Vitamin C Incompatible with Chemotherapy - NewsGrabs 5 October 2008

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Vitamin C 'reduces benefits' of cancer drugs: study
"The use of vitamin C supplements could have the potential to reduce the ability of patients to respond to therapy," said Mark Heaney, an Associate Attending Physician at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and lead author of the study.

Past studies have suggested vitamin C could be beneficial to cancer patients because it is an antioxidant. In August, a study showed that injected high does of vitamin C reduced the size of tumors and slowed cancerous growths by about 50 percent in laboratory mice.

The new research shows that a number of chemotherapy drugs produce "oxygen free radicals." According to the study's theory, vitamin C could "sop up the radicals," keeping cancer cells alive despite chemotherapy treatment.

Heaney said that he suspects vitamin C is good for cells in normal tissue, and extends cell life by protecting the all-important mitochondra, the cell's "power plant" that keeps it running.

"But that isn't what you want when you are trying to eliminate cancer cells," said Heaney.

All cancer therapy drugs work to disrupt the mitochondria, to push for cell death.

Cancer drugs are based on the idea that you need to poison cancer cells to fight cancer. Applying the poison kills both cancer cells and normal cells, often killing the patient in the process. Vitamin C has shown, in this study, that it protects cells from poisons, and its protective effect is seen in both cancer cells and normal cells.

What the study really shows is the idiocy of conventional medicine's approach to cancer, attacking the body with what amounts to weapons of mass destruction - and the ability of vitamin C to normalize cell function. In treating cancer, I would go with the vitamin C rather than the poison.

Vitamin D Stops Cancer; Cuts Risk In Half
A new study of 3,299 persons has shown that those with higher levels of vitamin D cut their risk of dying from cancer in half. Another recent study shows that ample intake of vitamin D, about 2,000 IU per day, can cut breast cancer incidence by half. Still more research found that inadequate Vitamin D is "associated with high incidence rates of colorectal cancer" and specifically urges that "prompt public health action is needed to increase intake of Vitamin D-3 to 1000 IU/day."

Vitamin D's anticancer properties are so evident, and so important, that the Canadian Cancer Society now recommends supplementation with 1,000 IU of Vitamin D per day for all adults in winter, and year-round for persons at risk.

The American Cancer Society, however, is dragging its feet, still maintaining that "More research is needed to define the best levels of intake and blood levels of vitamin D for cancer risk reduction."

Four Out Of Five Physicians Recommend Supplements
Of the 72 percent of physicians who say they [personally] use dietary supplements 87 percent used a multivitamin, 78 percent use vitamin C, 63 percent use B vitamins, 59 per cent use vitamin D, 58 percent use vitamin E as well as calcium.

DNA of good bacteria drives intestinal response to infection
A person normally has 300 to 500 species of beneficial bacteria, known as commensals, in their intestines. These bacteria are not harmful and, in fact, help an individual maintain his or her digestive health. Typically, the immune system does not attack gut commensals, even though they are bacteria.

"Within the body of a healthy adult, microbial cells vastly outnumber human cells. Research to understand these microbial communities is an exciting scientific frontier," says Anthony S. Fauci, MD, NIAID director.

Contrast that with our over-use of antibiotics in animal husbandry and resulting development of resistant strains of bacteria, plus the fact that antibiotics used in humans do also kill the commensals, the bacteria that are helping us stay healthy.

Conventional Medicine Ignores the Science behind Preventing Sudden Cardiac Death with Fish Oil
The U.S. has waged a five-decade war on heart disease thanks to the information gleaned from the Framingham Study and the studies that followed it. That war has been dominated by the use of prescription drugs, surgery, and procedures that include angioplasty and stents. Everyone agrees that heart disease is related to lifestyle choices. While one may have a genetic predisposition for high lipids or the genetic marker for inflammation, the evidence is clear: we turn genes on and off with the lifestyle choices we make each day. The efficacy of treating heart disease with lifestyle medicine and other techniques like chelation therapy, versus the use of prescriptions and various medical procedures, has been debated for nearly the same five decades.

Put this information together with recent news that Pfizer is reportedly getting out of the heart disease research business and that a study on chelation therapy is being shut down before it has gotten off the ground, and you get an idea of the desperation that has taken hold of conventional medicine over its inability to deliver on its promise of making us more healthy.

Most Cancer Patients Eating Wrong
75% of all Americans do not even eat five servings a day of fruits or vegetables. That is bad enough. It is even worse with cancer patients. A study of over 9,000 survivors of six different types of cancer showed that only 15% to 19% were meeting the "5-A-Day" recommendation. That means that 81% to 85% were not. The researchers commented that these findings indicate that even a cancer diagnosis may fail to improve fruit and vegetable consumption.

The best solution is prevention, and prevention has to start long before cancer...

The AMA Seeks to Boost Public Confidence in Vaccine Safety
The American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have joined with twenty other major medical groups to say that public confidence in vaccine safety needs to be restored to avoid the risk of deadly disease outbreaks. Recent government data shows that about 77% of U.S. toddlers have received all their recommended shots—which means nearly one-fourth of toddlers do not get the mandated shots. The coalition says that public health officials need to counteract campaigns by advocacy groups who “believe vaccines can cause autism, despite scientific evidence to the contrary.”

California Passes Strong Anti-GE Law
"AB 541 provides much needed protection for farmers who typically lack the resources to fight lawsuits brought by biotech conglomerates," stated Renata Brillinger, director of the Genetic Engineering Policy Project, the coalition sponsoring AB 541. "This is a good first step towards establishing that Monsanto - not farmers - is legally responsible for the economic, environmental and health harms caused by their patented and uncontrollable products."

FDA Should Review Approval of Splenda - Potential Harmful Effect on Humans
"The report makes it clear that the artificial sweetener Splenda and its key component sucralose pose a threat to the people who consume the product. Hundreds of consumers have complained to us about side effects from using Splenda and this study, published this past week in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health Part A, confirms that the chemicals in the little yellow package should carry a big red warning label," said James Turner, chairman of the national consumer education group Citizens for Health.

FDA Complicit in Pushing Pharmaceutical Drugs
The story is about the FDA's lack of oversight on drug advertising.

"While the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) turns a blind eye, drug companies are making false, unsubstantiated, and misleading claims in their advertising, often withholding mandated disclosure of dangerous side effects. Though companies are required to submit their advertisements to the FDA, the agency does not review them before they are released to the public."

This is part of Project Censored's of Top 25 Censored Stories for 2009. See the whole list of censored stories here.

FDA Warns Drugmakers Over ADHD Ads
Five, count ‘em, five warning letters were sent by the agency to different drugmakers for incomplete, false or misleading promotional materials for ADHD meds. Among the ads cited - a YouTube video for Shire Pharmaceutical’s Adderall XR with Ty Pennington that was featured on the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” television show.

The charges would appear serious - the FDA says the drugmakers variously omitted material facts; miminized important risks; overstated efficacy or made unsubstantiated claims.

UK: Drug firms bankroll attacks on National Health System Drug Watchdog
The rising tide of protest over the refusal by the NHS to provide expensive drugs for cancer and other conditions is being funded by the pharmaceutical industry, an investigation by The Ind