According to updated statistics released Monday by researchers at the Harvard School of Public
Health over a 100,000 new cases of cancer could be avoided in the United States if obesity and
overweight did not exist, unfortunately with the dramatically increasing percentage of Americans
with obesity these estimates are probably low. This figure represents 10% of all newly developed
cancers.
Percent and number of cases of each cancer that could be avoided:
14% of colon cancers - over 14,000 fewer cases
11% of breast cancers - over 18,000 fewer cases
49% of endometrial cancers - almost 20,000 fewer cases
31% of kidney cancers - over 11,000 fewer cases
39% of esophageal cancer - 5,500 fewer cases
14% of pancreatic cancers - 4,500 fewer cases
20% of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas - over 11,000 fewer cases
17% of multiple myeloma
As an example, in reviewing four studies analyzing weight and breast cancer it was suggested
that if women lost from 5 to 20 pounds they significantly decrease their risk of developing
the disease. The information is being presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's
International Conference on Frontier's in Cancer prevention Research currently taking place in
Baltimore.
Commentary by Jerry Hickey, R.Ph.
Hopefully none of us will encounter an agent as destructive as mustard gas, but it is good for us
to note that these particular antioxidants are very lung friendly and that available oral
supplement levels have shown protective activity in research.
GLA from Primrose Oil may help fight HER2 positive-dangerous cancers
HER2 is a gene that helps control how fast cells grow, divide and repair themselves. It does this
through the HER2 receptor proteins in each cell. About 25% of breast cancers in women have too many
HER2 genes or are termed HER2 positive. HER2 positive breast cancers are more aggressive, and tend
to grow and spread faster than other breast cancers. HER2 are also seen in men's breast cancers
and in cases of ovarian, gastrointestinal and numerous other cancers. Cancer patients with this
gene often have a poor prognosis.
In this study HER2 cancer cell lines from breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and gastrointestinal
cancer were treated with GLA (gamma-linolenic acid) for 48 hours. The GLA substantially decreased
the amount of HER2 protein on the cancer cells. Next the researchers exposed HER2 positive cancers
to GLA at varying potencies. The stronger the dosage the less likely the cancer cells were to copy
the HER2 gene.
Additionally GLA increased the sensitivity of breast cancer cells 30 to 40 times to Herceptin.
Herceptin is a special antibody treatment that attaches to HER2 receptors on cancer cells and
blocks the cells from receiving growth signals from HER2 genes. The study is published in the
November 2nd, 2005 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (Cancer
Spectrum).
