Natural Health
If you want the latest news and advice in the world of alternative and natural health, then the Doctors Health Press is what you need. Whether it’s one of our natural health newsletters, hot-off-the-press alternative or natural health reports, a jam-packed full natural health book or our free daily e-letter, The Doctors Health Press e-Bulletin, you can depend on the Doctors Health Press to provide you with the latest and best in natural health news and advice. Our team of doctors, editors and researchers are always finding and reporting on the latest in the world of alternative and natural health, so you’ll never feel “out of the loop” when it comes to maintaining your good health without harmful prescription drugs and chemicals. If you love the benefits of natural health and healing, then we welcome you to The Doctors Health Press.
Whether you’re concerned about preventing breast cancer, lung cancer or any other form of the dreaded disease or you want to know how to prevent the onset of diabetes or properly maintain your diabetes or you simply want to maintain your healthy blood pressure, the Doctors Health Press and our natural health philosophy will give you the information you need to help maintain your good health.
The Cancer-fighting Proof for This Vitamin
For cancer prevention, vitamin D is one of the kings of the hill when it comes to natural remedies. Cancer cells have rapid, uncontrolled growth and the inability to specialize or differentiate. Vitamin D, on the other hand, has anticancer properties: it inhibits growth and promotes differentiation. There are several large population studies that show that vitamin D might protect us against different types of cancer.
Studies have linked the risk factors for prostate cancer and those conditions leading to vitamin-D deficiency, such as aging. The relationship between vitamin-D levels and subsequent risk of prostate cancer is a confusing one. Low levels have been associated with the development of more aggressive prostate cancer. In another study, increased cancer risk existed in those with very low levels — but also high levels. But know this: high-dose vitamin D has been added to traditional chemotherapy to treat androgen-independent prostate cancer with some success.
In a large population study involving over 88,000 women for 16 years, vitamin D was linked with a significantly lower breast cancer risk in premenopausal women. Researchers pooled data from the literature to study the
dose-response association between the vitamin and the disease:
– Those who were vitamin-D sufficient had a 50% lower risk of breast cancer than those who were vitamin-D deficient.
– Maintaining good levels of vitamin D to the point of preventing cancer requires a daily intake of 4,000 IU, which exceeds the National Academy of Science’s upper limit of 2,000 IU a day.
It is therefore not surprising to learn that, when 36,282 postmenopausal women were randomly assigned to receive 1,000 mg of calcium and 400 IU of vitamin D3 or placebo for seven years, there was no difference in the invasive breast cancer incidence. In the future, large, well-designed clinical trials are needed to address the important question of whether or not high-dose vitamin D could prevent breast cancer.
From a study with over 120,000 men and women, men with the highest vitamin-D intakes (from foods and supplements) had a 29% lower colorectal cancer risk as compared to men with the lowest vitamin-D intakes. In this study, there was no association between vitamin-D intake and colorectal cancer in women. Vitamin D was found to lower the risk of precancerous colorectal polyps.
But, a double-blind, placebo-controlled study involving 36,282 postmenopausal women, of which 18,176 women got 500 mg of calcium plus 200 IU of vitamin D3 twice a day and 18,106 received a matching placebo for seven years, failed to show any effect on the incidence of colorectal cancer. This study was criticized for using a dose of vitamin D too low to exert any effect on cancer. It was suggested that a daily intake of 1,000 IU of vitamin D would be needed in order to lower the risk of colorectal cancer.
It is critically important that future, well-designed randomized clinical trials be done before we can be certain whether or not vitamin-D supplementation has a protective role against colorectal cancer in men — and its effect on cancer overall.
Tags: cancer, cancer prevention, Natural Remedies, vitamin D
A Nut That Could Prevent Diabetes
—A Special Report from Victor Marchione, MD
A new study out of the University of Montreal has found that something inside cashews has great promise against diabetes.
It is “cashew seed extract” they are talking about, and it just might be the latest natural product to act as an effective anti-diabetic. The study, published in the journal “Molecular Nutrition & Food Research,” investigated the reputed health benefits of cashew tree products on diabetes. The focus: could cashew improve the body’s response to its own insulin?
Diabetes is caused when a person has high blood sugar because their body does not respond well to insulin and/or does not produce enough of the hormone. Insulin is what unlocks the body’s cells in order to move sugar from the bloodstream into the cells where it can be used as energy. Diabetes affects nearly 220 million people worldwide and can pave the way for heart and kidney disease.
It is at epidemic levels, along with obesity, in the United States. That is why any new insight into potential natural healers is a big deal. This new study examined the impact of leaves, bark, seeds and apples from cashew trees — native to northeastern Brazil and other countries of the southern hemisphere — on cells that respond to insulin.
They tested a slew of extracts and one showed promise. Cashew seed extract significantly stimulated blood sugar absorption by muscle cells. Because other parts of the cashew plant had no
such effect, it seems that cashew seed extract likely contains active compounds, which may have potential anti-diabetic properties.
Cashew tree products have long been alleged to be effective anti-inflammatory agents, counter high blood sugar, and prevent insulin resistance among diabetics. What the new study does is provide further proof that there is a link between the cashew tree and diabetes treatment. It points the way to natural components that could serve to create new therapies.
Speak to your doctor before adding any supplement for diabetes to your regular routine. In this case, find cashew seed extract in the health food store. It is not likely you can eat actual cashews and be able to help your diabetes. In any event, you should never eat more than a handful of nuts a day, as they are very high in fat.
Tags: diabetes, Free Health Advice, free medical advice, health articles, Health Articles, Health News
Now for some very positive health news. Due to greater awareness and likely a greater focus on one’s natural health, the rates of high blood pressure appear to be improving significantly. A new study found this to be true over the past 25 years in Canada, and its results can be remodeled for Canada’s close southern neighbor as well.
