Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Research Reveals Plants Can Think, Choose & Remember

Research Reveals Plants Can Think, Choose & Remember

Posted on:
Monday, December 21st 2015 at 1:30 pm
Written By: Sayer Ji, Founder

Modern science is only beginning to catch up to the wisdom of the ancients: plants possess sentience and a rudimentary form of intelligence. 
Plants are far more intelligent and capable than we given them credit. In fact, provocative research from 2010 published in Plant Signaling & Behavior proposes that since they cannot escape environmental stresses in the manner of animals, they have developed a "sophisticated, highly responsive and dynamic physiology," which includes information processes such as "biological quantum computing" and "cellular light memory" which could be described as forms of plant intelligence. Titled, "Secret life of plants: from memory to intelligence," the study highlights one particular "super power" of plants indicative of their success as intelligent beings:
There are living trees that germinated long before Jesus Christ was born. What sort of life wisdom evolved in plants to make it possible to survive and propagate for so long a time in the same place they germinated?"
According to the researchers, plants "plants actually work as a biological quantum computing device that is capable to process quantum information encrypted in light intensity and in its energy." This information processing includes a mechanism for processing memorized information. For example:
plants can store and use information from the spectral composition of light for several days or more to anticipate changes that might appear in the near future in the environment, for example, for anticipation of pathogen attack."
According to the study, "plants can actually think and remember."
Moreover, plant not only possess a mechanism for information gathering and processing, but appear to exercise agency or "choice" vis-à-vis different scenarios:
different group of chloroplasts and cells in the same leaf under identical constant and stable light, temperature and relative humidity condition have different opinion "what to do" in such conditions and tests different scenarios of possible future development."
The study also offers an explanation for why plants absorb more light energy than is needed for photosynthesis alone:

Another possible answer to the above question is a light training of young naïve leaves. Let's imagine when young leaf or flower is emerging out of a plant, it would be nice for that leaf or flower to know about the conditions in which it is going to emerge. Older, more experienced leaves that actually are acclimated to outside conditions can train naïve emerging young leaves with the PEPS [photoelectrophysiological signaling ]and cellular light memory mechanisms. This explains why plants possess a natural capacity to absorb more light energy than that required for photosynthetic CO2 assimilation. They need this absorbed energy in excess for optimization and training of light acclimatory and immune defenses."
The authors leave us with the provocative conclusion:
Our results suggest that plants are intelligent organisms capable of performing a sort of thinking process (understood as at the same time and non-stress conditions capable of performing several different scenarios of possible future definitive responses), and capable of memorizing this training.17 Indeed leaves in the dark are able to not only "see" the light,8,34 but also are able to differently remember its spectral composition and use this memorized information to increase their Darwinian fitness."
Why is this discovery important?
There are many reasons why recognizing the sentience and intelligence of plants may have positive implications for the future of humanity. For one, it helps us all to transcend the dominant worldview that non-human life forms are best defined in strictly mechanistic terms, and that attributing a "life essence" or consciousness to them is a form of magical thinking. French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Pointy called this world view the "Great Object," namely, that everything in the universe is compromised of material objects externally related to one another, and with consciousness merely an ephemeral subjectivity found only in humans.

To the contrary, if we open ourselves to the possibility that we are all participants in an interconnected web of life, as many indigenous peoples believed and actually experienced things to be, destroying the natural world simply to serve the essentially suicidal infinite economic growth model will be identified for the insanity that it is. If we recognize, as biologist James Lovelock proposed, the Earth as a whole should be looked upon more like a self-regulating organisms (Gaia hypothesis), or as mycologist Paul Stamet envisions, that there is a fungi-based internet within the ground connecting all living things on the planet in an information-sharing network, we will be less likely to both perceive and to treat the natural world as "other" to be dominated.
Recognizing that plants, for instance, have consciousness, or that their simple presence in our environment has healing effects, reintroduces an element of wonder and mystery back into the experience of the natural world. A perfect example of this can be found in the singing plants of the sacred forest of Damanhur. Damanhurian researchers in the mid-70's reported using custom equipment to capture electromagnetic changes on the surface of leaves and roots and transforming them into audible signals. The researchers also observed that the plants learned to control their electrical responses, indicating they had some rudimentary awareness of the music they were creating. To learn more, watch the video documentary on GreenMedTV, or visit the Damanhur project website, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.
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Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez warned us about the health risks from EMF pollution

Posted by: Lori Alton, staff writer in EMF Pollution December 20, 2015 0 Comments



(NaturalHealth365) Weeks before his untimely death in July 2015, Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez, M.D., met with Camilla Rees, founder of ElectroMagneticHealth, to discuss his concerns about the proliferation of wireless technologies found in our everyday life and their link to serious health concerns, including cancer.
We, at NaturalHealth365, appreciate the opportunity to share some of Dr. Gonzalez’s knowledge of this critical, often controversial, issue.
Watch the video – below: (it’s eye-opening information)




Warning: An explosion of harmful EMF pollution
With nearly 7 billion active cellular phones worldwide, the amount of radiofrequency electromagnetic field exposure from these and other consumer electronics continues to climb at alarming rates. But while an existence seemingly reliant on a wealth of technology may be a reflection of current lifestyles, EMFs are nothing new, with a history stretching as far back as the discovery of electricity itself.
Electromagnetic fields, or EMFs, are created anytime electric current flows through a wire. Obvious sources of EMFs include not only mobile phones and Wi-Fi, but also power lines, kitchen appliances, televisions—even dimmer switches. But the steep climb in vast numbers of electronic devices that have been introduced into everyday living the past couple of decades has fueled the fires over EMF pollution.
Why are we ignoring this issue – as a society?
What many people – even some physicians – either forget or do not realize, according to Dr. Gonzalez, is that the human body is reliant on its own electromagnetic field and ultimately our existence is reliant upon electric chemical reactions. It is no wonder, then, that the immense influx of EMF pollution all around us has a grave effect on our wellbeing.
“The human body was not designed to deal with the explosion of the EMF activity in the environment,” said Dr. Gonzalez. In fact, the increased use of cell phones and other consumer electronics has been linked to the following dangerous health conditions:
  • Malignant and benign brain tumors, considered the number one fear of EMF pollution
  • Increased permeability of the blood-brain barrier
  • Adverse effects on neurotransmitters in the brain, resulting in mood swings, memory loss, learning and stress
  • Rupturing of brain cells, leading to calcium ion leakage, resulting in slowed brain reaction times
  • Disruptions in brain glucose metabolism, linked to Alzheimer’s disease among other problems
  • Disruption of melatonin production, a strong antioxidant
  • Thyroid dysfunction
No question EMFs are increasing the rate of disease
Dr. Gonzalez believed there is no question that the proliferation of EMF activity in the environment is not only raising havoc with human health, but also leading to an increase in many common diseases, including cancer. Many other health experts would agree.
The World Health Organization (WHO)/International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), declared EMFs a potential carcinogen back in 2011, following a week-long assessment by a face-to-face meeting of 31 scientists from 14 countries.
Dr. Gonzalez points out that the explosion of consumer electronics has occurred without prior research to determine short-term and long-term impacts on human health. Now it is akin to a speeding freight train, due to consumer demand and the huge amounts of dollars invested in the many industries now reliant on the electronics sector of the economy.
As Dr. Gonzalez noted, parents have also come to rely on entertaining their young children with electronic devices.
A large share of the concerns over damage from EMF comes from the fact that today’s electronic devices are used in very close proximity to our brains and bodies. Studies show more than two-thirds of all adults, and an astounding 90 percent of those aged 18 to 29, sleep with their mobile phone near their head. But these adult habits are not the only reason for heightened concern.
Children, many of whom have their own cellphone by the time they reach the second grade, endure higher EMF absorption rates through their brains than do adults because their brain tissues are simply more absorbent. In addition, their young skulls are thinner and their relatively smaller size makes them more susceptible to EMFs.
“Childhood cancer is exploding exponentially – not linearly, exponentially,” Dr. Gonzalez said. “Why is that?  Well, all these kids are on the little devices.”
Protect you and your family from harmful EMFs
“There’s no question in my mind that not only are the traditional diseases increasing in incidence…because of EMF as a contributory factor…but It’s only going to get worse,” Dr. Gonzalez predicted. “The environment isn’t getting better, the environment is only getting worse, and that includes the food, the pollution and the EMFs.”
With children at greatest risk, it is up to parents to step in and make the necessary decisions regarding childhood use of consumer electronics and mobile devices. To protect your children from the harms of EMF, treat their bedroom as an electronic-free haven. Also go against the trend and do not allow children under 18 to have their own mobile phones.
To protect yourself, follow these safety tips for lowering your own exposure to the danger of EMFs:
  • Text, don’t talk, when at all possible
  • Use a headset or speaker when you do need to talk to keep your device further from your head and body
  • If you carry your cell phone close to your body, such as in a pocket, put it on airplane mode
  • Don’t sleep with your cell phone next to you
  • Only use your cell phone when your signal is strong to avoid unnecessary exposure time
To learn more about the biological and health effects of electromagnetic fields from cell phones, wireless devices, neighborhood RF-emitting infrastructure, smart meters, and other hazards of EMF pollution, go to ElectromagneticHealth or the International EMF Alliance.
References:
http://reset.me/story/the-alarming-ways-emfs-are-changing-your-brain

http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2011/pdfs/pr208_E.pdf

Monday, December 21, 2015

How A Green Smoothie Can Help Your Thyroid

The “Root Cause Green Smoothie”

By Dr. Izabella Wentz, Pharm D.
How A Green Smoothie Can Help Your Thyroid

Proper nutrition can make a huge difference in how a person with Hashimoto’s can feel. Most of my clients with Hashimoto’s present with food sensitivities, poor digestion and blood sugar abnormalities, which can perpetuate thyroid autoimmunity as well as cause many unpleasant symptoms like anxiety (especially due to gluten and blood sugar issues), fatigue (all of the above, but poor digestion is especially a huge factor), breakouts (often related to dairy, nuts or eggs), as well as weight gain. Not many people are aware, but food sensitivities can cause gut inflammation, preventing us from properly absorbing nutrients from our food, and thus putting the body in a “conserve” and “hold onto resources” mode, leading to weight gain or weight loss resistance.  
Many people with Hashimoto’s are sensitive to gluten, dairy, soy and sometimes even eggs! This takes many popular breakfast options off the plate, and can make breakfast meals challenging.
Before I realized that dairy was causing me to have severe reflux, I had a smoothie every morning filled with “healthy” whey protein and Greek yogurt. Within three days of cutting out dairy and gluten, my acid reflux, bloating and irritable bowel syndrome vanished!
I didn’t really know what to eat for breakfast so I began to have rice cereal with rice milk every morning. Gluten free and dairy free, right? While the reflux was gone for good, I quickly found myself being “hangry” (hungry +angry), due to blood sugar swings, and found that my thyroid antibodies more than doubled- blood sugar swings can worsen the autoimmune attack on the thyroid gland!
It wasn’t until a few months later that I began to think back on the breakfast smoothie. I was taking a certification course for pharmacists in Advanced Diabetes Care, where I learned about the effects of proteins, fats and carbohydrates on blood sugar.
Fats slowly raise blood sugar and keep it stable for up to 4 hours, proteins cause it to rise a little faster, and keep blood sugar stable for 2-3 hours. Carbohydrates, on the other hand raise our blood sugar quickly, and one can see a decline in blood sugar in as little as 30-60 minutes (assuming the same amount of each eaten) after eating carbohydrates. 
I realized that while the dairy based smoothie was horrible for my reflux, it did a better job of stabilizing my blood sugar due to protein and fat content, while the carb-rich rice cereal and rice milk sent me on a blood sugar rollercoaster.
I set out to find a comparable protein that I could use with my smoothies, and came across egg white protein. I enjoyed the taste of the egg white protein, but it made me bloated. Testing showed that I became sensitive to eggs (a common reactive food in Hashimoto’s), so I had to continue to search for alternatives.
I then came across pea protein, which removes the carbohydrate component of the peas, leaving just the protein. 
The “Root Cause Green Smoothie”
This green smoothie is packed with nutrition for your thyroid, helps to reduce inflammation and can help with detoxification.
It combines a hypoallergenic protein source with fat (from coconut milk) and fiber from veggies.
As the smoothie is blended into tiny particles, it is much easier to digest compared to a regular breakfast for people who have digestive issues (always “chew” the smoothie anyway, to help activate your digestive process), making the nutrients more readily available and leaving them with more energy.
The base of coconut milk is a hypoallergenic source of fat, and can help reduce inflammation and stabilize blood sugar due to its (good) fat content. Adding an avocado increases the fat/blood sugar stabilizing content, and gives the smoothie a “pudding” like consistency.
Veggies add fiber and micronutrients which are more readily available due to using a blender to break the fiber and nutrients apart.
Sea salt (added to taste), can help with supporting the adrenals, which are often stressed in people with Hashimoto's. 
People who have tried the “Root Cause Green Smoothie” have said that it helps them feel less hungry, more relaxed and calm, and gives them plenty of energy.
If needed, you can even double the recipe to make enough for lunch!
Here’s the base recipe:
Ingredients
  • 1 cup mixed baby greens 
  • 2 large carrots
  • 1 ripe avocado
  • 1 stick of celery
  • 1 cucumber
  • 1 bunch of basil leaves (optional)
  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • 1 scoop Pea Protein (I use the NOW Foods brand or the PurePea from Designs for Health)
  •  Sea salt
Optional Boosts
Taste Hacks
While most people who have tried the green smoothie love it, there are some people (ahem, my husband Michael) who may not like the pudding-like texture/consistency and the warmth of the smoothie.
In his case, he prefers the smoothie to have a thinner, milk-like consistency, and he also prefers it to be "cold and tropical tasting" (his words :-)).
For Michael's green smoothie, I make the following taste/texture modifications...
  • Skip the avocado and add 1 tablespoon of chia seeds instead, chia seeds are a less creamy source of good fat
  • Add the juice of one lemon or lime (to a make it more tropical and support digestive juices), 
  • Blend the contents with 1 cup of ice cubes to make the smoothie cold and give it a more "milky" consistency
While the carrots and coconut are usually naturally sweet enough, if you are coming off the Standard American Diet, you may want to add a boost of fruit, like ¼ cup of berries or ½ green apple as your taste buds transition to appreciating the natural sweetness in coconuts and carrots.  
Directions
Blend together in Vitamix or other blender and enjoy as low glycemic breakfast, lunch or snack!
Try out the Root Cause Green Smoothie for a few days, and let me know how you like it and how it makes you feel. If you're looking for more healing recipes...
Last week I announced that I was giving away a free Thyroid Cookbook to my entire tribe! The cookbook has my Root Cause Green Smoothie recipe as well as a few of my other favorite healing foods including the Root Cause Green Juice, bone broth, as well as 80+ gluten, dairy and soy free recipes. 
When you download your free cookbook you’ll also have an option to get the Thyroid Bundle, which is a collection of resources specific to improving thyroid health, including my new eBook on Optimizing Thyroid Medications! 

Wishing you all the best on your thyroid journey! 

Study: Vitamin D May Repair MS Nerve Damage

December 21, 2015 | 16,445 views





By Dr. Mercola
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, neurodegenerative disease of the nerves in your brain and spinal column, caused by a demyelization process. In MS, your immune system mistakenly attacks the myelin, which is a protective coating around your nerve fibers.
This leads to disruptions in the messages sent around your brain and spinal cord, leading to symptoms such as trouble balancing, muscle weakness, tremors, pain, and fatigue.
Researchers have long been searching for a method to repair this damage to the myelin, and thereby slow, stop or even reverse the course of the disease.
While your body does have the ability to repair myelin naturally, this process tends to become less effective as you get older. Now, however, researchers have uncovered a natural option that might play a major role in boosting the repair of damaged myelin in people with MS: vitamin D.
Vitamin D Might Help Regenerate Damaged Myelin
The RXR gamma receptor protein is known to be involved in the repair of myelin. Researchers from the University of Cambridge revealed that the vitamin D receptor protein is also involved and pairs with RXR gamma during this process.1 According to the University of Cambridge:2
"By adding vitamin D to brain stem cells where the proteins were present, they found the production rate of oligodendrocytes (myelin making cells) increased by 80 percent.
When they blocked the vitamin D receptor to stop it from working, the RXR gamma protein alone was unable to stimulate the production of oligodendrocytes."
The researchers noted that the study "provides significant evidence that vitamin D is also involved in the regeneration of myelin" once MS has developed, and they hope to create a myelin repair drug that works by targeting the vitamin D receptor (currently, the typical prescription for MS focuses on highly toxic medications like prednisone and interferon).3
Susan Kohlhaas, head of biomedical research at the MS Society, stated, however, that she'd like to see more studies to reveal whether taking vitamin D supplements could be an effective treatment for MS.4
Vitamin D Deficiency Is Prevalent Among People with MS
There's no need to wait for further research to optimize your vitamin D levels, especially if you have a condition like MS.
Research presented at the 2014 annual meeting of the American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM) shows that vitamin D deficiency is surprisingly prevalent both among those diagnosed with MS and patients suffering other neuromuscular conditions.5
In this case, vitamin D deficiency was defined as a 25(OH)D3 level of 30 ng/ml or less. Of patients diagnosed with a neuromuscular condition, 48 percent were deficient in vitamin D.
Only 14 percent were above "normal," which here constituted a vitamin D level of 40 ng/ml (to maximally benefit from vitamin D, you likely need a level of 40 to 60 ng/ml). According to one of the authors:
"While the connection between vitamin D deficiency and neurologic disease is likely complex and not yet fully understood, this study may prompt physicians to consider checking vitamin D levels in their patients with neurologic conditions and supplementing when necessary."
Sensible Sun Exposure Associated with MS Risk
About a dozen studies have noted a strong link between MS and vitamin D deficiency, including lack of sun exposure. It is through sunlight exposure that your body is able to produce vitamin D.
For example, a number of studies have confirmed that your risk of MS increases the farther away you live from the equator, suggesting lack of sun exposure amplifies your risk.6
People born in April or May, just after the darker, colder winter months, have also been found to be significantly more likely to have MS than those born during October and November (after the sunny summer months). Researchers concluded:7
"Month of birth has a significant effect on subsequent MS risk. This is likely to be due to ultraviolet light exposure and maternal vitamin D levels, as demonstrated by the relationship between risk and latitude."
Evidence presented in the journal Dermato-Endocrinology even confirmed that exposure to the sun in appropriate and measured timeframes has a number of health benefits unrelated to vitamin D production, such as protecting against and suppressing symptoms of MS.8
Vitamin D Deficiency May Be Putting Your Health at Risk
It's incredibly easy to boost your vitamin D levels, so there's no reason to put your health at risk from low status … yet researchers such as Dr. Michael Holick estimate that 50 percent of the general population is at risk of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency.
If you're among them, your risk of not only multiple sclerosis, but also diabetes and other metabolic disorders may be significantly increased. In a study of more than 100 people, those with low vitamin D levels were more likely to have type 2 diabetes, pre-diabetes, or metabolic syndrome, regardless of their weight.9
Dementia is also directly linked to vitamin D. Seniors who have low vitamin D levels may double their risk of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease.10 As noted by the authors, "This adds to the ongoing debate about the role of vitamin D in nonskeletal conditions."
Incidence of several types of cancer could also be slashed in half if more people increased their vitamin D levels.
As mentioned by Dr. Holick, one of the Nurses' Health Studies showed that nurses who had the highest blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, averaging about 50 ng/ml, reduced their risk of developing breast cancer by as much as 50 percent.
Similarly, a Canadian study done by senior investigator of research Julia Knight, Ph.D., showed that women who reported having the most sun exposure as a teenager and young adult had almost a 70 percent reduced risk of developing breast cancer.
One of Dr. Holick's studies showed that healthy volunteers taking 2,000 IUs of vitamin D per day for a few months upregulated 291 different genes that control up to 80 different metabolic processes.
This included improving DNA repair to having effect on autoxidation (oxidation that occurs in the presence of oxygen and /or UV radiation, which has implications for aging and cancer, for example), boosting your immune system, and many other biological processes.
How to Optimize Your Vitamin D Levels
I believe sensible sun exposure is the ideal way to optimize your vitamin D levels. As a general rule, you'll want to expose large amounts of bare skin to the sun until it turns the lightest shade of pink, if you're light-skinned.
This typically occurs in about half the time it would normally take you to burn. So if you know you tend to get sunburned after 30 minutes, you'd want to stay in the sun for about 15 minutes. Those with darker skin may need to pay closer attention to notice when this slight reddening occurs.
It's nearly impossible to give any firm recommendations for how long you need to stay in the sun to optimize vitamin D production, as it varies greatly depending on a number of factors, such as:
Antioxidant levels and diet in general
Age
Skin color and/or current tan level
Use of sunscreen
Latitude and altitude (elevation)
Cloud cover and pollution
Ozone layer
Surface reflection
Season
Time of day
Weight

While sunlight is the ideal way to optimize your vitamin D, winter and working indoors prevent more than 90 percent of those reading this article from achieving ideal levels.
A high-quality tanning bed is your next best option, but if your circumstances don't allow you to access the sun or a high-quality tanning bed, then you really have only one option if you want to raise your vitamin D, and that is to take a vitamin D3 supplement.
As a general guideline, research by GrassrootsHealth suggests adults need about 8,000 IUs per day to achieve a serum level of 40 ng/ml.
However, to find out what dosage is best for you make sure to get tested, and take steps to optimize your levels accordingly. The vitamin D test you're looking for is called 25(OH)D or 25-hydroxyvitamin D. This is the officially recognized marker of overall D status and is most strongly associated with overall health. The other vitamin D test available, called 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D (1,25(OH)D), is not very useful for determining vitamin D sufficiency.
If you do opt for a vitamin D3 supplement, you also need to boost your intake of vitamin K2 through food and/or a supplement, as well as continue to get your levels tested to be sure you're safely within the therapeutic range.

Nutrition for Your Mitochondria May Benefit MS

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I believe optimizing your vitamin D level is of great importance if you have MS, but it's not the only factor. Dr. Terry Wahls, who reversed multiple sclerosis after seven years of deterioration simply by changing her diet, discovered that MS patients' brains tend to shrink.
This roused her curiosity and led her to research other diseases that have similar brain shrinkage, namely Huntington's, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's diseases. One common denominator is poorly functioning mitochondria. Mitochondria are like little "batteries" in your cells that manage the energy supply to the cell. Unless you consume the correct nutrients, eventual mitochondrial malfunction is the result.
She discovered three nutrients in particular that are essential for proper mitochondrial function:
  1. Animal-based omega-3 fat
  2. Creatine
  3. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), or better yet the reduced version known as ubiquinol
The breakfast I currently enjoy, which is based on coconut oil, is also designed to improve the health of your mitochondria. Your myelin also needs specific nutrients to function properly, such as:
  • Vitamin B1
  • Vitamin B9
  • Vitamin B12
  • Animal-based omega-3 fat
  • Iodine
The neurotransmitters in your brain also need specific nutrients, including sulfur and vitamin B6, for optimal functioning. Eventually, Dr. Wahls designed her own eating plan, based on the nutrients she knew she needed for optimal mitochondrial, myelin, and neurotransmitter function, because while your body can create some nutrients, others must be provided through your diet. Dr. Wahl eliminated processed foods, grains, and starches from her diet and began to eat the foods that follow.
3 cups daily (equal to one dinner plate, piled high) of green leaves, such as kale, which are high in vitamins B, A, C, K, and minerals
3 cups daily of sulfur-rich vegetables from the cabbage and onion families, mushrooms, and asparagus
3 cups daily of brightly colored vegetables, fruits, and/or berries, which are good sources of antioxidants
Wild-caught fish for animal-based omega-3s
Grass-fed meat
Organ meats for vitamins, minerals, and CoQ10
Seaweed for iodine and selenium


Dr. Wahl began to notice significant improvement in just three months, and at the nine-month mark of her new diet, she was able to go on an 18-mile bike ride. This is the power of nutrition!
More Natural Strategies for Multiple Sclerosis
MS can be a challenging disease to treat, which is why it's best to consult a natural health care provider who can help you attack it from multiple angles, including the dietary, environmental, and emotional elements. For instance, aspartame and mercury toxicity have been known to mimic diseases such as MS, so addressing this possibility, if it applies to you, should be at the top of your list — in addition to adjusting your diet, not in lieu of dietary changes.
Certain supplements may also be useful, such as low-dose Naltrexone (LDN), along with alpha-lipoic acid. Naltrexone (generic name) is a pharmacologically active opioid antagonist conventionally used to treat drug and alcohol addiction – normally at doses of 50 milligrams (mg) to 300 mg.
As such, it's been an FDA-approved drug for over two decades. However, researchers have found that at very low dosages (3 mg to 4.5 mg), Naltrexone has immune-modulating properties that may be able to successfully treat a wide range of autoimmune diseases including MS.
When you take LDN at bedtime, it blocks your opioid receptors for a few hours in the middle of the night, and is believed to up-regulate vital elements of your immune system by increasing your body's production of metenkephalin and endorphins (your natural opioids), hence improving immune function.
More often than not, some form of hidden emotional wound can also be found in patients suffering with autoimmune diseases like MS.

Strategies like meditation, prayer, and energy psychology techniques such as the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) are particularly effective and need to be part of your overall treatment strategy in order to truly address the root of your illness, as well as help you cope with symptoms. Again, working with a holistic health care provider can help you to determine the best overall strategy for you.

Are You Sabotaging Your Health and Longevity by Eating Too Much Protein?

December 21, 2015 | 111,362 views



By Dr. Mercola
Protein is essential for your health as it's a structural component of enzymes, cellular receptors, signaling molecules, and a main building block for your muscles and bones.
Proteins also perform transport carrier functions, and the amino acid components of proteins serve as precursors for hormones and vitamins. But, when it comes to how much you need on a daily basis, there is a wide variety of opinions.
With advancing age, getting adequate amounts of high-quality protein is especially important, as your ability to process protein declines with age, as does the level of age-related muscle loss (sarcopenia), thereby raising your protein requirements.
That said, you'd be wise to monitor your intake to make sure you're not overdoing it. Americans consume the most meat per capita in the world — more than 175 pounds of pork, poultry, and beef per year,1 and evidence suggests this is far too much for optimal health.
Making matters worse, the vast majority of this meat comes from animals raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), the quality of which is significantly inferior to organically raised, pastured, or grass-fed and grass-finished meats.
CAFO meats are also associated with an increased risk for antibiotic-resistant disease, and may be a source of prion-like proteins associated with mad cow disease and Alzheimer's.
Adverse Consequences of Excessive Protein Intake
It's important to realize that there is an upper limit to how much protein your body can actually use. And, on the average, Americans consume anywhere from three to five times more protein than they need, along with far too many carbohydrates and insufficient amounts of healthy fats.
To understand why eating too much protein is a bad idea, consider the following:
  • When you consume more protein than your body needs, your body must remove more nitrogen waste products from your blood, which stresses your kidneys.2 Chronic dehydration can result, as was found in a study involving endurance athletes.3
  • Excessive protein can have a stimulating effect on an important biochemical pathway called the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). This pathway has an important and significant role in many cancers. It's also a significant regulator of the aging process.
  • Excessive protein also adversely impacts the GCN2 pathway, which like mTOR is involved in the aging process. As noted by health and nutrition blogger Dan Pardi,8 limiting protein beneficially inhibits this pro-aging pathway:
General Protein Recommendations
The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) established by the Institute of Medicine (IOM),10 is 0.80 grams of high-quality protein per kilo (kg) of body weight (0.36 grams of protein per pound [lb] of body weight), or about 46 grams of protein per day on average for sedentary women, and 56 grams for sedentary men.
That RDA has a built-in "safety buffer," which means most of us actually need even less than that for optimal health. Yet Americans eat on average about 100 grams of protein per day11 — about double, or more, the RDA.
Considering the fact that the majority of Americans are overweight or obese, I prefer using a more precise formula, calculating your protein requirement based on lean bodyweight (i.e. muscle weight) only.
For optimal health, I believe most adults need about 1 gram of protein per kilogram of lean body mass (not total body weight), or 0.5 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass.
How to Calculate Your Protein Requirement More Precisely
In this formula, you must first determine your lean body mass. To do that, subtract your percent body fat from 100. For example, if you have 30 percent body fat, then you have 70 percent lean body mass.
Then multiply that percentage (in this case, 0.7) by your current weight to get your lean body mass in pounds or kilos.
As an example, if you weigh 170 pounds; 0.7 multiplied by 170 equals 119 pounds of lean body mass. Using the "0.5 gram of protein" rule, you would need 59.5 or just under 60 grams of protein per day.
100 – % of body fat = % of lean mass X actual weight X 0.5 gm protein = total grams of protein recommended

Example: A 170 lb individual with 30% fat mass

100% total weight – 30% fat mass = 70 % lean mass

0.70 X 170 = 119 X 0.5 = 60 grams of protein recommended
For comparison, following the current US dietary guideline, which is based on total body weight, a 170 pound individual (regardless of their fat to muscle ratio) would need about 61 grams of protein per day. At first glance, these recommendations appear to be close enough to dissuade arguing.
The primary difference is that US guidelines do not take fat mass into account, which can vary wildly from one person to the next, even if they weigh the same.
For example, if this theoretical 170-pound person has a fat mass of only 15 percent, his protein requirement would be just over 72 grams. To use myself as an example, I weigh 173 pounds and have 10 percent body fat, which means my lean body weight is just under 156 pounds.
Using the above formula, my protein requirement is about 77 grams a day, although I typically don't go over 75 grams per day. I use MyFitnessPal to enter everything I eat and carefully calculate my protein requirement to the gram. You do not want to guess here, as it's simply too important. This is really the only nutrient you need to keep hard track of. Just be sure to enter the correct foods and amounts into the program, as the results will be inaccurate if you don't enter the correct details.
Protein Requirements Are Higher for Seniors, Pregnant Women, and Athletes
Certain individuals and life circumstances do raise your protein requirements. This includes seniors, pregnant women, and those who are aggressively exercising (or competing). As a general rule, these individuals need about 25 percent more protein.
Personally, even though I walk about 9 miles a day and work out for an additional hour a day, I still limit my protein to 75 grams per day. Some researchers12,13,14 argue that those over 50 may need to double the RDA of protein to prevent sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss), but based on everything we've already discussed, I would caution against arbitrarily increasing your protein intake if you're elderly.
Consider it only if you're currently eating far below the RDA. Your best bet, I believe, is to use the formula detailed above, to calculate your protein requirement based on muscle weight (lean weight), and then add 25 percent to that figure.
It's important to realize that protein in and of itself is not a magic solution against sarcopenia. You need strength training to actually build muscle and strengthen your bones. (If you have cancer, you'll want to be particularly cautious about stimulating the mTOR pathway with excessive protein).
In addition to exercise, the elderly may also benefit from increased leucine intake. The amino acid leucine signals your muscle to increase protein synthesis. In fact, leucine has been shown to stimulate your muscle protein synthesis even during times of food restriction or after prolonged physical hardship.
The highest concentrations of leucine are found in dairy products: particularly high-quality cheese and whey protein. Based on nitrogen-balance measurements, the requirement for leucine to maintain body protein is 1 to 3 grams daily, but to truly optimize its anabolic pathway, you may need as much as 8 to 16 grams daily. For more information and dietary recommendations to boost your leucine intake, please see this previous article that discusses how to prevent age-related muscle loss.
Translating Ideal Protein Requirements Into Foods
Substantial amounts of protein can be found in meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, legumes, and nuts. To determine whether you're getting too much protein, simply calculate your lean body mass as described above, then write down everything you're eating for a few days, and calculate the amount of daily protein from all sources.
Again, you're aiming for one-half gram of protein per pound of lean body mass, which would place most people in the range of 40 to 70 grams of protein per day. If you're currently averaging a lot more than that, adjust downward accordingly. You could use the chart below, or simply Google the food you want to know and you will quickly find the grams of protein in the food.
MyFitnessPal also has a comprehensive database of foods, just be careful to enter the correct food and portion as similar foods may have widely varying nutrient levels.
Red meat, pork, and poultry average 6 to 9 grams of protein per ounce. An ideal amount for most people would be a 3-ounce serving of meat (not 9- or 12-ounce steaks!), which will provide about 18 to 27 grams of protein
Eggs contain about 6 to 8 grams of protein per egg. So, an omelet made from two eggs would give you about 12 to 16 grams of protein. If you add cheese, you need to calculate that protein in as well (check the label of your cheese)
Seeds and nuts contain on average 4 to 8 grams of protein per quarter cup
Cooked beans average about 7 to 8 grams per half cup
Cooked grains average 5 to 7 grams per cup
Most vegetables contain about 1 to 2 grams of protein per ounce
Interestingly, while fish is typically considered a good source of protein, most fish contain only HALF of the protein found in beef and chicken. According to Dr. Longo,15 the reduced protein content in fish may actually be one reason why the Mediterranean diet is linked to life extension and reduced risk for chronic disease. In essence, those who eat more fish than red meat are automatically getting far less protein.
High-Protein Plant Foods
You can also get plenty of protein from plants. In addition to the foods listed above, a few others deserve special mention for their exceptional protein value:
  • Hemp seeds (hemp hearts): About 33 percent protein, providing 11 grams per 3 tablespoons; also contain all 20 amino acids in an easily digestible form, and are loaded with omega-3 fats16
  • Chia seeds: About 14 percent protein, providing about 4 grams per 3 tablespoons;17 also high in omega-3 fats (but most are ALA)
  • Spirulina: 70 percent protein by weight; 6 grams of protein per 10 gram serving; contains 18 of the amino acids and all of the essentials, and is easily assimilated (avoid spirulina if allergic to iodine or seafood)
  • Sprouts: The quality of the protein and the fiber content of beans, nuts, seeds, and grains improves when sprouted; sunflower sprouts provide some of the highest quality protein you can eat, along with abundant iron and chlorophyll; kamut, hemp, quinoa, and bean sprouts are also good sources
  • Bee pollen: 40 percent protein and one of nature's most complete foods; you wouldn't eat a large amount of bee pollen at any one time, but it's an excellent addition for variety
Be Very Selective About Where Your Meat Comes From
The quality of the meat you eat is just as important as the quantity. As a general rule, the only meat I recommend eating is pastured, grass-fed, and grass-finished, ideally organically raised meats (and of course, the same goes for dairy and eggs.) Meat from pastured or grass-fed animals is FAR superior to factory farmed meats.
CAFO beef and poultry is likely to be contaminated with herbicides, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and other drugs, as well as GMOs from the genetically engineered grains these animals are typically fed. The routine practice of feeding herbivores meat and animal byproducts also increases the risk of CAFO meats to be contaminated with infectious proteins associated with Mad Cow and the human version of the disease, known as Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Research suggests this disease may actually be part of the Alzheimer's disease puzzle. The damage is identical to that seen in mad cow disease, except for the rate of speed with which the infection destroys your brain and causes death.
In 2009, a joint research project between the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Clemson University determined a total of 10 key areas where grass-fed is better for human health than grain-fed beef. In a side-by-side comparison, they determined that grass-fed beef was superior in the following ways:18
Higher in total omega-3s
A healthier ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids (1.65 vs. 4.84)
Higher in CLA (cis-9 trans-11), a potential cancer fighter
Higher in vaccenic acid (which can be transformed into CLA)
Higher in the B-vitamins thiamin and riboflavin
Higher in the minerals calcium, magnesium, and potassium
Higher in vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)
Higher in beta-carotene
Normalize Your Protein Intake to Optimize Your Health
Pinning down the ideal amount of protein can be tricky business, with plenty of variables adding to the confusion. However, a good starting point is to calculate your need based on your lean body weight. I believe it would be quite rare for someone to need more than 0.5 gram of protein per pound of lean body weight, taking into account the fact that pregnant women, athletes and seniors may need about 25 percent more on top of that.
I strongly encourage you to do a careful analysis of precisely how much protein you are eating every day. The results may surprise you, as I'm sure many are consuming more than 100 grams per day, and very few people would need that much.

You would have to be a 6-foot-4 inch, 225 pound athlete with 10 percent body fat to need that much. While higher protein may aid weight loss, the drawbacks are manifold, and can easily outweigh this benefit. Shifting over to higher quality protein sources is also important, as factory farmed animal foods come with drawbacks that go beyond the issue of protein.

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Five things to do if you are diagnosed with cancer according to what Mark Hyman MD would do

If This Doctor Was Diagnosed With Cancer, He Would IMMEDIATELY Do These 5 Things
Sunday, December 20, 2015 Cancer Research Permalink 3

T
oday’s house call focuses on a topic very personal to me.
“Mark, what would you do if you were diagnosed with cancer?” a friend recently asked. I’ve had a lot of time to think about this. I’ve sadly seen a lot of cancer in my life, both with my own family and with patients.
The problem is that conventional medicine protocols have a lot wrong when it comes to cancer. We are good at cutting it, burning it, and poisoning it with surgery, radiation, and drugs, but many doctors fail to treat the cause of the cancer.
You see, conventional medicine focuses on naming diseases based on geography, body location, and specialty, instead of by the cause, mechanism, or pathway involved.
Doctors say you have liver, kidney, brain, or heart disease, but this approach to naming disease tells you nothing about the cause.


Instead of asking what disease you have and what drug should be used to treat it, we must ask WHY the disease has occurred. What are the underlying causes that lead to illness?
Modern medicine approaches illness like a mechanic trying to diagnose what’s wrong with your car by listening to the noises it makes and never looking inside to see what’s going on. Functional Medicine allows us to look under the hood. It gives us a method for identifying the conditions in which disease thrives and shows us how to begin changing those conditions.
A Functional Medicine Approach to Cancer
Functional medicine empowers patients and practitioners to achieve the highest expression of health by working collaboratively to address the root causes of disease. It is an emerging, personalized model of diagnosis and treatment that better addresses the need to prevent and manage chronic disease. In a word, it is the medicine of WHY, not WHAT.
Functional Medicine doctors are like soil farmers. They create a healthy soil, so pests can’t come and weeds can’t flourish. A healthy soil means disease can’t take hold.
So with cancer, a Functional Medicine practitioner would say that yes, we still need radiation and other conventional approaches, but what else can we do? How can we properly cultivate a healthy soil?
Cancer results because of in an imbalance in the system. So many people are walking around with tumors and don’t know it. We can do something to prevent them from growing by maintaining a healthy soil.
Instead of dividing everything into diseases and labels, emerging science points to a different way of thinking about diseases. Rather than divide the body into organs, Functional Medicine approaches disease as a systemic problem, and we have to treat the system, not the symptom; the cause, not the disease. This completely redefines the whole notion of disease. The landscape of illness is changing.
How we label cancer is no longer synced up with what we know about the origins of cancer or the fact that two people who have cancer with the same name—like breast cancer—can have two completely different diseases which require different treatments. Just because you know the name of your disease doesn’t mean you know what’s wrong with you or what to do about it.
Classifying tumors by body site — lung, liver, brain, breast, colon, etc. — misses the underlying causes, mechanisms, and pathways involved in a particular cancer. What’s more, it gives us no information about how it manifested in a given patient. Two people with cancers in different parts of the body may have developed it for the same reasons.
Similarly, two people with cancers in the same part of the body may have developed it for different reasons. A patient with prostate cancer and one with colon cancer may have more in common with each other than two patients who have colon cancer.
We need to look under the hood and find out what caused the illness to begin with.
Cultivating a Healthy Soil
Numerous things can contribute to cancer. Studies show diet, exercise, thoughts, feelings, and environmental toxins all influence the initiation, growth, and progression of cancer.
If a nutrient-poor diet full of sugar, lack of exercise, chronic stress, persistent pollutants, and heavy metals can cause cancer, could it be that a nutrient-dense, plant-based diet, physical activity, changing thoughts and reactions to stress, and detoxification might treat the garden in which cancer grows?
In other words, treat the soil, not the plant. It is a foundational principle of sustainable agriculture, and of sustainable health.
We can enhance immune function and surveillance through dietary and lifestyle changes, as well as nutrient and phytonutrient therapies. We can facilitate our body’s own detoxification system to promote the elimination of carcinogenic compounds. We can improve hormone metabolism and reduce the carcinogenic effects of too much insulin (more on that in a minute) from our high sugar and refined carbohydrate diet.
We can also alter how our genes are expressed by changing the inputs that control that expression: Diet, nutrients, phytonutrients, toxins, stress, and other sources of inflammation. And we can focus on less divisive and more generative thoughts that, in turn, create more uplifting emotions — all good fertilizer for the soil in the garden of our body.
5 Strategies to Reduce Cancer Formation and Growth
Cancer results from an imbalance in our system where the immune system can’t fight off tumors. We can do many things to prevent that cancer from getting to its full stage, and if you have cancer, you can make your body inhospitable to that cancer.
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  1. Ditch sugar. Sugar feeds cancer and creates diabesity. The average American consumes about 152 pounds of sugar a year and about 146 pounds of flour a year. Diabesity affects over 1.7 billion people worldwide. Scientists conservatively estimate it will affect one in two Americans by 2020; 90 percent of whom will not be diagnosed. The number one thing you can do to prevent or control cancer is to control insulin levels with a high-fiber diet rich in real, fresh, whole foods and minimize or eliminate sugary, processed, insulin-raising foods.
  2. Dr. Dean Ornish showed that after just three months on an intensive lifestyle program including a whole-foods, plant-based diet, over 500 genes that regulate cancer were beneficially affected, either turning off the cancer-causing genes or turning on the cancer-protective genes. No medication can do that.
  3. Eliminate food sensitivities. In a major study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, hidden gluten sensitivity was shown to increase risk of death by 35 to 75 percent, mostly by causing heart disease and cancer. By just this mechanism alone, more than 20 million Americans are at risk for heart attack, obesity, cancer, and death.Dairy and gluten are the most common triggers of food allergies that are linked to insulin resistance. Cutting them out of the diet allows the inflamed gut and an inflamed body to heal.
  4. Reduce inflammation. Inflammation is the common thread connecting most chronic disease including cancer. In fact, out-of-control inflammation causes insulin resistance, which, as we now know, is the main factor in all these diseases apart from autoimmunity and allergy. The insulin resistance then creates even more inflammation, and the whole biological house burns down. Besides removing sugar and food sensitivities like gluten and dairy, we want to eat plenty of anti-inflammatory foods, including omega-3 rich foods like wild fish and flaxseeds.
  5. Improve gut health. Cancer often originates in your gut. Not just colon cancer, but with many cancers. We are currently studying about the gut microbiome and breast and prostate cancers. Beyond avoiding inflammatory foods, adding in probiotics, prebiotics, and lots of phytonutrients, like curcumin (found in turmeric) and resveratrol (found in grapes), can reduce gut-based inflammation.
  6. Reduce toxic exposure. The average newborn has 287 chemicals in her umbilical cord blood, 217 of which are neurotoxic (poisonous to nerves or nerve cells). The chemicals these infants are exposed to include pesticides, phthalates, bisphenol A, flame retardants, and heavy metals such as mercury, lead, and arsenic. These chemicals have a broad range of negative effects on human biology; they damage the nervous system and increase the risk of cancer, and now they have been shown to contribute to obesity. Going clean and green means becoming more aware about how environmental toxins affect your health. I encourage you to visit the Environmental Working Group (EWG) to learn more.
Change your thoughts to change your immune system. This bonus strategy is often overlooked, but it’s just as important as the other strategies above. Science is now proving what we all knew intuitively — that how we live, the quality of our relationships, the food we eat, and how we use our bodies determines much more than our genes ever will. There are numerous strategies to combat or prevent cancer, including getting sufficient sleep, controlling stress levels, and exercising regularly.
The important thing is to figure out what works for you and develop a plan to stick with it. That might involve working with a Functional Medicine doctor or a chronic disease specialist.
Conclusion
Whether you have been diagnosed with cancer or have become concerned about family and friends being diagnosed, the most important thing is mindset and not playing into fear.
While we all hope there will one day be a miracle cure for cancer, there are things that we know now will combat cancer or keep our quality of life high while our body is fighting the cancer.
The science of cancer genetics is changing. Two people who have the same cancer could be completely different in terms of how the cancer performs. That’s why I’m very excited about the work that Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong is doing in California on the cancer genome and creating targeted therapies to treat the cancer in every patient individually. This and other emerging technologies, combined with the Functional Medicine approach to cancer, give me great hope about our ability to further prevent and treat this disease in the future.
Cancer is scary, but there is almost always something you can do to improve your condition. I encourage you to think about cancer differently and more importantly, not lose hope.
Most people reading this will have experienced cancer, either personally or with family and friends. Did you find a particular mindset helped you cope with the news? Did a particular dietary or lifestyle strategy help you in this situation? Share your story below or on my Facebook page.
Wishing you health and happiness,
Mark Hyman, MD.


About Mark Hyman, MD
  • Find Info About a Treatment Option for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.









  • Mark Hyman, MD, believes that we all deserve a life of vitality—and that we have the potential to create it for ourselves. That’s why he is dedicated to tackling the root causes of chronic disease by harnessing the power of Functional Medicine to transform healthcare. He is a practicing family physician, an nine-time #1 New York Times bestselling author, and an internationally recognized leader, speaker, educator, and advocate in his field. He is the Director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine. He is also the founder and medical director of The UltraWellness Center, chairman of the board of the Institute for Functional Medicine, a medical editor of The Huffington Post, and has been a regular medical contributor on many television shows including CBS This Morning, the Today Show, CNN, The View, the Katie Couric show and The Dr. Oz Show.

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    Biologist Explains How Marijuana Causes Tumor Cells to Commit Suicide

    December 20, 2015   Cancer   No comments




    The therapeutic potential of cannabis appears limitless, extending far beyond just relieving nausea or pain in the terminally ill. Christina Sanchez, a molecular biologist from Compultense University in Madrid, Spain, has been studying the molecular activity of cannabinoids for more than 10 years, and during this time she and her colleagues have learned that tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the primary psychoactive component of cannabis, induces tumor cell “suicide” while leaving healthy cells alone.
    This amazing discovery was somewhat unexpected, as Sanchez and her team had initially been studying brain cancer cells for the purpose of better understanding how they function. But in the process, they observed that, when exposed to THC, tumoral cells not only ceased to multiply and proliferate but also destroyed themselves, both in lab tests and animal trials. Sanchez first reported on this back in 1998, publishing a paper on the anti-cancer effects of THC in the European biochemistry journal FEBS Letters.
    “In the early 1960s, Raphael Mechoulam from the Hebrew University in Israel categorized the main compound in marijuana producing the psychoactive effects that we all know,” explained Sanchez during an interview with Cannabis Planet. “After the discovery of this compound that is called THC, it was pretty obvious that this compound had to be acting on the cells, on our organism, through a molecular mechanism.”
    Sanchez expounds upon this and much more in a five-minute video segment available here:



    Human body designed to utilize cannabis compounds, research finds
    Later research in the 1980s revealed that the human body contains two specific targets for THC: an endogenous framework that processes THC and other cannabinoids, known as the endocannabinoid system, and various cannabinoid receptors throughout the body that utilize them. Together, these two natural systems allow the body to benefit from the cannabinoids found in cannabis, some of which aren’t found anywhere else in nature.
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    “The endocannabinoids, together with the receptors and the enzymes that synthesize, that produce, the endocannabinoids and that degrade the endocannabinoids, are what we call the endocannabinoid system,” added Sanchez. “And we now know that the endocannabinoid system regulates a lot of biological functions: appetite, food intake, motor behavior, reproduction, and many, many other functions. And that’s why the plant has such a wide therapeutic potential.”
    “Phoenix Tears” cannabis oil is already curing people of cancer
    When inhaled or consumed, cannabis cannabinoids are incorporated into the body’s natural endocannabinoid system, binding to cannabinoid receptors in the same way as endogenous cannabinoids. The effects of this in terms of cancer, as demonstrated in animal models of both breast and brain cancers, is that tumor cells are thrust into a state of apoptosis, meaning they self-destruct.
    “Cells can die in different ways, and after cannabinoid treatment, they were dying in the clean way — they were committing suicide,” revealed Sanchez. One of the advantages of cannabinoids… is that they target, specifically, the tumor cells. They don’t have any toxic effect on normal, non-tumoral cells. And this is an advantage with respect to standard chemotherapy, which targets basically everything.”
    What Sanchez is describing here sounds a lot like what Canadian researcher and innovator Rick Simpson has been doing with his “Phoenix Tears” cannabis oil, which has reportedly cured many people of cancer over the years without harming them like chemotherapy and radiation do.