Study Finds Colon Cancer Survival Not Extended Using Erbitux

Vitamin E is known to help prevent colon cancer. New studies also point to help from Omega 3.

UPDATE: Study Finds Colon Cancer Survival Not Extended Using Erbitux

An Important Measure for Prevention

Years ago when I started on this journey in public health I learned that prevention was one of the most important factors in getting to good public health.

Since that time, about 40-45 years, this caveat seems to have fallen far from the path.

My father took a specialty in proctology in 1929.  He did this because one of his sisters was misdiagnosed and died from colon cancer.  One of his brother's also developed  colon cancer and he asked my father to do his surgery.  This was the time when my father developed the flat stoma where the colostomy collection pouch is placed on the body.

People as a rule don't generally like colonoscopies and don't seem to like the simple home test either.

Here's a newer option that seems to have the ability to prevent thousands of deaths for 5 minutes of your time.

Five minute test could save thousands

By AP Apr 28th 2010 12:28PM

A news study suggests a five-minute colon cancer test could reduce the number of deaths from the disease by about 40 percent.
Of the 170,000 people followed for about 11 years by the British researchers, more than 40,000 had a "flexi-scope" test, an exam that removes polyps, small growths that could become cancerous.
Researchers used the test, where a pen-sized tube is inserted into the colon, on people in their 50s. They also said patients only needed this test once in their lives. In the U.K., government-funded colon cancer screening doesn't start until age 60.
Dr. Wendy Atkin, a professor of surgery and cancer at Imperial College London led the research and said the flexi-scope test only needed to be performed once because polyps that grow in the bowel appear before the age of 60, so the possibility of cancer could be caught of the test was done on people in their fifties.
However, the test only works on the lower bowel, so other exams, like the fecal blood test, would still be necessary.
In the U.K. a fecal blood test it done bi-annually on people aged 60 to 74, and in the U.S. colonoscopies are most commonly test used to scan the entire colon.
Researchers compared those results to more than 113,000 people who were not screened. They found the flexi-scope test reduced peoples' chances of getting colon cancer by one third. It also cut their chances of dying by 43 percent. Worldwide, the disease causes 1 million cases and 600,000 deaths every year.
Some experts said they believe the findings have the potential to make some authorities reconsider their practices for finding and diagnosing colon cancer.
The American Cancer Society recommends several options for people over 50 to find polyps or to detect cancer early: a flexi-scope test, double-contrast barium enema or virtual colonoscopy every five years or a colonoscopy every 10 years.
"It's not for me to tell governments what to do," Atkin said. "But this is a very big effect, with a very quick and a very cheap test."
Dr. Durado Brooks, director of prostate and colorectal cancer at the American Cancer Society, said the study results would not change their colon cancer screening guidelines.
"We have long included (flexi-scope) tests as one of our preferred tests to prevent disease," he said. "I would hope clinicians look at this information and recognize there is some value in this test."
Dr. David Ransohoff of the departments of medicine and epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, said the claim that the test only needed to be done once in a person's lifetime was "striking" and further follow-up was necessary to see just how long this protective effect lasts.
The results of the study were published online in the medical journal, Lancet.

Prevention and Colon Cancer

Recently a study pointed to the usefulness of Omega 3 to help in the prevention of colon cancer.  Other studies looked at the preventive benefits of B complex vitamins like B9 and B6, and also the protective benefit of magnesium.

What hasn't been restudied of late is the well documented preventive effect against colon cancer from vitamin E.

This protective benefit was well covered in the 1990s and also in many studies from decades earlier.

Vitamin E (choose non-SOY) natural tocopherol and tocotrienol sources, as well as good foods. If you'd like vitamin consultation just get in touch with us for this service.

What foods provide vitamin E?

Walnuts are well established to provide a good source of vitamin E; raw and organic is the best choice, about 1/4 cup daily.  But do remember that walnuts are in the group of foods, like mustard greens and others in the brassica family, that effect the thyroid gland.

Excellent sources of vitamin E include mustard greens, turnip greens, chard, and sunflower seeds.

Very good sources of vitamin E include almonds and spinach.

Good sources of vitamin E include collard greens, parsley, kale, papaya, olives, bell pepper, brussels sprouts, kiwifruit, tomato, blueberries, and broccoli.  SOURCE

Help Prevent Colon Cancer: Hope for Whole Health

Natural Health News has at least 20 posts related to vitamins and other help that is protective for colon cancer.

Now another article relives us from the negative hype about vitamin supplements and cancer that you have heard now for at least a decade.

Selenium, Omega-3s May Stave Off Colorectal Cancer

HealthDay Reporter by Jennifer Thomas
TUESDAY, Dec. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Certain dietary supplements appear to affect the development of colorectal cancer or its recurrence, two new studies suggest.

In one study, researchers from the U.S. National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences found that eating a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids cut the risk of developing colorectal cancer by nearly 40 percent. In the other study, from cancer researchers in Italy, consumption of a dietary supplement containing selenium was found to reduce the chances of having polyps recur by a similar amount.

Both studies were to be presented Dec. 7 in Houston at a conference on cancer prevention sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research.

In the selenium study, 411 people, 25 to 75 years old, who'd had one or more colorectal polyps removed took either a supplement or a placebo. The supplement, described as an antioxidant compound, contained 200 micrograms of selenomethionnine (a combination of selenium and methionnine - Our Note: This is the best form of selenium according to the most currant science), 30 milligrams of zinc, 6,000 international units of vitamin A, 180 milligrams of vitamin C and 30 milligrams of vitamin E.

Participants had a colonoscopy one year, three years and five years after starting the regimen.

Polyps recurred in 4.2 percent of those taking the supplement, compared with 7.2 percent of the placebo group. Overall, the study found, people taking the supplement had about a 40 percent reduction in risk for a return of polyps.

The researchers estimated that, after 15 years, about 48 percent of those taking the supplement would still be free of polyps, versus about 30 percent of those not taking the supplement.

Polyps, or adenoma, are benign growths on the large bowel. Though only a small proportion progress to become cancer, about 70 to 80 percent of colorectal cancer cases begin as polyps, according to the American Association for Cancer Research. About one in four people, most older than 60, will have at least one adenoma.

Selenium is found in soil (Our Note: Western US states bordering Canada are known to be severely low in selenium and as such has a negative impact on thyroid function.), and human consumption comes by eating plants that have absorbed the nutrient or fish or animals that have eaten plants as part of their diet. "The content of selenium in the food depends on the soil content of this trace element, and in the same country there are areas at high, adequate or low content of selenium in the soil," said the study's lead author, Dr. Luigina Bonelli, head of the unit of secondary prevention and screening at the National Institute for Cancer Research in Genoa, Italy.

Earlier research had suggested that selenium can inhibit cell proliferation in the colon and rectum, Bonelli said.

Michele Forman, a professor of epidemiology at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said that, though the findings are interesting, it's impossible to tell if the benefit was attributable to the selenium or to the other vitamins and minerals included in the supplement.

"You really don't know if it's the selenium or some combination that reduces risk of recurrence," Forman said.

In addition, the daily dosages of vitamins A and E taken by the participants were higher than the recommended daily allowances, Forman added. High levels of such vitamins can be detrimental, she said. (Our note: Not all supplements at high dose levels are harmful.)

In the omega-3 study, U.S. researchers surveyed 1,509 whites and 369 blacks about their dietary habits in the past year. About half of the participants had colorectal cancer.

Among the white participants, those whose diets were in the highest fourth of omega-3 fatty acid consumption were 39 percent less likely to have colorectal cancer than those in the lowest fourth. However, for reasons the authors said they did not know, no association was noted between omega-3s and a reduction of colorectal cancer risk among black participants. The disease occurs at a higher rate among blacks than whites.

"Our finding clearly supports the evidence from previous experimental and clinical studies showing that long-chain omega-3 fatty acids inhibit tumor growth," said the study's lead author, Sangmi Kim, a postdoctoral fellow at the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

Kim said the research supports boosting omega-3 intake through diet or perhaps by taking an omega-3 supplement. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in fish, especially oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring, anchovies, sardines and tuna. Plant-based sources include flax and flaxseed oil, Brussels sprouts, soybeans and (soybean oil, canola oil - NOTE: We suggest you avoide both these oils), spinach, walnuts and kiwi.

Previous studies have suggested that omega-3 fatty acids act as anti-inflammatory agents and help prevent cancer. But in the new study, Forman noted, participants were asked about their diets after they had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer so it's possible that their recollections were not fully accurate.

In addition, she said, it's possible that the benefit was not the result of omega-3s. Those who ate more fish might have had a healthier diet overall, she said.

"Were they eating a salmon-and-broccoli diet or a hamburger-and-french-fry diet?" Forman asked. "We don't know enough to say that it's truly the effect of the omega-3s."

Our Note:  We beleive that the dose levels in the supplement mentioned in this areticle is well below therapeutic levels.

While I am not an institutionalized thinker, I am in support of those who have tried to help make more people aware of the role of nursing, probably a truly wholistic profession on its own. I would like to see the same support from the organizationally based groups to the work we do.

I will say however that I support this comment from the AHNA:

The American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA) has formally requested that US Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) not move to re-name the NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) the "National Center for Integrative Medicine." Harkin brought up the idea of the name change in public comments surrounding the Institute of Medicine Summit in February of this year. In a letter co-signed by 23 other nursing organizations, the AHNA wrote:
"There are so many in this country who enthusiastically support a vision to put integrative health care at the heart of national health reform. However, to facilitate this vision; to reinforce a more inclusive, representative, and collaborative partnering of every health and health-related profession and constituency; and to recognize and maximize the valuable contributions of all, we would like to suggest the renaming of the National Center for Complementary and Alterative Medicine to the National Center for Integrative Health and Healthcare. In transforming the health care paradigm, a shift in language can be a critical influence in supporting and adopting that change. The use of Integrative Health and Healthcare focuses on people’s health and well-being, rather than on a specific profession, and broadens the array of disciplines involved in promoting it."

As of this writing, Harkin had not formally responded to the nurses nor had an Integrator query to Harkin's staff elicited a response.

I do not support the use of the terms "integrative" or "complementary" in regard to health care.  I believe this promotes more separation from what used to be quite common, the "team" approach. And I believe it further sets up barriers to health and limits access both for providers but for patients.

In the classes I taught in the Pueget Sound area for so many years, always, in my discussion of vitamin E, its protective benefit for colon cancer was always noted.
See "Vitamins Enhance Chemotherapy" from leaflady.org