Vitamin C therapy for cancer was first promoted by Linus Pauling, the Nobel prize winner, 30 years ago. Now it turns out that there is renewed interest in this area. News about a few remarkable cancer cures has started to drum up new treatment ideas in which Vitamin C is used as a targeted agent against the terminal disease.
An article in the New Zealand Herald describes three cancer patients who were given large intravenous doses over a period of several months. It turns out that their tumors shrunk and their lives were extended according to the doctors who treated them.
One, a 49-year-old man diagnosed with terminal bladder cancer in 1996, was still alive and cancer-free nine years later, having declined chemotherapy and radiotherapy in favor of regular infusions of vitamin C. Another, a 66-year-old woman with an aggressive lymphoma who had a "dismal prognosis" in 1995, is still alive 10 years later after an intravenous Vitamin C program. The third referenced in the article was a 51-year-old woman with kidney cancer that spread to her lungs. She was diagnosed in 1995 and after the Vitamin C dosing had a normal chest X-ray just two years later. All of these findings were confirmed by pathologists.
Although they do not prove the vitamin cured the cancer they do increase the "clinical plausibility" of the idea, the researchers say. Dr Pauling's claims sparked the continuing boom in sales of vitamin C, but attempts to confirm his findings failed and high-dose vitamin C became an off-the-wall "alternative" therapy.
The latest study, published in the Canadian Association's Medical Journal, could trigger renewed interest in Dr Pauling's claims because studies show that vitamin C is toxic to some cancer cells but not to normal cells. The problem has been delivering a high enough level of C because oral doses of the vitamin are rapidly excreted from the body.
However, injections achieve blood levels 25 times higher and persist for far longer; at these very high doses, the blood level of vitamin C is high enough to selectively kill cancer cells.
Several clinical trials of vitamin C therapy are about to start, including one at McGill University, Montreal.
Dave
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Can a Pair of Shoes Make a Difference in Your Back?
So many people suffer from back pain that it is no surprise how many scams and shams there are surrounding the whole field of back care products. I recently reviewed a $250 back care product on this blog, the "Back 2 Life Machine," which shows how easy it is to get caught up in overstated claims. The people in those TV spots promoting the device appeared to be completely cured of their back pain (they must be actors). Instead, that device made my back feel even worse.
However, my wife has experienced foot problems and I watched with interest how she dealt with them. Several decades of wearing high-heels exclusively left her feet in very poor condition, and after consultation with both a foot doctor as well as numerous shoe reps, she chose a pair of shoes called MBT, a brand which calls itself the "Anti-Shoe Company." They make a shoe which is completely different; it is built on the correct physiology of the foot -- in other words, how we were intended to walk when ancient man traveled on sand, dirt or mud. (Let's face it, cave men weren't walking on concrete, asphalt and tile all day long. Perhaps if man had walked exclusively on flat, hard rock than our feet would have evolved somewhat differently).
The bottom of the MBT shoe is rounded. There's a very thick sole, thickest where your foot lands, and then you roll your feet as you walk with the curved bottom of the shoe. The inventor of the shoe, a Swiss engineer, built them to emulate the feeling of walking barefoot in sand.
Walking in a pair of MBT's feels weird at first, but once you've had an hour or two in them, you notice how you are standing straighter when you walk. Your posture is completely different than it is when walking in normal shoes. (Walking in normal shoes gives us a rather slanted, forward-focused stance which puts a strain on the lower back. In MBT's, there is no strain on the back at all -- your spine is in perfect alignment.) Click on the headline in this blog post to see a brief animation of how this works.
Now, both my wife and I have a pair of MBT's, which are the single most-expensive shoes I've ever purchased. I think they are helping my back a great deal -- I'll update this review in 3-6 months. when it is definitive, but from my first two or three weeks I can tell you that it appears the best solution for my aching back is just a better pair of shoes.
Dave
However, my wife has experienced foot problems and I watched with interest how she dealt with them. Several decades of wearing high-heels exclusively left her feet in very poor condition, and after consultation with both a foot doctor as well as numerous shoe reps, she chose a pair of shoes called MBT, a brand which calls itself the "Anti-Shoe Company." They make a shoe which is completely different; it is built on the correct physiology of the foot -- in other words, how we were intended to walk when ancient man traveled on sand, dirt or mud. (Let's face it, cave men weren't walking on concrete, asphalt and tile all day long. Perhaps if man had walked exclusively on flat, hard rock than our feet would have evolved somewhat differently).
The bottom of the MBT shoe is rounded. There's a very thick sole, thickest where your foot lands, and then you roll your feet as you walk with the curved bottom of the shoe. The inventor of the shoe, a Swiss engineer, built them to emulate the feeling of walking barefoot in sand.
Walking in a pair of MBT's feels weird at first, but once you've had an hour or two in them, you notice how you are standing straighter when you walk. Your posture is completely different than it is when walking in normal shoes. (Walking in normal shoes gives us a rather slanted, forward-focused stance which puts a strain on the lower back. In MBT's, there is no strain on the back at all -- your spine is in perfect alignment.) Click on the headline in this blog post to see a brief animation of how this works.
Now, both my wife and I have a pair of MBT's, which are the single most-expensive shoes I've ever purchased. I think they are helping my back a great deal -- I'll update this review in 3-6 months. when it is definitive, but from my first two or three weeks I can tell you that it appears the best solution for my aching back is just a better pair of shoes.
Dave
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Calcium and Reduced Cancer Risk in Both Men and Women
According to a report in the February 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, women with higher intake of calcium appear to have a lower risk of cancer overall. Of further interest to readers, both men and women with high calcium intakes have lower risks of colorectal cancer and other cancers of the digestive system.
Dr. Yikyung Park of the National Cancer Institute and colleagues analyzed data from 293,907 men and 198,903 women who participated in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study. Participants took a food frequency questionnaire when they enrolled in the study between 1995 and 1996, reporting how much and how often they consumed dairy and a wide variety of other foods and whether they took supplements. Their records were then linked with state cancer registries to identify new cases of cancer through 2003.
Over an average of 7 years of follow-up, 36,965 cancer cases were identified in men and 16,605 in women. In women, cancer risk was lowered with intake of up to 1,300 milligrams per day, after which no further risk reduction was observed.
“In both men and women, dairy food and calcium intakes were inversely associated with cancers of the digestive system,” the authors write. The one-fifth of men who consumed the most calcium through food and supplements (about 1,530 milligrams per day) had a 16 percent lower risk of these types of cancer than the one-fifth who consumed the least (526 milligrams per day). For women, those in the top one-fifth of calcium consumption (1,881 milligrams per day) had a 23 percent lower risk than those in the bottom one-fifth (494 milligrams per day). The decreased risk was particularly pronounced for colorectal cancer.
Calcium is known to benefit bone health, according to background information in the article. Because of this, the Institute of Medicine recommends 1,200 milligrams of calcium for adults age 50 and older, and the 2005 dietary guidelines for Americans recommend 3 cups per day of low-fat or fat-free dairy products.
Dave
Dr. Yikyung Park of the National Cancer Institute and colleagues analyzed data from 293,907 men and 198,903 women who participated in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study. Participants took a food frequency questionnaire when they enrolled in the study between 1995 and 1996, reporting how much and how often they consumed dairy and a wide variety of other foods and whether they took supplements. Their records were then linked with state cancer registries to identify new cases of cancer through 2003.
Over an average of 7 years of follow-up, 36,965 cancer cases were identified in men and 16,605 in women. In women, cancer risk was lowered with intake of up to 1,300 milligrams per day, after which no further risk reduction was observed.
“In both men and women, dairy food and calcium intakes were inversely associated with cancers of the digestive system,” the authors write. The one-fifth of men who consumed the most calcium through food and supplements (about 1,530 milligrams per day) had a 16 percent lower risk of these types of cancer than the one-fifth who consumed the least (526 milligrams per day). For women, those in the top one-fifth of calcium consumption (1,881 milligrams per day) had a 23 percent lower risk than those in the bottom one-fifth (494 milligrams per day). The decreased risk was particularly pronounced for colorectal cancer.
Calcium is known to benefit bone health, according to background information in the article. Because of this, the Institute of Medicine recommends 1,200 milligrams of calcium for adults age 50 and older, and the 2005 dietary guidelines for Americans recommend 3 cups per day of low-fat or fat-free dairy products.
Dave
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
B6, B12, and Folic Acid Reduce Risk of Macular Degeneration
A combination of vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid appears to decrease the risk of age-related macular degeneration in women. This news comes to us via the February 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of vision loss in older Americans. Treatment options exist for those with severe cases of the disease, but the only known prevention method is to avoid smoking. Much of the recent science on AMD has shown a connection to high blood levels of homocysteine, an amino acid. High levels of homocysteine are associated with dysfunction of the blood vessel lining. This current work shows that treatment with vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and folic acid appears to reduce homocysteine levels -- as a result, it may even reverse this blood vessel dysfunction.
William G. Christen, Sc.D., of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues conducted a randomized, double-blind clinical trial involving 5,442 women age 40 and older who already had heart disease or at least three risk factors. Of these, 5,205 did not have AMD at the beginning of the study. In April 1998, these women were randomly assigned to take a placebo or a combination of folic acid (2.5 milligrams per day), pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6, 50 milligrams per day) and cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12, 1 milligram per day). Participants continued the therapy through July 2005 and were tracked for the development of AMD through November 2005.
Women taking the supplements had a 34 percent lower risk of any AMD and a 41 percent lower risk of visually significant AMD. “The beneficial effect of treatment began to emerge at approximately two years of follow-up and persisted throughout the trial,” the authors write. The trial findings reported are the strongest evidence to date in support of a possible beneficial effect of folic acid and B vitamin supplements in AMD prevention.
Dave
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of vision loss in older Americans. Treatment options exist for those with severe cases of the disease, but the only known prevention method is to avoid smoking. Much of the recent science on AMD has shown a connection to high blood levels of homocysteine, an amino acid. High levels of homocysteine are associated with dysfunction of the blood vessel lining. This current work shows that treatment with vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and folic acid appears to reduce homocysteine levels -- as a result, it may even reverse this blood vessel dysfunction.
William G. Christen, Sc.D., of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues conducted a randomized, double-blind clinical trial involving 5,442 women age 40 and older who already had heart disease or at least three risk factors. Of these, 5,205 did not have AMD at the beginning of the study. In April 1998, these women were randomly assigned to take a placebo or a combination of folic acid (2.5 milligrams per day), pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6, 50 milligrams per day) and cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12, 1 milligram per day). Participants continued the therapy through July 2005 and were tracked for the development of AMD through November 2005.
Women taking the supplements had a 34 percent lower risk of any AMD and a 41 percent lower risk of visually significant AMD. “The beneficial effect of treatment began to emerge at approximately two years of follow-up and persisted throughout the trial,” the authors write. The trial findings reported are the strongest evidence to date in support of a possible beneficial effect of folic acid and B vitamin supplements in AMD prevention.
Dave
Monday, February 23, 2009
Stroke Risk Reduction via Green or Black Tea
A new study coming from scientists at UCLA has found that drinking at least three cups of green or black tea a day can significantly reduce the risk of stroke. Interestingly, the more you drink, the better your odds of holding back that stroke.
The study was published in the online edition of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, were presented Feb. 19 at the American Heart Association's annual International Stroke Conference in San Diego, Calif.
The UCLA researchers examined nine studies describing 4,378 strokes among nearly 195,000 individuals, according to lead author Dr. Lenore Arab, a professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
"What we saw was that there was a consistency of effect of appreciable magnitude. By drinking three cups of tea a day, the risk of a stroke was reduced by 21 percent. It didn't matter if it was green or black tea," said Dr. Arab. Oddly, the data shows this effect appears to be linear. For instance, if one drinks three cups a day, the risk falls by 21 percent; follow that with another three cups and the risk drops another 21 percent.
Note that this effect was found in tea made from the plant Camellia sinensis, both green and black varieties, and not from the many popular types of herbal teas on the market.
To date, there are very few known ways to reduce the risk of stroke. Developing medications for stroke victims is particularly challenging, given that the drug has to get to the stroke-damaged site quickly because damage occurs so fast. Arab said that by the time a stroke victim gets medical care, it's nearly too late to impede the damage.
"That's why these findings are so exciting," she said. "If we can find a way to prevent the stroke, or prevent the damage, that is simple and not toxic, that would be a great advance."
Researchers have speculated that the antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) or the amino acid theanine may be what helps. Theanine is nearly 100-percent absorbed, Arab said. "It gets across the blood-brain barrier and it looks a lot like a molecule that's very similar to glutamate, and glutamate release is associated with stroke.It could be that theanine and glutamate compete for the glutamate receptor in the brain."
Although a randomized clinical trial is needed to confirm this effect, the findings suggest that drinking three cups of green or black tea a day could help prevent an ischemic stroke.
Dave
The study was published in the online edition of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, were presented Feb. 19 at the American Heart Association's annual International Stroke Conference in San Diego, Calif.
The UCLA researchers examined nine studies describing 4,378 strokes among nearly 195,000 individuals, according to lead author Dr. Lenore Arab, a professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
"What we saw was that there was a consistency of effect of appreciable magnitude. By drinking three cups of tea a day, the risk of a stroke was reduced by 21 percent. It didn't matter if it was green or black tea," said Dr. Arab. Oddly, the data shows this effect appears to be linear. For instance, if one drinks three cups a day, the risk falls by 21 percent; follow that with another three cups and the risk drops another 21 percent.
Note that this effect was found in tea made from the plant Camellia sinensis, both green and black varieties, and not from the many popular types of herbal teas on the market.
To date, there are very few known ways to reduce the risk of stroke. Developing medications for stroke victims is particularly challenging, given that the drug has to get to the stroke-damaged site quickly because damage occurs so fast. Arab said that by the time a stroke victim gets medical care, it's nearly too late to impede the damage.
"That's why these findings are so exciting," she said. "If we can find a way to prevent the stroke, or prevent the damage, that is simple and not toxic, that would be a great advance."
Researchers have speculated that the antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) or the amino acid theanine may be what helps. Theanine is nearly 100-percent absorbed, Arab said. "It gets across the blood-brain barrier and it looks a lot like a molecule that's very similar to glutamate, and glutamate release is associated with stroke.It could be that theanine and glutamate compete for the glutamate receptor in the brain."
Although a randomized clinical trial is needed to confirm this effect, the findings suggest that drinking three cups of green or black tea a day could help prevent an ischemic stroke.
Dave
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Back-2-Life Machine is a "Sham" for Many
There appears to be a trend right now for healthy lifestyle products to be advertised on TV or radio, with a great number of claims being made about what they can do -- and some very shady business practices to go along with those generally bogus claims. Some of these products are very expensive.
My wife recently tried a "free sample offer" for a product called Hydroxatone (a skin cream) and an invoice arrived in the box for nearly $160.00. She was charged $12.95 to ship a product that cost $3 or $4 to ship, at the most, with instructions to return the remaining lotion within 30 days or her card would be charged the full amount. How does that sound for a "free" trial offer?
In my case, I got suckered as well, by a company that sells a $200+ device on TV, called the "Back 2 Life Machine." I responded to an offer that, once again, was too good to be true. The device itself has to be returned within 30 days to get a refund that does not include shipping and handling each way (and the unit is large). My guess is that at least half of their customer base returns it and they make enormous profits on the other 50% who miss the cut off date. While it is an interesting concept, I was not able to find any credible scientific evidence supporting its claims. You lie down with this device, put your legs up on the saddle, and let it pull you gently for 12 minutes or so every day. Personally, I knew that I had only a short time with it before my window to send it back closed, and so I used it three or four times a day.
I really, really wanted that Back-2-Life Machine to work. Unfortunately, I achieved no results at all -- not one difference in my back pain. Upon calling the firm to get an RMA number (even though I would lose about $50), they offered me all kinds of incentives to keep it. Even a huge reduction in the price.
Let me recommend to marketers that if your product has some value, price it fairly from day one. Don't make one consumer pay a higher price, while others buy it for substantially less because they called and complained. That's just adding an E to the back end of your SHAM product . . . SHAME on you.
Dave
PS - The comments section of this blog has been closed for many months. Please do not attempt to leave a message. We've been inundated with spam and with messages on either side of the issue that we do not want to publish as the author has stopped taking messages on this issue.
My wife recently tried a "free sample offer" for a product called Hydroxatone (a skin cream) and an invoice arrived in the box for nearly $160.00. She was charged $12.95 to ship a product that cost $3 or $4 to ship, at the most, with instructions to return the remaining lotion within 30 days or her card would be charged the full amount. How does that sound for a "free" trial offer?
In my case, I got suckered as well, by a company that sells a $200+ device on TV, called the "Back 2 Life Machine." I responded to an offer that, once again, was too good to be true. The device itself has to be returned within 30 days to get a refund that does not include shipping and handling each way (and the unit is large). My guess is that at least half of their customer base returns it and they make enormous profits on the other 50% who miss the cut off date. While it is an interesting concept, I was not able to find any credible scientific evidence supporting its claims. You lie down with this device, put your legs up on the saddle, and let it pull you gently for 12 minutes or so every day. Personally, I knew that I had only a short time with it before my window to send it back closed, and so I used it three or four times a day.
I really, really wanted that Back-2-Life Machine to work. Unfortunately, I achieved no results at all -- not one difference in my back pain. Upon calling the firm to get an RMA number (even though I would lose about $50), they offered me all kinds of incentives to keep it. Even a huge reduction in the price.
Let me recommend to marketers that if your product has some value, price it fairly from day one. Don't make one consumer pay a higher price, while others buy it for substantially less because they called and complained. That's just adding an E to the back end of your SHAM product . . . SHAME on you.
Dave
PS - The comments section of this blog has been closed for many months. Please do not attempt to leave a message. We've been inundated with spam and with messages on either side of the issue that we do not want to publish as the author has stopped taking messages on this issue.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
More on the Benefit of Apples for Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed invasive cancer and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women in the United States. It is the prevalence of this terrible disease that makes work on beneficial natural products so interesting. In the most recent case, six studies have been published in the last year by a Cornell researcher; all of them add to the growing supply of evidence that apples have a huge, beneficial effect on our health.
In one of his recent papers, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Dr. Rui Hai Liu, Cornell associate professor of food science and a member of Cornell's Institute for Comparative and Environmental Toxicology, reports that fresh apple extracts significantly inhibited the size of mammary tumors in rats -- and the more extracts they were given, the greater the reduction.
"We not only observed that the treated animals had fewer tumors, but the tumors were smaller, less malignant and grew more slowly compared with the tumors in the untreated rats," said Liu, pointing out that the new study confirmed the findings of his preliminary work in rats published eighteen months ago.
His latest research found that a type of adenocarcinoma (a highly malignant tumor and the main cause of death of breast-cancer patients) was evident in 81 percent of tumors in the control animals. However, for the animals fed apple extracts, the situation was dramatically different. The adenocarcinoma developed in only 57 percent, 50 percent and 23 percent of the rats which were fed low, middle and high doses of apple extracts during the 24-week study. (This is the equivalent of one, three and six apples a day in humans).
Phytochemicals are the star of studies like these (also known as phenolics or flavonoids). These compounds are found in apples and other fruits and vegetables. Liu reported in the same journal that apples provide 33 percent of the phenolics that Americans consume annually.
In a study of apple peel published in the same journal (issue 56:21), Liu reported on a variety of new phenolic compounds that he discovered that also have "potent antioxidant and anti-proliferative activities" on tumors. And in yet another study in the same journal (issue 56:24), he reported on his discovery of the specific modulation effects that apple extracts have on cell cycle machinery. Recently, Liu's group also reported the finding that apple phytochemicals inhibit an important inflammation pathway in human breast cancer cells.
"These studies add to the growing evidence that increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, including apples, would provide consumers with more phenolics, which are proving to have important health benefits. I would encourage consumers to eat more and a wide variety of fruits and vegetables daily."
Dave
In one of his recent papers, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Dr. Rui Hai Liu, Cornell associate professor of food science and a member of Cornell's Institute for Comparative and Environmental Toxicology, reports that fresh apple extracts significantly inhibited the size of mammary tumors in rats -- and the more extracts they were given, the greater the reduction.
"We not only observed that the treated animals had fewer tumors, but the tumors were smaller, less malignant and grew more slowly compared with the tumors in the untreated rats," said Liu, pointing out that the new study confirmed the findings of his preliminary work in rats published eighteen months ago.
His latest research found that a type of adenocarcinoma (a highly malignant tumor and the main cause of death of breast-cancer patients) was evident in 81 percent of tumors in the control animals. However, for the animals fed apple extracts, the situation was dramatically different. The adenocarcinoma developed in only 57 percent, 50 percent and 23 percent of the rats which were fed low, middle and high doses of apple extracts during the 24-week study. (This is the equivalent of one, three and six apples a day in humans).
Phytochemicals are the star of studies like these (also known as phenolics or flavonoids). These compounds are found in apples and other fruits and vegetables. Liu reported in the same journal that apples provide 33 percent of the phenolics that Americans consume annually.
In a study of apple peel published in the same journal (issue 56:21), Liu reported on a variety of new phenolic compounds that he discovered that also have "potent antioxidant and anti-proliferative activities" on tumors. And in yet another study in the same journal (issue 56:24), he reported on his discovery of the specific modulation effects that apple extracts have on cell cycle machinery. Recently, Liu's group also reported the finding that apple phytochemicals inhibit an important inflammation pathway in human breast cancer cells.
"These studies add to the growing evidence that increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, including apples, would provide consumers with more phenolics, which are proving to have important health benefits. I would encourage consumers to eat more and a wide variety of fruits and vegetables daily."
Dave
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