Hello Everyone! Welcome back to another Friday blog. Cancer is more prevalent than ever and is increasing in younger adults <50 years old worldwide - it is the 2nd leading cause of death in the U.S. It is now estimated that 1 in 3 people will have cancer in their lifetime! WHAT??? 😲 1.7 million get diagnosed with cancer and 609,820 die every year- That's 1,670 every day. Leading the way in expected new cases in the US for 2023 - is breast cancer (300,590), followed by prostate cancer (288,300), lung cancer (238,340) and colorectal cancer (153,020). Here in the US, we spend $185 Billion per year on cancer. So, what's happening to increase our risk and susceptibility in much younger individuals? Let's delve in.

Several other early onset cancers (14 types-8 related to digestive system) are increasing in people < 50 yo - beginning around 1990 - such as kidney, liver, endometrial, esophageal, and pancreatic. Makes one wonder what happened environmentally about that time that could be contributing…

This list of common cancer types includes cancers that are diagnosed with the greatest frequency in the United States, excluding nonmelanoma skin cancers:

Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital found that "each successive group of people born at a later time - eg., a decade later - have a higher risk of developing cancer later in life, likely due to risk factors they were exposed to at a young age."  The "exposome" - diet, lifestyle, weight, environmental exposures and microbiome - has changed markedly over the last several decades. They report "We found that this risk is increasing with each generation." Researchers looking at the effects of glyphosate on mice found the same problem with profound disturbances in 3rd and 4th generations with cancers, as well as infertility. "The transgenerational F3 generation great-grand-offspring males had increased prostate disease, obesity, and single disease frequencies, while females had increased ovarian disease, kidney disease, parturition abnormalities, and multiple disease susceptibility...A unique pathology observed with glyphosate exposure, and seldom seen in previous transgenerational studies, was the parturition abnormalities. Over 30% of the F2 generation female rats in the later stages of gestation died of dystocia and/or had litter mortality." Glyphosate directly damages DNA - and we are passing these defects to our children! We are just beginning to see this devastation in humans in the 2nd generation since the onset of glyphosate being sprayed on our food - cancers, infertility, PCOS in women, low sperm count in men...

Environmental toxins - such as glyphosate and other pesticides, herbicides, gas fumes, off-gassing of furniture and rugs as well as antibiotics disturb the delicate balance of our microbiome and damage our mitochondria. Mitochondrial damage is always involved in cancer. Mitochondria use oxygen to turn glucose into ATP - the energy molecule in our cells. When they can't keep up, metabolism switches to anaerobic glycolysis or fermentation - creating an acidic microenvironment ripe for cancer to start. When cancer cells do this, it is called the Warburg effect - the hallmark of cancer. 

There are multiple risk factors include cigarette smoking, use of tanning beds, poor sleep, eating highly processed foods, sugary beverages, sedentary lifestyle, too much alcohol, environmental toxin exposure, infections and obesity. Today, 75% of Americans are obese - compared to <40% 25 years ago. Calorie excess can cause inflammation and metabolic dysfunction that can trigger the start of cancer, which is cell division out of control. Diets high in carbohydrates and processed foods are nutrient-deficient, drive metabolic syndrome and can turn on cancer genes within our DNA. Further, our mitochondria and organs never get a break - we eat from the moment we wake up till we go to bed. This constant eating inhibits autophagy (self-devour) - our cleanup system - and activates a pathway called mTOR - that stimulates initiation factors involved in cancer growth. 

Chronic inflammation is another hallmark of cancer - "inflame" means your body is "on fire!" It can literally change the DNA - and resulting proteins. Our body has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory systems that produce glutathione to put out the fire. The problem is we have too much inflammation and not enough glutathione. There are also many anti-inflammatory polyphenols and phytonutrients we can consume that work to lower inflammation and work epigenetically (above the genes) to turn on cancer-fighting genes and turn off oncogenes (cancer-promoting genes). Genetic contribution to cancer is very low (<5%). Our inflammatory western diet and lifestyle - coupled with our toxic environment - is to blame here. 

Another contributor is infectious diseases - latent bacterial or viral infections - including HIV, Herpes virus 8, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Babesia (tick-vectored), HPVs (human papillomaviruses), EBV (Epstein Barr Virus) and others. EBV, for example, is endemic - everyone has been exposed - it lies dormant until something happens to allow its recurrence. It is linked to Hodgkin's lymphoma, non-Hodgkins's lymphoma, Burkitt lymphoma, immunoblastic lymphoma, stomach (gastric) cancer and nasopharyngeal cancers. Herpes - particularly EBV (a herpes 4 virus) - is also associated with autoimmune diseases such as SLE (systemic lupus erythematosus), MS (multiple sclerosis), and RA (rheumatoid arthritis).

EBV hides out in our B lymphocytes. These are kept under control by our TEM cells (T-effector memory cells) - the generals of our immune system. When we get Covid-19, for example, our TEM cells are severely impacted. This induces our B lymphocytes to come out and fight - allowing escape of EBV - causing a recurrent infection. Unfortunately, most doctors will not recognize the underlying cause being Covid - and try to treat the EBV infection with antiviral drugs - with poor results. Activated B cells, ASC (antibody secreting cells) and T cells travel to the CNS (central nervous system) and allow HSV (herpes simplex virus) to come out of hiding. B cells and ASC play a role in reactivation of HSV.

Okay, so what can we do to prevent cancer - or even reverse cancer? 

• Reduce environmental exposure to carcinogens! Stop smoking. Eat organic foods. Stop using glyphosate or weed killers. Read ingredients for cosmetics, lotions, soaps. Stand upwind when filling your gas tank. Avoid printed receipts. Stop using toxic room fragrances and scented candles.
• Restore your microbiome - feed your gut microbes fiber and polyphenols. When your good guys are down, the bad ones come out to play. They produce toxins (such as formaldehyde) that wreak havoc on our bodies and drive inflammation - and can even cause endotoxemia. Consume natural probiotics such as organic raw fermented sauerkraut, kimchi, natto, other fermented vegetables. Replenishing keystone species that produce NO (nitric oxide), SCFAs like butyrate that feed our enterocytes (intestinal cells) and provide nutrients and polyphenols to our mitochondria. 
• Restore mitochondrial function - They love polyphenols and ketones - they also require B vitamins and CoQ-10 to produce energy for us. Take a hot sauna or cold plunge. Check out blog # 73.
• Activate autophagy (self-devour) - this is your body's recycling and cleanup system. It goes to work when we rest from eating and digesting. It gets rid of unnecessary or dysfunctional components - misfolded proteins - turning them into functioning proteins - kills pathogens and cancer cells. Intermittent fasting 16+ hours activates autophagy. Defects in autophagy is linked to a variety of human diseases and cancer. Use prolonged fasting to reverse cancer - you stay in autophagy for a longer period to destroy and remove cancer cells. 
• Kill pathogens lurking inside your body - black cumin seed oil has amazing properties and contains a phytochemical called Thymoquinone. It kills a myriad of pathogens including HIV, EBV, Herpes, cytomegalovirus, and holds promise for SARS-CoV2 - pathogenic bacterial strains like MRSA. You can also use herbs, garlic, turmeric, ginger, lemon with peel…
• Consume adaptogens - Turkey Tail mushrooms - a medicinal mushroom packed with anti-oxidants and cancer-fighting properties. It enhances immune function, lowers inflammation, causes apoptosis (death) in cancer cells, feeds the microbiome, contains ~ 35 different beneficial phytochemicals, including quercetin and baicalein. It also contains Krestin (PSK) - stimulates monocytes - and Polysaccharide Peptide (PSP) - stimulates dendritic cells - that are commonly used as anti-cancer agents along with chemotherapy.
• Lower EMF exposure - sleep with your phone in another room on airplane mode - get a grounding pad for sleeping.
• Increase phytonutrients such as curcumin (turmeric), quercetin, resveratrol, berberine - all have anti-inflammatory and cancer-fighting properties.
• Increase vitamin D3 levels - really a hormone - involved in > 19,000 genes and intricately involved in the immune system. Ideally, you want your levels to be 70-90.
• Remove highly processed foods - high carbohydrate loads, grains and sugars - cancer loves sugar. Roughly 93% of us are metabolically unwell. Insulin resistance causes blood sugar to rise, increasing risk of cancer, T2D (type 2 diabetes), Alzheimer's and obesity. These foods are also high in pesticides and herbicides like glyphosate.
• Exercise - increases oxygen to tissues. Cancer grows in the absence of oxygen.
• Sleep - guard your sleep. Aim for 7-9 hours of quality sleep to allow your body to clear out and get rid of cancer cells, misfolded proteins, cellular debris and toxins.
• Manage stress - breathing techniques, mindful meditation and other strategies can help turn down the sympathetic nervous system and access the parasympathetic to get us away from chronic stress.
• Restore minerals - Magnesium, potassium and zinc - “Zinc is the second most abundant micronutrient in the human body after iron (Fe). Based on bioinformatics research, approximately 2800 human proteins are presumed to bind zinc.” Zinc is heavily involved in the function of the immune system, neurological function, hormone production, gene expression, taste and smell, vision, DNA repair, transcriptional regulation, cell migration, protein degradation, signal transduction, actin targeting (muscle), brain function and numerous other processes. Holy Moly! In addition, zinc has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and can destroy some viruses directly. Zinc absorption takes place in the small intestine by enterocytes. If you have gastrointestinal issues - like celiac, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel, SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) or SIFO (small intestinal fungal overgrowth) - you are not able to absorb nutrients very well. “An imbalanced zinc status or deficiency of this micronutrient is associated with severe health consequences, which causes high morbidity.”check out blog # 80, magnesium, potassium, etc. Many minerals are in nuts, seeds, herbs, dark leafy greens, etc.
• Consume HP-EVOO (high polyphenol extra virgin olive oil). There are numerous and powerful polyphenols in EVOO, including Hydroxytyrosol, tyrosol, oleocanthal and more. They go to work in our digestive tract providing nourishment to our microbiome - allowing proliferation of the good microbes and exerting anti-microbial activities on pathogenic microbes. Our good microbes produce many metabolites like butyrate that nourish our enterocytes (represent 80-85% of population) that reside in the intestinal epithelium. “Extra-virgin olive oil affects the gut microbiota by reducing the abundance of pathogenic bacteria, stimulating the growth of beneficial bacteria, and increasing the production of microbially produced short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which exert a wide range of anti-inflammatory effects and can modulate the expression of a variety of genes via epigenetic mechanisms. Administration of EVOO influences the health of the intestinal mucosa and supports gut microbiota homeostasis by encouraging intestinal immunoglobulin A (IgA) production, as quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays using fecal homogenates; dampening down inflammatory cytokine production; supporting production and expression of cytokines and transcription factors involved in reducing inflammation and promoting immune tolerance in the intestine; and protecting against intestinal oxidative injury through the potent antioxidant activity of EVOO phenolic extracts.”

So, until next time my friends…Drink, Drizzle, Digest HP-EVOO 2-4T raw daily, - use more for cooking and drizzling onto your food - eat the rainbow of organic or wild-sourced or organic veggies (7-9 C) and low-glycemic fruits (to get the rainbow of gut microbes!) Eat wild-caught, pasture-raised, grass-fed, get plenty of sunshine + supplement magnesium, zinc, vitamin D3 + K2, get your trace minerals and electrolytes with good sea salt - Celtic has ~ 92 minerals with 3 forms of magnesium, Himalayan has ~85 minerals and formed before plastics, eat foods high in lutein, drink your body weight in oz of water, get a good pre/probiotic (if you have wiped out your gut microbes with antibiotics), consume digestible and indigestible fiber for your gut microbes, fermented foods for the pre, pro, and post-biotics, adaptogens (such as mushrooms) and methylation donors (kale, beets, spinach, cruciferous, lion’s mane…), marjoram, rosemary, oregano, parsley and other herbs to detox, enhance overall health and reverse aging and disease, exercise your body and mind, add a few minutes of mindful meditation to your day to combat stress, take a hot Epsom salt bath and follow with a cold shower/ice plunge, remove EMF (electromagnetic frequency) devices and blue light, use IR (infrared) from incandescent lighting, non-toxic candle or light a fire to enhance sleep and...turn off the light!!   #HP-EVOO