ARE YOUR BREASTS DENSE? YOU MIGHT BE AT RISK OF DEVELOPING BREAST CANCER!

Do you know that higher breast density is associated with higher risk of developing breast cancer? The article below seems to support the evidence (click here for the full article). 

This article suggests that it is not good enough to do mammogram at 40 years old and older to detect breast cancer. Breast density percent which can be calculated from mammogram are convincingly suggesting the link between denser breast with higher risk of developing breast cancer. Sounds like we have another useful modifiable risk factor which can help us in our quest of preventing breast cancer that attacks 1 in 16 women in Malaysia.

But we have a problem. We don't routinely do mammogram for women below 40 years old. This is due to 2 reasons; 1) Women less than 40 years old have denser breast which may mask any abnormal breast growth thus negatively affecting the mammogram's sensitivity to detect cancer. 2) If this rule is not strictly adhered to, we will be having lots of women in their teens and 20's doing mammogram for screening purpose and subjecting their developing breasts to potentially harmful X-ray radiations. Young women may risk developing breast cancer when they are older if their breasts are exposed to ionizing radiation like mammogram when their breast are immature and still developing.

But all hope is not lost. A rather convincing estimation of breast density can be achieved with ultrasonography of the breasts. Ultrasound breast does not emit ionizing radiation, thus it is safe to do (even repeatedly) on young or developing breasts.


Alternatively, in my clinical practice, a low-tech and simple manual breast examination would reliably distinguish a lumpy breast from a normal (non-lumpy) breast tissue. Establishing an abnormal breast growth (ie Cancer) among lumpy breast tissues is more challenging. 

In other words, a lumpy breast detected by manual breast examination is more likely to be a dense breast. Alternatively, a non-lumpy breast tissue detected by manual breast examination is more likely to be not dense.


So what can we do when we know our breast is dense? The current medical establishment approach to breast care is rather fatalistic in my personal opinion. They are focusing on detecting abnormalities (breast cancer) early rather than prevent its occurrence altogether. It is equivalent to saying that we are expecting a robber to come to our house (because of certain risk factors) and our only strategy is to anticipate the robber's arrival as early as possible so that we can catch the robber successfully. Nothing wrong with that idea. But personally, I would rather establish a local security force and stop any unregistered stranger from entering the gated neighborhood. I don't know about you but my family feels less traumatized if I can stop the robber from even entering my neighborhood altogether.

Risk factors for developing breast cancer are well-established namely:

• Older age (the older she gets, the higher her risk)
• Age of menarche (the earlier her first menses, the higher her risk)
• Nulliparous (never given birth before, the higher her risk)
• Late child birth (the later she delays having a baby, the higher her risk)
• Not breast feeding (higher risk compared to moms who breastfeed)
• Use of oral contraceptive (the earlier and longer duration of OCPs use, the higher her risk)
• Positive family history of breast cancers in 1st degree relatives (15% chance higher risk)
• Frequency of previous benign breast growth (the more growth, the higher her risk)
• Genetics (BRCA1 & BRACA2); if she has this gene, the higher her risk. Remember Angelina Jolie removing both her breasts for this?)   

I am not sure if you have noticed that most of the risk factors above are beyond your control. You don't get to choose your parents, do you? And it is not like you can stop aging or delay menarche or when you will meet your Mr Right and procreate.

Therefore, detecting a dense breast by virtue of self-breast examination or ultrasonographic examination at the doctor's office seemed to be a more practical and acceptable solution.

So what causes dense breast? When we say dense breast, we are actually referring to the 'water' component of the breast rather than the fat tissues. In mammogram, the milk glands, blood vessels and lymphatics complex which constitutes the 'water' component of the breast appears white and so is differentiated from the fat tissues that appears darker. The percentage density is thus calculated.

Breast density can be influenced by hormones such as estrogen and human growth hormones. Apart from stimulatory effects, these hormones cause water retention. Any obstruction in the lymphatic, mammary ducts and venous return can compromise the breast fluid circulation.

Therefore, non-pharmaceutical methods of improving breast lymphatics and blood circulations includes:

• Massage and suction devices: providing direct positive and negative pressures, assisting in the flow of fluids in the intra-vascular, intra-compartmental, and trans-cellular compartments of the breast.
• Direct Tactile Vibrations at 120Hz: reducing blood vessels resistance by unclogging capillaries and preventing stasis of the lymphatics at the extracellular spaces.
• Far-Infra Red (3-12 um): stimulatory effects on cells and tissues, promoting healing.
• Negative ions: restoring the negative charge/cations on cell surfaces and the cellular milieu for optimal cell functioning and intra-cellular communication/signalling.

Devices which support breast care are available in the market. Nevertheless, it cannot be over-emphasized that a good diet, regular exercise, normal sleep wake cycle, loving relationships and inner peace are all essential components in a holistic model of breast care.

How Does Gardasil 9 Prevent Cervical Cancer?

What causes Cervical Cancer?

• Causes and risk factors for cervical cancer include Human PapillomaVirus (HPV) infection, having multiple sexual partners, smoking, taking birth control pills and engaging in early sexual intercourse.
• HPV infection may cause cervical dysplasia, or abnormal growth of cervical cells.
• Regular pelvic exams and Pap smear testing can detect precancerous changes in the cervix.
• Precancerous changes in the cervix is a treatable disease with cryosurgery, cauterization, or laser surgery.
• Please consult your medical doctor if you have such signs and symptoms which can be associated cervical cancer:
• abnormal vaginal bleeding
• increased vaginal discharge
• bleeding after going through menopause
• painful sexual intercourse
• pelvic pain
• The fact that HPV DNA was detected in 93% of cervical tumours showed the strong correlation between Human Papillomavirus and cervical cancers. Thus, preventing HPV infection via vaccination would significantly reduce cervical cancers.

Which vaccines are available in Malaysia to prevent HPV infection?

• GARDASIL
• GARDASIL 9 (Human Papillomavirus 9-valent Vaccine, Recombinant)
• CERVARIX 

What are the differences between CERVARIX vs GARDASIL vs GARDASIL 9?

Indication for GARDASIL 9 (Human Papillomavirus 9-valent Vaccine, Recombinant):

• Females from 9 to 26 years old for the prevention of cervical, vulvar, and anal cancers caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) Types 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58; precancerous or dysplastic lesions caused by HPV Types 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58; and genital warts caused by HPV Types 6 and 11.
• Males from 9 to 26 years old for the prevention of anal cancer caused by HPV Types 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58; precancerous or dysplastic lesions caused by HPV Types 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58; and genital warts caused by HPV Types 6 and 11.

How is Gardasil 9 given?

• A total of 3 doses of vaccination are given.
• The first and second dose is given 1 month apart.
• The third dose is given 6 months after the first dose.

Alternative Cancer Treatments: Are Chemotherapy, Radiotherapy and Surgery The Only Options?

As I have mentioned in my previous post about the categories of cancer patient that I manage, many sought alternative cancer treatment because they did not have the choice. Before they consulted me, patients or their family members who are educated and well read have already concluded that at stage 4 of any cancers, conventional cancer treatment (chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery) may not change the outcome anyway, so why go through the side effects of chemotherapy unnecessarily? What could be done for them at least is to buy some precious time and comfort (palliation). The best that we can offer these patients are dignity, love and respect as a human being throughout the last phase of their lives.

Here are 2 videos which I think anybody who is considering NOT DOING CHEMOTHERAPY or conventional cancer treatment in the hospital should watch before deciding what is best for themselves or their loved ones. It explains why patients are still considering alternative cancer therapies for STAGE 4 ADVANCED CANCERS despite the availability of chemotherapy:

CANCER CARE MANAGEMENT

Cancer is a dreaded life threatening disease that is affecting more and more people lately. There are some factors contributing to cancers namely, genetic predisposition, environment, diet, lifestyle and habits, infections and some other unknown causes.

Most patients would go for conventional cancer treatment at the hospital that offers chemotherapy, surgery or radiotherapy. And these are the recognized medical therapies that are covered by medical insurance. Despite the advances in medical therapy, the fact remains that the 5 year survival rates for most cancers have not improved significantly over the past 50 years. I must agree that chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy has saved, helped and benefited many patients. Therefore whenever appropriate, I would encourage patients to go for such treatment if such treatment would help improve survival rate and enhance quality of life. To advise against such possibility is simply wrong.

However, there are many patients who has succumbed to such treatment. I shall not go into why chemotherapy, surgery or radiotherapy has failed to help patients especially in advanced Stage 4 cancers. Suffice to say that conventional cancer therapy has it successes and failures just like any other medical therapies. To claim that any medical therapy has succeeded 100% all the time for all patients is nothing short of charlatanism.

In this age where information technology is so assessible, patients are able to google for any information they want, just like how you have arrived here reading this blog. Of course there will be conflicting opinions on any subject on the internet. It is important for patients to make medical decisions with medical professionals for their own safety. Do not believe blindly everything you read on the internet. Do your own research. Talk to your doctor, then make a decision.

In my practice, I have encountered 3 categories of cancer patients who has made a decision not to go for conventional cancer treatment namely surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

The first group of patients are those who are diagnosed with advanced Stage 4 cancers where conventional cancer therapy would be futile. These are the patients who are 'given' 3 months or 6 months to live by the oncologist. They are asked to go home and make preparations for their imminent death. So I was sometimes involved in the palliative management of these patients in terms of providing whatever medical assistance necessary in terms of pain management, wound care, bed sores, feeding tubes, nutritional support and etc. so as to provide comfort and minimize pain as much as possible. The aim here is to improve quality of life whenever possible and not cure.

The second group of patients are those who have started chemotherapy or radiotherapy and half way through the treatment protocol, were unable and unwilling to continue further because of the side-effects. When such patients come to see me at this point, as a primary care physician, it is my obligation to encourage patients to continue their treatment at the oncology centre if the evidence is showing that their cancers are improving significantly. I would appreciate much when my highly esteemed oncologist colleagues would give me a medical note with the plan to strategize the return of these patients back to the hospital to continue treatment. Quite often, I have patients who do not have any idea what they are having and what treatment they are going through in the hospital. All they cared about is that the treatment is unbearable and felt that they are not getting better. In fact it is making them worse and they do not wish to continue knowing fully that they themselves are accountable for the decision. At the end of the day, it is up to the patients to decide what is the best for themselves.

The third group of patients are those who had completed surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy and are declared 'cancer free'. And so they are told that they can eat anything they wanted because they are cured. Unexpectedly, they were shocked with the discovery of cancer relapse not long after completing treatment. As though that is not disappointing enough, the cancer has spread and became Stage 4. The first thought that comes to the patient's mind is, "How could this be?! I have gone through so much suffering and side-effects and thought I was cured." There are patients who are offered more chemotherapy which they adamantly refuse. Usually those who refuse would have realized by now that a Stage 4 cancer relapse has little hope for cure. Treatment is now aimed at maintaining quality of life as much as possible.

All the 3 categories of patients have valid reasons to refuse conventional therapy. The question is what options do they have? I could see their desperation and helplessness at this point when they become vulnerable to all suggestions of 'cure'. They would come to me and seek for opinion about some direct sales supplements or diet introduced by their friends and relatives. They would come for reassurance about the safety of herbs that they are taking from traditional healers. They would bring to my clinic some gadgets claiming to shrink cancer cells in the most extra-ordinary way. I realized that these patients are doing all sort of things suggested by all sorts or people. It is so disorganized and so confusing to the patient and the doctor.

The doctor can either rubbish off everything that seems foreign and unexplainable and continues unperturbed in his comfort zone. I seemed to attract these patients not because I am any better than my colleagues. I simply gave them my precious time to listen to their sufferings, hopes and fears. This is the least that I could do without being judgmental about the supplements or herbs that they consumed and the routine Qi gong that they practiced or the bio-electric chair/bed that they sleep on or the Bioresonance treatment course that they have committed. I am contented to see them preoccupied with something that they perceive as useful. My part as a medical practitioner is to provide an objective assessment of improvement or deterioration clinically. Their energy level, appetite, weight, pain level, quality of sleep, bowel and urinary habits, range of movements, mobility and mood are assessed clinically. An objective feedback is given to them to gauge if what they are doing on their own as an alternative to cancer treatment has a positive or negative effect. And because there is nothing more that my esteemed oncologist could offer this group of patient, the least that I could do is to 'pour cold water' on their effort to get well, no matter how hopeless it may seem. If there is anything that could be done for them from the conventional cancer treatment point of view, please let me know. If it really helps my patient, I would be a very willing partner to advocate to my patients to do what is right and helpful for my patient's reversal and remission form end stage cancer.

Otherwise what harm does it do to patients by advising them to eat right, improve oxygenation, improve blood circulation and assist body detoxification systems eg. liver and bowel detox. Patients should be given the choice and not condemned when opting for alternative therapy when conventional therapy failed.

INFECTION AND CANCER

Cancer can happen because of an infection by a virus, bacteria or parasites:

• Hepatitis B & C can cause liver cancer (Hepatocellular Carcinoma) (Maupas and Melnick,1981)
• Human Papillomavirus (HPV) can cause cervical and head and neck cancer (Bosch et al, 1995)
• Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) can cause Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma (NPC) and Burkitt lymphoma (Thompson and Kurzrock, 2004)
• Malaria infection may interact with EBV to increase risk of Burkitt lymphoma (Brady et al, 2007)
• Schistosomal infestation can cause bladder cancer.
• Helicobacter pylori can cause stomach cancer

It is estimated that 18% of all cancers are caused by infections.(That is almost 1 in every 5 cancers!).

By treating or preventing the infections (through improved hygiene and public health measures, vaccination and screening), cancer occurrence can be reduced by 26% in developing countries. (Parkin, 2006)




   

NO SWEETS, NO MEAT, NO DAIRY, NO REFINED FOODS

The vast majority of cancer patients who achieve reversal of their cancers eliminates sweets (sugar), meat, dairy products, and refined foods from their diets in order to help themselves heal. 

Why cannot eat sugar?
There has been a lot of talk about sugar and cancer, and for a good reason. It is an indisputable fact that cancer cells consume (i.e., metabolize) sugar (glucose) at a much faster rate than normal cells do. This is precisely how a PET scan (positron emission tomography) works: first, you drink a glass of glucose [FDG (fluorodeoxyglucose - a radioactive drug) tagged to glucose to make a radiotracer], and then the scan detects where that glucose is being metabolized the fastest in your body. Those glucose "hot spots" are the areas in your body that are most likely cancerous. While researchers are still not clear whether a high-sugar diet causes cancer, what we do know is that once cancer cells are in your body, they consume anywhere from ten to fifty times more glucose than normal cells do (O. Warburg, 1956). Therefore, it makes logical sense for cancer patients to cut as much refined sugar from their diets as possible, in order to avoid "feeding" their cancer cells, and instead rely on the glucose found naturally in vegetables and fruits.

The connection between cancer cells and sugar was first discovered in 1920s by a doctor named Otto Warburg. Dr. Warburg won a Nobel Prize for discovering that cancer cells get their energy and breathe (i.e., respirate) differently than healthy cells do. Specifically, he noticed that cancer cells get their energy by breaking down unusually large amounts of glucose and that they also breathe without oxygen (known as "anaerobic" respiration). Healthy cells, on the other hand, break down a much smaller amount of glucose and breathe with oxygen (known as "aerobic" respiration). What's interesting is that cancer cells will still breathe anaerobically even when there is plenty of oxygen around. This led Dr. Warburg to hypothesize that cancer cells must have something wrong with their mitochondria, since that's the part of the cell where aerobic respiration takes place in healthy cells. The point is, cancer cells behave differently than healthy cells do, and one of the key differences is that they require lots of sugar in order to function. Therefore, cutting refined sugars out of your diet may be a key way to help "starve" a cancer cell.

Why must avoid dairy products?
There are two main reasons why cancer patients should reduce or eliminate dairy products from their diet. The first is that dairy is the breast milk of another animal, which means it is packed with hormones and proteins meant to make a baby calf grow- not humans. (Incidentally, we are the only species on the planet that drinks the breast milk of another animal.) What's more research has shown that the main protein in cow's milk, called casein, makes cancer cells grow, both in petri dishes and in lab rats. In fact, researchers have found that they can turn a rat's cancer on or off simply by feeding, or not feeding, it casein (Dunaif and Campbell, 1987). 

The second reason why dairy products should be avoided if you have cancer is because dairy products contains unhealthy chemicals such as bovine growth hormones, antibiotics and pesticides.

Finally, it is important to remember that dairy products do not provide us with any nutrients we cannot get elsewhere, even though TV commercials may try to convince us otherwise. For example, we can get just as much calcium from leafy greens and turnips and just as much protein from beans and nuts. Taken together, the evidence is mounting to show that dairy may be cancer promoting, whether due to its inherent casein protein or to the bad things we add on it during production. That is why so many cancer patients drastically reduce or eliminate their dairy consumption, at least until their cancer is completely gone.

Why cannot eat meat?
There is an argument that we humans are designed for a diet that consists of only 10 percent meat, which ideally should be wild, lean meat. Today, our diet consists of 15 percent meat. On the other end, proponents of the Paleo, or "caveman," diet would argue that humans were designed to eat 20 to 40 percent meat. Regardless of what humans were eating thousands of years ago, at present we are dealing with the modern disease of cancer, and the fact remains that scores of large-scale, well-designed scientific studies have linked regular consumption of meat, especially red meat, to many types of cancer (M.Salehi et al, 2013). In fact, one study showed that eating just two servings of meat a day quadrupled a woman's risk of breast cancer recurrence (J.R.Hebert et al, 1998). 

In addition to these alarming findings, the meat, poultry, and fish industries have the same issues as the dairy industry when it comes to the unhealthy additives of artificial growth hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, and omega-6 fats. And, as with dairy, there is no nutrient in meat that you cannot get from other sources. For example, vegetarians can get plenty of protein by eating beans along with whole grains and all the iron they need from beans and seaweed. 

Why cannot eat processed foods?

Cancer patients who are attempting to eat right in order to reverse their cancers should reduce or eliminate refined foods, especially refined grains. A refined food product such as bread is made with wheat that has been converted from its original plant form (the fruit of the wheat plant, or wheat berry) and pounded into a fine flour, which is then mixed with yeast and sugar and baked into a loaf. This results in bread that has a very high glycemic index, meaning its carbohydrates are very quickly converted into glucose- which, as we know cancer cells love. What's worse is that eating high-glycemic foods, such as bread, pasta, flour, or any quick-cook grain, not only gives cancer cells plenty of glucose to feed on but also creates high insulin levels in your blood, which is yet another condition strongly linked to cancer (Gunter and Leitzmann, 2006). 

Therefore, in order to keep blood sugar and insulin levels low and stable, refined foods should be reduced or eliminated altogether. Try instead to eat carbohydrates in their whole forms. Your body digests whole grains much more slowly than refined grains, which helps to keep your blood sugar and insulin levels low. In addition, whole gains have more fibers and vitamins than refined grains do (Q.Sun et al, 2010). Perhaps most important, eating whole grains has been consistently linked with lower cancer rates (A.Schatzkin et al, 2007). Examples of whole grains include brown rice, rye, quinoa, whole barley, and wheat berries. For bread, you could try sprouted-grain bread, which is denser and has much less sugar per slice than both white and whole-wheat bread.

In a nutshell
If you have cancer, your eating habits must change. If all the above facts fail to convince you that eating meat and dairy products is not good for cancers, at least understand what happens behind the scene of this meat and dairy industry...and if you are still a happy consumer after watching this video clip, it is really your personal decision.

(WARNING! The following content may be disturbing to some individuals. Viewer discretion advised) 

 THE TRUTH ABOUT THE MEAT AND DAIRY INDUSTRY 

RADICALLY CHANGING YOUR DIET

Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food

- HIPPOCRATES

Hippocrates, the Greek physician who is heralded as the founder of modern medicine, strongly believed that food has the power to adjust, re-balance, and heal the body.

We are indeed what we eat, because the cells of our food get broken down and transformed into the cells of our bodies. In addition, what we eat and drink directly affects our vessels and tissues, making them more or less inflamed depending on what we put into our bodies. To understand this concept, imagine giving a cup of coffee to a five-year old. After about 10 minutes, you would have no doubt that what we eat and drink directly affects our health.

Our health- and indeed our entire lives- can be seen as the sum of all our moment-to-moment decisions. This includes how we choose to eat and drink, think and feel, act and react, and move and rest on any given day. What makes food so powerful is that it is a very conscious decision. Will I choose a sugary cereal or oatmeal with fruit? Will it be the quick peanut butter and roti kaya or the longer-to-make fruit salad? For most people, there is a nagging doubt underlying these daily food choices, and it whispers, "Does this really matter? Does what I eat really have a vital impact on my health?" The cancer survivors whose lives are at stake- take that question to the next level. They ask themselves, "Can what I eat help my cancer go into remission?" The answer many of them find is YES.

Those cancer patients who experienced reversal of their cancers all tend to make the same four dietary changes. They are:

• GREATLY REDUCING OR ELIMINATING SUGAR, MEAT, DAIRY, AND REFINE FOODS,
• GREATLY INCREASING VEGETABLE AND FRUIT INTAKE,
• EATING ORGANIC FOODS, and
• DRINKING FILTERED WATER

DETOXIFYING THE BODY

Another common reason why cancer survivors choose to take vitamin and herbal supplements is to clear the body of toxins, such as pesticides, chemicals, heavy metals, bacteria, viruses, and parasites. While in many ways our world is cleaner than it has ever been, advances in technology have also replaced simple germs and bacteria with things like chemically engineered pesticides, heavy metals, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These complex chemicals, which are now ever present in our environment, send confusing messages to the body, leading to dysregulation at best and disease at worst.

One healer who believes cancer patients need to detoxify their bodies of any lingering bacteria and viruses is a man named Dr. Katsunari Nishihara from Japan. Dr. Nishihara has a theory that there is no such thing as an autoimmune disease. Rather, he believes that diseases such as arthritis, lupus, and even cancers are the result of bacteria and viruses that have infiltrated healthy cells. Therefore, what may look like the body incorrectly attacking itself (as in the case of autoimmune diseases) or what may look like cells suddenly going "crazy" as they replicate uncontrollably (in the case of cancer) is, in Dr. Nishihara's opinion, an indication that cells have been infected with either a bacteria or a virus. According to his theory, the body sometimes recognizes this infiltration and therefore tires to attack the infected cells, which is what we see happening in autoimmune diseases when the body attacks itself. However, sometimes bacteria or viruses are very skilled at hiding within cells (i.e. putting up chemical masks), and therefore the immune system walks right past them. We know this is what happens with the HIV virus, and Dr. Nishihara believes this is also what happens with cancer.

Dr. Nishihara's theory has some merit to it, as scientists already know that the H. pylori bacteria leads to stomach cancer and the human papillomavirus (HPV) leads to cervical cancer. Therefore, it is not so extreme to think that other bacteria and viruses might lead to other cancers; in fact, many scientists already agree with Dr. Nishihara on this point (P.S. Moore and Y. Chang, 2010). What is most interesting is the way which he uses this theory to guide his treatment of cancer patients.

He believes that a slightly low core body temperature- which can be caused by either stress or lack of movement (e.g., sitting at a computer all day)- weakens our cells by damaging their mitochondria. This opens the door for bacteria and viruses to infiltrate the cell and cause it to become cancerous. More specifically, Dr. Nishihara believes that, in the case of cancer, bacteria that are supposed to stay confined to the digestive tract (called enterobacteria) find a way to migrate outside the intestinal walls and infect mitochondria-damaged cells elsewhere in the body.

As a result of this theory, Dr. Nishihara works backward: He first treats the infection in the cells by prescribing specific antibiotics or antivirals that are tailored to each cancer patient. Next, to keep the digestive tract as free of bacteria and viruses as possible, he prescribes a special prebiotic supplement that contains bifidus factor, which is a substance that promotes the growth of healthy intestinal flora. 


After prescribing this important prebiotic supplement, Dr. Nishihara tries to prevent the cancer from recurring by repairing the mitochondria in his patients' cells. To achieve this, he tries to raise their core body temperature by recommending they eat only hot foods, drink only warm liquids, practice deep breathing, reduce their stress, exercise regularly, and get plenty of sleep and sunlight. Dr. Nishihara also recommends that his patients breathe as much as possible through their noses, because he believes the nose is better at preventing bacteria from entering the body than the mouth is. With this multifaceted treatment approach, including the important supplement of bifidus factor to help detoxify the body, Dr. Nishihara has helped many of his cancer patients have radical remissions.

STRENGTHENING THE IMMUNE SYSTEM

You will be surprised if you have talked to cancer survivors and found that by far the most popular reason why they take vitamins and herbal supplements is to strengthen their body's own immune system so that it can find and remove cancer cells from the body.

This goes along with the underlying belief that, "To get rid of cancer, you must change the conditions under which it thrives." In other words, it is believed that cancer can grow and survive only in certain environment, such as one that is blocked with stagnant energy, lacking in oxygen, blood circulation and nutrients and also one that is filled with bacteria and viruses, and so on. Therefore, if you change the underlying conditions of the body, so those conditions become healthier, cancer cells will naturally die off.

The analogy of a moldy room is good to illustrate the point above. Imagine going into your room and finding mold everywhere, just as a surgeon sometimes opens up a person's body, only to find cancer everywhere. One strategy to get rid of the mold is to bleach the entire room, which will certainly kill the mold. This is similar to chemotherapy and radiation, which are both strong interventions that directly kill cancer cells. To continue the analogy, imagine that the bleach has worked and there is now no more mold left in your room- or no more cancer left in your body. Now your doctor says that all you can do is hope it never comes back.

The issue with this scenario is that the mold in your room is destined to grow back as long as the conditions under which mold thrives- such as darkness and dampness- are still present. However, if you were to bring UV lights into your room and constantly run a fan and dehumidifier, then the mold would not grow back. This is the idea behind "changing the conditions under which cancer thrives," and Cancer Care Management at DamaiMedic Klinik Kota Kinabalu helps patients to achieve that goal. The only catch is that the changes must be permanent, otherwise the minute you stop the fan, dehumidifier, or UV light, the old conditions will return and mold may once again grow. That is why patients need to make permanent changes to their lifestyles, in the hope to prevent cancer from ever growing again in their bodies.

Facts & Figures about Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is a major global health problem and the leading cause of death among women of all ethnic backgrounds. Each year, an estimated 1.6 million new cases are diagnosed worldwide. In Malaysia, breast cancer is the most common cancer where 1 in 19 Malaysian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer by the age of 85. Around 4000 women are diagnosed each year and it occurs mostly in women aged between 35 and 60 with 40% affected aged below 50. Although rare, men can also develop breast cancer.

Sources:

• Cancer Facts & Figures 2014, American Cancer Society. Atlanta, Georgia, 2014
• National Cancer Registry of Malaysia 2005-2007.

Status of Cancer in Malaysia

Cancer is increasing in incidence and today, it would seem that each of us knows at least a friend or a family member that has been affected by cancer. Based on the latest Health Facts 2013 released by Ministry of Health (MoH) Malaysia, cancer is one of the top ten causes of hospitalisation and one of the top five causes of death in both MoH and private hospitals. The salient truth is that cancer has overtaken hearth disease as the number one killer this year (2014).

Although the USA death toll from cancer has declined for 2 decades, cancer deaths continue to rise globally according to the annual cancer statistics report from the American Cancer Society – largely due to effective treatment and with an increasing population ceasing smoking in stark contrast to the rest of the world.

In Malaysia, the incidence of cancer increased from 32,000 new cases in 2008 to about 37,000 in 2012 (approx 100 new cases per day!). Mortality due to cancer stood at 20,100 deaths in 2008 and has increased to 21,700 deaths in 2012, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Globocan of the World Health Organisation (WHO). More than 50% of Malaysian Malay men smoke, more than 30% Malaysians are obese, yet we still do not take screening and prevention seriously.

• 15% of Malaysian population will get cancer before 75 years old.
• 9% of Malaysian population will die from cancers before 75 years old.

Cancer Statistics in Malaysia (2012)



Sources:

• Health Facts 2013, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Health Informatics Centre Planning Division, July 2013.
• GLOBOCAN 2012 v1.0, Cancer Incidence and Mortality Worldwide: IARC CancerBase No. 11, Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Ervik M, Dikshit R, Eser S, Mathers C, Rebelo M, Parkin DM, Forman D, Bray, F, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
• National Cancer Registry Report, Malaysia Cancer Statistics – Data and Figure 2007, Ariffin OZ, Saleha IT, Ministry of Health, Malaysia, 2011.
• Global Trends, Cancer and High Drug Prices, Khor M, Third World Network Mar 2014.

*Head and neck cancer includes cancer incidences for nasopharynx, larynx, tongue, mouth, nose&sinuses, salivary gland, hypopharynx, other oralpharynx, tonsil, pharynx unspecified and lip.

Chemotherapy is war (killing) against the cancer cells, Changing the extracellular surrounding of the cancer cells restores its non-cancerous state!

Extracellular Matrix Regulates Gene Expression & Cancer

The surrounding environment of the cancer cell matters? Click to watch.

Gene mutations are part of the process of cancer, but mutations alone are not enough to cause cancer to take hold and spread, thus threatening people’s lives through domination of precious life resources (nutrition) as well as precious real estate where other healthy cells live. Genes do become damaged and sustain mutations in some cells and not others during people’s lifetimes. An oncogene—a gene that causes tumors in animals and uncontrolled growth in cells in culture—cannot in and of itself change cells from normal to cancerous. It is the cells’ surroundings, known as its microenvironment, that contribute in some way to how cancer has occurred.

Cancer involves an interaction between rogue cells and surrounding tissue. This is the clear message that Dr. Mina Bissell, who is the director of life sciences at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in California (LBNL), and she is now sharing this with the world. The interactions between cancer cells and their micro and macroenvironments create a context that promotes tumor growth and protects them from immune attack or, on the other hand, prevent tumors from making any kind of beachhead so they cannot take hold or spread themselves around. Cancer cells routinely form in most people’s bodies but that does not mean they are going to succeed in capturing their host’s valuable resources so they can invade (inland so to speak) as they win their war and take our life.

What this means is that the surrounding cells and the surrounding extracellular matrix interact to shape cancer cell behaviors such as polarity, migration and proliferation. The microenvironment includes a complex scaffolding on which cells grow and develop, called the extracellular matrix. The microenvironment is what actually surrounds a cell. The extracellular matrix (microenvironment) has been shown to regulate gene expression so it has more to do with the state of cancer than the cancer cells themselves.

“If tissue architecture and context are part of the message, then tumor cells with abnormal genomes should be capable of becoming ‘normal’” if grown in a healthy microenvironment. Dr. Bissell and her students tested that hypothesis with some malignant cells, growing them on a healthy scaffolding. And yes, they were able to revert the malignant phenotype to a normal one. They could even inject the cells into mice where they didn’t cause tumors, unlike malignant cells, which would cause cancer. This, says Bissell, indicates that there is another way to look at cancer—that cancer genes are regulated by the environment around them.

Dr. Bissell’s basic idea is that cancer cells cannot turn into a lethal tumor without the cooperation of other cells nearby. It is not just the other surrounding cells but also the interstitial environment, which of course would include pH and nutrient levels being supplied by the blood. That may be why autopsies repeatedly find that most people who die of causes other than cancer have at least some tiny tumors in their bodies that had gone unnoticed. According to current thinking, the tumors were kept in check, causing no harm.

“Think of it as this kid in a bad neighborhood,” said Dr. Susan Love, a breast cancer surgeon and president of the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation. “You can take the kid out of the neighborhood and put him in a different environment and he will behave totally differently.” She added, “It’s exciting. What it means, if all this environmental stuff is right, is that we should be able to reverse cancer without having to kill cells. This could open up a whole new way of thinking about cancer that would be much less assaultive.”

Dr. Bissell is now hailed as a hero, with an award named after her. “You have created a paradigm shift,” the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology wrote in a letter announcing that she had won its 2008 Excellence in Science award.

Dr. D. W. Smithers, then at Royal Marsden Hospital in London, argued that cancer was not a disease caused by a rogue cell that divides and multiplies until it destroys its host. “Cancer is no more a disease of cells than a traffic jam is a disease of cars,” Dr. Smithers wrote. “A lifetime of study of the internal-combustion engine would not help anyone understand our traffic problems.”

The death rate has barely budged for most cancers, and the gene mutation strategy so far has been a failure—a senseless one that has been used to reinforce the insane and very deadly form of medicine contemporary oncologists practice. Dr. David Agus, a conventional oncologist, agrees that cancer treatments have a shortsighted focus on individual cells.

Cells that are in harmony move and work together to create and work toward the conditions necessary for overall health. We can turn to physics and remember what happens to a bunch of grandfather clocks on the wall. They can all be swinging in wide opposition to each other but come back a while later and they will all be swinging together. Our cells are like that, all the many trillions of them. There is coherence to the entire colony of cells until what we call cancer occurs and then that coherence begins to break down.

Chemotherapy Provokes More Not Less Cancer

Chemotherapy can cause damage to healthy cells, which triggers them to secrete a protein that sustains tumor growth and makes cancer more resistance to any further treatment. We are beginning to see clinical evidence across the board show that what happens to healthy cells during cancer treatment determines much if not the entire outcome of treatment.

“Cancer cells inside the body live in a very complex environment or neighborhood. Where the tumor cell resides and who its neighbors are influence its response and resistance to therapy,” said senior author Dr. Peter S. Nelson, a member of the Hutchinson Cancer Center’s Human Biology Division. “Our findings indicate that the tumor microenvironment also can influence the success or failure of these more precise therapies.” In other words, the same cancer cell, when exposed to different “neighborhoods,” may have very different responses to treatment.

Researchers at the center tested the effects of a type of chemotherapy on tissue collected from men with prostate cancer, and found “evidence of DNA damage” in healthy cells after treatment, the scientists wrote in Nature Medicine in August of 2012.

The scientists found that healthy cells damaged by chemotherapy secreted more of a protein called WNT16B, which boosts cancer cell survival. The researchers observed up to 30-fold increases in WNT production! “The increase in WNT16B was completely unexpected,” said Dr. Nelson. The protein was taken up by tumour cells neighboring the damaged cells. “WNT16B, when secreted, would interact with nearby tumor cells and cause them to grow, invade, and importantly, resist subsequent therapy,” said Nelson.

Rates of tumor cell reproduction have been shown to accelerate between chemotherapy treatments. “Our results indicate that damage responses in benign cells… may directly contribute to enhanced tumor growth kinetics,” wrote the team. The researchers said they confirmed their findings with breast and ovarian cancer tumors.

Dr. Nelson describes the normal insanity/methods of chemotherapy saying, “In the laboratory we can ‘cure’ most any cancer simply by giving very high doses of toxic therapies to cancer cells in a petri dish. However, in people, these high doses would not only kill the cancer cells but also normal cells and the host.” Therefore, treatments for common solid tumors are given in smaller doses and in cycles, or intervals, to allow the normal cells to recover. This approach may not eradicate all of the tumor cells, and those that survive can evolve to become resistant to subsequent rounds of anti-cancer therapy.

What mainstream researchers are failing to find is that we can approach cancer treatment from a completely different and opposite angle to chemotherapy. Instead of trying to kill the cancer and harm the surrounding cells we imprison the cancer in a solid wall of healthy cells, thus that area being strengthened as opposed to being weakened by treatments. We create the conditions where we first limit the ability to grow and then send in some cruise missiles that directly target the cancer cells, choking the life out of them with waves of increased alkalinity and oxygen.

Cancers Facts

• The development of most cancers are tied to lifestyle plus exposure to environmental and occupational risk factors.
• Genetics factors for cancers only account for approximately 30% of total cancer risk.
• Poor dietary habits, smoking, alcohol consumption, lack of exercise and exposure to environmental toxins are the main causes of cancer.
• Change in diet alone could prevent 3-4 million cases of cancer worldwide every year.
• 30% - 35% of all cancers are related to diet.
• Fruits and vegetables in the diet provide huge protective effect against almost every type of cancer.