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Use Its Secret Medicinal Powers to Help Cure Cancer, Heart Disease, Hypertension, Diabetes, Arthritis, Infectious Diseases, and much more.
By Andreas Moritz
(Excerpted from Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation)
This book by Andreas Moritz provides scientific evidence that sunlight is essential for good health, and that a lack of sun exposure can be held responsible for many of today’s diseases.
On the other hand, most people now believe that the sun is the main culprit for causing skin cancer, certain cataracts leading to blindness, and aging. Only those who take the “risk” of exposing themselves to the sunlight, find that the sun makes them feel and look better, provided they don’t use sunscreens or burn their skin. The UV-rays in sunlight actually stimulate the thyroid gland to increase hormone production, which in turn increases the body’s basal metabolic rate. This assists both in weight loss and improved muscle development.
It has been known for several decades that those living mostly in the outdoors, at high altitudes, or near the equator, have the lowest incidence of skin cancers. In addition, Studies revealed that exposing patients to controlled amounts of sunlight dramatically lowered elevated blood pressure (up to 40 mm Hg drop), decreased cholesterol in the blood stream, lowered abnormally high blood sugars among diabetics, and increased the number of white blood cells which we need to help resist disease. Patients suffering from gout, rheumatoid arthritis, colitis, arteriosclerosis, anemia, cystitis, eczema, acne, psoriasis, herpes, lupus, sciatica, kidney problems, asthma, as well as burns, have all shown to receive great benefit from the healing rays of the sun.
(Note: The paper version of this book has been reduced from $9.95 to $5.95 because of a small printing error on page 1.)
Source: http://www.ener-chi.com/books.htm#aids
Friday, February 01, 2008
by: Andreas Moritz, citizen journalist
(NaturalNews) What you are about to read may rock or even dismantle the very foundation of your beliefs about your body, health and healing. The title, “Cancer Is Not a Disease” may be unsettling for many, provocative to some, but encouraging for all. This book will serve as a revelation for those who are sufficiently open-minded to consider the possibility that cancer and other debilitating illnesses are not actual diseases, but desperate and final attempts by the body to stay alive for as long as circumstances permit.
It will perhaps astound you to learn that a person who is afflicted with the main causes of cancer (which constitute the real illness) would most likely die quickly unless he actually grew cancer cells. In this work, I provide evidence to this effect.
I further claim that cancer will only occur after all other defense or healing mechanisms in the body have failed. In extreme circumstances, exposure to large amounts of cancer-producing agents (carcinogens) can bring about a collapse of the body’s defenses within several weeks or months and allow for rapid and aggressive growth of a cancerous tumor. Usually, though, it takes many years, or even decades, for these so-called “malignant” tumors to form.
Unfortunately, basic misconceptions or complete lack of knowledge about the reasons behind tumor growth have turned “malignant” tumors into vicious monsters that have no other purpose but to kill us in retaliation for our sins or abusing the body. However, as you are about to find out, cancer is on our side, not against us. Unless we change our perception of what cancer really is, it will continue to resist treatment, particularly the most “advanced” methods. If you have cancer, and cancer is indeed part of the body’s complex survival responses and not a disease, as I suggest it is, you must find answers to the following pressing questions:
* What reasons coerce your body into developing cancer cells?
* Once you have identified these reasons, will you be able to change them? What determines the type and severity of cancer with which you are afflicted?
* If cancer is a survival mechanism, what needs to be done to prevent the body from taking recourse to such drastic defense measures?
* Since the body’s original genetic design always favors the preservation of life and protection against adversities of any kind, why would the body permit self-destruction?
* Why do almost all cancers disappear by themselves, without medical intervention?
* Do radiation, chemotherapy and surgery actually cure cancer, or do cancer survivors heal due to other reasons, despite these radical, side-effect-loaded treatments?
* What roles do fear, frustration, low self-worth and repressed anger play in the origination and outcome of cancer?
* What is the spiritual growth lesson behind cancer?
To deal with the root causes of cancer, you must find satisfying and practical answers to the above questions. If you feel the inner urge to make sense of this life-changing event, (cancer that is), you most likely will recover from it. Cancer can be your greatest opportunity to help restore balance to all aspects of your life, but it can also be the harbinger of severe trauma and suffering. Either way you are always in control of your body.
To live in a human body, you must have access to a certain amount of life-sustaining energy. You may either use this inherent energy in a nourishing and self-sustaining or in a destructive and debilitating way. In case you consciously or unconsciously choose negligence or self-abuse over loving attention and self-respect, your body will likely end up having to fight for its life.
Cancer is but one of the many ways the body tries to change the way you see and treat yourself, including your body. This inevitably brings up the subject of spiritual health, which plays at least as important a role in cancer as physical and emotional reasons do.
Cancer appears to be a highly confusing and unpredictable disorder. It seems to strike the very happy and the very sad, the rich and the poor, the smokers and the non-smokers, the very healthy and the not so healthy. People from all backgrounds and occupations can have cancer. However, if you dare look behind the mask of its physical symptoms, such as the type, appearance and behavior of cancer cells, you will find that cancer is not as coincidental or unpredictable as it seems to be.
What makes 50% of the American population so prone to developing cancer, when the other half has no risk at all? Blaming the genes for that is but an excuse to cover up ignorance of the real causes. Besides, any good genetic researcher would tell you that such a belief is void of any logic and outright unscientific (as explained in the book).
Cancer has always been an extremely rare illness, except in industrialized nations during the past 40-50 years. Human genes have not significantly changed for thousands of years. Why would they change so drastically now, and suddenly decide to kill scores of people? The answer to this question is amazingly simple: Damaged or faulty genes do not kill anyone. Cancer does not kill a person afflicted with it! What kills a cancer patient is not the tumor, but the numerous reasons behind cell mutation and tumor growth. These root causes should be the focus of every cancer treatment, yet most oncologists typically ignore them. Constant conflicts, guilt and shame, for example, can easily paralyze the body’s most basic functions, and lead to the growth of a cancerous tumor.
After having seen thousands of cancer patients over a period of three decades, I began to recognize a certain pattern of thinking, believing and feeling that was common to most of them. To be more specific, I have yet to meet a cancer patient who does not feel burdened by some poor self-image, unresolved conflict and worries, or past emotional trauma that still lingers in his/her subconscious. Cancer, the physical disease, cannot occur unless there is a strong undercurrent of emotional uneasiness and deep-seated frustration.
Cancer patients typically suffer from lack of self-respect or worthiness, and often have what I call an “unfinished business” in their life. Cancer can actually be a way of revealing the source of such inner conflict. Furthermore, cancer can help them come to terms with such a conflict, and even heal it altogether. The way to take out weeds is to pull them out along with their roots. This is how we must treat cancer; otherwise, it may recur eventually.
The following statement is very important in the consideration of cancer: “Cancer does not cause a person to be sick; it is the sickness of the person that causes the cancer.” To treat cancer successfully requires the patient to become whole again on all levels of his body, mind and spirit. Once the cancer causes have been properly identified, it will become apparent what needs to be done to achieve complete recovery.
It is a medical fact that every person has cancer cells in the body all the time. These cancer cells remain undetectable through standard tests until they have multiplied to several billion. When doctors announce to their cancer patients that the treatments they prescribed had successfully eliminated all cancer cells, they merely refer to tests that are able to identify the detectable number of cancerous cells. Standard cancer treatments may lower the number of cancer cells to an undetectable level, but this certainly cannot eradicate all cancer cells. As long as the causes of tumor growth remain intact, cancer may redevelop at any time and at any rate.
Curing cancer has little to do with getting rid of a group of detectable cancer cells. Treatments like chemotherapy and radiation are certainly capable of poisoning or burning many cancer cells, but they also destroy healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract, liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, etc., which often leads to permanent irreparable damage of entire organs and systems in the body. A real cure of cancer does not occur at the expense of destroying other vital parts of the body.
Each year, hundreds of thousands of people who were once “successfully” treated for cancer die from infections, heart attacks, liver failure, kidney failure and other illnesses because the cancer treatments generate a massive amount of inflammation and destruction in the organs and systems of the body. Of course, these causes of death are not being attributed to cancer. This statistical omission makes it appear we are making progress in the war against cancer. However, many more people are dying from the treatment of cancer than from cancer. A real cure or cancer is achievable only when the causes of excessive growth of cancer cells have been removed or stopped.
Power in the Word
Cancer is the second leading “cause” of death for Americans. According to the American Cancer Society, about 1.2 million cases will be diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. in 2008. More than 552,000 Americans will die of it. Among men, the top three cancer diagnoses are expected to be prostate cancer (180,400 cases), lung cancer (89,500 cases), and colorectal cancer (63,600). The leading types of cancer among women are breast cancer (182,800 cases), lung cancer (74,600), and colorectal cancer (66,600 cases).
Cancer is not just a word, but also a statement that refers to abnormal or unusual behavior of cells in the body. However, in quite a different context, cancer is referred to as a star sign. When someone tells you that you are a “cancer”, are you going to tremble with fear of dying? It is unlikely, because your interpretation of being of the cancer sign does not imply that you have cancer, the illness. But if your doctor called you into his office and told you that you had cancer, you would most likely feel paralyzed, numb, terrified, hopeless, or all of the above.
The word “cancer” has the potential to play a very disturbing and precarious role, one that is capable of delivering a death sentence. Being a cancer patient seems to start with the diagnosis of cancer, although its causes may have been there for many years prior to feeling ill. Within a brief moment, the word “cancer” can turn someone’s entire world upside down.
Who or what in this world has bestowed this simple word or statement with such great power that it can preside over life and death? Or does it really? Could it actually be that our collective, social belief that cancer is a killer disease, in addition to the aggressive treatments that follow diagnosis, are largely responsible for the current dramatic escalation of cancer in the Western hemisphere? Too far fetched, you might say! In this book, however, I will make the point that cancer can have no power or control over us, unless we unconsciously allow it to grow in response to the beliefs, perceptions, attitudes, thoughts, feelings we have, and the life choices we make.
Would we be just as afraid of cancer if we knew what caused it or at least understood what its underlying purpose is? Unlikely so! If truth were told, we would most probably do everything to remove the causes and, thereby, set the preconditions for the body to heal itself.
A little knowledge (which is what we call ignorance) is, in fact, a dangerous thing. Almost everyone, at least in the industrialized world, knows that drinking water from a filthy pond or polluted lake can cause life-threatening diarrhea, but still only few realize that holding on to resentment, anger and fear, or eating fast foods, chemical additives, and artificial sweeteners, is no less dangerous than drinking polluted water; it may just take a little longer to kill a person than tiny amoeba can.
Mistaken Judgment
We all know that if the foundation of a house is strong, the house can easily withstand external challenges, such as a violent storm. As we will see, cancer is merely an indication that there is something missing in our body and in life as a whole. Cancer shows that life as a whole (physical, mental and spiritual) stands on shaky grounds and is quite fragile, to say the least. It would be foolish for a gardener to water the withering leaves of a tree when he knows so well that the real problem is not where it appears to be, namely, on the symptomatic level (of withered leaves). By watering the roots of the plant, he naturally attends to the causative level, and consequently, the plant regenerates itself swiftly and automatically.
To the trained eye of a gardener, the symptom of withering leaves is not a dreadful disease. He recognizes that the dehydrated state of these leaves is but a direct consequence of withdrawn nourishment that they need in order to sustain themselves and the rest of the plant.
Although this example from nature may appear to be a simplistic analogy, it offers a profound understanding of very complex disease processes in the human body. It accurately describes one of the most powerful and fundamental principles controlling all life forms on the planet. However skilled we may have become in manipulating the functions of our body through the tools of allopathic medicine, this basic, highly evolved principle of evolution cannot be suppressed or violated without paying the hefty price of side-effect-riddled suffering and pain – physically, emotionally and spiritually.
I fervently challenge the statement that cancer is a killer disease. Furthermore, I will demonstrate that cancer is not a disease at all. Many people who received a “terminal” cancer sentence actually defied the prognosis and experienced total remission.
The Need for Answers
There is no cancer that has not been survived by someone, regardless how far advanced it was. If even one person has succeeded in healing his cancer, there must be a mechanism for it, just as there is a mechanism for creating cancer. Every person on the planet has the capacity for both. If you have been diagnosed with cancer, you may not be able to change the diagnosis, but it is certainly in your power to alter the destructive consequences that it (the diagnosis) may have on you. The way you see the cancer and the steps you take following the diagnosis are some of the most powerful determinants of your future wellness, or the lack of it.
The indiscriminate reference to “cancer” as being a killer disease by professionals and lay people alike has turned cancer into a disorder with tragic consequences for the majority of today’s cancer patients and their families. Cancer has become synonymous to extraordinary suffering, pain and death. This is true despite the fact that 90-95 percent of all cancers appear and disappear out of their own accord. There is not a day that passes without the body making millions of cancer cells. Some people, under severe temporary stress make more cancer cells than usual and form clusters of cancerous cells that disappear again once they feel better. Secretions of the DNA’s anticancer drug, Interleukin II, drop under physical and mental duress and increase again when relaxed and joyful. Thus, most cancers vanish without any form of medical intervention and without causing any real harm.
Right at this moment, there are millions of people walking around with cancers in their body without having a clue that they have them. Likewise, there are millions of people who heal their cancers without even knowing it. Overall, there are many more spontaneous remissions of cancer than there are diagnosed and treated cancers.
The truth is, relatively few cancers actually become “terminal.” However, once diagnosed, the vast majority of all cancers are never even given a chance to disappear on their own. They are promptly targeted with an arsenal of deadly weapons of cell destruction such as chemotherapy drugs, radiation and the surgical knife. The problem with cancer patients is that, terrified by the diagnosis, they submit their bodies to all these cut/burn/poison procedures that, more likely than not, lead them to the day of final sentencing, “We have to tell you with our deepest regret there is nothing more that can be done to help you.”
The most pressing question is not how advanced or dangerous a cancer is, but what we need to do to not end up dying from it. Why do some people go through cancer as if it were the flu? Are they just lucky or is there a mechanism at work that triggers the healing? In other words, what is that element that prevents the body from healing cancer naturally, or what is that hidden element that makes cancer so dangerous, if it is dangerous at all?
The answers to all these queries lie with the response of the person who has the cancer, and not with the degree of “viciousness” or advanced stage it appears to have progressed to. Do you believe that cancer is a disease? You will most likely answer with a “yes,” given the ‘informed’ opinion that the medical industry and mass media have fed to the masses for many decades. Yet, the most pressing yet rarely asked question remains: “Why do you think cancer is a disease?” You may say: “Because I know cancer kills people every day.” I would question you further: “How do you know that it is the cancer that kills people?” You would probably argue that most people who have cancer die, so obviously it must be the cancer that kills them. Besides, you may reason, all the expert doctors tell us so.
Let me raise another question, a rather strange one: “How do you know for sure that you are the daughter/son of your father and not of another man?” Is it because your mother told you so? What makes you think that your mother told you the truth? Probably because you believe her; and you have no reason not to. After all, she is your mother, and mothers do not lie about these things. Or do they? Although you will never really know that the person you believe to be your father is, in fact, your father, you nevertheless have turned what you subjectively believe into something that you just “know,” into an irrefutable truth.
Although there is no scientific proof whatsoever that cancer is a disease (versus a survival mechanism), most people will insist that it is a disease because this is what they were told to believe. Yet their belief is only hearsay information based on other people’s opinions. These other people heard it from someone else. Eventually, the “truth” of cancer being a disease can be traced to some doctors who expressed their subjective feelings or beliefs about what they observed and wrote about in some review articles or medical reports. Other doctors agreed with their opinion, and before long, it became a “well-established” fact that cancer is a vicious illness that somehow gets hold of people in order to kill them. However, the truth of the matter may be quite different.
Wisdom of Cancer Cells
Cancer cells are not part of a malicious disease process. When cancer cells spread (metastasize) throughout the body, it is not their purpose or goal to disrupt the body’s vitals functions, infect healthy cells and obliterate their host (the body). Self-destruction is not the theme of any cell unless, of course, it is old and worn-out and ready to be turned-over and replaced. Cancer cells, like all other cells, know that if the body dies, they will die as well. Just because some people assume that cancer cells are there to destroy the body does not mean cancer cells have such a purpose or ability.
A cancerous tumor is neither the cause of progressive destruction nor does it actually lead to the death of the body. There is nothing in a cancer cell that has even remotely the ability to kill anything. What eventually leads to the demise of an organ or the entire body is the wasting away of cell tissue resulting from continued deprivation of nutrients and life force. The drastic reduction or shutdown of vital nutrient supplies to the cells of an organ is not primarily a consequence of a cancerous tumor, but actually its biggest cause.
By definition, a cancer cell is a normal, healthy cell that has undergone genetic mutation to the point that it can live in an anaerobic surrounding (an environment where oxygen is not available). In other words, if you deprive a group of cells of vital oxygen (their primary source of energy), some of them will die, but others will manage to alter their genetic software program and mutate in a most ingenious way: the cells will be able to live without oxygen and derive some of their energy needs from such things as cellular metabolic waste products.
It may be easier to understand the cancer cells phenomenon when comparing it with the behavior of common microorganisms. Bacteria, for example, are divided into two main groups, aerobic and anaerobic, meaning, those that need to use oxygen and those that can live without it. This is important to understand since we have more bacteria in our body than we have cells. Aerobic bacteria thrive in an oxygenated environment. They are responsible for helping us with the digestion of food and manufacturing of important nutrients, such as B-vitamins. Anaerobic bacteria, on the other hand, can appear and thrive in an environment where oxygen does not reach. They break down waste materials, toxic deposits and dead, worn-out cells.
The body sees the cancer as being such an important defense mechanism that it even causes the growth of new blood vessels to guarantee the much-needed supply of glucose and, therefore, survival and spreading of the cancer cells. It knows that cancer cells do not cause but, prevent death; at least for a while, until the wasting away of an organ leads to the demise of the entire organism. If the trigger mechanisms for cancer (causal factors) are properly taken care of, such an outcome can be avoided.
It is commonly believed that our immune system protects us against cancer. However, this is only partially true. On the one hand, the immune system readily destroys the millions of cancer cells that a healthy human body produces as part of the daily turnover of 30 billion cells. On the other hand, the immune system takes no action to eradicate cancer cells that develop in response to a build up of toxins, congestion and emotional stress.
Cancers and all other tissues in the body are larded with cancer-killing white cells, such as T-cells. In the case of kidney cancer and melanomas, for example, white cells make up 50 per cent of the mass of the cancers. Since these T-cells easily recognize foreign or mutated cell tissue such as cancer cells, you would expect these immune cells to attack cancer cells right away. However, the immune system allows cancer cells to recruit it to actually increase and spread the cancer to other parts of the body. Cancer cells produce specific proteins that tell the immune cells to leave them alone and help them to grow
Why would the immune system want to collaborate with cancer cells to make more or larger tumors? Because cancer is a survival mechanism, not a disease. The body uses the cancer to keep deadly carcinogenic substances and caustic metabolic waste matter away from the lymph and blood and, therefore, from the heart, brain and other vital organs. Killing off cancer cells would in fact jeopardize its survival. Cleansing the body of accumulated toxins and waste products through the various cleansing methods advocated in my book Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation (www.ener-chi.com) removes the need for cancer.
Cancer is not a disease; it is the final and most desperate survival mechanism the body has at its disposal. It only takes control of the body when all other measures of self-preservation have failed. To truly heal cancer and what it represents in a person’s life we must come to the understanding that the reason the body allows some of its cells to grow in abnormal ways is in its best interest and not an indication that it is about to destroy itself. Cancer is a healing attempt by the body for the body. Blocking this healing attempt can destroy the body. Supporting the body in its healing efforts can save it.
Andreas Moritz’s book, Cancer is not a Disease – It’s a Survival Mechanism, explains the root causes of cancer and how to eliminate them for good. Available through www.amazon.com or www.ener-chi.com.
About the author
Andreas Moritz is a medical intuitive; a practitioner of Ayurveda, iridology, shiatsu, and vibrational medicine; a writer; and an artist. He is the author of the international bestseller, The Amazing Liver and Gallbladder Flush; Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation, Lifting the Veil of Duality, Cancer Is Not a Disease, It’s Time to Come Alive, Heart Disease No More, Diabetes No More, Simple Steps to Total Health, Diabetes—No More, Ending the AIDS Myth and Heal Yourself with Sunlight. For more information, visit the author’s website: www.ener-chi.com
Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/022578_cancer_cancer_cells_disease.html
May 24, 2009
by: Barbara Minton, Natural Health Editor
(NaturalNews) Any woman wanting to avoid breast cancer or its recurrence needs to be aware of the real risk factors. These are not the factors you hear about from the typical oncologist who is interested in pushing drugs. Imbalances in the body are the real risk factors that explain why women get breast cancer, not lack of drugs. The only way to avoid cancer or its recurrence is to address these imbalances. Two minerals, zinc and selenium, are key in maintaining balance in the body and keeping cancer away. Recent research has added to the pile of data underscoring the importance of these minerals in keeping women cancer-free.
Researchers at Pennsylvania State University have reported that glands in the breast have unique zinc requirements resulting from their need to transfer extraordinary amounts of zinc into milk during lactation. When nursing women’s breasts are deficient in zinc, the result can be severe zinc deficiency in the infant, resulting in impaired growth and development. When zinc is deficient or not properly metabolized, breast cancer is often an additional outcome. Lack of zinc has been implicated not only in the initiation of breast cancer, but also in the transition, progression, and metastasis of the disease. When zinc is deficient, cellular functioning in the breast is compromised. (Genes and Nutrition, April 2)
In France, scientists report that estrogen receptor expression in breast cancers is associated with differentiated tumors and a more favorable prognosis. The greater the resemblance of cancerous breast cells to non-cancerous breast cells, the less threatening is the disease. Although the exact mechanism underlying the protection ERs play against cancer progression remains to be researched, these scientists studied the actions of ER alpha, and documented that one of the ways this ER inhibits invasion is though its first zinc finger. A zinc finger is a group of proteins organized around a zinc ion that can bind to DNA and influence gene regulation. (Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 2008)
In other research, Dr. David Watts reviewed the hair trace mineral reports of thousands of women and found that a pattern of elevated boron, copper and calcium levels with lower levels of zinc occurred in women with breast cancer. According to Dr. Watts, boron and copper appear to make the body more sensitive to the stimulatory effects of estrogen, and less responsive to the quieting effects of progesterone. Zinc is the mineral that aids in the production and utilization of progesterone, so this pattern of mineralization makes women less progesterone responsive and more estrogen sensitive. Raising zinc levels and lowering boron, copper and calcium levels can bring these women into mineral balance and help in the creation of hormonal balance.
The primary gene protecting women from breast cancer, p53, is thought to be the most frequently mutated or altered gene in the development of cancer. This gene requires zinc, and if it is missing, the gene becomes mutated, resulting in it becoming inactivated or suppressed. Dysfunction of p53 is well documented in the development of breast cancer, indicating that a zinc deficiency is a risk factor for breast cancer independent of the levels of boron, copper and calcium.
Zinc is important in prostate gland function and may help prevent and treat prostate cancer. It has another important role in the lives of women too. Zinc is required for protein synthesis and collagen formation. Without adequate levels of zinc, skin begins to sag and lose its elasticity. The optimal balance ratio for copper and zinc is 1 to 10 according to nutrition experts Phyllis Balch CNC and James Balch M.D.
In addition to sagging skin, deficiency of zinc may result in the loss of the senses of taste and smell. It can cause fingernails to become thin, peel and develop white spots. Other possible signs of zinc deficiency for women include hair loss, high cholesterol levels, impaired night vision, increased susceptibility to infection, memory impairment, diabetes, skin lesions, and slow wound healing.
Food sources for zinc are brewer’s yeast, egg yolks, kelp, lamb, legumes, lima beans, liver, meats, mushrooms, pecans, poultry, pumpkin seeds, sardines, seafood, soy lecithin, sunflower seeds, and wheat germ. Zinc is found in alfalfa, burdock, cayenne, chamomile, dandelion, eyebright, fennel seeds, milk thistle, nettle, parsley, rose hips, sage, skullcap, and wild yam. Zinc picolinate, zinc citrate, and zinc as methionine are good choices for supplemental zinc. These are available from many supplement companies.
The relationship between selenium status and intake among breast cancer patients was studied by scientists in Kuala Lumpur. 64 women with breast cancer and 127 matched controls were interviewed to obtain information on their habitual dietary intakes, demographic data, and medical history. Selenium status was determined from toenail and hair analysis. The researchers found that total energy and protein intake was significantly higher among controls than among the breast cancer cases. The selenium intake among the women with breast cancer was significantly lower than the controls. Breast cancer risk decreased with the increasing quartiles of selenium intake. Selenium in hair did not differ among breast cancer cases and controls, but selenium status in the nails of controls was significantly higher compared to the breast cancer cases. (Sinapore Medical Journal, March).
In a recent study done at the University of Washington, scientists investigated the signaling pathways modulated by selenium. They compared global gene expression profiles in mammary tissues from pubescent female rats maintained on a selenium (3ppm) diet with those on a standardized diet. The selenium-enriched diet altered the steady-state levels of genes involved in various cellular functioning, the most dramatic of which was the changes in the expression of multiple genes that regulate circadian rhythm.
The normal mammary tissue of rats fed the standardized diet showed little circadian oscillation relative to liver tissue. However, the mammary tissue of the selenium fed rats showed a progressive, time-dependent increase in the expression of circadian gene Per2, and a circadian regulated transcription factor. Further, the results showed that the expression of Per2 and transcription mitigated RNA was significantly decreased in mammary tumors arising in selenium fed rate, but not in tumors of rats on the control diet. This suggests that selenium-induced elevation in the expression of circadian genes was incompatible with mammary cancer. The researchers concluded that the Per 2 gene is an important target of selenium for cancer prevention. (Cancer Prevention Research, July, 2008)
Selenium’s main role is inhibiting the oxidation of fats as a component of the enzyme glutathione peroxidase, one of the most powerful of the body’s own antioxidants. When combined with vitamin E, selenium protects the immune system. It plays a vital role in regulating the effects of thyroid hormone on fat metabolism. In a study, men who consumed 200 mcg of selenium daily over a ten-year period had roughly half the risk of developing lung, prostate, and colorectal cancer compared with men who did not.
Symptoms of selenium deficiency are exhaustion, high cholesterol, infections, liver impairment, and pancreatic insufficiency. Westerners often do not have enough selenium, because it is processed out of the foods typically eaten. This is one of the reasons that American men are five times more likely than Japanese men to die from prostate cancer. The typical Asian diet contains four times the amount of selenium as the typical American diet.
Selenium is found in meat and grains, but the level depends on the soil content where the food was grown. It can be found in brewer’s yeast, broccoli, brown rice, chicken, dairy products, garlic, kelp, liver, molasses, onions, salmon, seafood, vegetables, wheat germ, and whole grains. Perhaps the best source of selenium is Brazil nuts. Eating two of the nuts a day provides 240 mcg of selenium. Earl Mindell, in his Vitamin Bible, recommends 200 mcg of selenium intake daily.
For more information:
http://www.organicfacts.net/health-…
http://www.naturalnews.com/024456.html
http://www.survivordiver.com/breast…
Phyllis and James Balch, Prescription for Nutritional Healing, Fourth edition.
Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/026321_zinc_cancer_selenium.html
October 30, 2008 by: Tony Isaacs, citizen journalist
(NaturalNews) The National Cancer Institute has announced a halt to its $114 million study of whether vitamin E and selenium can prevent prostate cancer, saying that they cannot and that they might even cause slightly elevated risks for more prostate cancer and diabetes. However, upon further examination it becomes apparent that the study was flawed to begin with due to the forms of vitamin E and selenium chosen for the study.
Instead of the natural forms of the two supplements, the study opted to use a synthetic petroleum based form of vitamin E and a form of selenium derived from industrial ore processing byproducts. The flawed study also illustrates how easy it is to manipulate studies on natural alternatives to the highly profitable drugs and treatments of mainstream medicine.
The safety panel for the 35,000-man study called SELECT (SELenium and vitamin ECancer prevention Trial) called for a halt when an early look at the data showed no benefit for the treatment “at least not in the formulations and dosages used in the study.” And therein lies the rub. While the dosages may have been sufficient (400 milligrams of vitamin E and 200 micrograms of selenium), the formulations were not.
Study participants were told to stop taking the two pills they’d been taking every day since the trial opened in 2001. The men received either vitamin E (400 milligrams) and selenium (200 micrograms), vitamin E and placebo, selenium and placebo, or placebos alone.
The study was initially undertaken because two previous even larger studies showed that taking vitamin E resulted in a 32% lower rate of prostate cancer and taking selenium resulted in a 60% lower incidence of prostate cancer.
How is it then possible that a new study would find no reductions, and even slight increases in prostate cancer as well as diabetes from taking a common vitamin and mineral? The answer is that it is not possible unless the study was flawed, perhaps deliberately so – which has been known to happen over and over when it comes to natural competition to patented drugs and treatments.
Perhaps not accidentally, the flawed design of the study and the ordering of the halt not only enabled the NCI to state that there was no benefit from taking the two supplements, but even go so far as to include a warning of sorts:
There were slightly more prostate cancers in men taking vitamin E alone, and slightly more diabetes in men taking only selenium. But neither finding was statistically significant, meaning they were likely due to chance.
“The data to date suggest, but does not prove, that vitamin E may slightly increase the chance of getting prostate cancer, and that selenium may increase the chance of getting diabetes mellitus,” warns a letter sent to study participants by the Southwest Oncology Group, which ran the NCI-funded study.
Absolutely ridiculous to even think that natural vitamins and minerals found in a healthy diet would not be beneficial, much less be detrimental!
In addition to the caveat about the formulations and dosages and the results of the previous studies, the key paragraphs in the story, as reported in WebMD, appear to be these:
“The SELECT findings dash hopes raised by these earlier studies, says Edward M. Messing, MD, professor and chairman of urology and deputy director of the Cancer Center at the University of Rochester, N.Y. Messing serves as a SELECT study investigator.
“I am afraid it will be the end of the story for large trials of vitamin E and selenium to prevent prostate cancer,” Messing tells WebMD. “For vitamin E, that is unfortunate. Probably if given in a more effective form, it would be a protective or even therapeutic agent.”
Those revealing paragraphs indicate that the end of the study will be the end of large trials for vitamin E and selenium – which was very likely a desired result, since it will now be highly unlikely that vitamin E or selenium will be studied in the forms that actually offer therapeutic and preventive benefit.
When one examines the study itself, it becomes apparent what Dr. Messing was referring to.
Instead of using the natural form of Vitamin E considered most beneficial for health, d-alpha-tocopherol acetate, they used dl-alpha-tocopherol acetate. The “d” designation in front of the “alpha” indicates that the products are derived from natural sources such as vegetable oils or wheat germ. A prefix of “dl”, such as in dl-alpha- tocopherol, shows that the vitamin has been synthesized from a petroleum base.
Research has shown that the synthetic form of alpha-tocopherol acetate is considerably less effective than its natural equivalent in raising the blood plasma level of Vitamin E and in preventing peroxide hemolysis even when ingested at equivalent IU levels.
Vitamin E, in the natural form of alpha-tocopherol, is most valued for it’s anti-oxidant properties. Several other functions of alpha-tocopherol have been identified that are not likely related to its antioxidant capacity. For instance, alpha-tocopherol is known to inhibit the activity of protein kinase C, an important cell-signaling molecule. Alpha-tocopherol appears to also affect the expression and activities of molecules and enzymes in immune and inflammatory cells. Additionally, alpha-tocopherol has been shown to inhibit platelet aggregation and to enhance vasodilation.
Likewise, the form of selenium used for the test, selenomethionine, though the most popular form of selenium found in supplements, is most commonly produced from selenide in sulfide ores such as those of copper, silver, or lead. It is obtained as a byproduct of the processing of these ores, from the anode mud of copper refineries and the mud from the lead chambers of sulfuric acid plants. These muds can be processed by a number of means to obtain free selenium.
The best form of selenium for overall health is the organic form found in the diet. Brazil nuts contain the highest amounts of selenium than any other known food type. It is also possible to obtain selenium through other nuts, grains and seafood. Livestock who are allowed to graze on grains grown in soil containing selenium, will typically contain selenium within their meat.
When it comes to fighting cancer, recent anticancer research has focused on the compound Methyselenocysteine. Methyselenocysteine is found naturally in some vegetables including garlic, brassicas, leeks, and onions, especially when these are grown in high selenium soil. Methylselenocysteine is easily converted to methylselenol which has been demonstrated to be an effective anticancer form of selenium. Rather than killing cancer cells by necrosis, methylselenol kills cancer cells through apoptosis. Apoptosis is a orderly process of cellular self-destruction that does not provoke inflammatory responses. Methylselenol is also known to inhibit angiogenesis in beginning cancer tumors. Angiogenesis, the creation of new blood vessels, is necessary for cancer cells to grow into a tumor.
The many benefits of selenium, in addition to it’s cancer fighting abilities, include its ability to boost the body’s immune system and protect it against disease such as heart disease. Selenium is required to activate various key enzymes, including the antioxidant glutathione peroxidase, the metabolic enzyme thioredoxin reductase, and the thyroid-hormone-activating enzyme iodothyronine deiodinase. Additionally, selenium assists the body with maintaining proper control of the thyroid gland.
Individuals who have a deficiency in selenium are often reported as becoming much more susceptible to infections, bacteria and other illnesses.
It is not surprising to see yet another flawed mainstream study regarding vitamins and minerals. In any such study, the keys to examine any such study are usually:
1. Who funded the study
2. How were the study participants screened
3. What forms of supplements were used (normally the least effective and synthetic forms are used in such studies)
4. What were the dosage amounts (normally much less than a therapeutic dose is administered
and
5. Whether the items studied would represent a threat to the profits of mainstream drugs and treatments.
In the case of the SELECT study on Vitamin E and selenium, the fact that the study was funded by the National Cancer Institute is itself reason for suspicion, since the cancer and drug industry ties to the NCI are well documented. Screening and dosage amounts aside, the forms of vitamin E and selenium chosen doomed the study from the start.
In the final analysis, it appears that the halted SELECT study, rather than being a valid study on the prostate fighting properties of vitamin E and selenium is merely the latest in a line of flawed studies that make it appear that vitamins and minerals which might pose a risk to the profits of the big pharma companies patented drugs and mainstream treatments are unproven or unsafe. And once again we see the old truism that if something works which is also safe, cheap and non-patentable, it will not likely ever be approved or accepted by mainstream medicine.
Note: Although many would not recommend either Vitamin E or selenium in mega therapeutic doses or as primary cancer fighters, adequate amounts of both are essential in maintaining good health in modest amounts and are likely helpful in fighting cancer for that reason alone, not to mention the benefits found in previous studies. Selenium is particularly helpful for maintaining good liver health – a critical consideration when fighting cancer.
Sources:
WebMD (the article “Prostate Cancer Prevention Study Halted – Vitamin E, Selenium No Help in Preventing Prostate Cancer”)
Linus Pauling Institute (Vitamin E)
International Health News (“Alpha-tocopherol: The Great Protector”)
Wikipedia (For the forms of selenium)
www.nutritional-supplement-guides.com (For natural sources of selenium)
www.advance-health.com/selenium.html (“Selenium and Methylselenocysteine”)
Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/024650_selenium_cancer_vitamin_E.html
About the author
Tony Isaacs, is a natural health advocate and researcher and the author of books and articles about natural health including “Cancer’s Natural Enemy” and “Collected Remedies“as well as song lyrics and humorous anecdotal stories. Mr. Isaacs also has The Best Years in Life website for baby boomers and others wishing to avoid prescription drugs and mainstream managed illness and live longer, healthier and happier lives naturally. He is currently residing in the scenic Texas hill country near Utopia, Texas where he serves as a consultant to the Utopia Silver colloidal silver and supplement company and where he is working on a major book project due for publication later this year. Mr. Isaacs also hosts the CureZone “Ask Tony Isaacs” forum as well as the Yahoo Health Group “Oleander Soup
“
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
by: Sherry Baker, Health Sciences Editor
(NaturalNews) After decades of attempting to fight AIDS with experimental vaccines and drugs, scientists have recently discovered how several natural substances could be powerful weapons against the disease. For example, in mid-November, UCLA AIDS researchers published research concluding that the herb astragalus contains a substance with the potential to possibly replace the side-effect plagued HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy) currently used to treat AIDS patients. http://www.naturalnews.com/024799.html
Now Penn State immunologists say they’ve documented how a micronutrient could help battle AIDS. Their findings, just published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, show how selenium could dramatically put the brakes on the replication of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Selenium is needed by the body to maintain normal metabolism. It’s also increasingly being studied for its anti-cancer properties. Although other nutrients usually bind to proteins, selenium actually becomes incorporated into proteins, forming what are called selenoproteins. These selenium-containing proteins are believed to slow the spread of infections. However, when HIV infects a person, the virus manages to degrade selenoproteins, probably due to a protein, dubbed Tat, produced by the HIV virus. In particular, Tat seems to target a selenoprotein known as TR1.
But there may be a way to get around this degradation of selenoproteins — supplementation with selenium. “Since HIV targets the selenoproteins, we thought that the logical way to deal with the virus is to increase the expression of such proteins in the body,” K. Sandeep Prabhu, assistant professor of immunology and molecular toxicology at Penn State, said in a statement to the press.
To test their idea, the scientists isolated blood cells from human volunteers who did not have HIV. Then they infected those cells with the virus and added a form of selenium called sodium selenite to the cell culture.
The result? The added selenium inhibited the replication of HIV at least 10-fold, in comparison to cell cultures with no added selenium. The scientists also selectively reduced the production pf the selenoprotein TRI. When there was less selenium-containing protein,HIV replication soared 3.5 times. Bottom line: The research confirms that an increase in selenium in cells zaps replication of HIV while a reduction in the amount of selenium-containing TR1 protein gives the virus a boost.
“We have found that increasing the expression of proteins that contain selenium negatively affects the replication of HIV. Once we fully understand the function of these selenium proteins, it will give us a handle to come up with more effective drugs,” said Dr. Prabhu in the prepared statement for the media.
Two more new studies offer additional evidence that selenium may impact the immune system. German scientists from St. Josefs-Hospital in Wiesbaden recently published a study in the Swedish medical journal Acta Oncologica that suggests the micronutrient could help prevent prostate cancer and prostate enlargement. The researchers found that whole blood selenium levels were significantly lower in all men tested who had prostate cancer or benign prostate hypertrophy (which can cause difficulty with urination) and concluded, “our findings may support the recommendation of selenium supplementation” to help prostate health. What’s more, a study just published in the journal Molecular Nutrition and Food Research suggests enzymes that contain selenium have anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects that could make them important in preventing prostate and colorectal cancers.
Too much selenium in can cause a condition called selenosis, resulting in loss of hair, nail problems, nausea, irritability, fatigue, and mild nerve damage. However, selenium toxicity is extremely rare. A lack of selenium may, in fact, be far more common and potentially more dangerous to health. According to the National Institutes of Health, people age 14 and older should take in about 44 micrograms of selenium a day. Good sources of the micronutrient include Brazil nuts, eggs, brown rice, whole wheat bread and pasta, walnuts and oatmeal.
About the author
Sherry Baker is a widely published writer whose work has appeared in Newsweek, Health, the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Yoga Journal, Optometry, Atlanta, Arthritis Today, Natural Healing Newsletter, OMNI, UCLA’s “Healthy Years” newsletter, Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s “Focus on Health Aging” newsletter, the Cleveland Clinic’s “Men’s Health Advisor” newsletter and many others.
Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/024991_selenium_AIDS_proteins.html
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