Obesity-Cancer-Toxicity

The Link Between Obesity, Cancer, and Toxicity

Monday, March 10, 2008 by: Luke J. Terry
http://www.naturalnews.com/022804.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/022799.html


Many conventional media sources, known collectively as "Mainstream Media," or MSM, repeat the conventional wisdom of obesity's causes: sedentary lifestyle and poor nutrition. These factors are irrefutable contributors to the worldwide, growing obesity epidemic. Yet lifestyle and nutrition factors do not tell the whole story. There are much more nuanced and insidiously dangerous implications in the massive increase in obesity: connections to rising cancer rates, and correlations to stored body toxicity. This article illustrates the growing evidence linking this "unholy triad" of obesity, cancer, and toxicity.

The rise in worldwide obesity rates parallel the increase in environmental toxicity. Meanwhile, cancer rates continue to rise; the WHO believes that cancer rates may increase by more than 50% by 2020. Meanwhile, more studies show that cancerous tumors are storehouses of high concentrations of toxic man-made chemicals.

There are many theories and studies that establish the connections in the unholy triad, and research studies are piling up with results demonstrating just these links: Toxins can make you fat, and that fatness by itself is a risk factor for cancer. Together, toxins and obesity provide a one-two punch that is devastating the American people through the intrinsic damage of both toxins and obesity.
The numbers are staggering: 68% of Americans, and growing, are overweight. More than 34% are obese. These numbers are expected to continue rising, with 3 of 4 Americans overweight, and nearly half the population is projected to be obese by 2015, according to a Johns-Hopkins study.

These increases mirror the increases in cancer rates having risen enough to overtake heart disease as the number-one killer of Americans younger than 85. In fact, cancer has overtaken accidents to become the number one killer of children age 1 to 14.

So what is at work here? How is there a connection between cancer, obesity, and toxicity? The World Cancer Research Fund found a link to obesity in six types of cancers. The implications are that many more types of cancers may be linked as well.

The entire process may be an adaptation to conditions of modern life. The body's innate wisdom is using two simultaneously occurring metabolic trends to protect our physiological processes. We know that toxicity can severely damage and alter physiology. For example, many industrial chemicals mimic the effects of estrogen in the body. We call these compounds xenoestrogens, and they are all around us, in the form of flame retardants, pesticides, plastics, and many thousands of other chemicals.

For example, plastic bottles and containers exude dozens of chemicals. Many of these chemicals, for example bisphenol A and phthalates, are xenoestrogens. Bisphenol A, or BPA, causes cellular changes in the male prostate gland cells that lead to prostate cancer. This carcinogen is found in polycarbonate plastics such as Lexan™ and Nalgene™ products. Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in men, and the number one killer of men over 75. To complete the link described in this article, obesity more than doubles the chances of men getting prostate cancer. Compared to thin men, obese men tend to get much more aggressive forms of prostate cancer, as well as increases in the chances of both recurrence and metastasis.

Other compounds found in cosmetics and personal care products are also xenoestrogens, as are several pesticides and herbicides, including DDT, which, although banned in the US, is still produced in the US and used worldwide to combat malaria. More than 10,000 chemicals found in cosmetics and personal care products, and over 70,000 chemicals are in use in America today. The chemical and cosmetic industries are virtually unregulated, and there are many toxic and carcinogenic chemicals found in mainstream cosmetic and beauty products. Many people are exposed daily to all of the top seven carcinogenic substances in cosmetic products: hydroquinone, ethylene dioxide, 1,4-dioxane, formaldehyde, nitrosamines, PAHs, and acrylamide.

Studies of cancerous breast tumors have shown elevated concentrations of these toxic man-made chemicals, including parabens found in deodorants and antiperspirants.

Other studies of large groups of people have attempted to find lifestyle and demographic factors connecting obesity and toxicity. These studies are called 'epidemiological' studies because they look for trends in disease among members of a large population. A major study showed that living near a hazardous waste site increases the risk of being hospitalized for diabetes. The most influential risk factor for diabetes is obesity. As one would expect, diabetics are at increased risk to be obese, especially as teens.

To complete this unholy triad scientifically, several studies have shown that obese people have high levels of toxins stored in their fatty tissue. The theory resulting from this academic work is that the body is using fatty tissue, which has a relatively low level of metabolic activity, as a place to store the toxins away from the body tissues that have high levels of metabolic activity, such as blood, organs, and muscle. In effect, body fat becomes a storehouse of toxins in an attempt to "firewall" the body from toxicity.

Excess adiposity, or fatness, is the source of many other metabolic problems. Obesity is a major cause of liver problems such as non-alcoholic fatty liver. The liver is responsible for over 500 different metabolic functions, so having a liver that is clogged and congested with fat can have health effects that reverberate through the entire body, causing chaos and disorder at every level. For example, the liver is responsible for removing the reproductive hormones from the bloodstream after ovulation. During days 14-28, the uterus, breasts, and other reproductive tissues prepare for the next menstruation. At this time they require an environment that is very low in estrogens and progesterone. When the liver is congested due to toxins and excess fat, it fails to perform its duties, and the blood remains rich with estrogens and progesterone. The female hormones are actually toxic to the other tissues during the final days of the menstrual cycle. That toxicity is experienced as breast tenderness, pain, cramping, emotional lability, and other symptoms that we would identify as PMS.

Most people think that "estrogen" refers to a specific compound. In reality, there is no single chemical compound called "estrogen," rather the word estrogen refers to a class of related compounds. There are two stable forms of estrogen that are relevant to this discussion and any discussion of feminine disease profiles.

One form of estrogen commonly known as estradiol has protective effects on women's bodies. Women with greater levels of estradiol compared to other estrogen compounds show decreased risk of reproductive tissue cancers. Another form of estrogen known as estrone is associated with increased risk for reproductive tissue cancers including breast cancer and others. Obese women produce more estrone, and are also at greater risk for PMS. The evidence of the links of the unholy triad continues to mount.

The same trend linking toxicity, obesity and cancer holds true even for young girls. There is a worldwide trend of girls experiencing puberty earlier than ever, a trend that is especially strong in America. Epidemiology shows us that childhood obesity is a probable cause of early-onset or "precocious" puberty, defined as prior to age 11. Research has shown a link to diet because unhealthy eating patterns cause elevated insulin levels, in itself a risk factors for cancer.
There are many suspected links between xenoestrogens and precocious puberty. Children today are fatter today than in years past, just as their parents and other adults are. Likewise, the bodies of young girls contain more xenoestrogens from plastics, pesticides and other industrial sources. One theory states that these xenoestrogenic compounds act as signals to the developing endocrine system, helping to trigger an early puberty.

Other researchers have demonstrated a link between childhood obesity and early puberty. Some researchers hold a hypothesis that the extra body fat is the reason for earlier puberty, since the sex hormones are built out of cholesterol. There is a likely interplay between the two, though this link is still being studied. However, epidemiology yet again demonstrates the unholy triad's connection with studies showing that for every year earlier that puberty comes, that child's lifetime cancer risk increases by 4.0%. If this trend prevails for another 40 years, we'll see the current epidemic of cancer turn into a pandemic. Currently, one in two men, and one in three women will experience cancer in their lifetime.

Of the many theories as to why girls are experiencing puberty earlier, one theory is sociological in nature, because these researchers blame our sex-saturated society. They believe that because girls are bombarded with images and messages of sexuality in culture, their bodies respond to this stimulus by producing more sex hormones earlier, which as described above, is a risk factor for cancer.

Events that effect psychological and emotional health and development are also risk factors for disease. Girls and young women in western society and worldwide are still at high risk for sexual assault, rape, and incest. A female's lifetime risk of some form of sexual assault has been estimated to be as high as one in four. New studies have demonstrated a link between childhood trauma, or what the researchers term "childhood adverse events" including inappropriate sexual contact, is linked to increased disease risk over that child's lifetime. Childhood traumas increase the risks of eating disorders, addictions, and other maladaptive coping mechanisms, all of which increase a person's risk of intake of toxic substances, as well as increases in production of endogenous, or internally made toxins, and in turn, increase the risk of obesity.

Psychologically, excess body weight can be seen as a physiological armor, deflecting unwanted attention and decreasing sexual availability. In this way, people may hold onto excess weight as a conflict-avoidance mechanism, a toxic belief in itself.

The holographic theory of the body states that our physical body stores memories of our experiences in our tissues. Tissues become dysfunctional by becoming short, dry, tight, and "gritty" due to the buildup of old traumas, conflicts, and wounds and is stored as toxic compounds of emotional origin. This same toxicity can be stored in adipose or fatty tissue.

Adding complexity is a physiological maxim that sounds like a playground epithet: "the fatter you are, the fatter you get." Simply stated, it appears that when a person accumulates body fat of an amount equal to more than about 20 lbs over ideal weight, the fatty tissues begins to act like a separate endocrine organ, secreting leptin, cortisol, and other non-beneficial hormones. These hormones accelerate the fat-storage process, and through the catabolic, or muscle-wasting effects of cortisol, the body fat begins to take away the muscle stores while piling on the extra fat pounds. This is a run-away train that is very difficult to stop.

So extremely obese people have toxic stores of fat that are beginning to take over the person's metabolism. People who are in such poor condition have a very difficult time losing weight, and when they do, they experience many symptoms of detoxification, including skin eruptions, diarrhea, nasal congestion, body aches, and other signs that the body is letting go of toxins. These detox symptoms prevent many people from seeking weight loss. This is unfortunate, because these people are the ones that really need both detoxification and weight loss.

The take-home message is clearly spelled out through the research: you can lower your cancer risk by losing weight. You can lose weight by detoxifying. You can lose toxicity by losing weight. At a deeper and more holistic level, you can process and release old tensions, conflicts, and traumas through a variety of somatic or body therapies, including massage, Feldenkrais, hypnosis, EFT, acupuncture, and many other therapies.

Vibrant health, or the state of vitality, is characterized by a strong body of appropriate body fat, relatively low levels of stored toxins, and the healthy ability to release old traumas, resulting in a state of lowered disease risk, heightened immunity, strength, confidence and clarity. This vitality state is achieved systematically through healthy choices in diet, exercise, healthy introspection, and, increasingly relevant for today, detoxification, internal cleanses, and spiritual or mental fasts from media, noise, pollution and negativity.

Part two of this series will deal with methods of detoxification on all levels that support healthy and safe weight loss, increased toxicity clearance, and decreased disease risk.

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In the last article, we explored the link between obesity, cancer, and toxicity. Several important studies were discussed, notably a study showing that living near a toxic waste site increases the risk of hospitalization due to diabetes. Another epidemiological survey from the UK showed that the counties of the UK that suffer from the highest levels of industrial pollution also demonstrate the highest rates of obesity.

The link to cancer is illustrated with ever-increasing scientific studies. The results of major studies show obesity as major risk factors for prostate cancer; obese men seem to present with more aggressive forms of cancer and more metastasis. For more information, please see Part 1. This article will focus on the solution to the problem, the physiologic methods that support the most effective methods of disease risk management. More importantly, the same methods and outcomes that help reduce disease risk also increase overall health and vitality.

How Do We Detoxify?

Detoxification can be accomplished in a number of ways. The most traditional method is fasting. This method can offer dramatic results and with it come dramatic side effects. More modern approaches include calorie-restriction, or cleanses. This approach is gentler and safer; yielding more complete results, but takes longer.

The most effective approach available varies according to the individual's needs. Many highly toxic individuals benefit from a medical detoxification, a supervised and facilitated cleansing process in which a mild caloric restriction program is applied in conjunction with specific nutrients to up-regulate both phases of liver detoxification, along with nutritional supplements to assist in the excretion of those toxins.

Liver detoxification has two phases. In Phase I, toxins enter the enzymatic pathways to be deconstructed into smaller, more easily managed parts. Of the two major pathways, the pathway known as P450 is much more famous, because the body develops specific P450 enzymes for each toxin. It takes some time, but eventually this toxin-specific strategy effectively breaks down a single toxin that enters the body repeatedly and often. No wonder then, when people drink lots of booze, they develop a 'tolerance' to the alcohol. In reality, the body is no more tolerant of alcohol than when the first drink was taken - it merely has more machinery capable of breaking down alcohol into simpler molecules, like formaldehyde. For anyone interested in generating lasting health and vitality, a 'tolerance' to alcohol signals that the body is actually less tolerant to alcohol, and is demonstrating its aversion to this poisonous substance by working harder to get rid of it.

After Phase I starts off the detox process, Phase II kicks in. This phase is often called "conjugation," because it attaches a sulfur, glycine, or cysteine atom, which are like "handles" that allow the toxins to become more water-soluble. This process is very delicate, and requires a full complement of all needed cofactors. Many people experience impairment in the second phase, though people whom are referred to as "pathological detoxifiers" may have a defect in Phase I, Phase II, or in bile output. Phase II defects cause massive damage throughout the system in the form of systemic inflammation caused by the unstable and reactive byproducts of detoxification known as 'free radicals.' A perfect example of this occurs when folate, the active form of the B vitamin folic acid, is missing. Folate allows the enzymes of the body to correctly methylate methionine. In the absence of folate, the enzymes incorrectly attach the methyl group, creating Homocysteine, a toxic compound.

Elevated Homocysteine damages the walls of the arteries, veins, nerves, and negatively affects disease progressions in virtually every chronic condition, including cancer, diabetes, heart disease, schizophrenia, senile dementia, and plenty of others - all because of faulty detoxification pathways.
Thus, for a long healthy life, all phases of liver detoxification must be supported and protected. However detoxification doesn't end as Phase II phases out.

At the end of phase II, excretion occurs in the form of bile. Bile performs two needed functions in the body: it removes toxins, and it emulsifies our fats. Bile is released into the duodenum when the body detects that fat has been ingested. The fat and bile mix together, creating an 'emulsification,' allowing the fat to become more water-soluble.

The emulsified fat then travels through the intestines, where up to 50% of this mixture of fat and bile is absorbed through the small intestine as nutrition. Without bile, the fat will not be absorbed but excreted as "fatty stools," explaining why people with poor bile output exhibit symptoms of essential fatty acid deficiency.

The rest of the mixture that is not absorbed, the toxic portion, remains to be excreted through the large intestine.

However, the journey continues until the excrement hits the rotary oscillator, or at least the toilet. Constipation plagues Americans because of their lack of fiber and water intake, indicated by the millions who pass a bowel movement once a day or less.

The large intestine's main job is to reabsorb water and bile salts back into the system, preventing dehydration. The reabsorbed liquids are taken back to the liver via the enterohepatic duct. This process helps to preserve nutrients. However, in constipated individuals, the fecal matter remains in the large intestine for a long time, too long for good health, as the toxic content of the bile is reabsorbed. This explains the more severe PMS symptoms in constipated women, because the toxic remnants of the estrogen compounds in bile are reabsorbed instead of excreted.

Many women find that PMS symptoms dramatically diminish after thorough detoxification, and that these gains remain as long as appropriate dietary habits are established and maintained.

The Experience of Detoxification

During uncontrolled detoxification processes such as fasting, people often experience fatigue, flu-like symptoms such as sinus congestion or post-nasal drip, joint aches, moodiness, fever, gas, diarrhea, headaches, and rashes. Individuals with higher levels of toxicity will often experience more severe symptoms. In general, the greater an individuals' toxic load, the more severe the symptoms and the longer it takes to adequately detoxify.

In some patients, the detox symptoms will mimic earlier bacterial diseases, because they are excreting the toxic bacterial byproducts that caused the disease symptoms. For example, patients with a history of Lyme disease may notice symptoms similar to the active phase of infection, though no infection is currently present.

Other cases demonstrate more profound connections. A clinical example illustrates: A 57-year old woman, a breast cancer survivor, embarks upon a detoxification protocol, her first detox since having breast cancer 15 years ago. While on the detox, she began to feel some of the same sensations and symptoms that she experienced during the three rounds of chemotherapy, some 15 years earlier. Fortunately, side effects and detox symptoms are controlled via modifications to the detox process to include nutrients that support and control the detoxification process, and more importantly, to capture, isolate, and neutralize the toxic products. These methods include using large quantities of plant fiber, especially fiber from fresh, raw fruits and vegetables.

Bentonite clay contains molecules that act as a sink to absorb the toxins, while another mineral found in Bentonite known as montmorillonite acts as a magnet to pull toxins out of the tissues. Both nutritional support and non-nutritional methods such as far-infrared saunas, lymphatic drainage, and exercise enhance detoxification efficacy while alleviating side effects.

Many practitioners will use nutraceuticals, herbs, vitamins, and dietary regimens to support and control the detoxification process. By carefully controlling the dose of the herbs and supplements, we can eliminate or minimize the major side effects of the detoxification.

Detoxification Assists Weight Loss

The process of detoxification generates many beneficial changes in the body. Many of these changes assist in weight loss. For example, heavy metals bind to both sex hormone binding globulin and to thyroid hormone binding sites, slowing metabolism. After detoxification, these pathways open up, and metabolism increases in many detox participants.

More importantly, fat stores are mobilized and burned for fuel, moving toxic components out of cells, so they can be taken to the liver for processing and excretion.

Detoxification Enhances Blood Sugar Control and Blood Lipids

Even many in the medical field forget that the liver has a profound effect on blood sugar. The liver contains about 100-120 grams of glycogen, which the liver doles out when needed. Glycogen is a polymer of glucose meaning it's a large chain of glucose molecules, which can be converted to glucose via glycogenolysis. However, many people rarely ever, or for some, never use this function of the liver. The glycogen remains stagnant in the liver because sugar from dietary sources continually elevates blood sugar, creating insulin resistance and blood sugar control problems.

Further, many dietary sugars are actually processed in the liver. A congested, stagnant liver cannot adequately process the sugars, and instead are converted to dangerous lipids like LDL, VLDL, lipoprotein A, and excess triglycerides.

Mobilizing liver glycogen, and reinvigorating the pathways of its synthesis and utilization effectively controls blood sugar.

Opening the liver and removing toxic compounds that block its pathways controls adverse blood lipids.

Specific Recommendations for Detoxification:

* Lifestyle: The best treatment is to avoid the problem in the first place, to dodge toxicity in daily life. These common items are a source of toxic chemicals: health and beauty products, cosmetics, cleaning products, detergents, fabric softeners, paint, varnish, glue, gasoline. This is a partial list that should give you a good idea on what to look for. Generally speaking, the volatile organic compounds are the ones to watch out for, but read labels and look for things that sound like chemicals. If you don't know, look it up. The Cosmetic Ingredient Encyclopedia might be a good place to start, and more info is given below.

* Detoxify Mentally, Spiritually, and Emotionally: Emotional and mental toxicity and stress are often the underlying cause of overall body toxicity, because they contribute to muddled thinking and poor decision-making, causing people to make poor lifestyle choices, and to rely upon stimulants and drugs.

* Quiet Time: The detoxification process can tap our energy resources, so the detoxification process is a good time to take time for one's self. Quiet contemplation, meditation, relaxing, reading or music is all a great way to rest and maximize the detoxification process.

* Eliminate Stress: Stress causes our body to produce its own toxins. We are in direct control of our stress. We can make choices that empower us. Choose to lower stress, decrease drama in your life, and to simplify.

* Exercise: Exercise works in many ways to support the detoxification process. Exercise lowers stress, supports healthy mood and energy levels, and helps excrete toxins through sweat.

* Drink Generously From a Pure Water Source: Tap and bottled water are sources of chemical toxins such as pthalates from plastic bottles, and chlorine and organohalides from domestic tap water. Use distilled water or reverse-osmosis purified water, or spring water from a verified source. Use steel or glass containers to carry water. Most people need somewhere around 2 liters of water daily, sometimes more depending upon mineral status.

Toxic Items to Eliminate:

* Coffee: one of the most heavily fumigated crops, and the roasting process leaves volatile coffee oils open to rancidity, which happens rapidly. Eliminate coffee because it is toxic, and is a diuretic.

* Alcohol: Alcohol is a diuretic, it diminishes blood oxygen levels and depletes key liver detoxification enzymes, depletes minerals, raises blood sugar, and slows metabolism.

* Personal Grooming Products: Products such as makeup, face creams, shampoos, lotions, deodorants, even toothpaste, contain toxic chemicals that are endocrine disruptors and liver congesting substances. Choose natural brands, and brands from Europe such as Weleda and Hauschka because the European laws are much more stringent than US laws.

* Artificial Sweeteners: Products such as Aspartame and Nutrasweet break down in the body to produce neurotoxins such as glutamic acid, and liver toxins such as methanol. A recent study showed that animals fed aspartame gained more weight because their fatty tissue became less vascular, less metabolic, making it harder to burn fat. Replace artificial sweeteners with stevia or raw honey.

* Dairy products: Dairy causes mucus production in the body, which congests the liver and the lymphatic system, slowing and complicating the detoxification process. Dairy also contains metabolites of pus from the inflamed cow's udders, and hormones used to increase milk production. Avoid dairy during the detox process, and minimize dairy in general. Choose organic, raw dairy to minimize toxins and to maximize nutrition.

* Pesticides: Eat organic food as much as possible. Wash your produce well. If you must eat conventional produce, avoid the 12 most highly fumigated produce items:

Strawberries, Bell peppers (green and red), Spinach, Cherries (grown in the United States), Peaches (grown in Chile), Cantaloupe (grown in Mexico), Celery, Apples, Apricots, Green beans, Grapes, and Cucumbers.

Nutrition - What to Eat During a Detox:

Vegetables and Fruit that support Detoxification: dandelion greens, burdock root, and artichoke are the first line of support. Garlic, onions, and scallions are also helpful. Secondarily, eating lots of fresh green foods, such as spinach, kale, chard, broccoli, rapini, cabbage, arugula, zucchini, eggplant, tomato, avocado, are all helpful.

Lean Protein: Protein is required for detoxification, because blood proteins are built from amino acids. Lean protein such as free range, 100% grass fed beef, free range, organic chicken, wild-caught fish, are all important to maintain adequate amino acid balance while detoxifying. Other source can be from whey protein, nuts such as almonds, walnuts, and Brazil nuts. Nuts are excellent sources of fiber and minerals, especially magnesium and selenium, both vital for liver detoxification.

Herbs: Herbs such as turmeric, celandine, dandelion, bupleurum, burdock, milk thistle, are all helpful. Also useful are chlorella, spirulina, barley grass, wheat grass, and other fresh or freeze-dried green juices. These plants provide chlorophyll, a source of magnesium and oxygen, both highly supportive of the detoxification process.

In selecting a detoxification protocol, it's best to avoid extremes, fad diets, "miracle" products, and unproven technology.

The time-honored and well-tested methods of detoxification include fasting, juice-fasts or cleanses, and medical detoxification, which is a variation on the first two. Other adjunctive therapies like salt scrubs, salt or mineral baths, massages, saunas, sweat lodges, can all provide benefits, but should fit the state of the person doing the detoxifying. Above all, good results are most likely when the detox is safe and relatively comfortable, so that the process can be extended for long enough to be effective, and repeated at least annually, but perhaps as often as quarterly.

References:

((http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abs...)

(www.jpands.org/vol10no3/colpo.pdf)

Cousens, Gabriel MD, Conscious Eating, North Atlantic Books, 1992

((http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2000/jun...)

Reid, Daniel, Tao of Sex, Health, and Longevity, Simon & Schuster, 1989.

Fitzgerald, Patricia, The Detox Solution, Illumination Press, 2001.

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About the author
Luke completed a Master's Degree in Traditional Oriental Medicine in 2007 at Emperor's College of Traditional Oriental Medicine. He maintains a private practice in nutrition and herbology in Pacific Palisades, California.
He enjoys qigong, yoga, cycling, meditation, raw food nutrition, lucid dreaming, and hiking.
He is currently preparing for the National and State board examinations for licensure in acupuncture, while building a nutrition & wellness business with an area physician.
He lives with his sweetheart Sara, and their wild raw food cat, Mushroom.