It’s now official: Four key nutritional supplements can combat cancer.
Let’s look first at a fascinating, new study involving N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a common, over-the-counter cold remedy supplement.
Interestingly, this new research came out of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University (TJU) in Philadelphia. When I ran the Center for Integrative Medicine at TJU from 2002 to 2005, the new Kimmel Center was just getting started.
While they were still conducting research on cancer treatments at the Kimmel Center, our doctors at the Center for Integrative Medicine were actually already administering natural treatments.
And when I spoke with the Kimmel doctors about the potential of natural treatments for preventing and treating cancer, they didn’t appear interested in the opportunities afforded by the simple, inexpensive approaches. Approaches they could observe — at the ready — in our very own center. Instead, they were blinded by the many millions of dollars they’d been given for “big” cancer studies.
My — how the tides have changed…
According to the new study by Kimmel Center researchers, NAC helps prevent the growth of breast cancer cells. The nutrient appears to work by increasing levels of glutathione, a powerful antioxidant found naturally in the body.
(In fact, to a considerable extent, the success of any “antioxidant” supplement ultimately depends on how it affects your body’s glutathione levels. For example, in one early study at the National Cancer Institute, we used glutathione activity as an indicator of how well a vitamin E-selenium combination could lower the cancer risk.)
In the Kimmel study, women took daily doses of NAC for three weeks after the diagnosis of breast cancer and before surgery. Researchers took samples of the breast cancer tumor before and during surgery. Then, the researchers analyzed the samples for biomarkers that indicate a cancer’s aggressiveness.
Levels of a specific cancer biomarker known as Ki67 decreased by 25 percent. And levels of another cancer biomarker called MCT4 fell by a whopping 80 percent. Reduction of these markers is highly significant, clinically, since they are linked to aggressive cancer growth and poor survival of the patient.
NAC also appeared to change how cancer cells find fuel. As I discuss in this month’s issue of my Insiders’ Cures newsletter, cancer cells use sugar in the blood to grow faster and generate extra energy, thus bypassing normal cells’ metabolic mechanisms. But NAC reduced this abnormal cancer process. (To read more about this breakthrough on sugar and cancer in this month’s newsletter, visit the archives at www.Dr.Micozzi.com. Then log in to the Subscribers Sign-In with your username and password. Not yet a subscriber? Just click here!)
NAC also inhibited the growth of the “tumor stroma,” the area around the tumor that allows cancer cells to spread.
Furthermore, NAC showed no toxicity. And you can find it as an inexpensive supplement in most general stores.
In marked contrast, standard oncology treatments are toxic to the body by design. And they can cost patients millions within their lifetime.
But let’s not stop here with NAC…
Vitamin C 10x more effective than chemo
Evidence for vitamin C’s role in the fight against cancer has been accumulating for decades.
Recent studies confirm the ability of vitamin C to act as a safe and effective cancer treatment. Researchers believe vitamin C inhibits sugar metabolism in cancer cells — which is vital to stopping cancer, according to one theory — coined the “Warburg Effect.” According to Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Otto Warburg, the key is this:
“Cancer, above all other diseases, has countless secondary causes. But, even for cancer, there is only one prime cause. Summarized in a few words, the prime cause of cancer is the replacement of the respiration of oxygen in normal body cells by a fermentation of sugar.”
(This intriguing, long-forgotten theory is also featured in the January 2018 issue of my Insiders’ Cures newsletter. Click here to subscribe!)
In one study from the U.K., researchers found that vitamin C was up to 10 times more effective than pharma drugs at stopping cancer cells from growing. This study also demonstrated that vitamin C kills cancer stem cells — the cells that fuel fatal tumors. Not to mention, standard oncology treatments often don’t reach the stem cells and can even make the cancer worse.
In a second study from Japan, researchers looked at dietary sources of vitamin C and breast cancer survival. Researchers observed a 27 percent decrease in total mortality and 22 percent decrease in breast cancer-specific mortality for every 100 mg per day increase in dietary vitamin C.
And now, let’s get into the really exciting news about vitamin C…
Promising results with intravenous vitamin C
Emerging science shows that vitamin C, when given intravenously, is a bona fide cancer fighter.
We actually began offering high-dose, intravenous vitamin C to cancer patients at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital back in 2003 when I oversaw the program and received approvals from the powers-that-be to offer it.
But first, we had to prove to a number of hospital review committees that it would be safe. (It was.) And that it wouldn’t interfere with other treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation. (It didn’t.)
Since, then the science on intravenous vitamin C has really started to ramp up…
In one 2012 study, researchers treated 45 patients with lymphoma or prostate, breast, bladder, pancreatic, lung, thyroid, or skin cancers with high-dose, IV vitamin C.
In three-quarters of the patients, vitamin C treatment resulted in decreased levels of tumor markers. Which suggests that, over the long term, treatment with IV vitamin C would improve prognosis and survival rates in cancer patients.
Plus, vitamin C is non-toxic, inexpensive, and widely available potent weapon you can use in your fight against cancer.
Make sure to add vitamin D to your daily regimen
Hard clinical evidence about the anti-cancer effects of vitamin D has been building for at least a decade.
In fact, back in 2007 researchers with Moores Cancer Center with the University of California, San Diego found that higher blood levels of vitamin D cut the risk of colorectal cancer by 50 percent! The researchers said men and women could achieve this level of protection by taking just 1,000 to 2,000 IU daily of vitamin D.
A 2005 study on vitamin D and breast cancer had even more impressive results. In that study, women with vitamin D levels above 60 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml) showed an 83 percent lower breast cancer risk than women with 20 ng/ml or lower.
And most impressive of all, yet another new study that men and women with vitamin D levels above 40 ng/ml had a 67 percent lower overall cancer risk than men and women with lower levels.
Of course, I always recommend you take 10,000 IU of vitamin D daily to achieve optimal blood levels of this critical nutrient. And remember, as I explained last week, what doctors call “high” doses of vitamin D are actually miniscule amounts.
Keep up with your fish intake
Fish oil — with the omega-3 fatty acid DHA — stops cancer cells from invading normal tissues. It also blocks angiogenesis, which describes the creation of new blood vessels that feed sugar to cancer cells.
In one study at University of California San Francisco, men who ate fatty fish — such as herring, mackerel, or salmon — one to three times a month reduced their risk of prostate cancer by 36 percent. And men who ate fatty fish one or more times a week cut their risk of prostate cancer by 57 percent.
Of course, fish oil with omega-3 fatty acids acts as a potent anti-inflammatory for many chronic diseases. In a recent study published by Ohio State University, researchers found that men with low blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids have a 71 percent increased risk in high-grade prostate cancer.
These natural treatments — which are still being studied by the big cancer centers — can significantly help reverse cancer and increase survival, especially when used in conjunction. They may also helpful in preventing cancer in the first place.
For more natural, cutting-edge approaches to lifetime cancer prevention and survival, refer to my Authentic Anti-Cancer Protocol. You can learn more or enroll today by simply clicking here.
Sources:
“Pilot study demonstrating metabolic and anti-proliferative effects of in vivo anti-oxidant supplementation with N-Acetylcysteine in Breast Cancer,” Seminars in Oncology June 2017; 44(3): 226-232
“NADH autofluorescence, a new metabolic biomarker for cancer stem cells: Identification of Vitamin C and CAPE as natural products targeting “stemness,” Oncotarget (www.oncotarget.com) 10/2017
“Vitamin C and survival among women with breast cancer: a meta-analysis,” Eur J Cancer. 2014 May;50(7):1223-31
“Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG) Is the Most Effective Cancer Chemopreventive Polyphenol in Green Tea,” Nutrients 2012 Nov; 4(11): 1679–1691
“Optimal Vitamin D Status for Colorectal Cancer Prevention: A Quantitative Meta Analysis,” American Journal of Preventive Medicine March 2007; 32(3): 210-216
“Higher Levels of Vitamin D Linked to Lower Cancer Risk, Again,” Medscape Medical News 4/12/2016
“Prostate Cancer Risk and Omega-3 Fatty Acid Intake From Fish Oil,” Pharmacy and Therapeutics. 2013 Sept.; 39(9): 561-564.