VITAMIN D AND CANCER.

Vitamin D has been getting a lot of press lately as more and more studies link it with reduced rates of a number of types of cancer (18 at last count) as well as with lower risks of autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. Some experts estimate that thousands of cancer deaths could be avoided in the United States each year if everyone got enough vitamin D.
The connections between vitamin D, cancer and other diseases stem from observations that certain disorders, including some forms of cancer, occur much less frequently in areas with sunny warm climates than they do in places where the sun doesn't shine brightly throughout the year. For example, in 1980 a team of epidemiologists found that rates of colon cancer were much higher in populations that were exposed to the least amount of light (especially in major cities and in high-latitude rural areas).
Bear in mind that our bodies make vitamin D in response to exposure to the ultraviolet B rays of the sun ("B" lightwaves are medium-length, as opposed to the long "A" waves). If you live in an area where the sun isn't strong year round or if you rarely venture outside or always put on sunscreen when you do, you could be shortchanged on vitamin D unless you take supplements. It isn't easy to get enough from your diet. The best sources are fortified milk and cereals, eggs, salmon, tuna, mackerel and sardines. (Unfortunately, most fortified foods provide vitamin D2, a form which is much less well utilized by the body than D3.)
Recent research has suggested that vitamin D regulates cell proliferation and can hold in check the sort of wild cell growth that leads to cancer.


...from Dr. Weil website.

BROCCOLI

.................from, ALIVE, August, 2006.

STRESS STIMULATES CANCER.

The hypothesis that stress can worsen cancer makes intuitive sense, but has been difficult to demonstrate in the laboratory. Now, there is hard experimental evidence to confirm the idea.

When mice with ovarian cancer were stressed by confinement in a small space, their tumors grew and spread more quickly, according to a study by researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and published online on July 23, 2006, in advance of publication in Nature Medicine.

Further, when the researchers blocked stress hormone receptors in the mice using an anti-hypertension drug known as a beta blocker, they were able to stop the accelerating effects of stress on tumor growth.

But, for human beings, one does not need prescription drugs to mitigate the effects of stress. Exercise, meditation, breathwork and a strong support network – including human and animal companions – have been shown to lower stress dramatically. In my view, every treatment plan for cancer should incorporate stress-reduction protocols, not as an afterthought but as a vital part of the treatment plan.


...from Dr. Weil website

POMEGRANATES, PSAs AND PROSTATE CANCER.

Pomegranate juice seems to be appearing on more and more store shelves these days, and it is a fortuitous trend. The delicious, deep-red juice is remarkably high in health-protective antioxidants and ellagic acid, a potent anti-carcinogen. The latest good news on the pomegranate front follows a UCLA study published in the July 1, 2006, issue of Clinical Cancer Research. The three-year clinical trial concluded that drinking an eight-ounce glass of the juice daily quadrupuled the period in which prostate-specific antigens (PSA) levels in men treated for prostate cancer remained stable.
The study involved 50 men who had undergone surgery or radiation but who quickly exhibited increases in PSA, a sign that their cancers were progressing again. The UCLA team saw positive changes in the average doubling time (increasing from 15 to 54 months) in the men who drank juice.
This makes perfect sense to me. The healing power of deep-colored fruits and vegetables is being confirmed in laboratories around the world almost daily. Black raspberries are being shown to have similar action against mouth and esophageal cancers. Foods that inhibit or in some cases even heal tumors in cancer patients offer protection from cancer for the rest of us, and everyone should eat – or drink – them regularly.


...from Dr. Weil website