Free Newsletters
To receive free articles/newsletters or any other information, please see contact page.
NEWSLETTER – Issue 16
ALTERNATIVE NUTRITION THERAPIES IN CANCER PATIENTS
Oncology has always coexisted with therapies that are not part of conventional cancer treatments. Many of these therapies have focused on altered nutrient intake that my help to ‘heal’ or ‘detoxify’ the body from cancer and/or conventional cancer treatment. Therefore, food, diet and medicine play a major role in determining the quality of life during a patient’s cancer journey. Information is a vital concern to patients in managing their care. Cancer evades immune system surveillance because of the low Immunogenicity of most tumors. Many cancer patients with advance malignancy have lower levels of innate (Th1) immunity, the branch of the immune system whose cells, such as natural killer cells, directly kill tumor cells.
A variety of herbal medicines and plant compounds directly stimulate this innate immune response. The two most important classes of herbs are the immuno-modulating medicinal mushrooms such as Shiitake, Maitake, Reish, and the adaptogens, including Panax ginseng, Eleuthoroccus, Rhodiola and others. The mushrooms contain polysaccharides, which are not only immunostimulating, but have a multitude of anticancer effects, as well as non-specific effects of increasing longevity and reducing stress.
Integrative strategies for the treatment of cancer must include the benefits of botanical medicines. Understanding the difference between the core principles of herbal medicine and the mainstream medical model will enable physician, nurses and allied health professionals to work towards an authentic integrative therapeutics, upon which the future of cancer patients will increasingly depend.
BIOCHEMICAL ACCELLERETORS OF AGING
Oxidation of lipid, nucleic acids or protein has been suggested to be involved in the etiology of several chronic diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease, cataract, age-related macular degeneration and aging in general. Aging changes may be caused by free radical reactions. The extensive studies based on this possibility hold promise that the maximum life span can be increased. In addition to the free radicals you produce naturally, you also encounter others from outside sources: pesticides, drugs, pollutants, cigarettes, fumes, smog, tobacco smoke, lead, mercury, and cadmium. Every cell in your body takes between 10,000 and 100,000 aging hits from free radicals every day, and these micro-attacks injure your cells. Free radicals attack not only your cell membranes-the outer walls of each cell in your body-but also your DNA, causing mutations that affect the function of your cells. This assault may even transform a normal cell into one that is cancerous. In fact, most cancers develop from normal cells whose DNA has been damaged by free radicals and oxidative stress. Free radicals will also age your skin by destroying its structure and speeding the creation of wrinkles.
Manuela Malaguti Boyle ND