The Value of Doing a Blood Test and Medical Check Up at DamaiMedic Kota Kinabalu

Often I get questions from patients asking what are the real differences between different medical check up or blood test packages offered in my clinic compared to other clinics, labs and hospitals offering similar tests.

Well, I am not going to explain the technicalities of the functions of different tests thus its intrinsic value. I will explain that in person during consultation.

Here, I am going to give you some principles about why and how certain medical packages are designed and thus priced.

Medical check ups and blood tests done for healthy people (no symptoms yet) are designed to screen for diseases. We screen for diseases that we think are common and relevant to patients. Screening are seldom done to diagnosed rare diseases. If they do they would probably be very expensive. Imagine there are thousands of laboratory tests checking for thousands of medical conditions. It is impractical to do everything which is likened to searching for a needle in a hay-sack.

Unfortunately we as clinicians are seeing many medical labs providing direct excess to patients by just 'walk in' and asking for a medical blood tests to be done without seeing a doctor first. Is there anything wrong with that? Well, not actually until the patient starts asking questions like:

• DO I HAVE DENGUE IF MY PLATELETS ARE LOW?
• DO I REALLY HAVE CANCER IF MY CANCER MARKER IS HIGH?
• DO I NEED TO START MEDICATION IF MY CHOLESTEROL IS ABOVE THE NORMAL RANGE?
• IS MY TIREDNESS CAUSED BY MY ABNORMAL LIVER FUNCTION TEST?
• CAN I CONTINUE TAKING THIS MEDICINE IF MY KIDNEY FUNCTION TEST IS ABNORMAL?
• WHAT SHOULD I DO IF MY HEPATITIS B SCREENING SHOWS THAT I HAVE POSITIVE ANTIBODIES AGAINST HEPATITIS B?

These questions, putting it plainly sounds like this,"So what does it mean, and what should I do next?"

These questions could not and SHOULD NOT be answered by a pharmacist, a laboratory technologist, a sales consultant or anybody who did perform a physical medical examination on that patient. Who else is competent, qualified and has the authority to examine a patient except a medical doctor? PhD doctors are not the same as a licensed medical doctor so please don't be confused.

I should say that an "unhealthy" trend is becoming rampant in our country lately whereby patients themselves order blood tests from a private medical laboratory and bring the report to the doctor for interpretation. I wonder why the patient did not go to a doctor first to check what is wrong with him/her and then decide what blood tests to order.

Let me illustrate with an analogy to help you understand better. Imagine you are trying to catch a thief who got wet from the rain and ran into a hotel with 100 rooms and the thief hid in one of those rooms. How would you catch this thief? Are you going to open and search every single room? No, of course! You would try to get clues from the foot prints the wet thief left behind and trace it to the specific room the thief is in. That way you will catch the thief by opening just one door! Well the foot prints leading to the door are comparable to a good history taking and physical examination by the doctor. Only then can the doctor be able to order the appropriate tests and come to a diagnosis with all the information obtained.

A good doctor can help you save by not wasting money doing unnecessary tests. He would know which area of the body to focus on to identify the problem. That makes a big difference in the pricing of the medical check up packages offered.

The quality and value of the medical check up does not depend on how expensive the health screening package is and not how many tests done (as if the more the better). Rather, it is how focused the tests are directed in helping the doctor arrive at a correct diagnosis. 

Medical blood test results need to be interpreted accordingly. Another analogy would be like the metal detector at the airport. If you trigger the alarm of the walk-through metal detector at the airport, it doesn't mean that you carrying an explosive. The officer will frisk you to further investigate. If it turns out that it was your metal belt buckle which triggered the alarm, the security officer will let you go without any further question. Similarly, screening blood test should not be taken as the absolute conclusive evidence of disease, nor should medical decisions be made solely on the blood results. I cannot overemphasize the importance of a good history taking and physical examination in any health screening. Many incidental findings of medical problems are picked up this way. 

Schedule an appointment for a standard medical check up today. Rest assured you will be seen by a doctor for both physical check up and interpretation of lab results. 

The blood test packages we offer are as follows:

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.

OUR BODY'S COMMUNICATION SYSTEM: CIRCULATORY, NERVOUS, MERIDIAN

Our body which is made up of approximately 37.2 trillion cells do not exist and act alone. Each of these cells in our body works in a perfectly orchestrated manner. What enables each cell to function in an organized manner so that the body works as ONE and not 37.2 trillion individual cells is communication between the cells.

This article tries to expound in a simplistic manner, the infrastructure of this communication namely, the circulatory system, the nervous system and the meridian system. Whereas the circulatory system and the nervous system can be scientifically proven and verified by studying anatomy and physiology, the meridian system is more abstract. However abstract does not mean it does not exist.

Try proving 'wind' to someone who has never experienced or used wind before. Wind is defined as moving air due difference in air pressure. But air is not wind and wind is not air. Wind is moving air. The operative word is 'moving'. You can never prove the existence of wind by sampling wind in a container and study it under a microscope. Nevertheless this never stops the sailor from sailing or the boy from flying the kite or windmill from turning. The usefulness and power of the wind are harnessed for immediate use even though the user has not proven the existence of wind in the lab under the microscope. Perhaps the instrument to study 'wind' has been wrong from the start.

CIRCULATORY SYSTEM

We eat our food. Food gets digested. The digested nutrient is carried by the blood to the whole body by the blood (plasma). The nutrients reach the cells. The cells metabolize the nutrients. The metabolic wastes produced by the cells are then carried by the blood (plasma) to the liver and kidneys for detoxification and excretion outside the body as urine and feces.

We breathe air that contains oxygen. The oxygen is mixed with blood in the lungs. The oxygenated blood (red blood cells) is then carried to the whole body and delivers oxygen to every living cell in the body. The cells use the oxygen to metabolize the nutrients. Subsequently carbon dioxide is produced as a metabolic waste. Carbon dioxide is then carried back to the lungs by the blood (red blood cells) to be expelled in the exhaled air.

• This system consists of the heart as the pump. Blood is the fluid acting as the carrying vehicle. The arteries (blood flowing away from the heart), veins (blood flowing towards the heart) and capillaries (a network of the smallest unit of blood vessels where arteries and veins meet) are the conduit in which the blood flows.
• The blood components (red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, plasma) carries nutrients, oxygen, pathogens, chemical toxins, heavy metals, dead cell debris, metabolic waste towards (veins) and away (arteries) from the heart.
• The blood baths all the cells of the body to deliver nutrients and oxygen and to collect the metabolic wastes and carbon dioxide. Heavy metals, chemical toxins and pathogens (bacteria, viruses, fungus and parasites) are transported in similar fashion also.
• The speed of blood flow is 40cm/s (Aorta), 15cm/s (Vena Cava), 0.03cm/s (Capillaries).
• Food poisoning, gas poisoning, and venom from bites all takes effect in a few seconds because that is how fast blood travels.
• The traveling speed depends on the force from the heart as a pump.

THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

There is a loud bang and you recoil in split second from the unexpected sound. You see an object flying towards your face and in a split second you shut your eyes, turn your face away and hold your hand in front of your face in an attempt to avoid the impact of the object to your face. Unknowingly, your finger touched a very hot glass of water and in a split second, you withdraw your hand automatically without thinking consciously. You are accidentally pushed from behind and you lost your balance and falls face forward towards the floor. In a split second, you managed to extend your arm in front of your body and avoid hitting your head on the floor.

All the above examples illustrates how fast and spontaneously the body reacts as a reflex (without thinking), in a perfectly coordinated manner to save the body from danger. One system activates the other in a split second and all this is possible thanks to our nervous systems that communicates via electrical impulses. The speed of nerve impulse is approximately 1000cm/s and that is 25 times faster than the blood circulation. That explains the instantaneous effects of electrocution as compared to poisoning which may take minutes to hours.

The nervous system is also linked to other bodily systems for a more rapid and efficient response and thus terms such as neurovascular, neuroendocrine and neurohormonal are coined. The nervous systems provides the speed needed for communication between the sensory organs (eyes, ears, skin, smell etc), the central nervous system (brain & spinal cord) and the effector organs (muscles, heart, lungs, intestines, iris etc).

THE MERIDIAN SYSTEM

Your Qi and its circulation

The meridian system consists of pathways or channels where Qi flows. So what is Qi circulation? There is a network of invisible pathways (diagram below) called 'channels' (sometimes known as 'meridians') spanning your whole body according to the theory of Chinese medicine which has been an integral part for healing by the Chinese for thousands of years. This meridian map although deemed ancient, has been used by the German and Russian physicians in designing modern equipments which manipulates the flow of Qi using electromagnetic waves, lasers, infrared, shockwave, radiofrequency, ozone, platelet rich plasma plorotherapy (PRP) instead of the more traditional acupuncture needles and moxibustion.

Qi- the energy flowing through the channels- is much less dense than matter, so you cannot see it. It is nevertheless essential to your well-being. Qi is originally created from the combination of the air that you breathe with the food you eat. This mixture then goes through several refining process to become the Qi that moves through your channels. The Qi in your channels connects to and nourishes your organs.

The channels and Organs

You can compare the channels and Organs to the Google Map of a country. The first thing you would probably notice are the roads. Some of these would be large dual carriageways where cars and lorries move from one major town to another. Other smaller roads give people access to more remote areas. The network of roads is similar to the network of channels that extend throughout your body.

The cities and towns can be compared to the Organs of the body. Often a road is named after the town it leads to. I come from Damai and in that town there is a Jalan Damai. In the same way the channels are named after the Organs they join up with.

Roads are vital links that bring supplies into the cities and towns. Sometimes roads become blocked. Most commonly nowadays this is due to traffic jams, but it can also to an accident, a fallen tree or sometimes construction works like Jalan Lintas highway currently. There might also be a food shortage, so that nothing is available to reach the cities or outposts. In both of these cases the residents become desperate when they do not have provisions they need. If provisions are cut off for a long time, worse problems occur and looting and violence can even result.

Similarly, when the channels in the body become deficient or blocked, the organs are starved of vital Qi. If this continues for a long period, sickness may manifest physically, mentally or spiritually. A problem affecting the Qi pathways alone is called a 'channel problem' in Chinese medicine.

Sometimes problems in urban areas are not due to poor road access but because there is unrest or pollution in the towns and cities themselves. The Organ of the body can be affected in much the same way. Rather than being weakened by lack of nourishment from the channels, they can be influenced directly by bad diet, pollution, injuries or emotional problems. In this case the cause of an illness is called an 'Organ problem'.

The 'Western' medical doctor sometimes unwittingly describe a clinical symptoms which is hard to explain by anatomy or physiology but clearly illustrates the connection between the channels and Organs. Here are two examples. When patients are having heart problems, they often have pain radiating down the left arm to the left little finger. This could be easily explained by the fact that the acupuncture channel of the Heart travels down the little finger. Another puzzle is why people who have headaches often feel nauseous at the same time. An acupuncturist understands that this is because many headaches are caused by an imbalance in the Gall Bladder. The Gall Bladder channel has numerous pathways traveling over the head and Gall Bladder problems can also lead to a feeling of nausea.(Refer diagram below)

Of course what I just mentioned was not taught in a conventional medical school. But in clinical practice I cannot help but agree with the existence of such meridian systems although I cannot prove it scientifically. Nevertheless that will not be an obstacle for me to benefit my patients who has not been successful with conventional therapy, thus an 'integrative' approach is used to solve clinical problems. Fundamentally, irrespective of conventional or integrative therapy, any healer should 'First do no harm' in whatever approach of treatment.

 

QI

What is Qi?

Qi is the energy that underlies everything in the universe. If it is condensed it becomes matter or if refined it becomes spirit. The Chinese character for Qi shows the 'vapour'  or 'gas' given off during the cooking of rice.

Qi is variously called ki in Japan, prana in India and rlun in Tibet. It has also been translated in various other ways including 'influences', 'life force', 'breath' or 'vital energy'.

To a practitioner of Chinese medicine the theory of Qi is important. If you tried to see particles of Qi through a microscope you would not find it, but the restoration of its balance is vital to restore a patient's health. Everything that is living, moving and vibrating does so because this invisible substance moves through it. The reason that your blood circulates, your limbs move, your stomach digest food and your hair grows is because you have Qi activating everything in your body. Your Qi gives you vitality. Without it you would no longer be alive.

The Qi inside your body is created from the combination of the food you eat and digest via your Stomach and Spleen and the air you breathe into your Lungs. In fact Chinese medicine considers Qi to be so important that a Chinese text called the Nan Jing states: 'Qi is the root of all human beings'.

THE FUNCTIONS OF QI

Qi has five main functions. It moves, transforms, protects, warms and holds or contains.

Qi and movement. Qi create all involuntary and voluntary movement such as the beating of your heart, the continuation of breathing while you sleep and the ability to move your body from place to place or your thoughts from subject to subject.

Qi and transformation. Qi enables your food to be assimilated, air to oxygenate your blood and information to be taken in and digested. All processing in the body and mind comes about as a result of the Qi's transformative function.

Qi and protection. Your defensive Qi allows you to have a strong immune system, leading to the ability to resist disease. If people easily succumb to infections this may be because their protective Qi is weak.

Qi and warming. Qi keeps your blood at a stable temperature. Humans are warm-blooded and warmth is essential to the maintenance of good health.

Qi and containment. Qi allows all of your Organs, tissues and blood vessels to remain in their correct position, ensuring their continued ability to function healthily.

DISHARMONIES OF QI

If Qi goes out of balance it becomes either deficient or stagnant.

Deficient Qi. If your Qi becomes deficient this will result in an inability to remain vital and energetic throughout the day. If plants are not nourished they wilt. Without enough Qi you can also wilt and feel increasingly feeble. As a result you can easily become depleted and lethargic and will not have enough energy to get through the day. Other symptoms include breathlessness, especially on exertion, a weak voice, poor appetite and spontaneous sweating.

Deficient Qi can also cause 'sinking Qi'. This can lead to prolapsed Organ because the Qi no longer holds them in their correct position.

Most people who are ill have some underlying Qi deficiency although it may not be the main reason for their problem.

Stagnant Qi. If the normal flow of Qi becomes blocked this is called 'stagnant Qi'. Stagnant Qi often occurs in a limb if you injure yourself. In this case the instinctive need to rub the area will enable your Qi to move once more. Qi also stagnates when you hold back your emotions, especially anger. In this case you could have a variety of different symptoms that include depression or mood swings, pre-menstrual tension, digestive problems, and lump or 'plumstone' throat. These symptoms can all be caused when people do not express themselves.

If food, fluid or breath becomes blocked or travels in the wrong direction this is called 'rebellious Qi' and can cause symptoms such as vomiting, belching or a cough.

(Adapted from 'The Acupuncture Handbook' by Angela Hicks)

CAFFEINE: OUR MOST POPULAR STIMULANT

By far our most popular (and least harmful) addictive drug, caffeine is the stimulant in coffee, tea, chocolate and cola drinks. It is also added to some painkillers, cold medications, weight-loss supplements and drugs that aid mental alertness.

Within a few minutes after caffeine is ingested, it is absorbed from the small intestine into the bloodstream and carried to all the body's organs. It speeds the heart rate, stimulates the central nervous system, increase the flow of urine and the production of digestive acids, and relaxes smooth muscle, such as those that control the blood vessels and the airways.

HOW IT HARMS

May cause insomnia. Ingestion of caffeine late in the day can result in a sleepless night, and excessive intake can lead to caffeinism, a syndrome marked by insomnia, feelings of anxiety and irritability, a rapid heartbeat, tremors and excessive urination. These symptoms abate, however, with the gradual withdrawal of caffeine.

Irritates the stomach. Caffeine, especially in coffee, increases the production of stomach acid; people who suffer from reflux or ulcers should limit caffeine consumption.

Reduces calcium absorption. Caffeine reduces calcium absorption, which can increase the risk of osteoporosis, especially in older women.

Can cause withdrawal symptoms. Sudden withdrawal can often cause headaches, irritability and other symptoms that vary in severity from one person to another.

Aggravates heart conditions. People with some types of heart-valve disease are very often advised to forgo caffeine altogether because it can provoke heart palpitations or other cardiac arrhythmias. Caffeine can also prompt a modest, temporary rise in blood pressure and speed up the heart rate.

HOW IT HELPS

Provide boost of energy. For many people a cup of coffee helps them 'get going' in the morning, and coffee or tea breaks during the day give them a boost when energy lags.

May reduce cancer risk. More then three cups a day may lower women's risk of developing the most common skin cancer by 20 per cent. Caffeine may also cut men's risk of dying from prostate cancer.

Wards off depression. Consuming at least two cups daily could reduce women's chances of becoming depressed by up to 20 per cent.

Enhances athletic performance. The stimulant in caffeine enhances mental performance by increasing alertness and the ability to concentrate. Studies confirm that 250 mg of caffeine (about two cups of strong coffee) increases endurance, presumably because caffeine increases your ability to burn fat for fuel.

May help control diabetes. A study of more than 14,000 people in Finland found that women who drank three to four cups of coffee a day cut their risk of developing diabetes by 29 per cent. For men, it was 27 per cent. Researchers aren't sure why, but they suspect that the antioxidants in coffee help your body to deliver insulin.

Knocks down migraines. Although caffeine may trigger migraine in some people, when a migraine strikes, a few cups of coffee may help relieve the pain. Caffeine is so effective at helping to shrink swollen blood vessels in the brain, it's one of the key ingredients in over-the-counter migraine medicine. Very soon, I may not even need to prescribe medicine for migraine. I'll just ask our patients to go next door to enjoy a cup of freshly brewed coffee. DamaiMedic Klinik & Surgeri will be having a Coffee House as our new neighbor soon.

Who should limit consumption?

The following people should limit coffee consumption to one or two cups a day. Tea and other caffeinated beverages may be okay.

• Ulcer sufferers
• Heart patients
• Older people with hypertension
• Women who are pregnant, nursing or have osteoporosis
• Migraine sufferers

THE BOTTOM LINE

• Caffeine is a double-edged sword. It has both benefits and drawbacks. For example, it can trigger or help alleviate migraine headaches.
• For most people caffeine is safe, but if you have ulcers, heart disease, hypertension or osteoporosis, or are pregnant or breast-feeding, you should limit your consumption or avoid it entirely if you can. 

(Food that Harms Food that Heals)

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