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

September 25, 2012

• Grilled mCutting-edge research zeroes in on cancer prevention
• Top foods that starve deadly cancer cells
• 3 more things you can do to beat this killer disease

Did you know that most people have cancer cells in their body that never develop into a disease state?

It’s true.

Your body is actually pre-programmed to cut the division of cancer cells off before they can invade your body. Let me show you how it works.

For cancer cells to spread through your body, you require the growth of new blood vessels. This growth of your blood vessels is called “angiogenesis.” Without the formation of new blood vessels, cancer cells die off before they have a chance to cause a problem.

But here’s the thing you may not realize.

As adults we don’t normally grow new blood vessels. The only time you should see this happen is when it comes to wound-healing and in women who are pregnant or having menses.

However, when your body’s natural programming gets out of whack, angiogenesis occurs and the cancer develops its own network of new blood vessels. And this is when cancer begins to blossom out of control.

Now stopping the formation of these new blood vessels (often called anti-angiogenesis) has become a cutting-edge field of research when it comes to cancer. And the results are quite promising.

Today we are learning how to starve cancer cells by stopping angiogenesis before it even occurs.

I find the entire field exciting and wanted to share some of the recent findings with you. You’ll be surprised at how easy it can be to starve deadly cancer cells before they have a chance to gain a foothold!
A brilliant doctor by the name of William Li is leading much of today’s research on angiogenesis. He’s the co-founder of a group called the Angiogenesis Foundation. And for good reason!

Dr. Li was trained by the pioneer of angiogenesis research, Dr. Judah Folkman.

One thing I find very interesting about his research is the focus. He doesn’t zero in on the things that cause cancer. Instead, he’s very focused on what we can do to prevent cancer.

This is a very important distinction.

You see, our quest to educate people on cancer prevention here in the U.S. has fallen woefully short. We are much more focused on “curing” cancer long after it has gained a grip on the individual. So I’m onboard with anything we can do to prevent it.

And here’s something I really like about Li’s research…

You see, Li has identified 32 foods that may play a role in the prevention of cancer. And you’ll notice foods like meats and grains aren’t on the list. Neither are soft drinks, chips, pastries or sugary foods.

Instead they are healthy, natural foods filled with tremendous antioxidant power.

Many of them have the power to turn down vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP,) two of the major contributors to angiogenesis.

Let’s take red grapes, for example. The resveratrol from red grapes has been shown to inhibit abnormal angiogenesis by 60 percent. Other potent inhibitors include ellagic acid found in strawberries, genistein from soybeans and lycopene in tomatoes.

Fresh produce rich in flavonoids, quercetin, anthocyanins and indole-3-carbinol can also make a profound difference.

Li’s list of anti-angiogenesis (cancer-preventative) foods include:

Green Tea Strawberries Blackberries Blueberries Raspberries Oranges Grapefruit Lemons Apples Pineapple Cherries

Parsley Red Wine Soybean (organic) Ginseng Maitake Mushroom Artichokes Lavender Sea Cucumber Tuna Bok Choy Kale

Garlic Tomato Olive Oil Grape Seed Oil Dark Chocolate Nutmeg Pumpkin Turmeric Licorice

 

You’ll want to incorporate these foods into your diet as much as you can. And if you follow my Modified Mediterranean Diet, you’ll find these foods fit right in.

Remember to focus on eating vegetables that are local to you, and in season…

 

In addition to eating more of these healthy, antioxidant-rich foods, the Angiogenesis Foundation offers a few more tips on what you can do to starve cancer cells.

I’ve reviewed some of the studies that support their recommendations, and I agree with them wholeheartedly…

Angiogenesis Tip #1: Reduce stress levels. Whenever you’re under stress, your adrenal system starts working overtime. There are many reasons this isn’t good for you. And one of those reasons is the connection between stress and cancer. Research shows stress hormones increase angiogenesis and the growth of tumors.

Soothe your stress away with activities like yoga, meditation and acupuncture. And make sure to set aside a little time for yourself a few times a week to soak in the tub, schedule a massage or curl up with a good book.

Angiogenesis Tip #2: Giving up the smokes is a no-brainer. You already know it causes cancer and lung damage. However, you might not know that smoking also stimulates angiogenesis, which increases the growth rate of lung cancer.

To stop, I prefer trying alternative methods like acupuncture or hypnosis before resorting to the patch or nicotine gum. And I caution against using the new electronic cigarettes (who knows what is in them!) or Chantix. Quitting is a personal quest and it’s important for you to find what works best for you.

Angiogenesis Tip #3: Drop excess weight. Excess weight and obesity are now linked to angiogenesis. This automatically increases your risk of various cancers and may contribute to tumor growth. So it’s important to take your weight loss seriously if you want to avoid this killer disease.

You can find some tips to dropping excess weight in this recent issue on the topic.

P.S. If you’d like to watch William Li’s discussion of angiogenesis, it’s available on You Tube at http://youtu.be/tVyxEHy0E58. It’s a very enlightening and interesting video.

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Resources:
William W. Li, Vincent W. Li, Michelle Hutnik, and Albert S. Chiou. Tumor Angiogenesis as a Target for Dietary Cancer Prevention. J Oncol. 2012; 2012: 879623.

The Angiogenesis Foundation.
Tilan J, Kitlinska J. Sympathetic Neurotransmitters and Tumor Angiogenesis-Link between Stress and Cancer Progression. J Oncol. 2010;2010:539706.

Egleton RD, Brown KC, Dasgupta P. Angiogenic activity of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors: implications in tobacco-related vascular diseases. Pharmacol Ther. 2009 Feb;121(2):205-23.

Brandon EL, Gu JW, Cantwell L, et. al. Obesity promotes melanoma tumor growth: role of leptin. Cancer Biol Ther. 2009 Oct;8(19):1871-9.