Headwear Etc Blog

Laetrile, An Alternative Cancer Treatment
What is Laetrile?
Laetrile is an alternative treatment for cancer, using a naturally occurring substance found in the kernels of almonds, apricots and peaches. It is believed that this substance can kill cancer cells, while remaining harmless to healthy cells in the body.
History of Laetrile
An early form of the use of laetrile dates back thousands of years ago to the early Egyptians. The form of treatment used today began in the 1920’s when Dr. Ernst T. Krebs, Sr. performed tests using the pits from apricots. At that time, the tests proved a toxin too harmful to be administered.

However, in 1952, Krebs’ son, Ernst Jr made modifications to his father’s theory, and revealed that the substance found in apricot pits did prove to have cancer fighting properties.
Effectiveness of Laetrile
As with many other alternative cancer treatments, studies done with laetrile have not produced significant proof that it can either fight or destroy cancer cells.

AROMASIN ® Official Site
Stay on top of your treatment options. Get the facts on AROMASIN.
www.aromasin.com
There are documented risks with taking laetrile as treatment. For one, the substance used in laetrile contains a small amount of cyanide and there have been reports of cyanide poisoning and in a few cases, death, from those taking laetrile as treatment. It is not recommended to take laetrile on its own while avoiding additional treatments.
Obtaining Laetrile
Currently, laetrile is not FDA approved and difficult to find in the United States.

Treatment can be found in some places in Mexico, where the costs associated running into thousands of dollars. Treatment usually lasts 2-3 weeks with an injection into veins daily, following with a tablet form taken orally for maintenance.
Updated: August 26, 2006Important disclaimer information about this About site.

Pass on that last call for alcohol.
From Lisa Fayed,
Your Guide to Cancer.
Stay up to date!
Studies show that women who have at least one alcoholic drink a day greatly increase their risk factor for cancer. Same goes for men who drink at least two.

If you drink, drink in moderation. Of course, the best defense would be not to drink at all. Your body will thank you!

Drinking Excessive Amounts of Alcohol Increases Your Risk Factor For:

Oral Cancer

Esophageal Cancer

Liver Cancer

Breast Cancer

Laryngeal Cancer

Pharyngeal Cancer

Chronic Stress Agitates Ovarian Cancer in Mice
Reducing Stress Seems to Slow Tumor Growth

When mice with ovarian cancer are stressed, their tumors grow and spread more quickly, but that effect can be blocked using a common heart disease medication, according to new laboratory study results.

Significance of results

The findings, published online July 23 in the journal Nature Medicine, provide the first measurable link between psychological stress and the biological processes that make ovarian tumors grow and spread, says the study’s principal investigator Anil Sood, M.D., associate professor in M. D. Anderson’s Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Department of Cancer Biology.

Research methods

Sood’s research team created a stressful environment for mice infected with ovarian cancer by confining them to a small space for zero, two or six hours during the day.

The confinement caused the mice to produce the same stress hormones as humans produce. These “fight-or-flight” hormones are released when people are fearful or threatened and also are responsible for causing the heart to beat harder and faster.

Primary results

Sood and his colleagues found that, surprisingly, cancer cells make receptors for these stress hormones on their surface and that when these receptors are activated, they help form new blood vessels that feed tumors. This process, called angiogenesis, is known to allow tumors to grow and spread more rapidly.

After three weeks, the researchers measured the number and size of tumors in the mice.

The size of tumors was:

The same in mice who spent no time in the confined space
2.5 times greater in the mice confined for two hours
3.6 times greater in mice confined for six hours
In addition, tumors spread to the liver or spleen in half of the confined mice but did not spread in mice who spent no time in the confined space.

Additional results

The researchers also gave the stressed mice a heart drug called propranolol, also known as a “beta blocker,” which completely neutralized the effect of stress on tumor growth, says Sood, M. D. Anderson’s director of ovarian cancer research in the Department of Gynecologic Oncology.

“The concept of stress hormone receptors directly driving cancer growth is very new,” Sood says. “Our research opens a new area of investigation.”

Also, no one has studied the effect of beta blockers on chronic stress as it relates to cancer in humans, Sood adds. “There is a lot of interest now in this area of combining behavioral interventions to reduce stress, as well as using beta blockers in cancer patients.”