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From the desk of Richard
Penfounde, your Naturally Healthy Lifestyle specialist.
Lifestyle Diseases - Cancer I wrote a few weeks ago on some basic research on preventative
measures with regard to cancer.
Many discoveries at various levels of research get a mention here or
here but most of us are not exposed to such information, which makes
us unable to discuss them with our physician.
One “breakthrough” that made sense to me was described in 1993 at a
forum in New York sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
The background is that bodily tissues have similarities with tumours
in that the latter also rely on nutrients from our blood to survive.
By a process known as angiogenesis, these tumours send out chemical
runners stimulating a life line (new capillaries) into the blood
stream. It's a bit like a life saver's line. It actually saves the
life of that tumour.
Apparently it is exactly when angiogenesis starts that tumours
flourish. If this can finally be proven, anything that can prevent
or cut off blood supply to tumours must stand a winning chance
against the big C. According to Judah Folkman, a paediatric surgeon
at
the Children's Hospital in Boston, it is also an important issue for
anyone cleared of cancer but currently living in fear of secondary
or new tumours.
It is through knowing the extent of angiogenesis (ie the volume of
growth of new capillaries reaching out for the blood stream) that
the treatment of a tumour will be determined, Folkman believes. He believes this approach could be tried before chemotherapy. His focus is on “hot spots” of dense, newly formed capillaries.
Counting their number in a microscopic field, he has been able to
predict occurrences of tumours. Over the past years drugs that block angiogenesis have apparently
tested successfully on patients with general types of cancer. Your
doctor will know of these drugs if they have been released and are
currently available in your country. It is certainly something you
could talk to him / her about.
Alternatively, an as-yet unproven substance from sharks has received
a great deal of attention in a book called “Sharks don’t get
Cancer”, which has attracted a great deal of media coverage in Japan
and also in a number of Western countries.
Here the bottom line is that sharks cartilage cuts off the blood
supply to tumours seeking attachment.
Whether this is in fact true will depend on whether cancer
associations put their research monies in this direction and if
private funding can be found. Whatever the result, discussing these options with your physician or
any cancer support group that has experience of alternatives that
might have individual clinical successes is worthwhile. In many ways
we can learn from each others' experience.
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