Originally published October 24 2009
Mesothelioma, lung cancer and nutrition
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
(NaturalNews) Mesothelioma doesn't have to be fatal. This rare form of lung cancer has long been feared by workers exposed to asbestos in their work environments, and much of that fear is justified: This form of cancer can be deadly. But it doesn't always have to be.
There are natural ways to greatly extend life, even for those suffering from mesothelioma. Most are based on nutritional therapies, as you'll see below. It may seem counterintuitive to suppose that nutrition could play a role in a disease caused by a physical substance (asbestos), but in fact, antioxidants and phytonutrients that support healthy cellular protection can play a substantial role in preventing the onset of cancer.
Below, we've collected research from a number of noted natural health authors who explain more about what really causes mesothelioma and how to better protect yourself against it using nutritional therapies. It's not a huge collection of solutions, but the information you'll find here should provide more clues for further research.
This is a unique collection of research exclusive to NaturalNews. If you use any quotes from this research, please provide proper credit to both NaturalNews and the original author of the quote.
Natural remedies to help prevent mesothelioma
Asbestos causes cancer, particularly lung cancer and mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the membrane lining the chest or abdominal wall. Exposure to asbestos has also been shown to cause cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, stomach, intestines, rectum, and kidney. Smoking greatly increases the likelihood of lung cancer in people exposed to asbestos. One study found that asbestos-exposed smokers have ten times the death rate from lung cancer as exposed nonsmokers. Kidney cancer and gastrointestinal cancers also have been associated with asbestos.
- Staying Healthy in a Risky Environment: The New York University Medical Center Family Guide by Arthur C. Upton, M.D.
In a 1998 study done in Western Australia, 1024 blue asbestos workers known to be at high risk of diseases such as mesothelioma and lung cancer, were enrolled in a cancer prevention program using vitamin A. Half the subjects were given 30 mg per day of beta carotene and the other half 7500 mcg (25,000 IU) of retinol. The workers were followed up from the start of the study in June 1990 until May 1995. Four cases of lung cancer and three cases of mesothelioma were observed in those in the vitamin A group, and six cases of lung cancer and 12 cases of mesothelioma in the beta carotene group.
- The New Encyclopedia of Vitamins, Minerals, Supplements and Herbs by Nicola Reavley
In Louisiana, a study of lung cancer showed fruit intake to be protective, while a small study of mesothelioma suggested that vegetable and carotenoid intake lowers the risk (NCI, 1988). The National Cancer Institute also announced that it had awarded over half a million dollars to the New York Botanical Garden to undertake a worldwide search for natural plant substances that might fight cancer. At the same time, NCI has established a Cancer Nutrition Laboratory and worked out elaborate plans to study "dietary factors associated with cancer risk".
- The Cancer Industry by Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.
Today, nine years after his "death sentence" diagnosis, Mr. Kraus is alive with a good quality of life. He has written a book about his healing journey Surviving Mesothelioma and Other Cancers: A Patient's Guide. He also holds free bi-monthly teleconferences so that other mesothelioma patients can speak directly to him and ask questions. Mr. Kraus is not a doctor and does not provide medical advice, but as a patient he is able to share his own insights into how he has healed and managed his mesothelioma.
- World's Longest Living Mesothelioma Survivor
Cigarette smoke is the major cause of the common bronchogenic carcinoma of the lung, but it does not cause the less common mesothelioma of the lung. Asbestos causes both mesotheliomas and bronchogenic carcinomas. Certain aniline dyes (especially 2-naphthylamine) cause bladder cancer, but little of any other kind of cancer. A similar specificity probably also applies to cancers whose cause or causes have not yet been identified, because the incidences of the different kinds of cancer tend to vary independently.
- Diet, Nutrition and Cancer by Committee on Diet, Nutrition, and Cancer, Assembly of Life Sciences National Research Council
Even cancers that were once thought to be caused by mechanical injury (such as asbestos-caused mesothelioma) now turn out to have a free radical component. In the last decade, research on antioxidants has come to the fore as an important component of any anticancer program. Antioxidants fight cancer at every level and every stage. Along with other plant-based nutrients, they are our first and strongest defense against cancers of many kinds.
- Antioxidants Against Cancer: How to activate your bod natural healing powers with today's most protective and immune-boosting supplements and foods by Ralph Moss, PhD
Asbestos workers have increased risk of developing an unusual form of lung cancer called mesothelioma. Smoking and secondary smoke are the main reasons lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths. Radiation, charcoal steaks, too much fat in our diet, saccharin, and the many other chemicals found in herbicides and pesticides are what medical literature refers to as carcinogens, or those things that increase our risk of developing cancer.
- What Your Doctor Doesn't Know About Nutritional Medicine May Be Killing You by Ray D. Strand
The highest frequency of mutations reported in human cancers are lung, 56%; colon, 50%; esophagus, 45%; ovary, pancreas, and skin, 44%; stomach, 41%; head and neck, 37%; bladder, 34%; prostate, 30%; and breast, endometrium, and mesothelioma, 22% (Greenblatt et al. 1994). Nearly 20% of women treated for ovarian cancer develop other tumors beyond the abdomen. A mutation in the tumor suppressor gene appears to predispose some women with ovarian cancer to distant and rapid tumor spread, according to data from the University of Iowa Health Care Study.
- Disease Prevention and Treatment by The Life Extension Editorial Staff
This is called mesothelioma. Once a rare disease, it has now become common among asbestos workers. Other kinds of cancer are also typical results of asbestos exposure. It was once thought that only asbestos workers were in danger of these diseases. It is now known, however, that people who have worked near asbestos, and even people who have lived in proximity to it, are also in danger. Since these diseases take a long time to reveal themselves, often as long as thirty years, the millions of workers exposed during and after World War II are only now beginning to show up in the cancer clinics.
- The Cancer Industry by Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.
Burton submitted to OTA a case study of 11 patients who had been treated at his clinic for a deadly form of cancer called mesothelioma. This small study claimed that patients treated with IAT lived three to four times the national average of conventionally-treated patients. Some were in fact long-term survivors. This was important news, for mesothelioma is almost uniformly and rapidly fatal. But OTA never even commented on these findings.
- The Cancer Industry by Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.
Asbestos exposure can cause a variety of illnesses, including lung cancer, asbestosis, and mesothelioma, a type of tumor. Cancers of the larynx, oral cavity, kidney, and colon are sometimes attributed to asbestos as well. Only qualified contractors should do asbestos removal. One household item that can cause a lot of problems is carpeting. Some of the chemicals commonly used in carpeting have been shown to have an adverse effect on health. One suspect chemical is 4-phenylcyclohexene (4-PC), a by-product of the production of styrene-butadiene.
- Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 4th Edition: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs & Food Supplements by Phyllis A. Balch, CNC
Ironically, humans exposed to fine particle zeolites in their lungs may develop a form of cancer called mesothelioma. [Journal National Cancer Institute 98: 414-17, 2006] Zeolites have metal chelating, toxin-removing, even oxygen-removing properties, which means they will act to reduce oxidation of tissues when taken internally. Zeolites have been tested in animals and have performed favorably without toxicity to reduce the number and size of tumors.
- You Don't Have to be Afraid of Cancer Anymore by Bill Sardi
In 2004, Tom was diagnosed with a rare cancer, called mesothelioma, which is most often associated with exposure to asbestos, and from which virtually no one survives. He was told by his doctors that he had only a few months to live. While going about his work of raising marine phytoplankton to feed the shellfish, as an experiment, Tom began consuming half a teaspoon of the concentrated microalgae each day along with a drink of water. Within a few weeks he astounded his doctors with his recovery. A subsequent biopsy examination found no malignancy evident in his body.
- Conscious Health: A Complete Guide to Wellness Through Natural Means by Ron Garner
Of pivotal importance is the question of whether the companies concerned knew about the hazards of asbestos products prior to the 1964 report by Selikoff on the high incidence of lung cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis in insulation workers, when they claimed they were first made aware of this, and what use if any they then made of this information. The primary defense in such cases is that there was no medical or scientific information on risks from asbestos-containing products prior to 1964.
- The Politics of Cancer Revisited by Samuel S. Epstein, M.D.
Other ailments include the respiratory disease asbestosis and mesothelioma. There also is a 300 to 400 percent increase in gastrointestinal cancer due to the fact that those who inhale the fibers also swallow them. The situation is all the more tragic in light of the fact that the asbestos industry has been aware of the deadliness of their product since the 1930s and has done nothing about it. Finally, in the late 1960s, the U.S. government began regulating the asbestos industry.
- 20 Years of Censored News by Carl Jensen
Even today epidemiologists are being hired by brake manufacturers to convince the courts that the data collected on asbestos from brakes and mesothelioma point to no causal connection. Look again at how Evarts Graham chided the skeptics on the hazards of tobacco smoking in his Lancet commentary. For agents that can cause cancer two decades after exposures begin, is it fair to insist that we must have proof that such harm has happened in many groups?
- The Secret History of the War on Cancer by Devra Davis
Asbestosis, a chronic lung disease; and mesothelioma, an often fatal form of cancer. Asbestos diseases can result from very brief exposures and even exposure to other people who have been exposed (who may have asbestos fibers in their hair or clothing), and may take up to forty years to appear. The EPA announced in 1972 that there is no safe level of asbestos exposure, as any exposure to the fibers involves some health risk.
- Nontoxic, Natural and Earthwise by Debra Lynn Dadd
The world-famous Harvard geologist Stephen Jay Gould says that marijuana helped to save his life when he came down with a rare kind of cancer, abdominal mesothelioma. "When I started intravenous chemotherapy, absolutely nothing in the available arsenal of antiemetics worked at all. I was miserable, and came to dread the frequent treatments with an almost perverse intensity. I had heard that marijuana often worked well against nausea. I was reluctant to try it, because I have never smoked any substance habitually (and didn't even know how to inhale).
- Reclaiming Our Health: Exploding the Medical Myth and Embracing the True Source of Healing by John Robbins
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