I believe heart disease and inflammatory bowel diseases are pre-cancerous states. I also believe autoimmunity is a precancerous state. I believe autoimmunity and cancer are just steps apart. I also believe we will soon find that these diseases are linked to an altered environment and circadian signaling. Epidemiological studies link all these disease to inflammation generation. The pathway in humans tied to inflammation is the NRF2 pathway. Most people and doctors already know there are links to inflammation but they are not sure how they link to circadian mismatches. But what is less talked about is how this all fits biologically. Today we are going to begin to tackle this. I think two critical co-variables need to be looked at in detail and are found in our immune system physiology. Those two critical factors are Vitamin D status and Selenium status. I have already shared with you how a leaky gut is tied to autoimmunity in some detail in my recent blog. Today we are going to begin to tie three levels together, oncogenesis, immunity, and the brain gut axis. In June 2010, the American Journal of Pathology published a study that caught my eye. It reviewed at the Vitamin D Receptor (VDR) and the generation of inflammation in the large intestine in a mice model. The paper looked at gut inflammation in the presence of a Salmonella infection. Salmonella is a bacterial infection. Mice which lacked VDRs, seemed to have higher states of gut inflammation and worse outcomes than control groups. The key difference however was the high levels of IL-6, an inflammatory cytokine. IL-6 is tied directly to the NrF2 pathway. IL-6 is a bad actor in cellular homeostasis and in circadian signaling. It is seen in most cancers and all inflammatory conditions in humans to some degree. Most gut absorption is done via the transcellular pathway (90% through gut cells). The remainder of gut transport occurs via intracellular methods (tight gut junctions) that are controlled by vitamin D status. The less Vitamin D you have, the more leaky your tight junctions will be, and this exposes your immune system to direct assault. This assault is then aimed directly at our liver for detoxification. And our liver has to defend the rest of our body from inflammatory cytokines.
The key finding in the article was that animals with an intact VDR faced less gut inflammation and had lower rates of Salmonella infection. The VDR mechanism of action is to block the signal transduction of NF-Kb (911 signal of the cell also from the nrf2 pathway) from the cell membrane to the nucleus of the cell. Once it gets into the nucleus, it binds to our DNA to promote many inflammatory pathways that lead to more cytokine production. One pathway leads to IL-1b production seen in all autoimmune conditions. The other pathway leads to IL-6 and TNF alpha generation that alter the promotor region of p53 gene (protector gene of our entire genome) by hypomethylation and allows for cellular oncogenesis if the “switch” stays on long enough. VDR up-regulates a protein called lkB which won’t allow the NF-k beta to enter the nucleus of the cell to set the plan of oncogenesis to commence action. It also appears that the VDR does not even require active vitamin D3 to be present for this to occur.
In 2002, in a study by Al-Tate et al, we learned about how Selenium (Se) affects gut inflammation and generation of autoimmunity and oncogenesis. 50% of plasma Selenium is contained in human glycoprotein selenoprotein P (SeP) and is highly expressed in the human gut, specifically in the liver (gut protector). In times of high inflammation from the gut, its expression is DOWN-regulated by various inflammatory cytokines. Selenium is found in seafood in high quantities. IL-1b is the most potent to do this followed by TNF- beta and interferon gamma. It appears that development of autoimmune diseases is the cellular choice if IL-1 is predominantly generated, and cancer of various gut organs are favored if other inflammatory cytokines are generated chronically. For autoimmune conditions, this cytokine pathway is altered in the microglia cells of the brain. This affects how the MHC 1 gene is expressed epigenetically. The very interesting fact is that, with an adenoma (beginning of tumors in the colon that are initially benign) presence in the colon, there was a strong association with decreasing SeP. Patients with Se levels below 70 mcg/L are at the highest risk for oncogenesis(Psathakis et al 1998). People who eat a standard American diet as advocated by the USDA carry that risk. Selenium also allows us to generate a stable pipeline of methylated metabolites that directly protects our DNA, and specifically the p53 gene. It really up-regulates the production of mono-methylated species and has amazing chemotherapeutic potential. These are rarely used in conventional chemotherapy. Remember that most methyl transfers occur in humans from mainly the B vitamins. B12 is most mentioned. It only comes from animal proteins and those of you who advocate the vegetarian method of eating all have to supplement B12 for this very reason. B12 is very abundant in seafood. In fact, B vitamins are very common in the marine food chain. It is found nowhere else but in fish/animal protein and fat. So now you are starting to realize why being a vegetarian leads can lead to a higher oncogenic incidence, higher autoimmune disease risk, along with higher Crohn’s disease, heart disease and diabetes risk!
To further illustrate how important methyl transfers are, I suggest a trip East. Just go to southern India to see what a life-long vegetarian diet does to a human body. The epidemiology data out of India is just staggering with regards to these neolithic diseases. The southern region of India is filled with mostly vegetarian sects, while the Northern territories are more into animal protein diets. There is also more new modern technology industry found in southern India which further alters the field that biology has to act in. It should be required of every person who thinks this is the “moral” way to eat. If it kills and hurts humans, how humane can it really be from the moral standpoint? I think it guarantees you a suboptimal life if you choose it. Enough of that PSA now. The amount of industrialization has been massive over the last 40 years in this region of India. They have also ramped up their use of artificial light and modern technology.
Cancer prediction The good news is that many of the 6 million people being treated for cancer today will go on to live a full life. The numbers of those who do survive in my opinion are still far too low (about 45-50%). Moreover, many of the close to 2,000 cancers deaths that occur daily happen because the victims’ families were completely unaware of the depth of resources currently available to treat cancer conventionally and with alternatives such as complementary or integrative therapies.
Once diagnosed with this disease, you get shaken to your core. It is imperative that you know that this disease cannot only be fought but it can be prevented if you decide to immediately alter some of the things you do and lose some of the dogma you have accumulated in your life. This is especially true if you are in the healthcare field and have lived in dogma your whole adult life. This book is written by a physician researcher who not only got hit with the cancer diagnosis but got hit with a brain cancer that is exceptionally deadly. He was able to deconstruct his own beliefs as a physician with new science that was around to researchers but not well known by his oncologists. This book is a must for anyone with cancer or who has risk factors present so you can beat it before it begins. This is honestly one of the reasons I wrote my QUILT because I believe if you protect your cells you will never get this disease. Now that a friend has it…here is a post directed at what you may consider doing right away after consulting with your oncologist. Consider consulting a major cancer center such as MD Anderson for a second opinion.
1. Read the book Anticancer mentioned above. It’s critical to you seeing this disease in a new light.
2. Immediately alter your diet to the Epi-paleo Rx and away from a Standard Western Diet.
3. Begin a meditation scheme as soon as possible to control your cortisol and anxiety. (Choice is unimportant but doing it is life saving)
4. The patient should consult the protocols entitled Cancer Treatment: The critical Factors in Cancer: Should patients take dietary supplements for the type of cancer you have?
5. Consider beginning a supplement regime to include Curcumin, Reservatrol, Quercetin, Omega three Fish oil (Rx grade), Vitamin D3 with a target of being over 50 ng/dl, liberal use of CoEnZQ10 daily, R-alpha lipoic acid and a vitamin K supplement daily. Consider use of N Acetyl Cysteine daily as well. Notice I did not put the dosages down because the doses required for anti-cancer therapy are significantly higher than one would use in a preventative state. This should be done with consultation of your oncologist. If your oncologist is not open minded about these issues…after reading the book in step one you might need to find a new oncologist. These are what I consider to be the core supplements to most cancers that humans get.
6. Within your diet, always added turmeric, ginger, garlic, rosemary and basil to your foods as much as possible. You should drink 1 liter of green tea per day. Green tea contains L -Theanine which decreases anxiety but is an adjunct to chemotherapeutic drugs by making them more effective . You can also use green tea extracts if you don’t want to drink this much fluid or you can’t because of your condition.
7. In 1955, Nobel Laureate Otto Warburg found that all cancers use glucose for energy substrate and that high levels of insulin also allow the body to lose control of the immune system that will defend it. This means the patient has to limit anything that stimulates insulin. A strict low-carb Epi-paleo template does just this. A good reference for the diet is here.
8. Your immune system is your best defense against your cancer. Optimize your vitamin D levels and keep your insulin levels below two. Lowering your cortisol levels optimizes leptin but most importantly up-regulates your Natural Killer cells (WBC’s) that are part of your cell-mediated immune system that actively fights cancer. You will read a ton about these cells in the book I recommended in step one.
9. Veggies. Make cruciferous veggies a staple. All plants of the Brassica plants are your friends. Glucosinolates can inhibit, retard, and reverse experimental multistage oncogenesis. The reason is the release of isothiocyanantes such as sulphoraphanes. Sulphoraphanes do two main things. They promote apoptosis (levels 19) and they induce phase two detoxification enzymes in the liver that strengthen the p53 gene as the guardian of our genomes. Necrosis of cancer cells is commonly seen when they are exposed to sulphoraphanes consistently over time. Broccoli also includes a secondary metabolite called Indole 3 Carbinol that further breaks down to another anti-cancer chemical called DIM, diindolylmethane. You can’t eat enough of these veggies if you have cancer in my view. I3C also blocks 16 -hydroxyestrone and is quite helpful in preventing breast and ovarian cancers in women and prostate cancer in men.
10. Here is the counterintuitive one to the dogma you have had drummed into your head… eat tons of cholesterol. Especially coconut oil. Many epidemiological studies have shown that lower levels of serum cholesterol correlate with higher cancer rates. This is why eating a ketogenic Epi-paleo diet makes a ton of sense. Why a ketogenic diet? Because all cancers utilize glucose for substrate. You need to change the cellular fuel of choice. Go Google Otto Warburg for more details. Ketogenic diets should be loaded with MCT from coconut oils as they confer huge advantages to normal cells over cancer cells. This leg-up allows your immune system to catch up to the cancerous cells and destroy them using your own biological machinery. There are numerous cancer journal articles published that show the same links.
Dedicated to Mary. Never submit and conquer it with your defenses. They are your best weapon in this fight no matter what any physician tells you. Optimize them and you will win this battl
