HealthCare

Steve Jobs of Apple is dead. Steve jobs pancreatic cancer
Is it possible that one of the greatest geniuses, inventors and innovators the world has seen - Steve Jobs could have been alive today if only he had been bit more smart when it came to his health? There are currently talks that Steve Jobs relied more on natural and herbal medicines to treat his cancer rather than surgery. Question arises whether it is really true.

Firstly we have to understand the type of cancer Steve Jobs was suffering from. He was suffering from a rare form of pancreatic cancer known as islet-cell neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer does not show any visible symptoms for as much as 12 years in most cases. By the time it is diagnosed the malignancy would have already grown and spread beyond manageable levels. This is the reason why it has such a high mortality rates. The first year survival rate - the year after which it is diagnosed is 24 percent. The 5 year survival rate is as low as 3%. That means that of 100 persons diagnosed of pancreatic cancer as many as 75 will die at the end of first year and as many as 97 out of 100 persons will die by the fifth year. Pancreatic cancer is the fourth most leading cause of cancer deaths in America. It has highest mortality rates of all the cancers. To aggravate this mortality rate further Steve jobs was suffering from a rare form of pancreatic cancer which has even higher mortality rates.

Steve Jobs' pancreatic cancer was diagnosed in 2003 and he died in 2011. . There only a 3% chance for him to survive beyond 2008. Going by the statistics he definitely lived much longer and gave the world few more great products. Steve Jobs took a number of herbal medicines along with conventional treatment. The news that Steve Jobs relied upon herbal medicines and hence he did not take conventional medical treatment or undergo surgery is totally wrong. No one least of all Steve Jobs would have ever done such a thing. Surgery for cancer is something that is truly daunting and outright scary.

Being such a busy man with the entire world looking towards him in 2003 it was quite possible that he in consultation with his doctors opted for Chemotherapy or radiation and delayed surgery. It is also very common for doctors to administer radiotherapy and chemotherapy on pancreatic cancer patients for a couple of months before doing surgery. This is considered a more effective practice as the chances of relapses are reduced.

Herbal extracts, diet etcetra do have proven anti cancer properties. In fact they are known to be very effective in reducing the risks of cancer. Just as tobacco increases risk of cancer certain herbal extracts can reduce the risk of various types of cancer. But it has to be born in mind that only a doctor and modern medical science can treat cancer effectively. No herb or supplement can treat or cure cancer.

The body maintains a variety of antioxidants as a multilevel
defense against free radical damage. These include
the enzymes superoxide dismutase, catalase, and
glutathione peroxidase; antioxidants synthesized in the
body, such as glutathione, proteins, and uric acid; and
antioxidants obtained from the diet, such as flavonoids,
vitamins C and E, and beta-carotene. Nevertheless, antioxidant
defenses are not perfect, and DNA is damaged
regularly.

There may be as many as 10,000 oxidative
hits to DNA per cell per day in humans.  The vast majority
of these lesions are repaired by cellular enzymes.
Those that are not repaired may progress toward neoplasia
(the formation of cancer cells). Because of the continual
bombardment of DNA and other tissues by free
radicals, the body must obtain ample antioxidant supplies
through the diet. Epidemiological studies support
a protective role for dietary antioxidants by consistently reporting that populations who consume inadequate
amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables are at a higher
risk for cancer, heart disease, and other degenerative
diseases.

Mutations—inheritable changes in the DNA—are central to the transformation of a normal cell into a cancer cell, to the development of malignant properties of cancer cells, and to cancer cells adaptation to their environment. The rate of genetic change is especially great when a cancer cell is faced with obstacles to its survival. Since mutations, along with proliferation, are so important to thesurvival of a cancer.

Cancer cells are easy to kill using drug therapy; however,
they are hard to kill without damaging normal
cells. This is because cancer cells rely on processes that
are fundamentally similar to the processes used by normal
cells. Their differences are in activity, not function.

Any treatment that harms the structure of cancer cells   would harm normal cells too. the best way to inhibit a cancer cell (and to spare normal cells) is not to destroy its structural properties but to normalize the signals
that drive it. These signals derive from its genetic instability, abnormal expression of genes, abnormal signal transduction, and abnormal communication with healthy cells—the first four clusters of procancer events.

Preventing Cancer
Study after study after study proves that Vitamin C can help protect you against cancer. People with high levels of Vitamin C and other antioxidants are markedly less likely to get cancer of the lung, cervix, colon, pancreas, esophagus, mouth, and stomach. Why? We're still not sure, but it's very
likely that the antioxidants gobble up free radicals and damaging toxins before they can damage your cells and trigger cancer.

In the case of stomach cancer, Vitamin C blocks the formation of
cancer-causing nitrosamines from the nitrates and nitrites found in bacon, hot dogs, and other cured meats.
A study by Dr. Linus Pauling in 1976 showed that some terminally ill cancer patients lived as much as a year longer if they took megadoses (over 10,000 mg) of Vitamin C. A later study backed this up. In both studies, though, all the patients eventually died—none was cured. No study since then
has ever shown that megadoses of Vitamin C (or any other vitamin, for that matter) cure cancer.

If you're being treated for cancer, there's no question that Vitamin C can really help you get through this difficult time. As mentioned previously, Vitamin C could help you bounce back from surgery more quickly. Many people getting radiation treatment or chemotherapy have low Vitamin C levels. Part of the reason is that the treatment can make you tired and nauseous, as well as giving you diarrhea.

The other part is that the treatment is making you produce huge amounts of free radicals, so any Vitamin C you get from your food is going to mop them up. Unless you take supplements, you won't have any left over for other things, like keeping your immune system active. Cancer
treatment lowers your immunity, making you more likely to get sick or pick up an infection.
Discuss nutrition and supplements, especially Vitamin C, with your doctor before you start your cancer treatment. They could make a big difference in how well you do.

India has one of the lowest incidence of cancer (particularly of breast cancer). This is despite high rates of tobacco and arecanut consumption in India. Moreover Alzheimer's disease is considered very rare in India. This is called as the Indian Paradox similar to the popular term French Paradox. French have very low incidence of coronary heart disease despite consuming a diet very rich in saturated fats. This is mainly due to the high consumption of red wine by the french. A constituent of red wine, a poly phenol known as resveratrol is believed to cause such beneficial effect. Similarly turmeric is a part of cuisine in India almost on daily basis. A constituent circumin in the turmeric is believed to have this beneficial anti cancer property.

Turmeric is the major ingredient in the Indian curry type food. Indians consume curry almost on daily basis right from the age of 4 years. Circumin if one of the component of turmeric. Circumin content is around 3.4% by weight in best quality turmerics.

Researchers at the Cork Cancer Research Center in Ireland have successfully treated esophageal cancer cells with curcumin -- the molecule found in turmeric. The scientists have found that circumin started to kill cancer cells within 24 hours. They have found that the cancer cells on being treated with curcumin began to digest themselves. Turmeric can suppress tumors and those who eat lot of curry type food are less prone to tumors.

There are hundreds of studies and researches by various universities and laboratories that do seem to confirm the anti cancer properties of turmeric. So next time you come across an Indian restaurant be sure to book your table.

Turmeric&Cancer More Information

# According to 'How Stuff Works "one of turmeric's most exciting benefits is its potential ability to prevent cancer and even slow down the spread of cancer that has already developed. People who regularly include the spice in their diet have much lower occurrences of cancer" http://health.howstuffworks.com
# As per About.com "Researchers continue to examine the effects how curcumin can regulate the activation of immune system to help fight against cancer. In fact, over the last several years, several research papers have been published on its medicinal properties, many of which have focused on cancer care. An in-vitro cancer research study reported at the 2007 meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research concluded that curcumin-based therapies may be attractive in patients with ovarian carcinoma. An in-vitro study is one in which test tubes are used to conduct studies. Specific cells are targeted, like cancer cells, and studied to see how a drug or nutrient affects the cells. Two additional in-vitro studies suggest drug resistance in ovarian cancer cells was reduced when chemo and curcumin were given together". http://ovariancancer.about.com

http://turmeric-cancer.com/

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