Posts Tagged ‘Cancer’
Weakened Immune System Promotes Infection
- Image by Doramon via Flickr
As seniors age their immune systems decline leaving them more susceptible to a host of infections including those from viruses, fungi, and bacteria. In the case of cancer cells unless the immune system inactivates them or kills them, they will spread and develop into a fully developed malignant tumor. Studies of the pathology of free radicals has shown the link between the damage caused by free radicals and the weakened immune system in aging seniors. For example between 1982 and 1992 deaths due to infectious diseases increased by 22% according to a report in a major American medical publication. The same publication laid much of the blame for this increase on lack of preventative health care.
The good news that seniors can take from this report is that they can take preemptive steps about how to boost immune system. The lack of preventative health care can be reversed by taking simple preemptive aging measures for building immune system. One of the most important steps that seniors can take is to follow a daily antioxidant regimen that includes fruits, vegetables, vitamins, and minerals that protect against free radical pathologies that suppress the immune system. It turns out that free radical pathologies have been implicated in most of the disease processes of aging. The main disease processes of aging include cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, atherosclerosis, and cataracts as well as other degenerative diseases.
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Can Vitamin D Assist in The Rescue?
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In the case of a diagnosis of lymphoma standard medical treatments are available and are generally successful provided the type of lymphoma is correctly diagnosed and treatment initiated as soon as the disease is diagnosed. At a recent conference researchers reported on finding that vitamin D blood levels appeared to be predictive of survival by individuals who were being treated for lymphoma. In the study over 350 patients who had been diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma had their blood levels of vitamin D measured. About half the patients had levels below the minimum level for good health.
The group with the deficient levels of vitamin D showed a risk of disease progression that was 1.5 times greater than those patients with optimal levels of vitamin D. The patients with optimal levels had a 50% reduced risk of dying during the study compared with those with deficient levels. These results were reported for one study and one type of lymphoma which means that more research needs to be performed to validate these findings over a broader range of lymphomas. The good news for folks who are concerned about their senior health is that building up their vitamin D levels will probably insure that an optimal level of vitamin D will assist and complement any medical treatment that may be needed in the event that they contract a lymphoma. Optimal levels of vitamin D have already been shown to assist in the prevention and reduction of cancers other than lymphoma, so it is very probably that the same would apply in the case of lymphoma.
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The Red Super Food
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It is well known that certain members of the berry family are super stars when it comes to nutrition. One member of that family stands out from the rest, because of its sheer potency for fighting a variety of diseases and health issues. The good news is that the popular strawberry provides such a variety of health benefits from improving heart health to combating inflammation. It is known to protect cognitive function which is so important for senior living. Strawberries can deliver these diverse health benefits, because of their dense phenol content. The bright red color of strawberries is due to the presence of phenols known as anthocyanins. The anthocyanins are powerful antioxidants that defend the organs of the body. Another phenol found in large amounts in strawberries are known as ellagitannin that has antioxidant and anti-proliferative poperties. Strawberries are high in vitamin C, folate and potassium which when combined with the ellagitannin and anthocyanins put them near the top of the list among fruits for antioxidants. The list for strawberries goes on to include flavonoids, querctin, and catechin which when combined with phenols and antioxidants makes them a top performer in terms of cancer-fighting and heart disease-fighting capability. This is good news for seniors who are looking for nutritional paths to take preemptive aging steps against cardiovascular disease.
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Double Barreled Defense Against Cancer
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One of the latest key words in the field of oncology that treats cancer is ‘chemoprevention’. It means using natural or synthetic chemical compounds as a cancer-preventing strategy. These compounds can delay the onset of cancer, inhibit its spread or best of all reverse carcinogenesis. Researchers have known for some time that the cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, brussel sprouts and cauliflower are loaded with chemopreventive agents. More recently new chemopreventive compounds have been discovered in celery, artichokes, and parsley, but in small amounts. Studies performed on large populations have provided evidence that the folks whose consumption of larger amounts of these vegetables have lower rates of a number of cancers. Those cancers include breast, colon, lung, and prostate cancers.
The good news is that some of the newly discovered vegetable compounds may have even more potent chemopreventative effects. For example one of these compounds called apigenin has shown multiple chemopreventative means to protect us against cancer. It can kill cancer cells by starving them, by preventing them from spreading, and by preventing inflammation that can allow a cancer to spread. Another compound benzl isothiocyanate (BITC) gives cancer cells the signal to shut down and die. BITC messes with the cancer cells life cycle to prevent them from growing and replicating so they die. These newly discovered chemopreventative compounds have been combined with the established ones into a combined formulation of vegetable extracts that are now available in supplement form to promote senior health.
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Resveratrol’s Twin Brother
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Studies based on recent plant extract research has discovered a plant extract that is very similar to resveratrol. This plant extract functions in ways similar to resveratrol, because it provides many of the benefits for longevity required for senior health. This compound which is found in minute quantities in grapes and blueberries regulates genes that control the development of diseases that typically affect seniors. Diseases like atheroschlerosis, cancer, diabetes, and systemic inflammation are classic examples of such age-related disorders. This plant extract is called pterostilbene and like resverotrol is a member of the stilbene family of compounds. It turns out that when the two are combined they work synergistically to enhance the good health benefits of resveratrol which is very good news for senior health.
When resverotrol and pterostilbene are combined they activate a person’s longevity genes. Together they act on our longevity genes in a manner that parallels caloric restriction without the obvious and very unpleasant side effect that accompanies caloric restriction. They act at different places to control gene expression. In the case of cancer they turn on the genes that kill cancer cells and turn off the genes that allow cancer cells to spread. They provide similar activity to head off diabetes and memory loss due to aging. Thanks to the availability of combined extracts of both resverotrol and pterostilbene seniors do not have to eat five cups of blueberries and drink 20 bottles of red wine a day.
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Enhance Your Immune System
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Our first defense against diseases and infections is our immune system. For seniors concerned about their health finding a way to boost their immune systems naturally would be very beneficial. A number of foods supply a compound that provides a natural immune system boost. Cereal grains such as barley, rye, oats, and wheat contain this compound as does baker’s yeast and shiitake mushrooms. The compound is beta glucans and we have to get it from outside sources, because our body does not make it. Extensive research has shown that beta glucans make the immune system more efficient. The beta glucans stimulate the two important defenders of the immune system including the immune cells called macrophages that attack invading pathogens and the lethal white blood cells the destroy tumors and viruses.
In one study the beta glucans from oats was used to test the efficacy of lowering cholesterol. The study showed significant reductions in total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein. The folks who had received the higher amount of beta glucans achieved greater reductions in the total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein. In several other studies the beta glucans were used successfully to prevent or mitigate the duration of upper respiratory infections. Finally, beta glucans have been used in Japan to reduce tumor activity in cancer. The particular beta glucan was found in shiitake mushrooms has been used as an immune system stimulant against cancer in Japan since the 1980s.
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Does Horseradish Protect Against Cancer?
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Most folks probably do not know that horseradish is related to cabbage, brussel sprouts and related cruciferous vegetables. Over the centuries it has been used as a multipurpose herbal remedy to treat a variety of ailments from the common cold to headaches. Recent medical studies have identified a new application based on the anticancer effects of horseradish. It turns out that horseradish contains large amounts of cancer-fighting compounds known as glucosinolates. These compounds amplify the ability of the liver to detoxify carcinogens. This detoxifying action by the liver may suppress the growth of cancerous tumors. Although all the cruciferous or Brassica vegetables contain these compounds, horseradish contains nearly ten times as much glucosinolates as broccoli. This is good news for folks who are choosing foods in their diet to promote senior health.
Once horseradish is enters the digestive system its glucosinolates are broken down into isothiocyanates and indoles that appear to be the principal agents that cause the desired anticancer effects. The anticancer effects are twofold. The liver uses them to detoxify carcinogens, in order to prevent cancers from getting started. In the case of an already existing cancer they can apparently suppress the growth of that cancer. Finally horseradish is one of the few medicinal vegetables that is improved by processing, because processing horseradish releases an already present enzyme that breaks down the glucosinolates into the desired cancer-fighting compounds.
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Preempt the Big 3 Diseases or Not?
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With all the smoke and mirrors in the media about reforming health care maybe its time to take a new look or think out of our usual health care box. It turns out that there is a lot that ordinary folks can do to prevent or preempt diseases from ever getting started. This goes double for folks as we get older, because of the special issues that affect senior health. We can choose our lifestyle so that we head in a direction with a high probability of attaining greater health or in an opposite direction with an equal probability of coming down with one of the big three diseases. The big three killer diseases are in order diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Four straight forward lifestyle changes can reduce the probability of contracting one of the big three by 80%. These lifestyle changes will not raise your health insurance premiums, but in some cases may actually lower them.
The big four lifestyle changes are within the reach of most folks, but they do require serious commitment. They are not monumental challenges like trying to climb Mt. Everest and return safely. The alternatives for not embracing these changes are higher health insurance premiums for everyone, seriously degraded quality of life and early death. The big four lifestyle changes include eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, maintaining a healthy weight, and not smoking. As one motivation coach put it, “Where attention goes, energy flows, and the result shows”. This is something that we can do for ourselves and our country, because a healthy people make a country healthy and prosperous.
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Are We Iodine Deficient?
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For very good reasons, doctors have been telling us to cut back on our salt intake, because too much salt intake can can contribute to certain cancers and high blood pressure. Apparently we have been listening to our doctors, because folks in the USA have been reducing their salt intake, but some unintended consequences have resulted. When we reduce the amount of iodized table salt in our diet, we can put ourselves in the unhealthy position of suffering from iodine deficiency. Iodine was originally added to ordinary table salt to help prevent iodine deficiency, because the typical Western diet is low in iodine. Iodine deficiency has been linked to increased risk of breast cancer, fibrocystic breast disease, and impaired thyroid function. All three of these diseases are threats to senior health.
In Japan folks get their iodine from foods that they eat like kelp and Japanese women have lower incidences of breast cancer, fibrocystic breast disease, and impaired thyroid function. The Japanese diet insures that they receive several times more iodine than folks in the USA do, including those who use iodized table salt. As it turns out that about four weeks after opening a package of iodized salt, most of the iodine is gone. The good news is that iodine is a low-cost element, so that larger amounts of it can be added to the multivitamin/mineral formulas that health conscious seniors take on a daily basis. Supplementing with iodine is particularly important for post-menopausal females, because they are at higher risk for breast cancer, fibrocystic breast disease, and thyroid disease.
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Coenzyme Q10 – A Two-Fold Ally
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Just what is this compound called coenzyme Q10? There are numerous articles and reports about it in the health literature often abbreviating it to CoQ10. CoQ10 is a compound that is made by our own bodies. Our bodies use coenzyme Q10 to produce the energy that our cells need to grow. This function illustrates the first way that CoQ10 is an ally of our bodies. Besides helping our cells grow, CoQ10 enables our cells to stay healthy after they grow. CoQ10 performs a second function as an antioxidant, which is another way that it is an ally of our bodies. As we age the amount of CoQ10 in our bodies decreases. Many cancers make their appearance in our bodies as we age due to a weakened immune system. Interest in CoQ10 as a treatment for cancer started back in the 1960’s, because folks with low levels of it were afflicted with breast, prostate, pancreatic cancer, etc.
Current studies suggest that CoQ10 may work in treating cancer, because it boosts the immune system. It may also be the case that CoQ10’s antioxidant activity may prevent cancer from developing. At this time research is ongoing to understand how CoQ10 might work with conventional cancer therapies. The National Cancer Institute has reported both on the theoretical basis for using CoQ10 to treat cancer and on some preclinical studies and some small clinical studies that have been performed. Based on those studies the National Cancer Institute concluded that CoQ10 helps in the treatment of cancer in the following ways. As an antioxidant it may prevent cancer from starting and CoQ10 analogs may block the growth of cancer cells that are already present.
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