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Wed, 23 Jul 2003 13:57:17 -0500

HSI - Jenny Thompson

Missing the Forest

 

Missing the Forest

 

Health Sciences Institute e-Alert

 

July 23, 2003

 

**************************************************************

 

Dear Reader,

 

There's a simple concept to managing cancer: starve the

cancer cells by cutting off the blood they need to survive.

Of course, the concept is what's simple; actually making this

happen is quite difficult.

 

Cancer cells thrive and multiply when they prompt the body to

create new blood vessels; a process called angiogenesis. When

it was first conceived of more than 40 years ago,

angiogenesis was dismissed as a farfetched idea. Today it's

considered the future of mainstream cancer therapy.

 

Powerful drugs that inhibit angiogenesis are currently being

developed and tested - and that's the piece of news I first

planned to bring you today. But, drawing on some earlier

research, I realized the shocking twist is that their

effectiveness may be completely at odds with the most popular

prescription drug on the market today - a drug that actually

PROMOTES the creation of new blood vessels.

 

-----------------------------

The future is now

-----------------------------

 

The research pioneer who first demonstrated cancer cell

angiogenesis is Judah Folkman, M.D.; a professor at Harvard

Medical School, and the director of Surgical Research at

Children's Hospital in Boston. In a press conference last

week at the American Association of Cancer Research annual

meeting, Dr. Folkman stated that within the decade he

believes that cancer will be as treatable and manageable as

any chronic disease.

 

Dr. Folkman has devoted his professional life to developing

angiogenesis-inhibiting cancer drugs, which recent trials

have shown to be effective in extending the survival of

advanced cancer patients by as much as five months. Dr.

Folkman predicts that these drugs will become so

sophisticated that survival will be extended far beyond a few

months.

 

I can't argue with Dr. Folkman's motives. From what I've read

about him, he's worked tirelessly in the pursuit of a cancer

cure. But I can't help but wonder what great accomplishments

he might have made if he had devoted his efforts to the

prevention of angiogenesis rather than to treating the

condition after it's well underway.

 

-----------------------------

Spice of life

-----------------------------

 

Here's an example of how Dr. Folkman's efforts might have

gone in a different direction that could have devoted decades

of research to natural prevention rather than a

pharmaceutical cure.

 

Last year I received a newsletter from noted cancer

researcher, Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D., in which he noted that in

Sri Lanka the cancer mortality rate per 100,000 is 26.1 for

females and 29.3 for males. The comparison of these numbers

to America is unsettling: cancer mortality per 100,000 in the

U.S. is 138.6 for women and an astounding 206.0 for men. He

adds that this difference is probably not due to genetic or

hereditary factors, for two reasons: 1) the population of Sri

Lanka has a wide diversity of ethnic backgrounds, and 2) the

cancer rates of emigres from Sri Lanka to North America and

Europe rise considerably within just a generation or two.

 

In Sri Lanka a typical diet includes large amounts of

turmeric - a spice that contains curcumin, used in curry

powders. And Dr. Moss listed the following as three of the

key benefits of curcumin intake:

 

* Rich in antioxidants

* A natural anti-inflammatory

* Inhibits growth of new blood vessels in tumors

 

It seems that the citizens of Sri Lanka are centuries ahead

of the Western world in taking advantage of the cancer-

fighting benefits of an angiogenesis inhibitor.

 

-----------------------------

Treatments collide

-----------------------------

 

At the beginning of this e-Alert, I told you there was a

twist. And here it is:

 

As I mentioned in last week's e-Alert " Valentine in July "

(7/17/03), there has been some research into the question of

whether cholesterol-lowering statin drugs may promote cancer.

Very few studies have been conducted in this area, and so far

the results are conflicting, with at least one study

indicating an association between cancer risk and statin use

by older people.

 

One of the reasons that further studies need to explore the

statin/cancer question is because statins have been shown to

stimulate the growth of new blood vessels.

 

This is how modern mainstream medicine advances: with

treatments colliding, at odds with one another because

researchers focus on individual trees, without ever stepping

back to take a look at the entire forest.

 

**************************************************************

... and another thing

 

I heard a song on the radio the other day with this

refrain: " It's rough out there - high water everywhere. "

 

The song refers to hard times in general, but the refrain

could apply to the global efforts by drug companies,

international organizations, and cooperating governments to

limit the market of dietary supplements.

 

I hope you read yesterday's e-Alert, " The Fix is In, " about

the unnecessary and potentially destructive new authority

that will be granted to the FDA if the Dietary Supplement

Safety Act of 2003 is passed into law.

 

While we cope with that situation here in the states, things

are even worse in the UK where Parliament recently rubber-

stamped the approval of the European Union's food supplements

directive that will ban high dose vitamins and other

supplements in summer 2005.

 

Meanwhile, in Australia, the freedom to purchase supplements

has all but vanished. For an on-the-scene report, here's an e-

mail I received from an HSI member named Jenny who lives in

Australia:

 

" We have just recently had a major withdrawal of vitamins and

minerals off all healthshop, pharmacy and supermarket shelves

nationally. I don't know if you have had this news over in

your country yet, but there was some suggestion that a

natural airsickness medication was causing major health

problems and that the manufacturers were not complying to

health legislation with handling and labeling.

 

" This has been disastrous for the health food industry here

in Australia. We are being inundated by medical reports about

the overuse of vitamins and minerals and are being advised to

seek medical advice from our M.O's and stick to

pharmaceutical prescriptions only and take medication only on

the M.O's advice and authority. It is very hard in Australia

to access a lot of the vitamins and minerals that you can get

in the USA.

 

" This I believe is now going to do irreparable damage to any

future progress we may have expected to make. "

 

Australia's counterpart to the FDA is the Therapeutic Goods

Administration (TGA), which has banned more than 1,300

supplement products manufactured by Pan Pharmaceuticals. Pan

produced about 80 percent of all dietary supplements sold in

Australia until the TGA revoked their license when a

contaminated lot of an over-the-counter airsickness drug was

reported to cause hallucinations.

 

What the future may hold for dietary supplements in Australia

is unclear, but the situation is obviously dire. In any case,

it's a striking reminder that the U.S. Senate's Dietary

Supplement Safety Act of 2003 is just one squall in a much

larger storm.

 

High water everywhere.

 

To Your Good Health (for as long as they let us),

 

Jenny Thompson

Health Sciences Institute

 

**************************************************************

Sources:

" Expert: Cancer Treatable in 10 Years " Daniel DeNoon, WebMD

Medical News, 7/16/03, webmd.com

" How Deadly Cancer may be Curbed " Prithi Yelaja, The Toronto

Star, 10/26/01, gairdner.org

" Value of 'Cholesterol Medicines' in Diabetes Questioned "

Eddie Vos, Diabetes in Control, diabetesincontrol.com

" Curries and Cancer Rates " Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D., Newsletter

#58, 10/23/02, WeeklyCancerDecisions.com

 

Copyright ©1997-2003 by www.hsibaltimore.com, L.L.C.

The e-Alert may not be posted on commercial sites without

written permission.

 

**************************************************************

Before you hit reply to send us a question or request, please

click here http://www.hsibaltimore.com/ealert/questions.shtml

 

**************************************************************

HTML links for AOL, CompuServe and other users

http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/650SV03/W650D726/home.cfm

http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/600SAMND1/W600D724/home.cfm

 

**************************************************************

If you'd like to participate in the HSI Forum, search past

e-Alerts and products or you're an HSI member and would like

to search past articles, visit http://www.hsibaltimore.com

 

**************************************************************

To learn more about HSI, call (203) 699-4416 or visit

http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/HSI/WHSID618/home.cfm.

 

**************************************************************

 

 

 

@

 

Alternative Medicine/Health-Vitamins, Herbs, Aminos, etc.

 

To , e-mail to:

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Or, go to our group site at:

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