Overview of Some Nutritional Approaches to Cancer

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Overview of Some Nutritional Approaches to Cancer

 

Cancer II

 

ANOTHER WAY OF LOOKING AT THE TREATMENT OF CANCER

 

People with cancer are fairly often cured for no known

reason. This is called spontaneous remission, and it

happens every day. Somehow, the body has destroyed

the cancer by itself. Anything we can do to encourage

this is most worthwhile. One way we may be able to

assist the body is with vitamins and other nutrients.

 

There are several nutritional aspects to look at in

cancer treatment. One of the most important is

Vitamin C.

 

VITAMIN C AND COLLAGEN

 

Vitamin C is essential to the formation of collagen,

the protein " glue " that holds our cells together.

Think of cells in a cell tissue like bricks in a wall.

The strength of a brick wall is not truly in the

bricks, for a stack of bricks can easily be pushed

apart. So might a group of cells. Collagen is the

" mortar " that binds your cells together, just as

mortar binds bricks together. If collagen is abundant

and strong, your cells hold together well. If cells

stick together, tumors have a tough time spreading

through them. Strong collagen can thereby arrest the

spread of cancer.

 

Cancer cells secrete a substance called hyaluronidase,

which helps them eat away at collagen and break out

into the rest of the body. This is described in great

detail in the book Hyaluronidase and Cancer, by Ewan

Cameron, M.D., Pergamon Press, 1966. Dr. Cameron, in

a now famous collaboration with Linus Pauling, Ph.D.,

has offered evidence that high Vitamin C levels

maximize collagen production. If cancer cells are

going to try to spread by destroying a person's

collagen, it just makes sense to make lots more

collagen to keep them from doing it.

 

To do this, a person fighting cancer probably needs

enormous amounts of any substance that helps make

collagen. One such substance is Vitamin C. Curiously

enough, persons with cancer commonly have

exceptionally LOW levels of Vitamin C in their bodies.

This might help explain why their collagen has not

been able to prevent cancer from spreading.

 

There is nothing to lose and everything to gain by

trying regular high doses of vitamin C with any cancer

patient.

 

VITAMIN C AND THE IMMUNE SYSTEM

 

Another reason to use Vitamin C in cancer treatments

is that Vitamin C helps strengthen the immune system.

Maximum immune function is vital if we want the body

to kill cancer. Yet medical treatments such as

radiation and chemotherapy actually weaken the immune

system a great deal. There are, then, really two

reasons to bolster immunity with Vitamin C. First,

large quantities of the vitamin often enable a person

to more easily tolerate large doses of radiation and

chemotherapy, with far fewer side effects. Second,

stronger immune function can only help the patient to

fight the

disease better in general.

 

VITAMIN C AND PAIN RELIEF

 

In England, it is not uncommon for terminally ill

patients to receive narcotics as strong as heroin to

ease their pain. One side benefit of Vitamin C

studies at Vale of Leven Hospital in Scotland was

profound pain relief. Patients given ten grams (ten

thousand milligrams) of intravenous Vitamin C each day

had greatly reduced pain even after the narcotic was

discontinued (Cancer and Vitamin C, by Ewan Cameron,

M.D. and Linus Pauling, Ph.D., Warner Books, 1981).

 

ADMINISTRATION OF VITAMIN C

 

Vitamin C is most effective given intravenously.

Appropriately detailed information for doctors is

available in Dr. Cameron's " Protocol for the

Intravenous Use of Vitamin C in the Treatment of

Cancer " posted on this website under " Cameron

Protocol. " Additional directions for administering

vitamin C by I.V., written by Robert F. Cathcart,

M.D., are posted on this website under " Vitamin C

I.V. " Still more injectable vitamin C dosage

information is found in " Significance of High Daily

Intake of Ascorbic Acid in Preventive Medicine, " by

Frederick R. Klenner, M.D., in A Physician's Handbook

on Orthomolecular Medicine, Roger J. Williams and

Dwight K. Kalita, ed., Keats Publishing Co., l977.

 

Vitamin C may also be taken by mouth, but this is not

ideal. To approximate the constancy of an intravenous

drip it is necessary to have very frequent oral doses.

A dose of the vitamin every half hour that the

patient is awake is not excessive. The amount of each

dose is the maximum amount that a person can tolerate

without diarrhea. Diarrhea indicates bodily

saturation with the vitamin. Results may require

truly large daily totals. Remember that oral doses

are not as efficient as intravenous vitamin C, so it

takes much more to do the job. " C " given orally has

to be absorbed

through the digestive tract, and a good bit of it

isn't.

 

Generally speaking, the sicker the patient, the more

" C " s/he can hold. Let's say a person has diarrhea at

just five hundred milligrams (0.5 g) per dose and a

daily total of less than 20,000 mg (20 g). This

indicates a NEED for relatively little of the vitamin.

A person with pneumonia (or cancer) may have an

immune system that would soak up as much as 200,000 mg

per day.

 

That is a lot of vitamin C, but then we are also

asking a lot of it.

 

It is important to be consistent with large quantities

of Vitamin C. It needs to be taken EVERY DAY and

OFTEN. Taking the vitamin sporadically is of little

value, and may result in a rebound effect of temporary

deficiency. Taking too much at one time may result in

a false saturation diarrhea. Almost anyone taking

6,000 mg or more of vitamin C AT ONE TIME will

experience diarrhea, yet the cancer patient might

really be able to hold more than twenty times that

amount IF TAKEN IN SMALLER, DIVIDED DOSES throughout

the entire day.

 

Evidence indicates that vitamin C does not interfere

with conventional cancer treatments and may in fact

assist them.

 

NUTRITIONAL APPROACHES OTHER THAN VITAMIN C

 

Several vitamins and minerals continue to show value

in the prevention and treatment of cancer. Principal

among these are vitamin A, vitamin E, and selenium.

 

VITAMIN A

 

High doses of vitamin A have proved effective against

a number of forms of cancer. Vitamin A acceptance as

therapy is probably slow due to the potential toxicity

of the oil form of the vitamin when taken in enormous

quantities for a long time. However, the vitamin A

precursor, called carotene or provitamin A, is

strictly non-toxic regardless of quantity or duration.

It is also more effective against cancer than the oil

form. The body internally converts stored

beta-carotene into vitamin A on demand. It is the

totally safe carotene form that needs to be given, and

in very high doses.

 

The effective amount of carotene may exceed 500,000

International Units (I.U.) daily. Physicians need to

remember that a harmless carotenosis, or

orange-colored skin, is the only side effect of

massive provitamin A dosage. That amount of carotene

can be obtained from six to eight glasses of fresh

carrot juice per day. Such a natural source guarantees

a mixture of all the different forms of carotene,

which is more therapeutically effective than just the

beta form.

 

VITAMIN E

 

Vitamin E is an antioxidant and free radical scavenger

that seems to help prevent cell damage related to

cancer. It is a fat-soluble vitamin with no known

toxicity. Doses of 800 to 1200 I.U. are commonly

employed.

 

SELENIUM

 

Regions of the United States with this trace mineral

in their soil have less cancer than those regions that

don't. Research has indicated that selenium works

with vitamin E both to protect body cells and to slow

tumor growth. Only a very small amount of selenium is

needed for this beneficial effect, probably between 50

and 200 micrograms (mcg) daily. Selenium should not be

taken in large amounts.

 

 

THE GERSON CANCER THERAPY

 

" I see in Dr. Max Gerson one of the most eminent

geniuses in medical history. "

Dr. Albert Schweitzer

 

In the late 1920's, Max Gerson, M.D. began curing

cancer with nutrition. His treatment is detailed in A

CANCER THERAPY: Results of Fifty Cases (Third Edition,

by Max Gerson, Gerson Institute, CA, 1977). There is

no book like this one. It is full of detailed case

histories including X-ray photographs, charts and

dosage schedules, and lists of all necessary

materials.

 

The Gerson therapy works towards the detoxification

and nutritional restoration of the body, focusing on

the liver. This is accomplished primarily through

intensive feeding with raw vegetable juices, natural

foods, and supplements. It is a labor intensive

program, and takes a minimum of 18 months to complete.

Hospitalization is not a requirement. Dr. Gerson

achieved remarkable results even from diagnosed

terminal patients. It would be difficult to justify

denying any patient the potential benefits of this

proven nutritional program. It can't hurt to try it.

 

CONCLUSION

 

Traditional medical treatments have focused on how to

go in and kill cancer with chemicals or radiation. It

is likely that this approach will change in favor of

trying to get the patient's BODY to kill the cancer.

A well nourished body will have the best chance of

doing this. During the crisis of cancer, the immune

system needs to be boosted with appropriately high

doses of vitamins C, E, and A as beta carotene and a

trace of selenium.

 

Oncologists can get nearly as discouraged as their

patients when conventional cancer treatments fail.

That is the point where hope does NOT have to be lost.

If the answer is not here, than maybe it is indeed

THERE. Every stone must be turned over in our effort

to get well. It is the doctor's duty to do whatever

s/he can to help the patient recover. This must

include using therapeutic quantities of vitamins.

 

 

REFERENCES AND RESOURCES

 

Physicians and patients that are confused by

conflicting reports on vitamin C and cancer need to

refer to pages 163-180 (Chapter 19) in How To Live

Longer and Feel Better, by Linus Pauling, Ph.D. (W. H.

Freeman and Co., 1986) and the book Vitamin C and

Cancer: Discovery, Recovery, Controversy by Abram

Hoffer, MD, PhD (Quarry Press, Kingston, Ontario,

1999) ISBN 1-55082-078-8

 

 

A list of doctors that use or support the use of

nutritional therapies for cancer is available from the

CANCER CONTROL SOCIETY, 2043 North Berendo Street, Los

Angeles, CA 90027 (Telephone 213-663-7801).

 

Information on the successful nutritional cancer

therapy of Max Gerson, M.D. is available from the

GERSON INSTITUTE, P. O. Box 430, Bonita, CA 91908

(Telephone 619-267-1150).

 

Copyright C 1999 and prior years Andrew W. Saul.

From the books QUACK DOCTOR and PAPERBACK CLINIC,

available from Dr. Andrew Saul, Number 8 Van Buren

Street, Holley, New York 14470.