Is Cancer Not A Disease?
Abnormal cell growth is an issue as it steals glucose from normal cells & grows at their expense.
Hosh examines suggested natural cures
Previous Story: Neither Friend Nor Foe
Hosh looked up from his work, when the WhatsApp family chat group beeped on his smartphone.
A provocative health tips video titled ‘Cancer Is Not A Disease’ had been shared (see video below).
“Thanks for sharing this, Buaji.” He typed in response. “But this stuff is controversial. Please look at all the evidence and make informed decisions for your health. Here are my thoughts on this:”
“Laetrile or amygdalin, which they refer to as vitamin B17, is not a true vitamin. Also, it is falsely promoted as a safe anti-cancer treatment. At best, I would think it would work like a chemotherapy drug - its active ingredient is cyanide. Used at wrong or unmonitored concentrations, cyanide is poisonous.”
“A Cochrane review in 2015 summarized the evidence on laetrile by saying that claims that laetrile or amygdalin have beneficial effects for cancer patients were not currently supported by sound clinical data."
“Also, just because scurvy was caused by vitamin c deficiency, did not necessarily mean cancer could be cured by a single vitamin.”
“Eating a balanced diet rich in fresh fruits, beans, grains etc. will no doubt be beneficial to health, but I doubt eating concentrated amounts of apricot pips or capsules with this laetrile will be good for you.”
“Well argued,” Rosh wrote back. “Cancer is a malignancy with abnormal cell growth, where cells divide uncontrollably and destroy body tissue. There are over a 100 type of cancers. So, it seems logical to conclude that such a multitude of abnormal cell growths may be incurable by a single vitamin.”
“Everyone has cells in their body that could become cancerous. Yet, one may never get diagnosed with cancer, while another may! But are all rogue cells cancer? No, some need no treatment. Many aren’t even ever diagnosed.”
“Cancer becomes an issue because cancer cells consume 15 times more glucose than a normal cell. Since they steal glucose meant for the non-cancerous cells, the normal cells get much less glucose and become very sick. This causes many problems. Hence the stigma and fear the term ‘cancer’ generates.”
“I think Cancer will reveal to us one day, how some of our earliest ancestors lived for hundreds of years. It carries in its bosom the secret of immortality, if someone cares to find it.”
“How?” asked Josh.
“Well,” wrote Rosh. “The human body is made up of trillions of cells, and Cancer can start almost anywhere in it. Normally, human cells grow and divide to form new cells as and when the body needs them. When cells age or get damaged, they die, and new cells take their place.”
“When cancer develops, this orderly process breaks down. As cells become more and more abnormal, old or damaged cells survive when they should be dying, and new cells form, even though they are not needed. These extra cells can divide without stopping, and may form growths called tumors.”
“So, cancer cells are able to ignore signals that normally tell cells to stop dividing, or that begin a process known as programmed cell death, or apoptosis, which the body uses to get rid of unneeded cells. Find out how the cancer cells do this, and you will have the elixir of longevity. Make Hydra your Guru!”
“But let's focus on cancer treatment for the moment. The shared video presented its case weakly, but it does offer the idea of natural cure – using vitamin B17 in this case - as a viable alternative to orthodox medicine.”
“While Hosh rightly cautions against laymen experimenting with dangerous ingredients (cyanide), poisons have been used as treatments for centuries. Western medicine itself uses Warfarin, which is rat poison, to thin blood in certain cases, and it helps people.”
“Chemotherapy, which is a common Western medicine treatment for cancer, is itself toxic to all human cells. It does not differentiate between good and bad cells."
"It kills all cells, but the treatment is still given in the hope that it will kill 