When I worked in mainstream oncology, I sat with many patients who had received some of the worst news of their lives. They had cancer and they were overwhelmed. Suddenly, their existence revolved around statistics (percent alive at five years post-treatment, percent response rate, percent failure rate, percent surgery success, to name a few) and guesswork as to the best path to move forward. I did see lots of success stories, but I saw a lot of devastation, too.
One mistake we make is thinking that cancer is one disease, when it is in fact millions of unique diseases. Even if two individuals have the same diagnosis, it is not the same disease because cancer arises from damage to your DNA. And the only person on the whole planet who might have your exact same DNA is an identical twin, which eliminates most of us. Therefore, a treatment that helps one person with XYZ cancer may hurt a different person with XYZ cancer, or simply be ineffective. I believe that is one reason we do not have a universal cure for cancer despite billions (trillions?) of research dollars and inordinate attention from top scientists.
Despite these differences, there are some commonalities amongst most cancers. They all have some level of dysregulated inflammation, there is always an oxidative stress component. There is often a vulnerability in the immune system. There is often toxic exposure. So, while we may not have a universal cure for this sometimes-life-threatening disease, that does not mean that there is nothing we can do to prevent cancer, help eliminate cancer once it starts and prevent recurrence of cancer.
Some interventions are everything you have heard before: eat clean organic foods, reduce sugar and simple carbohydrates. Boost intake of all the colors of the rainbow in fruits and vegetables because polyphenols are powerful! Limit alcohol, eliminate tobacco and other toxins. Drink clean water. Move your body. Invest in relationships and support. A breast cancer study some years back found that women in a breast cancer support group lived significantly longer than women who did not participate. Positive relationships are surprisingly therapeutic.
There are also supplements that have been proven to be of benefit. There are too many to cover here in this short article, so I will limit it to three that would be among my top choices. However, please be aware that there is excellent research ongoing for a great number of stellar natural medicines.
Curcumin
Curcumin is a powerful intervention for a wide range of diseases because it is likely the best natural anti-inflammatory thus far investigated by science. It works by downregulating every inflammatory pathway in the body. And we know that nearly all chronic diseases, whether it is diabetes or Parkinson’s, or atherosclerosis or cancer all have something in common: unchecked, destructive inflammation. This is where curcumin shines, though it works via a multitude of other mechanisms as well.
Thus far, researchers have found that curcumin has several beneficial properties including:
• Downregulation of the expression of cell surface adhesion molecules linked to inflammation
• Restricting activation of NF-kB, which regulates the expression of pro-inflammatory genes
• Downregulating COX-2, the enzyme linked to most inflammation
• Inhibiting 5-LOX, another pro-inflammatory enzyme
• Inhibiting the activity of tumor necrosis factor (TNF), one of the most pro-inflammatory cytokines (cell-signaling protein molecules).
Because of curcumin’s anti-inflammatory power, as well as its ability to kill tumor cells, increase activity of protective antioxidants such as glutathione, and control tumor growth cell factors, curcumin is effective against hundreds of diseases, including all kinds of cancer thus far investigated.
Curcumin is a super-potent antioxidant, able to neutralize a wide variety of dangerous free radicals. Free radicals are molecules with a missing electron that stabilize themselves by stealing electrons from neighboring molecules, creating another free radical in the process. This chain reaction free radical formation is known as the free radical cascade, and it results in cellular damage (called oxidative stress). All cancer starts as damage to the DNA—the blueprint—of the cell. If the blueprint is damaged, the next cell created may be malignant. Preventing DNA damage by arresting free radicals and stopping oxidative damage always plays a role in preventing and treating cancer.
It may surprise you to learn that our bodies have even more powerful weapons in the fight against cancer, and one of the most important is our tumor suppressing genes. However, aging and outside influences, often toxic exposures, can turn off or silence these genes, allowing the cancer to grow and spread unchecked. Scientific research has found that one way that curcumin fights cancer is by re-awakening these “sleeping genes,” turning them back on to keep cancer from growing and spreading. The area of science that is concerned with the ways groups of genes are expressed is called epigenetics and many believe this area of investigation holds great hope for future cancer treatment.
Curcumin has been shown to stop cancer’s formation and progression, meaning that it stops the changes that cause normal cells to become cancer cells, stops the proliferation of cancerous cells (tumor formation), and stops cancerous cells from moving to other parts of the body (known as metastasis). There are published studies on successful use of curcumin with a wide variety of cancers, including colorectal, liver, kidney, breast, prostate, lung and skin. When visiting the electronic database of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a free searchable database at PubMed.gov, and searching on “curcumin cancer,” one is rewarded with more than 8,400 published studies on this topic!
There is also published research on curcumin used in conjunction with various chemotherapies, but because this is a complex area, we encourage people to discuss their supplement use and get recommendations from their health care practitioner on what choices are best for their particular health condition.
Andrographis
We have already discussed cellular damage and how it creates cancer. There is a unique compound in the herb andrographis called andrographolide that has been used in many cancer studies, and recently was shown to stop the replication cycle of cancerous cell growth in melanoma. This is timely research, because the rate of melanoma has been significantly increasing over the past three or four decades.
Melanoma is a very serious form of skin cancer that can metastasize to other parts of the body and can be lethal. Sadly, the American Cancer Association predicts that approximately 100,000 people will be diagnosed with melanoma in any given year. Many integrative health experts suggest that anyone with higher risk for melanoma (very fair skin, lots of time in the sun, history of sunburns, certain medications that cause sun sensitivity, lots of moles on the skin, family history, and/or a weakened immune system) may benefit from using andrographis standardized to andrographolides every day as prevention.
There have also been studies on andrographis in both brain and pancreatic cancer. In glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, andrographis limited the ability of the cancer cells to metastasize or move to another area. Andrographis has also been shown to arrest pancreatic tumor cell growth and tumor formation. While much more research is needed, these are very encouraging studies that demonstrate ways in which natural medicines can shine.
As with curcumin, there are also studies looking at how andrographis works with chemotherapy. A common problem is that cancer cells can become resistant to chemotherapy, just as bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics. The first treatment with chemotherapy kills a great many cancer cells, but if the cancer comes back, and chemotherapy is used again, it is generally not as effective as the first time. The temptation is to use higher doses of chemo because the cancer cells are not responding, but this is dangerous, because chemotherapy damages and kills healthy cells as well. Very recent research on andrographis has shown it may help solve this problem because it can increase the efficacy of the drug treatment in killing malignant cells and significantly reducing cancer cell colonies, which are involved in metastasis. The first part of the study was in vitro, examining use in two kinds of cancer cell lines: the cancer cells that are sensitive and affected by chemotherapy drugs, and cancer cells that are resistant to these drugs.
Andrographis was effective for both. In combination with the chemotherapy, it dramatically reduced cancer cells and tumors. These results were further validated by scientific studies in 2020 on human colorectal cancer cells that were transplanted into mice in a process called tumor xenografting.
In this study of chemoresistant cancer, andrographis was more effective than the chemotherapy drug 5-fluoroucil (5FU). There was a noticeable increase of the effectiveness of 5FU when it was combined with the botanical. Andrographis appeared to be the key in this combination, which dramatically reduced cancer cells and tumor size.
Oligomeric Proanthocyanidins (OPC) From Grape Seed Extract
There are also several great cancer studies on OPCs from grape seed extract that are standardized to a low molecular weight. When I talk to patients, I tell them that OPCs are like dogs—they may all be dogs, but some are Great Danes, and some are Chihuahuas. If your OPCs are all Great Danes, they will not be able to squeeze through that little doggie door in the kitchen and will be left outside the house. However, if your dogs are Chihuahuas, they will have no problem scooting through that doggie door.
Large size OPCs are not dangerous but cannot be absorbed. That is why it is important to look for OPCs that are standardized to only low molecular weight—a size small enough to be absorbed. In other words, in this instance, size does matter, but it is the smallest size we want for the highest level of effectiveness.
Grape seed polyphenols, including OPCs, are powerful antioxidants with an ORAC value of over two million per 100 grams. Compare this to 100 grams of blueberries (around 8,000 ORAC) or dark chocolate powder (around 39,000 ORAC) and you see how powerful a tool OPCs are for addressing oxidative stress and free radical damage.
Using such a high-powered antioxidant is certainly preventative of cellular and DNA damage that leads to cancer in the first place, but grape seed OPCs have also been shown to have many anti-cancer benefits.
OPCs inhibit tumor growth and can induce apoptosis, which is killing cancer cells by stopping their growth phase. This amazing botanical can inhibit the cycle of cancer cell signaling, which plays a role in tumor growth and movement.
However, one of the most important things that grape seed OPCs can do is to kill cancer stem cells. Cancer stem cells are cancer cells that “hide” from treatment by pretending to be normal cells and then months or years later, when the conditions are right, they reactivate and start unchecked proliferation again.
Chemotherapy can kill conventional cancer cells, but often leaves behind the cancer stem cells. That is why finding natural medicines that can kill cancer stem cells is very important.
Other research has examined the effect of grape seed extract on breast cancer cells when used alone or with a conventional treatment. The results showed that the two interventions worked well together, but that grape seed extract alone was a strong inhibitor of breast cancer cells. These results have been mirrored in other research showing that grape seed extract polyphenols have a proven ability to stop tumor growth.
One of the reasons for this is that grape seed extract partially inhibits aromatase, an enzyme that converts androgen into estrogen. Certain types of cancer grow and spread in the presence of estrogen. Breast and prostate cancer tissues typically have higher levels of aromatase. A study published in the journal Cancer Research considered the incredible potential of grape seed extract, as their research showed that it inhibited aromatase activity and reduced breast cancer growth. The researchers concluded, “We believe that these results are exciting in that they show grape seed extract to be a potential treatment option for hormone-dependent cancers, specifically by inhibiting aromatase activity.” Other grape seed studies have shown that it stops prostate cancer cells through direct stimulation of tumor suppressing cells, and bladder cancer by increasing oxidative stresses only to cancer cells, halting their growth, while leaving healthy cells alone.”
Grape seed extract has also been shown to reduce a process called angiogenesis in which the cancer cells connect and grow blood vessels to feed and nourish the tumor. This cuts off access to both oxygen and nutrients.
Conclusion
There are so many clinically validated natural product interventions for cancer that I encourage you to explore further. There are excellent studies on vitamin D, melatonin, certain mushrooms, bio-identical pancreatic enzymes, ginseng, berberine, quercetin—and even a simple mineral like selenium. New discoveries are made every day. If you or someone you love is facing this disease, finding integrative health practitioners experienced in oncology, and developing a relationship with a high-quality health food store that pays attention to the latest science can provide you with great allies in finding powerful tools to overcome this challenge.VR
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Cheryl Myers is an integrative health nurse, author, and an expert on natural medicine. She is a nationally recognized speaker who has been interviewed by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Prevention magazine. Her many articles have been published in such diverse journals as Aesthetic Surgery Journal and Nutrition in Complementary Care, and her research on botanicals has been presented at the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the North American Menopause Society. Myers is the head of scientific affairs and education for EuroPharma, Inc.
