The Metabolic Approach to Cancer: Integrating Deep Nutrition, the Ketogenic Diet, and Nontoxic Bio-Individualized Therapies by Nasha Winters & Jess Higgins Kelley

Author:Nasha Winters & Jess Higgins Kelley [Winters, Nasha]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
Published: 2017-05-23T16:00:00+00:00

The Western Medicine Approach to Inflammation

We have an inflammation epidemic in this country. More than thirty billion tablets of NSAIDS (aspirin and ibuprofen, for example) are sold every year, more than any other type of over-the-counter medication. In 2015 the arthritis drug adalimumab (Humira) was the bestselling prescription drug; its sales topped $8.6 billion. Adalimumab is an inhibitor of TNF (remember that TNF is the cytokine implicated in many inflammatory conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease). The summary of a study reported in the December 2010 journal Drug, Healthcare and Patient Safety asserted that “TNF-α inhibitors are potent drugs and have theoretical and real risks in terms of decreasing tumor surveillance and allowing cancer cells to grow and proliferate. Clinical trials have shown that there is a higher than expected rate of lymphoid malignancies after TNF-α.”12 Yet another example of a drug being used to block or suppress a natural process of the body—in this case inflammation—that instead appears to cause cancer.

The reason NSAIDs are currently being studied in the prevention of cancer is because of their role in reducing inflammation. These drugs have been found to block carcinogenesis by reducing the production of certain pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 and TNF. However, they come with substantial side effects: alteration of the microbiome, inhibition of mitochondrial function, increased gastrointestinal bleeding. Aspirin was the first COX inhibitor, and now there are over fifty.

The main problem with many COX inhibitors is that they block both COX-1 and COX-2. COX-1 is critical for maintaining the integrity of the gastrointestinal lining, and use of an inhibiting medication therefore contributes to LGS.

Cortisone, a synthetic form of cortisol (the stress hormone), is a steroid used as an anti-inflammatory agent in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and is also often given as an adjuvant treatment in cancer. The problem with cortisone, hydrocortisone, and other corticosteroids is that that they cause short-term spikes in blood sugar levels, making it nearly impossible to achieve ketosis while on them. Further, their use also interferes with the metabolism of vitamin D, zinc, folic acid, B6, and B12, essentially halting methylation while causing immune and epigenetic problems. You might get an anticancer effect (read: reduced inflammation) in the short term, but long-term use of these drugs can cause more harm than good and is simply the wrong approach.13

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.