By David Blyweiss, M.D., Advanced Natural Wellness

April 5, 2012

• Don’t fight cancer… PREVENT it!
• Ancient fruit halts cancer growth
• Mother Nature has all of the answers

The other day a commercial on the television caught my attention. I wasn’t even watching the TV. But then the narrator said something that made my ears perk up.

The advertisement said two out of three cancer patients are surviving cancer.

Surprisingly, those numbers are right on target. The American Cancer Society estimates the 5-year survival rate for cancer patients at about 67%.

If you’re a cancer patient, these statistics are quite promising when it comes to your livelihood.

But there’s one thing that’s been bothering me ever since I heard the commercial. It made me think about how many of our resources are dedicated to “curing” cancer, and how few of them are devoted to preventing it.

Currently, most conventional doctors rely on just three forms of treatment. These include surgery, chemotherapy or radiation. And while all of these treatments have their place in treating cancer, they wreak havoc on your body.

They don’t just kill cancer cells. They also kill healthy cells.

And do you know what happens then? You’re left feeling weak, drained of energy and you’re at greater risk for further health complications. Plus, these treatments come with a hefty price tag.

Make no mistake about it. Cancer is big business for Big Pharma.

According to Paul Stoffels, pharmaceuticals head at Johnson & Johnson, “It’s about the sheer amount of money people are prepared to pay for a drug. In cancer, people pay $30,000, $50,000 or $80,000 (per patient) for a drug…”

So there’s a lot of money to be made in treating this disease. But very little money to be had by preventing it.

In the end, the best way to beat the odds of cancer is to avoid getting it in the first place. And drug manufacturers aren’t going to tell you how to do this.

That’s why I’m so excited about new research on an unusual fruit used in ancient Chinese medicine. It’s a very fruity way to starve – and kill – cancer cells.

Cancer thrives on sugar. This may be one of the reasons people with type 2 diabetes are twice as likely to get certain cancers as non-diabetics.

And bitter melon, the unusual fruit I mentioned earlier, contains natural compounds that help treat type 2 diabetes. These same compounds activate an enzyme in the body called AMPK.

AMPK acts as sort of a master switch for metabolism and insulin sensitivity. It also disrupts sugar metabolism in cancer cells. AMPK essentially starves cancer cells of the sugar that makes them thrive.

The question researchers recently asked is if the juice from this bitter melon – which people in Asian countries consume in quantity – could actually work to stop cancer in its tracks.

First they tried it on cultured cells.

Researchers treated four human pancreatic cancer cell lines with bitter melon juice. And do you know what they discovered?

Bitter melon restricted the ability of the pancreatic cancer cells to metabolize glucose. In essence, it cut off the cell’s energy source and killed them. All four cancer cell lines were reduced 90% to 98% after just 72 hours.

Once the researchers found out how well this melon juice worked in cell cultures, they decided to try it out on mice. And the results were just as encouraging.

Mice who were fed the bitter melon juice were 60 percent less likely to develop pancreatic cancer than controls. Of course human studies need to be done, and I think they should start right away.

Now I have to tell you. Pancreatic cancer is a particularly deadly form of cancer.

One reason for this might be the difficulty in diagnosing it. The symptoms – such as weight loss and abdominal pain – aren’t specific. So it’s often not caught until it’s in late stages. By then it has often spread to other organs. And sadly, the survival rates are quite depressing.

This means anything you can do to prevent it to start with is a huge step in the right direction.

I also have one more tidbit about this cancer-fighting fruit.

If you are a woman, bitter melon can provide an added measure of safety.

A couple of years ago researchers found this ancient fruit helps fight off and kill cancer cells associated with breast cancer. Not only did it stop the growth of these cells, it also prevented them from dividing and multiplying.

I have to admit. Mounting research has me sold on the power behind this gift from Mother Nature.

I’ve already found several ways to get it into my diet. And you can do the same.

There is one thing that truly impresses me about the research on bitter melon. And it may be the key to why this powerful fruit has produced such astounding results in the fight against cancer.

You see, the folks running the studies didn’t try to isolate or analyze any singular compound from the fruit. If they had, the outcome would likely have been a disaster.

Instead, they simply extracted the juice and allowed all of the plant’s natural elements to work in synergy, exactly the way Mother Nature intended.

You can buy bitter melon supplements online and at your health food store. But I’ll be honest. I’m not 100% sure how many of these supplements contain a full and complete extract of the total fruit.

I think that’s very important. And if I ever recommend, create or support a particular bitter melon supplement, I guarantee all of the active compounds will be included.

And you can bet your bottom dollar that I’ll be checking these supplements out in the coming months.

In the meantime, it’s not too hard to make your own bitter melon juice.

You want to buy the fruits when they are still light green (before the skin starts turning yellow or orange.)

Slice them lengthwise and remove the seeds. Then chop them into 1-inch squares. Throw the chunks into your juicer or food processor and liquefy them as much as you can.

When finished, strain with a cheesecloth and squeeze out as much juice as possible. Store it in a glass bottle and drink it over the next 5-7 days.

You can also add this ancient melon to stir fries and salads. I’m just starting to investigate recipes, but there are plenty to be found online.

Be brave and experiment this exotic fruit. The time and effort is definitely worth it.

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Resources:

Cancer Facts and Figures 2012. American Cancer Society.

Analysis: Antibiotics crisis prompts rethink on risks, rewards. Reuters. Mar 2013. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/18/us-antibiotics-idUSBRE92H0OJ20130318 last accessed 03/24/2013.

Giovannucci E, Harlan DM, Archer MC, Bergenstal RM, et al. Diabetes and cancer: a consensus report. CA Cancer J Clin. 2010 Jul-Aug;60(4):207-21.

M. Kaur, G. Deep, A. K. Jain, K. Raina, C. Agarwal, M. Wempe, R. Agarwal. Bitter melon juice activates cellular energy sensor AMP-activated protein kinase causing apoptotic death of human pancreatic carcinoma cells. Carcinogenesis, 2013.

American Association for Cancer Research (2010, February 23). Bitter melon extract decreased breast cancer cell growth. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 24, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com¬ /releases/2010/02/100223131956.htm