Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Natural Cancer Cures

Question from a blog reader: "I would like to hear what you think about natural cures for cancer."

The simple answer is, I don't think there's a natural cure for cancer. I think there are natural ways to help strengthen the immune system, improve digestion, cleanse the liver, reduce pain or inflammation, and ease various other physical ailments. There is scientific evidence that certain vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, proteins, enzymes, and chemicals in the food we eat aid our bodies in fighting all sorts of diseases, including cancer.

But do any of these actually cure cancer? Do any of these elements and the foods that contain them actually cause cancer cells to die and tumors to disappear? I don't think so. You could argue that they do, indirectly, since they can help strengthen the body to withstand the damage caused by cancer cells. But that's as close as food can get to curing cancer.

I think there are, however, natural ways to help cancer cells grow. There is plenty of scientific evidence that shows certain toxins and chemicals in the food we eat help feed cancer cells so they can grow and thrive inside our bodies. There are chemicals such as dioxin, aflatoxin, and acrylamide which have been scientifically shown to cause cancer. That is, these toxins make normal, healthy cells mutate and multiply out of control - this is what cancer is.

I think there are plenty of natural ways to reduce, but not eliminate, our risk for cancer. You could argue that reducing our consumption of or exposure to substances and foods that help cancer cells grow may be an indirect way we can "cure" cancer. By depriving cancer cells of the elements they need to thrive with adjustments in our diets and lifestyles, we could stop them from growing and multiplying enough to form tumors or spreading throughout the body.

How effective these two natural methods of fighting cancer are (boosting our body's ability to fight cancer cells and depriving cancer cells of what they need to grow) also depends on what stage of cancer you're talking about. If you have Stage I cancer, you're more likely to be able to fight it naturally with the two methods I've mentioned. But if you have Stage IV cancer, it might be harder.

Every cancer patient is different, and chemicals and nutrients may work differently from one patient to another. In my case, natural ways of fighting cancer might not be as effective since my cancer has progressed fairly rapidly and spread widely throughout my body. I was on a strict anti-cancer diet for the first two years after diagnosis, but that wasn't enough to keep my particularly aggressive cancer cells at bay.

So, no. I don't think there's a natural cure for cancer. But there are natural ways to fight cancer. Whether you win or lose that fight might have to do with what kind and stage of cancer you have, and what other factors you have on your side. But you'll never know whether or not you can win that fight if you don't try. I'm all for natural therapies and using food as medicine. But not instead of conventional medicine. Not when you have Stage IV cancer.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think the comments portion on the Update of Special Request for Max may be corrupted.

This may not be the right place to post but I thought you would like to know.

MAM

Shin said...

MAM,

Thanks so much for letting me know. Could you send the comment you tried to post to: shinna66@gmail.com?

I just posted a comment there and it worked. I've deleted it so you won't see it there now.

I think there's something wrong with the comments posting function on this site, though. A number of people have posted comments but not seen them up on the site. They just assumed I rejected their comments.

The only times I've rejected comments are:

1) The person has asked me NOT to post his comment.
2) The person is plugging a commercial business within the comment.

So if you've ever commented on this blog and have not seen your comment posted, it's probably not because I've rejected your comment. It's most likely a technical problem with the site.

If you post a comment and don't see it up within 12 hours, please e-mail me at: shinna66@gmail.com and let me know.

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I was not posting, I was trying to read the latest update. When I scrolled down the page, the comments from sometime in March onwards looked as though they were in some kind of programming language but with a line drawn through every statement (as though it had been deleted)

It's OK now.

MAM

Shin said...

MAM,

Yikes! Has anyone else had this problem?

Anonymous said...

Hi Shin,
I agree with everything you said on your blog entry. However you omitted to say that willpower, energy and sheer bloody mindedness also have alot to do with a fight against any illness, and probably including cancer.

Not that I see any of those qualities in you, of course........:)

I think the mind also has an enormous effect on our welfare - e.g. if someone is depressed, they are more likely to get ill, if someone is positive they are more likely not to let illness get them down or even get ill ) -

Love,
E xxx

Anonymous said...

hey shin
just quickly - re the mangosteen juice - I was wondering why it was taking so long to arrive...so contacted them to be told they won't send it out of the US...nice of them to let me know!!...anyway at the end of the day, it's probably a saving rather than a loss - as you are so right about what you said in one of your recent blogs - exotic roots and berries are not going to make cancer cells go away!!....it's just such a ray of hope when you do hear these miracle stories that you (well I..) tend to get so sucked in by them!!

...Anyway what I really wanted to ask you in response to your blog about tactless Q&A etc.. is, do you ever wonder (I'm sure you do) if Josie will get the same cancer you have? Do you want her to be tested to see if she has it in her DNA?.. or whatever it is you test to find out? so that she can maybe prevent it from happening? The reason I ask is that I want to know if I can have a test to see if I am going to get the cancer my dad has. If there is anything I can do to prevent it from happening I want to do it - I never appreciated how precious my life was until I had my kids. Do you feel the same?

I am happy for you not to post this as it's more of a personal question from me, but you may have had this question before and want to post your answer so will not be fussed either way!

While I am writing to you - can you please send me your address and I will get your salmon order dropped off to your place. I am an idiot - have made the salmon order the day before i fly out to Australia, so need to make sure it's all out of my house that day!!


Take Care
Rebecca

Shin said...

Rebecca,

I posted your comment because you asked some good questions that I think other readers would want to know the answers to.

The questions about whether Josie will get the same cancer I have, I think I'll answer in a future blog post because I think that deserves a longer answer.

As for the mangosteen juice... I don't see it as a miracle cure, but from what I've read, it's good for my general health. And anything that's good for general health is good for fighting cancer. So I wouldn't completely write off natural therapies like this - it might not kill cancer cells, but it will help healthy cells stay healthy.

Anonymous said...

Hi there,
I am intrigued - mangosteen juice, salmon order...sounds yummy and healthy. Shin could you maybe share with us your choice of supplements and health foods as well as your source of these?

Best Wishes,
Karin

Shin said...

Karin,

There's a woman in Singapore who calls herself "The Fishwife". She pools together orders for wild-caught, hormone-free salmon from New Zealand and has it shipped into Singapore, chilled and vacuum-packed, once a month.

I order a huge fillet from her once a month, then cut it up and freeze it to thaw and use throughout the month. She also sells salmon steaks, smoked salmon, and other salmon items.

I haven't done a direct price comparison with the stores here, but I think her salmon is cheaper than the frozen wild-caught stuff you get at the organic stores here in Singapore.

It also tastes better than the salmon I get from the Marketplace at Tanglin, Paragon, Cold Storage, or the wet markets. The Fishwife's salmon is almost creamy, very flavorful, without being too fishy-tasting. And it comes chilled, not frozen.

She takes orders by e-mail: fishwife@starhub.net.sg

It was Rebecca, the Fishwife, who sent me some information about mangosteen juice. If you do a Google search for "mangosteen juice cancer", you'll get a lot of info about the juice as a cancer treatment.

I'd be happy to share my list of supplements and health foods and my sources. I'll do that in a future blog, since it will take some time to get the list together.

Thanks for your interest!

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot Shin! I will definitely make contact with "The Fishwife".

And thanks for offering to share your list of health foods and supplements in a later blog. I have been doing quite a bit of research on this, but ended up getting completely confused about what is right or wrong. There are different schools of thought of course, but I would love to hear your views as I am sure you researched this very thoroughly.

Best wishes and have a fabulous weekend with the family!
Karin

Anonymous said...

Hi Shin,

The email address for Rebecca Forwood is now changed to

thefishwife@me.com effective from 25th Jul.

Kathie