Cancer Is An Inflammation

In Latin, “inflammation” means “ignite, set alight,” and like gasoline, that is what inflammation does for cancer. A microenvironment of chronic inflammation sets the stage for cancer. Inflammation increases chemotherapy resistance and turns on oncogenes, genes that can turn cells into tumors. Inflammation promotes the spreading and mutating of cancer cells while continuing to push the mutations within the cancer cells’ development.

Inflammation also enhances tumors’ ability to recruit blood supply (angiogenesis). Changes catalyzed by pathogenic inflammation can transform cells into cancerous tumors. Because we can define cancer as inflammation, we can employ an army of anti-inflammatory therapies to win our battle against cancer, starting with magnesium and bicarbonates, which are the safest, most effective anti-inflammatories in the world of medicine.

Dr. Vijay Nair’s book Prevent Cancer, Strokes, Heart Attacks and Other Deadly Killers says, “Colon cancer, stomach cancer, esophageal cancer, lung cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, and pancreatic cancer have all been linked to inflammation. This is great news because it means that cancer does not just strike out of nowhere. It’s preventable!”

Dr. Nair says, “All types of inflammation can cause cancer. Lung cancer can be caused by chronic smoke-induced inflammation. Esophageal cancer can be caused by acid reflux-induced inflammation. Stomach cancer can be caused by H. pylori (the bacterium that causes ulcers)-induced inflammation. Bladder cancer can be caused by urinary tract infection-induced inflammation. Liver cancer can be caused by hepatitis B or C-induced inflammation. Lymphoma can be caused by Epstein Barr (the virus that causes mononucleosis) -induced inflammation. Cervical cancer can be caused by Human papillomavirus (the virus that causes genital warts)-induced inflammation. Kidney cancer can be caused by kidney stone-induced inflammation. And colon cancer can be caused by irritable bowel syndrome-induced inflammation. Whether the inflammation is caused by an infection (such as hepatitis), a mechanical irritant (such as kidney stones), or a chemical irritant (such as stomach acid), the result is the same. Chronic, low-grade inflammation greatly increases your risk of developing cancer.”

Dr. Johannes Fibiger was a Danish scientist, physician, and professor of pathological anatomy who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1926 for achieving the first controlled cancer induction in laboratory animals. In 1907, while dissecting rats infected with tuberculosis, he found tumors in the stomachs of three animals. After intensive research, he concluded that the tumors, apparently malignant, followed an inflammation of stomach tissue.

There is a strong association between chronic, ongoing inflammation in the body and the occurrence of cancer. Biologists have followed the inflammation link down to the level of individual signaling molecules, providing strong evidence for a connection to carcinogenesis.

The association between chronic inflammation and tumor development has been known from the early work of German pathologist Rudolph Virchow. Harvard University pathologist Dr. Harold Dvorak later compared tumors with “wounds that never heal,” noting the similarities between normal inflammation processes that characterize wound healing and tumorigenesis or tumor formation.

“Many different processes cause cancer, and inflammation is one of them, and if you could inhibit that process, it would be tremendously helpful,” says Dr. Young S. Kim, program director of the Nutritional Science Research Group at the National Cancer Institute.

Inflammatory chemicals release free radicals that damage cells and may initiate damage to the genetic material in our cells and our DNA, thus leading to cellular mutations, loss of normal cell functions, and cancer. Inflammatory chemicals also stimulate the production of new capillaries, tiny blood vessels that feed cancerous growths.

The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine published, “Tumor promotion and progression are dependent on ancillary processes provided by cells of the tumor environment but that are not necessarily cancerous themselves. Inflammation has long been associated with the development of cancer.

Scientific American presents a view of cancer that implies that “Rooting out every last cancer cell in the body might not be necessary. Anti-inflammatory cancer therapy instead would prevent premalignant cells from turning fully cancerous or would impede an existing tumor from spreading to distant sites in the body.

“Inflammatory responses play decisive roles at different stages of tumor development, including initiation, promotion, malignant conversion, invasion, and metastasis. Inflammation also affects immune surveillance and responses to therapy. Immune cells that infiltrate tumors engage in an extensive and dynamic crosstalk with cancer cells,” say researchers from the Departments of Pharmacology and Pathology, School of Medicine, University of California in San Diego. “People have suspected for some time that inflammation plays an important role in cancer, and our study presents a molecular mechanism that explains how it happens.”

Conclusion

Drug companies are scrambling to create new pharmaceuticals to reduce inflammation, but they will never compete in terms of safety and effectiveness with nature’s natural solutions. Magnesium is probably the ultimate anti-inflammatory, but doctors do not acknowledge it. Less known is the importance of bicarbonate.

Research published recently in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology found that having balanced bicarbonate levels in your body reduces the chances of early death. The study examined data compiled in the Health, Aging, and Body Composition Study for 2,287 participants.

Study author Dr. Kalani Raphael, associate professor and nephrology and hypertension specialist at the University of Utah, and colleagues investigated pH, carbon dioxide, and bicarbonate in association with long-term survival. According to the University of Utah, “Critically ill patients with severe acid-base abnormalities have a very low likelihood of surviving their illness.”

Dr. Raphael found that low levels of bicarbonate are linked to an increased risk of premature death by 24 percent. “What we found was that generally healthy older people with low levels of bicarbonate had a higher risk of death,” Raphael said. The study’s findings assist clinicians in better-assessing patient’s risk of premature death by analyzing their blood bicarbonate concentrations more closely, something doctors never do. He is saying that the secret to health lies with sufficient bicarbonate levels. Older adults with low levels of bicarbonate in their blood are putting themselves at risk of premature death. Bicarbonate deficiencies increase as we age. Addressing those deficiencies with the three types of bicarbonates ensures we live a healthier and longer life.

Bottom line. Bicarbonates are miracle medicines, and just because baking soda is dirt cheap, do not overlook this in your anti-aging, anti-inflammatory protocol. The practice of pH Medicine, which gives us a handle on CO2 levels in the blood and, thus, oxygen levels, is handled best using bicarbonates.

REFERENCES

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