Cancer, Background Info

Cancers, often referred to as malignant neoplasia, can be slowly developing states of cellular dysregulation. The dysregulated or mutated cells that form neoplasia lack contact inhibition, i.e., they don’t stop growing and form tumors.  If the tumors remain localized, they are considered “benign”.  The transformation of these benign cell aggregates (tumors)  into malignant forms has been recognized, though the mechanistic details are incomplete.

Among Stage IV neoplasia, the malignant forms of cancer, some of the mutated cells will migrate away from the region that they initially formed, into other tissues in the body, by a spreading process referred to as metastases. Metastatic or distributed cancers are more difficult to manage.

Both environmental, e.g., lifestyle and socioeconomic factors, and genetic predisposition, i.e., congenital factors, are known to contribute to the development of cancers.
In industrial societies, as in the United States, unrelenting metabolic stressors and chronic exposure to environmental pollutants have also been linked to the etiology of many cancers.
Chronic stress, at home or at work, damages the protective aspects of our immune system, leading to patterns of persistent Internal Disharmony. Psychosocial stressors, and the associated suffering (Mind), can transform and manifest as physical disease (Body).
Conditions like the cancers can then develop, for which the cures are often punishing.
Ideally, we would like to prevent these transformations in our tissues, i.e., reduce the conditions that initiate cancers.

Overdiagnosis & Overtreatment of Cancers

We have known for some time that cancer specialists (i.e., oncologists) are in the habit of overdiagnosis, and subsequently, overtreatment.  This issue has been discussed at length by Gilbert Welch (MD) and colleagues, in their 2011 book – OVERDIAGNOSED: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health. It should have said Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Profit. The entitled in our healthcare system are not the people on Medicare or Medicaid programs, but the medical doctors without moral and ethical standards.

Due to low health literacy, and widespread medical doctor incompetence, we are all susceptible to becoming both accomplices and victims.

Women are often victims of the scare tactics used by oncologists, bringing them into their clinics under the rubric of screening, and then subjecting them to unnecessary procedures, i.e., indeterminate/unclear radiologic assessments, followed by surgeries or chemo and radiation treatments, with claims that they  were operating under an inner circle guideline known as “abundance of caution”.

We don’t have a lot of data on these measures of incompetence because oncologists, their clinics, and their support staff often close ranks and deny the occurrence of these types of patient abuse.

However, a recent study involving retrospective analyses noted that elderly women (70-85+ y.o., n=54 635) were subjected to overdiagnosis and subsequent overtreatment with regard to breast cancer, following “screening”.
In this cohort, the Yale researchers estimated that ~31% of 70-74 y.o. women, ~47% of 75-84 y.o. women, and ~54% of women older than 85 were subjected to potential medical harms due to overdiagnosis.
The authors acknowledge that the oncologists involved were probably not keeping up on the latest diagnostics for breast cancers which were likely to cause harm to older women.

Men are also subjected to this type of abuse, for prostate cancers.  It starts out with the claim that their Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) levels are high.  Then there is the claim, following indeterminate radiological assessments, that biopsies are the only way to tell if anything “bad” is happening.  I know of men (65 to 75+ y.o.) who were victims of this racket, only to learn that there was no cancer.

Cancer Prevention, Current Perspectives

So, what can we do to reduce our risks of developing cancers?

~50% of cancers can be prevented if we modify our lifestyle choices, as noted by many organizations involved in the management of cancers, around the world.

• • • Reduce or avoid cigarette/tobacco smoking, linked to cancers of Lung, Throat, Mouth, Esophagus, Bladder, Kidney, Pancreatic, Blood (leukemias), Stomach , Colon, Rectum, Cervix
    • Proper hydration and nutrition – manage sugar and fried/fatty food intakes, increase whole foods like fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains to get adequate dietary fiber (prebiotics); include meat+ plant proteins, ~20% of daily calories (especially for elders)
    • Reduce alcohol intake, linked to Oral, Esophageal, Breast, Colorectal, Liver cancers
    • Manage sun exposure
    • Avoid environmental pollutants, antibacterial household cleaners (aka pesticides)
    • Avoid causes of chronic infections (e.g., STIs, Hepatitis A/B/C)
    • Avoid/manage persistent stress at home or at work
    • Avoid morbid obesity
    • Maintain regular physical activity

  Each of us can choose how we wish to live. Become health literate.