Terry Thompson’s Blog

Garlic, written about as a medicine over 6000 years ago, was one of the contents of Egyptian King Tutankhamen’s tomb.  Records show that slaves who built the Great Pyramids relied on garlic for increased energy.  Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, used garlic to heal infections and reduce pain.  In just the last few decades, over 2000 scientific studies have proven what our ancient ancestors knew—the healing value of garlic.  Research is now showing that garlic may impact cancer by inhibiting carcinogen formation in the body.  It appears to interfere with the transformation of normal cells to pre-cancerous cells.   It also seems to prevent the formation of blood vessels in tumor masses (anti-angiogenesis).  In one animal study, garlic was more effective than the main drug used in human bladder cancer.  Extensive review of the literature shows impressive and multiple ways that garlic can help the cancer patient.  It deserves further study.  The American Cancer Society Guide to Complementary and Alternative Methods states that laboratory studies suggest garlic may be of benefit in reducing tumor growth.  It has been shown to kill human colon cancer cells in mice.  Again, the disclaimer is that human testing is needed.

It is unfortunate that almost all promising natural complements to conventional cancer therapy is awaiting “further testing.”  Yet, the billions of dollars being funneled into cancer therapy research is almost all going to chemical drug testing.  The new strategy of integrative oncology seeks to increase the priority of research and availability of complements to conventional therapy.  Please become part of the solution.  Share with us what is happening in your circles to further the new strategy.

Green Tea is processed from the Camellia sinensis plant.  The antioxidants found in tea (catechins) appear to selectively inhibit the growth of cancer.  The catechins are released abundantly in green tea, whereas they are almost negligible in black tea.  Steaming the leaves produces green tea, while drying the leaves produces black tea.  Although, the most potent anticancer properties come from green tea, it only accounts for 20% of tea consumed worldwide.  The National Cancer Institutes of China and Japan have been researching green tea with the same fervor that the American NCI has been researching chemotherapy drugs.  However, in recent years, green tea has been getting the attention of our own NCI.  Its research is showing that tea catechins scavenge oxidants before cell injuries occur, reduce the incidence and size of chemically induced tumors, and inhibit the growth of tumor cells.  Ongoing NCI studies are testing green tea’s effect against skin cancer.  The prospective use of green tea to help prevent and treat cancer tumors certainly deserves the increased priorities of the NCI and other research supporting institutions in America.

Further research into green tea and other natural complements to cancer therapy is one of the objectives of the new strategy for the war on cancer and the Connie Thompson Foundation. 

A reader has inquired about integrative oncologists in Iowa.  Anyone live in Iowa or familiar with Iowa who could provide input?  Please reply by commenting on this post or email: info@cancerchoices.org. 

Ginseng was used by Chinese physicians several thousand years ago to treat almost every illness imaginable.  Today, we are learning that the confidence these ancient physicians had in this herb may have been well placed.  Initial clinical studies of ginseng’s’s potential anticancer characteristics have been inconclusive perhaps because differences in the herb are so wide-ranging.  Concentrations of cancer fighting properties vary depending on the type, place of origin, processing procedures, and distribution techniques.  All ginseng products need to be studied.  Tests have shown that ginseng stimulates the immune system to produce more macrophages (cells that literally eat cancer cells and harmful cellular debris).  One study showed a 75% reduction in average tumor size in mice after just eight days of ginseng intake.  Ginseng also slowed tumor growth and lengthened survival in rats with chemically-induced liver cancer.  Obviously, much more clinical study needs to be dedicated to this very promising anticancer herb.  Such critical research is what the new strategy for the war on cancer is all about.  Join us in the battle

If you know of the work of an integrative oncologist, please let me know by submitting his or her name, address, telephone, and web site to: info@cancerchoices.org.  Or, just provide the information in comment to this post. 

Curcumin is getting a lot of attention in the integrative oncology community.  It is the bright yellow pigment in turmeric, a flavoring agent in curry spice.  It is found in most mustards.  Curcumin helps the immune system by protecting immune cells from their own poisons (pro-oxidants) used against cancer cells.  In other words, it guards against self-inflicting wounds by immune cells as they attack cancer cells.  In recent tests, turmeric with curcumin has shown to produce significant reduction in skin cancer lesions for patients who had failed therapy with chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery.  Integrative oncologist are hopeful that this natural and plentiful substance will soon be an effective complement to most types of cancer treatment.  Discoveries like this that would allow oncologists to rely less on toxic therapies and more on natural therapies will help in the pursuit of a new strategy for the war on cancer.

If you are familiar with any practicing integrative oncologists among your acquaintances, please forward their names to: info@cancerchoices.org, or simply as a comment to this blog post.  This information will be valuable to my research and my upcoming book. 

When God created all forms of plant life, He provided over 20,000 different chemical compounds to assist in their growth and to protect them from harm.  These compounds, called “bioflavonoids” or “flavonoids,” support the photosynthesis process and guard the plants from the sun’s radiation and other dangers.  Bioflavonoids are widely distributed in all plant life producing bright color pigmentation while protecting the plant cells from everything from microbes to insects.  They are scavengers of free radical cells that are precursors to cancer cells.  Because the body does not produce bioflavonoids, they must be supplied through the diet or supplementation.

The greatest concentrations of bioflavonoids are found in deep, dark colored vegetables and fruits.  One type of bioflavonoid is prevalent in black grapes, beets, red onions, and most berries.  Another type is in cranberries and raspberries.  Several types are present in kale, spinach, apples, green tea, black tea, green beans, and citrus fruits.  The life-supporting and protective qualities of bioflavonoids in plants have been found, through the ages, to produce the same qualities in animals.  In laboratory experiments, animals with implanted tumors lived longer when given bioflavonoids from grape rinds.  Bioflavonoids administered in the diet of rats helped to reduce DNA damage from certain carcinogens.  In other studies, various bioflavonoids have produced striking reductions in animal cancers, often up to almost complete cessation of tumor growth.

It is a very small step in deductive reasoning to conclude that the bioflavonoids created to energize and protect plants are also created to benefit animals, particularly humans, through nutritional intake.  From ancient civilizations up to recent generations, people have relied on selected plants with healing properties to cure all kinds of ailments and diseases.  The typical diets of previous generations included much more bioflavonoid-rich plant content than today’s diets.  This may contribute to cancer’s free reign to do damage to our bodies in modern times.  Once cancer attacks, the lack of sufficient bioflavonoids in our system may be frustrating our body’s ability to fight it.  What if the principal reason that there is so much more cancer today than in previous centuries has to do with our avoidance of bioflavonoids?  What if the cancers that attacked previous generations were in large measure contained by diets rich in bioflavonoids?  How much decisive research is being done to determine how cancer patients could benefit from bioflavonoids?  The answer to the last question is obviously almost none.  That is why integrative oncologists who practice and promote further research into this area of cancer therapy are so critical to a new strategy for the war on cancer. 

Help us find more integrative oncologists by listing those you know in an email to: info@cancerchoices.org.

Vitamin E is considered by many medical professionals to be the most important of all cancer fighting vitamins.  It helps to protect the structure and strength of cells and stimulates the immune function.  It also protects healthy cells against toxins and radiation while enhancing the ability of radiation therapy to kill cancer cells.  A form of vitamin E selectively attacks cancer cells.  One study noted a definite ability of vitamin E to protect laboratory animals from cancer carcinogens, while another study showed that vitamin E injected into animal tumors significantly reduced or completely eliminated the tumors.  

As indicated in a previous post, a recent study concluded that vitamin E seemed to be of little benefit in preventing cancer when take in pill form.  However, the study did not address the benefit of the vitamins from natural diet sources or other forms of intake.

One animal study found that vitamin E increased the effectiveness of a leading chemotherapy drug 5-FU against colon cancer in mice.  Further studies are necessary to determine if the results apply to humans.  This is a recurring comment in the research of natural nutritional supplements.  Something shows promise in animal or laboratory studies, but further studies are necessary.

Tests have revealed that, when vitamin E is combined with succinic acid, it becomes a powerful agent for interrupting the growth of cancer cells without disturbing healthy cells.  Various kinds of laboratory cultured cancerous cell and tumors have been destroyed or their growth inhibited by this vitamin E succinate compound.

In addition to its potential for arresting cancer growth directly, indications are that vitamin E can be a remedy to hair loss associated with conventional cancer treatment.  According to a study highlighted in the New England Journal of Medicine, 69% of patients on Adriamicin, a common chemotherapy prescription that is usually accompanied by hair loss, did not experience the hair loss.  Those who did lose some of their hair were believed to have received the vitamin E too late in the study process.  Hair loss during cancer treatment is one of the worst side effects that patients have to tolerate.  If vitamin E has been shown to be a potential means of avoiding this psychologically debilitating aspect of treatment, and if the nutrient is assuredly safe, why has more research not been done to verify its utility?  Here is a natural, low-cost supplement that preliminary studies have shown to have significant cancer fighting properties and one that has the possibly of reducing agonizing side effects of cancer treatment.  Yet, serious studies of its potential by renowned research institutions are not even being considered.

The frustration of integrative oncology advocates is that many animal studies to determine whether certain dietary supplements are effective against cancer result in positive findings, but the studies don’t continue into human observable clinical trials.

If you are familiar with the practice of an integrative oncologist, please send me his or her name, phone number, address, and web site.  Send to: info@cancerchoices.org.  I am gathering research for my book.

Vitamin C has been the focus of numerous cancer prevention and treatment studies.   Almost all medical doctors, naturopaths, and nutritionists agree that vitamin C has strong protective effects against the formation and growth  of cancer cells.  Linus Pauling, Ph.D., who won a Nobel Prize for Chemistry and later one for Peace, was probably the world’s greatest advocate for Vitamin C.  Among several of his books, Cancer and Vitamin C detailed the multifaceted role of the supplement in combating cancer.  Until his death in 1994, Dr. Pauling insisted that vitamin C was a keystone in the war against cancer.  In 1990, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) hosted a conference on “Vitamin C and Cancer,” which confirmed Dr. Pauling’s basic findings.  Support for the vitamin has since waned although it still acknowledges C’s benefit in enhancing the immune system and in battling free radicals.  Pauling later wrote and spoke profusely on how vitamin C might improve the outcome of cancer patients in treatment.

Although mainstream oncology generally rejects vitamin C as a common complement to cancer therapy, the vitamin has shown in numerous studies to be deadly to cancer cells while not harming normal cells.   Recently, when researchers took leukemia cells from 28 patients and cultured them with vitamin C, 25% of the cultures were inhibited by at least 79%.  In animals with implanted tumors, vitamins C and B12 together provided significant tumor regression and 50% survival of the treated group.  All of the animals not receiving C and B12 died by the 19th day.   Vitamin C and B12 in combination seemed to selectively shut down tumor growth.

This is another example of slow and inadequate progress in a promising cancer therapy that is not within the conventional realm.  A new strategy that proliferates integrative oncologists who practice vitamin C use as a complement therapy is essential to winning the war on cancer.

Long before chemical medications were being developed in laboratories, our ancestors were practicing botanical and mineral medicine for whatever ailed them.  No doubt the cancer epidemic we are experiencing today has a lot to do with the toxins our stomach, lungs, and skin ingest.  However, the damage the toxins are allowed to do is worsened by the nutritionally impotent and tainted food we eat.  We should be giving our bodies the benefit of the natural cancer prevention and healing that previous generations enjoyed.  Supplemental nutrients, especially those with anti-cancer properties, are extremely helpful for cancer patients when taken according to the advice and counsel of medical professionals.  Numerous supplements have shown to have cancer fighting properties.  Let’s look at just a few over the course of this week’s blogs.

Vitamin A was the first micronutrient to be acknowledged as having a cancer prevention quality.  Some medical experts warn against the toxicity of high doses of vitamin A that would be required by cancer patients.  While vitamin A probably has the greatest potential of toxicity of any anti-cancer vitamin, there is plenty of evidence that it is safe, particularly in comparison to its potential benefit.  Many European cancer clinics administer up to 2.5 million iu’s per day of emulsified vitamin A for several months with no cause for concern.  Of course, dosages at these levels must be under the supervision of medical professionals, but they illustrate the relative safety of the vitamin.  Beta-carotene, a form of vitamin A, takes on a host of responsibilities to ensure that cancer cells are not allowed to develop.  It protect immune cells, inhibits the initial dividing of cancerous cells, and acts as a barrier against carcinogens.  Once cancer has initiated, beta-carotene, as a powerful antioxidant, is believed to slow or stop the growth of oxygen-burning cancer cells. 

Very recent reports have argued that vitamin A and other vitamins have not proven effective against cancer.  However, tests in those reports involved the vitamins taken in pill form.  Clinical injection or intravenous infusion of these vitamins has not been adequately tested.  Use of vitamin A and other vitamins at proven levels and pathways should be practiced along with conventional therapies for the best synergy of treatment.  Vitamin therapies for cancer patients need to be a high priority for clinical trials.  Their use in concert with drug protocols could produce a faster recovery with lesser side effects.  Integrative oncologists and researchers are striving to integrate vitamin A and other vitamins and minerals into various cancer treatments.  They need your support. 

The most commonly referenced and least controversial alternative or complementary  approach to cancer treatment is to eat the right foods.  It is accepted within most conventional medical circles that a diet high in phytonutrients, isothiocyanates, dietary fiber, and Omega-3 fatty acids is important in preventing cancer.  These properties are found n the general categories of fruits, green leafy vegetables, cabbage, cauliflower, beans, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and oily fish.  Although accepted as helping to prevent cancer, the effectiveness of such foods in cancer treatment is still a controversial issue among conventional oncologists.  If it helps prevent cancer, isn’t it worth exploring the effect of such a diet on existing cancers?  Should a moderate diet, rich in anti-cancer nutrients that health professionals recommend to prevent cancer, not be considered for a more aggressive, therapeutic program for those that already have cancer?  Yet, controlled clinical trials of radical therapeutic diets are not being done in mainstream medicine.

The government’s National Cancer Institute estimates that 35% or more of all cancers have a nutritional connection.  Furthermore, the NCI says an astounding 20% to 40% of cancer patients die from causes related to malnutrition, not from the cancer itself, and 80% have some form of clinical malnutrition.  Unfortunately, conventional medical advice commonly suggests that patients eat whatever they want.  Following this advice can actually feed the patients’ cancer, promote their malnutrition, and contribute to their inability to tolerate treatment.  If the malnutrition is not addressed, it can cause “cachexia,” a syndrome that compromises immunity, produces weakness, and causes loss of weight, fat, and muscle.

Very few oncologists are trained in nutrition.  Very few nutritionists are trained to advise cancer patients.  Integrative oncologists are trained to include nutrition counseling as a complement to any conventional therapy.  It is part of the overall therapy.  The right dietary regimen is essential to the effectiveness of conventional therapy, to the body’s natural ability to fight the disease, and to the patient’s ability to tolerate the conventional therapy.  We must pursue a new strategy of integrative oncology if the war on cancer is to be won.  Research and practice of nutrition management is a vital piece of that strategy.

Recent blog posts about celebrities with cancer have alluded to integrative oncology in general.  Let’s get more specific about just what is considered integrative oncology.

Integrative oncology is a subset of integrative medicine.  Integrative medicine acknowledges the essentiality of conventional medicine, the treatment of illnesses principally with drugs and surgery.  Practitioners of integrative medicine seek to complement conventional treatments with treatment directed toward the whole person, not just the illness.  It looks at almost every aspect of the mind, body, and soul as contributing to overall health.  It accepts that, in most cases, the patient possesses most of the resources for healing himself or herself.  Note that this is not “alternative” medicine which is viewed as treatment in lieu of, rather than in conjunction with, conventional treatment.  Likewise, integrative oncology is the practice of cancer treatments that reduce the duration, level, and harmful effects of conventional treatment.  Many types of integrative therapy are scientifically proven to enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiation or to ensure better results of surgery. 

Examples of integrative cancer therapies include, but are not limited to, nutrition management, special diets, supplemental vitamins and minerals, mind/body interaction, meditation, prayer, immune system enhancement, special exercises, hyperthermia, oxygenation, acupuncture, chiropractic, massage, aroma therapy, music therapy, laser surgery, anti-angiogenesis, chelation, detoxification, and vaccines.  Almost all of these examples have solid evidence-based validity.  However, only a small percentage of oncologists have expertise in their practice.

Come back to this site every day as I highlight a particular integrative oncology practice each day for your information.  Join the movement toward a new strategy for the war on cancer.