Each year 10.9 million people worldwide are
diagnosed with cancer and there are 6.7 million
deaths from the disease. This is an increasing
health catastrophe in humanity, but not many
people actually know what cancer is. Sadly,
only a diagnosis pushes people to find out.
Cancer starts with a cell, or cluster of cells,
basically "going wrong" and instead
of having a job to perform like the rest of
the billions of cells in our bodies, the cancer
celll starts replicating for itself in an uncontrolled
mechanism. Cells in a healthy body work together
to enable the body to function properly. Each
healthy cell is individual in its nature and
has a function of its own. There are two thousand
billion cells in our bodies, and each one has
a very complicated working mechanisim. Therefore,
it isn't supprising that some of these cells
suffer damage and perform incorrectly.
An immune system
T-cell (left)
killing a cancer cell (right).
|
Everyone
has the potential for developing 'cancer'.
Even the most healthy person carries about
10,000 malignant cells. However, if our
immune system is fully functioning these
'rogue' cells will constantly be hunted
for and destroyed (as shown left).
So, how
does cancer develop? Well, firstly there
is always a trigger for the cells to become
malignant (or cancerous). There can be
many reasons for this (see cause of cancer).
Unfortunately, at times of extreme stress
and/or illness, our immune system gets
depleted and could possibly leave the
door open for cancer cells to form and
duplicate. A tumor is a group of billions
of cancer cells that have developed over
years. |
Cancer cells basically divide when they shouldn't.
They trigger their own blood supply to support
unlimited expansion, and invade the bloodstream
and other tissues forming metastasis (further
tumours elsewhere in the body). Basically, cancer
cells do not perform the job they are supposed
to. The risk of cancer then comes when an essential
organ is overcome by these ‘useless’
cells, and the organ can no longer function
properly.
Cleverly, for the tumor to escape the immune
system, the cancer cells develop a protein ‘stealth
like’ coating. This coating is thirteen
times thicker than the coating on a normal healthy
cell, and is used as a clever shield from the
immune system that enables the cancer cells
to continue duplicating.
Part of our immune system involves 'Enzymes'.
Some of which are used to breakdown protein.
As protein is the ingredient of the tumor coating,
enzymes are very important in breaking down
this material, therefore exposing the cancer
cells to the immune system so the body can start
to heal itself. The two most important enzymes
made by the pancreas are named Trypsin and Chymotrypsin.
However, those enzymes are also used to digest
animal protein in our diet, ie meat and fish.
Therefore, in order to utilise all of those
enzymes towards fighting cancer, it is essential
to eliminate animal protein from your diet until
the cancer is defeated, along with supplementing
additional enzymes (see resources).
Unfortunately, due to our modern day diets we
often find our pancreas being ove- taxed to
produce enough enzymes that are capable of digesting
these foods. This then leaves very little enzymes
spare to digest the protein build up around
cancer cells. Hence, it is absoloutly essential
to supplement prolyetic enzymes when being diagnosed
with cancer.
The pancreas is also responsible for producing
insulin, which is needed to regulate blood glucose
(blood sugar) levels. But what most people do
not realise is that cancer utilises glucose
(sugar) as its main fuel source. High levels
of glucose can fuel a tumor's growth. Therefore,
it is ESSENTIAL to cut out ALL sugar, including
artificial sweeteners, when suffering with cancer
(see diet guidelines).
If more people knew the fundamentals of cancer
and its workings, we can hopefully prevent it
ever occuring and eventually rid humanity of
this metabolic disease.
