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Showing posts with label Ketones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ketones. Show all posts

Monday, 17 February 2020

Issues with the Ketogenic Diet

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Boost Ketones Without a Risky Diet

Man clutching his heart

  • Ketones are compounds produced by the liver during times of fasting or extremely low carbohydrate intake.
  • Ketones are used as an alternative fuel by the brain and muscles. They also activate pathways linked to lifespan and health-span extension.
  • The ketogenic diet stimulates ketone production but requires extremely high fat intake that has harmful health consequences.
  • Safer alternatives directly supply ketones that can be absorbed and used by the body. Beta-hydroxybutyrate regulates energy expenditure and helps modulate metabolism. Mangiferin and a resistant starch also boost the body’s ability to make its own ketones.
  • It is now possible to obtain the benefits of ketones without the difficulties and downsides associated with prolonged fasting or the ketogenic diet.

Issue: Oct 2019

Healthy Way to Benefit from Ketones

The low carb/high fat ketogenic diet has become a popular way to lose weight. But ingesting bad fats increases cardiovascular risks. Scientists have identified a healthy method to increase ketones without the difficulties of a ketogenic diet.

Issues with the Ketogenic Diet

One way to raise ketone levels is by forcing the body to create more of them. That’s the goal of the popular ketogenic diet. Severely restricting carbohydrate intake and replacing those calories with a large amount of fat makes the liver pump out ketones.
But there are several downsides to this strategy:
  • Eliminating carbs means dramatically reducing intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. These foods are a source of dietary fiber, which is critical for digestive health. Insufficient fiber has been linked to gastrointestinal disorders and colorectal cancer.17,18
  • Very low carbohydrate intake has been linked to premature mortality.11
  • A high-fat diet can cause elevated triglycerides, other lipid abnormalities, and detrimental metabolic changes, all risk factors for cardiovascular disease.10,19
  • In people on a ketogenic diet, the risk of atherosclerotic plaque development in arteries, which often leads to cardiovascular disease, may be increased.9
  • High-fat, low-carb diets can negate or even reverse the brain benefits of ketones, leading to deterioration in attention, processing speed, and mood.10
In other words, the potential problems of the ketogenic diet may outweigh the benefits. It is not recommended for people unless they have a specific medical condition for which it is indicated.

Raise Ketones the Healthy Way

Scientists recently set out to create a healthier way to raise ketone levels without the risks of the ketogenic diet or prolonged fasting.
They accomplished this by combining the ketone beta-hydroxybutyrate with two other nutrients that aid in the body’s ketone production.
When ingested orally, beta-hydroxybutyrate is easily absorbed into the bloodstream, providing the same benefits as ketones produced by the liver. Beta-hydroxybutyrate can increase blood levels to the range typically induced by a ketogenic diet.20
Mangiferin is a compound found in plants, especially mangos—hence the name. It has been shown to help spur the production of more ketones by the body.
In one randomized trial, researchers demonstrated that 150 mg of mangiferin per day significantly increased blood levels of ketones, presumably by stimulating the liver to boost production of them.21
In response to mangiferin supplementation, beta-hydroxybutyrate increased by about 18% and acetoacetate levels increased by approximately 10%.
A resistant starch, like cassava, is a complex carbohydrate that is not efficiently broken down by our digestive enzymes.22

Benefits of “Resistant Starch”

Other forms of starch are broken down into simpler carbohydrates, which raise blood sugar levels after a meal, triggering insulin secretion.
Because they are not digested rapidly by humans, resistant starches do not raise blood glucose or cause an insulin response.
Besides being a source of fiber, resistant starches have several other beneficial effects. They help support healthy gut bacterial growth, promote a feeling of fullness, increase insulin sensitivity, and preserve lean body mass.23
Resistant starches also enhance the body’s production of butyrate, which is used to make more ketones, and to stimulate many of the same longevity-promoting pathways as ketones.5,24,25

https://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2019/10/healthy-way-to-benefit-from-ketones

Tuesday, 5 November 2019

MCT Fats Found In Coconut Oil Boost Brain Function In Only One Dose

... the administration of ... coconut oil, almost immediately improved cognitive function in older adults with memory disorders.

MCT Fats Found In Coconut Oil Boost Brain Function In Only One Dose
Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs), the primary type of fat found within coconut oil, have been found to boost cognitive performance in older adults suffering from memory disorders as serious as Alzheimer's -- and not after months or even days of treatment, but after a single 40 ml dose!

A groundbreaking 2004 study published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging found that the administration of medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), the primary fat type found in coconut oil, almost immediately improved cognitive function in older adults with memory disorders.

The study involved 20 subjects with Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive impairment who, on separate days, were given either emulsified MCTs or a placebo. 
 The researchers observed a significant increase in blood plasma levels of the ketone body beta-hydroxylutyrate (beta-OHB) after only 90 minutes of treatment, and depending on the apolipoprotein E genotype of the subject tested, beta-OHB levels either continued to rise or held constant between the 90 and 120 minute blood draws in the treatment condition. 
Remarkably, cognitive testing revealed that this brief MCT treatment facilitated improved performance on the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale (ADAS-cog) in 4 subjects within the study group. 
Moreover, "higher ketone values were associated with greater improvement in paragraph recall with MCT treatment relative to placebo across all subjects (P=0.02)."[i]

The details of the study procedure was described as follows:

The study was conducted with a double-blind placebo controlled design with two study visits. During each visit, subjects received one of two isocaloric conditions (690calories) in a randomized order: emulsified MCTs, or emulsified long chain triglycerides as a placebo. NeoBee 895 (Stepan, Inc.) was used for MCTs. 
To increase palatability, heavy whipping cream was used as a source of long chain triglycerides and as a source of long chain mono- and di-glycerides for emulsification. MCTs (40ml) were blended with 152ml heavy whipping cream to create the emulsified test sample. Heavy whipping cream alone (232ml) was blended to create the placebo.

Subjects fasted from 8:00 p.m. on the night prior to the study visit. They arrived in the morning and blood was drawn to determine plasma β-OHB levels and APOE genotyping (first visit only). 
Subjects then consumed the test beverage and rested quietly for 90min, after which blood was drawn and a 30-min cognitive testing session ensued. 
After testing, a final blood draw was taken.

How Medium Chain Triglycerides Work

How could a single dose of MCTs (40 ml or 2.7 tablespoons) cause an almost immediate improvement in cognitive performance in those suffering from cognitive impairments as serious as Alzheimer's disease? 
The explanation is found both in the unique metabolic needs of the brain and in the configuration of MCTs themselves. 
Whereas the primary fuel source for the energy-hungry brain is glucose, when insulin resistance and suboptimal metabolism (hypometabolism) develops in the brain, both the brain's structure and function are compromised. 
Ketone bodies provide a much needed alternative fuel source to glucose that can recharge metabolic processes within the brain, resulting in an almost immediate improvement in cognitive function.

MCTs are not like most fats we consume. For instance, due to their smaller size they do not form micelles and are not stored in adipose tissue. 
Whereas up to 97% of the dietary fats we ingest are made up of long-chain triglycerides (LCTs) which have been 14 and 18 carbons,[ii] MCTs have relatively shorter chain lengths of 5 to 12 carbons, making them easier to absorb and utilize. They are preferentially oxidized by the liver, and when provided in large enough quantities, they give rise to ketone bodies.[iii]

What is the best way to take MCTs? As we are advocates of whole food nutrition, coconut oil is our preferred source of these triglycerides, containing approximately 2/3rds MCTs by volume. 
Coconut oil also has a broad spectrum of other health benefits, which we highlighted in our previous article "13 Evidence-Based Medicinal Properties of Coconut Oil."

Also, instead of treating coconut oil or MCTs as some new nutraceutical "magic bullet," almost as if we are just loading natural bullets into the same old outdated allopathic gun, try incorporating it into your diet in a way that displaces less healthy fats. 
For instance, replace that rancid, pro-inflammatory 'vegetable oil' (e.g. soy, grape seed, peanut, canola oil) you are using to fry an egg or bake with, with sublimely saturated, rancidity-resistant coconut oil.

Or, enjoy a delicious curry with coconut milk as a base. Because 25% of coconut milk is fat, and about 66% of that fat is MCT, you are still getting a healthy dose. 
It is always better to eat smaller amounts of truly therapeutic foods, enjoyed in the context of sharing, preparing and enjoying good food, so that you will ideally never have to use the heroic "food as medicine" approach after a serious disease has had the opportunity to set in. 
Think: use food so that medicine never becomes necessary.

For additional information view the testimonial of Dr. Mary Newport who discovered the benefits of using coconut oil to treat her husband's Alzheimer's Disease.

Resources
  • [ii] Anonymous: Medium chain triglycerides.  Alt Med Rev 2002, 7:418-420.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of GreenMedInfo or its staff.


Key Research Topics




https://www.greenmedinfo.health/blog/mct-fats-found-coconut-oil-boost-brain-function-only-one-dose

Friday, 4 October 2019

MUST READ - Could £400-per-year drug cocktail be the key to beating one of the most-deadly cancers? Henry was given 14 months to live now his cancer is stable thanks to his four everyday medicines

We tend to associate breakthrough treatments with new — and often unaffordable — drugs.
But it seems a remarkable improvement in the survival time of patients with brain cancer has been achieved using a combination of four old drugs (a statin, a diabetes pill, an antibiotic tablet and a dewormer) that cost just £400 a year.
Results from an ongoing trial run by the private Care Oncology Clinic in London suggest that giving this new combination treatment doubled the average survival time.
Survival rates for brain tumours have remained unchanged for at least 20 years, when the brain cancer drug temozolomide came on to the market. Around 15 per cent of adult patients survive for more than five years after diagnosis. For glioblastoma, the most aggressive type of brain cancer, the figure is between 6 and 10 per cent.
The new study involved nearly 100 patients with glioblastoma — the fast-growing type of brain cancer affecting politician Tessa Jowell — treated at the clinic over three years with the combination treatment, as well as radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
The average survival time for glioblastoma is estimated to be between eight and 14 months — the average survival time for the patients given the new combination treatment was 27.1 months.
Earlier this year Tessa Jowell spoke movingly in the House of Lords to highlight the lack of funding for research into brain cancer — she suggested that the survival rates reflected the fact that less than 2 per cent of UK cancer research funding goes to this area.
Developing a new cancer drug can take ten years, and the cost for treating one patient can be deemed prohibitive — one of the latest cancer drugs, pembrolizumab, used for advanced melanoma and lung cancer, costs nearly £100,000 a year. The drug cocktail used at the Care Oncology Clinic is available now and costs only a few hundred pounds.
One of those who’s been treated with it is Henry Searle who was diagnosed with glioblastoma just over three years ago at the age of 19.
It was discovered too late for surgery, and even with chemotherapy and radiation therapy, he was expected to live for only 14 months.
Alarmed by these odds, Henry’s parents — Vicki, who works in the tourism industry and Jonathan, a chiropodist — were determined to give him every chance, and despite objections from his oncologist, they got him started on the drug cocktail which had just become available at the clinic.
Defiant: His oncology team told him that even with the 'gold standard' treatment (chemotherapy and radiotherapy) he was only expected to live for 14 months
Defiant: His oncology team told him that even with the 'gold standard' treatment (chemotherapy and radiotherapy) he was only expected to live for 14 months
Two years after Henry’s diagnosis, his NHS consultant wrote to the family to say that while they needed to keep an eye on him, there was ‘no evidence of active disease’ and that Henry didn’t need further cancer treatment via the NHS. (His family continue to seek alternative treatment for him outside the NHS to stop the cancer returning).
Henry is still on the drug cocktail (the last time he had chemotherapy was in 2015) and today his scans show the tumour is no longer growing. And the cost of this life-changing treatment? Between £200 and £400 a year plus £1,000 for four consultations.
It involves four old — therefore cheap — drugs long used for other conditions and so considered safe. Two are among the best-selling medications in the world: atorvastatin, a type of statin, and the diabetes drug metformin.
The other two are an antibiotic, doxycycline, used for dental infections and acne, and mebendazole, a deworming pill. So how could this apparently random combination of drugs reduce tumours?
What links them is that in various ways they interfere with a tumour’s ability to absorb or use the resources they need to grow. The way the body controls energy is known as metabolism. The metabolism of cancer cells is different from the one that powers healthy cells.
Cancer cells need much greater amounts of glucose, the form of sugar our bodies use for energy. So making it less available, which metformin in particular does, means that the drug combination is effectively starving the cancer cells.
Weakened by the energy drop they become more vulnerable to attack by the chemotherapy and radiotherapy routinely used to treat cancer.
Miracle: Two years after Henry’s diagnosis, his NHS consultant wrote to the family to say there was ‘no evidence of active disease’ and that Henry didn’t need further cancer treatment
Miracle: Two years after Henry’s diagnosis, his NHS consultant wrote to the family to say there was ‘no evidence of active disease’ and that Henry didn’t need further cancer treatment
The idea behind this approach to cancer is known as the metabolic theory — meaning it deals with the use of energy in the body. Because the drug cocktail targets the way cancer cells get their growth factors and raw material for making energy, it has the potential to be effective for a variety of cancer types.
The drug cocktail was put together by the Care Oncology Clinic’s co-founder Dr Robin Bannister, a research scientist, from a list compiled by the clinic’s researchers trawling through thousands of studies on licenced drugs that were also shown to have anti-cancer properties.
The normal route for testing a new treatment is what’s called a randomised controlled trial, where it is compared against an alternative, often a placebo. As the patents on the drugs in the new cocktail have run out, there is no incentive for the drug companies to do these (expensive) trials.
Instead, the results were based on what’s known as a ‘service evaluation’, where data is gathered from patients in a real-world setting as approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency — the UK drug watchdog.
The clinic plans to use this data to supply NICE with the evidence it needs to make the treatment available on the NHS. ‘Giving these safe drugs to patients in a real-world trial allows us to gather valuable information on how they impact on cancer,’ says Robin Bannister.
One of the clinic’s physicians, Dr Padman Vamadevan, who has previously worked in the NHS, says the results are ‘slowly changing the attitudes among consultants whose patients attend the clinic’.
‘When we started, not many oncologists were familiar with treating the metabolic features of cancer, so they were sceptical,’ he says. ‘But now patients report that their doctors are genuinely interested in this research as they see the apparent benefits.’
Combination: Because the drug cocktail targets the way cancer cells get their growth factors and raw material for energy, it has the potential to be effective for a variety of cancer types
Combination: Because the drug cocktail targets the way cancer cells get their growth factors and raw material for energy, it has the potential to be effective for a variety of cancer types
Dr Lucinda Melcher, a clinical oncologist at the North Middlesex University Hospital in Edmon- ton, admits that she was not initially convinced.
Her husband Adam Blain, a 48-year-old lawyer, has glioblastoma and having had all the NHS had to offer, he began treatment at the clinic over three years ago.
‘I was sceptical at first because their drug regimen was then not backed up by any evidence but the team there was obviously professional and committed and the treatment is scientifically plausible,’ says Dr Melcher.
Adam, a father of three, who is still on the drug cocktail, has had to stop working but has a good quality of life, although his short-term memory is poor, says his wife.
But while Dr Melcher is delighted her husband has beaten the odds, she is not convinced that it was due to the drug combination.
‘It could still be chance,’ she says. ‘It’s possible that Adam is one of the 10 per cent of these patients who survive five years on the standard treatment, especially since his tumour was completely removed which improves your chances.’
Robin Bannister points out that: ‘Every oncologist has their own list of “miracles”; people who have lived far longer and better than was expected.
‘And that is why we need to conduct studies with enough patients to make sure the chance element can be accounted for.
‘The hundred people treated in this trial makes it one of the larger studies ever done with glioblastoma.’ (This compares with one of the trials for temozolomide, which involved over 500 patients.)
The study is continuing. The next step is to compare the results of the nearly 100 glioblastoma patients treated at the clinic with a closely matched group of NHS patients who only received the standard treatment of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
The results will make the findings of the trial more reliable and are expected to be published in a journal later this year.
For more information, visit: careoncologyclinic.com

ALSO READ: Dirt Cheap Drugs Outperform Trumpeted New Treatments - MUST READ

EXPERTS WHO THINK A HIGH-FAT DIET CAN FIGHT BRAIN TUMOURS 

Raffi Kalamian Walsh was just four when a routine eye check picked up a worrying change and he was diagnosed with brain cancer.
Over the next 14 months, Raffi was given weekly chemotherapy followed by 12 weeks of a different chemo drug followed by two operations to remove part of the tumour. Two months later a scan showed it was back and spreading.
‘I can’t begin to describe how devastating it was to watch our young child being taken apart, piece by precious piece,’ says Raffi’s mother Miriam, who, with her husband, Peter, had adopted Raffi when he was two.
Tragic: Raffi Kalamian Walsh was just four when a routine eye check picked up a worrying change and he was diagnosed with brain cancer
Tragic: Raffi Kalamian Walsh was just four when a routine eye check picked up a worrying change and he was diagnosed with brain cancer
Three years after his diagnosis Raffi began treatment with a combination of five cancer drugs. ‘Within weeks my normally cheerful little guy was nauseous, fatigued, and unable to focus,’ recalls Miriam.
‘When he opened his mouth to speak, all that came out was gibberish.’ While searching for information about Raffi’s drugs, Miriam stumbled on a radically different approach to cancer, based on the idea that a very high fat, low carbohydrate diet could slow tumour growth. It was being investigated by Professor Thomas Seyfried, a biochemistry researcher at Boston University.
Miriam explains: ‘Professor Seyfried had shown it was possible to slow the growth of brain tumours in mice.
‘I knew it was not yet tested in people, but Raffi desperately needed something different.’ Surprisingly her son’s doctors agreed.
The five cancer drugs were stopped and within three months Raffi’s tumour had shrunk by almost 15 per cent. He returned to being a talkative, energetic little boy.
The ketogenic diet involves avoiding foods containing sugar: sweets, biscuits, puddings, along with grains, pasta and bread, even wholegrain types, plus starchy vegetables such as potatoes or cooked carrots, as well as all legumes, beans and pulses.
Instead the diet is built around fats including butter, cream, coconut oil, olive and avocado oils and some omega 3 oils, small portions of protein such as meat, fish or eggs, as well as salad and non-starchy vegetables (such as broccoli and green beans).
Strength: Over the next 14 months, Raffi was given weekly chemotherapy followed by 12 weeks of a different chemo drug followed by  operations to remove part of the tumour
Strength: Over the next 14 months, Raffi was given weekly chemotherapy followed by 12 weeks of a different chemo drug followed by operations to remove part of the tumour
Fruit is limited to berries, as these are low in sugar. The aim is to starve cancer cells of glucose, their preferred fuel. Lacking carbohydrates the body burns fat instead and your liver starts pumping out substances called ketones which can replace glucose as fuel for the brain and muscles.
Crucially, however, tumours can’t use ketones as fuel.
Miriam concedes Raffi struggled with social events: ‘because there were cakes and sweets everywhere,’ she says. ‘But that was a walk in the park compared to what he had endured in terms of gruelling treatments.’ During his first nine months on the diet Raffi also received a low dose of chemotherapy drug, before relying just on the diet.
The odds against Raffi were daunting — at his diagnosis doctors said he had a one in three chance of any response to treatment.
‘The first three years on the diet were phenomenal,’ says Miriam. ‘He seemed almost completely well again.’
Miriam was so impressed by the immediate and beneficial effect of the diet that she signed up for a master’s degree in nutrition. Her book – Keto for Cancer – just published in the UK – tells the story of Raffi’s remarkable success as well as being a handbook for anyone wanting to follow the diet. 
Raffi remained on the diet for six years. ‘Much of the time he was living pretty normally,’ Miriam says. ‘In contrast, children with brain tumours following the standard protocol often undergo treatment after treatment until the end.’ Dr Nelofer Syed, a senior research fellow and lecturer in cancer biology at Imperial College London, agrees the ketogenic diet has great potential.
‘Early research shows that it can improve the effectiveness of both chemotherapy and radiotherapy and that cancers find it difficult to use ketones for energy,’ she says.
Loss: He died nine years after he was diagnosed, at the age of 13 in April 2013
Loss: He died nine years after he was diagnosed, at the age of 13 in April 2013
She is the co-author of an article summarising research on the diet, published last year in the journal Frontiers In Molecular Neuroscience.
It reported on lab studies showing the diet could, among other things, reduce the ability of tumours to hook up to a blood supply and make it harder for cancer to spread. However as yet, there have been no big studies testing the diet against other therapies, and Cancer Research UK does not recommend it as an alternative to the standard healthy balanced diet.
‘We’d all love better evidence,’ says Dr Syed, ‘but providing patients do it under the supervision of a dietitian who is trained in delivering it, I think it is worth trying.’
The ketogenic diet is already approved by NICE for children with epilepsy; a big randomised trial for childhood epilepsy showed it could reduce or even stop the seizures. 
Ultimately, however, the diet couldn’t save Raffi. He died nine years after he was diagnosed, at the age of 13 in April 2013.
Not every patient will benefit as dramatically as Raffi did and his success doesn’t ‘prove’ the diet works. ‘Its value is as an add-on to what you’re already doing with your oncology team,’ says Miriam. She adds: ‘The diet kicked the can down the road for six years.
‘During a period when most people with cancer are in clinics or hospitals, Raffi was out riding his trike.’
Keto For Cancer by Miriam Kalamian (Chelsea Green, (£18.99). 

Thursday, 3 October 2019

30+ Natural Alternatives to Consider Before Chemotherapy (# 6 May Surprise You!)

In today’s modern age, cancer patients are given precious little choice when it comes to their care. Conventional doctors create a false sense of urgency ...

By Charlene Bollinger
April 18, 2019

In today’s modern age, cancer patients are given precious little choice when it comes to their care. Conventional doctors create a false sense of urgency and convince patients that they must immediately begin the Big Three treatment protocol: surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.
But this “cut, burn, and poison” method often causes more problems than solutions. More people perish from conventional cancer treatments than from the cancer itself.
But cancer is NOT a death sentence, and there are many alternatives to chemotherapy available. Unfortunately, the pharmaceutical industry is working hard to ensure that you don’t learn about them. And doctors will often tell you that anything outside of the standard western protocol is foolish and ineffective.
That’s likely because medical schools are controlled by the pharmaceutical industry. Aspiring doctors receive only an hour or two of nutritional training over the course of hundreds of hours of medical school. And most doctors actually profit when they prescribe chemotherapy through kickbacks and other incentives by the manufacturers.
We founded The Truth About Cancer after losing several family members to harsh cancer treatments and risky surgical intervention. Our mission was to learn the truth about cancer causes and discover the best treatments and preventative measures for beating cancer. Our bodies are designed to combat disease, and nature provides an extensive “medicine chest” that can help us.
So we’ve put together a list of over 30 natural ways to treat and beat cancer!

#1| Detoxification

Conventional cancer treatments like chemotherapy flood the body with additional toxins that can keep it from healing. The cells of our body automatically cleanse and detoxify by eliminating accumulated waste products. If the body is unable to eliminate toxins fast enough, compared to the amount of toxic waste coming in, cells start malfunctioning and the disease process begins.
A 2005 study found 287 industrial chemicals in the umbilical cords of newborns. Over half of these chemicals are known to cause cancer. This slow poisoning has an effect on the body’s pH balance and all these poisons push the body into an acidic state, allowing cancer to thrive. Toxins and heavy metals must be removed in order to modify the body’s pH and bring it back to an alkaline state.
A full-body detox should be a regular part of ongoing care, especially when battling cancer.

#2| Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy is a natural modality that can help patients cope with chronic pain, nausea, stress, and depression. It also has been used to stimulate the immune system, fight off bacterial infections, increase circulation, alleviate headaches, soothe sore muscles, and help you sleep at night. Each oil is promoted to have specific health benefits, so patients must find the right oils for their health concerns. A 2013 study by University of Leicester researchers indicated that frankincense contains a compound AKBA (acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid) that targets cancer cells, including ovarian, brain, breast, colon, pancreatic, prostate, and stomach cancers.

#3| Exercise

Physical activity has been shown to reduce the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and endometrial cancer. Conversely, obesity is associated with an increased risk of several types of cancer. Regular exercise improves energy levels by boosting your body’s circulation and delivery of oxygen to your cells. Over time, the heart, lungs, and muscles get stronger and work more proficiently. Cancer cells do not thrive in a highly-oxygenated environment.
It also boosts the excretory system so that cancer-causing toxins and waste are removed more efficiently. The fewer the toxins in your system, the better you’ll feel overall. The excretory system is comprised of your blood, lymph, bladder, kidneys, and intestines. Detoxification is crucial for helping your body combat disease.
Finally, exercise enhances your immune system (specifically the lymphatic system) preventing the growth and spread of disease-causing organisms in your body. A strong immune system is your best defense against cancer.

#4| Chiropractic Care

According to Dr. Huang Chien-Jung, ensuring that your spine is properly aligned is vitally important in keeping the entire body healthy. That’s because a properly-aligned spine allows the meridians to facilitate optimal energy flow. Chiropractic care is crucial to maintaining proper spinal alignment. Proper energy flow is essential to good health. The immune system interacts directly with the nervous system, and any obstruction with the signaling pathways between the nervous and the immune system can negatively impact your body’s ability to heal. Regular chiropractic care can prevent these kinds of obstructions.

#5| Emotional Clearing

The profound effect that emotions have on health and lifespan can be evidenced by a groundbreaking series of 10-year-long studies published in the British journal Psychology and Psychotherapy in 1988. The study, which is just as relevant today, concluded that “emotional stress was more predictive of death from cancer or cardiovascular disease than from smoking.” It also found that individuals who were the most affected by stress had an overall death rate that was 40% higher than non-stressed participants.
Meditation, prayer, and visualization exercises have been shown to have a powerful healing effect on our health, likely by improving our emotional and mental wellbeing. Research has confirmed multiple health benefits associated with meditation and prayer, including stress reduction, lower anxiety, less depression, pain reduction, improved memory, and more.

Want to learn how to use nature’s medicine chest? Experts reveal over 140 natural ways to fight disease in Eastern Medicine: Journey Through Asia!

#6| Sound and Light Therapy

From Dr. Antonio Jimenez:
“Sono-Photo Dynamic Therapy (SPDT) is a safe, effective, and proven therapy for treating cancer using sound and light. It is a combination of two individual therapies: Photo Dynamic Therapy (PDT) and Sono Dynamic Therapy (SDT).
PDT and SDT work by leveraging the transfer of energy from light and sound sources that transform photo and sono-sensitive compounds, known as “sensitizers.” Energy from these sensitizers is released in the form of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that destroy the affected cells.
The ability of specific sensitizer compounds to accumulate in transformed (cancer) cells is a convenient method to selectively destroy those cells by systematically treating them with appropriate light and sound sources, without affecting healthy cells.”

#7| Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy is the act of targeting the immune system rather than the tumor – and the results to date are fairly astounding.
Named as Science Magazine’s Breakthrough of the Year in 2013, columnist Jennifer Couzin-Frankel wrote, “Immunotherapy marks an entirely different way of treating cancer – by targeting the immune system, not the tumor itself. Oncologists, a grounded-in-reality bunch, say a corner has been turned and we won’t be going back.”
By ramping up your own natural defense system to fight for you, you can increase your chances of beating cancer. Working with your body instead of against it is absolutely imperative when combating disease.

#8| Ketosis

The keto diet places sugar-dependent cancer cells at a significant disadvantage by specifically targeting their glucose supply and depriving them of their preferred fuel source. This fat-rich, low-carb diet reduces glucose levels in the bloodstream, while increasing levels of ketone bodies and inducing ketosis.
As a result, cancer cells – which can only use glucose, but not ketones, for fuel – are starved of energy, while normal cells are able to adapt their metabolism to use ketones for fuel and do just fine. Plus, both ROS production and oxidative stress are predicted to increase in cancer cells when confronted with the keto diet, damaging them as they try to produce energy and grow.

#9| Acupuncture and Neutrino Energy

Acupuncture is a staple of traditional Chinese medicine, and utilizes energy pathways, called meridians, to improve the flow of energy, called chi. On our journey through Asia, Dr. Pan Nien Chung introduced us to a special kind of acupuncture which focuses on solar alignment. The energy provided by the sun is called neutrino energy and is an integral part of acupuncture therapy in Asia. Combining neutrino energy and acupuncture can help the body eliminate cancer stem cells.
Exposing the patient to the neutrino energy from the sun, in combination with utilizing four special acupuncture points, causes the patient to excrete cancer stem cells in their urine.

#10| Gerson Therapy

The Gerson Therapy is a natural treatment that activates the body’s extraordinary ability to heal itself through an organic, plant-based diet, raw juices, coffee enemas, and natural supplements. 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. Dr. Max Gerson developed the Gerson Therapy in the 1930s, initially as a treatment for his own debilitating migraines, and eventually as a treatment for degenerative diseases such as skin tuberculosis, diabetes and, most famously, cancer.

#11| Fermented Ginseng

Though various types of ginseng extracts or derivatives have shown anticancer properties in human cancer cell lines, there are no published clinical trials evaluating ginseng’s efficacy in a human population. Ginseng has, however, been studied as a chemopreventive and an agent to improve quality of life among patients with cancer.
According to a study review published in the Chinese Medicine Journal, ginseng’s secret weapon for fighting cancer is revealed through its compound called “ginsenosides.” Numerous studies demonstrate the beneficial effect of ginsenosides against deviant molecular processes that are responsible for cancer. In fact, new studies are being published every day regarding its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits. New research is also demonstrating its potential to kill cancer cells, as well as inhibit cancer’s uncontrolled growth, invasiveness, and angiogenesis.

#12| Salvestrol

Salvestrols belong to the class of phytonutrients called “phytoalexins” (compounds that a plant produces to protect itself against stressors such as fungi, viruses, bacteria, UV light and insects). The enzyme which marks cancer cells is called CYP1B1. This enzyme is a gene and protein which is present in all human cells, but which is only activated in cancer cells, not normal healthy cells.
In a chemical reaction, the salvestrols interact with CYP1B1 to become cancer-killing agents. Salvestrols have a cancer-inhibiting effect in humans. They cause tumor cells to die but leave healthy cells unharmed. Salvestrol in supplement form has been shown to affect tumor growth in prostate, lung, and bladder cancer as well as melanoma and breast cancer.

#13| Vitamin C

Vitamin C is highly effective in the treatment of colorectal cancer, which claims the lives of some 50,000 people annually. And it’s particularly effective in the treatment of colorectal cancers bearing both KRAS and BRAF gene mutations, which happen to respond quite poorly to conventional therapies − including chemotherapy.
Rather than attack cancer cells directly, vitamin C compounds appear to convert into another oxidized substance known as dehydroascorbic acid, or DHA. The DHA tricks cancer cells into accepting it for entry. Only once it gains access, this DHA is converted back into ascorbic acid (a type of vitamin C), causing cancer cells to essentially commit suicide.
Intravenous administration of vitamin C delivers far more of this important nutrient into the bloodstream than oral consumption, bombarding affected tissues and cells with disease-eradicating doses of this powerful, natural medicine.

#14| Turmeric

Turmeric’s active ingredient is an extracted compound called curcumin. Studies have shown that curcumin helps prevent several forms of cancer including breast, lung, stomach, liver, and colon because of its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. It stops the development of cancer by interfering with the cellular signaling aspects of the chronic disease.
It has also shown incredible promise in the prevention of cervical cancer, the leading cause of cancer death among women in developing nations. Curcumin’s anti-inflammatory property blocks the factors that induce human papilloma virus and activates cancer cell death within the uterine lining.

#15| Antineoplaston Therapy

Antineoplastons are chemical compounds found normally in blood and urine. They are made up of amino acids and peptides. In the 1970s, Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski developed antineoplaston therapy, which he has used successfully to cure brain cancer. It is administered in increasing doses up to the maximum tolerance for 12 months. Barring unacceptable toxicity or disease progression, the treatments continue.
Although Dr. Burzynski has had success with his patients, some of whom have had complete remission with no secondary cancers for over a quarter century, the FDA will not approve his treatment as an evidence-based therapy. This is likely because Antineoplaston therapy is not as expensive as conventional treatments and would likely cost the pharmaceutical tens of millions of dollars if it was approved.

#16| Ozone Therapy

Oral cancers are a problem around the world, and can come as a result of surgery, trauma, cancer therapy, periodontal infection, endodontic infection, or dry socket after oral surgery extraction. Dry socket is a very common problem, and lead to an abundance of pathogens in the mouth. It also leads to chronic inflammation, which has been linked to cancer. Nearly 50% of all amalgam fillings contain mercury, which has been shown to cause cancer in animal studies.
In Taiwan, doctors commonly use ozone therapy to treat infected tissue. Many harmful organisms, bacteria, and cells thrive in low-oxygen environments. By introducing ozone, oxygen metabolism is increased, and can neutralize bacteria faster and more effectively than chlorine. While it’s a common therapy in much of the world, it is not prominently used in the U.S., likely because the profit margins for ozone therapy are much smaller than other, more toxic treatments.

#17| Protocel

Adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, is a substance present in all living cells that provides energy for many metabolic processes and is involved in making RNA. Protocel is a chemical that works to lower the voltage of cancerous cells, blocking the production of ATP in cancer cells. This causes them to self-destruct and die. Traditional Chinese medicine puts great emphasis on energy pathways within the body. Protocel literally sucks the energy out of cancerous cells without damaging healthy cells.

#18| Withania Somnifera

Known more commonly as ashwagandha or Indian ginseng, withania somnifera has long held a prominent place in Ayurvedic medicine. Its use dates at least as far back as 4,000 B.C. The traditional Indian approach to healing involved using ashwagandha as a “Rasayana.” In Sanskrit this literally means “that which negates old age and disease.” The life essence, so to speak, of Ayurveda, and one of functional medicine’s most precious herbs, Ashwagandha has demonstrated powerful benefits in the treatment of lung and prostate cancer.

#19| Mistletoe Extract

Mistletoe, also known as Viscum, All-heal, and Birdlime, is a semi-parasitic plant that has been used for medicinal purposes since ancient times. Various mistletoe preparations have been used for cancer therapy since 1917. Today, they are the most frequently used as complementary therapies in tumor treatment. Mistletoe’s effects on cancer have been researched in over 100 clinical trials.
Mistletoe extracts directly prevent cancer cell growth while stimulating the immune system to fight cancer. Studies show that mistletoe improves symptoms as well as quality of life and general wellbeing in patients afflicted with multiple types of cancers. Simultaneously, mistletoe reduces the side effects of conventional cancer treatments and may help patients survive the harsh side effects of chemo and radiation. Helixor is a cold extract made from fresh mistletoe, obtained from fir, pine and apple trees. Some physicians administer Helixor mistletoe enemas to patients with rectal tumors.

#20| Laetrile

From Suresh Nair:
Our blood contains millions of white blood cells known as natural killer (NK) cells, which are part of the immune system and whose job is to attack and destroy anything that is foreign and harmful to our bodies, including cancer cells.
However, cancer cells escape detection and killing by NK cells by presenting a “coat” of the patients’ own proteins on its cell surface. Such a coated cancer cell appears as “self” to the immune system and is not recognized as cancer.
Biochemist Ernst Krebs, Jr. purified a nitriloside known as amygdalin, a so-called “cyanogenic glucoside” – a compound that contains sugar and produces cyanide. In its concentrated and purified form that he developed especially for cancer therapy, it is known as Laetrile or laevo-mandelonitrile B-glucoside.
When Laetrile enters cancer cells, it is enzymatically “unlocked” by beta-glucosidase and releases both poisonous cyanide and benzaldehyde – killing them.”

#21| Moringa

Moringa oleifera is often called the “miracle tree” because it can be beneficial on so many levels. It has been used for thousands of years in Asia and Africa, but over the last decade or so it has also been studied heavily in the West. The most exciting findings, however, are what this extraordinary plant can do to prevent and fight cancer growth. Studies on chronic inflammation found that Moringa root helped treat acute inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and bronchitis.
Quercetin, found in moringa, is a powerful antioxidant that has especially been linked to cancer protection. A 2009 study published in the Journal of Cell Biochemistry found that even low doses of quercetin had the ability to inhibit cancer cell progression. Moringa also contains a plethora of essential and non-essential amino acids, which are the very building blocks of life. Some of these include arginine, lysine, tryptophan, leucine, valine, and methionine. Most importantly, there is strong evidence to suggest that moringa helps fight cancer directly.
One study examined the effect Moringa oleifera leaves, bark, and seed extracts had on both breast cancer and colon cancer lines in the laboratory. They found that all three increased the number of apoptotic cancer cells in both breast and colon cancer cell lines. Another found that moringa, in conjunction with radiation therapy, significantly decreased pancreatic cancer cell survival as well as metastasis. It also radically inhibited tumor growth. The investigators concluded that these results could not have been possible with radiation therapy alone. In addition to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory phytonutrients, it also contains a variety of essential nutrients that help the body on all levels.

#22| Coconut Oil

With the advancement of modern technology and breakthroughs in science, numerous studies in the past decade have proven coconut oil to be a “good” saturated fat and incredibly healthy. Pure coconut oil is rich in lauric acid, a medium-chain fatty acid that is converted to monolaurin by your body. In fact, 50% of coconut oil is lauric acid, a compound usually found in human breast milk, which makes it one of the best food sources of this nutrient available. Lauric acid is beneficial in deterring parasites, bacteria, fungi, yeasts, and viruses.
Coconut oil also consists of 86.5% saturated fatty acids, 5.8% monounsaturated fatty acids, and 0% trans-fat. It is comprised of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), contrary to vegetable or seed oils consisting of long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs). LCFAs are stored in the body as LDL cholesterol, contribute to hardening of the arteries, and strain the pancreas and liver. MCFAs support the immune system through their antimicrobial properties.

#23| Hyperthermia

Cancerous cells cannot survive in certain conditions, including temperatures over 45 degrees Celsius (or around 113 degrees Fahrenheit). Hyperthermia can be used as both a primary treatment and an adjunct treatment, because it weakens cells and makes them less resistant to other treatment therapies. Local hyperthermia concentrates very high temperatures in targeted locations to weaken and destroy cancer cells. Full body hyperthermia uses less intense heat (around 38-39 Celsius or 101-102 Fahrenheit) to create what is essentially an artificial fever. This activates the immune system to combat disease. Full body hyperthermia also eliminates toxins through sweat.

#24| Cannabis

One plant which has an amazing impact on modulating the immune system is cannabis, which has been cultivated in Asia for millennia and has been continually documented in traditional Chinese medicine for approximately 1,800 years. Just like federal laws in the U.S., cannabis is as a category 2 narcotic in China and Taiwan. Possession of the plant or its derivatives can result in up to three years in prison.
Many doctors in Taiwan are using cannabis successfully to treat cancer but are forced into secrecy because of its illegal status. Cannabis has a wide array of benefits, including tumor reduction. Studies have indicated that cannabis can help induce apoptosis, stopping the spread of cancer and encouraging programmed cell death. Cannabis has been used to treat conditions ranging from insomnia to cancer.

#25| Cordyceps Sinensis

Also known as the Caterpillar Fungus or Dong Ching Xia Cao (Summer grass, winter worm), Cordyceps has long been a part of traditional Chinese and Tibetan medicine. An extremely rare combination of a mummified caterpillar and a fungus, it is found at very high altitudes in the Himalayas, on the Tibetan plateau, and other high-altitude locations around the world. Cordyceps can help manage blood sugar, improve transplant success, strengthen the immune system, improve stamina, and combat cancer. In laboratory experiments, Cordyceps was selectively toxic for cancer cells, without affecting normal, healthy cells. Bioactive ingredients in Cordyceps including cordyceptin attack and destroy mouth, bladder, prostate, breast, liver, lung, cervical, leukemia, and colorectal cancers as well as lymphoma, melanoma, and neuroblastoma in culture.

#26| Dy-Liacco Protocol

The Dy-Liacco protocol is named after Dr. Jaime Dy-Liacco, who has found an effective cancer therapy that is accessible even to the impoverished people living in the Philippines. There is a fundamental misunderstanding in western medicine that the immune system is unable to identify cancerous cells. That’s why conventional treatments like chemotherapy don’t hesitate to completely destroy the immune system – it isn’t working anyway, right?
In fact, Dr. Dy-Liacco tells us that we simply need to destroy the outer coating of the cells for our immune system to kill them. The protocol consists of several steps. The first is to digest and kill the cancer cells, which he achieves by ingesting raw pancreas enzymes. Second, he prescribes a coffee enema to clear away any dead, rotting cells left behind. He then recommends supplements like bovine cartilage, which can have antiangiogenic properties. Next, he has patients take hydrazine sulfate, a product developed by NASA that stops the cachexia cycle.
These supplements are so simple that the doctor doesn’t even need to see every patient. He’s received success stories from all over the Philippines from people who have followed his protocol and recovered fully from cancer.

#27| Budwig Protocol

From Dr. David Jockers:
One of the top experts on fats and oils in the 1950s, Dr. Budwig found that the right combination of quark or cottage cheese and flaxseed oil has therapeutic properties in preventing, treating, and even curing cancer.
Dr. Budwig further established that essential polyunsaturated fatty acids, referred to as PUFAs, are major components of cellular membranes. Without a properly functioning cellular membrane, cells lose the ability to perform vital life processes such as cellular respiration and the ability to divide and form new cells.
In her research, Dr. Budwig’s cancer patients had improved oxygen supply to their cells and found relief from all forms and stages of cancer including cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, brain, breast, and skin cancers.”

#28| Gut Health

Research abounds linking the development of cancer to a compromised microbiome. Essentially, the systemic failures that are the results of microbiota out of harmony can lead to tumors, and even full-blown cancer.
A 2015 paper, Cancer and the gut microbiota: An unexpected link, revealed that epidemiological studies indicate damage to the microbiome as a major risk factor in cancer development. Once again, a GI system that is imbalanced leads to inflammation locally and systemically, which can so severely affect the body as to allow several different types of cancer to flourish.
The improper balance of microbes in the body have been linked to colorectal cancer, breast and liver, among others. One thing seems is clear: anyone wanting optimal health, or to reverse already existing problems, should look at their gut balance as a matter of profound importance.

#29| Vitamin D3

Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis and autism. This essential vitamin enhances calcium absorption, induces cell differentiation, initiates apoptosis, reduces metastasis and proliferation, and is antiangiogenic. It is also effective for killing cancer stem cells and can be easily obtained simply by going outside and absorbing some sunlight.

#30| Mushrooms

As modern medicine rediscovers these ancient superfoods, there is good evidence that mushrooms are among the most powerful functional food in a growing cancer-fighting and cancer-prevention arsenal.
There are a few primary mechanisms that most of these functional, anti-cancer mushrooms share when assisting the body during cancer stages or in simple everyday prevention. First is their ability to enhance the body’s first line of defense against cancer − the immune system. When this system is weak or has failed, the mechanism for cancer has a better opportunity to manifest. Additionally, some anti-cancer mushrooms exhibit direct antiviral and tumor shrinking abilities.

#31| Coffee Enemas

Coffee enemas are one of the most effective ways to clean the body of harmful toxins and dead cells that build up in the colon. Coffee enemas are also used by individuals to improve energy levels (both physically and emotionally), prevent bloating, improve mood, and reduce toxicity of the whole body by prompting liver cleansing and tissue repair. One added benefit of coffee enemas is that they promote the production of glutathione by the liver. A powerful antioxidant defense system, glutathione protects cellular damage to DNA and stimulates the removal of toxic waste out of cells.

#32| Prevention

The best way to beat cancer is to make sure your body isn’t a hospitable landscape. Diet, exercise, vitamins and other nutrients, mental peace, etc. While there are a myriad of ways to combat cancer once it develops, the easiest way to beat cancer is to not get cancer in the first place. Minimizing toxins, getting the right nutrients, and living a healthy lifestyle are some of the easiest and most proven ways to stop cancer dead in its tracks.
https://thetruthaboutcancer.com/alternatives-to-chemo/