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Man's tumor shrinks when he alters environment, shuns cancer treatments in favor of acts of kindness

Man's tumor shrinks when he alters environment, shuns cancer treatments in favor of acts of kindness
(NaturalNews) While most people are focused on paying their own bills, sorting through their own finances and seeking to generate more income, unemployed Brice Royer has made it his mission to pay others' rent. Such generosity is just one example of the many ways he helps others. Of course, the burning question exists: Why does he do it?

"Why do I pay others [sic] rent and not my own? It's simple. Buying and selling isn't love. It's trade. Giving and receiving is love," said Royer. "I believe trade disconnects us and caused my cancer." (1)

The link between money and illness

Thirty-year-old Royer developed a rare stomach cancer two years ago. After hearing the common reasons that likely led to his illness such as exposure to chemicals and other environmental factors, it wasn't until he spoke with an economist who said that money was at the root of its cause that Royer developed this pay-it-forward mindset. (2) In a nutshell, he has embraced a lifestyle in which he focuses on shifting away from a cash-driven society toward one that allows people to meet their needs in a system of giving and receiving instead. Rather than turning to cancer treatments or surgeries, Royer has chosen to change his environment, and it's done wonders for his health.

Since adopting this lifestyle, he's maintained a healthy life that's allowed him to manage his illness. In fact, he's even added weight to his once sickly-looking body, something he was unable to do before making this change. Plus, he encourages and inspires others to embrace a gift economy lifestyle through the Facebook page he created, Gift Economy Vancouver BC. (2) Royer even moved from a very busy area to a significantly quieter town in North Vancouver, Canada.

Why an approach that shifts away from money, towards community heals

The thinking behind his approach of treating cancer by engaging in a pay-it-forward system is twofold. First, after research and much thought, he says he feels that money and people's collective quest for it, can lead to unhealthy bodies. For example, in parts of China where some chemical factories thrive economically, its residents are developing cancers left and right. (3) In areas where the economy is booming, in many instances, the health of its surrounding population is waning. Therein comes the notion that society's ongoing desire for money, to the point of unnecessary excess, is literally costing people their lives.

Secondly, Royer is on board with research which shows that sharing and a sense of community leads to longevity. In a society where people give and receive, rather than engage in monetary exchanges, people tend to live happy and healthier lives. For example, on the Greek island of Ikaria, men are about four times as likely as Americans to reach 90, and their health is typically better to boot. (4) There, children return home to live with their parents even after college, there is no concept of time and the sense of urgency that tends to surround it in other cultures, and people pool their money to celebrate holidays with food and drink.

"For me, at least, it's a matter of survival," Royer said of his gift economy way of living. "Giving and receiving for me is about health and healing." (2)

The latest medical scan shows there to be improvement in Royer's tumor. (2)

Sources for this article include:

(1) http://www.youcaring.com

(2) http://www.vancouversun.com

(3) http://www.theguardian.com

(4) http://www.nytimes.com

https://www.facebook.com

About the author:
A science enthusiast with a keen interest in health nutrition, Antonia has been intensely researching various dieting routines for several years now, weighing their highs and their lows, to bring readers the most interesting info and news in the field. While she is very excited about a high raw diet, she likes to keep a fair and balanced approach towards non-raw methods of food preparation as well. 

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/045932_tumor_shrinkage_cancer_treatment_acts_of_kindness.html#ixzz3HcPOgkzI

NIH exceptional responders to cancer therapy study launched

The Exceptional Responders Initiative, a study to investigate the molecular factors of tumors associated with exceptional treatment responses of cancer patients to drug therapies, was launched today by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health. Scientists will attempt to identify the molecular features of tumors that predict whether or not a particular drug or class of drugs will be beneficial. Investigators will examine tumor specimens from patients in clinical trials who achieved an exceptional response relative to other trial participants, or other patients who achieved an exceptional and unexpected response to a non-investigational therapy.

This initiative was initially considered two years ago when, through the use of advanced DNA sequencing methods, the molecular basis for the prolonged remission of bladder cancer in a patient following treatment with a molecularly targeted drug in a clinical trial was determined. Researchers thought it might be possible to understand the mechanism of drug response for a relatively small number of patients in early phase clinical trials who benefit dramatically from therapy. In the past, trials in which up to only 10 percent of patients had significant and prolonged responses were considered unsuccessful because it was not possible to understand why some patients benefitted from treatment and others did not.

In treating patients with cancer, unexpected and prolonged remissions following standard therapy can be observed; the reasons why certain patients experience these remissions have been unclear. If molecular markers could be developed that predict positive responses to certain therapies, even in a small subset of patients, it might be possible to more effectively choose treatment programs for individual patients.

In this study, some of the tissue and clinical data from exceptional responders will be obtained from NCI-supported trials as well as potentially other clinical trials. The remaining samples and data will come from standard therapy settings, such as community practice, where there are reliable outcome data, and from pharmaceutical industry trials or other sources. Consequently, letters of solicitation are being sent to cancer centers and other clinicians nationwide to ask them to assist in this effort.

DNA and RNA from tissue samples will be isolated at the Biospecimen Core Resource at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio. Those isolates will then be shipped to the DNA sequencing and analysis center at Baylor College of Medicine. 

“The feasibility of this approach is supported by reports in the literature of relevant mutations in tumor specimens from patients who experienced an exceptional response to a drug in a clinical trial, even though that drug failed to meet the trial’s endpoint for clinical benefit,” said Louis Staudt, Ph.D., M.D., director of the NCI Center for Cancer Genomics, a co-leader of this study.

Ultimately, clinicians would like to use this information to identify patients who may potentially respond to agents with the same or similar mechanism of action. It may be difficult to determine if abnormalities found in exceptional responders are functionally significant and whether the abnormalities actually drive tumor growth. Additionally, relevant mutations may be present in less than 5 percent of tumors, making them difficult to identify.

“The increasing ability of molecular technologies to stratify tumor types by prognosis or response to treatment will result in many common cancers being separated into specific subtypes that may respond to drugs in very different ways,” noted Barbara A. Conley, M.D., Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis, NCI, and the other co-lead investigator for the study. “The ability to identify molecular markers that are able to predict a clinical response in these subsets of patients will provide us with the tools to further advance our ability to conduct studies consistent with the principles of precision medicine.”

This exploratory study will also examine the feasibility of conducting a larger exceptional responder study (especially given what is expected to be a limited amount of tissue that can be collected over the study period of three to four years). The output of this initiative might include a list of plausible mutations, possible mutations, or simply all the mutations found in the exceptional responder cases.

Researchers hope other investigators will seek to build on the data generated by this study by testing hypotheses on specimens from a trial that used a particular drug, or by comparing their own dataset with the shared data. Placing the full genomic annotation of 100 cases of exceptional responders in the public domain should aid all clinicians and researchers looking for patterns in drug response.

###

Questions from investigators, physicians, and hospitals looking to contribute tumor samples can be sent by email to the Exceptional Responder’s email box at NCIExceptionalResponders@mail.nih.gov. 

For more details about the Exceptional Responders initiative, please go to the Q&A athttp://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/newsfromnci/2014/ExceptionalRespondersQandA. For details on this trial, #NCT02243592, please go to the Clinical Trials.gov page athttps://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02243592?term=NCT02243592&rank=1.

For other questions about this initiative or about cancer, please call NCI's Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).

KANSER TEDAVİSİ

Kanser tedavilerini, Klasik Kanser Tedavisi ve Alternatif Kanser Tedavisi olarak iki ayrı guruba ayırmak mümkündür. Klasik Kanser Tedavi yöntemlerinin yetersiz kalmasından dolayı dünyanın bir çok ülkesinde olduğu gibi ülkemizde de kanser hastalarının çoğu Alternatif Kanser Tedavisi metotlarına başvurmaktadırlar. Kanser tedavi yöntemlerini aşağıdaki gibi başlıklar halinde sıralamak mümkündür.

Bitkisel Kanser Tedavisi
Alternatif Tedaviler içerisinde yer alan Bitkisel Tedavide, kullanılan bitki ekstraktları uygulaması başlatılmadan önce, hastalığın türü, varsa metastazı (yayılması), evresi (yoğunluğu), hastanın piskolojik konumu (morali), aile piskolojisi, beslenme alışkanlıkları, yaşadığı coğrafi bölge, önceden uygulanmış veya uygulanmamış klasik modern tıp tedavi yöntemleri, uzmanlar tarafından incelendikten sonra, hastaya özel uygulanan bitkisel destek tedavi yöntemidir. Her evredeki her kanser türünü %100 tedavi edebildiği garanti edilmemektedir.

Bitkisel tedavi, klasik modern tedavi yöntemleri olan Cerrahi, Kemoterapi, Radyoterapi gibi yöntemlerin öncesinde tek başına, esnasında destekleyici, sonrasında da tamamlayıcı olarak kullanılabilen bir yöntemdir.

Bitkisel Tedavi, klasik tıp tedavi yöntemlerinin, yetersiz kaldığı ve uygulanamadığı birçok hastalıkların tedavisinde yardımcıdır. Çağımızın vebası olarak adlandırılan kanserin tedavisini, bazı bitki, kök ve hücrelerin fermantasyona uğratılıp defalarca distilasyon edilerek elde edilen Bitki Ekstraktları, gıda takviyesi olarak sağlamaktadır. Bitki ekstaktları bir bedene uygulandığı andan itibaren bedenin genetik yapısında bulunan tüm savunma sistemlerini güçlendirilerek, insan bedeninin kendi kendini onarabilme kapasitesini arttırır. Dünyada, kanser hücrelerini yok edebilecek tek güç yine insan bedenin kendisinde bulunmuştur.
Araştırmacı Adnan AKAR tarafından, Amerika, Rusya, Çin ve Japonya başta olmak üzere Dünyanın birçok ülkesinde kanser tedavisine yönelik alternatif metotlar bir araya getirilerek incelendikten sonra, ülkemizde geliştirilen bitki ekstraktları kimyasal veya sentetik hiç bir katkı maddesi içermemektedir.

Bitki ekstraktları Klasik Tıp tedavi yöntemlerinin (Kemoterapi, Radyoterapi, Cerrahi vb.) öncesinde veya sonrasında kullanılmaktadır. DNA Yapısının iç döngüsü hedef alınarak genetik kusur veya genetik hasarın tedavisi için DNA’ nın moleküler yapısındaki organik ve amino asitler zincirini güçlendirmeye yardımcıdır.

Cerrahi Kanser Tedavisi (Ameliyat)

Kanser hücrelerinin büyüme sebebi DNA hasarıdır. Normalde vücut bu hasarı tamir edebilirken, kanser hücrelerindeki hasarı onaramamaktadır. Kanser genellikle solid dediğimiz kitle formasyonundadır. Lösemi gibi bazı kanserler tümör formunda değildir. Tümörlerin tamamı kanser değildir, bu tümörler çok nadir istisnalar dışında vücutta başka yerlere yayılmazlar (metastaz) ve hayatı tehdit etmezler.

Cerrahi kanser tedavisinde ana prensip kitlesel formasyondaki kanserli dokunun, cerrahi yöntemlerle çıkarılıp, kanserli bölgenin temizlenmesidir. Kanserli organın/dokunun tümü ya da bir kısmı ameliyatla alınabilir. Bazı ameliyatlar, ufak cilt kanserlerini almak veya biyopsi gibi hafif cerrahi işlemlerdir. Diğerleri ise, kanserli dokunun vücutta bir organdan çıkarılması gibi büyük ameliyatları kapsamaktadır. Ameliyatlar ayrıca, vücudun bir bölümünü onarmak ya da yenilemek amacıyla da yapılabilir. (Örneğin, göğsün alınmasından sonra protez göğüs takılması gibi.)

Ameliyat öncesi kişiye genellikle genel anestezi uygulanmaktadır. Genel anestezi kişiyi uyutur ve etkisi geçinceye kadar ağrı hissetmesini önler. Bazen, anestezi uygulanan kişilerde, kendilerine geldikten sonra mide bulantısı görülebilir. Doktor ve hemşireler mide bulantısını azaltıcı ilaçlar verebilirler. Ameliyat herkesi farklı etkiler. Bazı kişiler birkaç günde iyileşir. Büyük bir ameliyat geçiren kişilerin iyileşmesi haftalar ya da aylar sürebilir. Ameliyat olduğunuzda, hemşire ya da doktorunuz iyileşme sürecinde vücudunuza nasıl bakacağınızı size açıklayacaktır. İyileşme süreci, beslenmenizi ve egzersiz miktarınızı etkileyebilir. Bu konuda ne yapacağınızı bilmiyorsanız, doktor veya hemşireye sorunuz.
Ameliyattan sonra biraz ağrı olması normaldir. İhtiyacınız olduğu sıklıkta ağrı kesici ilaç istemeyi unutmayınız. Ameliyat kanserin ilk tedavisi olabilir. Kişiye daha sonra kemoterapi ve/veya radyoterapi uygulanabilir.

Doktorunuza ameliyata ilişkin soracağınız sorular:
• Anestezi sonrası kendime geldiğimde ağrım olacak mı?
• Ameliyat sonrası kendime geldiğimde yemek yiyebilecek ve ayağa kalkabilecek miyim?
• Vücudumda tüpler olacak mı? Nerede ve Ne için?
• Ameliyat sonrası iyileşmemde yardımcı olmak için neler yapabilirim?
• İhtiyacım olacak diğer tedavi yöntemleri nelerdir?
• Vücudumun bağışıklık sistemini güçlendirmek için Zerdeçal Ekstraktı kullanmalı mıyım?

Kemoterapi Kimyasal Tedavi (İlaç Tedavisi):

Kemoterapi, normal hücrelere olası en az zararı vererek, kanserli hücreleri öldürebilen bir ilaç tedavisi yöntemidir. Kemoterapi, kanserli hücrelerin çoğalmasını engeller. Kemoterapi bazen kanser için ilk uygulanan tedavi yöntemidir. Bununla beraber, kemoterapi genellikle diğer tedavilerden sonra uygulanmaktadır. Kemoterapi, ameliyat veya radyoterapi tedavisinden etkilenmeyen kanserli hücrelerin öldürülmesinde yardımcı olabilir.
Bazı kişilerin hastanede yatarak tedavi olmaları gerekir. Bazı kişiler ise, kemoterapi tedavisi için birkaç saatliğine hastaneye gelebilirler. Bazı durumlarda tedavi evde uygulanabilir. Kemoterapi genellikle iki veya üç haftalık aralarla, her seans birkaç saat olmak üzere birkaç gün uygulanır. Tedavi çoğunlukla birkaç ay boyunca belli bir süre uygulanır. Kemoterapi, genellikle damardan iğne ile uygulanır. Bazı kişilere, damardan düzenli kemoterapi uygulanmasında yardımcı olmak amacıyla derinin altına bir tüp yerleştirilir. Bu işlem, damarlarda çok fazla hasar olmasını engeller. Tüp, tedavi bitinceye kadar derinin altında kalmaktadır. Kemoterapi ayrıca, tabletler halinde, kaslara iğne aracılığıyla veya deri üzerine krem sürerek de uygulanabilir.

Kemoterapi geçici yan etkilere yol açabilir. Kusma ve mide bulantısı ile saç ve vücut tüylerinin dökülmesine neden olabilir. Mide bulantısı ve kusmanın giderilmesinde ilaçların yararı olabilir. Kemoterapi sırasında dökülen saç ve vücut tüyleri tedavi bittikten birkaç ay sonra yeniden çıkmaya başlar. Kemoterapi ayrıca, uzun dönemli yan etkilere de neden olabilir. Bu bağlamda, kişinin doğurganlığını etkileyebilir. Örneğin; adet kanamaları bir süre için ya da tamamen durabilir. çocuk sahibi olmayı planlıyor, ancak kemoterapi görmeniz gerekiyorsa, doktora bu konuda ne yapabileceğinizi sorunuz.
Örneğin; erkeklerin spermleri bir klinik veya hastanede saklanabilir.

Doktorunuza kemoterapiye ilişkin soracağınız sorular:
• Tedavi ne kadar sürecek?
• Tedavinin olası yan etkileri nelerdir?
• Tedavinin herhangi uzun dönemli bir yan etkisi var mı?
• Kemoterapi sırasında kendime bakmak için neler yapabilirim?
• Kemoterapi sırasında ve/veya sonrasında immünolojik tedavi için Zerdeçal Ekstraktı kullanabilir miyim?

Kemoterapi Süresince Kendinize Nasıl Bakacaksınız?

* Daha az ve sık yemek yiyin. Günde 5 – 6 defa atıştırma şeklinde tüketeceğiniz yemekler sindiriminize yardımcı olacaktır. Meyve kokteylleri bir öğün için iyi bir seçenektir.
* Yemek yedikten sonra uzanmayın. Sindirim için kendinize ve vücudunuza 1 saat izin verin. Mümkünse yemekten sonra kısa yürüyüşler yapmayı deneyin.
* Yemekte sıvı almayın. Bu şekilde, sindirim sıvılarınız tam güç çalışacak ve sindirimi hızlandırarak hazımsızlığı azaltacaktır. Yemek aralarında alabildiğiniz kadar sıvı alın (En azından yemeklerden 1 saat önce ya da sonra).
* Sebze ve meyve suları ve et/tavuk sulu çorba içmeye çalışın. Şekerden mümkün olduğunca uzak durun, eğer şekerli bir gıda yemek isterseniz, tahıldan elde edilen ürünleri deneyin.
* Şişmanlatıcı tüm gıdalardan uzak durun. Diyetinize dikkat edin ve taze meyve, buharda pişmiş ya da kaynatılmış sebzeler, hafif tahıl ürünleri ve proteinlerinizi tüketmeye devam edin.
* Eğer kusma ve şiddetli ishal yaşıyorsanız, sebze çorbalarını deneyin. Bu diyetin tuzla desteklemesi elektrolitlerinizi dengede tutacağı için, kendinizi güçsüz hissettiğiniz zamanlarda sizi ve vücudunuzu dengesizliklerden koruyacaktır.

Diğer Alternatif Tedaviler

Alternatif tıp vaya tamamlayıcı tıp, daha çok geleneksel doğal bitkileri kullanarak (çay veya bitki karışımlarıyla) elde edilen ilaçlarla tedavi etme yöntemidir. Çağdaş tıp, biliminin hastalık sebepleri ve tedavisi konusunda somut verileri olmadığı, hasta için henüz mevcut objektif ve kanıtlanmış bir tedavi yöntemi olmadığında, hasta isteğiyle başlanan veya çağdaş tıp tedavilerini destekleyici olarak hastanın rahatlaması, bağışıklık sisteminin güçlenmesi, psikolojisinin düzelmesi amacıyla uygulanabilen tedavi yöntemleridir.

Bu yöntemler arasında;  Ortomoleküler Terapi, Oksijen Terapisi, Ozon Terapisi, Aromaterapi, Şelasyon, Homeopati, Kiropraktik, Elektromanyetik Tedavi, Reiki, Terapötik Terapi, Manyetik Terapi, Ses Terapisi, Işık Terapisi, Aleksander Tekniği, Refleksoloji, Feldenkrais, Rolfing, Ayurveda, Akupunktur Tedavisi, Herbalism (Bitkisel Tıp), Hipertermi, Yoga vb. yöntemler yer almaktadır.

HEMEN ŞİMDİ ALANINDA UZMAN HEKİMİMİZE AKLINIZDAKİ TÜM SORULARI SORA BİLMENİZ İÇİN HIZLI İLETİŞİM FORMUNU DOLDURUN…

Google'ın akıllı hapıyla kanser erken teşhis edilecek

Google kanser, yaklaşan kalp krizi, felç ve diğer hastalıkların, şu anda mümkün olandan çok daha erken bir aşamada teşhisini hedefliyor.

ABD merkezli teknoloji devi Google, kalp krizi, felç ve kanser gibi ölümcül hastalıklara erken teşhis koyabilecek bir ürün üzerinde çalışıyor.

Şirketin bu tarz projelerine ev sahipliği yapan Google X research lab adına Andrew Conrad tarafında yapılan açıklamaya göre, üzerinde çalıştıkları hap sayesinde ölümcül hastalıklar önceden saptanabilecek.

AKILLI HAP TEKNOLOJİSİ

Akıllı hapın içinde demir-oksit nanopartikülleri bulunduğunu belirten araştırmacılar, manyetik olan bu partiküllerin kanserli hücrelere yapışacağını söyledi.

Uzmanlar manyetik bir çekim alanı yaratan bir cihazın hastanın bileğine takılarak demir- oksit partikülleri ile “işaretlenmiş” kanserli hücreleri kendine doğru çekeceğini açıkladı. Henüz araştırma aşamasında olan projenin hayata geçmesi halinde, hastalar bileklerinde bulunan bir sensör sayesinde sürekli gözlem altında tutulabilecek.

PİYASAYA SÜRÜLMESİ İÇİN EN AZ 5 YIL VAR

Bir gün bir çok başka hastalığın teşhisinde de kullanılacağı umulan “akıllı hap”ın piyasaya sürülmesinin en az beş yıl alacağını tahmin ettiklerini belirten araştırmacılar “Bir gün tüm tıbbi testlerin nanoteknoloji yardımı ile yapılacağını hayal ettiklerini” de söyledi.

BİREYSEL DEĞİL TIBBİ BİR ÜRÜN

Google X’in yaşam teknolojileri bölümü başkanı olarak görev yapan moleküler biyolog Dr. Andrew Conrad, “Bu tüketicilere yönelik bir ürün değil. Bu tıbbi bir ürün ve doktor ile hasta arasındaki özel ilişkinin bir parçası. Google’ın bu ilişkide herhangi bir yeri yok” dedi.

Preventing Cancer Today. Over 50% of New Cancer Cases Can be Prevented by acting on What We Know Right Now

by Graham A. Colditz, MD, DrPH

Much attention is being placed today on the global burden of cancer and the power for prevention to have an enormous benefit for the world through reducing cancer incidence, diagnosis, treatment, pain, and suffering.

A reminder on numbers that have been around for some time – more than half of cancer is diagnosed in low and middle income countries, where access to care is often limited.

Data from the World Health Organization for 2012 (1) show that an estimated 14 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed, and the number is rising every year. The most common cancers diagnosed were those of the:

• lung (1.8 million cases, 13.0% of the total)
• breast (1.7 million, 11.9%)
• colorectal cancer (1.4 million, 9.7%)

Of course, breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer diagnosis among women, where it accounts for 25% of all cancer diagnosed. The 11.9% misleads as these cases occur in about half the population (25% is more accurate: 1.7 million breast cancer cases among the total of all new cancer cases diagnosed among women, 6.7 million total new cases = 25%).

We should be outraged that so few resources and little prevention effort is going to this disease. Much is focused on high-risk women and those at older ages, such as after 50 (2). But some 25% of all breast cancers are diagnosed among women under age 50. We must start prevention far earlier in life to reduce the burden of this disease.

Prevention works.

Cigarette smoking has declined and lung cancer mortality has decreased by one third in the past 20 years. Mortality from lung cancer peaked at 91.1 per 100000 men in 1990 and has declined to 60.3 per 100,000 men in 2010. This is one third fewer lung cancer deaths (3). Stopping smoking reduces lung cancer but also death from heart disease, stroke, and many other cancers too. It is time we focused the same attention on prevention of breast and other cancers, while maintaining our program of prevention of smoking (4). Alcohol, a known carcinogen and cause of breast cancer, needs more attention. We have shown that intake during adolescent and early adult years is significantly related to increased risk of invasive breast cancer and also premalignant breast lesions (5,6).

The World Health Organization recommends policies to limit alcohol intake and to encourage a healthy diet as “best buys” for prevention of chronic diseases (7). For breast cancer, the leading malignancy in women, we must refine the focus of the recommendations and recognize that prevention messages and action must begin early in life and be sustained. We must help women understand that breast cancer prevention strategies will vary according to their age, and that some prevention (childhood diet and exercise) is under the control of mothers and grandparents. Avoidance of alcohol, for example, may be particularly beneficial for young women (6). Improving the presentation of prevention messages for each stage of a women’s life is a top priority.

Today, we should focus again on cancer prevention and the potential for action with what we know already. For more details, visit our recent post in the Huffington Post - 

Half of Cancers Are Preventable: Lower Your Risk With These 8 Steps.

Additional resources for cancer prevention can be found on our page: Preventing Cancer - Today.

References

1. International Agency for Research on Cancer. GLOBOCAN 2012: estimated cancer incidence, mortality and prevalence worldwide in 2012. 2012; Section on Cancer Information. Available at: http://globocan.iarc.fr/Pages/fact_sheets_cancer.aspx. Accessed Jan 26, 2014, 2014.

2. Visvanathan K, Hurley P, Bantug E, et al. Use of pharmacologic interventions for breast cancer risk reduction: American Society of Clinical Oncology clinical practice guideline. J Clin Oncol. Aug 10 2013;31(23):2942-2962.

3. National Center for Health Statistics. Health, United States, 2012: With Special Feature on Emergency Care. Hyattsville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2013.

4. Koh HK, Sebelius KG. Ending the tobacco epidemic. JAMA. Aug 22 2012;308(8):767-768.

5. Liu Y, Tamimi RM, Berkey CS, et al. Intakes of alcohol and folate during adolescence and risk of proliferative benign breast disease. Pediatrics. May 2012;129(5):e1192-1198.

6. Liu Y, Colditz GA, Rosner B, et al. Alcohol intake between menarche and first pregnancy: a prospective study of breast cancer risk. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Oct 16 2013;105(20):1571-1578.

7. World Health Organization. Global Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases, 2013-2020.http://www.who.int/cardiovascular_diseases/15March2013UpdatedRevisedDraftActionPlan.pdf: World Health Organization,; March 15, 2013 2013.

Take a Tour of the Zuum Risk Assessment App

With some exciting projects coming down the pike for our Zuum risk assessment app for iPad, it seemed a great time to re-introduce Zuum with a video demonstration of all that it does.  Its engaging interface and strong evidence base make it a unique addition to the field of mHealth offerings.  With just a 2 - 3 minute questionnaire, the app provides a risk estimate of six major diseases, details the factors that make up the risk of each disease, and puts together a personalized prevention plan.   Coming out of Washington University School of Medicine, Zuum is also free of the types of conflicts linked with many other apps.  Users' information is never sold, leased, or shared with third parties. 

  

Health behavior interventions prevent incidence and death from cancer

Flickr/NatalieMaynor

At the annual meeting of the American Society for Preventive Oncology, I had the privilege of presenting the evidence that supports the potential for health behaviors and vaccines to have a huge payoff for prevention of cancer throughout the world. My slidesfrom that talk are now available.

Questions that I addressed include the challenge of “where is prevention delivered" and “how long will we wait to accrue the benefits of prevention”. We have previously documented many barriers to preventing cancer by acting on what we already know (1). In this presentation, I focused more on the global cancer prevention challenges since lifestyle interventions will pay off at a lower cost and greater return than building health services to diagnose and treat the ever-increasing burden of cancer (2).

Tobacco control remains the highest priority in high-income countries and in low and middle-income countries to prevent the 30% or more of cancer that is caused by smoking cigarettes (3). Data from the prospective Nurses’ Health Study demonstrate that cessation from smoking provides greater benefits through reduction of lung cancer mortality than does CT screening (4). More importantly, smoking cessation reduces total mortality by 50% overall, and within 15 years of stopping smoking (4). On the other hand, screening for lung cancer reduces lung cancer mortality, but obviously does not reduce mortality from heart disease and stroke, or the many cancers at other sites (such as bladder and kidney) that are caused by smoking but are not detected by lung cancer screening.

Infections are a major cause of cancer in all countries (5). In high-income countries around 7% of cancers are caused by infections. However in low and middle-income countries the contribution of infections increases to approximately 25%. Vaccines clearly reduce cancer risk. Hepatitis B vaccine, now widespread, reduces liver cancer (6).

Beyond smoking cessation (7) and vaccination programs what should our prevention priorities be? Recent evidence following women prospectively after they were classified according to how closely they adhere to the American Cancer Society nutrition and physical activity guidelines (8) shows that those who are normal weight, eat mainly a plant-based diet, limit their alcohol intake, and are physically active, have significantly reduced incidence of cancer (9). During 12 years of follow-up within this cohort, women adhering to the ACS guidelines had a 22% reduction in diagnosis of new cases of breast cancer and 52% reduction in colon cancer (after adjusting for all other risk factors). Importantly, following the ACS guidelines also significantly reduced mortality (9).

In our research published last year, we also showed that avoiding a known breast carcinogen leads to lower risk of cancer (10). Following the women in the Nurses’ Health Study II, those who avoided alcohol in their adolescent years and before their first pregnancy, had significantly lower risk both of premalignant or precursor breast lesions (proliferative benign breast disease) and of invasive breast cancer through the premenopausal years. Avoiding carcinogens keeps risk low.

Valuing the payoff from prevention
This is complex. One such estimated for childhood vaccination uses the example of South Africa. Benefit gains include healthcare cost savings, productivity of parents attending to the care of sick children, productivity of the children as they grow to attend school and then enter the workforce (11). Externalities in the community are achieved even by the unvaccinated community members. This is due to the overall increases in wellness. These benefits have to be added to the reduction in incidence and mortality of disease as a direct consequence of vaccination. The same range of benefits accrue for hepatitis vaccination where data from Asian countries clearly show that vaccination reduces sickness, time lost from work and associated productivity, mortality, etc. Vaccination reduces the cost of health services and increases life expectancy (12, 13).

This same approach applies to the benefits of quitting smoking and is summarized in the Surgeon General’s Report released earlier in 2014(3). When smokers quit smoking their quality of life improves significantly. For the employer, absenteeism is lower in never smokers than in current smokers, and health care costs are reduced with smoking cessation, as is the subsequent risk of many chronic conditions. These benefits accrued over decades.

Alcohol a known carcinogen
While prevention messages support strategies to reduce alcohol consumption, the risks and benefits of consumption vary disproportionately by age. The societal hazards of alcohol intake include motor vehicle accidents, risky sexual behavior, violence and injuries. The adverse effects accrue in adolescent and early adult years. The risks of cancer and benefits of cardiovascular protection are observed decades later, after the consequences and toll on society due to motor vehicle accidents and alcohol related deaths.

Some question whether weight loss prevents cancer
A recent meta-analysis shows significant benefits for weight loss after bariatric surgery (14). The reduction in cancer is significant in women but not men. The limited number of cancer cases precludes an analysis of risk reduction according to cancer site. In a previous analysis, we showed that bariatric surgery and the subsequent associated weight loss is cost-effective and can be cost saving (15).

In contrast with the benefits of prevention, we currently spend billions of dollars on cancer care in the United States. Hassett and Elkin estimate we spent 125 billion on cancer care in 2010 (16). Furthermore, 13% of all cancer expenditures were for breast cancer. Given the increasing burden of cancer at a system or societal level, these costs are not sustainable for the US or, in fact, for low and middle-income countries (2, 16). In a detailed analysis of the cost-effectives of cancer care, Greenberg et al estimated that the incremental cost for treatment and improved outcomes generating an additional year of life is $27,000 for breast cancer and more for an additional year of life for treatment of patients with other cancer diagnoses (17). With the number of new cases of cancer in the US continuing to increase each year as our population ages (18), the growth in health-care costs for cancer is viewed as unsustainable (16). Cost related decisions are therefore inevitable. At the global level, even greater emphasis on effective low-cost treatment and broad access to this treatment becomes a top priority (2).

Cancer prevention works
Garnering greater resources and priority to implement effective cancer prevention must be our highest priority.


References
1. G. A. Colditz, K. Y. Wolin, S. Gehlert, Applying what we know to accelerate cancer prevention. Sci Transl Med 4, 127rv124 (2012); published online EpubMar 28 (10.1126/scitranslmed.3003218).

2. K. Chalkidou, P. Marquez, P. K. Dhillon, Y. Teerawattananon, T. Anothaisintawee, C. A. Gadelha, R. Sullivan, Evidence-informed frameworks for cost-effective cancer care and prevention in low, middle, and high-income countries. Lancet Oncol 15, e119-e131 (2014); published online EpubMar (10.1016/S1470-2045(13)70547-3).

3. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, "The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. ," (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health,, Atlanta, GA, 2014.).

4. S. A. Kenfield, M. J. Stampfer, B. A. Rosner, G. A. Colditz, Smoking and smoking cessation in relation to mortality in women. JAMA 299, 2037-2047 (2008); published online EpubMay 7 (10.1001/jama.299.17.2037).

5. C. de Martel, J. Ferlay, S. Franceschi, J. Vignat, F. Bray, D. Forman, M. Plummer, Global burden of cancers attributable to infections in 2008: a review and synthetic analysis. Lancet Oncol 13, 607-615 (2012); published online EpubJun (10.1016/S1470-2045(12)70137-7).

6. M. H. Chang, S. L. You, C. J. Chen, C. J. Liu, C. M. Lee, S. M. Lin, H. C. Chu, T. C. Wu, S. S. Yang, H. S. Kuo, D. S. Chen, Decreased incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma in hepatitis B vaccinees: a 20-year follow-up study. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 101, 1348-1355 (2009); published online EpubOct 7 (10.1093/jnci/djp288).

7. J. M. Lightwood, A. Dinno, S. A. Glantz, Effect of the California tobacco control program on personal health care expenditures. PLoS Med 5, e178 (2008); published online EpubAug 26 (10.1371/journal.pmed.0050178).

8. L. H. Kushi, C. Doyle, M. McCullough, C. L. Rock, W. Demark-Wahnefried, E. V. Bandera, S. Gapstur, A. V. Patel, K. Andrews, T. Gansler, N. American Cancer Society, C. Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory, American Cancer Society Guidelines on nutrition and physical activity for cancer prevention: reducing the risk of cancer with healthy food choices and physical activity. CA Cancer J Clin 62, 30-67 (2012); published online EpubJan-Feb (10.3322/caac.20140).

9. C. A. Thomson, M. L. McCullough, B. C. Wertheim, R. T. Chlebowski, M. E. Martinez, M. L. Stefanick, T. E. Rohan, J. E. Manson, H. A. Tindle, J. Ockene, M. Z. Vitolins, J. Wactawski-Wende, G. E. Sarto, D. S. Lane, M. L. Neuhouser, Nutrition and Physical Activity Cancer Prevention Guidelines, Cancer Risk, and Mortality in the Women's Health Initiative. Cancer Prev Res (Phila) 7, 42-53 (2014); published online EpubJan (10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-13-0258).

10. Y. Liu, G. A. Colditz, B. Rosner, C. S. Berkey, L. C. Collins, S. J. Schnitt, J. L. Connolly, W. Y. Chen, W. C. Willett, R. M. Tamimi, Alcohol intake between menarche and first pregnancy: a prospective study of breast cancer risk. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 105, 1571-1578 (2013); published online EpubOct 16 (10.1093/jnci/djt213).

11. T. Barnighausen, D. E. Bloom, D. Canning, J. O'Brien, Accounting for the full benefits of childhood vaccination in South Africa. S Afr Med J 98, 842, 844-846 (2008)

12. H. F. Hung, T. H. Chen, Probabilistic cost-effectiveness analysis of the long-term effect of universal hepatitis B vaccination: an experience from Taiwan with high hepatitis B virus infection and Hepatitis B e Antigen positive prevalence. Vaccine 27, 6770-6776 (2009); published online EpubNov 12 (10.1016/j.vaccine.2009.08.082).

13. S. Q. Lu, S. M. McGhee, X. Xie, J. Cheng, R. Fielding, Economic evaluation of universal newborn hepatitis B vaccination in China. Vaccine 31, 1864-1869 (2013); published online EpubApr 3 (10.1016/j.vaccine.2013.01.020).

14. M. C. Tee, Y. Cao, G. L. Warnock, F. B. Hu, J. E. Chavarro, Effect of bariatric surgery on oncologic outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Surgical endoscopy 27, 4449-4456 (2013); published online EpubDec (10.1007/s00464-013-3127-9).

15. S. H. Chang, C. R. Stoll, G. A. Colditz, Cost-effectiveness of bariatric surgery: should it be universally available? Maturitas 69, 230-238 (2011); published online EpubJul (10.1016/j.maturitas.2011.04.007).

16. M. J. Hassett, E. B. Elkin, What does breast cancer treatment cost and what is it worth? Hematology/oncology clinics of North America 27, 829-841, ix (2013); published online EpubAug (10.1016/j.hoc.2013.05.011).

17. D. Greenberg, C. Earle, C. H. Fang, A. Eldar-Lissai, P. J. Neumann, When is cancer care cost-effective? A systematic overview of cost-utility analyses in oncology. J Natl Cancer Inst 102, 82-88 (2010); published online EpubJan 20 (10.1093/jnci/djp472).

18. B. Edwards, H. L. Howe, L. Ries, M. J. Thun, H. M. Rosenberg, R. Yancik, P. A. Wingo, A. Jemal, E. G. Feigal, Annual report to the Nation on the State of Cancer, 1973-1999, Featuring implications of age and aging on the U.S. cancer burden. Cancer 94, 2766-2792 (2002).

Setting the Record Straight: The Impact of Diet on Cancer Risk

An article posted earlier this week on the New York Times website stated that the link between diet and cancer risk was, in essence, a "myth."  And while links between diet and cancer are not as strong as those with some other chronic diseases, like heart disease, the article's conclusions demonstrate a lack of understanding of the science. 

Yesterday, the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) - whose reports were referenced in the piece - posted their own response to the article detailing many links between diet and cancer, with AICR Director of Research, Susan Higginbotham, PhD, RD, stating: "If there’s one thing AICR’s research has shown, and continues to show, it’s that when it comes to cancer risk, diet does matter.” 

As detailed in many of our scientific publications, consumer brochures, and risk assessment tools, we agree. Diet has an important impact on cancer risk.  Calories alone, and the weight gain they can cause, can impact at least 11 different cancers.  Too much alcohol is a key risk factor for colon and breast cancer - even at moderate levels of intake.  Fruits and vegetables can lower the risk of certain types of breast cancer.  Too much red meat - particularly processed meats - can substantially increase colon cancer risk.  Adequate calcium and vitamin D can lower colon cancer risk. And inadequate folate (a B vitamin found in many plant foods) has been linked to overall cancer mortality.  Strong associations with other dietary risk factors are quickly developing.

The message that cancer is a disease that can be prevented is extremely important.  It is also a message that is still just gaining momentum with both physicians and the public.  To greatly downplay the potential impact of diet on cancer risk is not true to the science and can lead to important missed opportunities for prevention.

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Prevention Resources

Our 8IGHT WAYS® series is filled with great tips for improving your health and lowering cancer risk. 

8IGHT WAYS to Stay Healthy and Prevent Cancer  

8IGHT WAYS to Prevent Breast Cancer 

8IGHT WAYS to Prevent Colon Cancer 

CANCER SURVIVORS' 8IGHT WAYS to Stay Healthy After Cancer

Our popular risk assessment tools are also great resources for learning about your risk and getting personalized prevention plans.

Letter to the Editor on Diet and Cancer: "No Myth"

As we mentioned in a previous post on CNiC, an article in the New York Times last week called the link between diet and cancer risk, in essence, a "myth."  In that post, we note that "the article's conclusions [about the links between diet and cancer] demonstrate a lack of understanding of the science."  To further make that point - and address a couple others - we also responded with a letter to the editor of the New York Times, printed below. 

April 21, 2014 

letters@nytimes.com 

To the Editor: 

Re: “An Apple a Day, and Other Myths.” 

There are strong links between the foods we eat and our cancer risk – for the author, George Johnson, to conclude otherwise is an incorrect interpretation of evidence that sends the wrong message at a critical time in the health of the nation.  

Cancer will become the top cause of death in the United States within the next few years, and despite hopes to the contrary, it is very unlikely that advances in diagnosis and treatment will have a major impact on the burden of the disease in the foreseeable future.  Yet, today, strong evidence shows that 50 percent or more of all cancers is preventable with relatively simple behaviors – including eating a healthy diet. 

Good studies show that too much alcohol, red meat, and processed meat as well as inadequate fruits, vegetables, and folate (found in many plant foods) have important links to cancer risk or mortality.  And other associations are developing.   

We need to do all that we can to address the growing burden of cancer.  A healthy diet is one established way to do that, and that is no myth. 

Graham A. Colditz, MD, DrPH

What is Risk? What is Prevention?

An excerpt from the upcoming e-book: The 8IGHT WAYS Guide to Preventing Breast Cancer (Colditz and Dart)

What is Risk? What is Prevention? 

The word “risk” gets thrown around a lot these days.  And that’s actually a great thing, particularly when it comes to breast cancer.  By knowing your risk of breast cancer, and what factors make up that risk, you can make better informed decisions not only about your breast health but how you choose to mentally and emotionally deal with the issues of breast health and breast cancer. 

In technical – and very dry – terms, the risk of a disease is the chance of getting that disease over a certain period of time.  The most common timeframes used to describe risk are 10-year increments and something called “lifetime risk” – the chance of ever developing the disease as an adult. 

When it comes to breast cancer, lifetime risk is the one most women would recognize by the ratio “one in eight.”   “One in eight” describes an average American woman’s lifetime risk of ever developing breast cancer, meaning that out of every 8 women, 1 will develop the disease.  This translates to about a 12 percent chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer from age 18 until about age 85.

Compared to many other health risks, this is a pretty high percentage, but certainly not the highest for a major disease.  The lifetime risk of heart disease, say, is about 50 percent. 

Not surprisingly, looking at breast cancer risk in shorter 10-year segments can make things look less daunting – and in some ways provides a better sense of actual risk. Because diseases like cancer and heart disease are more common as women age – and to be blunt, because everyone eventually dies of something – lifetime risks can easily inflate the perception that a disease is more threatening than it actually is.  This is because so much of the risk accumulates very late in life.  

For some perspective, let’s look at the risks of breast cancer across a couple ten-year age groups:  the average woman’s risk of developing breast cancer from age 40 to age 50 is 1.5 percent, and from age 60 to 70 is 3.5 percent (1). This means that out of a 100 forty year old women, 1.5 would develop breast cancer by the time they turned 50. Likewise, out of 100 fifty year old women, 3.5 would develop breast cancer by the time they turned 60.  (Of course, these are statistical “people” since you can’t have half a person.).

As expected, these 10-year risks are much smaller than the average lifetime risk of 12 percent.  Though they still show breast cancer to be a prominent disease – these risks are about three times higher than those of colon cancer for the same age groups – they also show that breast cancer is not as imminent a threat as many women fear.  It’s not uncommon for younger women to overestimate their risk of dying from the disease over the next 10 years by up to 20 times (2).

Many factors determine a woman’s risk of breast cancer, including things she has control over, like exercise and diet, and things she has little or no control over, like genetics and family history.   Focusing efforts on those factors that can be changed for the better can lower the risk of breast cancer. 

In other words, it can help prevent it. 

An Ounce (or More) of Prevention

Prevention has become a real buzzword of late, and that makes many a health professional jump for joy.  Why?  Well, let’s look at the classic “river story” parable, which we’ll paraphrase. 

A woman was walking on a riverbank and saw someone floating down the river yelling for help.  The woman picked up a large tree branch and fished the person out.  No sooner did she do that then another person came floating down.  She fished that person out.  Then another and another and another came down.  She asked others to help rescue the people. And they did.  Still, more and more came floating down, and the helpers were soon overwhelmed, realizing they couldn’t help everyone. 

The woman decided to quickly run up-river to see why so many people were falling in. On a popular bridge over the river, she found a large, obscured hole that people were falling through.  She patched it, and people no longer fell into the river through the hole.

This story perfectly illustrates the power of prevention.  By working to stop problems early on, you can help avoid bigger, harder issues later on.  We’ll never be able to stop all the people from falling into the river.  But repairing as many holes as we’re able to can help cut way down on the number of people who fall in and need heroic rescue downstream.

It’s the same way with diseases like cancer and heart disease.  A healthy lifestyle can cut down on the number of people who develop a disease.  And although we’ll likely never be able to stop 100 percent of cancers or heart attacks, prevention still offers the most realistic, efficient, and effective way of tackling the burden of chronic diseases the world over.

References

1.         Howlader N, Noone AM, Krapcho M, Garshell J, Neyman N, Altekruse SF, Kosary CL, Yu M, Ruhl J, Tatalovich Z, Cho H, Mariotto A, Lewis DR, Chen HS, Feuer EJ, C. KA. (National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, 2013).

2.         W. C. Black, R. F. Nease, Jr., A. N. Tosteson, Perceptions of breast cancer risk and screening effectiveness in women younger than 50 years of age. J Natl Cancer Inst 87, 720-731 (1995); published online EpubMay 17