Aha, two of my favorite subjects coming together plus now I know where I heard that “Let food be your medicine” quote–our old buddy Hippocrates.
Instead of putting in so much money into these cancer “fighting” drugs that have so many awful side effects (including death), why aren’t we putting more money into organic food? Or why are we spending so much money and resources trying to make food “healthier” (with dubious long-term effects) with genetic engineering? My other personal motto is, “Don’t mess with mother nature.”
Check out this article on how organic food “works out” more (just like free range chickens!) than lazy old fertilized food, and decide for yourself:
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EcoNews Newsletter No. 158
Serving the Vision of a Sustainable Vancouver Island
April 2006
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ORGANIC FOOD AND CANCER
There’s a big surprise brewing. When it breaks, I suspect it will cause
controversy and excitement all over the world. It is still not proven,
and has not been clinically trialed, but it’s enough for me to say
All cancer cells appear to contain a certain enzyme called CYP 1B1
which, when triggered, attacks the cancer. Until it is triggered, the
enzyme sits there doing nothing. In almost all cancer patients, it
appears to be inactive, as if waiting for a trigger that never arrives.
So what triggers it?
The story goes back to a young boy called Gerry Potter, growing up in
England, whose favorite aunt died in great pain from a combination of
cancer and chemotherapy when he was 4 years old. Gerry made a vow, then
and there, to find a cure for cancer that would not be so toxic.
Fast forward many years. Gerry has done his studies, and is head of the
School of Pharmacy at De Montford University in Leicester, England.
With
Professor Danny Burke at Aberdeen University School of Medicine, they
are working on the development of anti-cancer drugs.
They develop a drug that triggers the enzyme, and it is remarkably
effective. They patent it, and it is picked up by a drug company, where
it is undergoing a 16 year period of clinical trials.
If the trigger exists, however, Gerry thought, it must have evolved in
nature. There were no drugs around when the miracle that is our bodies
evolved.
So his team starts searching in nature, and found what they were
looking
for: a natural phytoestrogen called resveratrols that exists in grapes
and red wine, that triggers the enzyme to work.
They then looked further afield, and found 50 similar compounds in ripe
fruits and vegetables around the world, which they named salvestrols.
But here’s where it gets interesting. When a fruit or vegetable is
getting ripe, it is prone to attack by fungus. Over millions of years,
plants have evolved a way to fight off the fungus by generating the
salvestrols. When we and other creatures eat the plants, we eat the
salvestrols, which then get to work on any fungus-like diseases in our
own bodies, including cancer cells.
Currents
Red currants
When a farmer or gardener comes along with a can of chemical fungicide,
however, the plants are never exposed to fungus. They shrug their
shoulders and say “Why bother?†When we eat them, therefore, they do
not
contain the crucial salvestrols. The enzymes in any incipient cancer
cells sit there idly, and the cells continue to grow without
interruption.
In the 20th century, meanwhile, we have pickled our bodies with
industrial chemicals and radiation. The average new-born baby has 200
industrial chemicals in its umbilical cord the day it is born. Many of
the chemicals are known carcinogens, and yet they are allowed into the
global environment without proper control or oversight.
Meanwhile, we stop growing food organically, and modern farmers start
spraying their crops and fields with fungicides, with no awareness of
what the impacts might be. So much of our modern genius masks a deep,
deep ignorance of nature’s ways.
The causes of cancer are many and complicated. It is not just a matter
of blaming our lifestyle or diet, except for smoking. There are many
doctors, scientists, and cancer specialists who are looking at the role
of toxic chemicals in the air, water, industry, and household products.
Here in Canada, a new non-profit society is being launched at the end
of
April called Prevent Cancer Now. We are holding fund-raising runs and
walks in Windsor, London, Ottawa, and here in Victoria at the end of
May
to pay for our staff. If you’d like to help in any way, please see
inside.
But back to the salvestrols. Gerry Potter’s team found that salvestrols
are only found in ripe, organic fruits, herbs and vegetables: primarily
green vegetables, red fruits, and herbs such as basil and parsley. That
means locally grown organic, not shipped in from California. High
levels
are also found in traditional medicinal plants around the world.
As Hippocrates said, “Let food be your medicine, and medicine your
food.â€Â
So first, eat fresh organic food. Our bodies evolved on an all-organic
diet, and that is what they need. Second, tell anyone who has cancer
about this. Gerry Potter and his team have developed a salvestrols food
supplement, not as a for-profit enterprise, but simply to make it
available for those who need it. It is undergoing 5-year clinical
trials
in London, Dublin, and Malaysia, but the doctor-observed anecdotal
results look very positive for about 50% of the people who take the
supplement. Not all: just 50%, so don’t assume it’s a magic bullet.
And third, speak up for more fresh, locally grown organic food!
Guy Dauncey
See also http://www.salvestrols.ca, and http://www.salvestrolscience.com.
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