The traditional diet of Greece and cancer.

[Andrea Barnett Budin]

For goodness sakes -- IS THERE NO END TO THE MANY WAYS IN WHICH OMEGA 3 BENEFITS US ALL...???

Hi, RB! Can you list some of the diseases and ailments Omega 3 can alter our lives? Just in a neat little package. (I've read your book, and am ever impressed with it's messages.)

I know people in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s who are on to this life-saver!

I take 2 a day. Every day...

[R.B.]

Hi Andrea

Great to your positive posts. Thanks for the kind words. The book is not very well written, but the science in it is generally fine, and I am well received at specialist conferences on lipids on the strength of it. It raises important issues, is thought provoking, but is a bit disjointed and best read in small sections - it leaves lots of questions and that is because this is a developing area of science and much is still simply not known - if the book gets you to realise that excess Omega 6 (and not enough Omega 3) in our diet is an important issue it is a positive step - I stand by some of the more sweeping claims - excess Omega 6 will be seen in the future to be a very serious health issue - I have largely rewritten an expanded book, which is much fuller and more confidently written, and ties in other areas, but I need to find some serious time to finish it - the researchers that are doing all the fine work that made the book and rewrite possible are way ahead of their time.

One of the pieces of good news is that the US military are beginning to take the subject seriously, and they really do have the power to influence food production and composition.

Excess Omega 6 is strongly connected with the ability to reproduce and all of the processes that entails. Excess omega 6 is a factor in many western conditions, and particularly those that are inflammation related. I will try and find time over the weekend to add a list.

(For anyone who has read the biography at the back the issue is still ongoing, and it was disclosed at a recent Freedom of Information Tribunal seeking disclosure of a secret practice direction dealing with the closure of Royal wills that the document related to a secret illegitimate royal child; so the claim may not be as batty as it sounds.)

[R.B.]

Some of you may also have seen the vitamin D threads in the nutrition section that suggest those with 'higher' levels of vitamin D on average have a lower risk of BC / recurrence.

The body is enormously complicated and interlinked as is evidenced by the paper below. The study suggests there may be links between the vitamin D pathways and Omega 6 pathways. PGE2 (a prostaglandin) is an oxidised downstream product of the 20 carbon fat called arachidonic acid (a member of the Omega 6 family, its name is explained by the fact it was first isolated from a spider). PGE2 features in lots of body functions, including inflammation, and hormone production.

The paper suggests links between a combination of increased Omega 6 PGE2 and lower Vitamin D (calcitriol) in breast cancer patients - double trouble.

Another paper on vitamin D and cancer below suggests a mechanism. Vitamin D is suggested to regulate enzymes that produce and dispose of prostaglandins including one called COX2, which is the enzyme that allows PGE2 to be made.

As a very broad generalisation Omega 3 competes for the same enzymes as Omega 6, and those with lower Omega 6 tend to have lower levels of Omega 6 products including PGE2 in their systems. In this way increased Omega 3 and lower Omega 6 may reduce the risk of a number of conditions including an array of cancers including BC and prostate cancer

A significant number of non-steroidal drugs commonly block the production or action of PGE2, which may explain why they and asprin may be associated with a reduction in the risk of cancer - but have other side effects



"Prostaglandin Metabolising Enzymes and PGE2 are Inversely Correlated with Vitamin D Receptor and 25(OH)2D3 in Breast Cancer

http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/30/5/1673.abstract

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is associated with inflammatory processes based on an up-regulation of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression. The antiproliferative effects of calcitriol (1,25(OH)2D3) mediated via the vitamin D receptor (VDR) render vitamin D a promising target in breast cancer therapy. First data suggest a correlation between vitamin D and prostaglandin metabolism. Materials and Methods: We determined the expression of VDR, COX-2, 15-PGDH and the prostaglandin receptors EP2/EP4 in normal and malignant breast tissue by real-time PCR and Western blot analysis, as well as 25(OH)2D3 and PGE2 plasma levels from healthy and breast cancer patients. Results: Significantly higher COX-2, lower VDR and lower EP2 and EP4 receptor protein levels in the malignant tissue and a significantly lower 15-PGDH protein level in normal breast tissue were detected. Breast cancer patients older than 45 years, diagnosed and sampled in the wintertime had significantly lower 25(OH)2D3 and higher PGE2 serum levels. Conclusion: The inverse correlation between VDR and both COX-2 and 15-PGDH, as well as between PGE2 and 25(OH)2D3 levels, suggests a possible link between VDR-associated target genes and prostaglandin metabolism."

Vitamin D and cancer: current dilemmas and future research needs1,2,3
Cindy D Davis
1 From the Nutritional Sciences Research Group, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD

2 Presented at the National Institutes of Health conference "Vitamin D and Health in the 21st Century: an Update," held in Bethesda, MD, September 5–6, 2007.


(the paper includes the following quote)

"Vitamin D regulates many genes involved in prostaglandin metabolism. 1,25(OH)2D inhibits COX-2 expression and activity, inhibits expression of prostaglandin receptors, and increases prostaglandin catabolism by increasing expression of 15-prostaglandin dehydrogenase (25). In combination, these 3 mechanisms reduce prostaglandin levels and signaling, thereby attenuating the growth-stimulatory effects of prostaglandins in prostate cancer (25). Furthermore, 1,25(OH)2D and naproxen (a nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug) act synergistically in vitro and inhibit prostate cancer cell growth more effectively than either alone in patients on the basis of a slowing of the prostate-specific antigen doubling time (25). Thus, by understanding the molecular targets for vitamin D, researchers can develop more effective strategies for cancer prevention and treatment. "

[R.B.]

A cautionary tale for those with troublesome root fillings.

For those of you who may have noted my observations starting in 2007 as to an ongoing infection in the jaw I finally went to see a top London Maxi-facial Consultant with the support of an excellent new dentist.

The Noted Consultant confirmed what I have always suspected that the bone at the corner of the nose was / had been infected. I have unsuccessfully spent 5 years and more, based on my analysis of the symptoms (sometime symptoms including pain, red eye lid, tender bones round eye, swollen gland at the back of the skull, skin reddening and flaking, swelling, acid night-time discharges, blocked lacrimal duct, bad tastes /breath from affected nostril, fluid discharge / sensitivity from the nose during exercise, abbesses in that segment of the jaw, eye glued shut etc) trying to convince a wider range of dentists, my doctor, the hospital et al that I had a wider jaw / skull infection, and had had an MRI, 2 CTs, OPGs etc etc etc.

It took the Noted Consultant about 10 seconds (almost instant with no hesitation) of looking at the copy of the disc of a year old CT scan before he pointed to the damaged bone, which he then showed me on a 3D image of the skull. You could not miss it - a black space surrounded by grey about the size of my thumbnail at the base of the entrance to the nose - exactly where all this time I have been pointing,with my finger half stuck up my nose, pleading plaintiffully "the problem is here". I have no idea if he had better software, or why it was so easy for him, using an existing CT to almost instantly come to that conclusion that there was damaged / infected bone, when after many x-rays etc the fact had eluded others for several years .

The upshot is that hopefully the infection should clear now the incisor, root filled as a child following a hockey accident, and subsequently apisectomied twice etc etc. the likely source of infection, had recently been removed, (when the tooth was extracted the putrid smell confirmed that area round the crown post was evidently a bacterial Hilton, and bacterial safehaven from antibiotics etc - 4 root filled teeth all in the same segment have now been the source of bone infection - including one more that died following an adjacent apisectomy, and including the offending incisor which resulted in infection to the bone around the entrance to the nose - I have not needed any other dental work for 15 years so this is not due to poor maintenance, and gums appeared healthy etc.) I now have to wait six months to find out if the bone has healed. It looks like the song "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" will resonate for a while yet. It is still an intermittent source of pain at a low level, and the occasional source of bad tastes / smells in the affected nostril but is much improving, as hopefully is my brain fuzz / anxiety.

On the positive side I suspect if my diet was not as good as it is (always room for improvement) that there is a chance it could have spread. Also I now know what it is, that my analysis was right, and I can no longer be treated with a certain amount of disdain by some medical / dental professionals who made it pretty clear that they viewed my symptoms as being in my imagination.

[Andrea Barnett Budin]

I always say, Listen to your Inner Voice. You may call it your gut. By any name, it is your Spirit talking to you. And it can be counted on for excellent guidance.

By the same token, if you are with a doc who is very nice but... Look elsewhere for answers. Don't waste time with those that think your pain is a manifestation of your imagination. Nor stay with a doc who responds to your questions as you try to get your brain around something -- You don't have to understand, let me do the worrying. WRONG.

If a doc shows disdain for your mention of 2nd opinions, know that any really good doc welcomes more input. Is that comfortable in his or her own skin.

If the problem persists, go bigger. It may be inconvenient, but you may have to travel to an expert who can tell in a heartbeat what's happening to you. These are pearls.

I had 4 oncs at one time. Each was brilliant, each had a slightly different take on my situation. One was a stem cell guy (1 of an additional 2 who specialized in this, as I was considering such a transplant and was gathering information) -- this one was an hour away from my then home in NY, and at first in a dark, dank basement office. Finally he moved to a grand institute. Either way, there were always longgggg lines waiting to get to him. Even if you had the first appointment.

I was mid chemo and feeling really rotten. But both my husband and I loved this genius and felt we'd make an exception for his inconvenient location(s) and the 2 hour waits. In general, we refuse to go to anyone who leaves you hanging for hrs. But this guy was worth the wait.

Hope you're feeling way better, RB!

That doc, BTW, was one of 2 oncs who said, next time bring me your CT scans so I can have "my" radiologist read them. And so we did. And both, independent and unaware of one another, disagreed w/my regular radiologist's report. It was those 2, back in '99, who each said, I don't believe what I am looking at are tumors (splattered throughout my liver). They appear to be the dead remains of tumors. Cyst-like. Filled w/fluid.

What does this mean, we asked my wonderful and inconvenient onc?! It means, he paused and beamed his familiar smile, and sang out -- You are... in... cautious... remission!

And so it was! And has remained so since '99.

Listen to your Inner Voice and follow wherever it guides you. Your Spirit loves you more than any human being on this earth.

Sending healing energy to you all,

Andi

[Jackie07]

Almost missed the very important messages posted by R.B. and Andrea. No, their conversation today was not about diet, but somehing that's cruicial to our survival.

Everyone, please read the previous two postings by these two ladies. They are both long-time survivors and full of wisdom.

[R.B.]

HI Jackie07,

Many thanks for your very kind words. I have been posting on this board for quite a few years now, and am honoured that you thought I was female, but am a man with a particular interest in this devastating cancer.

Hi Andrea,

I had no idea you had gone through a misdiagnosis, your thoughts are always inspirational.

Doctors do their very best but the body is very complex, and sometimes as you say, we just have to go with our gut analysis and try and answer our concerns