control hows cells divide and to suppress tumors from forming. (9)

While there’s still a lot to learn about underlying leukemia causes, researchers have been able to identify certain risk factors that can increase your risk of developing some types of leukemia. However, it’s important to point out that many people with leukemia don’t have any known risk factors, and having a higher risk doesn’t necessarily mean someone will definitely develop leukemia.

Risk factors for leukemia

• Previous cancer treatment, including having had chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. Any intensive treatment that suppresses the immune system may increase leukemia risk.
• Genetic disorders/abnormalities, including Down syndrome, Li-Fraumeni syndrome, neurofibromatosis and Fanconi anemia. Genetic factors that are inherited from a child’s parents can increase the risk of childhood leukemia, however most cases of leukemia are not linked to any known genetic causes. (10)
• Exposure to certain toxins/chemicals, including benzene found in gasoline, pesticides and radiation therapy.
• Being over the age of 70.
• Being a male.
• Being caucasian, especially of Russian Jewish or Eastern European Jewish descent.
• Smoking or drinking too much alcohol.
• Family history of leukemia or having a sibling with leukemia.
• In children, conditions that affect the immune system including Ataxia-telangiectasia, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, Bloom syndrome or Schwachman-Diamond syndrome.
• Obesity or being very overweight.
• Too much sun exposure

Leukemia Diagnosis

Leukemia can be diagnosed using many different tests that include:

• Physical exam, in which which a patient’s doctor will look for any physical signs of leukemia and discuss symptoms.
• Blood tests, to check for abnormal levels of red or white blood cells or platelets. In some cases, someone may not have any noticeable leukemia symptoms but be diagnosed with chronic leukemia during a routine blood exam. Others might visit their doctor because they are developing infections, fatigue, and other symptoms due to low white blood cells or anemia.
• Bone marrow test or biopsy, to look for leukemia cells.
• Peripheral blood smear, to check if cells look “hairy.”
• Cytogenetic analysis, to check for chromosomal abnormalities.
• Comprehensive gene profile to look for certain genes.
• CT scan, to look for swollen lymph nodes or an enlarged spleen.

The stage or grade of cancer that someone has refers to how much their cancer has progressed and/or spread throughout their body. Leukemia is not staged like most other cancers because it doesn’t involve a tumor developing and spreading. It starts in the bone marrow and quickly moves to the blood, so leukemia cells are almost always spreading throughout the body. As the disease progresses, leukemia cells can affect other parts of the body including the liver, spleen, lymph nodes, testicles, or central nervous system (brain and spinal cord).

There are several systems that are used to classify leukemia, including the French-American-British (FAB) classification and World Health Organization (WHO) classification. Th acute types of leukemia are usually staged based on the type of cell involved and how the cells look under a microscope. (11) Instead of staging acute leukemia, some doctors prefer to use the classifications: untreated (symptoms are being managed), in remission (the number of abnormal cells is low and there are no symptoms), and recurrent (when the disease has returned after being treated).

Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), a slower-growing cancer, is usually divided into three phases: the chronic phase, accelerated phase, and blast/crisis phase. These phases are based on the percentage of immature white blood cells (or blasts) that are found in blood or bone marrow. Chronic phase (earliest phase) is when less than 10 percent blasts are found in blood or bone marrow samples, accelerated phase is when bone marrow or blood samples have more than 10 percent but fewer than 20 percent blasts, and blast phase is when bone marrow and/or blood samples have more than 20 percent blasts. (12)

Conventional Leukemia Symptoms Treatments

Treatment for leukemia depends on the type of leukemia that someone has, the stage of their cancer, as well as other factors like their symptoms and age. Conventional treatment options for leukemia include: (13)

• Chemotherapy — Used to target and kill leukemia cells. Chemo can involve a single drug or a combination of drugs that are used either in pill or injection form.
• Radiation therapy — Damages leukemia cells using X-rays or other high-energy beams. Radiation can also be used to prepare a patient for a stem cell transplant.
• Biological therapy — Helps a patient’s immune system recognize and attack leukemia cells. This treatment is most commonly used for chronic leukemia.
• Targeted therapy — Stops certain actions of abnormal cells.
• Stem cell transplant (blood and bone marrow) — Replaces diseased bone marrow with healthy bone marrow via infusion of blood-forming stem cells. Chemotherapy or radiation therapy are first used to destroy diseased bone marrow. Healthy stem cells can come from the patient’s own body, or more commonly from a donor.
• Medications — Some drugs may help improve symptoms of chronic leukemia, such as psychostimulants and antidepressants.

Certain lifestyle habits and dietary changes can also help make leukemia treatment more manageable and successful.

4 Natural Ways to Help Manage Leukemia Symptoms

1. Manage Fatigue  & Anemia

Some people experience leukemia symptoms such as exhaustion so strongly that it interferes with daily activities, work and their mental health. You may not be able to completely treat fatigue or gain all your energy back, but some tips may be able to help. (14)

• If anemia is causing fatigue, talk to your doctor or a dietician about changing your diet. It’s a good idea to visit a dietitian to make sure you are consuming enough calories, fluids, and nutrients to support recovery. Your diet can be tailored depending on factors like your serum iron level, total iron-binding capacity, ferritin level (protein in cells that stores iron), folate level, and vitamin B12 level. Malnutrition and side effects or symptoms (such as loss of appetite, nausea, or vomiting) can result from either the cancer itself or the cancer treatment. This may change your dietary needs, so always make sure to address this.
• Try to stay active and engage in enjoyable exercise if possible. This may help you sleep better and reduce pain. Before starting an exercise program, always consult with your doctor to make sure it’s safe.
• Talk to your doctor about any drugs you might be taking that are making fatigue worse (such as pain killers). You may need to change your dosage or try another medication.
• If fatigue occurs with depression, consider psychosocial support like cognitive behavioral therapy, stress management techniques, and other coping strategies.
• Adjust your sleep habits to encourage a good’s night sleep. Try not to nap during the day for more than 30 minutes. Do something relaxing before bedtime such as taking a warm bath or shower, reading, writing in a journal, or meditation. Try to stick to a regular sleep-wake cycle by going to sleep at roughly the same time each night. Keep your bedroom cool, quiet and dark. Avoid caffeine, alcohol or high-sugar foods before bedtime. Don’t do any activity before bed that involves blue light exposure, such as using a computer or your phone, video games, or even watching television.

2. Help Control Fever & Nausea

The tips below can help you cope with leukemia symptoms including fever, nausea, headaches and loss of appetite.

• Stay hydrated. Aim to drink one to two liters of water per day. Have a glass of water at least every two to three hours or whenever you feel thirsty. Limit alcohol and caffeine consumption, which have diuretic effects and worsen dehydration. Other hydrating drinks that also support your immune system include herbal teas, tea with lemon juice and manuka honey, fresh squeezed vegetable juices, bone broth and coconut water.
• Apply a cool compress to your forehead, neck or any inflamed area to reduce pain and swelling. Do this for 10–15 minutes a few times daily until the swelling goes down. Adding 1–2 drops of tea tree oil and/or oregano oil to the compress will also help to fight infections and lymphadenitis.
• Inhale peppermint essential oil or rub it into your neck and chest.
• Get some fresh air, open a window and take a walk outside.
• If you’re nauseated, eat smaller meals spread throughout the day. Sit up for about an hour after eating to relieve any pressure on the stomach. Try to eat at least three hours before bed to help you digest.
• Support your immune system with supplements including: vitamin C, astragalus root, garlic, ginger, a probiotic supplement, and omega-3 fatty acids.

3. Find Support

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, anxious or depressed about your diagnosis, you’re not alone; this is a common reaction to being diagnosed with a serious illness.  It’s also possible that anticancer medications may contribute to increased feelings of anxiety, isolation and depression. Consider speaking about your leukemia symptoms with someone who can help, such as a therapist/counselor, medical social worker, clergy member, cancer survivor, or cancer support group leader.

You can find information about support groups by visiting the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society or the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) websites.

4. Reduce Stress & Practice Self-Care

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society recommends these tips for dealing with difficult feelings during treatment and recovery:

Preventive Care

The American Cancer Society tells us that “There are very few known lifestyle-related or environmental causes of childhood leukemias, so it is important to know that in most cases there is nothing these children or their parents could have done to prevent these cancers.” While leukemia cannot always be prevented, especially in children if a genetic factor is the cause, making certain lifestyle changes may help lower adults’ risk.

• Eat a healthy diet and avoid inflammatory foods. Include a variety of whole foods, especially brightly-colored fruits and vegetables, in your meals each day. A balanced diet that provides sufficient fluids, calories, protein, vitamins and minerals and iron will also help decrease symptoms associated with leukemia, such as fatigue. Try to include cancer-fighting foods in your diet, such as: all types of leafy green veggies, cruciferous vegetables, berries (blueberries, raspberries, cherries, strawberries, goji berries, camu camu and blackberries), kiwi, citrus fruits, orange and yellow-colored plant foods (like sweet potatoes, berries, pumpkin, squashes and other plant foods), plus organic meats, wild-caught fish, eggs and raw/fermented dairy products, nuts, seeds and healthy fats like coconut oil, olive oil, ghee, grass-fed butter, and avocados. Manuka honey, garlic, herbs, spices and apple cider vinegar are also supportive of your immune system and help to fight lymphadenitis.
• Quit smoking, drinking more than moderate amounts of alcohol, and using tobacco or other drugs. For help with quitting smoking, talk to your doctor about useful interventions; speak with a therapist; or start an online program that specializes in smoking cessation.
• Limit your exposure to toxins, chemicals and pollutants at work as much as possible. If you’ve been treated with chemotherapy or radiation in the past, talk to your doctor about your risk for developing illnesses, including leukemia, as a result.
• Know your family history. Have your children screened at a young age if you have any family members with leukemia or cancers that affect the lymphatic system. Early treatment can help to improve recovery.
• Maintain a healthy weight by eating a nutrient-dense diet and staying active. Exercise helps boost the immune system and can help prevent obesity.

Precautions

If you start experiencing new, unexplained symptoms such as fever, weakness, pain or exhaustion that lasts more than one to two weeks, visit your doctor for an evaluation. Many leukemia symptoms can have other causes as well, so your doctor will rule out other conditions that may be to blame.

Key Points 

• Leukemia is a group of cancers that start in blood-forming tissue, such as the bone marrow, and cause large numbers of abnormal blood cells to be produced and enter the bloodstream. Leukemia can cause abnormal levels of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets, leading to anemia, low immunity, and widespread symptoms.
• Leukemia symptoms vary depending on the type of leukemia that someone has (chronic, acute, etc.). Leukemia symptoms can include: fatigue, weakness, susceptibility to infections, weight loss, lack of appetite, increased bleeding and bruising, swollen lymph nodes, enlarged spleen or liver, and others.
• Both children and adults can develop leukemia. In many cases, the cause of leukemia is not known. Contributing factors include: prior treatment with radiation or chemotherapy, genetics, exposure to chemicals, smoking, obesity, and a history of illness that affects the immune system.
• Leukemia cannot always be prevented, but some ways to increase protection against this disease include eating a healthy diet, exercising, and avoiding smoking and toxin exposure.

4 Natural Ways to Help Manage Leukemia Symptoms

1. Managing fatigue and anemia
2. Finding social/emotional support
3. Treating fevers and nausea
4. Practicing self care

Read Next: Hematuria: What Causes Blood in Urine?

The post Leukemia Symptoms (+ 4 Natural Ways to Help Manage Symptoms) appeared first on Dr. Axe.

In an effort to avoid bug bites and insect-borne diseases like Zika, West Nile, Keystone virus and Lyme disease, you may automatically turn to products containing DEET, which is known to be the most effective insect repellent on the market. Although the synthetic compound’s been in use for more than 40 years, researchers point out that it may pose some harmful side effects.

It’s true that products containing DEET are widely available. Maybe DEET is even your family’s first line of defense for avoiding bug bites. And it makes sense, given that insect-borne diseases continue to rise in the United States. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, illnesses from mosquito, tick and flea bites have tripled in the U.S. — with more than 640,000 reported cases between 2004 to 2016. (1)

A 2018 study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases sought to determine recent patterns for pediatric Lyme disease in western Pennsylvania. After analyzing the electronic medical records of all patients with a Lyme disease diagnosis between the years 2003 and 2013, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP) researchers found that 773 patients met the CDC’s case definition for Lyme disease. The research highlighted the exponential increase in Lyme disease cases in Pennsylvania kids. The data also shows that the disease is migrating from rural to non-rural zip codes, too.

Study author Andrew Nowalk, MD, PhD, an infectious diseases specialist at the Division of Infectious Diseases at the CHP, indicates that Lyme cases at the children’s hospital increased 50-fold from 2003 to 2013. The current models point to the early detection of an epidemic. (2)

The spread of vector-borne diseases is certainly one of the health effects of climate change, and the data is scary. It’s clear we need to be cautious when it comes to protecting ourselves and our children from insect-borne diseases. And it’s more important than ever to take a closer look at our bug repellent product choices.

Although DEET is known as the most effective insect repellent, research shows that it may trigger toxic side effects in some situations. And with more than 500 products containing DEET on the market — with different concentrations and ingredients — choosing the safest repellent for you and your children can be confusing.

Environmental Working Group identifies DEET (in concentrations less than 30 percent) as one of its top picks to reduce the risk of life-altering disease from tick and mosquito bites with low toxicity concerns. But the organization stresses that precaution and proper application is essential. It also IDs science-backed DEET-free options. (More on that later.)

So before you spray on that conventional and possibly problematic bug repellent, consider using more natural alternatives instead. (And if you’re sticking with DEET, please know, at the very least, how to apply it properly.)

Dangers of DEET

According to research published in The New England Journal of Medicine, most cases of serious side effects caused by DEET involve long-term, heavy, frequent or whole-body application of the repellent. When it’s applied with common sense and only on exposed skin for short periods of time, many researchers believe that DEET can be used as an effective and safe way to avoid insect-borne diseases. Still, people today aren’t just dealing with DEET, but rather a toxic body burden threat that includes exposure to dozens, if not hundreds, of different chemicals on a daily basis.

In some cases, DEET alone may cause minor to serious reactions and conditions, including the following concerns: (3)

1. Allergic Reactions

For some people, when DEET is applied to the skin, especially for an extended period of time, it can cause adverse reactions like redness, rash, swelling and hives.

Case studies suggest that some people may be at risk of allergic reactions and even anaphylaxis from exposure to DEET. One case involved a 53-year-old female bridge inspector who experienced severe itching of the skin (called pruritus) and erythema, which involves skin redness, fever and blistering, after an insect repellent containing DEET was applied topically. The next time she used a product containing DEET, she developed hives and swollen eyes. She called 911 and was given a Benadryl injection. (4)

Nova Southeatern University in Florida published another case study describing a 22-year-old man who developed hives immediately after applying insect repellent and coming into contact with others who had used DEET-containing repellents. (5)

And according to reports made to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, symptoms associated with exposure to DEET are related to the route of exposure, with the highest rates caused by exposure to the eyes, followed by inhalation, skin exposure and ingestion. Although 70 percent of the cases reported to poison control (between the years 1993 and 1997) did not develop symptoms, some individuals did experience major side effects and needed medical treatment, including two deaths following skin exposure. (6)

2. Seizures and Brain Malfunction

In some cases, ingestion of DEET can lead to seizures. There are also reports of DEET-induced seizures in children. According to a case analysis published in Human and Experimental Toxicology, clinical reports of children under 16 years old who suffered from brain damage indicate that symptoms can be caused by not only the ingestion of DEET, and repeated and extensive application, but also brief exposure to the insect repellent. The most prominent symptom among the reported cases was seizures, which affected 72 percent of the patients and was significantly more frequent when DEET products were applied to the skin. Researchers concluded that “repellents containing DEET are not safe when applied to children’s skin and should be avoided in children.” (7)

3. Gulf War Syndrome

Gulf war syndrome is a condition that affects veterans of the Gulf War and causes chronic headaches, fatigue, respiratory disorders and skin conditions. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center found that the emergence of these symptoms may be linked to the simultaneous exposure to multiple agents that were used to protect the health of service personnel, particularly DEET, the anti-nerve agent pyridostigmine bromide and the insecticide permethrin.

When the toxic effects of these agents were tested on hens, researchers found that when they were used in combinations, they produced greater neurotoxicity than that caused by individual agents. This may be because the anti-nerve agent can “pump” more DEET into the central nervous system, causing neuropathological lesions and nerve damage. (8)

Although this condition specifically affects those who served in the Gulf war, it may indicate a concern for anyone who is exposed to certain chemical mixtures that include DEET.

4. Carcinogenic Properties

Although studies indicate mixed results, there is some evidence that DEET contains carcinogenic properties that can produce dangerous effects when inhaled or applied to the skin. Scientists in Germany investigated the genotoxic effects of three widely used pesticides, including DEET. When cells from tissue biopsies were exposure to DEET for 60 minutes, the pesticide displayed potential carcinogenic effects in human nasal mucosal cells. (9)

And according to a case study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, exposure to DEET, herbicides and rubber gloves, which are recommended for use by farmers when they are mixing or applying pesticides, increase the odds of developing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a group of cancers that develop in the white blood cells. (10)

5. Toxic for Pets

The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center reports that when pets are exposed to DEET-containing products, it can cause significant clinical side effects. If DEET is sprayed in a pet’s eyes, it can cause issues like conjunctivitis, scleritis, corneal ulceration and blepharospasm. If this happens, you need to flush it out of your pet’s eyes for at least 15 minutes.

If your pet inhales DEET, this can cause airway inflammation and difficulty breathing. General exposure to DEET may also cause gastrointestinal issues or side effects including disorientation, shaking, vomiting, tremors and seizures. (11)

6. Environmental Impact

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says DEET may be slightly toxic to birds, fish and aquatic invertebrates. When testing DEET on freshwater fish and insects, it was toxic at extremely high levels.

According to the National Pesticide Information Center, DEET is detected in wastewater and in places where wastewater moves into other bodies of water. Even low concentrations produce a slight toxicity in coldwater fish.

When sprayed, DEET remains in the air as a mist or vapor and must be broken down by the atmosphere. The time it takes to break down depends on the temperature, humidity and wind. DEET can also enter the environment through soil, where it’s said to be moderately mobile. (12, 13)

If you choose to use DEET as your go-to insect repellent, there are a few precautions that you can take to avoid potential side effects or adverse reactions. According to the CDC, make sure to follow these directions when using DEET-containing products: (14)

• Do not apply to irritated skin, cuts or wounds
• Do not apply to hands, or close to eyes and mouth
• Do not use on young children
• Do not use under clothing
• Only apply to exposed skin (and minimize exposed skin by wearing long sleeves and pants)
• Do not over apply
• Wash product from your skin with soap and water after use
• Wash clothes that have come into contact with DEET before wearing it again

Better Alternatives

Insect repellents that line the shelves of your local grocery and drug stores can be divided into two categories — those made with synthetic chemicals and those made with plant-derived essential oils and ingredients. Because many consumers are reluctant to apply DEET to their skin, in fear of developing an allergic reaction or even more serious side effects, natural or possibly safer alternatives have become readily available. Here’s a breakdown of some of the best alternatives to DEET:

1. Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus: Oil of lemon eucalyptus is the only plant-based active ingredient for bug repellents that’s approved by the CDC. Studies show that it has protective effects against mosquitos and ticks, and Consumer Reports testing confirms this. (15)

In other research, when insect repellents containing eucalyptus oil were tested on five subjects exposed to mosquitos, they provided a range of protection from 60 to 217 minutes. (16)

Oil of lemon eucalyptus oil should not be used on young children. Before using it on your skin, perform a patch test on a small area of skin to be sure that it doesn’t cause any adverse reactions.

2. Citronella Oil: Scientific evidence suggests that citronella oil is an effective alternative repellent against mosquitos and has a protection time of about two hours. The EPA has categorized citronella oil as an insect repellent due to its high efficacy, low toxicity and customer satisfaction, but it may not be as effective in higher temperatures. (17, 18)

And when citronella oil was tested for its protective effects against mosquito-borne diseases in rural areas of Nepal, researchers found that it “can be employed as an easily-available, affordable and effective alternative mosquito repellent.” (19)

3. Picaridin: Picaridin is a synthetic compound that resembles the natural compound piperine, a compound found in the group of plants that produce black pepper. It’s used on human skin to repel mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, biting flies and chiggers.

Some studies show that individuals who develop allergic reactions to DEET-containing bug repellents may not have the same reaction to solutions containing picaridin, making it an acceptable alternative for those who have a sensitivity to DEET. (20)

When researchers evaluated the safety of picaridin during community mass use for malaria control in rural Cambodia, they found that adverse reactions and abuse were uncommon and generally mild, which supports the safety of picaridin-containing products in the avoidance of mosquito diseases. (21)

4. Geraniol: Geraniol is an extracted oil that comes from plants such as geraniums and lemongrass. It is known for its ability to repel mosquitos and ticks.

Research published in the Journal of Vector Ecology suggests that geraniol may have significantly more repellent activity than citronella in both indoor and outdoor settings, although both natural substances repelled significantly more mosquitos than the unprotected controls. Researchers found that when used indoors, the repellency of geraniol candles was 50 percent, while the geraniol diffusers repelled mosquitos by 97 percent. Outdoors, the repellency rate for geraniol was 75 percent. (22)

And a study conducted in Morocco found that when 1 percent geraniol spray was used on cows to prevent ticks, it showed a reduction of the average number of ticks per animal. (23)

5. Soybean Oil: Soybean oil is an active ingredient in some natural insect repellents used to protect humans against mosquitos.

When researchers at the University of Florida compared the efficacy of insect repellents against mosquito bites, they found that the only natural solution that came close to matching the efficacy of DEET was a soybean-oil based repellent, which provided protection against mosquito bites for 95 minutes. (24)

Final Thoughts

• Although DEET is known as the most effective insect repellent, research shows that it can have toxic side effects in some situations, affecting the skin, brain and cells of both humans and pets.
• Environmental Working Group considers DEET, picaradin and IR3535 safe insect repellents, but only when properly applied.
• Most cases of serious side effects caused by DEET involve long-term, heavy, frequent or whole-body application of the repellent. But for some people, DEET can lead to adverse skin reactions, seizures and brain malfunction, fatigue, respiratory conditions and possibly even cancer.
• DEET can also be toxic to our pets and have a negative environmental impact.
• Some DEET alternatives that are also protective against insect-borne diseases and have a better safety profile include:
  • Oil of lemon eucalyptus
  • Citronella oil
  • Picaridin
  • IR3535
  • Geraniol
  • Soybean oil

The post 6 DEET Dangers (Plus, Safer Science-Backed Swaps) appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Have you ever wondered how effective natural cancer treatments can be? Around 20 years ago, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. This was crazy for my family at the time because my mom was a gym teacher, swim instructor and was always considered to be “healthy.”

After her diagnosis, she took the advice of her oncologists at the Cleveland Clinic and underwent a mastectomy followed by many rounds of chemotherapy. I can still remember seeing my mom’s hair fall out and thinking she had aged 10 years in the few weeks following chemo.

Praise God, after all of her treatments, she was diagnosed as being “cancer-free” and healthy. But for the next several years, she was sicker than she’d ever been in her life and struggled with constipation, candida, depression and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Then, around nine years after her first diagnosis, a terrible thing happened: She was diagnosed with cancer again. At that point, I had experience working in the natural health field, so when I flew home, we prayed together and talked about the best healthcare strategy.  She decided to pursue natural cancer treatments by focusing on diet and lifestyle changes.

My mom started following an all-natural plan that included vegetable juicing, probiotic foods, immune-boosting supplements, stress reducing techniques and prayer.  And after only four months, the tumors on her lungs had shrunk significantly and one year after that, she was again diagnosed as being “cancer-free” and healthy. It’s now been 10 years and my mom recently turned 60 years old — and she is in the best shape of her life, regularly water skiing, running and still going strong.

I want to be clear: I am not claiming that what we did with my mother is a cancer cure. But I believe these natural therapies, either used by themselves or in conjunction with conventional medical treatments, may support the body in the healing process.

I am often asked, “What exactly did your mom do?” Here are the natural cancer treatments and strategies she followed to heal her body.

Most Effective Natural Cancer Treatments 

1. The Gerson Therapy and Juicing

I see in him one of the most eminent geniuses in the history of medicine. Many of his basic ideas have been adopted without having his name connected with them. Yet, he has achieved more than seemed possible under adverse conditions. He leaves a legacy which commands attention and which will assure him his due place. Those whom he has cured will now attest to the truth of his ideas.

~ Albert Schweitzer, MD (Nobel Peace Prize Winner, 1952)

Who was Albert Schweitzer talking about?

He was referring to Dr. Max Gerson, the German-born American medical doctor who developed one of the most effective natural cancer treatments over 90 years ago. Coined the “Gerson Therapy,” Dr. Gerson helped hundreds of cancer patients activate their body’s extraordinary ability to heal itself by recommending:

• Organic, plant-based foods
• Raw juices
• Coffee enemas
• Beef liver
• Natural supplements

In the words of the Gerson Institute:

With its whole-body approach to healing, the Gerson Therapy naturally reactivates your body’s magnificent ability to heal itself — with no damaging side effects. This a powerful, natural treatment boosts the body’s own immune system to heal cancer, arthritis, heart disease, allergies, and many other degenerative diseases. (1)

How the Gerson Therapy Works

The Gerson Therapy targets the most significant metabolic requirements in your body. How? Believe it or not, this therapy allows you to reap the nutritional benefits of consuming 15–20 pounds of organically grown fruits and vegetables each day! Here’s the breakdown:

• The Gerson Diet – Consisting of eating only organic fruits, vegetables and sprouted ancient grains, the Gerson Diet is exceptionally rich in vitamins, minerals and enzymes. It’s also very low in fats, proteins and sodium. The meal plan advises cancer patients to drink 13 glasses of freshly prepared juice, eat three plant-based meals, and only snack on fresh fruits each day. Also, the traditional Gerson Therapy recommends consuming raw beef liver since it is the most nutrient-dense food on the planet and extremely high in vitamin B12.

• Juicing – According to the Gerson Institute, “Fresh pressed juice from raw foods provides the easiest and most effective way of providing high quality nutrition.” The cancer-fighting protocol calls for patients to drink fresh vegetables each day, including raw carrots or apples and green-leaf juice. To preserve the nutritional content, the juice should be prepared hourly using a two-step juicer or a masticating juicer used with a separate hydraulic press. This helps prevent denaturation — when vitamins, minerals and enzymes are destroyed. (Most commercial juicers spin so fast that they heat up juice to the point they are basically pasteurized!)

• Detoxification – The Gerson Therapy utilizes coffee enemas as the primary method of detoxing the body by increasing the parasympathetic nervous system. For cancer patients, this may take up to five enemas each day. The importance of keeping the body free of toxins is stressed by Dr. Gerson’s daughter, Charlotte:

The moment a patient is put on the full therapy, the combined effect of the food, the juices and the medication causes the immune system to attack and kill tumor tissue, besides working to flush out accumulated toxins from the body tissues. This great clearing-out procedure carries the risk of overburdening and poisoning the liver — the all-important organ of detoxification, which, in a cancer patient, is bound to be already damaged and debilitated.

• Supplements – The Gerson Therapy recommends the following organic medicinal therapies:
  • Lugol’s solution
  • Pancreatic enzymes
  • Potassium compound
  • Thyroid hormone
  • Vitamin B12

2. The Budwig Protocol

Over the years, I have been given a lot of different advice as well, so when I heard about Dr. Budwig’s protocol I too was very skeptical, until I tried it. Numerous, independent clinical cancer studies published in major medical journals world-wide confirm Dr. Budwig’s findings. Over 40 years ago, Dr. Budwig presented clear and convincing evidence, which has been confirmed by hundreds of other related scientific research papers since, that the essential fatty acids were at the core of the answer to the cancer problem.

~ Robert E. Willner, MD, PhD (The Cancer Solution)

In 1952, Dr. Johanna Budwig was the German Government’s Senior Expert on lipids and pharmacology and was considered one of the leading global authorities on fats and oils. During her research, she discovered that many of the conventional processed fats and hydrogenated oils were destroying the membranes of our cells, and this caused diseased cells and toxicity.

Developing a specific diet — in this case, the Budwig diet protocol — to counteract this cancer-causing process, Dr. Budwig claimed to have had over a 90 percent success rate with her protocol over a 50-year period!

How the Budwig Protocol Works

When you replace deadly processed fats and oils with life-giving unsaturated/saturated fatty acids, your cells rebuild and are rejuvenated. Dr. Budwig found that consuming a mixture of cottage cheese, flaxseeds, and flaxseed oil had the best results. (2) 

When cottage cheese (which is rich in sulfur protein and saturated fats) and flax (which is high in electron-rich unsaturated fatty acids) are combined this way, your body is able to absorb these vital nutrients easier and quicker.

My “Beyond Budwig” Recipe

Because of the changes in agriculture, I suggest this updated 21^st century version of the Budwig Protocol:

• 6 ounces cultured dairy (cottage cheese, goat’s milk kefir or amasai)
• 4 tablespoons sprouted and ground chia or flax
• 1 tablespoon flaxseed oil
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Mix all the ingredients together in bowl or blender and consume once daily.

For more details, check out the article and video I posted on the Budwig Diet Protocol for Cancer.

Related: Artemisinin for Malaria, Viral Infections and Cancer Prevention

3. Proteolytic Enzyme Therapy

In 1906, John Beard first proposed that pancreatic proteolytic enzymes represent the body’s main defense against cancer. Beard focused on high dose porcine-based pancreatic enzyme therapy and eating a holistic diet to create an internal environment in which the body can more thoroughly heal itself. (3)

While it wasn’t researched for most of the 20^th century, a few scientists picked up the concept in the 1960s. But it wasn’t until Nicholas J. Gonzalez, MD started to evaluate the concept at Cornell University Medical College in 1981 that people started to seriously consider this natural approach.

How the Pancreatic Proteolytic Enzyme Approach Works

The autonomic nervous system consists of the sympathetic (“fight” or “flight”) and autonomic (“rest” and “digest”) nervous systems. Basing his protocol off of Dr. Francis Pottenger’s research in the 1920s and 1930s, Gonzalez’s work centers on balancing these two systems, as they are suspected to be one of the major causes of cancer.

He discovered that a vegetarian diet suppresses sympathetic function, whereas the opposite is true with a meat-rich diet. So after dividing patients into different categories based of their metabolic differences, genetic and physical make-up, here are the recommendations:

• People with epithelial tumors like lung, pancreas, colon, prostate, uterine cancers are prescribed a largely plant-based diet with minimal to no animal protein.
• People with blood or immune based tumors like leukemia, myeloma or lymphoma are put on a high-animal protein, high-fat diet with minimal-to-moderate plant foods.

In addition, these physicians recommend taking 5 grams of proteolytic enzymes 3 times daily on an empty stomach between meals to reduce inflammation.

According to Dr. Josef Beuth, the research behind this natural cancer treatment is pretty airtight:

These studies demonstrated that systemic enzyme therapy significantly decreased tumor-induced and therapy-induced side effects and complaints such as nausea, gastrointestinal complaints, fatigue, weight loss, and restlessness and obviously stabilized the quality of life. (4)

4. Vitamin C Chelation

Chelation therapy uses chemicals or natural compounds to remove toxic metals from the body.  The word “chelate” means to grab onto something, which describes chelating agents’ ability to grab onto toxins. 

Generally, only holistic doctors and naturopaths use chelation therapy because it is not an officially “approved therapy” for most conditions in medicine today.  When it is employed in the medical system, however, it is most commonly used to remove calcium deposits from arteries.

In a study published in Free Radical Biology & Medicine, vitamin C chelation therapy was found to be highly pro-oxidant after just one hour of treatment. This benefit lasted more than 16 treatments in the absence of nutrient supplementation and even provided “beneficial long-term antioxidant effects.” (5)

Pro-oxidation isn’t always good, but in this case it is.

It was discovered that, “Pro-oxidant effects appear to be responsible for destroying tumor cells. These pro-oxidant effects may also induce endogenous antioxidant systems in normal tissues that offer protection against carcinogenic insult!”

Along with vitamin C chelation, consuming more vitamin C-rich foods may also prevent and fight cancer. (6)

5. Frankincense Essential Oil Therapy

Dr. Budwig recommends frankincense essential oil (especially when it comes to fighting brain tumors). And now research trials highlighting frankincense’s potential canter-fighting abilities are filling medical journals. Specifically, Indian Frankincense (Boswellia serrata) has been shown clinically to being a potentially effective treatment for:

• Brain cancer
• Breast cancer
• Colon cancer
• Pancreatic cancer
• Prostate cancer
• Stomach cancer (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)

According to researchers out of Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, the potential cancer-killing effects of frankincense are due in part to its ability to influence your genes to promote healing. Baylor cancer scientists emphasize that this potency makes Boswellia serrata a viable candidate for both cancer prevention and treatment!

How Frankincense Essential Oil Therapy Works

Rub frankincense essential oil on your neck three times daily. Also, drink three drops in 8 ounces of water three times daily.

6. Probiotic Foods and Supplements

Best known as “good bacteria,” probiotics are microorganisms that promote a natural balance in your intestinal microflora. The best way to include probiotics in your diet is in their most natural state, which includes raw milk products such as cheese, kefir and yogurt.

Recent research has suggested that probiotic supplementation may be able to stop tumor growth. (12) And this makes perfect sense because 80 percent of your immune system is housed in your gut. In addition to supporting your immunity to disease, research has also shown that probiotics can improve digestive function and mineral absorption as well as aid in healing leaky gut, which all contribute to helping prevent cancer!

7. Sunshine and Vitamin D3

Science continues to support the fact that high levels of heart healthy, fat-soluble vitamins and minerals are key to keeping your body free of cancer. And recently, there has been considerable progress regarding the role that fat-soluble vitamin D3 plays in cancer prevention.

Research studies are mounting and a 2007 randomized placebo controlled double blind clinical trial suggests that vitamin D may be a highly effective way to help prevent cancer.

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, is truly groundbreaking as it evaluated nearly 1,200 postmenopausal women for four years and tracked how a 1,400–1,500 milligram supplement of calcium compared to a calcium supplement plus 1,100 IU vitamin D3 in preventing cancer. (13)

The results were amazing. After just one year of vitamin D3-added supplementation, the risk of developing all cancer types was decreased by an astounding 77 percent! Compared to the 0 percent improvement in the placebo and calcium supplement only groups, this is truly remarkable!

The Best Way to Get Vitamin D

To best prevent breast cancer, research suggests you should supplement so that your vitamin D3 levels are at least 40-60 ng/ml and up to 80 ng/ml.

The sweet spot you’re shooting for is 50-70 ng/ml. Here’s the best way to get there:

• Optimize vitamin D3 through 20 minutes of sun exposure everyday. This is best done by exposing 40 percent of your body to the sun between 10 am and 2 pm.
• Take an oral supplement containing around 5,000 to 10,000 IU of vitamin D3 daily. Because they are fat-soluble, make sure that you take them with some healthy “fatty” foods containing coconut oil or a probiotic-rich drink like kefir.

It can be challenging to find a pure supplement on the market, so try to find a combination formula of astaxanthin, omega-3 fish oil and vitamin D3.

8. Turmeric and Curcumin

While the link between curcumin and disease reversal has been widely examined, the use of this spice in relation to cancer is one of the most thoroughly researched topics.

A number of laboratory studies on cancer cells suggest that curcumin does have anticancer effects. It seems to be able to fight cancer cells and prevent more from growing. It seems to be most effective against breast cancer, bowel cancer, stomach cancer and skin cancer cells.

In fact, a 2007 laboratory study showed that the combined treatment of curcumin with chemotherapy eliminated more bowel cancer cells than chemotherapy alone.

Other laboratory studies have also shown that curcumin interferes with cancer development, growth and spread. And researchers have reported that curcumin blocked the formation of cancer-causing enzymes in rodents.

Bottom line: Evidence suggests that in general turmeric works well to help stop cancer in its tracks and is especially effective at helping to treat breast cancer, colon cancer and skin cancer.

9. Oxygen Therapy and Hyperbaric Chambers

All normal cells have an absolute requirement for oxygen, but cancer cells can live without oxygen — a rule without exception. Deprive a cell 35 percent of its oxygen for 48 hours and it may become cancerous.

~ Otto Warburg, MD (Nobel Prize in Physiology Winner, 1931)

Dr. Warburg made it clear that the root cause of cancer is oxygen deficiency, which creates an acidic state in the human body. He also discovered that cancer cells do not breathe oxygen and cannot survive in the presence of high levels of oxygen, as found in an alkaline state.

We’ve all heard that antioxidants kill free radicals in the body and reverse oxidative stress-causing chronic disease. This is one of the reasons why I love to use blueberries in my morning Berry Protein Smoothie! But is eating blueberries enough to cure cancer? 

Probably not. That’s why supplementing with oxygen therapy and utilizing a hyperbaric chamber is highly beneficial for people seeking natural cancer treatments.

Because the air pressure inside a hyperbaric oxygen chamber is about 2.5 times greater than the normal pressure in the atmosphere, it causes your blood to carry more oxygen to the organs and tissues in your body. Thought to heal everything from infected wounds to radiation injuries, many people claim that it has cured them of cancer. While it’s not quite mainstream yet, a growing numbers of hospitals have purchased some units to help their patients.

10. Prayer and Building Peace

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.

~ Proverbs 17:22

In addition to the many research studies that have been conducted on the healing benefits of prayer, maintaining mental peace and a positive outlook are absolutely critical to cancer prevention and treatment.

Some people utilize Eastern techniques like practicing tai chi or simply feeling gratitude, and these are highly effective in their own right. My favorite forms of meditation, however, consist of prayer, gratitude and reading the Bible.

Whatever your preference, make sure your focus is on living a stress-free lifestyle filled with peace and joy!

11. Immune-Boosting Mushrooms

Mushrooms have been used in Chinese medicine for over 4,000 years, and research regarding the cordycep and reishi species and cancer therapy has been pretty straightforward. They can:

• Potentially increase survival
• Help shrink tumors
• Boost your immune system
• Reduce radiotherapy and chemotherapy side effects like nausea and hair loss (14)

12. Keto Diet

A keto diet that eliminates excess refined sugar and other processed carbohydrates may be effective in reducing or fighting cancer. It’s not a coincidence that some of the best cancer-fighting foods are on the keto diet food list.

Of course, these results all depend on which extracts you choose and their concentrations. Some sources even suggest that supplementing with a complementary dose of vitamin C is also necessary.

The post 12 Natural Cancer Treatments Revealed appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Roughly 1 in 75 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer at some point during their lifetimes. According to the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, in women between the ages of 35–74, ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths. (1)

Considering how serious ovarian cancer tends to be in its later stages, both preventive care (including physical exams, diet & exercise, and avoiding toxins like talc), plus learning to recognize early signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer, are extremely important.

What are the early signs of ovarian cancer? In its early stages ovarian cancer might not cause any noticeable symptoms. Advanced-stage ovarian cancer is more likely to cause symptoms, but these are often said to be “nonspecific symptoms” that can be misattributed to other health problems. Once a woman does start experiencing ovarian cancer symptoms, they usually include pelvic pain, bloating, constipation, increased urination and others.

Over 90 percent of women who are diagnosed with ovarian cancer and treated during the disease’s earliest stages will survive for at least five years. Treatment for ovarian cancer can include chemotherapy, radiation and one or more surgeries. Natural remedies — like eating a healthy diet, resting and managing stress — can also help support women during recovery and manage side effects caused by cancer treatments.

What Is Ovarian Cancer?

Ovarian cancer, a disease that affects women only, is caused when malignant (cancerous) cells form inside or on top of the ovaries. The ovaries are two almond-shaped organs located on each side of a woman’s uterus. They store and release eggs and produce female hormones, including estrogen and progesterone.

There are three kinds of cells found in the ovaries, and each type of cell can potentially develop into a different type of cancerous tumor. The type of cell where the cancer begins determines the type of ovarian cancer a woman is diagnosed with. (2)

• Epithelial tumors (the most common type, accounting for about 90 percent of cases) — These cover the outer surface of the ovaries. These tumors can be non-cancerous and don’t always spread or lead to disease. Borderline epithelial ovarian cancers (including atypical proliferative serous carcinoma and atypical proliferative mucinous carcinoma) tend to affect young women and are slow-growing cancers that are not usually life-threatening.
• Germ cell tumors — These start from the cells that produce the eggs (called the ova).  Less than 2 percent of ovarian cancers are germ cell tumors. Roughly 9 out of 10 patients with this type of cancer survive at least five years after diagnosis.
• Stromal tumors — These start from structural tissue cells that hold the ovary together and produce the female hormones. About 1 percent of ovarian cancers are ovarian stromal cell tumors. Stromal tumors are usually diagnosed at an earlier stage than other ovarian tumors. This type tends to occur in older women and commonly causes abnormal vaginal bleeding.

Symptoms and Signs

Ovarian cancer symptoms can be mild and vague at first, but usually become more intense and noticeable over time as the disease progresses.

The most common ovarian cancer symptoms include: (3)

• Bloating in the abdominal region
• Pelvic pain or increased pressure and tenderness in the abdomen
• Increased urination or feeling like you need to urinate urgently
• Trouble eating, feeling full quickly, loss of appetite and sometimes weight loss
• Fatigue
• Digestive issues including constipation, gas, upset stomach or heartburn
• Back pain
• Pain during sex
• Irregular periods
• Depending on the type of tumor that forms, facial or body hair may grow

If they do occur, what are the early signs of cancer that a woman may experience? Each woman with ovarian cancer is different and can experience a unique set of symptoms, depending on the type of cancer, the stage and where it’s located. Some of the first signs of ovarian cancer to become noticeable are usually abdominal bloating or swelling, discomfort in the pelvis, quickly feeling full, urinary symptoms (urgency or frequency), and unexplained changes in bowel habits.

Is the pain constant with ovarian cancer? Pain in the belly, pelvic region or abdomen usually gets worse and more constant with time. It might start out as mild pain that is confused with menstrual pains or a stomach ache, but then becomes much more uncomfortable over the course of several months or more.

Granulosa cell tumors (GCT) — rare ovarian tumors in the stromal cell group — can cause additional symptoms, which include:

• Abnormal uterine bleeding
• Diagnosis of endometrial hyperplasia (thickening of the uterus that causes bleeding)
• Breast tenderness
• Unusual vaginal secretions
• Signs of increased testosterone (male pattern traits like facial hair growth, for example)
• In prepubescent girls, early onset puberty (70–80 percent) with early male trait characteristics

Causes and Risk Factors

All types of cancers develop when abnormal cells in a part of the body grow uncontrollably, usually forming tumors and sometimes spreading to other parts of the body. Recent research suggests that many cases of ovarian cancer may actually start in the fallopian tubes, a pair of tubes along which eggs travel from the ovaries to the uterus.

Metastasis is the term for cancer cells moving into the bloodstream or lymph system and spreading to other parts of the body. Sometimes cancerous cells can be found in the ovaries if they have spread (metastasized) from other parts of the body, such as the breasts or colon. This is not considered ovarian cancer, since the original site of the malignancy determines the type of cancer. Ovarian cancer can also spread to parts of the the digestive system or pelvis.

A number of risk factors have been identified that can increase a woman’s chance of developing epithelial ovarian cancer, but are less likely to increase the risk for germ cell tumors and stromal tumors. Still, even though certain risk factors may contribute to some cases of cancer, it’s not entirely clear why some women develop ovarian cancer and others do not.

Ovarian cancer risk factors include: (4)

• Genetic predisposition
• Personal or family history of breast, ovarian or colon cancer
• Being over the age of 40. Most cases of ovarian cancer occur in women between 50–60 years old, although younger women can be affected too
• History of infertility
• Obesity
• Smoking and high alcohol consumption
• Having had children after the age of 35 or never having had any children
• Taking hormone replacement therapy (including estrogens) after menopause
• Beginning menstruation at an early age or starting menopause at a later age
• Exposure to certain chemicals and toxins, including talcum powder which can sometimes be found in sanitary napkins, diaphragms and condoms.

Is there a connection between ovarian cysts and ovarian cancer? Ovarian cysts that are considered small, around 3 centimeters, are relatively common (such as in women who have polycystic ovarian syndrome) and the majority of the time are benign (non-cancerous).  However, if a woman develops cysts that are bigger than 6 centimeters and they persist throughout multiple menstrual cycles, or they develop during childhood or after menopause when cysts are less common, then this should be further investigated. These types of cysts are considered “abnormal,” and may not be cancerous, but could possibly contribute to ovarian cancer in some cases.

Staging and Diagnosis

The American Cancer Society estimates that about 22,280 new cases of ovarian cancer are diagnosed each year in the U.S., and that about 14,240 women will die from ovarian cancer annually. (5) Women with ovarian cancer who are treated right away — when the disease is still in its early stages — have a much better chance of survival and recovery. But sadly, only about 20 percent of all cases are found early, in either stage I or II. When ovarian cancer is caught in its later stages, meaning stage III or higher, the survival rate can be as low as 28 percent.

Staging refers to how much the disease has grown and spread in the body. The “grade” of cancer is also used to describe how cells behave and how aggressively they are growing. Early stages are usually treatable with surgery and chemotherapy. Later stages usually require more aggressive treatment and ongoing monitoring.

• The stages of ovarian cancer are indicated using Roman numerals ranging from I (1) to IV (4). I is the lowest stage indicating that the cancer is confined to the ovaries. Stage IV is the most advanced, indicating that the cancer has spread to other areas of the body. (6)
• Other factors that are used to stage cancer include: the size of the tumor (T), whether the cancer has spread to lymph nodes (N), and whether the cancer has spread (metastasis) to distant sites (M). Numbers or letters are assigned to T, N and M to describe how aggressive someone’s ovarian cancer has become.
• For example, ovarian cancer that is “stage 1, TI, N0, M0” would describe cancer that is only in the ovary (or ovaries) or fallopian tube(s) but has not spread to nearby lymph nodes (N0) or to distant sites (M0).
• Ovarian cancer that is “IVB, any T, any N, M1b” would describe cancer that has spread to the inside of the spleen or liver, to lymph nodes other than the retroperitoneal lymph nodes, and/or to other organs or tissues outside the peritoneal cavity, such as the lungs and bones.

How do you detect ovarian cancer early?

When a woman visits her doctor for an annual pelvic/vaginal exam, her doctor will be looking for any abnormalities. If abnormalities are found during these routine exams, then further testing is done to diagnose or rule out ovarian cancer, including transvaginal ultrasound and/or a tumor marker blood test called the CA-125.

• To diagnose a woman with ovarian cancer, doctors can use a combination of tests and exams including: pelvic exam in order to feel your pelvic organs, examination of external genitalia (vagina and cervix), imaging tests such as ultrasound or CT scans, and blood tests to help determine your overall health and to test for tumor markers.
• A CA-125 assessment is performed on a blood sample and measures the concentration of CA-125 in the blood. CA-125 is a protein released by cancer cells and sometimes inflamed cells that are non-cancerous. Sometimes a woman can have elevated CA-125 levels but not have cancer, so this is only part of a diagnostic system, but alone cannot be used to diagnose a woman with cancer.
• Sometimes if surgery is performed to remove an ovary, a doctor can make a diagnosis of ovarian cancer depending on the health of the ovary.
• A pap test alone will not detect ovarian cancer. Pap tests screen for cervical cancer, but will not tell you that you have ovarian cancer. However, these tests can be used to spot signs of abnormalities, although women who have normal pap tests can still have ovarian cancer.

Conventional Treatment

Ovarian cancer is usually diagnosed and treated by gynecologists (who specialize in women’s reproductive health) and oncologists (who specialize in treating cancer). Doctors typically use the treatment approaches below to manage ovarian cancer: (7)

• Chemotherapy — Chemo targets cells that are growing and dividing rapidly. The standard treatment for ovarian cancer consists of a combination of debulking surgery (to surgically remove as much of the cancer as possible) followed by six rounds of chemotherapy. (8) Unfortunately, chemo can also destroy many healthy cells that divide quickly, causing widespread side effects (such as nausea, indigestion, diarrhea, hair loss, low immune function, fatigue and anemia).
• Hormone therapy — helps to shrink tumors by cutting off hormones that promote their growth.
• Radiation therapy — used to help shrink tumors.
• Targeted drug therapies or immunotherapy — usually used to treat advanced stage cancers and work by targeting specific cells.
• Surgery — Most women who are diagnosed with ovarian cancer will need to undergo surgery at least once. Sometimes several surgeries are needed during the course of treatment.
• Medications — Drugs including angiogenesis inhibitors and targeted therapies may be recommended either in conjunction with chemotherapy or alone. New drugs are also being developed that may help shrink tumors. Medications that are sometimes used for this purpose include the drugs called Avastin and Sovenifib.

Natural Ways to Help Ease Treatment

Below are tips and natural remedies that may help make treatment more comfortable and support your overall health during recovery:

1. Eat a Healthy Diet

There’s some evidence that women who eat a diet high in antioxidant-rich vegetables and other plant foods have increased protection against ovarian cancer (and other types of cancers too) and may recover more easily. (9 )In a study known as the Swedish Mammography Cohort, higher vegetable intake (≥ 3 servings per day) as compared to low intake (< 1 serving/day) was associated with a 39 percent lower risk for ovarian cancer. (10)

Aim to eat at least 2½ cups of fruits and vegetables every day, focusing on having a variety that come in different colors. Vegetables that provide flavonoid antioxidants seem to be especially protective against ovarian cancer.

Below are some of the best cancer-fighting foods to include in your diet:

• Leafy greens like kale and spinach
• Sea vegetables
• Fresh herbs and spices like turmeric, ginger, basil, parsley or oregano
• Raw garlic
• Citrus fruits, berries, apples and pears, kiwi, coconut flakes, figs and dates
• Mushrooms, carrots, beets, tomatoes and bell peppers, artichokes, okra, green peas, winter or acorn squash, Brussels sprouts, turnips, sweet potatoes
• Cruciferous veggies like broccoli and cauliflower
• Organic, grass-fed or pasture-raised meats
• Wild-caught fish like salmon, mackerel, sardines or herring
• Green tea
• Cocoa
• Olive and coconut oil
• Avocados
• Beans and legumes, such as black beans, lentils, chickpeas or adzuki beans
• Nuts like almonds or walnuts, flax seeds and chia seeds
• 100 percent whole grains like quinoa, brown rice, buckwheat and rolled oats

To fight inflammation, reduce digestive symptoms, and support overall health, reduce or avoid these processed foods: factory-farm-raised red meat (such as beef, pork or lamb) and processed meats (such as hot dogs, salami and some deli/luncheon meats), refined grains, foods or drinks with added sugar, refined vegetable oils, fried foods, fast food and hydrogenated fats.

Eating a nutrient-dense diet will also make it easier to maintain a healthy weight. Being overweight or obese has been linked to higher risk for ovarian cancer and other types of cancer, such as colon cancer. You can work towards losing weight if needed by eating an anti-inflammatory diet, managing stress, getting enough sleep and regularly exercising.

2. Rest & Focus on Relaxation

Being diagnosed with ovarian cancer can be very stressful, especially if the cancer is caught in its later stages and needs to be treated aggressively. Make a point to incorporate stress-relieving activities into your day. You might need to nap or rest if you’re feeling fatigued and run down, and you will probably need more sleep than usual (at least eight hours per night). Give calming activities like yoga, meditation, reading, walking outside, massage therapy or acupuncture a try to keep your stress under control. Trying to relax and take care of yourself can help support your immune system while you fight to beat cancer.

3. Manage Nausea, Constipation & Indigestion

If you’re struggling with nausea, bloating, lack of appetite or constipation during your recovery, these steps may be able to help:

• Eat enough fiber, but not too much that it worsens symptoms. Aim for about 20–30 grams per day, but adjust the amount you consume as needed.
• Drink enough water throughout the day. Prevent dehydration when exercising, when you’re sick or when it’s very hot/humid outside.
• Limit or avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can make digestive systems worse.
• Avoid eating very big, high-fat meals. Spacing out meals may make digestion easier.
• If you have constipation, try consuming foods and beverages that act as natural laxatives, including: prune juice, psyllium husk, aloe vera, chia and flax seeds, flaxseed oil, cooked leafy greens, probiotic-rich foods like coconut kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut and kimchi, and coconut water. You can also consider taking magnesium supplements or using fiber supplements.
• If you have nausea, sip on ginger herbal tea or use ginger essential oil. You can also diffuse peppermint or lemon essential oil in your home, try slowly walking outdoors to get fresh air, keep your home cool, and try meditation and acupuncture.
• If pelvic pain causes you discomfort, you can try a natural pain reliever. It may also be helpful to try chiropractic care, physical therapy, gentle stretching and taking warm baths to help relax your muscles. Always check with your health care provider first before taking other medications or supplements or starting a new exercise program.

Preventive Care

1. Visit Your Gynecologist for Yearly Exams

Currently there is no accurate early screening test for ovarian cancer that is available. This is why experts highly encourage women to visit their doctors for an annual rectal and vaginal pelvic examination. Let your doctor know about your medical history, any family history of cancer, and any other risk factors that apply to you. It’s best to be proactive if you have a family history of breast and ovarian cancers, so bring this up with your doctor and talk about ways to reduce your risk.

2. Consider Genetic Testing

If your doctor believes that you may be at an increased risk for developing ovarian cancer (due to factors like having a family history), then he or she might refer you to a genetic counselor who can perform tests to identify if you carry genetic mutations. Certain gene mutations can increase your risk of both breast cancer and ovarian cancers, but only a small percentage of ovarian cancers are caused by inherited gene mutations.

Genes that can increase risk of ovarian cancer are called breast cancer gene 1 (BRCA1) and breast cancer gene 2 (BRCA2). Gene mutations associated with Lynch syndrome may also increase the risk of ovarian cancer. If a woman is found to have genetic mutations that may lead to ovarian cancer, she may consider undergoing surgery to remove her ovaries in order to prevent cancer. But this is ultimately a very personal decision, so the pros and cons of such a surgery need to be weighed by each individual woman.

3. Avoid Exposure to Toxins like Talc

Overall, findings from studies regarding chemical exposure and ovarian cancer risk have been mixed. Some studies have found that exposure to talcum powder — one chemical that may be able to travel through the vagina, uterus and fallopian tubes to the ovaries — may lead to a small or moderate increased ovarian cancer risk. Talc (a mineral containing magnesium, silicon and oxygen) is widely used in many products that women apply directly to their skin, including baby powder, makeup products and cosmetics, sanitary napkins, soaps, lotions and feminine hygiene products.

One study published in the journal Epidemiology found that talc exposure in the genital area increased ovarian cancer risk by 33 percent (the same risk didn’t apply when talc was used on other areas of the body). (11) Before buying any product that may contain talc, look for “talcum powder” or “cosmetic talc” on the label. Try to buy products that are certified talc-free, especially if you are using the product on or near your genital/pelvic area. You can also try homemade or alternative ingredients/products to cleanse and protect your skin, including baking soda, cornstarch, coconut oil, shea butter, non-nanoparticle zinc oxide and vitamin E oil.

4. Breastfeed After Giving Birth

Breastfeeding may lower your risk for developing ovarian cancer. Experts believe that breastfeeding can have positive effects on hormones after pregnancy, plus it benefits your baby in many ways too.

While I generally don’t recommend the use of birth control pills for all women, some studies have found that oral contraceptives (also known as birth control pills or the pill) may lower ovarian cancer risk. A hysterectomy (surgery to remove the uterus, but not the ovaries) also seems to reduce the risk of getting ovarian cancer by about one-third, although this surgery is only performed when absolutely necessary. (12)

5. Limit Alcohol Consumption & Quit Smoking

Studies have found that people who drink high amounts of alcohol or smoke/use tobacco products are more likely to develop various kinds of cancer, including ovarian cancer, compared to those who drink only moderately and don’t smoke. Women should ideally have no more than one alcoholic drink per day. For help quitting smoking, talk to your doctor about useful interventions; speak with a therapist; or start an online program that specializes in smoking cessation. (13)

Precautions

If you’re dealing with any of the ovarian cancer symptoms described above (pelvic pain, painful sex, bloating or irregular periods for example) for more than several weeks, visit your doctor for an evaluation. Look for symptoms that occur more than 12 times during the course of one month and that are new or unusual for you. This is especially important if you’re at an increased risk for ovarian cancer, such as due to a family history.

If your symptoms persist despite trying common treatments, then get a second opinion to rule out cancer or another illness. Just keep in mind that ovarian cancer symptoms have a lot in common with symptoms caused by other conditions; just because you’re feeling some pain or discomfort doesn’t mean you have cancer, so don’t panic and speak with a specialist.

Final Thoughts

• Ovarian cancer is caused when malignant (cancerous) cells form inside or on the ovaries, which are two almond-shaped organs located on the side of a woman’s uterus that store eggs and produce female hormones, including estrogen and progesterone.
• Not every woman experiences early signs of ovarian cancer. When ovarian cancer symptoms do occur they usually include: bloating, pelvic pain, feeling full quickly, increased urination, irregular periods, constipation and painful sex.
• Risk factors for ovarian cancer include: family history of cancer, genetic mutations, being over 40, obesity, smoking, use of hormone replacement therapy, having had children after age 35, and exposure to certain chemicals like talc.
• Ovarian cancer is typically treated with chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy and/or surgery.

7 Natural Ways to Help Prevent Ovarian Cancer & Manage Symptoms During Treatment

1. Eating a healthy diet
2. Focusing on relaxation
3. Treating nausea and digestive issues
4. Getting annual exams by a gynecologist
5. Breastfeeding
6. Avoiding toxin exposure
7. Limiting alcohol/smoking

Read Next: Reduce Your Risk of Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID)

The post Recognize Ovarian Cancer Symptoms (+ 3 Natural Ways to Help Ease Treatment) appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Bisphenol A (known as BPA) is a carbon-based, synthetic compound that is ubiquitous in modern-day life. It’s used in everything from shatter-resistant plastic water bottles and food storage containers to cash register receipts and canned food and drink liners. It’s even in coffee cans and beer kegs. Despite it being literally impossible to fully avoid, BPA toxic effects are now very well documented in medical literature. And the findings are not appetizing. The science shows this hormone-disrupting chemical causes widespread damage throughout our bodies.

It may seem like something out of a science fiction movie, but the damage can actually linger for generations, impacting an exposed person’s offspring (and their kids and beyond). (1) With facts like these, it’s clear we need to avoid this chemical like the plague and work to get it off the market.

In July 2018 in a first-of-its-kind study, researchers identified another risk factor a host of digestive health ailments, and this is huge. They identified BPA as a risk factor for inflammatory bowel disease.

Let’s take a closer look at BPA toxic effects, along with where this harmful chemical is hiding, and, of course, the best ways to avoid it. Plus (great news!), I’ll introduce you to a first-of-its-kind database that helps you better ID BPA threats in unexpected places.

BPA Toxic Effects

Because manufacturers line most food and beverage cans with BPA, it is virtually impossible to avoid for most people who eat the “typical” American (processed/packaged food) diet. Dietary intake is believed to be the biggest exposure point in adults. (2) Taking that into account, it’s easy to see why this endocrine disruptor is now detected in the urine of 93 percent of Americans. (3)

But let’s take a look at how this bad news chemical became such a part of our daily lives in the first place. Invented in a lab in 1891, it became quite clear by the 1930s that BPA is actually an artificial evidence. This gave the scientific community the first clear evidence of toxicity. Despite that, after World War II, the chemical industry boomed manufacturers started creating hard polycarbonate plastic. (Polycarbonate falls in the #7 plastic category, although not all plastics in that category are polycarbonate.) Around the same time, it also became the go-to epoxy resin for metal food cans.

Decades of studies, advisory panels and problematic conflicts of interest on government panels investigating BPA followed. In 2007, the first large study showed that eating canned foods results in widespread BPA contamination. Environmental Working Group’s research concluded that the highest concentrations were found in canned soup, pastas and infant formula. The analysis also found that many Americans are exposed to BPA above levels shown to be harmful in laboratory studies. Still this is a product in tens of thousands of consumer products today, despite the BPA toxic health effects outlined next. (4)

The Infertility Factor

One of the more disturbing BPA toxic effects is its role in infertility. In one of the most recent and robust studies, researchers from the University of Buea in Cameroon set out to see what the latest data has to say about the BPA-infertility connection. (5) Researchers uncovered some painfully shocking truths:

• It’s almost impossible to avoid BPA contact because, in addition to being in most packaged food items, it’s an environmental contaminant.
• BPA affects hormone balance and causes male reproductive dysfunction.
• BPA studies have shown that the most at-risk population is fetuses in-utero, a critical developmental stage for the embryo.
• BPA has been found to produce several defects in the embryo, such as feminization of male fetuses, atrophy of the testes and epididymides, increased prostate size, shortening of AGD, disruption of BTB, and alteration of adult sperm parameters (for example, sperm count, motility and density).
• BPA affects the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis by altering hormones in adults, which has been linked to sperm dysfunction.
• BPA induces oxidative stress in the testis and epididymis, which suggests antioxidant supplementation could help offset some of BPA-induced side effects.
• BPA also prevents proper embryo thyroid development.
• Men occupationally exposed to BPA had high blood/urinary BPA levels, and abnormal semen parameters.
• Men exposed to BPA also displayed reduced libido and erectile ejaculatory difficulties.

Women are also affected. A 2013 study from Jilin Medical College in China, found that “long-term exposure of female mammalians to BPA can lead to endocrine disorders, followed by the morphological and functional changes in ovary, uterus, vagina, and oviducts,” which have been linked to cause fertility issues. And these negative effects are seen in women who get pregnant naturally, as well as those who are trying to get pregnant via in-vitro fertilization (IVF). (6)

Another study out of the University of California, San Francisco discovered that BPA exposure in female patients interfered with oocyte (the early stage of the female ovum before it is released). The health of the oocyte was diminished during IVF and could prevent proper implantation and conception. (7)

In 2008, even the National Toxicology Program admitted it has some concern over current human exposure levels to BPA. The main concerns involved impacts on the prostate gland in fetuses, infants and children, along with brain and behavioral impacts at doses most people are exposed to every day. (8)

In addition to fertility concerns, recent research has linked BPA exposure to a wide variety of health issues, such as obesity and diabetes.

IBS Trigger

Earlier, I mentioned a landmark animal study publishing in summer 2018 in the journal Experimental Biology and Medicine. Researchers from Texas A&M University found that mice ingesting BPA at levels commonly found in the America diet triggered symptoms of inflammatory bowel symptoms commonly seen in ulcerative colitis. IBD also includes isses like Crohn’s disease symptoms. (9, 10)

“This is the first study to show that BPA can negatively impact gut microbial amino acid metabolism in a way that has been associated with irritable bowel disease,” — Jennifer DeLuca, graduate student and study author

Vitamin D Drain

Vitamin D deficiency is linked to all sorts of health problems, including things like weight gain, cancer, insomnia, arthritis, heart disease, MS and other ills. And get this. A September 2016 breakthrough study found that exposure to BPA may lower levels of vitamin D in the bloodstream. Phthalates, another toxic hormone-disrupting chemical used in vinyl and in many fake fragrances, also seems to lower vitamin D levels in the body.

The study, published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, found that people who were exposed to larger amounts of phthalates were more likely to have low levels of vitamin D in the bloodstream than the participants who were exposed to smaller amounts of the hormone-disrupting chemicals. There also was an association between exposure to higher levels of BPA and reduced vitamin D levels in women, although the relationship was not statistically significant in men.

Researchers say hormone disruptors could mess with the active form of vitamin D in the body in a similar way they disrupt normal reproductive and thyroid function. (11)

Obesity Breeder

In 2013, Kaiser Foundation Research Institute scientists who closely evaluated the urine BPA levels in 1,326 school-aged children from Shanghai linked BPA to obesity. They found that girls who had a higher urine BPA level were twice as likely to be obese than the average of the other children. (12)

Erratic Hearts

In 2011, scientists published a study that revealed more specifics about BPA’s long link to heart disease. The PLOS One article found BPA actually changed the natural natural heartbeat signaling in female rates. This led to arrhythmia, an erratic beating that sometimes causes sudden cardiac death. (13)

Pre-Diabetes Trigger

A paper published in Acta Diabetologica highlighted found that “higher urinary BPA levels are found to be associated with pre-diabetes independent of traditional diabetes risk factors.”

This is particularly interesting because it clearly states, regardless of your diet and fitness levels, BPA has been shown to affect glucose metabolism through insulin resistance, pancreatic β-cell dysfunction, adipogenesis, inflammation and oxidative stress. (14)

Eaten-Away Teeth

Even small doses of the chemical can do unexpected damage. A 2013 French study concluded that low, daily BPA exposures damages tooth enamel. While this was a rat study, the findings suggest that the unhealthy changes dentists witness in 18 percent of children (white marks on teeth and a brittle enamel) could be brought on by early contact with BPA. (15)

Related: Obesogenic Exposure: Top 7 Obesogens that Lead to Weight Gain & Obesity

Where Is This Chemical Hiding?

You are probably most familiar with the term because plastic bottles line store shelves all across the nation advertising “BPA-free,” yet drinking bottles are just only one source of this dangerous endocrine disruptor.

In fact, most people are unfamiliar that it is used for a wide variety of industrial purposes, such as:

• CDs
• Dental sealants & composites
• Medical devices
• Plastic dinnerware
• PVC piping
• Toys
• Some baby bottles

BPA is also found in currency throughout the world in addition to cash register receipts issued on thermal paper and also surprisingly in food packaging. Exposure to BPA is considered dangerous as some studies show it may cause brain damage, and could have a damaging effect on the behavior and prostate glands of fetuses, infants and children.

Why You Can’t Trust ‘BPA-Free’ Plastics

BPA is not the only problem. As consumer concerns over these types of research studies reached fever pitch, the FDA finally banned the sale of baby bottles containing BPA in 2012.

Instead of bisphenol A, manufacturers are now using bisphenol S (BPS) and other chemicals, yet recent studies are proving that this new approach is just as bad (if not worse) than the original.

In fact, recent reports claim that more than 80 percent of Americans have detectable levels of BPS in their urine. And, according to 2013 study out of The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, even less than one part per trillion of BPS can disrupt a cell’s normal functioning, which could potentially lead to metabolic disorders such as diabetes and obesity, asthma, birth defects or even cancer.

According to lead author Professor Cheryl Watson:

“[Manufacturers] put ‘BPA-free’ on the label, which is true. The thing they neglected to tell you is that what they’ve substituted for BPA has not been tested for the same kinds of problems that BPA has been shown to cause. That’s a little bit sneaky.”

Other researchers are uncovering similar results. According to an article published this past year in Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, “Certain BPA derivatives are being considered as alternatives to BPA. However, certain of these related products display adverse effects that are similar to those of BPA.”

It seems that the problem is everywhere. In 2011, the journal Environmental Health Perspectives published a very shocking study where scientists evaluated 455 plastic products that were purchased from Albertsons, H-E-B, Randalls, Target, Wal-Mart, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods.

With the specific purpose of determining whether or not BPA-free products release chemicals having estrogenic activity (EA), which has been linked to serious health effects at extremely low “nanomolar” levels. The researchers reported that:

“Almost all commercially available plastic products we sampled — independent of the type of resin, product, or retail source — leached chemicals having reliably detectable EA, including those advertised as BPA free. In some cases, BPA-free products released chemicals having more EA than did BPA-containing products.”

How to Avoid BPA Toxic Effects

At the end of the day, your best bet is to use glass and food-grade stainless steel. Both of these materials are completely safe and natural and easy to find. I recommend you start transitioning out your plastic containers and buy high-quality stainless steel (like food-grade, 18/8 stainless steel) and glass containers.

BPA in 16,000 Food & Drink Products

In June 2016, EWG used industry data to build a database of 16,000 food and drink items that could be packaged in materials harboring hormone-disrupting chemical BPA.

While it’s well-established that polycarbonate water bottles and most canned foods contain BPA, the EWG uncovered some other interesting BPA hiding spots. They include:

• The lids of glass jars for baby food, pickles, jelly, salsa and other condiments
• Aerosol cans for whipped toppings and nonstick sprays
• Bottles and tins of cooking oil
• Aluminum beverage cans
• Metal coffee cans
• Beer kegs

To avoid potential exposure and toxic BPA effects, search the database to avoid BPA-packaged products and find safer options.

Read Next: Phthalates: The Dangerous Chemicals Lurking All Over Your Home (Plus, What to Do About It)

The post BPA Toxic Effects & Symptoms: How BPA Destroys Your Body appeared first on Dr. Axe.

About one in every nine men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime. The risk for developing prostate cancer is greatest for men over the age of 65, especially those who African-American. In the Unites States, second to skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in men. It’s estimated that about 164,690 new cases of prostate cancer are detected each year, and about 29,430 deaths annually are caused by prostate cancer. (1) This makes it all the more important to pay attention to any prostate cancer symptoms you may notice.

According to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, “age is the biggest — but not the only — risk factor for developing prostate cancer.” (2) Other important lifestyle and genetic factors that can increase your risk include family history of cancer, smoking, race, obesity and lifestyle habits, such as the quality of your diet.

What can a man do to look after his prostate health? Every man over the age of 50 is encouraged to routinely visit his doctor for early screening prostate exams given how important it is to find and treat prostate cancer in its earliest stages. When cancer is detected, there are many complementary/alternative treatments available that can be used along with, or sometimes instead of, standard cancer treatments like chemo, radiation, surgery or immunotherapy. These include natural approaches like dietary modifications, exercise, yoga, acupuncture, stress management and herbal treatments.

What are the signs of prostate cancer and most common prostate cancer symptoms, and what can you do to help prevent and/or treat this common disease? Read on to learn more about prostate cancer symptoms and more.

What Is Prostate Cancer?

Prostate cancer, one of the most common types of cancer in men, is cancer that occurs in the prostate. Only men can develop prostate cancer, since women do not have a prostate. The prostate gland is a small, walnut-shaped gland in men that produces the seminal fluid. (3) Seminal fluid mixes with sperm from the testes and helps transport sperm, making ejaculation and conception possible. Here’s a bit more about the anatomy of the prostate and how it affects other organs and nerves:

• The prostate is about the size of a golf ball and located deep inside the groin, between the base of the penis and the rectum.
• The prostate is divided into several anatomic regions. The peripheral zone is the the back of the prostate, which can be felt during a physical exam/screening test. This is where most cases of prostate cancer start, potentially before spreading elsewhere.
• Above the prostate are the seminal vesicles, which store and secrete ejaculate.
• Along the side the prostate runs a group of nerves and blood vessels (a neurovascular bundle) that controls erectile function.
• The urethra, a narrow tube that connects to the bladder, runs through the middle of the prostate. The urethra carries urine and semen out of the body and is needed to empty the bladder.
• The rectum, which is located behind the prostate, is the lower end of your intestines. It connects to the anus and is involved in bowel movements.
• Prostate growth occurs during adolescence and is controlled by the male hormone testosterone and its byproduct dihydrotestosterone (DHT).

Prostate cancer is said to sometimes be a”silent” disease because in the earlier stages, sometimes which lasts for years, the tumor in the prostate gland is not big enough to cause any pain or prostate cancer symptoms. (4) Not every person who is diagnosed with this condition will experience any warning signs or noticeable prostate cancer symptoms to alert them to a problem. This is exactly why experts feel that prostate cancer screening is so important and life-saving.

Symptoms

When someone does develop prostate cancer symptoms, what are the early warning signs of prostate cancer? The most common prostate cancer symptoms in men include: (5)

• Difficulty urinating normally. This can include feeling a burning or painful sensation, having trouble starting and maintaining a steady stream of urine, weak urinary stream, experiencing dribbling or leaking of urine, more frequent need/urge to urinate, excessive urination at night, or urinary retention (not being able to urinate).
• Sexual problems, including erectile dysfunction (difficulty having or keeping an erection), painful ejaculation or a decrease in the amount of fluid ejaculated.
• Blood in the urine (hematuria) or semen.
• Pressure or pain in the groin and rectum.
• Pain or stiffness in the lower back, hips, pelvis or thighs. Prostate cancer can cause pelvic pain and back pain because the enlarged/inflamed prostate or a tumor may press against nerves.

Causes and Risk Factors

Like other types of cancer, prostate cancer is believed to be caused by a combination of factors, including those that are genetic and lifestyle-related. Prostate cancer develops when cells in the prostate mutate and divide, caused by abnormal changes in the cells’ DNA. As the cells start to grow and divide more rapidly than normal cells, healthy cells die off and abnormal cells form a tumor. The tumor will sometimes stay within the prostate gland but other times will spread and invade nearby tissue or metastasize to other parts of the body.

Researchers now know that risk factors for developing prostate cancer include: (6)

• Being over the age of 65. The average age at diagnosis of prostate cancer in the United States is 69 years old. As a man gets older, his chance of developing prostate cancer increases.
• Family history of cancer, especially prostate cancer. Men who have/had a close relative with prostate cancer are twice as likely to develop the disease compared to those who don’t. If the affected family members was diagnosed before the age of 65, the risk is even higher. A family history of other cancers, such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer, colon cancer or pancreatic cancer, also increase a man’s risk for developing prostate cancer.
• Genetic factors. Certain genes have been identified that can increase the risk of prostate cancer.
• Being African-American. Men of African descent are an estimated 73 percent more likely to develop prostate cancer compared with white men. It is still not known exactly why this is but has to do with family history and genes. Asian men who live in Asia have the lowest risk, but their risk increases if they adopt a “modern Western lifestyle.”
• Obesity or being overweight. Certain studies have found that obese men have a greater risk for developing aggressive prostate cancers (but not slow-developing types), a more difficult time recovering from surgery and have a greater risk of dying from prostate cancer.
• Smoking, tobacco use and drug use.
• Poor dietary habits, especially eating a highly processed diet that includes refined/trans fats, lots of added sugar and processed carbohydrates. There also seems to be an association between a lack of vegetables in the diet (especially cruciferous veggies, like cauliflower and broccoli) and a higher risk of aggressive prostate cancer.
• Lack of exercise and a sedentary lifestyle.
• Low vitamin D levels. Due to little sunlight exposure, men who live north of 40 degrees latitude (north of Philadelphia or Utah in the U.S.) have the highest risk for dying from prostate cancer of any men in the United States.
• Excessive calcium intake, particularly from supplements.
• Exposure to certain toxic chemicals, including “agent orange,” herbicides and defoliant chemical that has a history of use among the U.S. military, especially during the Vietnam War.
• Possibly a history of inflammation of the prostate (prostatitis), although more studies are needed to confirm the connection between prostate enlargement, non-cancerous tumors in the prostate gland and the risk for prostate cancer.
•  Tall height. It’s not exactly clear why, but bigger men (especially those who are tall and obese) develop prostate cancer more commonly.

The Prostate Cancer Foundation points out that there are many “myths” about other factors that some people claim can contribute to prostate cancer, but these have not been proven. Factors so far that have not been found to be connected to prostate cancer include high levels of sexual activity, frequent ejaculation, having a vasectomy, taking aspirin, use of statin drugs to lower cholesterol and consumption of alcohol.

Diagnosis

When doctors determine how much a man’s prostate cancer has spread — and, if so, how far and to what parts of the body — they are referring to”prostate cancer staging” (sometimes also called the level or grade of cancer). Determining a patient’s cancer stage is important for coming up with the best treatment plan possible.

Experts now believe that different stages of prostate cancer should basically be treated like different diseases, since there’s evidence that aggressive and fatal cancers have different underlying causes than slow-growing tumors.

Screening is crucial for prostate cancer because there’s a much greater chance of recovery and survival if the disease is managed effectively in its earliest stages. How do you detect prostate cancer early? Routine screenings for prostate cancer typically include digital rectal exams (DRE) and prostate specific androgen (PSA) tests. There is not total agreement in the medical community about when men should start being screened, but most medical organizations recommend men visit their doctors for prostate cancer screening in their 50s or sooner if they are at a higher risk.

Doctors use a wide range of tests to make a prostate cancer diagnosis, which can include blood tests, biopsy of tissue from the prostate, bone scan, CT scan, MRI and ultrasound.

Prostate Cancer Stages

Slow-growing prostate cancer is the type that’s confined to the prostate gland. This is easier to treat then aggressive prostate cancer, which can spread quickly.

• Where does prostate cancer spread to first?
• What are symptoms of prostate cancer that has spread to other parts of the body?

The most widely used system for classifying prostate cancer stages is the American Joint Committee on Cancer’s (AJCC) TNM system. (7) T stands for tumor category, N stands for nodes that are affected and M stands for metastasized (whether cancer has spread to other parts of the body). Another is the Gleason scoring scale, a system that is used to determine a patient’s prostate cancer stage on a scale from 2 (nonaggressive cancer) to 10 (very aggressive cancer). (8)

• According to the American Cancer Society, the main stages of prostate cancer according to the TNM scale range from I (1) through IV (4). Some stages are split further (A, B, etc).
• The lower the number, the less the cancer has spread. Stage IV means cancer has spread considerably.
• Within a stage, an earlier letter means a lower stage.
• For example, the stage “cT1, N0, M0” means a tumor cannot be felt or seen on ultrasound, the cancer has not spread to nearby lymph nodes [N0] and the cancer is not anywhere else in the body [M0]. The stage “Any T, any N, M1” means the cancer might be growing into tissues near the prostate [any T], it may have spread to nearby lymph nodes [any N] and it may be in the bones or other organs [M1].

What is survival rate of stage 4 prostate cancer? Survival rates for prostate cancer depend on a number factors, including the patient’s access to health care, insurance, prostate cancer screening, appropriate treatment and follow-up once a diagnosis has been made, history of other medical conditions that can hinder recovery, and socioeconomic factors.

Conventional Treatment

Following prostate cancer diagnosis, treatments for prostate cancer and prostate cancer symptoms can include a combination of the following:

• “Active surveillance” (no treatment right away) for men with low-risk, slow-growing prostate cancer. Progression of the cancer is monitored, but sometimes treatment is not needed.
• Hormone therapy to reduce production of testosterone. Research has shown that prostate cancer seems to to be fueled by the hormones testosterone and DHT (dihydrotestosterone), which is why treatment in early stages sometimes involves lowering these hormones. Luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) agonists prevent the testicles from making testosterone. Hormonal drugs can include those called leuprolide (Lupron, Eligard), goserelin (Zoladex), triptorelin (Trelstar) and histrelin (Vantas), ketoconazole and abiraterone (Zytiga). Other drugs that can stop testosterone from feeding cancer cells include (Casodex), nilutamide (Nilandron) and Xtandi.
• Radiation therapy to target and kill cancer cells. This is usually involves undergoing treatments about five days a week for several weeks.
• Chemotherapy, which can be administered through a vein in your arm, or taken in pill form to target and kill cancer cells. Chemo is usually recommended after hormone therapy doesn’t work or if the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.
• Cryosurgery or cryoablation to freeze and destroy cancer cells.
• Biological therapy (immunotherapy), which uses your body’s immune system to fight cancer cells. One example is a therapy called sipuleucel-T (Provenge), which is recommended for advanced, recurrent prostate cancer.
• If you’re at an increased risk for prostate cancer, your doctor might recommend you take medications called 5-alpha reductase inhibitors, including finasteride (Propecia, Proscar) and dutasteride (Avodart) that can control prostate gland enlargement. Use of medications called finasteride and dutasteride, which lower DHT levels and are often used to treat men with the noncancerous condition BPH. Studies have found that these drugs may reduce the chances that a man will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. The Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial, a very large study that involved more than 18,000 men followed for over a decade, found evidence that finasteride may reduce prostate cancer risk by about 25 percent. (9)
• Surgery to remove the prostate gland (called a radical prostatectomy), surrounding tissue and lymph nodes if needed. What happens when you have your prostate removed? There’s a chance this will cause problems with urination and sexual function. This is why surgery is usually not the first treatment approach that is recommended.
• Dietary and lifestyle changes to support recovery and prevent cancer from returning.
• “Integrative therapy,” a holistic treatment approach that combines standard medical care with Complementary and Alternative (CAM) medicine practices, is now becoming more popular in the treatment of cancer. This approach can involve mind-body exercises like meditation, exercise, physical therapy, etc., to help cope with stress and support the immune system.

4 Natural Ways to Ease Prostate Cancer Symptoms

1. Cope with Stress

Dealing with prostate cancer symptoms and undergoing treatment can be very stressful, reducing quality of life and increasing anxiety and/or depression.

Some of the ways you can cope with stress include mind-body practices, such as yoga, dance or movement; other types of exercise; acupuncture; breathing exercises; and mediation. Other relaxing hobbies and practices include prayer/spirituality, art therapy, music therapy, spending time in nature, journaling, reading and biofeedback training.

2. Take Care of Yourself

In general, try to take care of yourself by getting enough sleep, rest throughout the day, social connection, sunlight, movement and healthy foods. Aim to eat a nutrient-dense diet that helps stabilize your mood and gives you energy. Include a variety of fruits and vegetables, clean protein sources, probiotics, high-fiber foods and healthy fats.

Try to exercise most days of the week if you have the energy, but also be gentle with yourself and consider napping and getting extra sleep if needed. Exercise is beneficial for boosting blood flow and fighting depression, which may help reduce some symptoms of erectile dysfunction.

3. Educate Yourself About the Disease

Learning about your disease, potential prostate cancer symptoms you might experience and the latest treatment options can help you feel more in control. You can read plenty about the newest treatment approaches online or ask your doctor or nurse to explain them to you. There are also many online support groups, forums and books available that can offer insights and support.

Connecting with other cancer patients and survivors will make you feel less alone and is a great way to learn about what has worked for other people in your same situation. You might look to the American Cancer Society’s website, which offers online chat rooms and discussion forums. Feeling like your disease is a less of a mystery and hearing from others who have survived should help ease some of your worry and distress.

4. Lean on Your Spouse, Family, Friends and Community for Support

You might not feel like talking about your disease with others, but being open with a therapist, your family and friends will reduce feelings of isolation. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you’re overwhelmed, fatigued and unable to keep up with everyday tasks. For example, your spouse or a friend can help you stay on track and organized in terms of cooking, cleaning and taking care of family obligations if appointments are taking up lots of time.

Many men going through prostate cancer struggle sexually, such as with erectile dysfunction. Experts recommend communicating to your spouse/partner about how you’re feeling so he or she understands. Even if you’re not able to intimate for some time, massaging, touching, holding, hugging and caressing are ways to stay connected.

Talking with a professional, a therapist or counselor about your worries is also a good idea. It’s understandable to feel angry, anxious and many other difficult feelings, but having someone to speak with about your grief can ease your mind and increase hope.

Preventive Care

1. Eat a Healthy Diet and Manage Your Weight

Many studies have evidence that lifestyle changes, especially diet modifications, can decrease the chances that you’ll develop prostate cancer, reduce cancer recurrence and help slow the progression of cancer. A healthy, unprocessed diet is also important for preventing obesity, a known risk factor for prostate cancer.

• Get an idea for how many calories you need to maintain your weight. Try not to exceed this amount, perhaps by keeping a food journal temporarily.
• Limit your consumption of processed meats, factory-farm meats and conventional dairy products (opt for organic, unsweetened dairy instead).
• Avoid all trans fatty acids (found in many fried foods, fast food, highly processed foods and margarine).
• For the most protection, eat about 2.5 cups or more of veggies every day as part of an anti-inflammatory diet. Try to include a variety of veggies in your diet, especially leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables (like broccoli, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower), which have recently been connected to cancer prevention. (11)
• Eat wild-caught fish, which provide omega-3 fatty acids.
• Include a variety of high-antioxidant foods in your diet, including all types of leafy greens, orange and yellow veggies and fruits, berries, citrus fruits, carrots, avocado, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, asparagus, bell peppers, mushrooms, sea veggies, herbs and spices, olive oil, green tea, cocoa, spirulina, and others.
• Eat foods high in zinc and selenium, which support prostate health. These include grass-fed beef, lamb, liver and organ meats, sardines, turkey, Brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds, dark chocolate, sesame seeds, wheat germ, chickpeas.

2. Get Enough Exercise

Studies suggest that people who are more physically active have better protection against developing many types of cancer, as well as overall improvements in health and better protection against obesity. Getting daily exercise has numerous benefits, both for your mind and body. Exercise helps reduce inflammation, improve circulation, support the immune system and can help you control your weight. It can also improve feelings of well-being and reduce stress, depression or anxiety.

A review conducted at Stanford University, which looked at 27 studies conducted between 1976 and 2002, found that 16 out of 27 studies found that exercise significantly reduces a man’s risk for developing prostate cancer. The average risk reduction ranged from 10 percent to 30 percent. (12) The researchers stated, “The ability of exercise to modulate hormone levels, prevent obesity, enhance immune function and reduce oxidative stress have all been postulated as mechanisms that may underlie the protective effect of exercise.”

3. Treat Other Health Conditions and Check Your Medications

Many of the same lifestyle habits that lead to conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease and depression can also increase your cancer risk. These are also associated with worsened sexual function, including contributing to erectile dysfunction. Work on overcoming health challenges through diet and lifestyle changes as much as possible, then consider speaking with your doctor about other treatments or medications that can also help. Recovery from serious diseases, including cancer, is easier if you’re metabolically healthy and not battling other health problems.

If you’re taking any medications, it’s a good idea to speak to your doctor about how they may contribute to negative side effects. For example, some medications, such as SSRIs (used to treat depression), beta-blockers (used for high blood pressure), and medications used for insomnia and anxiety, can affect your prostate. These may have a negative impact on sexual dysfunction because they can cause decreased libido, impairment in arousal, erectile dysfunction, delayed ejaculation, and delayed or absent orgasm. (13)

4. Do Not Supplement with Calcium

Taking high doses of calcium may increase your risk, so talk to your doctor about whether calcium supplements are really needed. It’s advised that you avoid taking more than 1,500 milligrams of calcium from supplements per day, although calcium from food sources (like leafy greens and fermented dairy) are unlikely to be a problem.

5. Don’t Smoke

If you currently smoke, get help with quitting. For help quitting smoking, talk to your doctor about useful interventions, speak with a therapist or start an online program that specializes in smoking cessation, such as ones recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (14) Drink alcohol only in moderation and avoid use of recreational drugs.

6. Sleep Enough and Manage Stress

Find ways to relax, connect with others and wind down. If your job is a major source of stress on a daily basis, consider what you can do to change your situation. Take up hobbies, stay active and join groups in your community to connect with others. Studies have found that people with more social support tend to liver longer, happier lives.

Precautions

If the prostate cancer symptoms described above sound familiar to you, don’t panic — there are other condition that can cause similar symptoms that are not very serious. Urinary symptoms can be due to prostatitis, or enlargement of the prostate. This is a common problem among older men but is usually not very difficult to treat.

Sexual dysfunction and nerve pain may also be caused by diabetes, a history of smoking, cardiovascular disease, depression or as a side effect of hormonal changes dye to getting older. Always see a doctor if your symptoms last more than one to two weeks. Your doctor can be sure to rule out other conditions that may be causing your symptoms, including sexually transmitted infections.

Final Thoughts

• Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in men. The prostate gland is a small, walnut-shaped gland in men that produces seminal fluid which mixes with semen from the testes.
• Prostate cancer symptoms and treatment depend on the stage of cancer that someone has. Prostate cancer symptoms are not always noticeable in all men, but when prostate cancer symptoms do occur they can include pain when urinating, abnormal urination, such as a weak stream or leakage, more frequent urination (especially overnight), pain in the pelvis, back and groin, erectile dysfunction and sexual problems.
• Risk factors for prostate cancer include being over 65, family history/genetic factors, obesity, poor diet, smoking, sedentary lifestyle, being African-American and toxin exposure.
• Natural ways to help cope with treatment include managing stress with mind-body practices, joining a support group, taking care of yourself with healthy diet and exercise habits, speaking with a therapist, and leaning on family and friends for support.
• Ways that you can help lower your risk for prostate cancer and prostate cancer symptoms include eating an anti-inflammatory diet, exercising, treating other health conditions, avoiding risky medications or supplements like calcium, quitting smoking, and managing stress.

The post Prostate Cancer Symptoms + 10 Natural Ways to Help Cancer Treatment appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Did you know that 1 in 5 Americans will develop skin cancer in their lifetime? Each year more than 5 million cases of nonmelanoma skin cancer are treated and there are more new cases of skin cancer than cancers of the breast, prostate, lung and colon combined. In fact, over the course of the past three decades, more people have had skin cancers than all other skin cancers combined. (1)

Reading these statistics may scare you or surprise you. The good news is that skin cancer can be identified early if you know the skin cancer symptoms to look for. Read on to learn more about steps you can take to monitor your body for signs of skin cancer and what to do about it if you find any suspicious growths. You’ll also learn more about dietary and lifestyle changes you can make to improve your health and boost your odds of both preventing and beating skin cancer.

What Is Skin Cancer?

Skin cancer is the abnormal and rapid growth of skin cells. Skin cancer can be categorized into three main types:

• Basal cell carcinoma
• Squamous cell carcinoma
• Melanoma

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common form of skin cancer. BCC occurs in the outermost layer of your skin and will often cause skin cancer symptoms such as open sores, red patches, shiny bumps or scars. It rarely metastasizes (spreads) past the original tumor site. However, it is still malignant and if you suspect you may have BCC, you should still see your health care provider. Sources report that up to three million cases are diagnosed each year. (2)

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) occurs when abnormal cells start to grow uncontrollably in the upper layers of the skin. (3) SCC skin cancer symptoms include open sores, scaly red patches and the characteristic elevated growth with a central hole — in fact, SCC is also referred to as the “rat-bite” tumor because of this distinctive appearance. SCC can also bleed or crust and can lead to death if allowed to grow. More than one million cases are diagnosed each year in the U.S. and about  8,800 people die from it each year. (4)

Melanoma is not the most common skin cancer, but it is the most dangerous form of skin cancer. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, “These cancerous growths develop when unrepaired DNA damage to skin cells … triggers mutations (genetic defects) that lead the skin cells to multiply rapidly and form malignant tumors.” (5) Melanoma kills over 10,000 people in the U.S. annually. (6)

Melanoma skin cancer symptoms are bumps or patches that resemble moles and are usually black or brown. They can also be blue, pink, red, white or even skin-colored. If recognized and treated early, melanoma can be curable. If not, it can advance and metastasize to other areas of the body, making it harder to treat and potentially fatal.

Related: Best Mineral Sunscreen to Use (Plus Benefits & Comparisons)

Symptoms

In addition to the changes in skin described above, there are five key skin cancer symptoms (called the “ABCDEs”) that can help you recognize skin cancer early. Doctors recommend performing regular head-to-toe checks while keeping an eye out for these five ABCDEs of skin tumors: (7)

A (Asymmetry): If you draw an imaginary line through the middle of the mole or lesion on your skin and the two halves are not symmetrical, this may be a sign that it is malignant.

B (Border): Non-malignant moles will typically have a smooth, regular border. The border of an early melanoma will generally be jagged or uneven.

C (Color): Melanomas are known for being a variety of colors, particularly shades of black, brown and tan. They may also be blue, red and other colors. A non-malignant mole or growth is usually only one color.

D (Diameter): As a rule of thumb, non-malignant skin cancers are smaller than a quarter inch in diameter. Melanomas are usually larger in diameter, so keep an eye on larger moles.

E (Evolving): If  you notice potential skin cancer symptoms such as changes in color, elevation, size or shape of a mole, and if any new symptoms arise (bleeding, crusting, itching, etc.), then see your doctor as it could be dangerous.

Not all cancers fit the ABCDE profiling. It’s important to take note of any new skin spots or growths and consult with your doctor about any moles, freckles or spots that seem unusual.

Some other skin cancer symptoms to watch for may include the following. See your doctor if you experience any of these symptoms.:

• Pigmented patches or growths that grow beyond their border, are red, swell or do not heal
• Tenderness, itching, pain or sensitivity in a bump or mole
• A mole that changes shape, becomes scaly or bleeds

Risk Factors

Skin cancer can appear anywhere on the body, but it’s more likely to occur in areas that are frequently exposed to the sun such as the face, neck, hands and arms.

Skin cancer risk factors include: (8)

• Exposure to sunlight and artificial UV light (such as tanning beds) over a long period of time
• Having a light complexion:
  • Fair skin that freckles or burns easily or tans poorly
  • Blue, green or light-colored eyes
  • Red or blond hair
• Having actinic keratosis, a type of potential precancerous lesion
• Past radiation treatment
• A weakened immune system
• Genetic predisposition
• Arsenic exposure

Other general cancer risk factors include:

• Exposure to environmental toxins and chemicals
• Toxic beauty products, household cleaners and sunscreen (Yes, ironically some sunscreens contain harmful ingredients!)
• Alcohol
• Smoking
• Poor diet
• Sedentary lifestyle
• Not enough vitamin D (Just as too much sunlight can be bad for you, not enough exposure to the sun, or other sources of vitamin D, is also harmful.)
• Certain viruses and bacteria

Diagnosis

Your health care provider will use one or both of two methods of diagnosing possible skin cancer symptoms — examination and biopsy — to determine whether or not a growth is cancerous: (9)

• Skin exam: The doctor or nurse examines skin to look for any unusual bumps or spots, paying close attention to any abnormalities in color, shape, size or texture.
• Skin biopsy: Either all or a small portion of a growth is removed and checked for signs of cancer under a microscope. There are four types of skin biopsy:
  • Shave biopsy: A bit of the growth is shaved off with a sterile razor blade.
  • Punch biopsy: A punch, or trephine, used to punch out a circular bit of the abnormal growth.
  • Incisional biopsy: Part of the growth is removed.
  • Excisional biopsy: The entire growth is removed.

Metastasis & How Cancer Spreads

Cancer spreads, or metastasizes, to other parts of the body in three basic ways:

1. Tissue: The cancer cells spread from the tumor to nearby tissue.
2. Lymph system: Cancer cells travel from the primary tumor through the lymphatic system to other parts of the body.
3. Blood: Cancer cells enter the bloodstream from the primary tumor and spread to other parts of the body.

Three basic kinds of testing are used to determine if the cancer has spread: (10)

1. CT scan (CAT scan)
2. MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)
3. Lymph node biopsy

Staging

Cancer staging ranges from stage 0 through stage 4. The cancer stage depends on factors such as whether or not the cancer is localized or if, and how far, it has spread and the size of the tumor. For example, at stage 0, the cancer is still confined to the tumor itself (known as carcinoma in situ). Each stage beyond this indicates an increase in size and how far the cancer has spread to other areas of the body. At stage 4, the cancer has spread, or metastasized, to much of the body and the cancer is very difficult to treat.  There are no further stages beyond stage 4. (11)

With skin cancer, there are also different factors for staging based on whether or not the cancer appears on the eyelid or other areas and whether or not the cancer is a nonmelanoma (BCC or SCC) or a melanoma.

Conventional Treatment

Conventional skin cancer treatment options vary depending on whether or not the cancer is a nonmelanoma or a melanoma. Other factors are then taken into consideration, including: (12, 13)

• Cancer stage
• Type of cancer
• Size of the tumor and body part affected
• How aggressive the cancer is (how fast the cancer cells are dividing and spreading)
• Patient’s age and overall health

Standard conventional skin cancer treatments may include:

Surgery: Various forms of surgery may be used depending on the type, stage and location of the cancer.

Radiation therapy: Radiation therapy relies on radiation to destroy or shrink the cancer tumor. It can cause side effects such as skin irritation, salivary gland damage, vomiting and hair loss, among others, depending on the location of the treatment.

Chemotherapy: Also known as “chemo,” chemotherapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells and ease symptoms. However, it’s also highly toxic and can cause difficult side effects such as nausea, vomiting, hair loss and cause damage to healthy cells as well as cancer cells.

Targeted therapy: Targeted therapy is basically a form of chemotherapy, but it’s able to “target” specific aspects of cancer cells. Sometimes targeted therapies are used alone but they are also given with other forms of chemotherapy. Like other forms of chemotherapy, they can also cause side effects, including changes to the hair and skin.

Photodynamic therapy: Used for treating skin cancers and cancers on the lining of internal organs or cavities, this therapy combines a photosensitizing chemical with a special type of activating light to kill cancer cells. Photodynamic therapy causes the eyes and skin to become sensitive to light for about six weeks after treatment and it can cause other temporary side effects, including coughing, abdominal pain, and trouble swallowing, among others.

Immunotherapy: As the name implies, this therapy uses the patient’s own immune system to fight their cancer. Some types of immunotherapy are called biologic therapy. It works better on certain types of cancers than others. Immunotherapy may be used to treat melanoma.

If other therapies aren’t working, or for some reason aren’t a viable option, sometimes patients may participate in clinical trials for new treatments. These are treatments that are still in the research phase and are not yet available on a widespread basis, but may have some efficacy in treating difficult cancers and may lead to new standard treatments.

Further details about skin cancer staging and conventional treatment can be found online on the National Cancer Institute’s website.

Natural Therapies

Given how harsh the side effects of conventional treatment can be on the body, I recommend trying natural skin cancer treatments. Either used along with standard therapies or on their own, these natural therapies can aid the body in the therapeutic process and provide much-needed relief from the difficulties of the disease. Below are some additional remedies that may offer therapeutic benefits and relief for skin cancer symptoms.

Eggplant extract — A study published by U.K. researchers in the International Journal of Dermatology demonstrated that a cream with a 0.005 percent concentration of solasodine glycosides, a compound derived from eggplant, is a safe and effective therapy for keratosis and early stage basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas. The cream is not currently available in the U.S. (14)

Frankincense and myrrh oils — Since recorded history myrrh has been used to treat a wide range of diseases. At one point in history, myrrh was so precious that its value was determined by its weight in gold!

There is limited research on the use of myrrh, but a 2013 study found that the use of frankincense and myrrh oils on basal cell cancer lines (A549 cell lines), seems to help encourage apoptosis, or cell death, of these skin cancer cells. While promising, the researchers noted that further studies are needed. (15)

Myrrh oil is best applied mixed with a carrier oil such as coconut, jojoba, almond or grapeseed oil. Frankincense oil can be applied directly to the skin as an essential oil or as a salve to help relieve skin cancer symptoms.

Lifestyle Changes to Help Skin Cancer Symptoms

Remove Toxins & Find Healthier Alternatives

• Filter your water. Tap water often contains chemicals such as chlorine, fluoride and arsenic, among others, which are toxic to your health.
• Remove dangerous chemicals and toxic products from your homes. Identify any products in your home that contain the Top 10 Chemicals Threatening Your Health Right Now and replace them with safer alternatives.
• As a safer and healthier alternative to toxic chemical-based products,  use natural or organic cleaning products and beauty products (especially avoid sodium laurel sulfate, propylene glycol, etc.). Or, better yet, try making your own (which is usually the safest way to ensure the least amount of contaminants).
• Get outside! Time spent outdoors breathing in fresh air and getting some mild-to-moderate exercise can boost your mental, emotional and physical wellbeing by easing anxiety and helping to clear toxins from your body. Be sure to take any necessary precautions because of your illness, such as wearing sunglasses or protective clothing.

Try a Cleanse

Just as you detox your home and environment, you can also detox your body with a liver cleanse to help your body remove any existing irritants and balance your digestive tract while helping to ease skin cancer symptoms. With any cleanse or diet change, it is important to listen to your body. Cleansing can have side effects, such as flu-like symptoms. This is the result of stored toxins being released and is normal. However, should you experience any headaches, nausea or flu-like symptoms, always consult your doctor or reduce any cleansing agent you may be taking. If you are going through any conventional cancer treatments that may be hard on the body, take extra precautions before and during a cleanse and speak with your health care provider about any concerns you may have.

Eat Foods That Help Fight Cancer

• Green, leafy vegetables rich in key vitamins and minerals and fiber, such as spinach and kale.
• Clean, healthy proteins like grass-fed meat, eggs, wild-caught fish, nuts and seeds
• Sources of healthy fats rich such as avocados, cold-pressed olive oil, coconut oil, ghee or clarified butter
• Antioxidant-rich foods, including berries (blackberries, blueberries, goji berries, etc.), pecans, walnuts, artichoke hearts, cloves, acai berries, cocoa (in moderation) and garlic.
• Then there is Manuka honey for skin cancer. As research published in Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine concludes, “Evidence is growing that honey may have the potential to be anticancer agent through several mechanisms.”

To get started, try following my healing foods diet. Eat organic, whole foods and avoid non-GMO foods as much as possible. Avoid any known food allergens and speak with your health care provider or a nutritionist if you have any questions about how best to implement a new diet.

Foods to Avoid

Since cancer thrives in an acidic and toxic environment, it is important to remove any foods that increase inflammation in the body. Remove processed foods, refined cooking oils, sugars (corn syrup & artificial sweeteners), fast food and avoid consuming foods with a high omega-6 ratio.

Avoid foods such as corn-fed beef, corn and soy products, gluten, trans fats, fried foods, deli meats or foods that have any added preservatives or nitrates.

Supplements to Help Skin Cancer Symptoms

Vitamin D — Vitamin D, especially in the form of vitamin D3, is critical to health and immune system functioning. (16)

Pancreatic  Enzymes — These enzymes are important in controlling inflammation, optimizing blood flow, boosting the immune system and helping to prevent cancer.

Probiotics — Nourishing your body with probiotics helps boost healthy gut bacteria. Benefits of a high-quality probiotic supplement and foods include a stronger and healthier immune system and improved digestion, among others.

Turmeric  — Turmeric, particularly its active compound curcumin, has many health benefits. These include boosting immune health and potentially helping to treat cancer.

Precautions

Check with your health care provider before making major dietary and exercise changes, especially if you are currently undergoing conventional cancer treatment, have other health conditions or if you are pregnant or nursing.

Final Thoughts

• Skin cancer can be categorized into three main types: basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma
• Be sure to learn the ABCDEs of examining moles or suspicious growths so that you know the skin cancer symptoms to look for. Reach out to your health care provider if you see any unusual colors or changes in color, size or shape of moles.
• Skin cancer is diagnosed through a combination of examination and biopsy.
• Treatment will depend on the type, location and stage of the cancer.
• Natural therapies and lifestyle changes can help relieve skin cancer symptoms.

The post Skin Cancer Symptoms + Natural Therapies & Prevention appeared first on Dr. Axe.

It’s estimated that more than 2 percent of all men and women (or about 1 in 50) will be diagnosed with bladder cancer at some point during their lifetime. (1) In the United States alone, as of 2014 there were more than 696,000 people living with bladder cancer and more than 68,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Bladder cancer affects more men than it does women, although women can be affected by the condition too.

What is one of the first signs of bladder cancer? Usually one of the earliest bladder cancer symptoms is blood in your urine (called hematuria). Depending on the stage or grade of bladder cancer that someone is diagnosed with, treatment options can include chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy and lifestyle changes to prevent the cancer from returning. Unfortunately, cancer treatments tend to cause many different side effects that may even be worse than the bladder cancer symptoms — but natural remedies like dietary changes, supplements and stress-relieving activities can help make bladder cancer treatments easier to handle.

What Is Bladder Cancer?

As the name implies, bladder cancer is cancer that affects the bladder, a hollow organ in the lower part of the abdomen that stores urine until it is passed out of the body. There are several different types of bladder cancer, which include: (2)

• Transitional cell carcinoma — According to the NIH National Cancer Institute, the most common type of bladder cancer is called transitional cell carcinoma (also called urothelial carcinoma). This develops first in urothelial cells that line the inside of the bladder and normally help the bladder to change shape and size based on how full it is. This same type of cancer can also affect other parts of the urinary tract, but the bladder is most likely to be affected.
• Squamous cell carcinoma — This type first affects the thin, flat cells lining the bladder. It is usually caused by bladder irritation or infections but is considered to be rare.
• Adenocarcinoma cancer — This type affects cells that make and release mucus and other fluids. This is a rare type of bladder cancer compared to transitional cell carcinoma.

How long will you live if you have bladder cancer? This depends on when the cancer was caught, or, more specifically, at what stage and grade it is diagnosed. When bladder cancer is diagnosed at an early stage (more on the stages below), there is a high probability that it can be overcome. Research suggests that as of the year 2013, more than 77 percent of people with bladder cancer will live at least five years past their diagnosis.

Signs and Symptoms

• Blood in urine (hematuria). Urine can be pink, bright red or a darker maroon or brown color. Blood might come and go, sometimes disappearing for weeks at a time only to return again.
• Painful urination, which usually gets worse as the cancer progresses.
• Chronic symptoms tied to frequent urinary infections, kidney and bladder stones, or a bladder catheter left in place a long time that causes irritation.

Advanced bladder cancer symptoms can include those above, plus:

• Pelvic pain, and/or sometimes lower back and abdominal pain.
• Frequent urination due to an overactive bladder.  You might feel like you need to urinate all of a sudden and urgently or have a hard time controlling your bladder or engaging the muscles in your pelvis.
• Being unable to urinate or control your “stream.”
• Nausea, loss of appetite and weight loss.
• Feeling tired or weak.
• Swelling in the feet.
• Aches and bone pain.

It’s possible for bladder cancer symptoms and signs in females to be somewhat different than in males. Bladder cancer symptoms in men can affect the prostate, a walnut-sized gland located between the bladder and penis in males that releases prostatic fluid and helps with the release of urine. Bladder cancer is the fourth most common malignancy diagnosed in American men and almost three times more common in men than in in women. (4) Men with bladder cancer usually experience some blood in their urine, urinary burning, increased urgency, and/or increased frequency. Women can have many of the same bladder cancer symptoms. In both sexes it’s common for these bladder cancer symptoms to be attributed to other conditions like urinary tract infections (UTIs), but if they keep returning it’s important to visit a doctor.

Causes and Risk Factors

What are the main causes of bladder cancer? Bladder cancer develops when cells in the bladder grow abnormally, develop mutations and form tumors. It’s not always known why this happens in some people, especially if they don’t have any obvious risk factors or a family history. There are many possible root causes of cancer, including various combinations of genetic and environmental factors.

People who have an increased risk of bladder cancer include those who:

• Are over the age of 40, since your risk increases as you get older. About 9 out of 10 people with bladder cancer are older than 55.
• Are males, who develop bladder cancer much more often than females do.
• Have had cancer in the past, especially cancer affecting the urinary tract.
• Smoke or use tobacco products. Cigarette smoking is considered one of the most important causes of bladder cancer since it causes toxins to travel to the kidneys and into the urine where they are exposed to the bladder lining.
• Are Caucasian/whites. People who are white have about twice the chance of developing bladder cancer as African Americans and Hispanics.
• Are exposed to certain chemicals and toxins that can damage your kidneys, such as due to exposure at work or through environmental pollution. Chemicals linked to bladder cancer include arsenic, benzidine and beta-naphthylamine and chemicals used in the manufacture of dyes, rubber, leather, textiles and paint products. According to the American Cancer Society, “workers with an increased risk of developing bladder cancer include painters, machinists, printers, hairdressers (probably because of heavy exposure to hair dyes), and truck drivers (likely because of exposure to diesel fumes).” (5) Arsenic can be found in some contaminated tap water, although this only happens rarely in industrialized nations.
• Have a history of chronic bladder infections or irritation of the lining of the bladder, such as from long-term use of a urinary catheter. The bladder can become irritated from urinary tract infections, kidney stones or prostate infection. (6)
• Have a family history of cancer, especially of hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer, also called Lynch syndrome. People with a genetic mutation of the retinoblastoma (RB1) gene, or Cowden disease, are also at an increased risk.
• Have had radiation exposure or prior chemotherapy.
• Have had parasitic infections. For example, the parasitic infection called schistosomiasis (also known as bilharziasis), which mainly affects people living or visiting Africa and the Middle East, can increase bladder cancer risk.
• Have a rare birth defect that affects the urinary tract and bladder, including those called exstrophy or urachus.
• Have taken diabetes medication called pioglitazone (Actos) for more than one year.

Diagnosis

Fortunately, bladder cancer is often diagnosed at an early stage, which means there is a higher likelihood of recovery. According to the Mayo Clinic, “About seven out of every 10 bladder cancers diagnosed start out at an early stage — when bladder cancer is highly treatable.” (7)

To make a bladder cancer diagnosis, your doctor will likely perform several tests, including a urine analysis and urine cytology. Blood in your urine might not be visible when you go to the bathroom, but can sometimes still be detected during a microscopic exam of the urine. Your doctor will also look for chromosome changes, antigens and proteins called NMP22 in your urine.

Staging

The stage or grade of cancer that someone has refers to how much their cancer has progressed and/or spread throughout their body. “Staging” describes where the cancer is located and whether or not it has spread to parts of the body such as the lymph nodes. The purpose of cancer staging is to help determine what kind of treatment should be most effective. Most doctors determine a patient’s cancer stage using the TNM system (which stands for tumor, node, metastasis), which describes the presence of primary tumors, their location, and if they have metastasized. There are four bladder cancer stages that someone can be diagnosed with:

• Stage 0a or 0b: This is an early stage when the cancer is on the inner lining of the bladder but has not invaded the muscle or connective tissue. (8)
• Stage I: The cancer has grown through the inner lining of the bladder into the lamina propria (a loose layer of connective tissue under the basement membrane lining of the epithelium).
• Stage II: The cancer has spread into the thick muscle wall of the bladder, but not the lymph nodes or other organs.
• Stage III: The cancer has spread throughout the muscle wall to the fatty layer of tissue surrounding the bladder.
• Stage IV: The tumor has spread to the pelvic wall or the abdominal wall, possibly to one or more regional lymph nodes, and potentially to other parts of the body.

Bladder cancer can also be described using grades:

• Papilloma — May recur but has a low risk of progressing.
• Low grade — More likely to recur and progress.
• High grade — Most likely to recur and progress.

Conventional Treatment

Is bladder cancer curable? Usually, but it ultimately depends on the stage and grade of the cancer. Bladder cancer is usually treated by a multidisciplinary team led by a urologist (a doctor who specializes in the genitourinary tract, which includes the kidneys, bladder, genitals, prostate and testicles) and an oncologist (a doctor who specializes in treating cancers). (9)

Treatment options for bladder cancer can include:

• Surgery — Surgery is performed to remove the tumor and some surrounding tissue.  For people with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, surgery might need to be done to remove the bladder (called a radical cystectomy). If lymph nodes are also removed, this is called a pelvic lymph node dissection. If a patient’s bladder is removed, a surgeon creates a new way to pass urine out of the body by creating an opening and having the patient wear a bag attached to collect and drain urine. (10)
• Chemotherapy — Helps stop cancer cells’ ability to grow and divide. This can either be local chemotherapy or systemic (whole body) chemotherapy.
• Radiation — Uses high-energy X-rays or other particles to destroy cancer cells. This is not typically a primary treatment for bladder cancer but is sometimes used in combination with chemotherapy.
• Immunotherapy — Stimulates the immune system so it can better fight off cancerous cells. This may involve using the bacterium called bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG).
• Lifestyle changes to help reduce the risk of the cancer returning.

Natural Ways to Help Ease Treatment and Symptoms

Bladder cancer treatments, like chemotherapy and radiation, usually cause side effects that can be very uncomfortable for a period of time. For example, side effects from radiation therapy, chemotherapy and surgery may include: fatigue, mild skin reactions, loose bowel movements, loss of appetite, nausea, depression, weight loss, pelvic or abdominal pain, bladder irritation, the need to pass urine frequently, and bleeding from the bladder or rectum. Below are some natural ways to help manage these symptoms and support your recovery:

1. Rest and Get Plenty of Sleep

While your body works hard to overcome cancer and adjust to treatments it’s common to feel fatigued, weak and sometimes even depressed. You likely won’t have energy to exercise while you recover, but if you feel up to it you can stay active in a gentle way by walking, stretching and possibly doing low-impact exercises like slow yoga or swimming. Get plenty of sleep to help provide your body with energy (seven to nine hours or more per night). Give yourself breaks throughout the day to rest, take naps if needed, and practice relaxation exercises.

2. Eat A Nutrient-Dense Diet

Studies have found evidence that eating a variety of fruits and vegetables that provide antioxidants is important for reducing cancer risk and helping with recovery. (11) Incorporate cancer-fighting foods into your diet such as:

• All types of leafy green veggies and other dark green vegetables. Greens and cruciferous vegetables are known to be powerful cancer killers and some of the best vitamin C foods.
• Berries (blueberries, raspberries, cherries, strawberries, goji berries, camu camu and blackberries), kiwi, citrus fruits, melon, mangoes and pineapple. Orange and yellow-colored plant foods (like sweet potatoes, berries, pumpkin, squashes and other plant foods) are especially good choices since they provide carotenoids, essential nutrients for immune functioning and detoxification.
• Organic meats, wild-caught fish, eggs and raw/fermented dairy products, which provide protein and nutrients like selenium, zinc and B vitamins.
• Healthy fats like coconut oil, olive oil, ghee, grass-fed butter, and avocados.
• Nuts and seeds like almonds, walnuts, chia and flax seeds.
• Complex carbohydrates, including sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, other tubers and whole-grain foods. These can help give you energy and lift serotonin levels, which are helpful for sleep and relaxation.
• Fresh herbs and spices like ginger, turmeric, raw garlic, thyme, cayenne pepper, oregano, basil, rosemary, cinnamon and parsley.
• Bone broth, fresh vegetable juices, and herbal infusions which provide vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

3. Drink Enough Water to Stay Hydrated

Aside from quitting smoking and eating a healthy diet, studies suggest that enough fluid consumption seems to be important for protecting your bladder and urinary tract. Unless your doctor tells you otherwise, aim to drink one to two liters of water per day to help ease bladder cancer symptoms. Have a glass of water at least every two to three hours or whenever you feel thirsty. Limit alcohol and caffeine consumption, which have diuretic effects and can irritate the urinary tract.

Here’s more good news: studies have also found that fluid consumption has a favorable effect on colorectal cancer risk. According to a study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, “Fluid intake may reduce colon cancer risk by decreasing bowel transit time and reducing mucosal contact with carcinogens. Low fluid intake may also compromise cellular concentration, affect enzyme activity in metabolic regulation, and inhibit carcinogen removal.” (12)

4. Reduce Nausea

If you’re dealing with bladder cancer symptoms (or medication side effects) like nausea, indigestion, loss of appetite, weakness or fatigue, try these remedies:

• Drink ginger tea or apply ginger essential oil over your chest or abdomen. To make your own ginger tea, cut ginger root into slices and place them into a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes.
• Take a supplement containing vitamin B6.
• Make a belly-calming beverage using chamomile tea and lemon juice.
• Inhale peppermint essential oil or rub it into your neck and chest.
• Get some fresh air, open a window and take a walk outside.
• Try alternative therapies like meditation and acupuncture.
• Eat smaller meals spread throughout the day. Sit up for about an hour after eating to relieve any pressure on the stomach. Try to eat at least three hours before bed to help you digest.

5. Practice Relaxation Techniques

It’s common to feel anxious, depressed, hopeless or angry when going through cancer treatment. Here are some stress-relieving techniques that may help you feel calmer when things get difficult.

• Practice yoga, meditation and breathing exercises.
• Spend time outside, and try to get some sunlight exposure to boost vitamin D levels.
• Take adaptogenic herbs to support your nervous system.
• Seek out emotional support from family, friends or a support group.
• Stay hopeful by praying or joining a faith-based community.
• Unwind by using essential oils like lavender, chamomile or holy basil.
• Take an Epsom salt bath before bed to relax muscular tension.

6. Frankincense Oil

I highly recommend using Frankincense (Boswellia serrata) oil internally or topically since research suggests it acts as a potential natural treatment for cancer. Frankincense oil is prepared from aromatic resins found naturally in Boswellia trees. The main cancer-fighting component of frankincense oil is boswellic acid, which is known to have anti-neoplastic properties.

One study published by the Department of Urology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center states that “Frankincense oil appears to distinguish cancerous from normal bladder cells and suppress cancer cell viability … multiple pathways can be activated by frankincense oil to induce bladder cancer cell death. Frankincense oil might represent an alternative intravesical agent for bladder cancer treatment.” (13)

Preventive Care

Cancer can’t always be avoided or prevented, but research suggests that living a healthy lifestyle can reduce your risk. Tips for helping to prevent cancer, or lowering the odds that it will reoccur, include:

• Quit smoking and using tobacco or other drugs.
• Get treatment for parasitic infections, recurring UTIs, and other contributing infections. Eating fermented foods, which are rich in probiotics, and taking a probiotic supplement can be really helpful for gut health and boosting immunity.
• Help prevent kidney stones by following a mostly plant-based diet with lots of magnesium-rich foods and high-quality water.
• Practice safe sex and limit your sexual partners. Get tested for STDs regularly to avoid leaving an infection untreated.
• Eat a healthy diet and avoid inflammatory foods. Include a variety of whole foods, especially brightly-colored fruits and vegetables, in your meals each day.
• Stay active since exercise helps boost the immune system. There’s also evidence that exercise can help protect against prostate enlargement, which has many of the same risk factors as bladder cancer.
• Limit exposure to toxins, chemicals and pollutants at work.
• Treat any nutrient deficiencies you may have. Consider taking supplements if you’re lacking key vitamins or minerals in your diet.
• Know your family history. This way you can be tested and catch an illness as early as possible.

Precautions

Always visit your doctor if you have unexplained blood in your urine (hematuria), especially if you have other bladder cancer symptoms at the same time. Blood in your urine is not necessarily due to cancer, but it’s still important to rule this out and be cautious. Your symptoms may actually be caused by common conditions such as a urinary tract infection (UTI), bladder stones, an overactive bladder, kidney stones or an enlarged prostate.

If you’ve had bladder cancer in the past — even if you’ve been able to overcome it — you should still visit your doctor regularly for follow-up tests for years afterward.  Bladder cancer can reoccur and advance to a later stage, so always make sure to stay on top of appointments to be safe. It’s recommended that you get tested often if you are at very high risk, such as due to: past cancer, having birth defects of the bladder, having a family history of cancer, or having past exposure to chemicals/toxins.

Final Thoughts

• Bladder cancer is cancer that affects the bladder, a hollow organ in the lower part of the abdomen that stores urine until it is passed out of the body.
• Bladder cancer symptoms can include: blood in the urine, painful urination, urinary incontinence, pelvic or abdominal pain, or more advanced symptoms like weakness, nausea, bone or joint pain, and loss of appetite.
• Risk factors for bladder cancer include: being a male, being over the age of 40, having a personal or family history of cancer, smoking or a history of alcoholism, or a past of frequent infections that affect the urinary tract.

The post Bladder Cancer Symptoms (+ 6 Natural Ways to Help Cancer Treatment) appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Like many Americans, I grew up in the age of oversanitation in a house full of home cleaning products. My mom regularly scrubbed down our kitchen counter with household bleach. The sink was so shiny that it sparkled, and our floors were spotless. She didn’t do this to hurt us; she thought it was keeping us safe. Years later, many of the clients I met in my practice had the same “kill-all-germs” standard for their homes. After all, it’s what they thought would best protect their families.

In reality, there are lots of reasons to forgo store-bought home cleaning products. The latest example? Regular, long-term exposure to spray cleaners increases a woman’s risk of lung damage similar to that of smoking a pack of 20 cigarettes a day.

Home Cleaning Products Study: The Main Takeaways

The study, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, investigated home cleaning products, including sprays and other cleaners. Although the study didn’t look at products’ impacts on lung cancer risk, it did aim to find out how cleaners damage the lungs and impair function.

In the first-of-its-kind study on home cleaning products, Norwegian researchers turned up some important findings. Here are the key takeaways: (1)

• The study looked at 6,000 women over a 20-year span.
• It investigated the long-term impact of cleaners on respiratory health, including lung function decline and airway obstruction.
• Scientists looked at both people cleaning at home and people who cleaned as a profession.
• The study looked at forced expiratory volume in one second, which is how much air you can blow out of your lungs in a second.
• They also looked at forced vital capacity. That’s how much air you can blow out of your lungs after taking a big, deep breath.
•  Although both of these breathing factors declines naturally with age starting in the mid-20s, the study found regularly using cleaning chemicals accelerated lung decline.
• Cleaning as little as once a week from home over 20-years initiated significant lung damage.
• People cleaning professionally for a job experienced lung damage on par with smoking 20 cigarettes daily for 10 to 20 years.

The researchers hypothesize that cleaning products’ irritating ingredients cause damage through different avenues, including:

• Triggering immune system dysfunction
• Setting off inflammation in mucous membranes
• Damage to the airways on the cell, structural and tissue level

Environmental Working Group’s science review of the study provides some recommendations: (2)

• Save money and your lungs by simply using fewer cleaning products. Store-bought cleaner manufacturers aren’t required to disclose all ingredients, so there’s no way of really knowing what’s in a specific mixture…and how it’ll affect your health in the short- and long-term.
• Avoid spray cleaners when possible. If you must use them, spray onto a cloth first to reduce the number of tiny droplets you breathe in.
• Use microfiber cloths or microfiber cloths and water to do your dusting.

The Dark Side of Home Cleaning Products

The study linking cleaner use to cigarette lung damage should certainly give you pause. But there are dozens and dozens of other peer-reviewed, published studies outlining how harmful cleaning products impact our bodies. Perhaps the scariest part? Cleaner manufacturers don’t have to disclose all of the ingredients in products. And we just don’t know what health effects stem from the way all of these questionable ingredients mix with each other. Here’s what we do know. Let’s take a look at some of the ways toxic cleaning products can damage your body.

Immune System Dysfunction

One animal study published in Science in 2012 demonstrated the harm that can result from living in a too-sterile environment. Researchers observed two groups of mice: the first group was bred with “germ-free” immune systems that lacked gut bacteria; the second group was given normal, healthy exposure to good and bad bacteria. When they were tested, the germ-free mice had much higher levels of inflammation in the colon and lung regions compared to the mice with normal germ exposure (who had healthy immune responses).

The germ-free mice had also developed symptoms similar to ulcerative colitis and asthma. But the good news is, once the germ-free mice were exposed to normal amounts of bacteria two weeks after birth, their immune system response balanced out, and the animals healed from their inflammatory conditions. (3)

Lung-Penetrating Air Pollution

Did you know cleaning your home with household cleaners available in most stores can actually create hazardous air conditions inside of your home? A 2006 study published in the journal Indoor Air found home cleaning products often contain high levels of volatile organic compounds, also known as VOCs.

The study authors noted that these cleaners often harbor glycol ethers, which are regulated toxic air contaminants. Terpenes are other problematic chemicals lurking in cleaners. These can easily react with formaldehyde and ultrafine particles in the air to create lung-damaging ozone. (4)

Limonene and linalool are two synthetic fragrance terpene chemicals often used in citrus-scented products. (5)

Snotty Kids

A Chinese study of nearly 2300 students from 21 different schools found that frequently using cleaning products in the home increased the likelihood of kids having rhinitis, an inflammation of the nose lining, by 29 to 97 percent.

The researchers calculated kids’ “total chemical burden” by adding up the total time of exposure to 14 different home cleaning products. The rhinitis symptoms were worse as total chemical burden increased. (6)

Asthma

It’s well known that people who clean to make a living face an increased risk of developing asthma. But did you know using cleaning sprays at home is also linked to new cases of asthma? A 2010 review study published in the Current Opinion in Allergy and Clinical Immunology found strong evidence linking not only professional cleaners but also homemakers and healthcare professionals, to work-exacerbated and new-onset asthma. The study author noted that the following products may be particularly relevant to asthma symptoms:

• Spray cleaners
• Chlorine bleach
• Other disinfectants

So what’s triggering these lung ailments? Researchers believe it could be a sensitization effect and/or the irritating features of the ingredients. (7)

Add in the dangers of synthetic scents often used in cleaners, and it’s easy to see how home cleaning products can lead to chest tightness, wheezing and other respiratory ailments. (8)

Dermatitis

If you’re looking for natural rash home remedies, it could be as simple as switching up your cleaning routine.

Unfortunately, contact dermatitis-triggering ingredients are common in cleaners and laundry products. Preservatives like methylisothiazolinone are among the worst offenders. And be careful: This one is often found in cleaning and laundry products marketed as “natural.” (9, 10)

Poisonous Gases & Beyond

It’s not just the cleaning products themselves, but how we often mix them that leads to potentially disastrous health threats. The dangers of bleach range beyond its own initial respiratory threats. One of the biggest dangers? It doesn’t play well with other popular cleaning chemicals. One common mistake is mixing chlorine bleach with a cleaner containing ammonia. (Glass and floor cleaners often contain ammonia.)

This creates chloramine gas. In fact, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia warns that just a few whiffs of this chemical mixture can set off 24 hours of symptoms, including: (11)

• Eye, nose, throat and airway irritation
• Teary eyes
• Runny nose
• Sore throat
• Coughing
• Chest congestion

Mixing chlorine bleach with an acid-based cleaner also creates chlorine gas, another irritant, but with more serious and longer-lasting effects than chloramine. This is why I suggest you never mix store-bought cleaning products. Think about it. Even mixing white vinegar with bleach could create this hazardous gas, along with acids found in drain openers, oven cleaners and toilet bowl cleaners.

More Toxic Mixtures

The American Lung Association warns that even natural fragrances like citrus can react and create hazardous indoor air quality conditions.

If levels of ozone are high inside of the house, cleaning ingredients, particularly natural and synthetic forms of citrus, can react to create formaldehyde, a known human carcinogen. Toxic microparticles are also created, which can lodge into your lungs.

According to the American Lung Association, ozone can worsen asthma and other lung diseases while fine particles cannot only make asthma worse but also increase heart attack and stroke risk. (12)

Related: Fragrance Sensitivity: Allergy Symptoms, Triggers & Treatment

How to Find & Create Safer Cleaner Products

Since our chemical regulations are outdated and don’t properly protect us from toxic cleaning products, how can we find safer solutions? Here are the top recommendations:

• Most people don’t need industrial disinfectants for home cleaning. Use ingredients like white vinegar, baking soda and castile soap for cleaning purposes. When you do need a more potent cleaner, use germ-killing essential oils, including a thieves oil blend. (Make sure they are safe to use around children and pets.)
• When in doubt, choose unscented products.
• If you do use essential oils, avoid use on days with high ozone. And don’t use air filters in your home that create ozone.
• Avoid antibacterial soap, including the active ingredient triclosan and ingredients used to replace triclosan.
• Don’t always trust “green” or “natural” cleaners. A 2015 study found many contained carcinogens, toxic fragrances and VOCs similarly to regular store-bought cleaners. (13, 14)
• Look at EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning to see how your cleaners rank and to find safer alternatives.

Final Thoughts on Home Cleaning Products & Health Threats

• In 2018, Norwegian researchers released a first-of-its-kind study linking long-term exposure to cleaning products to significant lung damage.
• Cleaning the home as little as just once a week triggered lung decline.
• People who cleaned more regularly (such as people who clean for a living) experienced lung damage on par with smoking 20 cigarettes a day for 10 to 20 years.
• The damage was measured by declining levels of exhalation breath and a weaker one-second expulsion of air from the lungs.
• The damage is believed to occur to the immune system, to the actual airway tract and due to chronic, low-level inflammation triggered by the cleaning products.
• Dozens of other studies link common home cleaning products to asthma, immune system dysfunction, autoimmune diseases, cancer and other ills.
• Dust with a microfiber cloth and water and utilize other natural cleaners like castile soap, white vinegar and baking soda.
• Most households don’t require harsh disinfects to kill all germs. That can actually damage our health in many cases, in my opinion.
• Certain essential oils possess antibacterial and antiviral properties if you do need a more potent natural cleaner. Just be sure you choose oils that are safe to use around kids and pets. And make sure they don’t interact poorly with certain medical conditions.
• If you are going to purchase store-bought cleaners, check EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaners to check out safety scores and choose a better product.

Read Next: The Best Natural Cleaning Products to Limit Your Toxin Exposure

The post Home Cleaning Products Bombshell: Exposure Equivalent to Smoking 20 Cigarettes a Day, Study Says appeared first on Dr. Axe.

A breast cancer diagnosis is bad enough. But having metastatic breast cancer, when the cancer spreads to other organs in the body, can be downright frightening. There’s still so much to learn about breast cancer prevention. B researchers believe they a new clue, though. And it’s one that could reduce metastasis and the spread of tumors throughout the body. The good news it’s linked to diet, something you can control. This type of breast cancer prevention is linked to an amino acid found in some of your favorite foods.

Breast Cancer Prevention: Key Study Findings

To be clear, the study, published in the journal Nature, focused on rats, not humans. (1) These rats had triple-negative breast cancer, one of the most aggressive types of breast cancer, thanks to how quickly the cancerous cells grow and spread.

Because triple-negative breast cancer doesn’t have the three most commonly known “receptors” that are in most breast cancer tumors — estrogen, progesterone or HER2-neu — this type of cancer can’t be treated with the targeted therapies that are applied to other types of breast cancer, rendering effective treatment difficult. If these cells aren’t killed, they can move and attack other parts of the body. The research team was curious about what, exactly, is in those cancerous breast cells; if you know what fuels the cell, you can fight it.

What the researchers discovered is that when asparagine was in a primary breast cancer tumor, the cancer had a higher likelihood of spreading. When asparagine in the body was reduced, either through drugs or food, cancerous cells spread a lot less. Though limiting asparagine didn’t stop tumors from forming in the first place (so it didn’t help with original breast cancer prevention), it did make them less likely to travel away from the breast and to other parts of the body.

“The study results are extremely suggestive that changes in diet might impact both how an individual responds to primary therapy and their chances of lethal disease spreading later in life,” said the study’s senior author, Gregory J. Hannon, PhD, professor of Cancer Molecular Biology and director of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute in University of Cambridge in England.

In other words: changing your diet could have a massive impact on breast cancer prevention and possibly reduce the spread of the disease for people who already are diagnosed. While the study was on animals and would need to be replicated in humans, this is really promising news, particularly for patients with triple-negative breast cancer, who have more limited treatment options.

Related: What’s the Best Way to Eat for Breast Health?

What is Asparagine?

The key player in this study is asparagine. Haven’t heard of it before? Asparagine is a non-essential amino acid that’s super common; in fact, it’s in the top 20 most common natural amino acids on the planet. (3) Our bodies use it as a building block for proteins and to convert one amino acid into another so that cells can work the way they’re meant to. (4)

This part is key because what the study suggests is that asparagine allows the cancerous cells in the breast transform into a version that can travel through the bloodstream to the organs, where other tumors develop. The tricky part about asparagine? It’s in a whole lot of foods.

High- and Low-Asparagine Foods

If you want to reduce the amount of asparagine in your diet, heads up: it’s really difficult to do. That’s because asparagine is in tons of food, including some included in a typical healthy diet:

• Asparagus
• Beef
• Dairy
• Eggs
• Fish
• Legumes
• Nuts
• Poultry
• Seafood
• Seeds
• Soy
• Whole grains

What foods aren’t high in asparagine? That would be most fruits and veggies. The ubiquity of asparagine across all the food groups means that, if the scientists’ hunch is correct and asparagine could play a role in breast cancer prevention and slowing down metastasis, it’s more likely that they’d try reducing the amino acid through drugs, rather than restricting diets.

Excitingly, if the same results that occurred with the mice are replicated with humans, it could be a major breakthrough not just for breast cancer prevention and metastasis, but also for other cancers.

This and other previous studies reminds us that cancer is impacted by your diet. In fact, one other study found that a plant-based diet converted aggressive breast cancer to a more treatable form.

Final Thoughts 

• A promising study performed on mice found that blocking asparagine, an amino acid found in many foods could slow the spread of breast cancer cells to other parts of the body.
• Limiting asparagine didn’t prevent cancer cells from forming, but it did make it less likely that they would metastasize, or travel to organs in the body and form cancerous tumors there.
• Asparagine is one of the most common amino acids on Earth and is found in most foods, making it next to impossible to eliminate.
• The study results need to be replicated in humans, but still, present an exciting step forward in how foods might affect breast cancer prevention and metastasis.

Read Next: Breast Cancer-Fighting Digestive Aid?

The post Breast Cancer Prevention: Researchers Announce Amino Acid Breakthrough appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Today, I want to tell you about how addictive sugar can cause cancer. With the number of people getting cancer growing each single year, this is a topic that I’m really passionate about. My mom has gone through cancer twice, and it’s an experience I don’t want anyone to suffer through if possible. I want to help educate the public on one of the major culprits of this disease, and how we can try to prevent cancer. One culprit? Sugar.

Cancer is a complex disease, and researchers are unraveling its mysteries all the time. But one of the things that we know for sure, thanks to medical studies from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and other institutions, is that sugar can increase your risk of cancer (1). We’ve also known for a long time that cancer is linked to diabetes, obesity and heart disease. (2)

Why is that? Well, there are many reasons, but I want to touch on two recent medical studies. The first has to do with how diabetes and cancer are linked. (3) If you’re consuming too much sugar, one of the things that happens is an increase of insulin in the body.

Over time, your insulin receptor sites can burn out, essentially causing something like type 2 diabetes symptoms along with pre-diabetes. When you’re getting more sugar than you need, your body responds by increasing levels of a hormone called GIP,  and also releasing a protein called s-catenin from your pancreas.

S-catenin is a protein that has actually been shown to cause your cells to replicate and then become immortal. These cells don’t die off like normal cells do. Instead, they eventually create a pre-cancerous cell. To reiterate, having too much sugar in your body increases s-catenin, which can lead to the rise of pre-cancerous cells. Too much sugar also can increase insulin resistance, leading to diabetes.

The second study is one published in 2017 in the journal Nature Communications. (4) After nine years, the team made a startling discovery: there’s a link between a key sugar molecule and a gene named Ras. That doesn’t seem like such a big deal, except that Ras is an oncogene, meaning that, when it mutates, it can turn a regular cell into a malignant one.

The researchers found that sugar can activate Ras, which may “lock cancer cells in a vicious cycle causing both persistent stimulation of cell proliferation and continued maintenance of overactive glycolysis.” Basically, having a steady supply of sugar awakens cancer cells and can make tumors more aggressive.

Sugar Can Cause Cancer? 3 Ways to Fight Back

I want to give you some ideas on some ways in the medical literature that may show you on how to naturally fight cancer and some of these cancer-fighting principles. So obviously we know that too much sugar can cause cancer, obesity and diabetes — meanwhile, s-catenin or cancer cells are kind of immortal, so they don’t die or die off like other cells and they self-replicate.

There are certain nutrients that have been shown to cause what’s called cell apoptosis or cell cytotoxicity. That means that those cancer cells die off, and there are specific herbs that have been shown to do exactly that. Therefore, I want to talk about my top three things for naturally preventing and fighting cancer.

1. Get more fruits and vegetables in your diet

Fruits and vegetables are the most nutrient-dense, cancer-fighting foods and the highest in antioxidants. Now, antioxidants protect your cells against free radical damage against proteins like s-catenin. So if you are let’s say, getting too much sugar in your diet, should you eat more blueberries that have tons of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, water and electrolytes even though that it has some natural sugar?

Well, those antioxidants keep things like s-catenin from actually causing cancer because it protects your cells against those proteins and free radicals. That’s how it works, but let me say this, all sugar isn’t bad. It’s not like it’s anytime you eat sugar, it causes cancer. But if I took a blueberry, took out all the antioxidants and fiber, and we just had the fructose left, that single sugar, could that increase your risk of cancer? Absolutely, and that’s why getting your sugar in whole food form, in something like a blueberry or banana, you’re getting fiber with it, you’re getting other nutrients that actually will keep it from causing cancer and in certain ways fight cancer.

In the January 2016 issue of Cancer Research it was demonstrated that high amounts of dietary sugar in the typical Western diet may increase the risk of breast cancer and metastasis to the lungs. (4) According to study authors:

We found that sucrose intake in mice comparable to levels of Western diets led to increased tumor growth and metastasis, when compared to a non-sugar starch diet… The current study investigated the impact of dietary sugar on mammary gland tumor development in multiple mouse models, along with mechanisms that may be involved. We determined that it was specifically fructose, in table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, ubiquitous within our food system, which was responsible for facilitating lung metastasis and 12-HETE production in breast tumors.

Therefore, I recommend doing a berry smoothie for breakfast, juicing vegetables or eating big superfood salads anytime possible, for cancer prevention technique.

2. Get more healthy fats in your body

You can see here that these hormones are so important when it comes to diabetes and cancer. In fact, many cancers today are known as hormonal cancers and that hormone, GIP it’s called, is released when sugar is eaten in your body — and those hormones can actually increase your risk of diabetes and cancer if things like cortisol levels are too high or your progesterone levels are too low and estrogen levels gets too high.

When your hormones get off, it increases your risk of cancer. Part of that is also due to getting unhealthy fats. You know fats are important for cell communication, then you know they’re important for every cell in your body. In fact, you have 75 trillion cells in your body, and every one of those cells has what’s called a lipid bilayer (lipid means fat), and so those fats are responsible for the health of your cell, what gets in your cell and what gets out of your cell. Fat is important for that, so I recommend getting healthy fats.

3. Follow what we call the Budwig Protocol

Now Joanna Budwig was a German researcher, and she found that when your cells were sick, it was due to not having healthy fats in your diet, and she did a protocol mixing cultured dairy like cottage cheese, kefir, also known as cork, and today I use a product like amasai or any cultured dairy beverage that has probiotics, but also has healthy saturated fat.

You consume that healthy saturated fat along with flaxseeds or flaxseed oil, so you get the cultured dairy plus the plant-based omega 3 fatty acids. Those things together have been shown to naturally energize your cell. This has been used in the past for natural cancer treatment by Dr. Joanna Budwig and other clinics.

The key here is getting more of those healthy fats from cultured dairy and coconut, the healthy omega 3 foods from wild-caught fish like salmon and chia and flaxseeds and then also getting some good omega 9 fats from things like avocados, almonds and olive oil. Those are good as well, but those omega 3s and healthy saturated fats have been key in fighting cancer.

Also, look at using certain herbs like curcumin, which is found in the turmeric, and bromelain, which is a proteolytic enzyme that is found in the core of the pineapple and the highest dose is in the core of the pineapple. These nutrients have actually been shown to cause what’s called cell cytotoxicity or cell apoptosis, and can actually fight and kill off cancer cells.

Using turmeric and the bromelain in large amounts, sprinkling them on your food, putting cinnamon in a smoothie for breakfast or supplementing with these herbs, especially in their fermented form, is a great thing to do to naturally reduce your risk of getting cancer according to the medical research.

For myself, having a Mom, family members and patients I’ve taken care of over the years has made me realize the gravity of preventing cancer before it begins. Be proactive, reduce your risk by getting more fruits and vegetables, healthy fats like healthy saturated fats and coconut and cultured dairy products like kefir, getting the omega 3 fats and chia seeds and flaxseeds and salmon and getting more herbs like curcumin from tumeric and bromelain from pineapple. You do that, and you’ll be well on your way to giving your body the best defenses against cancer.

Read Next: Top 5 Skin Cancer Symptoms & 4 Natural Treatments 

The post How Sugar Can Cause Cancer appeared first on Dr. Axe.

It’s hard to find anyone who hasn’t been affected by cancer in some way. In 2016 alone, nearly 1.7 million new instances of cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. alone. Another 595,690 people will die from the disease. (1)

So it’s no surprise that when it comes to cancer, researchers, patients and families alike are desperate for a cure or, at the very least, a way to turn cancer into an ongoing but manageable disease with effective natural cancer treatments, similar to diabetes.

One treatment that’s been gaining traction in the medical community in the last few years is immunotherapy. So is this the way to fight cancer going forward, or is it still a pipe dream? Given new and severe cases of side effects and research like the 2015 paper in The New England Journal of Medicine that reported 54 percent of patients receiving a combination of immunotherapy drugs experienced grade 3 or 4 (severe or potentially life-threatening) side effects, the answer to this question still feels very far away.

What Is Immunotherapy?

When the body detects cancer cells, unlike when you have a cold or a flu, often times it doesn’t fight back. Cancer has managed to disguise itself from the immune system, allowing the cells to grow, spread and thrive. It does this by displaying a particular protein called PD-1, or “programmed death.” When our T-cells, the ones that fight disease, come into contact with the PD-1 protein, they’re basically commanded to destruct.

Though it might seem counterintuitive for our bodies’ defense mechanism to not be allowed to fight, it’s the PD-1 protein that actually protects the immune system from attacking itself, which is what occurs in diseases like lupus and Crohn’s. The cancer cells smarten up and realize that, by wearing the PD-1 mask, they can command the T-cells to hold fire and not attack while also multiplying.

Immunotherapy is a way of stimulating the immune system, using either natural substances or man-made ones, to restore or improve immunity. This kick in the butt, in theory, gives the immune system the strength and power it needs to attack cancer cells.

The ultimate goal is that the individual’s own body will knock out cancer in a way that other treatments haven’t been able to do. But if the immune system is unable to destroy the cancer completely, slowing or stopping the growth of cancer cells and preventing them from metastasizing, or spreading to other parts of the body, can still make a huge difference in the life of a person with cancer. (2, 3)

Along with immunotherapy’s possible help in the fight against cancer, oral immunotherapy has been gaining attention for it’s potential ability to reduce food allergies.

A 2017 study discovered that a prolonged and persistent combination of probiotic and peanut oral immunotherapy yielded an eventual suppression of allergic reactions to peanuts in participants. Participants from the immunotherapy group were significantly more likely than those from the placebo group to have continued eating peanuts (67 percent versus 4 percent). Over eight weeks, 58 percent of participants from the immunotherapy group remained unresponsiveness to peanuts, compared with 7 percent of participants from the placebo group. (4a)

And a 2018 study published in The New England Journal of Medicine also found that oral immunotherapy in children and adolescents who are highly allergic to peanuts may lower symptom severity after peanut exposure. Patients received a peanut-derived immunotherapy drug in an escalating dose program for 24 weeks. By the end of the trial, 67 percent of participants in the immunotherapy group and only 4 percent in the placebo group were able to ingest a dose of 600 milligrams or more of peanut protein without displaying dose-limiting symptoms. Those using oral immunotherapy also experienced lower symptom severity during peanut exposure compared to those taking the placebo. (4b)

As research continues, immunotherapy’s ability to stimulate the immune system only proves more promising to help improve related immune conditions.

How Does Immunotherapy Work?

There are several types of immunotherapy, as the New York Times succinctly explains.

1. Checkpoint Inhibitors

The most common one is when drugs known as checkpoint inhibitors are used. These prevent the PD-1 cells from tricking the immune system and allows the T-cells to attack cancer tumors. To date, there are four checkpoint inhibitors that have received the go-ahead from the Food and Drug Administration.

2. Cell Therapy

In this type of immunotherapy, a patient’s immune cells are removed from the body and genetically altered to help them fight cancer. They’re multiplied in the lab and then fed back into the person’s body, like a transfusion, unleashing them on the cancer. This type of immunotherapy must be created for each individual patient and are still in the experimental phase. (5)

3. Bispecific Antibodies

These present an alternative to the super personalized cell therapy. Instead, these antibodies have the power to attach to both cancer and T-cells, getting the two enemies close enough to allow the T-cell to fight the cancer cell. Currently, there is one drug on the market, Blincyto, that’s been approved to treat a rare form of leukemia.

4. Cancer Vaccines

Cancer vaccines have been the least successful form of immunotherapy to date. (6) They’re not vaccines that prevent people from getting the disease, the way traditional vaccines are supposed to operate.

Instead, these are injected in people who already have cancer, in hopes that injecting some of the cancer prompts the immune system to fight it. While there’s still a way to go in improving cancer vaccines, the idea is that perhaps when combined with the checkpoint inhibitors, the combo could make a formidable opponent against cancer cells.

What Are the Limitations & Risks Involved with Immunotherapy?

Even though there have been promising results for patients undergoing immunotherapy, this treatment is still at not at a stage to be widely used. The first reason is simply because it doesn’t always work – and no one knows why.

On some patients, the immunotherapy has proven to be successful, but those patients are in the minority. Currently, it seems to be most effective in treating melanoma and certain types of lymphoma or leukemia. One study found immunotherapy effective for more than 40 percent of advanced melanoma patients when using nivolumab and ipilimumab, two immunotherapy drugs, together. (7) In most people, however, immunotherapy has no effect on reducing the tumors.

Another major factor is the cost involved. Checkpoint inhibitors, for example, can cost $150,000 a year or more. Some health insurance providers will cover the cost — if the drug has been approved for the specific type of cancer. That means if a drug has been approved for melanoma, for instance, but a doctor thinks it could be effective for leukemia, an insurer has no obligation to pay, because the drug is being used off label.

The very real reality is that not everyone could afford to pay those types of prices. In other cases, because the drugs are so expensive, co-payments, even when the drugs are covered, are astronomically high. This brings up a moral dilemma — what happens when a particular drug is available for a person, but they can’t afford it? Will immunotherapy become a cancer treatment only for the wealthy?

Finally, though immunotherapy harnesses a patient’s own immune system, this doesn’t mean that it’s any better for the body than traditional treatments like radiation or chemotherapy. In fact, before starting some immunotherapy, a round of chemo is required before starting treatment.

Immunotherapy comes with its own strong brand of side effects – there is a reason, of course, why our bodies are designed to suppress immune reactions. As this piece in Scientific American explains, “The immune system has such powerful weapons in its arsenal that it can kill you faster than whatever ails you.” When not under control, the immune system can attack healthy, vital organs like the liver, lungs, kidneys, adrenal and pituitary glands, pancreas and, in the worst cases, the heart. (8)

Because immunotherapy is still in its relative infancy, much of the work being done is still in clinical trials. Unfortunately, patients have died as a result of side effects during these trials. While that risk is inherent in the trial of any medicine, it’s clear that these therapies have a long way to go before going mainstream.

Among the more powerful effects of checkpoint inhibitors, for example, are basically autoimmune diseases. Because the immune system is in overdrive, it can go beyond its target of cancer cells and attack healthy tissues and organs along with the cancer cells. Immunotherapy can cause inflammation as well as overstimulation of the immune system. (9) Other issues include nausea, fever, chills, lung inflammation, hepatitis and pancreatitis.

A December 2016 article in the New York Times reported that doctors at Yale believe immunotherapy is triggering a type of acute-onset diabetes, and they have at least 17 cases so far to back up the hypothesis.

For many people, immunotherapy’s potential benefits are worth the risks. After all, the treatments are working for some people. It stands to reason that as the science and medicine behind it become more sophisticated and doctors are better able to isolate potential problems, that immunotherapy will become more effective, at least for certain cancers.

Unfortunately, just like other cancer treatments, there’s no way currently to determine who will benefits the most from immunotherapy and who it might not work for at all. When it comes to cancer, it’s one more choice in a sea of unfortunate choices in mainstream medical America.

Read Next: Thermography — Breast Cancer Detection and Better Risk Assessment

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Antioxidants, ORAC scores, free radicals and oxidative stress: These things have become trendy topics as far as health and longevity are concerned. Perhaps you’ve recently jumped on the antioxidant supplement bandwagon, or maybe you remain wary of manufacturers’ liberal use of these latest buzzwords, unsure of whether they’re safe or effective?

Many people have heard that foods with antioxidants protect us from free radical damage, which is responsible for many of the effects of aging on both the body and mind. But what exactly are free radicals, why are they bad and where do they come from?

When antioxidant levels in the body are lower than those of free radicals, due to factors like poor nutrition or lots of incoming toxins, the immune system is overloaded and aging occurs more rapidly. In order to know how to best protect yourself from health problems linked to free radical damage — and there are many — it helps to understand what types of lifestyle habits or dietary choices cause them to accumulate in the first place. As you’ll learn below, a diet rich in a variety of plant foods along with things like exercise and stress reduction help reverse the destructive oxidation process.

What Are Free Radicals and How Do They Cause Damage?

The definition of free radicals is “uncharged molecules (typically highly reactive and short-lived) having an unpaired valence electron.” According to the Pharmacognosy Review, “reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species are generated by our body by various endogenous systems, exposure to different physiochemical conditions or pathological states.” (1)

Free radicals can be very harmful, but their production within the body is certainly not abnormal or even entirely bad. Despite contributing to the aging process, free radicals are also essential players in the immune system. Our bodies produce free radicals as byproducts of cellular reactions, metabolism of foods, breathing and other vital functions. (2) The liver produces and uses free radicals for detoxification, while white blood cells send free radicals to destroy bacteria, viruses and damaged cells.

Why are free radicals thought to be dangerous then? As naturopath Dr. Stephen Byrnes explains, free radicals are unstable molecules, meaning they’re always on the lookout for chemical components that other cells have but that they themselves are missing.

Electrons exist in pairs, and free radicals are missing an electron. This is their weapon of sorts: Free radicals “react” with just about anything they come into contact with, robbing cells and compounds of one of their electrons. This process makes the affected (“robbed”) cell or compound unable to function normally and turns some cells into electron-seeking muggers themselves, leading to a chain reaction in the body and the proliferation of even more free radicals. The clean-up crew, our immune system’s “soldiers,” lose their control and end up marauding and pillaging throughout the body, destroying healthy cells and tissues.

What Is “Oxidative Stress,” and How Do Antioxidants Fit In?

Free radicals ultimately harm and age the body over time because they damage DNA, cellular membranes, lipids (fats) stored within blood vessels and enzymes. Normally, free radicals — or as they’re also commonly referred to, reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species — live in balance with antioxidants in the body. It’s when this balance is disturbed, due to low intake of antioxidants and accumulation of free radicals, that accelerated aging occurs.

The damage done by free radicals in the body is known as oxidation:

• Oxidation is the same process that browns an apple or rusts metal. Rampaging free radicals react with compounds in the body and oxidize them. The amount of oxidation in the body is a measure of oxidative stress.
• High levels of oxidative stress affect every organ and system in the body and have been linked with everything from Alzheimer’s disease, arteriosclerosis, cancer and heart disease to accelerated aging, asthma, diabetes and leaky gut syndrome. Oxidative stress is believed to lead to the development of the most prevalent chronic diseases and disorders killing adults today, especially heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
• Oxidation lays the foundation for the proliferation of free radicals and damage to cells, muscles, tissue, organs, etc.

Antioxidants counteract free radicals because they’re essentially “self-sacrificing soldiers.” As Byrnes explains, they donate an electron to free radicals to “calm” them down and are consumed in the process.

Our bodies use antioxidants to lessen the impact of free radicals, and our diets give us the tools to do so. Glutathione is considered the most important “master” antioxidant and is the liver’s major weapon. It’s created from the amino acids cysteine, glycine and glutamic acid.

Other major antioxidants that have been identified include some you’re likely familiar with, such as vitamins A, C and E; beta-carotene; bioflavonoids; CoQ10; selenium; and zinc. Copper and manganese have roles in antioxidant production as well.

Many other phytochemicals from plants also seem to play antioxidant roles. We usually think of these chemicals — like lycopene, tannins, phenols, lignans or quercetin, for example— as antioxidants even though the body doesn’t make them on its own. Once consumed they help reduce inflammation and the effects from oxidation. (4)

Here are some of the roles that antioxidants have:

• The antioxidant lipoic acid repairs essential enzymes in the body.
• Melatonin is an important antioxidant linked to regulation of the circadian rhythm (sleep/wake cycle).
• Even cholesterol can have antioxidant benefits. “Good” HDL cholesterol  in some ways acts as a powerful antioxidant by repairing damaged blood vessels and reducing oxidation, meaning the addition of oxygen to low-density lipoproteins (LDL or “bad” cholesterol). This helps stop the buildup of fatty plaque on artery walls (atherosclerosis) and keeps blood flowing to the heart.

Our ability to produce antioxidants in the body declines with age, says Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Donald Hensrud. The reason that antioxidants are often touted as “anti-aging” compounds is because they help protect us from age-related diseases, which are caused in part by free radicals and inflammation. While we can never entirely stop the aging process, as diet high in antioxidant foods helps us age much more gracefully — living longer, healthier, more vibrant lives.

Major Sources of Free Radicals

So what causes free radicals to proliferate? Basically, the typical “Western lifestyle” — with its processed foods, absence of healthy whole foods, reliance on medications and antibiotics, common use of alcohol or drugs, environmental pollutants, and high stress levels. Free radicals are generated due to oxidation and when toxins are broken down in the body. The liver produces free radicals as it breaks down compounds and removes them.

The major sources of free radicals include: (5)

• Ordinary body functions, such as breathing and digestion
• Exposure to radiation
• Exposure to other environmental pollutants
• Consumption of cigarettes or tobacco, drugs, and alcohol
• Certain medications or high use of antibiotics, which leads to antibiotic resistance
• A poor diet that includes foods like unhealthy fats, too much sugar, pesticides, herbicides or synthetic additives. Many processed and refined foods contain oxidized fats that add free radicals to the body. Excessive amounts of sugar and sweeteners are other sources of free radical growth that contribute to aging, weight gain and inflammation.
• Even too much exercise (overtraining) generates added free radicals
• High amounts of emotional or physical stress. Stress hormones (like too much cortisol) can generate free radicals.

Best Ways to Fight Free Radical Damage

1. Start Eating More Foods Rich in Antioxidants

The National Institute on Aging, a part of the National Institutes of Health, developed a scoring system to measure the amounts of antioxidants in foods. The score given to a particular food is known as its ORAC score. ORAC stands for “Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity.” Unfortunately, the National Institutes of Health decided to remove the ORAC database in 2012, but these scores are still available via Superfoodly.

Here are just a few foods that have very high ORAC scores:

• Brightly colored fruits and vegetables — Orange foods like carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin and squash, or cantaloupe contain carotenoids that are beneficial for your skin and eyes. These antioxidant foods help reduce sunburn and wrinkles while protecting your vision. According to the International Dermal Institute, oxygen free radicals are implicated in the overall aging process and are responsible for photoaging, cancer and inflammation in the skin. (6) Similarly to orange veggies, citrus fruits contain a compound called quercetin. Spinach and other leafy greens like kale are high in lutein, and tomatoes and red peppers contain lycopene, all of which have anti-aging effects.
• Berries, grapes and red wine — These deeply hued fruits are some of the highest in antioxidants, such as resveratrol. A study in the Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry found berries an easy winner in the amount of antioxidants for the price, especially when you buy the organic kinds frozen. (7) As an added bonus, berries also tend to be lower in sugar than other fruits and contain lots of fiber.
• Green and white tea— White and green teas are very minimally processed and contain less caffeine than coffee (or even other varieties of tea). They also contain a very high concentration of antioxidants called polyphenols that have been shown to have cancer-fighting properties. (8)
• Cocoa —A study from Seoul National University found that cocoa has a higher antioxidant content that green tea, black tea and even red wine. (9) But you want to make sure the cocoa or dark chocolate you eat is very minimally processed, such as the kinds that are a high percentage of cocoa (more than 65 percent or so) and labeled raw and organic.
• Herbs and spices— These include things like cinnamon, oregano, ginger, turmeric and rosemary. Additionally, essential oils made from the same plants can also be a great source of antioxidant, anti-inflammatory compounds.

While eating more antioxidant foods is a big step in the right direction, you also benefit from limiting intake of pesticide- and herbicide-laden foods (those that are not organically grown) and by avoiding too much sugar, refined oil or refined grains. Use natural, cold-pressed oils like coconut or olive oil, since heat oxidizes fats in refined oils. And be sure to limit intake of antibiotic- and hormone-laden foods, such as farm-raised meat or fish.

2. Avoid Toxin or Pollutant Exposure

Besides improving your diet, here are other ways to start reducing free radical damage:

• Avoiding environmental pollutants in water
• Reducing chemical exposure in household and cosmetic products, such as by purchasing those that are natural and made from essential oils
• Avoiding overuse of medications and antibiotics
• Reducing stress in your life
• Regularly getting moderate amounts of exercise. Keep in mind that while being sedentary is definitely not helping you to age any slower, either is overworking yourself. Exhaustion, mental fatigue and burnout also cause the immune system and body more damage.
• Reaching and maintain a healthy body weight
• Trying to normalize blood sugar and cholesterol levels to prevent diabetes, heart problems and blood pressure changes

Will Supplements (such as Those Marketed as ‘Antioxidants’) Combat Free Radicals?

According to some experts, there are literally thousands of different antioxidants in the human diet, and they exist in many different forms. Because of the complexities of how antioxidants work in the body to combat free radicals, some scientists believe that only in food form do phytonutrients or antioxidants interact beneficially with our bodies.

Author of “In Defense of Food,” Michael Pollan, calls this obsession with finding the magical and pivotal ingredient in foods “nutritionism” and “reductionist science” and believes that it actually promotes unhealthy eating. Looking at foods from the perspective of the specific nutrients they contain dissolves “distinctions between processed foods and whole foods,” Pollan says. It’s easier to post “contains essential vitamins and minerals” or “contains antioxidants vitamins C and E” on a box of processed cereal than it is to label a banana or a carrot in the same way.

Surveys shows that about 30 percent of Americans are taking some form of antioxidant supplement. (10) But the American Heart Association, along with the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic, recommend getting antioxidants naturally from whole foods, an unprocessed diet with a wide variety of fruits and veggies, rather than from supplements.

Hensrud points out that most foods with high ORAC scores (like cocoa, green tea or acai berries, for example) offer great benefits beyond just supplying antioxidants, such as containing fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals. All of these compounds work together synergistically, and therefore these foods are “greater than the sum of their parts.”

Based on all of the information above, you can see that while it’s helpful to be aware of individual antioxidants and their benefits, the bigger goal regarding prevention of free radical damage is to focus on consuming a wide variety of nutrient-dense, whole foods. At the same time, it’s important to reduce the toxin load in your body by removing things like unnecessary medications, too much stress and pollutants from your life.

Precautions Regarding Free Radicals

With the invention of anti-aging supplements, experts now worry that people may rely on supplements to counteract unhealthy lifestyle choices and poor nutrition. There’s also the risk that consuming high doses of concentrated antioxidants from supplements may compromise the defensive role of free radicals in the immune system or have other problematic effects like interfering with proper exercise recovery.

The bottom line is that according to studies, isolating specific antioxidants and consuming them from pills to lower free radicals isn’t very helpful, especially compared to eating whole foods. Variety and interaction of many different antioxidants as they exist in food seem to be most beneficial for longevity and optimal health.

Final Thought on Free Radicals

• Our bodies produce free radicals as byproducts of ordinary cellular reactions like breathing or other vital functions, in addition to exposure to pollutants, a poor diet, radiation, high amounts of stress and other toxins.
• Antioxidants help slow down the effects of free radicals and protect us from disease or signs of early aging. Antioxidant sources include plant foods like fruits or veggies, green or white teas, cocoa, red wine, spices, and herbs.
• The best way to reduce free radical damage is through a healthy diet and lifestyle, rather than taking supplements. Antioxidant supplements can sometimes cause unwanted effects and are not as beneficial as eating whole plant foods.

Read Next: Top 10 High Antioxidant Foods

The post Fighting Free Radicals & Free Radical Damage appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (sometimes called NHL, or simply lymphoma) is a group of diseases that actually includes more than 20 different disorders. How common is non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma? Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is currently the seventh most common cancer in men and women in the United States. (1)

In the U.S. alone more than 66,000 new cases of NHL are diagnosed every year, and this number only keeps rising. Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is much more common than the other primary type of lymphoma, Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

People who are most likely to develop non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma are older/elderly people and those with low-functioning immune systems, due to having other illnesses or even taking certain medications. Fortunately, many people with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma survive the disease and go on to live many years. But lymphoma can make it hard to keep up with work, school, family obligations, hobbies or other day-to-day activities. A healthy lifestyle — including eating a nutrient-dense diet, getting enough sleep and exercising — can all help prevent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and also manage symptoms.

What Is Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma?

Lymphomas are cancers of the lymphocytes, which are white blood cells made by the immune system (specifically the lymphatic system) that are stored in lymph nodes and blood-forming organs. Lymphocytes normally help to fight off infections and produce antibodies, so they are very important for supporting the immune system’s defense mechanisms. They travel throughout the whole body via the blood and lymphatic vessels, essentially always “on patrol” for invaders that might cause illnesses or infections.

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is the term for a group of cancers that develop in B or T lymphocytes. The majority of NHL cases are caused by abnormalities of B lymphocytes (an estimated 80–85 percent), with only about 15–20 percent of cases being due to T cell abnormalities. Is NHL a type of blood cancer? Yes, most doctors consider lymphoma to be a form of blood cancer. According to the American Society of Hematology, “About half of the blood cancers that occur each year are lymphomas, or cancers of the lymphatic system.” (2) One of the first signs of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is rapid swelling and enlargement of the lymph nodes. NHL can be contained to only one lymph node or potentially spread to other lymph nodes throughout the body.

How many different types of lymphomas are there? There are more than 20 subtypes of lymphoma, some more common than others. The two main types of lymphomas are Hodgkin’s lymphoma (which used to be called Hodgkin’s disease) and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Non-Hodgkin’s vs. Hodgkin’s Lymphoma:

• What is the difference between non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Hodgkin’s lymphoma? Lymphomas that do not start in white blood cells are called non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. They start inside bone marrow, the spleen, the thymus or the lymph nodes and then spread to other parts of the body. (3) Hodgkin’s lymphoma/disease is also characterized by the presence of a particular type of cancer cell called a Reed Sternberg cell.
• Each year in the U.S about 8,000 new cases of Hodgkin’s lymphoma are diagnosed, which makes it about eight times less common than non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
• Hodgkin’s lymphoma is more common in men than in women and usually occurs after the age of 10, typically between the ages of 15–40 (although people over 40 can also develop the disease).
• The cause of Hodgkin’s lymphoma is currently not known, but most people will be able to be cured with treatment such as radiation or chemotherapy.
• Hodgkin’s lymphoma causes the lymph nodes to become enlarged, but this usually isn’t painful like it is with non-Hodgkin’s. Other symptoms can include:
  • fever
  • muscle weakness
  • fatigue
  • itching
  • shortness of breath
  • night sweats
  • weight loss
  • temporary pain due to swelling

Other Types of Lymphoma:

• Other types of lymphomas include: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), follicular lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma, small lymphocytic lymphoma, primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma, splenic marginal zone B-cell lymphoma, extranodal marginal zone B-cell lymphoma of MALT.
• Mycosis fungoides (or Sézary Syndrome or Alibert-Bazin syndrome) is a type of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma that mostly affects the skin and causes rashes, tumors, skin lesions, and itchy skin. (4)
• Burkitt’s lymphoma affects B-cell lymphocytes and can be life-threatening, leading to impaired immunity and complications. (5) This type of lymphoma is most common in parts of Africa, but rare in the U.S. with only about 1,200 new cases diagnosed each year. Burkitt’s accounts for only about 1–2 percent of adult lymphoma cases worldwide, but up to 40 percent of pediatric lymphoma cases in nations like the U.S. and those located in Western Europe. (6)
• Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma is another type of gastric (stomach) lymphoma that is commonly a result of chronic untreated infection with the H. pylori bacterium, which is tied to development of stomach ulcers.

All types of lymphoma have this in common: They are caused by abnormalities of the lymphatic system (or lymph system), which is part of the immune system and responsible for protecting the body from pathogens like germs or viruses that can cause infections and some other illnesses. The lymphatic system has many roles, including helping to move waste and excess fluids from the body and helping to clean the blood.

Lymph nodes are found all around the body, with the most prominent locations being the throat, groin, armpits, chest and abdomen. They collect lymphocytes and are scattered throughout the network of lymphatic vessels. Inside the lymph nodes important immune cells — white blood cells, or lymphocytes — are created, which are critical for fighting infections and healing wounds.

Signs and Symptoms of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

Symptoms of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma are due to the many changes that take place in the body when the lymph nodes become swollen and stop working properly. Certain symptoms are due to the infiltration of lymphoma cells into the bone marrow, blood, intestines, skin, brain and spinal cord. Red blood cells can also become destroyed, leading to symptoms of anemia. Bleeding and swelling can occur in the digestive tract, leading to many digestive changes and difficulty properly absorbing nutrients. Antibody production can be halted, increasing susceptibility to other diseases and bone marrow can also become destroyed.

Some of the most common non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma symptoms include:

• Enlargement of the lymph nodes, especially in the neck, under the armpits, and/or in the groin.
• Pain and swelling surrounding the lymph nodes and vital organs, including the liver, stomach, kidneys and spleen.
• Swelling of the face.
• Shortness of breath, chest pain, difficulty breathing and coughs due to enlargement and swelling of the lymph nodes in the chest.
• Loss of appetite, diarrhea and, potentially, weight loss.
• Abdominal pain, distention, bloating and constipation.
• Malabsorption of nutrients.
• Night sweats.
• Thickened, dark, sometimes itchy areas of skin.
• Progressive swelling of the legs and difficulty moving/walking normally.
• Sometimes symptoms related to having too few red or white blood cells, including anemia, fatigue, weakness, increased bruising and bleeding, and pale skin.
• Increased risk for infections and common illnesses due to decreased white blood cells.
• When NHL advances, persistent fever and changes to the skin and nervous system.
• In children, lymphoma can cause anemia, rashes, neurological changes, weakness and abnormal sensations.

Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Causes & Risk Factors

It’s not exactly known what causes each subtype of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, although experts believe that viruses play a role in the development of certain rarer types. For most patients with lymphoma a clear cause for their disease will not be found; however, certain people have a higher risk for developing lymphoma than others.

Risk factors for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma include: (7)

• Being an older adult over the age of 60.
• Having another disease that causes a suppressed or low-functioning immune system, or taking medications that interfere with normal functioning of the immune system. Examples of diseases that have been linked with higher NHL risk include autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus), Sjogren (Sjögren) disease, celiac disease, or other types of cancer.
• Having had a virus linked to NHL including Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), Human herpes virus 8 (HHV-8), or  human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV-1).
• Having HIV.
• History of infections including hepatitis C or those caused by bacteria such as Helicobacter pylori, Chlamydia psittaci, or Campylobacter jejuni.
• Having had an organ transplant.
• Exposure to chemicals/toxins including benzene, certain herbicides and insecticides.
• Having had chemotherapy or radiation treatment in the past.
• Obesity and eating a poor diet.
• Being a male, since NHL is generally more common in men than in women.
• Being from the United States or Europe, which have some of the highest rates of NHL.
• Being of Caucasian/white descent, since whites are more likely than African Americans and Asian Americans to develop NHL.

As described above, the underlying cause of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is abnormal lymphocytes. There are two main types of lymphocytes (white blood cells): B cells and T cells. B cells normally help protect the body against germs (bacteria or viruses) by making proteins called antibodies, while T cells destroy germs or abnormal cells and help control activity of other immune system cells. Non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphomas are much more common than T-cell lymphomas.

Conventional Treatments for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

Treatments for NHL will depend on how severe the patient’s disease is, plus what specific type of lymphoma they have. Patients with NHL are usually treated by a team of medical professionals including: (8)

• Hematologist (specialized in disorders of the blood)
• Oncologist (specializes in treating cancer)
• Radiation oncologist
• Physician assistants (PAs)
• Nurse practitioners (NPs)
• Nurses
• Nutrition specialists
• Therapists or social workers

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas can either be more or less proliferative depending on how severe the disease is. Each individual case of NHL will depend on how mature the cells are when they become cancerous; how much the cancer spreads; how healthy the patient is otherwise; the patient’s age and their family and medical history.

Doctors split different types of NHLs into different grades: low grade, intermediate grade, or high grade lymphoma. Lymphomas are also classified as either “indolent lymphomas,” which spread slowly and don’t always require treatment right away, or “aggressive lymphomas,” which spread rapidly and need to be treated immediately to control the disease.

Conventional treatments for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma typically one or more of these treatment approaches:

• Radiation therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Immunotherapy and targeted therapy drugs (which can include cytokine therapies, histone deacetylase inhibitors, kinase inhibitors and/or proteasome inhibitors)
• Proton therapy
• Stem cell transplants
• Surgery (rarely)
• Bone marrow stimulants
• Steroids
• And use of monoclonal antibody rituximab (Rituxan)

Diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (or DLBCL) typically progress quickly and therefore are usually treated with chemotherapy and three to six cycles of drugs known as CHOPs (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone), plus rituximab (Rituxan). Chemo injections and radiation may also need to be used in more severe cases. Follicular lymphoma, which spreads slowly but can return and be hard to treat, is usually treated with radiation therapy and sometimes Rituxan and/or chemotherapy.

Prevention & 5 Natural Ways to Manage Lymphoma Symptoms

1. Limit Your Risk for Infections and Viruses

• Eat an anti-inflammatory diet to boost your defense against common pathogens and germs.
• Exercise regularly, aiming for 30 minutes or more every day.
• Get enough sleep and control stress, which in high amounts can lead to flare-ups and lower immune system function.
• Limit alcohol consumption to about one drink per day, not exceeding about two drinks daily for men (or about seven–14 drinks weekly at most).
• Reduce your risk for acquiring sexually transmitted diseases, including HPV or AIDS/HIV, by avoiding unprotected sex (especially with many partners) and all use of intravenous drugs.
• Avoid potentially dangerous germs by practicing good hygiene. You can do this by washing your hands regularly, keeping your home clean, and avoiding close contact with people who you know are sick.
• Avoid taking any unnecessary medications or drugs, especially if they cause side effects and can be replaced with other less risky treatments.
• Keep skin clean and moisturized to prevent infections.
• Stretch daily in order to keep lymph fluids moving and to prevent swelling and stiffness.
• Visit your doctor every year for regular check ups; this way you can treat illnesses early on before they progress. Report any signs of infection, viruses or other concerns so you can identify what’s causing them.

2. Maintain a Healthy, Strong Immune System

Not every type of cancer or lymphoma may be preventable, but you can do your part to lower your risk as much as possible. The World Cancer Research Fund estimates that about 20 percent of all cancers diagnosed in the U.S. are related to preventable lifestyle risk factors, including: amount of body fat, physical inactivity, excess alcohol consumption, and/or poor nutrition. (9) Other preventable factors also come into play, such as exposure to chemicals and medication use. It’s estimated that only about 5–10 percent of all cancers are inherited (passed from one blood relative to another), which means you do have a lot of control over your health. (10)

A good deal of evidence shows that you can decrease your risk for many types of cancers — including lymphomas — by making healthy dietary choices; exercising and staying active; reducing carcinogen/toxin exposure; and not smoking or using drugs. All of these lifestyle habits have a big impact on your immune system and ability to fight off illnesses including cancer.

Other natural immune system boosters include: probiotics, echinacea, elderberry, medicinal mushrooms, adaptogen herbs, colloidal silver, ginger, astragalus and oregano.

3. Eat an Anti-Inflammatory Diet & Maintain a Healthy Weight

According to the American Cancer Society, “Some studies have suggested that being overweight or obese may increase your risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Other studies have suggested that a diet high in fat and meats may raise your risk.” (11)

• Eat a diet high in plant foods and antioxidants.
• Try to fill half your plate at every meal with fresh veggies and/or fruits. Replace some of the meat and dairy in your diet (especially pork, beef, lamb, deer and buffalo) with plant-based proteins in order to get more fiber into your diet.
• Some of the best cancer-fighting foods include:
  • leafy green veggies
  • berries
  • sea vegetables
  • cruciferous veggies and other non-starchy veggies
  • wild-caught fish like salmon
  • nuts and seeds like chia and flax
  • legumes/beans
  • whole grains
• Avoid foods known to cause weight gain, inflammation and other health problems, especially: processed meats (like cold cuts, deli meats, salami, etc.), added sugar, sweetened beverages, refined grains, trans-fats and hydrogenated fats, fried foods and fast food.
• Take steps to stay at a healthy weight as you get older. If you begin to gain weight, try to make changes early on before the situation becomes more difficult.
• Find ways to stay physically active on a regular basis, ideally by doing different types of exercises to strengthen your whole body. Try sitting less throughout the day and also adding high intensity interval training or strength-training to your weekly workout routine.

4. Limit Exposure to Carcinogens, Toxins & Chemicals

Purchase organic foods as much as possible in order to limit your exposure to pesticides and insecticides. Recently, concerns have grown over the use of chemical weed killers (such as Roundup, produced by Monsanto), especially those containing the active ingredient glyphosate. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), glyphosate is probably carcinogenic to humans and may contribute to an increased cancer risk. Experts believe that pesticides/insecticides may cause changes to cells’ DNA and impact the immune system in other ways. If you work on a farm or in agriculture, then it’s worth doing your research and talking to your doctor about your risk for related problems.

Quit smoking and using tobacco if you currently do, perhaps by getting support from a treatment group or behavioral therapist.

Talk to your doctor about medications you take regularly and whether these might increase your risk for certain diseases.

Also, some sun exposure can be beneficial (such as for preventing vitamin D deficiency), but too much can cause dangerous changes to cells.

5. Manage Symptoms Like Soreness, Pain & Indigestion

Some tips to help you manage symptoms like constipation, swelling and pain associated with NHL include:

• Use essential oils like lemon, myrrh, oregano, cypress and frankincense oil to help with lymphatic drainage, reducing swelling and improving circulation.
• Eat smaller meals throughout the day, rather than one to three big meals. Drink lots of water and eat more fiber by increasing unprocessed plant foods in your diet. Magnesium supplements may also help to reduce constipation.
• Get plenty of sleep, at least 7–8 hours each night. Rest enough and take time to yourself to do things you enjoy in order to prevent stress and burn-out from causing flare-ups in symptoms.
• Work with a nutritionist if you have any nutrient deficiencies, and consider taking supplements that might help.
• Try yoga to help with circulation and flexibility or meditation to control muscular tension and anxiety.
• If you experience lymphedema, swelling and heaviness in your limbs, then keep them elevated, use compression garments, and stretch.
• Consider trying infrared sauna treatments for dealing with chronic pain, chronic fatigue syndrome and even depression.
• Visit an acupuncturist or specialist in massage therapy (especially one trained in manual lymphatic drainage) for help with reducing stiffness, soreness, aches, stress and fatigue.

Precautions When Treating Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

Treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma isn’t always necessary, but this doesn’t mean that you should delay visiting a doctor for help. When it comes to cancer, always get help from a professional and consider getting a second opinion regarding your treatment options. If you have a family history of lymphoma or are in a high-risk group, then be sure to stay current on routine doctor’s visits and tests. If you feel overwhelmed by your diagnosis, consider speaking with a therapist to manage stress, or joining a support group.

Key Points about Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

• Lymphomas are cancers of the lymphocytes, which are white blood cells made by the immune system (specifically the lymphatic system) that are stored in lymph nodes and blood-forming organs.
  
• Lymphomas that do not start in white blood cells are called non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas. There are 20 different types of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas. They start inside bone marrow, the spleen, the thymus or the lymph nodes and then spread to other parts of the body.
• Symptom of NHL can include: swelling and enlargement of lymph nodes, pain, fever, shortness of breath, skin changes, abdominal pains and constipation, and weight loss.
• NHL is treated with a combination of lifestyle changes, chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, targeted drug therapies and other approaches.

5 Natural Ways to Manage Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Symptoms

1. Participate in preventive care by making healthier lifestyle choices, including practicing good hygiene, limiting alcohol and following safe sex guidelines to minimize your risk for viruses and infections.
2. Maintain a healthy, strong immune system.
3. Eat an anti-inflammatory diet and maintain a healthy weight.
4. Limit exposure to carcinogens, toxins & chemicals.
5. Use health practices such as gentle exercise, essential oils, massage, and rest among others to help manage symptoms like pain, soreness and indigestion.

Read Next: How to Boost Your Immune System: Top 10 Boosters

The post Manage Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Symptoms Naturally appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Prostate health is of the utmost importance for men, particularly men over the age of 40. In fact, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS), prostate cancer is second most common cancer in American men, trailing only skin cancer. (1) This is why so many men are encouraged to get a prostate exam, but recent research calls into question just how effective prostate exam screening is.

So what does the science say about prostate exam results? That’s the tricky part. The research out there is conflicting and has its issues, with one high-profile study concluding prostate exams do little to reduce prostate cancer mortality, while another found significant evidence that a prostate exam does, in fact, help reduce the mortality rate.

What gives? Let’s take a look.

The Prostate Exam Controversy

Widespread prostate exam screening in the late 1980s and continues today, but, as the Annals of Internal Medicine notes, it wasn’t until 2009 that seemingly strong research on prostate exam effectiveness was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Examining two different studies, the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO) and European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC), researchers found conflicting, contradictory results: (2)

The PLCO found low rates of prostate cancer death that did not differ significantly between groups, whereas the ERSPC suggested that screening reduced prostate cancer mortality by 20%.

From 1993 to 2001, the PLCO trial randomized men to either receive prostate exam screening or the control. What researchers found during the trial and in the subsequent 15-year follow-up is there were 255 deaths for those who were mandated to receive prostate exams and 244 deaths in the control group. This led to concluding: (3)

Extended follow-up of the PLCO trial over a median of 15 years continues to indicate nor eduction in prostate cancer mortality for the intervention arm versus the control arm. Because of the high rate of control-arm PSA testing, this finding can be viewed as showing no benefit of organized screening versus opportunistic screening.

However, the results aren’t so cut and dry.

In the ERSPC trial, screening was found to reduce the risk of prostate cancer death per year by 7 percent to 9 percent, and further analyses of both the ERSPC and PLCO led researchers to conclude that those receiving prostate exam screening reduced the risk of prostate cancer death by 25 percent to 31 percent in the ERSPC trial and 27 percent to 32 percent in the PLCO group. (4)

You read that correctly. Analysts actually found that the PLCO’s own findings were inaccurate and that prostate exam screening does, in fact, help lower prostate cancer mortality rates. But the case doesn’t end there. According to experts interviewed by Scientific American, the analyses published in the Annals of Internal Medicine used a method that ‘was ‘on shaky ground’ and used a ‘completely unverifiable’ methodology that they had ‘never seen before.’” (5)

Complicating matters even further, while prostate exam screening can help certain men, it can do little for others. For example, even more “men will be told they have cancer when in fact their abnormal cells would never grow, spread, or harm them.” Overdiagnosis can lead to unnecessary surgery and possible difficult-to-live-with side effects (such as incontinence), and in the end, not saving many lives.

The waters only get muddier when looking at the PLCO trial itself, which did not separate men who had prostate exam screenings from those who didn’t. Instead, the control group was only not mandated to get prostate exams, and many in the control group did receive screenings. Talk about a mess.

When it all boils down, it appears both studies and even the further analyses were flawed in both execution and actual data. This is problematic given that, according to the ACS, it’s estimated there will be more than 161,000 new cases of prostate cancer in the U.S. and nearly 27,000 prostate cancer deaths in 2017. Furthermore, about one in seven men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime.

So, Should All Men Get a Prostate Exam Screening?

At this point, it’s actually recommended that each individual talks with his doctor to assess the pros and cons of prostate exam screening. In an ideal world, everyone would get screened and diagnosed correctly, though the data bears out this isn’t always the case. Overdiagnoses appear to be a major issue, along with the actual effectiveness of prostate exams themselves.

It certainly can help with early detection in order to start treating prostate cancer sooner rather than later, and it’s always a good idea to have regular physical exams with a medical professional. However, there are other ways you can ensure your prostate health remains in top working order.

For instance, you can help decrease your risk for prostate cancer and improve prostate health through diet and lifestyle changes. Consume tomatoes, wild-caught fish, green tea and pumpkin seeds; avoid overconsuming meat and dairy, and exercise.

In addition, supplements like vitamin E and D, selenium, lycopene, zinc, fish oil, saw palmetto, and stinging nettle can help, in addition to essential oils like rosemary, frankincense and myrrh.

Final Thoughts

• According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), prostate cancer is second most common cancer in American men.
• About one in seven men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime.
• Prostate exam screening has been done since the 1980s, but its effectiveness wasn’t truly examined until research results were published in 2009. Those results were surprising: According to the PLCO, screening did not result in any significant impact in reducing prostate cancer death.
• However, later analyses of the PLCO trial and the ERSPC trial found a significant reduction in prostate cancer mortality due to prostate exam screening.
• Further complicating matters, both sets of data and methodologies have been called into questions by experts, resulting in an array of confusion. Overdiagnoses also make things difficult, as it appears there are more significantly more men diagnosed after screenings than are actually saved by screenings.
• It’s best to discuss prostate exam screening with your doctor and decide what’s right for you. However, all men can improve their prostate health through diet and lifestyle changes, supplementation, and essential oil use.

The post Prostate Exam: Should All Men Get a Prostate Cancer Screening? appeared first on Dr. Axe.

You may already know one of the benefits of exercise includes optimizing your body to fight disease. Now, we have very robust, specific evidence showing that a solid prescription of physical activity can drastically lower your risk of 13 different types of cancers! I can’t stress this enough — this is empowering news that we all need to embrace.

The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, looked at information from 1.4 million people ages 19 to 98 collected over the course of about 11 years. Researchers from the National Institutes of Health, Harvard University and other leading global research organizations gleaned data on people’s exercise during leisure time (things like brisk walking, swimming and running) and at what intensity. (1)

People who were most active enjoyed a reduced risk of 13 different types of cancers compared to those who exercised the least and lived sedentary lifestyles. Exercise appeared to be most protective against esophageal cancer (42 percent lower risk), followed by liver cancer (27 percent lower risk) and lung cancer (26 percent lower risk).

Those who exercised the most enjoyed a 23 percent lower risk of kidney cancer, a 22 lower risk of gastric cardia (a type of stomach cancer), a 21 percent lower risk of endometrial cancers, a 20 percent lower risk of myeloid leukemia, a 17 percent lower risk of myeloma, a 16 percent lower risk of colon cancer, a 15 percent lower risk head and neck cancer, a 13 percent lower risk of both rectal and bladder cancers and a 10 percent reduced risk of breast cancer. (The study did find exercise slightly increased the risk of melanoma and a type of slow-growing prostate cancer.)

The researchers note that this was an observational study so the link between exercise and cancer reduction is “proven,” but we do know that exercise changes hormone levels, the degree of disease-causing inflammation, digestion and overall energy balance in a way that could likely contribute to the lower risk. (2)

It’s Time to Get Moving

Hundreds of past studies suggest that exercise holds the power to lower the risk of specific types of cancers. This monster of a study, though, should inspire doctors to prescribe exercise for the powerful medicine it is — and serve as inspiration for us to all get moving more throughout our days. (You aren’t still sitting down while reading this, are you?)

The point is you don’t need to spend hours a day exercising. This study found people who exercised at a moderate intensity for even shorter bouts of time enjoyed cancer prevention benefits.

Because long bouts of cardio weren’t necessary to produce the cancer-protective benefits found in this study, HIIT workouts, or high-intensity interval training that I like to call burst training, could also be a great option, especially if you’re crunched for time.

Exercise should become part of your daily culture, so be sure to experiment and find something you truly enjoy. Here are a few different options to explore:

• Rebounding or trampoline workout
• Qigong
• Tabata workout
• Barre workout
• Kettlebell workout
• One-minute workout

Final Thoughts on Exercise and Reducing Cancer Risk

The large study that looked at more than 1.4 million people and how exercise impacted their risk of different cancers found that those who exercised the most enjoyed a reduced risk of 13 different cancers, including common cancers like breast, lung and colon cancers, compared to those who lived sedentary lifestyles. This is wonderful, empowering news. Use this as daily inspiration to become more active and your body will thank you.

Read Next: Did Our Ancestors Sleep More Than Us?

The post Your Risk of 13 Cancers Is Lower When You Exercise appeared first on Dr. Axe.

What causes cancer? While we definitely don’t know everything that can trigger this disease, what is clear is that more people are dealing with this disease. According to the National Cancer Institute, approximately 39.6 percent of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives. (1) Previous research shows that genetics account for only about half of all cancers, suggesting environmental exposures and socioeconomic factors may also play a role. Cancer has quickly risen to one of the leading causes of death, but knowing your risk can help you avoid this devastating diagnosis.

Obesity, poor diet, hormonal imbalance and chronic inflammation are all well-known causes of cancer. But some cancer-causers aren’t so obvious. What if I told you that daily exposures and seemingly harmless habits could actually increase your risk of cancer? Here are some of the most surprising things linked to cancer …

What Causes Cancer? Here Are Unexpected Cancer Causers

1. Where you live. A 2017 study published in the journal Cancer found that in the United States, counties with the poorest quality air, water, land, built environment and sociodemographic factors face increased incidence of cancer. Poor air quality and the built environment (presence of major highways, availability of public transit and housing) correlated most strongly with high cancer rates. These findings applied to both men and women, with prostate and breast cancer most strongly associated with poor environment. (2) Other research tells us that minority neighborhoods face a higher risk of cancer due to air pollution. (3)

2. Scented candles and air fresheners. Researchers measured levels of “volatile organic chemicals” in six houses in York, England, over the course of five days. They asked each resident to note the scented candles, air fresheners and cleaning products they used — including how often they used them. Then, they tested the air in each home. Limonene — a synthetic chemical used to create citrus smells, turned out to be the number one culprit detected.  Unsurprisingly, the houses using the most scented products tested positive for the highest amounts of limonene.

More research is needed before considering this data conclusive, but when limonene is released into the air, it reacts with ozone to create formaldehyde, which has been linked to a number of different cancers — including myeloid leukemia and nasopharyngeal cancer. (4) The dangers of synthetic scents range beyond cancer, too. Fake fragrances are linked to hormone chaos, asthma and other serious health issues. 

How to avoid it: By reducing your use of scented products, you can reduce the amount of limonene (and therefore formaldehyde) exposure. (5) Limonene isn’t the only ingredient to be weary of. Try avoiding any product that lists fragrance, parfum, phthalates, DEP, DBP or DEHP as an ingredient. According to the Breast Cancer Fund, avoiding synthetic scents is one of the main ways to help yourself. (6)

3. Happy hour. In 2016, Danish researchers published a study linking increased alcohol consumption and breast cancer risk. Researchers found that women who increased the amount of alcohol they drank over a five-year period faced a higher risk of breast cancer. However, the same study found a lower risk of heart disease in the women who drank more. (7)  Luckily, there are better alternatives to lowering your risk of heart disease, including daily exercise, eating a nutrient-rich, healthy diet and managing stress.

Besides breast cancer, researchers also linked alcohol to head and neck cancer, esophageal cancer, liver cancer and colorectal cancer. (8) Why does alcohol pose these negative effects? Our bodies metabolize ethanol in alcoholic beverages into acetaldehyde, which can damage DNA and proteins in the body. Alcohol can also trigger oxidation in the body, further damaging DNA, proteins and fats. Impaired nutrient absorption and increased levels of estrogen may also be to blame. (9)

4. Sawdust. Here’s one you may have never heard of before. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified wood dusts as human carcinogens, too. One study observed furniture workers and other workers exposed to wood dust were more likely to develop a form of nasal cancer called adenocarcinoma. Hardwood dusts, including beech and oak, pose the highest risk. You can control your exposure to wood dust through well designed ventilation systems and/or respiratory protection. Thankfully, The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in the U.S. developed guidelines for local ventilation systems for different woodworking equipment. Previous studies now show higher exposure levels than the levels seen today. But regardless, be sure to wear a respirator or mask certified to protect you from fine wood dust particles. (10)

5. Food packaging. What causes cancer? Food, right? We often hear that our dietary choices impacts cancer risk, but the packaging may also play a role. Fast-food and fast food packaging like wrappers and boxes often contain perfluorinated chemicals. Also known as PFCs and PFASs, these grease- and stain-repellent linings in packaging easily migrate from the packaging and into food. These chemicals are linked to everything from cancer and developmental issues to reproductive problems, impaired  immune function and other health effects. (11)How to avoid it: While eating out, it may be extremely difficult to avoid perfluorinated chemicals, but you can try to eat fresh meals at home as much as possible. Also avoid paper plates and other tableware — it’s often coated in the same grease-proofing chemicals. (So are most microwavable popcorn bags, so opt for the old-fashioned stovetop kind, too.)

6. Certain sunscreens. While exposure to too much sunlight damage may cause cancer, overusing the wrong type of sunscreen also possess its own risks. Benzophenone-3 (or oxybenzone), a common ingredient in sunscreens, produces free radicals, which can trigger DNA damage and cancer growth. The FDA is limiting benzophenone-3 to 6 percent — and hasn’t outright banned the chemical — because of what the agency calls its effectiveness in protecting against UV rays. (12)

How to avoid it: Check out this list of the best sunscreens. And make it a point to read sunscreen labels and avoid purchasing any that contain harsh chemicals such as para amino benzoic acid, octyl salicyclate, cinoxate, dioxybenzone, phenylbenzimidazole, homosalate, menthyl anthranilate, octocrylene, methoxycinnamate, parabens and, of course, oxybenzone. To avoid any of these harmful ingredients, you can even make your own homemade sunscreen with essential oils, coconut oil, shea butter and non-nano zinc oxide.

7. Lack of sunlight. According to researchers at Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, approximately 250,000 cases of colorectal cancer and 350,000 cases of breast cancer could be prevented worldwide by increasing levels of vitamin D3. Researchers examined the association between vitamin D and cancer using satellite measurements of sun and cloud cover. They took that info and analyzed blood serum levels of vitamin D3. In the end, researchers found an inverse correlation between serum vitamin D and the risk of colorectal and breast cancers, meaning the less vitamin D, the higher the risk. (13) Although too much sunlight can be harmful to the skin, the sun is the best source of vitamin D. Just don’t overdo it, and remember to get your vitamin D levels checked regularly.

How to avoid it: There are a number of ways to soak up the sun and get your daily dose of vitamin D. You can take a weekend getaway to enjoy the benefits of camping, go for a run outside, simply practice earthing, start a garden, bike, focus on swim workout benefits at an outdoor pool and so much more.

8. Viruses and bacteria. While viruses and bacteria pose serious short-term risks, some also pose long-term health effects. Viruses like the Epstein-Barr virus and HIV are linked to cancer through a number of studies. Researchers believe that at least 95 percent of the population is generally impacted by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) by adulthood. EBV is most known for causing mononucleosis, or “mono,” the “kissing disease,” but most EVB infections aren’t noticeable — even when active in the body. Most people suffer no symptoms or immediate consequences. EBV remains dormant throughout life until triggered by anything from exposure pesticides or mold.  Nutritional deficiencies, injury, heavy metal exposure and mental trauma can also bring a dormant virus back to life. In a 2016 study, researchers found that breast cells bonded to the Epstein Barr virus and transformed into an aggressive cancer. For this reason, researchers concluded EBV may increase the rate of the growth of malignant breast cancer. (14)

Research also shows that individuals with HIV face a higher risk of developing Kaposi’s sarcoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and cervical cancer. (15) In fact, these are often called “AIDS-defining conditions” because if someone with HIV also has one of these conditions, it may signify the development of AIDS.

9. Working the night shift. Nearly 15 percent of Americans work the night shift, and according to a number of large studies, this late-night work may increase cancer risk in some people. In a study of mice, MIT researchers found that two genes tasked with controlling cells’ circadian rhythm — the 24-hour cycle that regulates when we go to sleep and when we wake up — also function as tumor suppressors.

Given that the body’s central circadian rhythm (also known as the body’s “master clock”) works primarily in response to light and darkness in the environment, night shifts interfere with the body’s natural circadian rhythm. In the study, researchers divided mice into two groups; one group of mice went through a normal light schedule (12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness). Researchers exposed the other group to an extra 8 hours of light every 2 to 3 days. Compared with the control group, the mice exposed to abnormal lighting experienced faster and more aggressive tumor growth. (16)

10. Burnt food. What causes cancer? Cancer’s link to fried food and inflammation may not be a surprise, but there’s more to the story. Acrylamide is a chemical created in starchy foods (like potatoes and toast) when they’re cooked at higher temperatures. Frying, baking or broiling starchy foods above 248 degrees Fahrenheit seems to trigger acrylamide formation, while boiling and microwaving are less likely to. Studies suggest that acrylamide can damage DNA and cause cancer in animals. (I still avoid microwaving my food for other reasons) For this reason, the International Agency for Research on Cancer named acrylamide a “probable carcinogen,” but as of yet, eating foods containing acrylamide has not been directly linked to increased cancer risk in humans. (17)

What causes cancer in the dietary world beyond possibly acrylamide? Burning meat. But good news. You can lower grilling carcinogens by up to 99 percent using simple cooking trips. Research from the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii found cooking meat using store-bought marinades that often contain excess sugar and high-fructose corn syrup can actually triple the amount of heterocyclic amines (HCAs), toxic, carcinogenic compounds also found in cigarette smoke.

How to avoid it: To be safe, however, experts suggest eating these starchy foods just “golden” and not burnt. Avoiding frying, baking or broiling for long amounts of time at high temperatures can also keep acrylamide at bay. And use this easy tater trick. Soaking raw, sliced or cut spuds for 30 minutes reduces acrylamide levels by 38 percent. If you have more time, a 2-hour soak will nearly cut acrylamide levels in half. But even a quick rinse helps, reducing levels by 23 percent. 

Of course, avoiding french fries and chips is a great way to eliminate acrylamide and excess calories, too.

When it comes to lowering cancer causers in cooked meat, you can lower HCA levels by using vinegar-based marinades instead of sugary ones and including things like turmeric, garlic and herbs like rosemary.

11. A sedentary lifestyle. A 2014 analysis by the University of Regensburg, Germany, published in the Journal of National Cancer Institute, assessed the correlation between TV viewing time, recreational sitting time, occupational sitting time and total sitting time as it relates to cancer risk. When comparing the highest levels of sedentary behavior to the lowest, researchers found the more sedentary participants faced a higher risk of colon, endometrial and lung cancer. The cancer risk elevated with each 2-hour increase in sitting time. This seemed to be regardless of physical activity, implying large amounts of time spent sitting can still be detrimental even if otherwise physically active. (18)

According to the American Cancer Society, the latest recommendation for adults is at least 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week. This does not include daily activities such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator or housework. For kids, the recommendation is at least 60 minutes of moderate or vigorous activity each day, with vigorous activity at least 3 days per week. (19)

How to avoid it: While sitting for hours on end can sometimes feel inevitable for office workers, to avoid falling into the trap of a sedentary lifestyle, try a standing desk or replace your conventional office chair for an exercise ball. Throughout the day, set alarms to remind yourself to stand up and stretch every once in a while. If you can, start hosting walking meetings or take your calls while strolling around the building.

Final Thoughts on What Causes Cancer (The Unexpected Risks)

• The more you know, the better you can fight off a cancer diagnosis, given that at least half of cancer cases are triggered by environmental or socioeconomic factors. In other words, it’s not just genetics.
• By living an active lifestyle, consuming the right foods, avoiding toxic chemicals, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and surrounding yourself by a healthy environment, you can reduce your risk of a number of cancers.
• Ultimately, a high-level policy change to keep toxic pesticides and household chemicals out of food and everyday products is needed for a more widespread protection against exposures.

The post What Causes Cancer? Here Are 11 Unexpected Things appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Can fast-food packaging like burrito, burger and pastry wrappers, along with pizza and French fry boxes, really increase your cancer risk? A certain family of chemicals helps keeping grease from dripping through the fast-food packaging and onto your hands and clothes. But as it turns out, about a third of the fast-food containers tested contain grease-repelling coatings made of perfluorinated chemicals, according to a 2017 study and accompanying report.

These chemical compounds, also known as PFCs and PFASs, are linked to cancer, developmental issues, reproductive damage, compromised immune system function and other health problems. The persistent chemicals readily migrate from the wrappers and boxes and into your food. In fact, the heat and grease of the food actually encourages the leaching.

Yes, it is true that some PFCs, including those used to make Teflon pans and 3M’s Scotchgard, have been banned or phased out as hazardous. But there’s another issue. Chemical companies quickly pivoted and flooded the market with new-generation PFCs that haven’t been property tested. In fact, they may be just as toxic as their chemical cousins. (1)

This kind of reminds me of BPA toxic effects. The the science concluded BPA to be blatantly toxic, companies started manufacturing a related compound know as bisphenol S, or BPA. Turns out, it’s just as hormonally active and toxic, or possibly even more toxic, than the chemical it aimed to replace. (2)

The kicker in all of this? The nonstick, grease-proofing PFC chemicals are completely unnecessary. PFC-free wrappers, paperboard and boxes are readily available in the fast-food container market.

“We don’t know enough about the safety of the new generation of PFCs. We know there are dangers of exposure to some of these chemicals at extremely low doses, especially during critical windows of child development. A woman who eats fast food frequently during her pregnancy might consume enough of these chemicals to affect the future health of her child.” — Bill Walker, Environmental Working Group managing editor and co-author of the report

According to the report, DuPont acknowledges that one of these replacement chemicals actually does cause cancerous tumors in lab animals.

“These molecules are very long-lived in the environment, and simply don’t break down easily and go away.Consumer products like papers that are treated with PFAS will decompose long before the treatment does and these chemicals will enter the environment directly from our landfills. This type of long-lived chemical just isn’t a sustainable practice: once it is made, it doesn’t go away.” — Graham Peaslee, University of Notre Dame physicist

Clearly, most of us already know that ultra-processed fast foods are unhealthy. They’re often full of dangerous inflammatory oils, factory farmed meats and pesticide-laden potatoes. The fact that about a third of fast-food packaging is coated with toxic chemicals is just another reason to avoid the drive-thru.

Details of the Chemicals in Fast-Food Packaging Study

The 2017 study appeared in Environmental Science & Technology Letters, researchers tested fast food packaging samples collected form 2014 to 2015. The paperboard, sandwich and burger wrapper and dessert and bread wrapper samples came from stores in the Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C. and Grand Rapids areas. (3)

How to Avoid Toxic Nonstick Chemicals in the Food Supply

It’s virtually impossible to completely avoid toxic nonstick PFC chemicals. They’re ubiquitous in the environment — and inside most of us. Until our country’s antiquated chemical safety laws are updated to better protect us, it’ll be impossible to avoid these chemicals.

For instance, the Food and Drug Administration should close the loophole that allows companies to self-certify chemicals as Generally Recognized as Safe. In the meantime, you can still drastically lower your exposure of PFCs on a personal level by:

• Eat fresh meals you prep as home as much as possible.
• Avoiding paper tableware. (It’s often coated in these grease-proofing chemicals.)
• Steer clear of microwave popcorn. The bags are often coated with PFCs. Just make it the old-fashioned way on the stovetop.
• Avoid nonstick dental floss, like Oral-B Glide.

It’s Not Just Fast-Food Packaging: Other Fast-Food Threats

The fast-food containers study comes on the heels of other concerning news about fast food. And antibiotics in fast food report found only 2 of the top 25 chains get an “A” for policies of antibiotics in food.

I also created this list of 10 chain restaurants you should never eat at. I based it mainly on gluten- and GMO-packed ingredients, excess calories and farmed fish, in addition to the antibiotic issue. (Here are the best fast casual restaurants, although I can’t guarantee that all of these companies source safer fast-food packaging.) Case-in-point: Cook your own food from scratch as much as possible, since we have such little control over fast-food packaging threats.

Final Thoughts on Fast-Food Packaging

• Certain perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) are still detected in fast-food containers.
• PFCs are used to “grease-proof” containers, but the chemicals readily migrate into hot, greasy foods.
• PFCs are linked to cancer, abnormal development in children, thyroid and cholesterol problems and immune system disfunction, among other things.
• Some older PFCs have been banned, but hundreds of replacements have not been adequately tested for long-term impact on human health.
• PFC-free fast-food packaging is readily available.
• These chemicals also hide out in many paper plates and bowls, nonstick floss, nonstick pots and pans and microwave popcorn bags.

Read Next: Dangers of Synthetic Scents Include Cancer, Asthma, Kidney Damage and More

The post Possible Cancer Causer Detected in 1/3 of Fast-Food Packaging (See Where Else It Hides) appeared first on Dr. Axe.

You might consider yourself a true “coffee lover”, one who knows all the latest research about coffee nutrition facts and benefits, but would you be willing to try an unconventional way of using coffee to improve your health?

While drinking coffee has its well-documented benefits, that’s not the only way to reap the rewards of this antioxidant-packed beverage. It might sound strange to inject the caffeinated liquid directly into your body via your colon, but research shows that coffee enemas are an effective way to to clean out the lower intestines and improve your health.

Coffee enemas are known to help flush out bacteria, heavy metals, fungus and yeast (like those responsible for candida symptoms, for example) from the digestive tract, including the liver and colon, while also lowering inflammation — therefore helping people restore bowel function, increase their energy levels and heal from disorders that have caused them trouble for years.

Before you start thinking that this sounds completely crazy, consider the fact that various types of natural detoxification treatments, including enemas, have been used for thousands of years to help restore digestive function and general health. Some were even mentioned in ancient historical scripts like The Dead Sea Scrolls that described how Jesus used ordinary ingredients and materials, like food and water, to help heal illnesses. (1)

What Is a Coffee Enema?

A coffee edema is a type of natural “colon cleanse” that involves injecting coffee and water into the rectum and colon, parts of the large intestine that connect to the anal opening. While still not exactly a mainstream way to fight illness, coffee enemas are nothing new. And now various types of natural enemas, even fecal transplants and other ways of unconventionally restoring gut health, are growing in popularity as more people realize that laxatives and prescriptions fail to address the underlying cause of many digestive disorders.

Coffee enemas have been around since the late 1800s, used at the time to help speed up healing following surgeries or to combat cases of accidental poisoning. (2) First made famous by the Gerson Institute in the 1950s, when it began using coffee enemas as part of natural cancer treatments, others are now turning to this procedure for various ailments — especially those that don’t respond well to traditional treatments or prescription medications.

Today, doctors of functional and alternative medicines use coffee enemas to help manage conditions including:

• cancer
• parasites
• overdoses
• constipation
• liver dysfunction
• Candida virus
• IBS
• and other digestive disorders

How a Coffee Enema Works

How does a coffee enema work exactly? According to the Gerson Institute, a coffee enema has the primary purpose of “removing toxins accumulated in the liver and removing free radicals from the bloodstream.” (3) It’s not just the caffeine in coffee that is responsible for the benefits of coffee enemas; in fact, studies show that bioavailability of caffeine obtained from coffee enemas is about 3.5 times less than those obtained drinking coffee orally. (4)

It’s well known that coffee beans naturally contain antioxidants and beneficial compounds, including cafestol palmitate, kahweol, theobromine, theophylline in addition to caffeine, that have positive effects on inflammation levels, including within the digestive system. (5)

What does a coffee enema do for you? When ingested, compounds within coffee either from drinking it or from inserting coffee directly into the colon act like a cathartic that causes the colon muscles to contract. This helps move along stool through the digestive tract, resolving cases of constipation and making it easier to go to the bathroom.

As you’re probably aware, regular bowel movements are beneficial for carrying waste and toxins (like heavy metals or excess fatty acids) out of the body. Research has shown, then, during a “coffee enema detox” caffeine and other compounds travel via the hemorrhoidal vein to the liver. Coffee opens up blood vessels, relaxes smooth muscles that help with bowel movements and improves circulation. Once it makes its way to the liver, coffee is also believed to help open up bile ducts and increase production of bile that’s needed for proper digestion and excretion. (6)

Researchers from the University of Minnesota also demonstrated that coffee enema benefits might include being able to help stimulate the production of a beneficial enzyme created in the liver called glutathione S-transferase, which acts like a antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and natural blood cleanser. (7) Some evidence shows that coffee enemas can help with:

• repairing digestive tissue
• cleansing the liver
• improving blood circulation
• increasing immunity
• helping with cellular regeneration
• relieving digestive issues, such as frequent constipation, bloating, cramping and nausea
• improving gut health
• improving low energy levels and moods (such as fighting signs of depression)

Benefits of a Coffee Enema

1. Increases Antioxidant Activity

Coffee enemas are believed to increase production of glutathione S-transferase above normal levels. As functional medicine practitioner and pharmacist Suzy Cohen points out, people pay good money for glutathione in supplement form, so having the ability to produce more on your own is pretty valuable! (8)

What makes this enzyme so powerful is its ability to scavenge free radicals within the digestive tract that contribute to bodywide inflammation, poor gut health, liver disease and cellular damage. Once free radicals are neutralized, bile that is produced from the liver and gallbladder carries these substances out of the body through bowel movements.

2. Used to Fight Cancer

Max Gerson, M.D., author of A Cancer Therapy, which was published in 1958, has successfully used coffee enemas in thousands of cancer patients. (9) Dr. Gerson made coffee enemas famous as a natural cancer treatment when he pioneered the use of a special anti-inflammatory diet combined with nutritional supplements and daily enemas for speeding up detoxification.

According to the National Cancer Institute, an organic vegetarian diet plus pancreatic enzymes and coffee enemas were the main features of the Gerson Therapy that intended to build up the immune system of cancer patients and restore electrolyte balance (such as levels of potassium in cells). (10) Many of his patients were able to stop their pain medications, help restore liver function and facilitate tissue repair by performing multiple (sometimes up to six) coffee enemas per day.

3. Improves Detoxification

Acting similarly to “a form of dialysis of the blood,” a coffee enema detox can help remove unwanted materials from the gut wall and bloodstream. Dialysis is considered a forced or artificial method to enhance detoxification, and that’s exactly what coffee edemas do since they help the body expel waste materials. The primarily role of the enema is to mechanically wash out the colon, removing potentially harmful parasites, bacteria, yeast and heavy metals that contribute to inflammation and therefore disease.

There’s some evidence that coffee acts like a natural “astringent,” since it helps the top layer of skin or mucous membranes within the digestive tract peel off and rejuvenate (similarly to how astringents used on skin help with cell turnover). Some researchers believe that the top layer of mucous within the gut lining might hold a high level of toxins, and therefore, helping the body shed this lining speeds up the cleansing process.

Aside from the coffee itself, there’s also therapeutic effects of the water used in coffee enemas. Water therapy, known as hydrotherapy, helps the body heal by flushing the colon and rectum while also speeding up transit time of stool. (11)

4. Relieves Constipation

Constipation is one of the most common problems for adults, which is why laxatives are one of the most widely purchased over-the-counter medicines there is. If you’re one of millions of adults who struggle to poop regularly, you’ll be happy to know that coffee enemas provide natural constipation relief in several ways. First off, the increase in water that is inserted into the colon helps stimulate peristalsis in the gut, while a portion of the water also helps increase bile production.

The mechanical effects of the enema cause the colon to become more active and facilitate the emptying of stool and removing of impacted feces, toxins and food residues that can cause constipation. Coffee might also help clean out diverticulitis in the colon, which are slight openings in the colon wall that can cause left-behind food particles or bacterial organisms to become trapped.

What’s the connection between coffee enemas and weight loss — do coffee enemas make you lose weight? They may help you to by reducing inflammation, bloating and water retention. But keep in mind that using enemas can’t replace the need for a healthy, balanced diet. People usually experience the best results from coffee enemas when they also drink plenty of water and improve their diets, such as cutting out inflammatory foods like sugar, white refined flour and hydrogenated fats that can slow down digestion.

Related: Top 7 Benefits of Green Tea: The No. 1 Anti-Aging Beverage

How to Perform a Coffee Enema

The good news is that coffee enemas can be assembled and performed easily and inexpensively at home in the comfort of your own bathroom (or wherever you choose). To perform a coffee enema at home, you need to purchase an enema kit along with fresh coffee beans. Below you’ll find directions for how to make a coffee enema recipe.

• Enema kits can be found in certain health food or drug stores, and definitely online. There are several types available, from simpler versions that are sometimes called “traveler’s kits” to plastic bucket types that use gravity to help the enema work better. No matter the type you use, look for one that has a tube and nozzle attached to either a bucket or bag that hangs above you when you lie down.
• After choosing a enema kit, you need to purchase coffee beans. You want to purchase only certified organic coffee and regular (not decaf) beans that are free from all chemical sprays — this is important considering the quality of the coffee determines how effective the detoxification process will be.
• The last thing you want to do is directly insert chemicals into your digestive tract if you already deal with inflammation and dysfunction! Most people recommend keeping your coffee beans in the freezer until you’re ready to perform the enema so they retain the most antioxidants.

As with all enemas, it’s best to do one immediately after having a bowel movement if possible, which makes it more comfortable, effective and easier to retain for longer. You can also do an enema even if you haven’t recently had a bowel movement (for example, if you’re constipated), but many people like to perform enemas in the morning directly after going to the bathroom.

Some practitioners recommend taking an activated carbon charcoal binder before and after a coffee enema. For example, Dr. Jay Davidson recommends using BioActive Carbon BioTox to help bind to toxins released from the bile duct so they can be eliminated from the body. (12)

It’s recommended to do an enema about once weekly or up to once daily if you’re healing from a digestive disorder. In fact, in some cases very ill patients (for example, people healing from cancer) have used coffee enemas multiple times per day. If you choose to do coffee enemas frequently, you might want to consider buying a reusable enema kit and cleaning the nozzle with a natural detergent to save money.

Once you have your materials prepared, here is a step-by-step guide on how to do a coffee enema safely:

1. To make one coffee enema recipe, use a small pot on your stove top to combine coffee beans with filtered water. Filtered water is highly recommended by most experts and might offer fewer risks than tap water (which contain traces of minerals or chemicals). Add 2 tablespoons of organic coffee beans to your pot along with 3 cups of filtered water. Then bring to a boil and let simmer for 15 minutes.
2. Let the mixture cool down to a little warmer than room temperature once it’s boiled for about 15 minutes. Strain the coffee beans from the mixture so you have one uniform liquid free from particles. It’s important to allow the mixture to cool because there’s a higher risk for injury and side effects when a solution that is too hot is used, or if a large volume or solution or too much pressure is applied. (13)
3. You’re now ready to perform your enema, so choose a location that’s comfortable where you can lie down for about 15 minutes, such as the the bathroom floor with some towels. Most people like to be close to a toilet and keep extra towels on hand to clean up if need be. Wherever you choose to be, take your enema kit and place the bucket or bag at least 1 meter above you and the ground. So if you’re lying on the floor, you might try hanging the bucket or bag on a towel rack, shower rail, etc. This helps gravity push the coffee liquid down faster so it’s better able to enter your digestive tract and do its job.
4. Pour your coffee liquid into the enema bag or bucket and hold the tube and nozzle shut. Locate the lever on the tube and nozzle that helps you stop and start the flow of the enema. Before beginning, make sure the valve is shut so no liquid escapes. Use a lubricant such as coconut oil to coat the tip of the enema nozzle, which will make it easier to insert into your rectum without being uncomfortable. What side do you lay on for a coffee enema? Lay down on your right side in fetal position and insert the nozzle into your rectum, aiming for it to be about 1 inch inside.
5. Use the valve that helps you to start the flow of coffee and keep the liquid slowly entering your rectum through the nozzle until the bag or bucket is emptied. Take your time and squeeze in so the liquid doesn’t escape as much as possible. Sit however you are most comfortable that helps you keep the coffee inside of you for about 12 to 15 minutes — 15 minutes is the max time that you need to effectively cleanse your system, so at this point you can stop holding in and can go to the bathroom.

Coffee Enema Dangers and Side Effects

Not every health professional believes that coffee enemas, or other types of colonics for that matter, are necessary for digestive health. (14) Some believe that the bowel should be able to eliminate waste material and bacteria from the body on its own without any help, and that interfering with this process may cause side effects.

Is using a coffee enema dangerous? The Institute of Digestive Disease and Nutrition at the University of Korea has studied the effects of coffee enemas in various patients and reports that people using coffee enemas don’t usually experience any complications or side effects. (15) Coffee enemas are considered a safe and feasible option for treating digestive dysfunction, and there were no clinically significant adverse events related to coffee enemas demonstrated at this time. However like with other treatments, coffee enema results vary from person to person.

If you’ve experienced complications from using enemas in the past, it’s best to talk to a doctor before trying to perform a coffee enema on your own. The first time you try a coffee enema it’s a good idea to do so under supervision or with guidance of a medical professional, this way you make sure the coffee enema recipe is made correctly and performed safely. That being said, some people feel comfortable jumping right into the process on their own.

Still, all enemas come with certain side effects, including tears in the colon and dehydration or electrolyte imbalances, especially if they’re over-performed or performed incorrectly. (16) One way to make the process more comfortable is to always use a lubricant, go very slowly and to follow directions very carefully. Make sure you avoid burns and irritation by cooling the coffee liquid enough and straining it well. Coffee enemas aren’t usually recommended for pregnant women or children since they can be sensitive to the effects of caffeine.

If you’ve experienced hemorrhoids or tears in the past, you might find inserting the nozzle painful and should not force the procedure. You also don’t want to perform more than one enema weekly until you monitor your reactions and make sure you aren’t experiencing any signs of dehydration, such as dizziness, muscle cramps or weakness,  due to increased bowel movements. Drink plenty of water when using enemas to help flush your system.

Have there been any reported coffee enema deaths? The U.S. National Cancer Institute has reported that at least three deaths may have been related to coffee enemas. While these reported deaths occurred over a very long period of time (decades), this is still a fact that shouldn’t be ignored. (17) Coffee enemas may be most dangerous when someone is allergic to coffee, so this should always be ruled out before an enema is performed.

Final Thoughts

• A coffee enema is a type of natural “colon cleanse” that involves injecting coffee and water into the rectum and colon.
• Coffee enemas have been used since the 1800’s to help fight: cancer, parasites, effects of overdoses, bloating and constipation, liver dysfunction, Candida virus
  IBS and other digestive disorders.
• Coffee enedma benefits include: improving antioxidant status, improving digestion and detoxification, helping to fight cancer, relieving constipation, and supporting liver health.
• Overall it’s important to consider all coffee enema pros and cons. While regularly performing a coffee enema can help with digestion and detoxification, some side effects are possible — including dehydration, allergic reactions, and tears in the colon.

The post Coffee Enemas: Can They Fight Cancer & Help Detoxify? appeared first on Dr. Axe.

A popular food additive used in everything from dill pickles to ice cream is now linked to colon cancer, thanks to the way it impacts the gut.

Emulsifiers are added to most processed foods to improve food texture and extend shelf life. But it also throws off healthy levels of intestinal bacteria, triggering chronic, low-level inflammation that promotes colorectal cancer, according to a new study.

To be clear, scientists identified the potential cancer-promoting effects in an animal study. But the way I see it, it’s best to steer clear of these ingredients since various other studies suggest they impact the gut in unhealthy ways.

The finding comes on the heels of another gut breakthrough where researchers discovered fungus may trigger Crohn’s disease. Clearly, the microbiome greatly influences our disease risk. That’s why I make gut health the centerpiece of my practice and my personal health regimen.

Let’s take a closer look at this important new study, including ways to avoid this harmful class of processed food additives.

For this study, researchers focused on two of the most commonly used emulsifiers called polysorbate 80 and carboxymethylcellulose. They fed mice doses comparable to the cumulative amounts people would eat daily in processed foods. While the following findings need to be replicated in humans, I’m not taking any chances and will continue to avoid these “detergent-like” ingredients.

Consuming emulsifiers drastically changed the species composition of the gut microbiota in a manner that made it more pro-inflammatory, creating a niche favoring cancer induction and development, researchers pointed out. Alterations in bacterial species resulted in bacteria expressing more flagellin and lipopolysaccharide, which activate pro-inflammatory gene expression by the immune system.

If we’re eating processed foods containing emulsifiers on a daily basis, it appears we’re inducing chronic, low-level inflammation.  Since inflammation is at the root of most diseases, this is a major finding. Colorectal cancer is now the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths across the globe. More and more research is honing in our how the balance of microorganisms in our gut can help prevent (or trigger) cancer and other diseases.

The class of emulsifiers in question are often found in things like baked goods, frozen desserts, non-dairy creamers, ice cream and even dill pickles. As Center for Science in the Public Interest explains, they keep baked goods from going stale, keep dill oil dissolved in bottled dill pickles, help coffee whiteners dissolve in coffee, and prevent oil from separating out of artificial whipped cream. (3)

This isn’t the first time polysorbate 80 and car­boxymethylcellulose are making headlines (and not in a good way). In 2015, researchers also linked the ingredients to unhealthy changes in the gut, including altered bacteria and inflammation. That study mouse study also saw a link between those ingredients and obesity and metabolic syndrome, too. It’s possible that polysorbates and other emulsifiers act like detergents to disrupt the mucous layer that lines the gut. (4)

Final Thoughts on the Food Additive and Colon Cancer Study

• Cut way back on processed foods to avoid harmful food additives.
• Avoid other gut-damaging additives like carrageenan.
• Take steps to heal leaky gut to help undo some of the damage already done, particularly gut permeability.
• Avoid foods that contain polysorbate 80 and carboxymethylcellulose. This often includes nonorganic dill pickles, ice cream, cooking sprays and many other processed foods.
• Beware of other emulsifiers. It’s not clear if soy lecithin also impacts the gut in a similar way.

The post Common Food Additive Promotes Colon Cancer in Mice appeared first on Dr. Axe.

The vast majority (93 percent) of American women age 18 and older report having had at least one pap smear in their lifetimes. And according to a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, 20 percent of women in the United States report having had at least one abnormal pap smear, which may be a sign of cervical cancer. (1)

Screening for cervical cancer remains an important health and economic concern in the United States and throughout the world. The effectiveness of pap smear screenings in reducing cervical cancer mortality is almost universally accepted, as the incidence of death has declined by more than 70 percent since the 1950s. This is largely due to the widespread implementation of screening programs, which has become a top global health care priority. (2)

What Is a Pap Smear?

A pap smear, also known as the Papanicolaou test, is a procedure in which cells are scraped from the cervix and examined under a microscope. The test is used to detect any cell abnormalities that may serve as a sign of cervical cancer or other conditions, such as infection and inflammation. A pap smear screening is the best tool to detect precancerous conditions and small, hidden tumors that may lead to cervical cancer.

The pap smear is named after the Greek doctor George Nicholas Papanicolaou, who developed this method. In the period between 1917 and 1928, Papanicolaou was one of the initial pioneers who drove the attention to how science was able to make a diagnosis looking at slides with a smear of cells. Several studies indicate that rates of cancer death due to cervical cancer dropped tremendously after the 1950s when the pap smear screening programs started. (3)

When performing a pap smear, the gynecologist inserts a speculum into the woman’s vagina so she is able to widen the opening and exam the cervix and vagina. The doctor then takes samples of the cervical cells using a small spatula or brush. The samples are taken from the opening of the cervix, which extends into the vagina, and from the cervical canal, which is deeper inside the womb. The cells then are placed into a solution, transferred onto a small glass slide and sent to the laboratory for a procedure called a cytological examination. (4)

The cytological examination evaluates the formation, structure and function of cells under a microscope. If the cells appear to be abnormal, further testing is needed in order to determine the seriousness of the abnormalities.

Pap Smear Guidelines

In 2004, a group of researchers collected data on the frequency of cervical cancer screening in the United States. These researchers found that among women with no history of abnormal smears, 55 percent underwent a pap smear exam annually, 17 percent went every two years, 16 percent went every three years and 11 percent were not screened regularly. They found that even the elderly reported frequent screening, with 38 percent of women age 75–84 and 20 percent of women age 85 and older reported annual pap smears. Overall, 20 percent of women reported having at least one abnormal exam, and among these women, rates of frequent pap smear screenings are considerably higher at 80 percent. Based on their findings, researchers suggest that health care providers offer pap smear screenings every two or three years for women over 21 years old who are not at high risk of cervical cancer. (5)

Current guidelines from the American Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend that women should have a pap smear every two years starting at the age of 21. After age 30, women may decrease the frequency to every three years if they’re low-risk, with three normal pap tests in a row. The American Cancer Society suggests that women between the ages of 30–65 could get both a pap smear exam and an HPV test every five years. Women who are at a high risk of cervical cancer because of a suppressed immune system, which may be due to an infection, organ transplant or long-term steroid use, should be screened more often.

The American Cancer Society also suggests that women over 65 years of age who have had regular screenings in the previous 10 years and haven’t had any serious pre-cancers found in the last 20 years should stop cervical cancer screening. Women who have had a total hysterectomy should also stop pap tests, unless the hysterectomy was done as a treatment for cervical pre-cancer. (6)

Benefits of a Pap Smear

The main benefit of a pap smear test is that it serves as a screening for cervical cancer and has saved the lives of many women. Cervical cancer occurs when cervical cells become abnormal and grow out of control over time. The cancer cells invade deeper into the cervical tissue, and in advanced cases the cancer cells can spread to other organs of the body.

According to research published in Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinics of North America in 2009, cervical cancer incidence and mortality in the United States has declined significantly since the 1950s by more than 70 percent. This decline is mainly attributed to the introduction of the pap test in the 1940s. Cervical cancer used to be the No. 1 killer of women, and it’s now ranked 12th. Researchers found that in the United States and most developed countries, cervical cancer accounts for 7 percent of all female malignancies, but in developing countries, it accounts for 24 percent. This disparity is primarily attributed to the lack of screening and treatment of pre-cancerous lesions. (7)

A 1994 study published in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics evaluated the effectiveness of the pap smear screening program in terms of reduction of mortality from cervical cancer. A analysis gave a calculated 53 percent reduction in cervical cancer mortality that’s attributable to screening, supporting the hypothesis that pap smear screenings have had an important impact. (8)

What to Do If Your Pap Is Abnormal

Abnormal pap smear tests do not mean that you have cancer, but an abnormal test does mean that the cells of the cervix do not look normal. Because a pap test is a screening test and not a diagnostic test, it cannot tell for certain that cancer is present. An abnormal test may be due to inflammation or minor cell changes, which is also called dysplasia. Before cancer cells form in tissues of the body, the cells go through abnormal changes — this is dysplasia. In dysplasia, the cells look abnormal under a microscope, but they’re not cancerous and may never become cancer. Other causes of an abnormal pap smear test are related to using a diaphragm, engaging in sexual intercourse or having cellular changes related to the menstrual cycle.

Most non-cancerous issues detected in a pap smear tend to clear up or go back to normal on their own. If your doctor notices minor or moderate abnormalities, she will probably recommend that you have a follow-up test within a few months. If the abnormal cells have not disappeared after a longer period of waiting, or if they have progressed, then more examinations will be needed.

The human papillomavirus (HPV) test detects the presence of the human papillomavirus, which can lead to the development of genital herpes, abnormal cervical cells or cervical cancer. After receiving an abnormal pap smear, your doctor might recommend the HPV test to see if the virus is causing cellular changes. Most cases of cervical cancer are caused by infection with HPV, which is passed from person to person during sexual activity. Most HPV infections go away on their own and only cause mild changes in cervical cells, but in some women, HPV does not go away and can cause severe changes in cervical cells. Research published in Clinical Microbiology Reviews suggests that the improvements in pap smear screening as well as the introduction of HPV testing greatly facilitate the identification of women at risk for cervical cancer. (9)

If a pap smear exam and HPV test show abnormal cells, you may need to have a test called colposcopy. During a colposcopy, the doctor examines the cervix with an instrument that has magnifying lenses (called a colposcope). The doctor applies a weak solution of acetic acid to the cervix so the abnormal areas are easier to see. If an abnormal area is seen on the cervix, a biopsy will be done, which involves taking a small piece of tissue from the area. A biopsy is the only way to tell for sure that an abnormal area is pre-cancerous, cancerous or neither. (10)

If pre-cancerous cell changes are found, the abnormal tissue can usually be removed completely and the tumor will stop developing. The reason why pap smears are done so regularly is because cervical cancer takes many years to develop and stopping cell abnormalities when they’re just beginning allows doctors to deal with the issue before it becomes more serious.

Precautions About a Pap Smear

Cervical screening results are not always accurate, and sometimes the results show abnormal cells when the cells are actually normal or they may not detect abnormal cells when they’re present. Some factors that may cause a false-negative result include having a small number of abnormal cells, having an inadequate collection of cells during the exam or having inflammatory cells obscuring the abnormal cells. To get the most accurate results from a pap smear, avoid sexual intercourse, douching or using vaginal creams for 48 hours before the test. You should also avoid cervical cancer screenings when you have your menstrual period.

Unfortunately, receiving an abnormal pap smear can be stressful and nerve-wracking experience. Research has found that there is a psychosocial burden among women who receive abnormal pap smear results. A 2009 study conducted in Thailand evaluated 75 women negative for abnormal cell growth and 76 women with abnormal cell growth. Researchers found that the women with abnormal results were concerned about issues such as getting cancer, the pain during the visit to the gynecologist and that having sex with their partners may give them infections. (11)

If you do have an abnormal screening, talk to your health care provider about other available tests in order to determine your treatment plan. For many women, the cervical cell changes go back to normal on their own, and if they don’t, it often takes several years for even high-grade changes to become cancer.

Final Thoughts 

• Screening for cervical cancer remains an important health and economic concern in the United States and throughout the world. The effectiveness of pap smear screenings in reducing cervical cancer mortality is almost universally accepted.
• A pap smear, also known as the Papanicolaou test, is a procedure in which cells are scraped from the cervix and examined under a microscope. The test is used to detect any cell abnormalities that may serve as a sign of cervical cancer or other conditions, such as infection and inflammation.
• Women should have a pap smear every two years starting at the age of 21. After age 30, women may decrease the frequency to every three years if they’re low-risk, or they can have a pap smear and HPV test every five years. Women over 65 years of age who have had regular screenings in the previous 10 years and haven’t had any serious pre-cancers found in the last 20 years should stop cervical cancer screening.
• Research shows that cervical cancer incidence and mortality in the United States has declined significantly since the 1950s by more than 70 percent. This decline is mainly attributed to the introduction of the pap test in the 1940s.
• Abnormal pap smear tests do not mean that you have cancer, but it does mean that the cells of the cervix do not look normal.
• Most non-cancerous issues detected in a pap smear tend to clear up or go back to normal on their own. If your doctor notices minor or moderate abnormalities, she will probably recommend that you have a follow-up test within a few months.

Read Next: 8 Reasons for Missed or Irregular Periods

The post The Importance of Pap Smear Screening in the Fight Against Cervical Cancer appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Black salve is the name for a group of topical pastes and plasters known as escharotics that are considered very controversial cancer treatments in mainstream medicine. Although one black salve ingredient called bloodroot is sometimes used by certain dermatologists in the treatment of skin cancer (part of a practice called Mohrs surgery), the effectiveness and safety of these products are still mostly up for debate.

In conventional medicine practices, cancer is commonly treated using somewhat aggressive methods, including surgery or radiation, especially when the cancer has progressed and other methods, such as applying topical formulas, are not powerful enough. Many cancerous skin growths, including cases of melanoma, require at least one surgery (sometimes even extensive surgery) in order to remove all cancerous cells and prevent the condition from worsening. Rather than turning to surgery, those using black salve paste hope to burn off or “draw out” cancerous cells naturally through the skin.

The issue surrounding black salve for the treatment of cancer is that it’s never actually been proven to work and often misleads patients. To be fair, there have been reports of black salve formulas helping naturally treat cancerous growths as well as other skin conditions. However, it’s critical that any potential case of cancer be properly medically diagnosed and treated, and that existing cases be monitored.

As you’ll learn from past experiences of others, black salve can pose many risks, including leaving behind serious burns, open wounds and scars. While there are other natural and surgery-free ways you can improve immunity against cancer and help overcome this disease, this might be one treatment option you choose to avoid.

What Is Black Salve?

Black salve is the name used for a group of natural corrosive agents, sometimes called escharotics. One brand name for a black salve product sold online is Cansema. The types of cancers most often treated with black salve ingredients — including bloodroot, which is sometimes referred to as black drawing salve — are basal and squamous skin cell carcinomas. These cancers are commonly located on patients’ faces and can cause growths, marks or tumors on the eyes, nose, lips and scalp.

Other patients have turned to black salve in order to treat cervical dysplasia, a precancerous condition picked up by pap smears that’s believed to be caused most often by the human papillomavirus (HPV). According to a report by Science-Based Medicine, proponents of black salve have claimed that this treatment can “selectively kill abnormal cells of the cervix while leaving healthy cells unaffected,” but again, there isn’t much evidence this is true. (1)

In addition to treating cancer, black salve drawing paste is used by some to dissolve other benign types of skin growths or warts, along with even internal tumors in some cases. Black salve formulas are usually applied in one of two ways:

• Applied to the top of the skin — This method is used to dry, burn and erode growths or tumors.
• Applied over internal tumors — The hope is that the ingredients are absorbed through the skin into the bloodstream and therefore help detoxify the body, drawing out toxins that can contribute to tumor formation or growth.

How Black Salve Works: Key Facts and Chemical Composition

The strength, effectiveness and risks associated with using black salve depend on the specific formula. Ingredients vary, but most include a type of zinc called zinc chloride along with powdered bloodroot, derived from the bloodroot plant (Sanguinaria canadensis).

Records show that similar erosive formulas have been used to heal unwanted skin conditions for hundreds of years, but black salve didn’t make its way into mainstream medicine until around the 1930s when a doctor named Dr. Fred Mohs started using a similar formula on the skin of his patients prior to surgery. Despite being accepted by some doctors and dermatologists, “no controlled clinical trial has yet been published demonstrating any relevant clinical efficacy of black salve,” according to researchers from the School of Medicine at the University of Queensland, Australia. (2)

The rational behind using zinc and bloodroot on the skin is that together they form a thick, dry scab called an eschar. The ingredient zinc chloride is an especially powerful escharotic, often used to treat recurrent ulcers and help break up abnormal or harmful bone spurs/growths.

Bloodroot is a perennial flowering plant native to northeastern part of the U.S. It contains a red liquid (which some say is poisonous) that thickens to a paste when left to dry. The primary active ingredient found in bloodroot is a type of benzylisoquinoline alkaloid, which is the collective term for related molecules that are used in hundreds of different medications, such as painkillers and prescription narcotics like morphine and codeine. Within bloodroot, one particularly beneficial alkaloid has been identified called sanguinarine.

It’s been found that bloodroot also contains certain antimicrobial compounds, and some small studies have even shown that it might in fact act like a natural anticancer agent under certain circumstances.

Black Salve Side Effects and Precautions to Consider

Although black salve has some potential anticancer and antimicrobial properties according to a small number of studies, serious side effects of black salve that have been reported by doctors and patients. These include:

• Burning the skin, sometimes severely
• Leaving behind open wounds, sometimes as big as one inch wide
• Causing blackening of the skin, scarring and discoloration
• Allowing cancerous cells and tumors to further spread and progress, which can be deadly at times

One case study published in 2014 in Dermatology Practical & Conceptual reported on a woman diagnosed with melanoma on her calf who declined to undergo surgery recommended by her doctor and decided instead to purchase black salve via the Internet. She applied the black salve paste to the site of melanoma under a closed dressing for roughly 24 hours.

Although the woman was led to believe that black salve would naturally help cure her skin cancer, authors of the study found that five years later when she returned to her doctor the metastatic tumor had spread to the lymph nodes and then her lungs, liver, scalp, and other subcutaneous tissues and musculature. Aside from not stopping her cancer from spreading, the patient also reported initially suffering from inflammation, ulceration and pain due to a wound forming after using black salve. The wound she developed took up to eight weeks to scab and heal, plus she wound up forming several additional dense nodule/lesions that did need to be removed surgically after all. (3)

Another case study with scary findings was published in 2014 in the Medical Journal of Australia. Authors reported on one Australian man who used a bloodroot black salve on a lesion he suspected might be cancerous, causing a severe wound in his head that enlarged to one inch in diameter. (4)

Potential Benefits of Black Salve

1. Has Been Used to Treat Skin Growths

Some practitioners choose to use black salve/bloodroot in order to remove patients’ non-cancerous skin growths, including raised moles, unsightly “rubbery growths” and skin tags. There is evidence that certain indigenous Native Americans used bloodroot to naturally treat warts, polyps and moles prior to the invention of more advanced treatment options.

Dr. Andrew Weil has even reported that he’s been successful in using bloodroot to reduce growths on his patients’ necks, armpits, groins, eyelids and other body folds. According to Weil, “The red juice from the bloodroot is poisonous when taken internally but when used externally has a unique ability to dissolve superficial skin growths without disturbing normal tissue.” (5)

There has not been much evidence published in medical literature showing that bloodroot juice can safely dry up skin growths and prevent them from returning — however, anecdotal evidence exists that this has been a traditional folklore practice for many centuries. Although it may work in some cases, black salve’s effects on skin growths might not be worth the risk, since a simple visit to a dermatologist office may safely offer the same results.

2. Might Potentially Have Some Anticancer Capabilities

Some evidence exists that black salve has the capability of causing melanoma cell death in some cases due to the presence of sanguinarine. A 2013 study published in the European Journal of Pharmacology showed that sanguinarine causes cell death through selective oxidative damage.

Sanguinarine is found in other fumaria plant species and is known to have a broad spectrum of pharmacological properties that kill human melanoma cells, including altering calcium concentrations within cancerous cells and cutting off their energy supply at the mitochondria. The authors of the study also found that pretreatment with the antioxidant glutathione further helped the anti-melanoma activities of sanguinarine.

Overall, the researchers concluded that their data indicates “sanguinarine is a very rapid inducer of human melanoma caspase-dependent cell death that is mediated by oxidative stress.” However, other experts still warn there isn’t strong enough evidence to safely recommend it at this time. (6)

Proponents of black salve for treating cancerous cells caused by the HPV virus also point to one case study in which a woman refused the conventional recommendation of loop electrosurgical excision procedure and chose to receive escharotic treatment instead. The patient received black salve at a frequency of two treatments per week for five weeks (10 treatments in total) along with supplementing with vitamins and botanicals recommended by her naturopath. Significant improvements were observed in follow-up pap smears, which lasted for at least five years following treatment in which the patient was monitored. (7)

3. Contains Antimicrobial Ingredients

Research published in 2014 by the Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology at Heidelberg University showed that sanguinarine can potentially overcome multi-drug antibiotic-resistant pathogens just as well as antibiotics usually can. The study tested results of three individual compounds — sanguinarine, a chelator called EDTA and an antibiotic called vancomycin— in addition to a combination of the compounds for the treatment of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The substances were evaluated for treatment of 34 strains of bacteria, all of which were found to be resistant to the standard antibiotic vancomycin. Sanguinarine, however, was found to have strong activity against all of the resistant bacterial strains and demonstrated results comparable to that of standard antibiotics. (8)

On the other hand, some studies have found contradictory results. A study from the 1990s testing sanguinarine against bacteria responsible for dental problems like gingivitis found that it had no effects above those of a placebo. (9)

So Should You Use Black Salve? 

At this time, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Cancer Society do not advocate for using escharotic treatment in order to treat cancerous cells. They have not spoken out against black salve use on their websites but have also not supplied any evidence that it works and is safe. The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) warns against use of black salve on its website. (10) The AAD has found that the vast majority of patients who use the home remedy black salve do so without even talking to a dermatologist first, which is very risky.

Since black salve treatments have become somewhat popular in Australia over the past several decades, the Australian Government chose to issue a warning against the product and stated: “The TGA is not aware of any credible, scientific evidence which shows that any black or red salve preparation is effective in treating cancer.” (11)

Because other precancerous or cancerous treatments have been shown to have high success rates (such as biopsies for basal and squamous cell skin cancers or loop electrosurgical excision procedures used to stop progression of cervical dysplasia), it’s best to get your doctor’s opinion before treating abnormal cells on your own. LEEP procedures have been shown to remove cancerous cells effectively in 85 percent to 90 percent of cases, and surgeries for basal and squamous cell skin cancers usually have similar results.

If you do wish to learn more about using black salve for natural cancer treatment, your best bet is to visit a naturopath who has experience using this formula with patients and is accredited through a trusted organization. Use precaution when attempting to treat a serious condition like cancer, especially if you’re doing so against your doctor’s recommendation. That being said, below are some reasons that certain natural practitioners have decided to treat patients with black salve, which are topics you can discuss further with a professional before prior to treatment:

• It’s possible that black salve won’t damage normal cells in the process of killing cancerous cells.
• Some patients report that black salve leaves behind no scarring once healed and that growths/tumors don’t return.
• Compared to other cancer treatments, natural treatments might cause less risk for complications like infection, fatigue or reduced fertility.
• Certain practitioners believe black salve stimulates regrowth of normal tissue, which some other cancer treatments cannot do.
• Black salve treatment is less expensive than surgery — however, it can also require more visits over the duration of several weeks or even months.
• One brand of black salve that’s sold over the Internet called Cansema (manufactured by the company Omega Alpha Labs) has many patient testimonials praising the results of the product, but these have not been reviewed in studies or proven to be accurate.
• Keep in mind that visiting a naturopath for black salve treatment likely won’t be covered at all by medical insurance. On the other hand, many other conventional treatments for the same health conditions are covered, including LEEP or biopsies.

Final Thoughts on Black Salve

• Black salve is a risky anticancer alternative that has been shown in studies to have both positive and negative effects on abnormal (including cancerous) cells.
• Some people choose to buy black salve products, such as Cansema, online and self-treat cancer or other growths against their doctors’ advice.
• There is some evidence showing that black salve can destroy abnormal cells, including melanoma, and has certain antimicrobial capabilities.
• Experts consider black salve to be dangerous and controversial because escharotic products have not been shown to work in all cases and also cause side effects like serious wounds or burns.

Read Next: Top 12 Cancer-Fighting Foods

The post Black Salve: Is This Controversial Cancer Treatment Safe? appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Patrick Quillen, PhD, CNS, RD, author of Beating Cancer with Nutrition, recently presented a session on nutrition and cancer during The Truth About Cancer’s Ultimate Live Symposium. There, he shared some interesting facts about the healing power of nutrition and natural cancer treatments, including many facts you won’t hear about in conventional medicine doctor’s offices.

Dr. Quillin is an internationally recognized expert in the area of nutrition and cancer. In fact, he’s been a clinical nutritionist for 30 years. For a decade, he served as the vice president of nutrition for Cancer Treatment Centers of America, where he worked with thousands of cancer patients in a hospital setting.

He says poor nutrition is one of the reasons we’ve gone from 5 percent of the population developing cancer in 1900 to 40 percent today. (1, 2)

Here, I’m sharing some basic, key points of Dr. Quillen’s talk on cancer-fighting foods and the importance of nutrition. Let’s take a look.

4 Key Points from Dr. Quillen’s Talk on Cancer-Fighting Foods & Nutrition

1. America’s eating lots of veggies that don’t count. 

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, some of the top “vegetables” consumed by Americans include ketchup, french fries and onion rings. (3)

Dr. Quillen also noted these sobering nutrition statistics, calling out the annual consumption and production of junk food in America:

• 130 pounds of refined sugar consumed per person per year (4)
• 700 million total pancakes sold at IHOP alone (5)
• 500 million total Twinkies made in U.S. annually (6)
• More than 10 billion total donuts made in U.S. annually (7)
• Nearly 45 gallons of soda consumed per person per year (8)

“People are digging their graves with their fork,” Dr. Quillen said.

What we need to be eating more of are the top cancer-fighting foods, including things like leafy greens, bright orange fruits and veggies, cruciferous veggies and berries. Choose organic versions of the dirty dozen to protect yourself from pesticides.

2. Don’t eat overcooked foods and avoid the “whites.”

Dr. Quillen highlighted the importance of avoiding overcooked foods. Particularly overcooked meat. He said, for instance, that eating a 12-ounce, well-done charbroiled steak contains levels of a particular aromatic hydrocarbon carcinogen on par with what’s found in 600 cigarettes. (9)

Aside from that anti-cancer nutrition tip, Dr. Quillen also advocates for avoidance of white sugar, white flour and white potatoes. (If you love potatoes, check out purple potatoes instead.)

3. You’re not a prisoner of your DNA. 

A landmark 2008 study showed that making certain lifestyle changes can actually change your DNA. Dean Ornish, MD, president and founder of Preventative Medicine Research Institute studied 30 prostate cancer survivors not receiving treatment and instead following the watch-and-wait plan. (10)

The study participants took on the following lifestyle modifications:

• A low-fat (10 percent of calories from fat), plant-based diet consisting of whole foods
• 60 minutes a day of stress management, including gentle yoga-based stretching, breathing, medication, imagery and progressive relaxation
• Moderate aerobic exercise, walking 30 minutes a day for 6 days a week
• A 1-hour support group per week for social interaction

In just three months, researchers saw a change in more than 500 genes. In fact, several cancer-promoting genes became less aggressive, while genes that suppress cancer became more active. This was the first study to show genetic changes in cancer patients based solely on lifestyle factors.

4. Keep It Simple When Creating an Anti-Cancer Plate

Dr. Quillen advocates for a plant-based diet, but does advocate for some wild-caught and grass-fed meat and fish because it contains nutrients you can’t get otherwise. (Just be sure to avoid farmed fish and animal products that come from conventionally raised animals.)

He also called beans one of “your ultimate health foods.” Beans are consistently shown to lower your cancer risk. One reason is they contain resistant starch that is not digested in the small intestine. This helps promote healthy bacteria in the colon produce short-chain fatty acids, which seems to protect colon cells. Aside from that, beans are loaded with phytochemicals, including including triterpenoids, flavonoids, inositol, protease inhibitors and sterols. (11)

Black bean nutrition alone aids in protecting colon health and helping to ward off colon cancer due to the beans’ ability to block oxidative damage within the digestive system. (12)

Nutrition can get very complex, but he says to keep things simple, advising this strategy:

• 1/3 of your plate should be a high-quality protein food
• 1/3 should be cooked whole plant food
• 1/3 should be raw, colorful fruits and vegetables

And don’t forget to use those herbs and spices. “Grandmother was practicing herbal medicine without a license when she was seasoned food in the kitchen,” Dr. Quillen noted.

Final Thoughts 

• What you put on your plate can literally be the difference between life and death.
• We now know that nutrition plays a huge role in cancer prevention and treatment.
• With cancer rates soaring from 5 percent of the population to 40 percent from 1900 to now, it’s clear the move to the standard American diet has been devastating for our health.
• Focus on avoiding white sugar, white flour and white potatoes.
• Create a plate that’s one-third high-quality protein, one-third cooked plant food and one-third raw, colorful fruits and vegetables.

Read Next: Shiitake Mushrooms: 8 Scientifically Proven Benefits

The post 4 Need-to-Know Facts from Dr. Quillin’s Talk on Cancer-Fighting Foods appeared first on Dr. Axe.

Do cell phones cause cancer? As with any type of science looking at this type of issue, it’s going to take decades to come to a definitive conclusion. Meanwhile, though, more and more studies are painting a picture suggesting that cell phone radiation is not completely safe and could very well be carcinogenic.

I don’t know about you, but I’m practicing the precautionary principle, making simple tweaks in my cell phone use today while scientists continue to study the effects this type of non-ionizing radiation has on our bodies.

Remember, people once thought smoking was safe. Today, are we risking good health by using our smartphones in not so smart ways?

---

The Cell Phone–Cancer Link

The “do cell phones cause cancer” debate is still not settled and will likely take years to play out. Here’s what we do know, though:

• Cell phone radiation is radiofrequency energy and a type of electromagnetic radiation classified as non-ionizing radiation, similar to harmful microwaves and radar.
• Ionizing radiation is known to cause cancer and includes things like X-rays and radon. (1)

The latest evidence suggesting wireless radiation poses a huge public health risk comes from partially released data from a large, $25 million well-designed U.S. National Toxicology Program study. Researchers found exposure to very high signal cell phone radiation led to a slightly increased risk of malignant gliomas in the brain and schwannomas of the heart in male rats. Schwannomas are tumors that form in the nerve sheath. (2)

Otis W. Brawley, MD, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, called this latest study “good science” and added:

The NTP report linking radiofrequency radiation (RFR) to two types of cancer marks a paradigm shift in our understanding of radiation and cancer risk. The findings are unexpected; we wouldn’t reasonably expect non-ionizing radiation to cause these tumors. This is a striking example of why serious study is so important in evaluating cancer risk. It’s interesting to note that early studies on the link between lung cancer and smoking had similar resistance, since theoretical arguments at the time suggested that there could not be a link. (3)

The study found a dose-response effect. That means the higher the dose, the higher the risk. The results backed up previous research suggesting cell phone radiation could increase the risk of gliomas. Acoustic neuromas have also been linked to cell phone use.

In 2011, the World Health Organization listed cell phone radiation as a 2B carcinogen, meaning it’s possibly carcinogenic to humans. Since cell phones have only been in wide use since the 1990s, epidemiological studies looking for long-term risks from cell phone exposure could be missing certain threats that may not be surfacing in humans yet. (4)

Studies looking at cell phone radiation exposure and tumors and other health problems show mixed results, including:

• Swedish researchers found a higher risk for tumors on the side of the head where the cell phone was held, particularly with 10 or more years of use.
• Most other studies find that brain tumors do not more often originate on the side of the head where people reported using their cell phones.
• Most studies do not show a “dose-response relationship,” meaning increased cell phone use doesn’t seem to increase the risk of brain tumors.
• Those who begin using cell phones as teenagers have a four to five times higher chance of being diagnosed with brain cancer.
• Sperm die three times faster and experience triple the damage to mitochondrial DNA compared to sperm from men who are not exposed to cell phone radiation. (5, 6)

The Environmental Health Trust notes that many studies that do not show an increased risk of tumors are shorter studies of five or seven years. In reality, the organization says, it can take up to 10 years for brain tumors to develop.

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Common Sense Ways to Protect Yourself from Cell Phone Radiation

Did you know that nomophobia, the fear of being without your cell phone, is a real thing? With more than 300 million cell phones subscribers in the U.S. — and millions of people afraid to have their phones out of sight — it’s clear we could be on the cusp of a major public health crisis if the latest link between cell phones and cancer pans out.

Whether cell phone radiation causes cancer or not, exposure has been shown to impact your body’s healthy pH balance, making it more acidic. Cell phones are also linked to sperm damage, poorer sleep and impaired glucose metabolism, meaning there are other reasons to practice the precautionary principle and avoid excess radiation. Let’s look at some ways to reduce your exposure to cell phone radiation. (7, 8)

It’s best if we all reduce our exposure to wireless radiation, but for kids, it’s a must. Developing children’s skulls are thinner, and radiation has been shown to penetrate deeper. (9)

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Final Thoughts: Do Cell Phones Cause Cancer?

Emerging independent studies suggest cell phone radiation could increase your risk of certain cancers, including malignant gliomas in the brain and schwannomas of the heart. People having only been heavily using cell phones since the ’90s, so there’s still no definitive proof they cause cancer. (Or that they don’t.)

Still, it took decades to prove cigarette smoking caused lung cancer. Since there is evidence cell phones impair sleep and glucose metabolism and increase your risk of cancer, I suggest using the precautionary principle. Take simple steps to keep your phone further away from your body.

This means keeping it out of your bedroom when you sleep, texting while holding your phone further away from your body rather than holding it by your ear to talk, and turning it off or putting it in airplane mode when you’re driving, flying or on an elevator. Be sure to avoid cordless phones, too. They also emit dangerous radiation like cell phones.

The post Do Cell Phones Cause Cancer? What You Need to Know appeared first on Dr. Axe.