Save your lungs. Smoke weed.

In what seems to be the most absurd anomaly, a new study shows that marijuana cuts tumor growth in common lung cancer in half and significantly reduces the ability of the cancer to spread, say researchers at Harvard University who tested the chemical in both lab and mouse studies.

This is the first set of experiments to show that the compound, Delta-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), inhibits EGF-induced growth and migration in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expressing non-small cell lung cancer cell lines. Lung cancers that over-express EGFR are usually highly aggressive and resistant to chemotherapy.

THC that targets cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 is similar in function to endocannabinoids, which are cannabinoids that are naturally produced in the body and activate these receptors. The researchers suggest that THC or other designer agents that activate these receptors might be used in a targeted fashion to treat lung cancer.

“The beauty of this study is that we are showing that a substance of abuse, if used prudently, may offer a new road to therapy against lung cancer,” said Anju Preet, Ph.D., a researcher in the Division of Experimental Medicine.

Acting through cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2, endocannabinoids (as well as THC) are thought to play a role in variety of biological functions, including pain and anxiety control, and inflammation. Although a medical derivative of THC, known as Marinol, has been approved for use as an appetite stimulant for cancer patients, and a small number of U.S. states allow use of medical marijuana to treat the same side effect, few studies have shown that THC might have anti-tumor activity, Preet says. The only clinical trial testing THC as a treatment against cancer growth was a recently completed British pilot study in human glioblastoma.

In the present study, the researchers first demonstrated that two different lung cancer cell lines as well as patient lung tumor samples express CB1 and CB2, and that non-toxic doses of THC inhibited growth and spread in the cell lines. “When the cells are pretreated with THC, they have less EGFR stimulated invasion as measured by various in-vitro assays,” Preet said.

Then, for three weeks, researchers injected standard doses of THC into mice that had been implanted with human lung cancer cells, and found that tumors were reduced in size and weight by about 50 percent in treated animals compared to a control group. There was also about a 60 percent reduction in cancer lesions on the lungs in these mice as well as a significant reduction in protein markers associated with cancer progression, Preet says.

Although the researchers do not know why THC inhibits tumor growth, they say the substance could be activating molecules that arrest the cell cycle. They speculate that THC may also interfere with angiogenesis and vascularization, which promotes cancer growth.

Preet says much work is needed to clarify the pathway by which THC functions, and cautions that some animal studies have shown that THC can stimulate some cancers. “THC offers some promise, but we have a long way to go before we know what its potential is,” she said.

So... SURELY they don't mean smoking it. Hash cookies, anyone?

Get fit, build muscle, beat cancer.

A new study, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, suggests building up muscle strength has anti-cancer benefits.
 
A team of experts, led by scientists from Sweden's Karolinska Institute, tracked the lifestyles of 8,677 men aged between 20 and 82 for more than two decades and researchers monitored how many developed cancer and subsequently died from it.

The results showed men who regularly worked out with weights and had the highest muscle strength were between 30 and 40 per cent less likely to lose their life to a deadly tumor. Even among volunteers who had excess tummy fat or a high body mass index, regular weight training seemed to have a protective effect.

This finding is profound - considering the fact that belly fat is metabolically active and correlated to hormone deposition.

So while there is no need to become Arnold Schwarzenegger, it is important to incorporate flexibility, strength training and aerobic movement into your daily routine.

Cancer and Breast milk

Health professionals have long espoused the benefits of breast milk.

But only now are researchers discovering that breast milk contains substances that can destroy cancer cells without negatively affecting healthy cells. The substance known as HAMLET (Human Alpha-lactalbumin Made Lethal to Tumor cells) (Ian: whoever thought that up has too much time to waste) contains a specific protein and fatty acid that occur naturally in breast milk.

They don't yet know for certain that the substance forms spontaneously in milk, but suspect that it may form naturally in an infant's stomach. Most of the studies conducted with HAMLET have been done in laboratories. These experiments have shown that HAMLET kills 40 different types of cancer. Human studies have shown that HAMLET kills cancer cells in patients with bladder cancer. The researchers are currently studying the effects of HAMLET on additional types of cancer including skin cancer and brain tumors. The researchers hope that HAMLET can be used to develop future cancer medicines.

Cancer Imposter Mimics Healthy lymphocyte

Researchers have identified tumors that avoid destruction by mimicing the body's immune system.

Some tumors "disguise" themselves as lymph tissue in order to attract and reprogram T-cell lymphocytes. T-cells destroy bacteria, viruses and other pathogens that invade the body. They also destroy cells and tissues that exhibit abnormal growth, such as tumors.

Some tumors even secrete a protein that is also secreted by lymph nodes. The protein allows the tumor to transform its outer layer into something that resembles lymph tissue. According to lead author Melody Swartz, "The tumor tricks the body into thinking it is healthy tissue."

The result; immune cells do not detect the tumor as a harmful substance and it is allowed to grow and spread unchecked in the body.
More here

Pomegranates classed a defacto drug

As you are aware, here at AlkaWay we've chosen the 'safe' path by not publishing any of the many scientific studies carried out on alkaline water. We attempted to have our water listed with the Australian TGA but were told that because it had been classified 'exempt' we should not apply. WQhen we asked whether that meant we could publish scientific studies, the answer was 'No'. But.. we ecountered.. you just said our water was exempt. That doesn't matter came the extremely confusing reply. So.. we rely on our customers going to sites like YouTube and pubmed.com and searching for ERW (Electrolytic Reduced Water).

Now this report comes in from Dr Ralph Moss, the person I respect most for comments on cancer alternative treatment. And it's all about a parallel situation in the US where a pomegranate juice supply company was prosecuted because they published a true scientific study showing the beneficial effect of the juice on PSA readings in cases of prostate cancer. Not advertised, mind, just published.

So the company cannot alert the public to the over 20 studies already published on the benefits of pomegranate juice in treatment of cancer.

The world is going nuts.

Cancer cells and AlkaIine Ionized water

Yet another study on the effects of Alkaline ionized water on cancer cells here.

And yes, the news is good.

Dr Simoncini by Dr Ralph Moss

So many requests have come to me regarding more info about Dr Tullio Simoncini that I felt that Dr Ralph Moss' (pic left) article about his therapy was worth sharing.

Dr Moss runs what I consider to be the best website in the world on balancing alternative and traditional cancer treatment philosophies and I think anyone faced with the spectre of cancer would do well to read his many free articles.
Here's the Simoncini download.

Cancer Story and a Call for help

The problem with most blogs is that unless a respondent puts a contact point on their comment, I can't reach them. I received this comment today, and encourage anyone who reads it to contact the lady involved. I hope that she conatacts me as a result of this post so i'll have an email to pass on.

"Hi, my Mum had primary cancers in her thyroid gland and in her bronchial passage/lung. They operated and took out her thyroid and did radio therapy on her neck and lung but the cancer was incredibly aggressive and it spread with secondaries in her neck, many in her lungs and a large secondary in the adrenal gland.

My Dad was a doctor for 50 years (retired now) and he has embraced the bicarb treatment and has been using it on my mum orally and via a drip into her veins. She has also been inhaling it using some sort of nebuliser (don't know spelling sorry) and also as a vaginal suppository.

Unfortunately she is also having chemo although I think it is either in mild doses or the alternate procedures she is following at the same time are reducing the side effects of chemo for her for now. Since starting the bicarb treatments, the cancer in her neck has disappeared, as have some of the secondaries in the lungs.

The other secondaries in her lungs have reduced in size but the one in her adrenal gland has gained in size. I know Simoncini advocates an arterial catheter close to the site of the cancer. I presume this is because the body converts the bicarb quickly in the blood so putting it in the veins (as my dad has been doing) may help with generally alkalizing her body (it is now alkaline all the time where before it was highly acidic) but it is probably broken down before it can get to specific sites like the bronchia and adrenal gland.

So after this long winded explanation I guess I'm trying to find out if there are any anaesthetists in Australia who are open to inserting arterial catheters so this treatment might be given a chance to be effective. Like EricaJ, I am looking for the Simoncini method in Australia. Does anyone know or is there somewhere you might suggest I look? ps my mum's name is Erica too :-)

Thank you so much for your help and good luck to all of you that are looking for help for themselves or people they love. Anything has to be better than a belligerent and unsympathetic doctor who instead of saying, "Look, I can't do any more through traditional methods but go out and try whatever you can to get well", tells people to "go home and die".

It makes me so mad! Anyway, that is why there are blogs like these. Thanks again and sorry for the rant."

Ian: anyone?? and.. much more info and thread here

Thirtry One Ways NOT to be a cancer statistic.

Courtesy of Readers' Digest, a good summary of what you can do today to protect yourself from C_____ tomorrow.
Here

Cancer recognition through Discrimination

I've long been intrigued by the link between some health philosophies and victim consciousness. It has seemed to me that there are some ideas that (especially on the net) are reborn again and again, always under the protective and attractive mantle of 'information they tried to supress'.

It also appears that some of the people are attracted to these 'perennial philosophies' use the same form of discrimination on everything else. It's not hard to see it when almost every email they send you is about yet another 'hidden truth', 'supressed health knowledge' or shocking revelation. I do wonder sometimes whether these people would be happy with a victim-less idea!

Cancer, being the enormously controversial subject that it is, attracts manyn of these 'supressed information' concepts and they do regularly appear in my InBox.

Here's such a cancer therapy idea that I first saw some years ago, and that was sent to me again in another of its internet reincarnations.

On studying it, I tried to understand how it could be useful and gave up. That doesn't mean it's wrong; it just means I didn't have enough need to know. Another one I've discussed on this page is the bicarbonate of soda cure, which to my mind seems sensible and understandable, perhaps because of my background in study of acid/alkaline balance.

These days I try valiantly to remove considerations about the motive of the sender from information I receive. Even if they do send it to me to reinforce their concept of a world ruled by shadowy entities behind large desks in multistorey buildings, it shouldn't affect my appreciation of what I read, but after the hundredth such email, it isn't getting much easier. I certainly agree with David Suzuki, who labelled the Internet 'The Information Super-Hype-Way".

Cancer and The Remote

It seems the most cancer-creating item in most households is the TV remote.

Why? Because it causes the most cancer-friendly conditions possible.

According to the new report from the American institute for Cancer Research, labelled Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer, the two major predeterminants for cancer are weight gain and activity level.

So the TV remote is one hell of a cancermaker!

The report says that whether you eat steak or fish for dinner is small chips when compared to the risk of fat or inactivity.

Cancer Guidelines; How to Ensure You Join the Crowd and Die Of Cancer

With apologies to New Scientist, I've created an eleven-point list for ensuring you can get cancer. Here it is. Feel free to print it out and put it one your double fridge.

1. Make sure you have a Body Mass Index over 23 and work hard to increase this as you age. Don't let the media hype about 'thin' seduce you!

2. Keep physical activity at a reasonable level; definitely no more than 30 minutes per day. Make friends with your couch. Only walk when you can't drive, call email or roll. And be careful your mouse and remote control hand muxcles aren't over developed.

3. Don't waste time eating raw or green food. Get your energy through high sugar and energy-loaded fast food.

4. Let the beasts of the world support you. Eat at least 500g of meat a week. Processed meats are just great.

5. If you are a man, make sure a refreshing alcoholic beverage is always nearby. It may be hard, but women should strive to drink at least two standard drinks a day, men, four.

6. Live a nature-supporting lifestyle. Fruit and vegetable are rabbit and insect food. Save them by abstaining from eating any of their natural fodder. Even more important, if you must eat vegetables or fruit, leave the organic stuff for the animals. Make sure your vegies are safely protected with an all round insecticide, miticide fungicide, herbicide and biocide. Good for your in-cides.

7. Ensure all of your food is safe by insisting on a good chemical preservative. And make sure it's salty We came from the sea, didn't we?

8. Keep up to date with all of ther latest dietary supplements. You never know what you're missing if you don't try them all. A full cupboard is a healthy cupboard.

9. If you're a mum, be a thoroughly modern one and DO NOT BREASTFEED.

10. Keep lean and mean by avoiding water. If you must drink water, make sure it's in coffee. Do NOT drink alkaline water whatever you do. There are no double blind studies on its benefits and it's not sold by a pharmaceutical company so how can it be any good - even if the Japanese have used it for fifty years?
(What would they know anyway?)

11. If you've survived Cancer, and found the experience enjoyable, change nothing!
Your name is already up in lights on the Big C scoreboard!

Grapefruit: Love Lost

I love the occasional grapefruit. I even remember a Grapefruit diet. And now two great loves of my life seem in irreconcilable conflict. It appears, according to this report, that a grapefruit a day may precipitate breast cancer!

Even Cancer Won't Help Some People To Hear.

As I work and learn more and more about acid balance, I learn and deepen in the awareness that ultimately, responsibility for my own health belongs with me and me alone. And so it does with everyone else.

Yesterday we visited a client in Byron Bay. Dhira has begun 'Feel Good' a wonderful little shop with massage chairs, Bemer mats, Circulation Boosters, Massage chairs and much more. Although she works every day all day, she insists that it's not about the money. It's about service and learning. Her service and her learning. She's a joy to be around.

While I was there relaxing in a massage chair, two long time Byron acquaintances came in. 'John' is 4 years younger than my sixty years, florid and well, fat. A lovely man, he has begun to be shaken in his beliefs about health by the deaths and cancers that have begun happening around him. John asked me what I was up to and I showed him Dhira's Alphion water alkalizer, pouring him, his wife Jenny, partaking of a foot massage, and myself a glass of alkaline antioxidant water.

'Jenny's just got over breast cancer.' said John, 'She's got sore feet 'cos the chemo made her put on weight.'

I looked at Jenny and he was right. Her arms and legs were fluid filled. It was obvious that the chemo had conspired with a basically awful, acidic diet to load her up with extra kilos.

I told them about the power of the water, but it was to no avail. Jenny quaffed her glass and said in a loud voice; 'Nah. rainwater's good enough for me. Anyway, I've always been healthy. I've got good health. Aways have.' My incredulity must have shown because she added, ''Except for the cancer, of course.'

You know, there was a time that this would have depressed me. But after all these years, I have come to the conclusion that everyone is always doing their best. If they aren't able, ready or willing to hear what I believe they need, then it's still all for the best.

My mind used to go mad working out new ways to help people like this, but no, no-one can hear until they are ready to hear. And even cancer won't 'ready' some people for their own enlightenment.