Alzheimers-and-impotence-This-ain’t-all-in-the-mind!

For our brain to be fully functional, it takes a good deal of blood. For a bloke to get an erection, it takes a good deal of blood.

Ever wondered how Alzheimer’s and male impotence may be connected?

Well, for our brain to be fully functional, it requires a good deal of blood all of the time - around 750ml every minute. For a bloke to get an erection, it takes a good deal of blood some of the time… in fact, around 130ml each time.

However, what if the blood vessels were impaired? Clogged up? Suffering from atherosclerosis? Became worse with simple old age? If so, then blood could not get to the brain or the penis so easily. For the brain - multiple small strokes and brain atrophy - Alzheimer’s. For the penis - not enough blood flowing quickly enough to produce and sustain an erection - impotence!

So this week we investigate and explore how to prevent and even possibly reverse two of the most feared conditions going around, but first



          Thought for the day

              At some point
              We all sit down
              To a banquet of consequences.

                         Robert Louis Stevenson 





Let us begin with the brain. 

Apparently we normally lose around .5% of our blood flow per year. So at 65 the blood flow to our brains may be down 15 - 20%. Sounds a lot, but we are well designed and have built in reserves, so at this point, no obvious problems.

However, we are not designed for a high fat, high protein diet. This contributes to atherosclerosis; other risk factors being smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and genetics. All but the last are lifestyle factors; factors over which we have some control.

Atherosclerosis in the brain is found to be significantly more frequent and severe in those with Alzheimer’s disease. One recent study even examined specific arteries in the brains of healthy, non-demented controls and compared them to those with Alzheimer’s. They looked at the specific arteries critical to memory and the learning centers of the brain and found major differences - way more plaque in those with Alzheimer’s.

In another study, 400 people with cognitive impairment for were tracked for 4 years using CAT scan angiography.

The cognition of those with the least atherosclerosis in their heads remained pretty stable over the years, but those with more cholesterol plaques became worse and those with the most blockages rapidly declined.

The ability to carry on the activities of daily living was also affected, and the progression to Alzheimer’s disease was doubled.

An inefficient blood supply to the brain has very grave consequences on brain function. Based upon these and many other studies, more and more Alzheimer’s is being described as a vascular disorder.

Good news! Atherosclerosis is preventable and reversible - like all lifestyle related diseases.

But does treatment of vascular risk factors like high blood pressure and high cholesterol actually make a difference? Well, a recent ground-breaking study did focus upon treating  vascular risk factors. Happily, those treated showed significantly less decline and slowed progression of their disease, compared with those who went untreated.

This is one of the first positive outcome studies for Alzheimer’s - and it is based upon Lifestyle Medicine.

So what about male impotence? 

Same risk factors. Same problem. Atherosclerosis affects blood vessels to the penis just like it affects blood vessels to the heart. It impairs blood flow making an erection much more difficult.

More good news! Prevent atherosclerosis, prevent male impotence. Treat atherosclerosis, treat male impotence. Pretty simple formula really.

And sure, there are other issues when it comes to impotence, but this is a big one and one not well recognised and frequently left untreated.

There is hope for both Alzheimer’s and impotence.



As for the old saying…

“Feed the man meat”?

Maybe not ....

Happy days


RELATED BLOGS
Want longer lasting sex?

How to improve memory through nutrition and exercises

Want longer lasting sex?

Feed the man vegetables. And fruit. And grains. Not meat.
You probably know already that a diet high in meat is linked to cancer of the prostate and the breast and heaps of other things you would rather not develop. But did you know that the more meat a man eats the more likely he is to be impotent? Adds a new twist to natural fertility control.

Happily new research points to what we can do to reverses these risks, so lets go Out on a Limb once more and share some fascinating new research with real relevance to daily life.

Then details of a significant new book published by an old friend and colleague, Lea Rose, (old as in we worked together many years ago), on how to improve the quality of death – both personally and for those we love and care for, along with details of the book's launch in Melbourne on August 9th that you are invited to, but first

                        
                    Thought for the day




                                  Is this nature's Viagra?








As you might guess, impotence – or erectile dysfunction as it is known medically - can have a variety of causes. However, evidence suggests that the most common cause is atherosclerosis - the accumulation of plaque on artery walls.

Plaque of course narrows blood vessels and can prevent them from delivering adequate blood to the heart - leading to heart attacks, and to the brain - leading to stokes. In the case of impotence, plaque reduces blood flow to the genitals - leading to a reduced ability to achieve or maintain an erection.

Of course other "lesser" factors have been associated with impotence, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, smoking, obesity and diabetes, but all of these are lifestyle related, and even more specifically, dietary related.

                  So what to do? 


                          If you are tired of sex


                          feed the man meat 




However, if the joy in life includes a healthy sex life, there is important news coming out of the research world.

It seems that eating plenty of fruit, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, and fish, while avoiding red and processed meat and refined grains is associated with lower rates of impotence and can even reverse the problem when it exists. 

Specific recent research has shown that in type 2 diabetic men, those with the highest adherence to the Mediterranean diet had the lowest prevalence of impotence and were more likely to be sexually active.

In clinical trials, the Mediterranean diet was more effective than a control diet in improving impotence or restoring erectile function in men with obesity or metabolic syndrome.

Reference: Espositi K, et al. Dietary factors, Mediterranean diet and erectile dysfunction. J Sex Med 2010 Jul;7(7):2338-45.

NEWS
Ruth and I are having a wonderful time on the grand tour. As I write we are in Coffs Harbor (speaking here Tuesday evening), having completed an evening public talk in Cronulla and day workshops in Katoomba, Sydney and Pt Stephens.

We have stayed with family and friends, along with nights at the grand old Carrington Hotel in Katoomba (where the talk was given) and had time to wander along the coast a little as we travel.

There have been some wonderful meetings. Remarkable survivors like the fellow who came to the residential program at Yarra Junction 15 years ago with Stage 4 melanoma, a women with bowel cancer secondaries from 5 years ago and another with breast cancer secondaries around 5 years ago – all cancer free, very fit, very well.

Then the delight of meditating together in a large group. The depth of meditation that has been felt in these recent public events is quite extraordinary; and is something more profound than has been common in the past. Maybe it is because so many people have done some meditation these days. Many in fact are quite experienced, but it certainly is a joy to be a part off, is great for the beginners and points to the value and power of meditating in a group.

Only drag is that the cold weather has been following us, but hopefully we will be far enough North soon to shake it off! Coffs harbour Tuesday night, Thursday, Friday and the weekend in Brisbane (including a talk on Understanding Death, Helping the Dying on Friday), then Toowoomba next week. For details, CLICK HERE

NOTICEBOARD
Let’s Talk About It! by Lea Rose, Clinical Counsellor is a ground breaking book with the power to change our lives and i highly recommend it. If we are not prepared for death, either our own or as the carer of someone who is dying, we may experience tremendous suffering, fear and regret.

Lea demonstrates that even though we may be facing one of the hardest challenges of our lives, we can still develop peace of mind that we never thought possible. Through Lea’s unique and innovative approach, we can learn how to have an open, even liberating, attitude to death and dying.

Written from Lea’s twenty years experience, this essential book on death and dying can transform the way we die.

Let’s Talk About It! provides practical advice and techniques that can help us to find the courage to face our death; to be empowered to make conscious choices, understand the physical stages of dying, create a care team of family and friends to support real connection; and to be able to communicate through open discussions in our own family and with the dying person.

The book also teaches us that we can make a real difference to our lives and those around us.  Just as we want quality of life we must also insist on quality of death.

As well as recounting her own inspirational journey, Lea uses moving true stories to personalise the experience of death and break down barriers and negative feelings.

Let’s Talk About It! is available now via Lea's Webstore, CLICK HERE 

Will COVID-19 create more dementia? Dementia, Alzheimer's and the latest research

There are problems enough, but will COVID-19 lead to an upsurge in dementia and if so, what can be done about it? 

Here is the challenge. Given ICU can be a great place to be when you really need, recent research confirms what many have observed. One in four people had cognitive impairment a year after release from an ICU that was similar in severity to having mild Alzheimer’s, and 1-in-3 had cognitive impairment similar to that seen with moderate traumatic brain injury. 

So if someone ends up in ICU with COVID-19, and one imagines even more so if on a ventilator, the risks of developing dementia would be real. But there is hope, so this week we examine what mindfulness and meditation in particular have to offer – to anyone at risk of dementia, to those already affected by it, and their caregivers, but first

        Thought for the day

Meditation is all about the pursuit of nothingness. 

It is like the ultimate rest. 

It is better than the best sleep you have ever had.

It is a quieting of the mind. 

It sharpens everything, 

Especially your appreciation of your surroundings.

It keeps life fresh.

Hugh Jackman - long term meditator

The context

The world population is aging and the prevalence of dementia is increasing. By 2050, those aged 60 years and older are expected to make up a quarter of the population. With that, the number of people with dementia is increasing. Unfortunately, there is no current medical cure for dementia. The progression of symptoms with no hope of improvement is difficult to cope with, both for patients and their caregivers. 

Mindfulness training has shown to improve psychological well-being in a variety of mental health conditions. Research has shown preliminary but promising results for mindfulness-based interventions to benefit people with dementia and caregivers. So what follows are summaries quoting fairly directly from 4 key research papers that investigated what might be possible. The results are encouraging…

1. Review : Mindfulness, meditation, cognition and stress in people with Alzheimer's disease (AD), dementia, mild cognitive impairment and subjective cognitive decline – 2018. 

This study investigated how the use of meditation as a behavioural intervention can reduce stress and enhance cognition, which in turn ameliorates some dementia symptoms. Ten papers were identified and reviewed. 

There was a broad use of measures across all studies, with cognitive assessment, quality of life and perceived stress being the most common. Three studies used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure functional changes to brain regions during meditation. 

The interventions fell into the following three categories: mindfulness, most commonly mindfulness-based stress reduction(MBSR) (six studies); Kirtan Kriya meditation (three studies); and mindfulness-based Alzheimer's stimulation (one study). Three of these studies were randomised controlled trials. 

All studies reported significant findings or trends towards significance in a broad range of measures, including a reduction of cognitive decline, reduction in perceived stress, increase in quality of life, as well as increases in functional connectivity, percent volume brain change and cerebral blood flow in areas of the cortex. 

Russell-Williams J, Jaroudi W et al. Mindfulness and meditation: treating cognitive impairment and reducing stress in dementia. Rev Neurosci. 2018;29(7):791-804. doi:10.1515/revneuro-2017-0066

2. Do adults with MCI have the capacity to learn mindfulness meditation? - 2019

High levels of chronic stress negatively impact the hippocampus and are associated with increased incidence of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease(AD). While mindfulness meditation may mitigate the effects of chronic stress, it is uncertain if adults with MCI have the capacity to learn mindfulness meditation.

Chronic stress negatively impacts the hippocampus, and high levels of chronic stress are associated with an increased incidence of MCI and AD. [6–8] Adults who are prone to high levels of psychological distress are more likely to develop dementia.[9] Animal research demonstrates that high levels of cortisol (the “stress hormone”) can damage the hippocampus[10], a key structure involved in memory processing that atrophies with Alzheimer’s disease. Thus, other stress-reducing interventions, such as meditation and yoga, might be helpful for adults with MCI.

Previous studies have shown that the hippocampus is selectively activated during meditation,[15–17] and experienced meditators have larger volumes and gray matter concentration in their hippocampi compared to matched controls.[18] In addition, research has shown that an eight-week MBSR class may increase gray matter density in the hippocampi of adults.[19] MBSR is thus a stress-reducing intervention that impacts the hippocampus and could potentially interrupt the progression of MCI through these effects. 

The period of time when an individual has MCI is transient and offers a rare window of opportunity prior to the development of dementia; finding an intervention that could help patients at this point of time could be invaluable. Since adults with MCI still have brain plasticity,[20] we hypothesized that adults with MCI would be able to learn and benefit from mindfulness meditation and yoga. 

What did the research find? Most adults with MCI were able to learn mindfulness meditation and had improved MCI acceptance, self-efficacy, and social engagement. So in summary, cognitive reserve may be enhanced through a mindfulness meditation program even in patients with MCI.

Wells RE, Kerr C, Dossett ML, et al. Can Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment Build Cognitive Reserve and Learn Mindfulness Meditation? Qualitative Theme Analyses from a Small Pilot Study. J Alzheimers Dis. 2019;70(3):825-842. doi:10.3233/JAD-190191

3. Review of already well researched mindfulness techniques - 2018

Although there is a wide variety of interventions that include components of mindfulness (e.g., Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), this review focuses on the two programs with the largest evidence base, the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). These group-based programs have been studied in healthy populations and in those with mental or physical disorders, showing satisfactory to good efficacy (Chiesa and Serretti, 2009; Hofmann et al., 2010; Hempel et al., 2014).

Although current research supports the rationale for MBI with persons with dementia and their caregivers, only few RCTs have been conducted and more research is necessary

What can be said is participants receiving MBSR showed greater improvement in memory, but not cognitive control. Moreover, the MBSR group improved on measures of worry, depression, and anxiety, and decreased cortisol level for those with high baseline cortisol.

Studies with persons with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or Severe Cognitive Impairment (SCD) have looked at the effect of Mindfulness Based Interventions (MBI). This is informative for dementia research, since individuals with MCI have an increased annual conversion rate of 5–17% to Alzheimer’s disease (Cheng et al., 2017), and approximately 60% over a 15-year period of persons with SCD will continue to develop Alzheimer’s disease (Reisberg et al., 2008).

Studies with persons with MCI or subjective memory complaints have looked at the effect of MBI. One pilot study found a trend toward improvement of cognition, quality of life, and well-being for people in the mindfulness condition (Wells et al., 2013). A RCT showed that the participants in the MBI group showed less memory deterioration and greater decrease in depressive symptoms compared to the control group (Larouche et al., 2016).

Although these studies demonstrate feasibility of MBSR with older adults with SCD and MCI, and preliminary evidence for memory improvement, more research is necessary to investigate whether MBI can influence cognitive decline.

Berk L, Warmenhoven F, van Os J, van Boxtel M. Mindfulness Training for People With Dementia and Their Caregivers: Rationale, Current Research, and Future Directions. Front Psychol. 2018;9:982. Published 2018 Jun 13. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00982

4. Mindfulness practice can improve health outcomes of MCI - 2017.

Growing evidence has linked mindfulness to cognitive and psychological improvements that could be relevant for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). This Australian study reported long-term mindfulness practice may be associated with cognitive and functional improvements for older adults with MCI. The researchers concluded mindfulness training could be a potential efficacious non-pharmacological therapeutic intervention for MCI.

Wong WP, Coles J, Chambers R, Wu DB, Hassed C. The Effects of Mindfulness on Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment. J Alzheimers Dis Rep. 2017;1(1):181-193. Published 2017 Dec 2. doi:10.3233/ADR-170031

Finally, what might be possible?

It does need to be said that dementia is now well identified as another of the chronic degenerative diseases - like cancer, heart disease and MS. All these other known chronic degenerative diseases have been shown to be prevented by Lifestyle interventions. Once present, their symptoms have all been shown to be significantly lessened by Lifestyle interventions; and all have shown some signs – ranging up to major – of reversal through Lifestyle interventions. So why not dementia???

And what are Lifestyle interventions? The things you can do for yourself – like what you eat and drink, your exercise levels, relaxation, mindfulness and meditation. Many believe the mind-based interventions are key, both due to their direct effects and because the mind decides what we do with our lifestyle. Get the mind into a good state and everything else follows – we eat better, drink more wisely, are more inclined to exercise and so on.

RELATED BLOGS

Here are the links to 3 consecutive blogs that clarify just what dementia and Alzheimer’s are Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia), what the risks are and how prevention is possible; maybe even some recovery. Plus an intruiging post on the link between Alzheimers and impotence

1. Dementia, Alzheimer’s and other related conditions explained

2. The causes explained

3. One dozen proven things you can do to prevent dementia

4. Alzheimers and impotence – what is the link? Why is it so significant?

Purpose Built App – Allevi8

The new, free mindfulness/meditation based App I have been involved in developing – Allevi8 – has been specifically designed to assist people affected by chronic degenerative disease. We targeted 5 main issues – stress and mental health, emotional health, pain management, healing and finding meaning amidst adversity.

So while many others recognise the need for help with these areas – especially now in the era of the pandemic – it provide free access to specific techniques for people facing chronic degenerative disease. Dementia is one of those conditions.

Allevi8 is available via a simple search in your App store. Also, we do have a meditation session via Zoom that goes out live each Monday. This session is well attended and many report how helpful it is to receive practice tips and meditate in a like-minded community each week. To join us, simply download Allevi8 and the link will be sent by email. All of this is free, however, you might like to consider paying it forward – there is a secure donation facility on the App under “Gift”.

Ian Gawler Blog: Research, daily life and cancer

Groups, mushrooms, CD47, surgeons, PSA tests, mistletoe and coconut oil.
What do they have in common? They all feature in important research that throws light on what might make for a good choice if you or someone you love has cancer – or wants to avoid it. So this week, some compelling reading that just might help to save a life.

Plus Ruth and I start our tour of New Zealand next week, so more details of the talks and retreats, but first

Thought for the day
If I die
I want to be the healthiest person ever to die of this disease
                           One of the women in my Friday cancer group

Yes, that dot in the middle is me speaking at the Happiness and its Causes Conference in Perth last week; some highlights next week.

1. Attending a therapeutic group halves the risk of recurrence and the risk of dying from breast cancer
This study is a few years old now, but very significant all the same.

After a median of 11 years of follow-up, this study involving 227 women showed that those women provided with a psychological intervention via small groups that included strategies to reduce stress, improve mood and alter health behaviours, were found to have around halved the risk of both breast cancer recurrence (hazards ratio [HR] of 0.55; P=.034) and death from breast cancer (HR of 0.44; P=.016).

Follow-up analyses also demonstrated that women in the groups had a 50% reduced risk of death from all causes (HR of 0.51; P=.028) during the time of the study.
The authors concluded that psychological interventions can improve breast cancer survival.

Reference: Andersen BL et al, Psychologic Intervention Improves Survival for Breast Cancer Patients - A Randomized Clinical Trial.  Cancer. 2008; 113:3450-3458

2. Psychological and behavioural variables can have profound effects on cancer. 
In a related study, a meta-analysis (analysis of a large number of studies) revealed stress-related psychosocial factors to be associated with a higher cancer incidence in initially healthy people, poorer survival in patients diagnosed with cancer, and higher cancer mortality.1

Reference: Chida Y, Hamer M, Wardle J, Steptoe A. Do stress-related psychological factors contribute to cancer incidence and survival? Nat Clin Pract Oncol. 2008;5:466–475. [PubMed]

3. CD47: The cancer breakthrough I believe may really happen
Many of those who attend my workshops may remember I have been speaking hopefully of CD47 for some time. Here is an update.

CD47 is a kind of protein that is found on the surface of many cells in the body. It tells circulating immune cells called macrophages not to eat these cells. The body uses the CD47 protein to protect cells that should be protected and to help dispose of cells that are aged or diseased.

Unfortunately, some cells that should be destroyed are not. Researchers at Stanford discovered that nearly every kind of cancer cell has a large amount of CD47 on the cell surface. This protein signal protects the cancer against attack by the body's immune system.

Stanford investigators have discovered if they block the CD47 "don't-eat-me" signal through the use of anti-CD47 antibodies, macrophages will consume and destroy cancer cells. Deadly human cancers have been diminished or eliminated in animal models through the use of anti-CD47 antibody.

For the last year, many people have been working to make clinical trials in humans possible. Stanford is hopeful that the first human clinical trials of anti-CD47 antibody will take place in mid-2014, and clinical trials may also be done in the United Kingdom. Stay tuned; this one just might work!

4. Mushrooms – cook them and reap the rewards!
Some will know that mushrooms have been under something of a cloud (OK – bad pun ) and even on the Gerson banned list. I have never been able to find a satisfying rationale for this avoidance and more recent research indicates that maybe the problem was eating them raw, while cooking them seems quite beneficial.

In 2009 a study of 2,018 women correlated a large decrease of breast cancer in women who consumed common white button mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus). Women in the study who consumed fresh mushrooms daily were 64% less likely to develop breast cancer, while those that combined a mushroom diet with regular green tea consumption reduced their risk of breast cancer by nearly 90%.

Some studies have revealed that raw A. bisporus - along with some other edible mushrooms - contain small amounts of carcinogens. However, this research also noted that when cooked, these compounds were reduced significantly.

Reference: Zhang, M et al;  "Dietary intakes of mushrooms and green tea combine to reduce the risk of breast cancer in Chinese women". International Journal of Cancer 124 (6): 1404–1408.

HERE IS THE INVITATION

Pause,  focus on the scene below,  take a deeper breath or two,  bring yourself into this present moment     :-) 

then read on

Photo taken near the river at the Gawler Foundation's Yarra Valley Living Centre where we conducted the training /retreat with Dr Nimrod Sheinman recently and where Ruth and I will lead next year's pre-Easter retreat Meditation in the Forest

5. Would you travel to save your life? Surgeons and survival
A fairly well kept secret is that when it comes to cancer surgery, particularly the more complex, complicated surgery, your surgeon’s experience levels can drastically affect your chances of long-term survival. This is an excellent thing to know BEFORE you might ever need it. Tell anyone you care for about it!

This proposition has been further validated recently by a well-funded Swedish prospective cohort study in which all patients who underwent eosophagectomy between 1987 and 2005 were followed until 2011.

Results demonstrated that surgeons who performed above the Swedish median number of operations per year had a 20% reduction in mortality. The median number was about 10 operations per year. What that means is that if you had been operated on by a surgeon who was doing more than 10 esophagectomies per year, you would have had a 20% reduction in mortality.

What should we make of this? Seek an experienced surgeon if you need a tricky operation.

Reference: Derogar M et al. Hospital and surgeon volume in relation to survival after esophageal cancer surgery in a population-based study. J Clin Oncol. 2013;31:551-557.

6. Are PSA tests more trouble than they are worth?
Here we go! This is really going Out on a Limb! PSA testing for prostate cancer seems to ignite untold passions in many of those involved, but speaking in The Age recently, health reporter Julia Medew pointed out

“PSA tests are controversial because they can cause "overdiagnosis" of prostate cancer that is so slow-growing it was never going to cause men harm. It is now estimated that for every man thought to be saved by the test, another 12 to 47 will be diagnosed with cancer that will not kill them. Many will have surgery and other interventions that can lead to sexual impotence and incontinence.”

A recent Australian review has called into question one of the major studies that is used to support PSA screening and in doing so, adds more caution to taking that test.

Here is the Abstract of the paper so that if you are interested you have some facts.

Major clinical trials using prostate-specific antigen (PSA) as the screening test to detect localized early-stage prostate cancer and to attempt to change its natural history with early intervention have yielded conflicting interpretations.

The US Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (US PLCO) cancer screening trial concluded that PSA-based screening conferred no meaningful survival benefit, whereas the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) and the GOTEBORG clinical trial (GOTEBORG) trials claimed statistically significant life-saving benefits.

These divergent outcomes have not provided physicians with clarity on the best evidence-based treatment. To determine the extent to which these divergent outcomes are clinically meaningful, we evaluated these data and those of a long-term prospective cohort study in the context of the clinically documented harms of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) (hormone treatment).

We noted the unheralded fact that in both European trials far more patients received hormonal treatment in the control than the prostatectomy arm, whereas hormonal therapy in the US trial was balanced between arms. We examined this imbalance in ADT treatment and prostate cancer–related deaths in the contexts of contamination, stage migration, and attribution of cause of death, all of which impinge on data interpretation.

The ERSPC and GOTEBORG data are compatible with the hypothesis that ADT treatment contributes differentially to an increase in prostate cancer deaths in control patients. If so, the claim of a reduction in prostate cancer deaths in the screened cohort requires reappraisal.

The conventional interpretation that PSA screening and radical treatment intervention are the major contributors to the results of these two studies needs more rigorous scientific scrutiny, as does the role of ADT treatment of nonmetastatic disease.

Reference: Haines I, Miklos G et al; Prostate-Specific Antigen Screening Trials and Prostate Cancer Deaths: The Androgen Deprivation Connection JNCI J Natl Cancer Inst, Vol 105; 20, 1534-1539.


To read The Age report: CLICK HERE: 

7. Mistletoe doubles survival in advanced pancreatic cancer
Advanced pancreatic cancer is a tough disease and while over the years I have seen a number of people actually survive for long periods following our approach, often the side-effects of any medical treatments are outweighed by any benefits. This then is an interesting study as although the times were still disappointingly short, the mistletoe injections almost doubled survival. Also, mistletoe has been one of those controversial treatments often labelled as "alternative", so it is good to see it being evaluates scientifically and that it does seem to have some efficacy.

Abstract: The unfavourable side-effects of late-stage pancreatic cancer treatments call for non-toxic and effective therapeutic approaches. Over 12 months, we compared the overall survival (OS) of patients receiving an extract of Viscum album Mistletoe (VaL) or no antineoplastic therapy.

Findings: We present the first interim analysis, including data from 220 patients. Patients in both groups received best supportive care. Median OS was 4.8 for VaL and 2.7 months for control patients (prognosis-adjusted hazard ratio, HR = 0.49; p < 0.0001). Within the ‘good’ prognosis subgroup, median OS was 6.6 versus 3.2 months (HR = 0.43; p < 0.0001), within the ‘poor’ prognosis subgroup, it was 3.4 versus 2.0 months respectively (HR = 0.55; p = 0.0031). No VaL-related adverse events were observed.

Conclusion: VaL therapy showed a significant and clinically relevant prolongation of OS. The study findings suggest VaL to be a non-toxic and effective second-line therapy that offers a prolongation of OS as well as less disease-related symptoms for patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Reference: Tro ̈ger W. et al., Viscum album [L.] extract therapy in patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer: A randomised clinical trial on overall survival, Eur J Cancer (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejca.2013.06.043
 

RELATED BLOGS
Let your food be your medicine - more dietary research

Multi-vitamins and cancer

Who needs prostate surgery?

NEWS UPDATE
I am being asked in workshops why coconut oil melts at room temperature, around 22 -24C, yet Prof George Jelinek in his guest blog on coconut oil (Coconut oil- are you nuts?) says the simple, obvious reason not to use coconut oil is that it contains saturated fats that are solid at body temperature - 37C.

At first glance this may seem confusing, but here is the detail, and again, I quote George:

The explanation for this melting point of the oil is pretty simple. Coconut oil is a complex mixture of fats; while 88.7% is saturated fat, there are also mono- and poly-unsaturated fats in the oil, as with other oils.

So the melting point of the oil depends on the relative proportions of the various fats making up the oil, and is lower than the individual melting points of the saturated fats referred to in the blog because of the lower melting points of some of the other shorter chain saturated fats, mono-unsaturated fats, and poly-unsaturated fats.

However, coconut oil does not get absorbed whole, but rather as the individual fatty acids, and it is the melting point of each of those individual fatty acids that is the important factor when they are incorporated into cell membranes.

By way of example, butter melts at 32-35C despite being composed of 63% saturated fats, most of them with melting points higher than body temperature, yet no-one would recommend it for good health.

NOTICEBOARD
Ruth and I will be presenting a range of public talks, workshops and retreats around New Zealand
in November/December.

There are a range of events in Auckland, Rotorua, Christchurch and Nelson.

We are delighted to be including our first meditation retreat in New Zealand (which quite a few Aussies have also booked for already!) - December 2 -8.

Please do let anyone you may know in NZ about the visit -  all the details are on my new public Facebook page: Dr Ian Gawler,    or the website.