Non-strenuous exercise can significantly improve survival and prevent recurrences in people recovering from colorectal cancer.
Over the last decade, yoga has emerged as a favored adjunctive modality at cancer centers across the country. Studies presented at the Society of Integrative Oncology’s annual meeting show that carefully tailored yoga programs can reduce anxiety, improve sleep, reduce the need for meds, and improve flexibility.
Severe joint pain is a common side-effect of tamoxifen therapy for breast cancer, and it is associated with vitamin D deficiency. Supplementation aimed at pushing serum vitamin D levels over 40 ng/ml can prevent or attenuate the pain.
Despite the Institute of Medicine’s recent report, many nutrition-minded oncologists believe high-dose vitamin D supplementation—upwards of 4,000 IU/day—has potential to markedly reduce risk of primary breast cancer as well as breast cancer recurrence, with minimal risk of toxicity.
The vast majority of men with prostate cancer do not need surgery, toxic drugs or other invasive treatments, according to Aaron Katz, MD, founder of the new Society of Integrative Oncology. He believes most can be safely treated for decades with dietary changes and intensive use of plant-based anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compounds. The new organization’s prime goal is to educate doctors about the non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical options.
Primary care doctors have a vital role to play in helping patients with cancer, even if they are not directly involved in treatment of the cancer itself. The key, says Dr. Isaac Eliaz, is for doctors to confront their own mortality and become comfortable with the reality of impermanence.
Cancer doesn’t “just happen.” It occurs in a physiological environment characterized by chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, pH changes, and ischemia. Interestingly, Candida albicans also thrives in and contributes to this inner environment. The good news is that this is reversible through hormone balancing, and dietary changes aimed at reducing inflammation.
New findings that ultra-dilute homeopathic preparations could induce apoptosis in human breast cancer cell lines have energized the field of homeopathy, dashing critics’ oft-heard argument that homeopathy—if it works at all—is naught but a “placebo effect.”
Plant medicines can inhibit the growth of cancer through multiple biochemical mechanisms. A research team at the Columbia University Center for Holistic Urology is at the leading edge of science on herbal therapies for prostate cancer. The big stars are Zyflamend, a 10-herb anti-inflammatory combination, and Prostabel, a combo of Rauwolfia and Pau Pereira.
A new medical food called Ave, and derived from fermented wheat germ, holds great promise as an adjunctive therapy for colorectal cancer, metastatic melanoma, childhood malignancies and other forms of cancer. Compounds in Ave starve cancer cells, enhance immune system activity, and reduce chemo-associated side effects.
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