Rx: SPICING CANCER TREATMENT

The population of India is now over a billion with an estimated 1.5 million cases of cancer diagnosed per year. The population of the United States is 295 million, and yet 1.5 million cancers will be diagnosed this year. The accompanying Table shows that the incidence of breast cancer in the US is 660/million while in India, it is 79/million. Similarly, in the US, prostate cancer accounts for 690 cases/million, while in India, it is 20/million. What is more surprising is that in a country where large numbers of people smoke, and where pollution control is not as good as that in the developed countries yet, the incidence of lung cancer in India is 30/million compared to 660/million in the US. Only Head and Neck, and endometrial cancer rates are comparable between the two countries, the former probably related to the chewing of pan and betel nut in India.

COMPARISON OF CANCER INCIDENCE IN USA AND INDIA:

The cause of this discrepancy has been debated, and is felt to be multi-factorial including the genetic predisposition of the subjects, their life-styles, a uniqueness of the geography or the environment or any combinations of the above. The weakest factor in this list of possibilities is that of genetic predisposition. While some diseases are clearly more common in or restricted to certain races ( for example, Jews of Eastern European, or Ashkenazi descent carry the Tay-Sachs gene at a rate ten times that of other Americans), cancer incidence is associated with individual or familial pre-disposition rather than racial predisposition. It has also been suggested that there may be serious under-reporting of cancer cases from the third world countries, making the statistics unreliable. Frequently, patients from the remote and rural parts of the country either do not seek treatment at all, or succumb to the disease before a diagnosis is made, many more preferring homeopathic and Aryuvedic remedies. However, differences are also apparent between Asians and Americans living in the US as shown in the example of cancer statistics for males in Massachusetts:

Similarly, the incidence of cancer differs among the female population:

It is conceivable that cancers unique to an older age group such as prostate or certain hematologic malignancies may not be as common in India because the percentage of the aged population is comparatively lower, but this does not explain the well documented difference in the incidence of childhood leukemias.

Two thirds of all cancers are related to diet. Associations between the two are difficult, if not impossible, to prove because of the formidable number of variables involved. Problems with the American diet are being increasingly appreciated because of the epidemic of obesity. Meats and poultry obtained from animals that have been fattened up on hormones or chemically preserved foods may be factors that contribute to the early onset of puberty in girls, and increasing incidence of chronic diseases like diabetes and cancer. However, another possibility is that Americans not only consume (in large amounts) what is damaging, they also do not eat what could potentially neutralize and protect them against the carcinogenic effects of the former. That protective effect for Indians may be provided by their diet which is rich in spices. Garlic, onion, soy, turmeric, ginger, tomatoes, green tea and chillies that are the staples of Indian cooking have been shown to be associated with a lower risk of a variety of cancers ranging from colon, GI tract, breast, leukemias and lymphomas.

The benefits of spices have been known for millennia. As Alexander the Great was returning home after conquering the known world, the last such place being India, he fell ill and unexpectedly died in Babylon. The University of Maryland researchers have now successfully proved that he died of typhoid. Upon his death, a fight broke out between the Macedonians who wanted to take their native son home for burial and Ptolemy, Alexander’s powerful General, who was heading the conquered Egyptian territory and who wanted to bury him in Egypt. It took almost a year to build a chariot suitable enough for transporting the body out of Babylon, and during this time, Alexander’s body had to be preserved. Interestingly, even though the secrets of mummification were now known to the Greeks because of the conquest of Egypt, the body was actually preserved in spices, white pepper and honey.

Sir Thomas More was beheaded by the order of King Henry VIII and his head was cooked in water before being impaled on a spike and displayed on London Bridge where it stayed for a month, taken down only as more heads began to arrive, eventually being returned to his daughter. Margaret More kept the head with the greatest reverence as long as she lived, carefully preserving it by means of spices. To this day, it stays in the custody of one of his relatives. Since 1500s, the vault containing the head was last opened in 1837, and it was still in reasonably good shape.

Spices have been used for ages as food preservatives. Mothers knew millennia ago that meat spoils quickly in hot climates, and their children died if they ate left-over food. Being a rich source of protein for their children, meat was a precious commodity, especially in hunting gathering days and needed to be preserved. Mothers learnt through experience that adding spices could accomplish this goal. Geographically speaking, the number of spices in food has been shown to be directly proportional to how hot the weather is. In contrast, food is either chemically preserved or frozen in the Western countries. Spices kill germs, and are therefore highly effective as preservatives.

The precise mechanism by which spices prevent the development of cancer is not well understood. Spices are some of the best natural anti-oxidants, and may be acting by protecting the cells from DNA damage. There is a documented association between germs and cancer; estimates are that ~15% of cancers globally are caused by micro-organisms. It is possible that many cancers are initiated by pathogens and spices prevent this from happening by killing off the germs. More importantly, natural substances like onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, red chilly, tomatoes, and black pepper have now been scientifically proven to interfere with the very intracellular signaling which accounts for the excessive proliferation and loss of maturation in cancer cells. The bio-chemical properties of these substances are being widely investigated now, with over 1000 papers published in highly respected medical journals on curcumin and ginger in the last few years alone. In summary then, spices may act to prevent the various stages of cancer initiation and development through a combination of their anti-oxidant, anti-pathogen and anti-proliferative properties.

Plants of the ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe, Zingiberaceae) family, one of the most heavily consumed dietary substances in the world, have been shown to inhibit tumor promotion in mouse skin. The substance called [6]-gingerol is the main active compound in ginger root and the one that gives ginger its distinctive flavor. A review of recently published studies indicate that among a host of other activities, gingerol induces apoptosis (cell death) in leukemia cells, can prevent the development of colon cancer cells, protects against radiation induced lethality and acts as a blood thinner via platelet activation inhibition (similar to an aspirin-like effect).

Curcuma longa or turmeric, responsible for the yellow color of curry powder, is a herb belonging to the ginger family and curcumin is its most active component. Turmeric has been widely used in India for centuries as a panacea for a variety of ailments. In summary, curcumin has been found to interfere with key cellular signaling pathways to arrest the unchecked proliferation of cancer cells, induce apoptosis, sensitize them to radiation therapy, and stop the formation of new blood vessels, a mechanism by which cancer cells are known to spread. These are the very effects desired to achieve growth arrest and eventual regression in a malignant process.

At least 9 clinical studies with curcumin have now been reported in humans in diseases ranging from cancer to rheumatism, uveitis, inflammatory diseases, leukoplakia, metaplasia of the stomach, and as cholesterol-lowering agents. All studies show that curcumin is extremely well tolerated in doses ranging from 4-8 grams/day, although up to 12 Gm/day have also been administered. Clinical responses of varying degrees have been reported in almost all of these clinical trials. Similarly, gingerol has been widely used for its biologic and chemopreventive effects for centuries, with more controlled clinical trials in recent years.

While spices may prevent cancer initiation and expansion, could they also be of therapeutic benefit in already established tumors, especially if given in very high doses? The intuitive answer is that the earlier the treatment is instituted in the course of the disease, the higher the probability. Two obvious possibilities are the pre-malignant conditions marked by abnormal morphology called dysplasias, or established malignancies such as low grade lymphomas and chronic leukemias where the course is so slow that a watch-and-wait policy is usually practiced. Over the ensuing years, the diseases change character, becoming progressively more lethal, at which time intervention is undertaken with aggressive and toxic approaches like radiation and chemotherapies. A good place to start may be the use of these natural substances in such conditions, especially in the earliest stages of disease evolution. The benefit from natural substances is likely to take time, a luxury which cannot be afforded in the case of rapidly growing malignant diseases, therefore the sooner this intervention occurs, the better.

We were curing malaria long before we knew what caused it. It was an empirical observation that victims of malaria who chewed on the bark of the Cinchona tree improved dramatically which led to the extraction and isolation of quinine. If we wait for a complete understanding of every abnormal signal and molecule in a cancer cell, then effective therapies may be a long way off. On the other hand, taking an observation such as the role of diet in preventing cancer can help develop some novel therapies as well as define preventive measures. As evidenced by the campaign against smoking, it will take a long time to bring about the social change required in making major lifestyle adjustments such as alterations in diet. While such changes are essential in the long run, it may be advisable to combine the best of what the East and West offer by using the natural substances to treat earlier stages of cancers and use the latest DNA microarray technologies and the results of the Human Genome Project to understand the precise mechanism of action of these spices.

Studying age old Eastern remedies, or "complimentary" medicine runs the risk of being branded as voodoo. Upon hearing of my current interest in treating cancers with Masala after so many years in cancer research using the most sophisticated scientific tools, a beloved family member in Pakistan remarked in wonder, "But I thought you went to America to become a rich doctor, not a witch doctor!"

Previous Rx Column:
The War on Cancer

Comments

[thomas]

The apparent greater number of cancers in India is almost certainly because of "failure" to diagnose them. It is obvious that in extremely economically disadvantaged areas of India that people are not going to the doctor for say, prostate symptoms. An American who pisses five times per night has a big problem. In India I bet it rarely would be considered anything but a nuisance. Add to this the fact that there is currently controversy in the US about the overdetection of prostate cancer causing unnecesary treatment for cancers that may have remained sub-clinical and never caused any health risk.

Imagine how many cancers would be discovered in India if mobilie vans armed with advanced imaging devices swarmed rural India offering free medical treatment for all diagnosed. I bet the number found would far outpace the US.

[M. Battiwalla]

While it is probably true that many cancers are under-diagnosed and, therefore, under-reported in India, there are two powerful arguments against such a simplistic explanation. The first is that the very nature of cancer is that it willinevitably declare itself. Take breast cancer for instance, there is no way that breast cancer would stay occult without treatment before becoming obvious as a fungating mass. The second argument is that there are malignancies which are reported as highly prevalent in the Indian subcontinent, such as oral cancers from chewing betel nut. If under-reporting were a systemic problem, then how does one explain this phenomenon?

There are definnite ethnic or geographic trends in cancer incidence. Instead of dismissing the vast amount of data favoring a lower incidence of various malignancies in the Indian subcontinent, perhaps it would be better to try and focus on finding the reasons and providing mechanistic explanations.

[Anon]

Dr. Raza,

This is really interesting! I'd never even thought of this possibility before, it seems as if it's worth as much of a shot in terms of research as, say, chemo. As regards your last comment, "Studying age old Eastern remedies, or 'complimentary' medicine runs the risk of being branded as voodoo," I think in a laboratory environment (i.e., with proper controls, for instance), you could probably do some very convincing research.

But I also wanted to know if there was something in the study breaking down cancer types among socio-economic groups in first world countries. One of the reasons we have so many fat people here (I think something like 66% of the population or something) is because so much of our easily-accessible food (junk food) is cheap. Poor people tend to eat junk food because it is cheap, and it is pretty much a rule that here in the U.S., fat people are poor people (rich people have money and leisure time to buy organic, non-processed foods, join gyms, don't usually do physically demanding work and so don't have chronic injuries, and in general take better care of themselves).

Being fat is obviously a health problem, and obesity is linked to many cancers (as you point out). But in third world countries, it is the opposite, with the general population thin, and the upper classes being a bit pudgy and non-athletic (even though in some places, like India, with the film industry promoting muscular and thin stars, gyms are sort of getting popular but still out of reach even for middle-class people). So I guess my question is, is there a study comparing wealthy people in ("spicy" countries), say India, and poor people here (a "non-spicy" country), who are both fat but with different diets? Maybe that could reveal something?

[David Steensma]

Because "lifestyles" are so vastly different between Asian populations living in Asia and those of us living in the United States, wherever we may come from originally, it is extraordinarily challenging to tease out which specific dietary or cultural practices contribute to disease rates, how these practices interact with each other -- and whether observed differences are just a matter of ascertainment bias, as suggested. I have no doubt that there are real differences in disease prevalence between populations, but patterns of seeking medical care are real confounders. These patterns often remain among those moving to the United States, who may retain the same levels of concern (or lack of concern) present in the old country: my Dutch immigrant grandparents shared their ancestors' paranoia about tuberculosis, and would see a physician at the drop of a hat with any respiratory symptoms, but ignored bowel complaints that other Americans might have found alarming until disease was far advanced.

There might be a special spice out there with anti-neoplastic properties, or perhaps a variant of tea, or something else unexpected. It will take a lot of effort to discover what it is.

[Cait Hurley]

Hi Azra,

Yes, all this is very interesting, and it feels good to live in multi-cultural London, with a wealth of Indian food and eating a mediterranean diet at home (surely, this must be the recipe for eternal life!). But that brings me to my other point.
In order to try and assess the Indian lack-of-cancer phenomenon, should we also take in to consideration cancer rates in South American, where spices are obviously the norm, and also other pacific rim nations where a slightly differing spice set is eaten regularly? Recent research regarding Turmeric is interesting but there are *so* many variables in play that I'm not sure that spice's role as a preswervative would necessarily have any bearing on the cancer issue?

One supposes that given that this is now being discussed, that means that the spicers etc of this world are researching this area for all their worth, in which case some interesting research should come to light soon. Meanwhile, the message can only be to eat more Indian food, which is hardly an onerous task!

[Graham]

I'm all for progress and curing cancer, and I'm hopeful that you're right about these spices. Don't get me wrong. But from my cursory glance at the clinical trials of curcumin on Pubmed, none of them had any statistical significance or enough power to say if it actually did anything. We should definitely test these substances in clinical trials, and the NIH has setup a branch to look into alternative medical therapies to do such trials

It's also great that some of these substances worked in the lab, or work in rodent models, but a lot of the time, things either don't pan out when you switch over to humans, or things can even be the exact opposite of what's supposed to happen. I'd love to think that Indians have less cancer, but I'm incredibly, incredibly skeptical.

There's also no mention in your article that some spices/herbals can impact the metabolism in other medications, which can lead to dangerous interactions.

[Graham]

Another thought: the average life expectancy in India in 2002, was ~54 years old; the average age at time of diagnosis of lung cancer in the US is 60.

[Epiphinite]

The funny thing is that other medical studies have shown that the incidence of diabetes and heart disease in the Indian population, is disproportionately higher to other races.

So the question of any benefits derived from an Indian diet is really moot, isnt it?

Am an Indian btw, and i agree with one of the earlier comments by Anon about how a study based on socio-economic factors would be more relevant.

In India, the diet of the poor is totally different from that of the American poor. Fats and oils are minimal due to their high cost, millets are used in preference to other sources of carbs; again due to cost etc. etc.

Plus in India, physically demanding labour is primarily done by the poor, rural or urban. So a combination of hard work and diet among the vast quantity of India's poor might be the cause for skewed results.

Just my two cents anyway.

[Dr. N. Johnson]

Cancers tend to be diseases of the middle and older-aged.
Mortality in the West tends to be dominated by cancer and other chronic causes.
The demographic profile of different countries leads to different causes of death predominating.
India is likely to have a much younger population with other mortality causes more prominent. Hence they are likely to have a very different mortality profile to the USA - and very different rates of mortality by specific cause.

[Kaleberg]

Cancer emerged as a serious medical challenge in the United States in the 1930s when life expectency rose and infant mortality dropped enough from other causes. It's not that cancer became more virulent, but rather so many other things had become less lethal.

Life expectency in India is 62 or 63 years, but it is 76 or 77 in the U.S. Infant mortality is higher there as well. If I remember correctly, India is still largely rural, but as it urbanizes and modernizes, infectious diseases will become less serious killers, and long term chronic diseases, like cancer and heart disease, will emerge as serious problems.

There may be some spice related chemotherapeutic effect, but I'll have to see the data before I'm convinced. It's easy to get confused by sampling artifacts. Most immigrants from India to the States are younger than the general American population, so I'd expect cancer to be less of a factor than in an older subsample.

[Jan]

The different life expectancy in India and USA plays important role in cancer development, no doubt about it. There are also other factors that nobody has mentioned yet. There are higher rates of mortality of people of all ages in India. This perhaps leads to a selective pressure on the whole population and only resistant individuals survive.
In addition, inflammation plays an important role in all civilization diseases (coronary artery disease, atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus, cancer etc.). For example children in India (especially in the country) either die or survive pneumonia being most likely without antibiotics on the contrary children in USA get antibiotics and survive. Interestingly there are reports suggesting that use of antibiotics in childhood may increase risk of lymphoma development. So while antibiotics may save life they probably also prevent a sort of natural interaction between the immune system and infection, which may later on cause ongoing (“smouldering”) inflammation.
People in USA have bigger body mass index no question about. There is a group of proteins that are involved in gene expression regulation at the level of chromatin remodeling (histone acetylation). Those proteins perhaps provide the connection between metabolism, ageing and cancer development. They are called sirtuins.
Lastly, high body mass index practically equals metabolic syndrome, which is nothing else than ongoing inflammation, which may lead to cancer. There are several studies showing that statins may reduce risk of cancer development (for details see Demierre MF et al. Statins and Cancer Prevention. Nature Reviews Cancer; 5: 930-942). So I guess, it all boils down to life style…

[Jan]

Now a little bit about spicing treatment of cancer. Well, there is a rule that you should eat and drink what your host serves you. There is a particular reason for it especially once you travel to subtropical and tropical areas. The native food is usually using a lot of strong and area specific spices. These have anti-inflammatory and possibly also anticancer effects. They were tested by thousands of years of human tradition and knowledge. The only unfortunate fact for current oncologist is that those many years do not count us randomized clinical trials and thus are not accepted by the broad medical community. Who would sponsor those trials? I can not imagine to see a pharmaceutical company to support a study with e.g. garlic while the same company has spent millions for development of “classical” anticancer agent, which needs to be tested in clinical trial in order to pay back for its development…We have a lot of work to do.

[Dr. Priya Srinivas]

what would be the status of prostate cancer incidence in India in 2005, and what is its position among other cancers? How many prostate cancer patients may have BRCA1/2 mutations?

[vishesh Mardolkar]

i Was researching for free cancer statistic as on which area is the most affected, the latest update available on net for India is only upto 2003. will anybody please help me its Important and its urgent.
the statistics provided by you will be cross checked with the data estimates also the correct statistics will help you save someones life .please be kind enough to share it with me.

i promise you i will do something for the society

Vishesh Mardolkar- MBA biotech Pune

[Kirsten]

Amazing. Go to the GLOBOCAN database web site at http://www-dep.iarc.fr/ - click on "GLOBOCAN 2002" in the upper right. Then click on "cancer map" in the left menu. In the filtering options, for cancer type scroll to the bottom of the list to select "All sites but non-melanoma skin". Under "Output" select "New Window", leave the other fields as is, and click the "Execute" button. You will see in general a band of lower incidence of cancer roughly between the Equator and the Tropic of Cancer. Switch the filtering criteria from male to female and compare and contrast the two. Yes, surely the statistics are skewed by differences in diagnosis and reporting; but this tool is nonetheless FASCINATING!

[Kirsten]

Reuters is carrying a news story today: "Ginger, pepper treat difficult cancers" reporting on recent studies done in the U.S. Currently the article is here (but my experience is that these things don't stay available for too long): http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060404/hl_nm/cancer_spices_dc_1

Here are the first few paragraphs of the article:

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ginger can kill ovarian cancer cells while the compound that makes peppers hot can shrink pancreatic tumors, researchers told a conference on Tuesday.

"Their studies add to a growing body of evidence that at least some popular spices might slow or prevent the growth of cancer.

"The study on ginger was done using cells in a lab dish, which is a long way from finding that it works in actual cancer patients, but it is the first step to testing the idea.

"Dr. Rebecca Liu, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, and colleagues tested ginger powder dissolved in solution by putting it on ovarian cancer cell cultures.

"It killed the ovarian cancer cells in two different ways -- through a self-destruction process called apoptosis and through autophagy in which cells digest themselves, the researchers told a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research."

[BCC]

A human trial for cancer treatment with ginger has never been done. But I know that ginger can cure cancer. I cured my prostate and colon cancer by taking 12 grams daily of ginger powder in capsules for several days. I wish that a large trial is run soon so ginger is used as a standard chemo treatment.

[Jivory]

Hello,I am a 25 year-old female who has survived ovarian cancer .Thank the heavens for the expensive Japanese mushroom maitake that has cured me ( A positive attitude crucial also ) I feel the nuclear power plant less than a mile away surrounded by power-lines has triggered my carcinoma as well as a dozen others in my class.I am sure any food I have had with hormones and pesticides have not helped either .
I came here today to this website to assist a good friends father in finding a cure.It does exsist .Unfortunatly , our government will never give anyone a cure because they make too much profit preserving us.(F.D.A.is as honesty as our U.N. dept.)I know @ one time before I was a teenager(1980's) a doctor cured a hand full of women in N.Y. whom had cancer(not sure what types) and received a notice from the government to stop practicing and he did NOT . He has been missing with the other of thousands in our country ever since.I commend those who really try for the people with a natural concern thank you and be humble while you work. God Bless,Jiovry

[Jivory]

Thank you BCC.I will extend that wealth of knowlegde.

[johnson]

I would like to know about the cancer and treatment please send also a statistics of cancer in India

[Uma]

I'm in need of cancer statistics of India and Tamilnadu 2000-2006. I would be so thankful if you could provide me the same.

[Darlene Schultz]

Need Help. Sisters Ovarian Cancer not respondingto Chemo. Doctors going to stop all efforts. Wwhat about Ginger... How much daily?? PLEASE.... HELP US!

[BCC]

Those of you that are interested in the ginger treatment, please look at http://www.geocities.com/cure.cancer/testimonial001.html

[Jivory]

Johnson, were you inquiring about my cancer treatment and pathology report?

[Vikki Singh]

I read all these comments with interest,my interest in searching why cancer is even existing in India. (forget that it has lowest incident rate in world).I am living in US since last 10 years and amazed by number of people getting cancer.We know the reasons here-chemical farming,processed food,too many electronics devices, etc.etc.
In India,it is poor people getting cancer who stay close to polluting industries.Like,Unilever mercury thermometer factory caused cancer in nearby villages.Bhopal has highest incidences of tongue cancer due to Union Carbide plant accident.
Then,there are local factories who are contaminating groundwater and causing cancer.Punjab,highest yeilding agricultural state,has highest cancers in india due to their increased use of pesticides.Farmers eat their own food,drink their contaminated water so they can not escape it.So,focus of cancer incidences in india should be, why it is there in the first place as it not "industrialised" nation as western countries.With original Ayurvedic diet and Yoga (with pranayam) there is no way on earth that anyone can contact cancer.
Diabetes and heart diseases in india increased in india at the same time people stopped eating traditional "ghee" and switched to vegetable oils as cooking medium.But no one has made the connection yet.In southern india,everyone would use coconut oil for cooking purpose, but since allopathic system said that cocunut has high saturated fats,everyone switched to vegetable oil and again heart disease and diabetes became common.But no one is doing this research.
Increased cancer in indian women is due to indiscrimate use of Hormone Therapy for post menopausal women without adequate testing.So, my question is,why is there a cancer first place.

[R. KAUR]

Raza, your article was very interesting to read and some of the comments that it raised

[pallab kr. Bhaumik]

current database on breast cancer/like awarness /prevention/research/bibliometry analysis/citation/

[pallab kr. Bhaumik]

i,m in need of cancer statistics of India and West Bengal 1996-2005

i would be so thankful if you could provide me the same

[D.Sugapriya]

i am in the need of cancer statistics of India and Tamilnadu 2000-2006. I would be so thankful if you could provide me the same.

[Raghav Kumar]

One of the very few interesting analysis i read on the benefits of spices and the Indian way of diet. However, one thing that attracts my attention is the percentage of death rate as against the number of cases. The cases are much high in the US but the death rate is very high in Asia.. But overall a very informative and educative article.. Have a nice one!!

[Soya]

Can anybody help me in getting the head and neck cancer statistics (latest) of Tamilnadu and India. I would be grateful if you could provide me the same.

[Frank Madarasz]

I am also interested in finding the latest cancer statistics for India. Any assistance in finding this information would be greatly appreciated.

[Prakash]

I would also like to know the information about the currenc drugs used and their market size in india

[Peter Manian]

Yes, life style has everything to do with genesis of any dis-ease.

I also believe that emotional well being is also part of a good life style.

For instance, in the U.S. the psychiatric profession is thriving very well compared to India.

In the U.S.,they run to their psychiatrist for anxiety; in India, they see their astrologist for comfort who may simply bluff and tell his client good fortunes are on the way!

That something is wrong with the mind may create more fear and increase the stress harmones that may cause cancer, whereas a feeling that nothing is wrong with the mind and everything is wrong with the stars gives hope for the future. Thus the burden of any guilt is moved to a distant future.

[nivedan]

In india most of the food preparations are rich in natural substances like onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, red chilly, tomatoes, and black pepper, have now been scientifically proven to interfere with devalapment or proliferation of cancers cells in body and some of them inhibit the triggering foctors.

[Julio Cesar Tejada]

I am a 66.5 years old and have been eating ginger for bone inflamation, and about eight years ago I was diagnosed with
Beningn Hiperplaxia(BHP), and since then PSA tests have shown a reversal process. I also take
a traditional medication Terazocin, but I think that as I eat lots of hot peppers and tried a diet of pure bits juice for a month, as recomended in a Reader's Digest Magazine in 1977, Hope my feedback might help someone
who wants to prevent any type of cancer. There is nothing to lose by trying.

[Ramdas Chatterjee]

It is still true that a major part of the Indian population reside in rural areas without much of health care or availability of knowledge to judge one's disease condition. Additionally, poverty stop them from reaching any modern treatment. Cervical or oral cancers that require a long time for progressing from precancer to invasive cancer are often undiagnosed or misdiagnosed in rural areas and hence the mortality rate is high. Many such cancers are surely under-reported. can we deny this?

[doha]

hi
can you please send to me carcinogenic chemical compound cause uterine cancer in micee in small time in one month or weaks ,
thank you

[Sarah]

Great article. I believe there are many natural cures. Lets use them!

[Roger Black]

The evidence grows that tumeric, in conjunction with black pepper (piperine) can prevent cancer. Here is a link to a study headed by Ajay Goel, PhD, Director of Epigenetics and Cancer Prevention at the Baylor Research Institute in Dallas, TX. which illustrates that: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3092901/ .

I take 1Tbsp tumeric along with 1tsp ground black pepper, 1tsp ground cloves, 1tsp molecularly distilled fish oil, and 1tsp olive oil (all mixed together and chased with a little warm water) to prevent prostate cancer and its predecessor BPH. I'm 67 now, and my BPH seems to be improving. YEEHAA!

For those of you that already have cancer, I recommend checking out "William Coley" on google. One link I particularly like is: "Healing Heat: Harnessing Infection to Fight Cancer" http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/issue.aspx?id=5439&y=0&no=&content=true&page=2&css=print

Sincerely, Roger Black