New type of breast cancer is mostly hype

Alarming New Trend in Breast Cancer
Diagnoses — Should You Believe the Hype?

By Carol Parks, Contributing Editor

    Imagine… you go in for your regular mammogram and are assured — happily — that you do not have breast cancer.

    But — your doctor claims — you do have a kind of cancer referred to as ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)… also called "stage zero" cancer. Which means irregular cells are lodged in one or more of your breast ducts — the "highways" connecting the milk-producing lobes to your nipples. But they have not escaped to invade the other breast tissue. Yet.



    Will they ever? Maybe… maybe not. Read on…


Continued below. . .

Breast Cancer Breakthrough BANNED! U.S. Government Blocks Release of Doctor's Life-Saving Book     A mammoth discovery is wiping out most breast tumors better than anything seen yet in modern medicine. It makes surgery, radiation and chemotherapy look like something from the Dark Ages.     A Cornell-educated doctor followed more than 25 years of case studies and PROVED this treatment can cure breast cancer. With the discovery I'm going to tell you about, almost every woman makes it and without losing a breast to surgery or taking any toxic chemicals. Even those with late stage cancer!     You've got to include this treatment if you want to have any REAL hope of defeating breast cancer. Click here now and watch a new presentation about this important discovery…

    Being diagnosed with DCIS is complicated, annoying… and horribly frightening.

    On the one hand, you're told not to fret; you don't have invasive cancer and most probably won't (the 10-year survival rate is 99 percent).


    Then again, you're informed you must have the cells surgically removed, along with, in some instances, radiation and chemo… pretty much the same as if you had full-blown cancer.


    Though DCIS is almost always treated, scientists agree that not all cases of DCIS will turn harmful. In fact, most won't. The words "in situ" literally mean "in place" — in other words, non-invasive.


    DCIS comprises 30 percent of all breast cancer diagnoses, and is 99% curable. Breast cancer stages range from 0 to IV. The higher the stage, the worse the cancer… making stage zero seem pretty harmless.



    So why all the hype — and the aggressive treatment? Is it all a hoax?

It all begins with a mammogram

    DCIS is initially detected through mammography. But the trouble is, mammography is a very poor, inaccurate diagnostic tool.

    Perhaps its most glaring problem is its unacceptably high rate of false positives, up to six percent. A false positive occurs when the test mistakenly indicates cancer is present.


    It should be noted that we here at Cancer Defeated suggest you avoid mammography and use thermography, which has better detection for all stages of breast cancer without the risks of spreading potential cancers via compression and radiation. Detailed information about thermography is available in our Special Report, Breast Cancer Cover-Up.



    Getting back to conventional testing, if a mammogram detects an abnormal spot, the next step is usually biopsy — cutting a small amount of tissue from the breast to be examined under a microscope by a pathologist to see if cancer is present.

A 30-year history of confusion, differences of opinion,
and unnecessary treatment

    There's a huge problem with conventional testing…

    An estimated 17 percent of DCIS cases found through needle biopsy are misdiagnosed.¹



    Far from being the infallible "gold standard" claimed by conventional medicine… biopsy is fraught with errors and differences of opinion.


    DCIS is notoriously tricky to diagnose, prone to outright mistakes and case by case disagreements over whether a cluster of cells is benign or malignant.² Discerning these kinds of minute differences is a challenging area of pathology, the science of examining tissue samples for evidence of disease.


    Plus, pathologists vary widely in level of experience and expertise. Some read as few as 50 breast biopsies per year — far less than the acknowledged 250 a biologist needs to perform before you can have confidence in his or her ability.


    Add that to the fact that no diagnostic standards exist for DCIS, nor do any requirements of expertise levels in the pathologists who read them, and you have a real quagmire.



    So maybe this statement by Dr. Shahla Masood, head of pathology at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Jacksonville is not so shocking…


    He told the New York Times, "There are studies that show that diagnosing these borderline breast lesions occasionally comes down to the flip of a coin."³


    Indeed, even where your pathology report is done can affect the diagnosis.



    Many of the hundreds of thousands of biopsies performed each year are done in small community hospitals, where the pathologist may only read a few breast biopsies a year. Thus, they lack exposure to atypical breast lesions. The local pathologist might not even be board certified.


    In larger hospitals, the diagnosis may be decided by a tumor board.


    Beyond diagnostic errors, there's a difference of opinion as to what even constitutes DCIS.


    Dr. Lagios, a San Francisco pathologist who reviews slides for second opinions, uses a criterion that does not classify some breast lesions smaller than 2 mm as DCIS, even if they possess other markers of it.


    On the other hand, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston — also a respected center for breast pathology — those same lesions are considered DCIS.⁴

"We have troubling news to tell you…"

    In 2006, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure cancer group released a disturbing study.

    In it, an estimated 90,000 cases of women who'd received a DCIS or invasive breast cancer diagnosis either (1) did not have the disease, or (2) their pathologist made another error resulting in incorrect treatment.


    This wasn't really a shock to the medical community, since this problem had been cited in the medical literature numerous times.


    Take the illustrative stories of the women in the July 19, 2010 New York Times story as a case in point…



    All of them began their troubling journey with mammography showing a spot… which led to biopsy… and a (mis)diagnosis of DCIS… which then progressed to painful, debilitating, and disfiguring breast surgery… and one even led to radiation therapy — only to be told later that they never had cancer at all.


    Now imagine you've gone through that hellish series of events — and lived with the terrifying fear of invasive breast cancer — only to receive the troubling news that all the fear and pain was for nothing.


    Not very reassuring, even though…

You've got plenty of company

    An estimated one million women will be living with a DCIS diagnosis by 2020… and 50,000 new cases are diagnosed every year, just in the U.S.

    DCIS incidence rose from 1.87 per 100,000 in 1973-75, to a staggering 32.5 per 100,000 in 2004. A more than seventeen times increase… according to a published report by Beth Vernig, PhD and colleagues, in the January 13, 2010 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Virnig is professor of public health at the University of Minnesota, School of Public Health.



    Of course, that doesn't mean there's a sudden increase in this illness, or pre-illness, or whatever it is. It just means that testing has led to a massive increase in the number of cases diagnosed. Mammography may be responsible for the dramatic increase. Before widespread mammography use began in the 1980s, DCIS was rare. Now, since we assume early detection is the best way to "cure" cancer, we actively go looking for it.



    In addition to finding cancer in earlier stages, doctors sometimes find cells in a twilight zone between normal breast cells and cancerous ones — a condition known as DCIS or "stage zero" cancer.

The standard treatment protocol

    With few exceptions (notably elderly women with other health issues), standard practice is to treat DCIS as cancer, rather than monitor it to see if it progresses over time.

    This means doctors are surely over-treating some (perhaps many) patients. Conventional medicine claims to lack the necessary tools to identify who should be treated and who should be watched. They may have a point, but…



    With a DCIS diagnosis, your current treatment is almost always surgery — either a lumpectomy or mastectomy, depending on how widespread the cells appear to be in the ducts. As Allegra says, "it's hard to imagine not doing any surgery."⁵ (Emphasis mine.)



    If the cells are concentrated in one location, you'll get a lumpectomy followed by radiation… which conventional medicine says slashes the risk of recurrence in that breast (but not the other one) by half. But if abnormal cells are fairly widespread, they'll typically advise a mastectomy and skip the post-op radiation.


    Some women, particularly young women with a family history of breast cancer or genetic mutation (placing them at higher risk) even opt for a double mastectomy.


    The rate of double mastectomies for DCIS patients skyrocketed from 4.1 percent in 1998 to 13.5 percent in 2005 — well more than a three-fold increase — according to a study published in April 2009 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.


    Your doctor may sometimes recommend Tamoxifen (a chemotherapy drug) along with surgery.

So, what if YOU get a DCIS diagnosis?

    First, take a deep breath and realize that mistakes are regularly made. There's no need to panic.

    If you're diagnosed with DCIS or any type of early stage breast cancer, ALWAYS get a second — if not a third and fourth — opinion. False positive rates are so high, the diagnostic criteria so subjective, and the risks of surgery, radiation, and chemo too great to forgo this step.


    Before you make any treatment decisions, have your biopsy results reviewed specifically by a breast specialist.



    As mentioned above, there are pathologists who specialize in rendering second opinions. I would certainly be willing to pay for it out of my own pocket, if necessary, before rushing into conventional medicine's slice and burn protocol.


    Some doctors are increasingly urging the cautionary principle even with a clear DCIS diagnosis. A wait and see attitude. There seems to be a growing body of evidence suggesting that some breast cancers may spontaneously regress without treatment.⁶


    Certainly a "wait and see" stance gives you a heads-up and an opportunity to engage in some of the strategies we discuss here and in our publications.

The controversy about over-treatment

    Lawsuits from women who have been wrongly diagnosed -- and undergone radical disfiguring surgeries as a result -- may be affecting the treatment landscape and giving credence to a less aggressive approach.

    Conventional medicine is quick to rush you into surgery. But researchers at the University of California-San Francisco see DCIS as part of a larger problem of cancer over-treatment.


    Laura Esserman, director of the Carol Franc Buck Cancer Center and Professor of Surgery and Radiology, co-authored the 'controversial' analysis in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2009… which calls for a new look at screening for both breast and prostate cancer.


    Her argument: Mammography catches more early cancers, but the number caught at more advanced stages has not declined at a similar rate — which you'd expect if they were simply identifying early cases before they progress.



    So screening may just be finding cases that don't need treatment.

What if we took the carcinoma out of ductal
carcinoma in situ -- DCIS --and eased up on treatments?

    There's growing pressure in the medical community for dropping the "carcinoma" from DCIS — saying it is troubling and misleading (which is impossible to disagree with).

    These same proponents also suggest DCIS as an excellent candidate for "active surveillance" — a watching-waiting strategy that skips surgery and radiation unless the condition progresses to higher risk.



    So far, most of the drive for active surveillance seems to be coming from UC-San Francisco. Dr. Esserman has been especially forthright in demanding change in the naming and management of minimal risk cancers including DCIS.⁷



    She advocates that minimal risk lesions should not be called cancer, and proposed a new term… saying the new name encourages a search for good outcomes without over-treating a rather benign condition.


    With DCIS, "the bulk of what we find is not high grade… less than five percent of DCIS turns out to be 'something else' including invasive cancer," explained Dr. Esserman to Medscape Oncology in an interview.



    Only high-grade DCIS tends to progress to invasive breast cancer. "If if doesn't look like high-grade DCIS, we should leave it alone. We would eliminate two-thirds of all biopsies if we did," says Dr. Esserman.



    She states that there's sufficient data to rethink our entire approach to DCIS.


    I'm sure eliminating two-thirds of all biopsies and practicing active surveillance will rattle those whose livelihoods depend on it. But that's exactly the route I'd choose.


Kindest regards,

Lee Euler,
Publisher

---

Footnotes from 1st article:

¹http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/health/20cancer.html?_r=3&th&emc=th


²http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/health/20cancer.html?_r=3&th&emc=th
³http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/health/20cancer.html?_r=3&th&emc=th
⁴http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/health/20cancer.html?_r=3&th&emc=th


⁵http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/cancer/articles/2009/10/22/
the-confusion-over-dcis-what-to-do-about-stage-zero-breast-cancer

⁶http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/584147


⁷Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA. 2009;302:1685-1692).

References from second article:

"Cancer Death Rates Continue to Decline," by Katie Moisse. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/01/04/cancer-deaths-continue-to-decline/



"Cancer death rates continue to drop," by Amanda Gardner, HealthDay. http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/medical/cancer/story/2012-01-05/Cancer-death-rates-continue-to-drop/52387824/1


"Report: U.S. Cancer Death Rates Continue to Drop," by Dr. David B. Samadi. http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/01/10/report-us-cancer-death-rates-continue-to-drop/


Fighting Cancer, ebook, by K.W.A. Jayawardana. http://www.nadula.info/healinghelp/FightingCancer/pdf/5%20Cancer%20statistics.pdf

#21 BOWIE STATE CRUISE TO 70-60 CONFERENCE VICTORY OVER JOHNSON C. SMITH

#21 BOWIE STATE CRUISE TO 70-60 CONFERENCE VICTORY OVER JOHNSON C. SMITH                 (BOWIE, Md. – January 19, 2012)  A late arriving A.C. Jordan Arena crowd got into their seats just in time to see the 21st ranked Bulldogs cruise to a rather easy 70-60 conference victory over Johnson C. Smith University.  With the win, Bowie State improves to 12-3 overall (4-2 CIAA) while the Golden Bulls dip to 7-8 overall (2-3 CIAA).             “I thought our guys did a terrific job overall defensively, especially against (Trevin) Parks” said a tired BSU head coach Darrell Brooks.  The Golden Bulls had their second lowest shooting percentage of the season. Johnson C. Smith shot just 33 percent (20-60) from the field, compared to 46 percent (29-63) shooting for Bowie State.  The Bulldogs outscored the Golden Bulls 34-22 in the paint and 16-0 off second chance opportunities.  Bowie State never trailed in the game and led by 13 (35-22) late in the first half.  The Bulldogs defense allowed just six points over the final 6:04 of the first period and strolled into halftime with a 35-24 advantage. The Bulldogs lead ballooned to a game-high 24 points, opening the second half with a 13-0 run, padding the Bowie State lead at 48-24. Antwan Wilkerson had a team-high 12 points with nine rebounds. Phillip Wood produced a double-double of 11 points and 10 boards and Trevin Parks had a season-low 11 points with five assists. Senior Jay Gavin scored a game-high 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field and included 5-of-8 beyond the 3-point line.  Senior Darren Clark and junior Bryan Wilson rounded out Bowie State’s double figure scorers with 11 points each.  Senior Travis Hyman led the Bulldogs on the glass with seven rebounds and a game-high four blocks. Bowie State University will head south again for their next two games with the first stop coming in Murfreesboro (N.C.) against the Chowan University Hawks on Saturday (January 21st) at 4 pm.  Following that game, Bowie State will invade Elizabeth City State’s Vaughan Center on Monday (January 23rd) at 7:30 pm.  Both games are doubleheaders with the Lady Bulldogs.

Independence from your digestive problems

The complete digestive system breakthrough! You’ve got a shelf full of digestive remedies. You’re eating better. And yet you wonder... Why Your Tummy Still Hurts Stop putting temporary Band-Aids on your digestion problems! Instead, stop your digestive troubles by strengthening your entire digestive system. This simple yet comprehensive solution is so effective and far-reaching that many patients report that joint pain, allergies and other health problems also improve — and in some cases disappear! For years, whenever a patient came to me with digestive problems, I gave them the best treatments available. I’d prescribe probiotics, enzymes, diet changes… Do You Have a Weak Digestive System? Do you have a weak digestive system—one that could lead to (or be causing) serious digestive and other health problems such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, joint pain, and blood sugar problems? Here are some common overlooked signs of a weak digestive system: Symptom: You feel tired after a meal — When your digestion is weak you can’t push food through your digestive tract effectively. Your body reacts by stealing energy from other parts of your body to get the food down. With less energy circulating throughout your body, you feel tired. Symptom: You get cold easily — When you don’t produce enough digestive enzymes or acid to break down food into small enough bits to absorb its nutrients, your body senses this lack of nutrients. It compensates by diverting circulation from less vital body parts (such as your hands and feet) to supply more crucial parts (like your brain and heart). With less circulation to your extremities, you get cold more easily. Symptom: You experience declining memory or “brain fog” — Weak digestion can lead to digestion-related food allergies—a leading cause of “brain fog.” In addition, your brain and your digestive system are intimately connected neurologically. And so when your digestion is weak, it affects your brain, clouding your mind. It can even eventually lead to dementia. The good news is, your digestive system can heal itself—once it’s strengthened. Keep reading to find out how. Sure, their symptoms improved slightly — as long as they made the changes I suggested (some of which were quite restrictive). But they continued to complain about stomach pain, gas, constipation, or diarrhea. Some still couldn’t eat certain foods. And some still bloated so badly they had to unbutton their pants after a meal. I knew how frustrated my patients were because I’ve had a sensitive stomach myself for most of my life. Fatty foods made me tired. Salads often gave me gas. Other foods caused bloating and other discomfort. Well, no more. I’m happy to say I finally found a single digestive remedy that really works for me, for my patients, and for thousands of people with digestion problems around the world. New digestive remedy provides all-over vitality In fact, as you’re about to discover, it works so well that many patients report other health problems improving — and even vanishing — as their rejuvenated digestive system delivers new health and vitality throughout their entire bodies. This remedy is not like anything you have ever tried before. Because it doesn’t just work on one part of your digestion. And because it doesn’t just mask your symptoms while leaving the root causes of your problems untreated. Instead, it strengthens and balances your entire digestive system. Because once each part is balanced and strengthened, your entire system can run the way it’s supposed to — as it did when you were younger. Free from digestive problems and free to supply your body with the nutrients it needs. And that is why it’s the only digestive remedy I now recommend to my patients. I’m Dr. Nan Kathryn Fuchs. I’ve been a nutritionist in private practice for over 31 years, and authored eight best-selling books on nutrition and health. I’m also a well-known health writer and the editor of a popular alternative health newsletter. I want to tell you more about this amazing new discovery in a moment. But first, let’s look at why what you’ve been doing to relieve your digestive problems probably hasn’t worked. And why without a truly healthy digestive system, you’ll never achieve the good health — and freedom from health problems — that you desire. And deserve! Stop treating symptoms— treat what’s causing them Most digestion remedies don’t work because they only treat your symptoms, not the root cause. So your problems keep coming back. It’s like trying to cure a cavity with a shot of Novocain. The pain goes away (temporarily), but the cavity is still eating away at your tooth. In no branch of medicine is treating symptoms rather than root causes more common than when it comes to digestive problems. For example: Taking antacids may temporarily soothe your painful stomach. But antacids don’t balance your acid production, which is what keeps your stomach calm. When there’s food in your stomach, your body needs to produce enough acid to digest it and make sure it’s broken down efficiently and completely. That’s what eliminates gas and bloating. (Most people, as they get older, actually produce too little acid. This causes an acid “imbalance” and acid gets produced when there’s no food in your stomach — eating away at your stomach lining.) Ingesting enzymes if you’re low on them is a good temporary solution. But you have to take them all the time, with every meal, and make sure you’re getting the right ones for the foods you eat. Wouldn’t it be better if your digestive system was healthy and strong enough to produce the enzymes it needs on its own? Relying on laxatives can make you more regular. But why isn’t your digestive system strong enough to push what you consume through more speedily on its own? You want food to get through quickly and be broken down efficiently and completely — so it doesn’t sit around and “putrefy,” and so you can get the maximum benefit from it. Until you strengthen and balance your entire digestive system, your problems are likely to continue to worsen. And unfortunately, the rest of your health is likely to deteriorate right along with your digestive health! But the good news is that strengthening and balancing your entire digestive system is now as easy as taking a single dietary supplement. Remember when you were a teenager and could eat anything? My search for a better way to treat digestive problems led me to Dr. Isaac Eliaz, a renowned healer and researcher who heads a team of scientists at EcoNugenics — a leading research lab right here in the U.S. The EcoNugenics team has formulated what I think is the best digestive remedy available anywhere today — at any price. It’s called Integrative Digestive Formula™. I’ve tested it thoroughly. I’ve seen it work on my own body. And I see it work on my patients every day. Now when my patients return for a follow-up visit, they no longer tell me they still have digestive problems. Instead, they excitedly tell me what they can eat again, how much lighter they feel, and how they can stay out all day without worrying if there’s a bathroom nearby. Many tell me they feel as if they’ve gotten their lives back. Like 53-year-old JoAnn, who battled chronic constipation since she was young. For JoAnn, waiting days between each painful bowel movement wasn’t her biggest problem. Nor was it the bloating, stomach cramps or acid reflux it caused. It was the chronic exhaustion. JoAnn constantly struggled to muster enough energy to get through simple chores such as doing the laundry or dishes. It took every bit of willpower to go to work everyday. JoAnn recalls, “It was hard for people to understand how physically drained this made me. I kept telling my husband: ‘I’m so exhausted.’ And he’d say: ‘What are you talking about? You slept 10 hours!’” Before long, her exhaustion affected her emotionally. She obsessed about when her next bowel movement would come. And she was constantly stressed from not having enough energy to do what she needed to do. Over the years, JoAnn tried detox regimens, cleanses, acupuncture, drugs, supplements and diet changes. But they gave her only temporary relief — or none at all. Yet within a few days on Integrative Digestive Formula™, JoAnn’s bowel movements came regularly and easily for the first time in decades. As she said in her own words: “It’s not like a laxative where it’s a quick fix just for the moment. I can feel this moving more energy into my stomach. It regulated and balanced my system so now, I never think about my bowel movements anymore.” As JoAnn’s digestion strengthened, her health improved as well. Her weight dropped, her acid reflux healed, the painful bloating vanished, her energy levels soared and she sleeps soundly throughout the night. She even takes fewer vitamins and other supplements now that her stronger digestion is better able to absorb the nutrients from foods. But that’s not all. For years, JoAnn lived with a constant, sharp pain from cysts in her chest. Doctors told her there was nothing they could do about it. And since JoAnn’s family has a history of breast cancer, you can imagine how much she worried about those chronic cysts. But after JoAnn’s digestion strengthened, her cysts disappeared — and haven’t returned since! Try Integrative Digestive Formula Risk-Free. Lower cholesterol and blood sugar — even lose weight! As I said, I take Integrative Digestive Formula™ myself. Since childhood, I couldn’t remember a day when my stomach felt “normal.” But now, foods that used to give me gut-wrenching cramps don’t bother me anymore. And I even stopped taking enzymes. For me, that’s a big deal because I relied on enzymes every day for 18 years! It’s exciting to have finally liberated myself and so many of my patients from digestion troubles. But what really thrills me is how their bodies heal as their digestion strengthens. Blood pressure often normalizes. Cholesterol may go down. Blood sugar levels often decline. And, in some cases, years of illness actually reverse! Here’s another wonderful “side-effect” of stronger digestion: It can help you lose weight by helping you digest carbohydrates and sugars, reducing sugar cravings, and improving your metabolism. And because skin conditions and allergies are both affected by the quality of your digestion, don’t be surprised if your skin clears up and your allergies disappear. How can one pill do so much? Integrative Digestive Formula™ is a unique blend of herbs, medicinal mushrooms and other ingredients that work together to not just relieve your symptoms, but to strengthen and heal your entire digestive system. (That’s the only path to real, long-term relief of your digestive problems.) Chinese and Tibetan herbs ignite your digestive fire Integrative Digestive Formula™ is based on the understanding of Eastern medicine that a digestive “fire” (or energy) burns in your belly. When your digestion gives you trouble, Eastern doctors say your fire has cooled down too much, making your system sluggish. So they prescribe “rekindling” herbs that support your digestive functions. This might sound odd at first, but if you think about it, rekindling your fire really does make sense. After all, your stomach acids really do burn and break down the foods you eat. Enzymes work by melting down fats, proteins and carbohydrates so you’re able to absorb and utilize them. When the rekindling herbs fire up your digestive functions, your system can really do the job it’s meant to do and start working at closer to its full potential speed. This relieves the strain on your digestive system, so it can finally begin healing itself. For example, the rekindling herbs in Integrative Digestive Formula™ stimulate your stomach to provide healthful digestive acids when you need them. Other herbs trigger a stream of active enzymes into your small intestine to break down fats. But a strong fire must be contained in a strong system. That’s why Integrative Digestive Formula™ works to strengthen your intestinal walls — the musculature that supports all your food-processing activity and keeps things moving. Strong intestinal walls help push food and waste completely through the long 30-foot trek down your GI tract. Faster movement prevents toxins from building up in your intestines. This is important because toxins signal your body to produce inflammation to fight those toxins. As you may know, many medical professionals now believe inflammation is at the root of many of today’s health problems — from allergies and joint pain to more serious problems. That’s why, as your digestive system heals and your inflammation calms, you may see many of your current health issues begin to reverse. In addition, many doctors believe that reducing your “inflammation load” can protect you from more serious health problems later in life. Fire up your digestion with Integrative Digestive Formula. With all this extra support firing up your digestive system, it can begin working quickly, efficiently, and smoothly again. And this is when the real magic happens… Turn your digestive system into a self-healing machine Did you know that your digestion — just like other parts of your body — is designed to heal itself? It’s just like the way your skin naturally heals from a small cut on your finger. The trouble is, most digestion remedies actually prevent you from healing. We talked earlier about how most remedies focus on your symptoms, not the cause. The only way these remedies give you relief is by dumping a boat load of an ingredient into your system — like psyllium fiber (for constipation) or an antacid such as sodium bicarbonate (for heartburn) — and hoping it does the trick. Your digestive system gets so much “help” that before long, it stops trying to work on its own. It ends up relying on the remedies and they become a crutch. So your digestive system continues getting weaker. Before long, you need a bigger crutch (a higher dose) for even slight relief. Less and less seems to work anymore until one day, nothing seems to work. Integrative Digestive Formula™, on the other hand, contains just enough of each ingredient to kick-start your digestive processes. And once it gets kick-started, your body naturally takes over: For example: Your intestinal walls fire up with renewed energy, pushing out impacted waste and eliminating it like clockwork (no more constipation or diarrhea)! Your newly fortified intestinal walls prevent toxins, viruses and parasites from entering your bloodstream. So inflammation begins to vanish and other health problems begin to disappear! Your stomach floods with healthful enzymes and acids to quickly and completely digest anything you eat. Your body gets the nutrients it needs. And you may find yourself enjoying foods you’ve stayed away from for years! What’s more, modern life constantly beats up your digestion with unavoidable stresses such as pollution, chemicals, and psychological and physical stress. But with Integrative Digestive Formula™, your digestive system will have the strength to resist those attacks. So your digestion can work smoothly and begin to heal. To speed up this healing process — both in your digestive system and throughout your body — Integrative Digestive Formula™ also contains.... Medicinal mushrooms that super-charge your immune system When you have a weakened digestion, the toxins building up in your body are doing more than triggering inflammation. They also attack your immune system. These toxins travel through your bloodstream, killing off healthy cells — making you vulnerable to illness and disease. In addition, when digestion is weak, your intestines can become “leaky” — allowing large molecules to get absorbed into the blood stream, damaging organs and tissues. A strong, healthy gut creates a healthy barrier and protects you. That’s why Integrative Digestive Formula™ supports your immune system with a “dream team” of powerhouse medicinal mushrooms: Hericium, Maitake and Poria. Their immunity boosting secret? High doses of immune-boosting beta glucans activate your body’s own disease-fighting immune cells. Once activated, these immune cells roam every nook and cranny of your body, busily gobbling up toxins, viruses and bacteria. They also recognize mutated cells — destroying them before they can multiply and cause serious problems. These extra beta glucans turn on so many immune cells that your entire immune system is soon rebuilt and refortified — protecting every cell in your body, and helping you stay (or get!) strong and healthy. You aren’t what you eat…you are what you absorb You’ve probably heard the old saying, “you are what you eat.” But I tell my patients that we really should say: “You are what you eat, digest and absorb.” After all, if you can’t extract the nutrients out of what you eat, then eating the healthiest foods in the world won’t do you much good. That’s why an important benefit of Integrative Digestive Formula™ is that as your digestive system begins to strengthen and heal, it gets better and better at doing its job: absorbing the nutrients from the foods you eat (as well as from any vitamins and supplements you take). In addition, digestive enzymes play an important role in breaking down your food so it can be readily absorbed. Unfortunately, as we get older, we produce fewer enzymes. That’s why Integrative Digestive Formula™ includes a wide array of digestive enzymes to support the healing process of your digestive tract. (Even while it’s encouraging your system to produce more enzymes on its own.) With these extra enzymes, you’ll absorb more of what you eat and you’ll get more out of any supplements and even any medicines that you take. Now you’re truly on the road to better digestive health—and better overall health as well! With so much packed into each capsule, it’s not surprising how quickly your digestion strengthens. But what might surprise you is how quickly your other health issues can improve: That “foggy-headed” feeling may finally clear. You may find yourself feeling like your old self again as thoughts come faster, you recall names more easily, and don’t waste time searching for lost glasses or a misplaced key. This is because your digestion-related allergies will begin to clear, and they’re a major factor in brain fog and brain aging. In addition, scientists now know that important chemicals that enable brain cells to communicate with each other (neuropeptids) are actually produced in the digestive tract, and strengthening your digestive system can enable you to produce more of them. As the inflammation in your body begins to disappear, you may find that you’re no longer limited by stiff, painful joints. Instead, they’re flexible and virtually pain-free. So you can spend hours enjoying your favorite hobbies again. Healthy digestion means better energy and resistance. As your immunity strengthens, you may find that you can stay healthy through the cold season — even when everyone around you is coughing and sneezing. You may find yourself more energized — not in jittery surges, but consistently all day long. You can get more done without worrying about “overdoing it” or feeling exhausted the next day. (Doesn’t it make sense that if the furnace that burns the fuel that powers your body is operating at maximum capacity, you’ll have more energy?) And you may find yourself sleeping like a baby once again — deeply and soundly, without waking up through the night. In the morning, you’ll feel refreshed and well-rested. Thanks to better digestion leading to better energy production, less or no heartburn, and fewer swings in blood sugar and insulin levels. With a strong digestion, many of my patients tell me they feel “alive” again — that they enjoy life more now that they aren’t restricted by nagging health issues and slowed by aches and pains. And for many, that’s just the beginning. Because reduced inflammation means better circulation and more oxygen getting to every cell in your body. That can be a big help with your vision problems (your eyes depend on nutrients getting to them), blood pressure, blood sugar levels and cholesterol. Relieve your health worries by healing your digestion with Integrative Digestive Formula. Significant, lasting relief—even when other remedies have failed—GUARANTEED For so many people who have suffered for years with digestive problems, what astonishes them most about Integrative Digestive Formula™ is how quickly they found significant relief. Other remedies make you wait up to two weeks before you feel the slightest improvement. Instead, Integrative Digestive Formula™ goes to work quickly, because it addresses the root causes of your problems while it gives you immediate digestive support. Within the first day or two, you may find, as other have, the knots in your stomach relaxing…finally putting an end to that nasty burning sensation in your chest, or your constant trips to the bathroom, or your lack of regular bowel movements. Fast relief also shows how quickly your digestion is strengthening. That’s great to know because the sooner that happens, the sooner your other health issues can start fading away, and the sooner you begin protecting yourself from more serious health problems later. I can go on and on about Integrative Digestive Formula™ — how it changed my life and how it has dramatically helped my patients. But what really matters is how it can help you. To find out, why not try a bottle yourself? It’s absolutely risk free because Integrative Digestive Formula™ is guaranteed to erase your toughest digestion problems — even the ones that have haunted you for decades. That’s a bold promise. But it’s what I and my patients have experienced ourselves. So get some to try today. If you don’t feel it’s working — starting to rid you of your toughest digestion problems, as it did for my patients and me — then simply return the bottle — even if it’s empty! We’ll refund every penny you paid. Why spend another day letting your digestion get worse — and your overall health along with it? You can get a month’s supply of Integrative Digestive Formula™ for only $34.95. That’s a full month of heightened immunity and digestive support for less than the cost of a nice dinner out! I’m confident you’ll notice a difference in the first 30 days. (As I said before, many people tell me they feel better in just a few days!) Once you see how much better you feel and how much easier it is to digest the foods you love, you won’t want to miss a single day. And you’ll want to keep taking it to fully heal your digestive system. So I recommend you stock up so you don’t have to keep reordering.  When you do, you can: Buy 3, Get 1 Bottle FREE Try a 3-month supply of Integrative Digestive Formula™ for just $104.85 plus shipping and handling. And you’ll receive a fourth bottle FREE. That’s a $34.95 savings off the regular price.  Plus, you’ll also receive … FREE Gift #1: What You Need to Know About Supplements BEFORE You Buy (a $9.95 value). Many of my patients call me and say, “Dr. Fuchs, there are so many supplements out there … what should I really be taking?” You’ve probably read about almost every nutritional option out there … but you may not know which ones can help and which ones can hurt. Get the real story on what to buy, what to avoid, and what really works. Without wasting your money or risking your health.  You’ll discover … How to take fewer supplements and feel even better. Why mega-dosing isn’t always best. Why popular one-a-day vitamin formulas are a waste of your money. And what to take instead. How to select high-quality nutritional supplements. Once you know these tricks, you’ll never be taken again. The juice you should never drink when taking zinc to fight a cold. Cancels out the zinc! The truth about coral calcium. Is it really healthier and more absorbable than other kinds? Here’s the answer based on scientific research. The right way to take CoQ10. If you leave this important step out, you’re not getting all the nutrients you need. I’ll be happy to send this report to you as soon as possible.  It’s your FREE with the Buy-3-Get-1-Free Savings Pack.  That’s a combined value of $149.75 for only $104.85 — a total savings of $44.90! Follow this link to place your order right now! But if you’re really serious about keeping your digestive system in top-notch form for the long run — and saving the most money you can — you should … Buy 6, Get 2 Bottles FREE This is by far the best value. Try a 6-month supply of Integrative Digestive Formula™ and get the lowest price per bottle—a savings of $69.90 off the regular price. It’s like getting 2 bottles free, plus you receive both of these free gifts: FREE Gift #1: What You Need to Know About Supplements BEFORE You Buy (a $9.95 value). FREE Gift #2: A handy digital pedometer (a $9.95 value). As you free yourself of digestive worries, you’ll get back the freedom and energy to do what you want.  You’ll become more active.  A terrific way to measure your success and keep yourself motivated is with a pedometer. You can use it to keep track of all the miles you walk in a normal day.  Then watch that number climb as you get outside and exercise! It’s yours free when you get the Buy-6-Get-2-FREE Savings Pack.  That’s a combined value of $299.50 for only $209.70 — a total savings of $89.80.  Follow this link to place your order right now! And it gets even better, because … The shipping’s on me if you respond by Friday, January 27th Integrative Digestive Formula™ is not available in stores.  There’s no other way to get it unless you order it by mail.  And that means incurring shipping and handling charges. In fact, you’d normally have to pay $6.95 for shipping and handling of your Integrative Digestive Formula™.  (I’m told this barely covers the cost of packaging your bottle for safe, fresh, secure arrival. Especially if you order a six-month supply.) But I’ve arranged for you to receive FREE shipping and handling when you request Integrative Digestive Formula™  by midnight Friday, January 27th.  That’s right!  You won’t pay a single penny. Why have I done this?  Because I want you to get this powerful formula into your hands as soon as possible — so it can start improving your digestive health right away. Consider it my friendly little nudge to get you to act now. Remember, you can only get free shipping if you order Integrative Digestive Formula™ by midnight January 27th. So why not do it now, while it’s still fresh in your mind?  After all, you're fully protected by my down-to-the-last-pill guarantee. There’s no reason to spend another day living with your digestive problems (as in “you’ll just have to live with them”). Not when you can try Integrative Digestive Formula™ risk-free. You have nothing to lose — except the pain and suffering you endure now. And ordering couldn’t be easier. Just click here or call 1-800-791-3395 and they’ll rush your supply of Integrative Digestive Formula™ to you right away. The friendly health consultants are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Yours for total digestive health, Nan Kathryn Fuchs, PhD P.S. Modern life constantly beats on your digestive system. Stress, medications, pollution, eating on the run…all weaken your digestion so it can’t do its job. It’s no wonder why over half of us suffer from digestion troubles. But you don’t have to be one of them anymore. Try Integrative Digestive Formula™ risk-free. Click here right now or call 800-791-3395 today for your rushed shipment. ABNFRMPA12

What's your risk of dying of cancer?

The Numbers Show a Cancer Death Decline ... But There's More to the Story     The number of people dying from cancer has dropped drastically, at least according to new reports from the American Cancer Society.     Their numbers show a drop in mortality rates by 23 percent for men and 15 percent for women as compared with numbers 20 years ago. Overall, death rates have fallen for the four most common cancers: lung, colon, breast, and prostate.     Rates refer to number of cancer deaths per thousand people. If 10 people per thousand were dying from the disease in 1990 and 8 people per thousand were dying in 2010, the decline from 10 to 8 would be a 20 percent decline. Continued below. . . An Important Message for Men Over 40 From David Blyweiss, M.D. Men who SLEEP SOUNDLY Through the Night have Discovered... THE SWEDISH PROSTATE SECRET! It's NOT Saw Palmetto or Beta-Sitosterol! In the remote area of northern Sweden, scientists have discovered a rare natural powerhouse... An ingredient that virtually wipes out the pain, worry, and embarrassment of prostate trouble. Now, this secret ingredient has been successfully tested in over 100 clinical trials with thousands of men reporting astonishing relief! "Instead of getting up four times a night, I am currently only getting up once!"--John S. "My urine stream is so much better...I no longer have discomfort." --Thomas J. "I am 90% improved!" --David B. "This is the first prostate product that I have taken that actually works." --Karl S. And they did it without risk, embarrassment, or doctor's visits! Click here for details on the Swedish Prostate Secret!     More specific reports show death rates from cancer went down by 1.8 percent (i.e. per hundred people) for men and 1.6 percent for women between 2004 and 2008. Data for the reports comes from the National Cancer Institute and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.     The research also shows annual death rates for two minority groups — black men and Hispanic men — dropped most dramatically, at 2.4 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively.     Childhood cancer rates have also improved, with the five-year survival rate up to 83 percent (it was only 58 percent in the mid-1970s). From what I can learn, this is because of great success at treating leukemia, the most common type of childhood cancer. But please note that the percentage of children getting leukemia is actually going up. We're fortunate this disease is now treatable.     Overall, cancer is the #2 cause of death among children above the age of one, only exceeded by accidents. This is a tragic fact. My guess is it's due to the massive proliferation of untested chemicals and our unhealthy diets.     But having said all this, I put little faith in the official count of who died from cancer and who didn't. Generally, cancer patients die of an infection such as pneumonia, or of heart failure — brought on by multiple rounds of chemotherapy that shatter the immune system, exhaust the patients, and leave them vulnerable to death from some cause other than cancer. Doctors don't count these deaths as cancer fatalities. So the statistics for cancer deaths are essentially meaningless.     Why the decline in officially-measured cancer death rates? The American Cancer Society attributes the improved numbers to early detection and treatment.     Yet, this can't be the whole story. After all, prostate cancer screening is no longer even recommended. According to the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF), prostate cancer screening provided no reduction in mortality.     We should also note that less common cancers are actually on the rise. These include cancers of the pancreas, liver, kidney, esophagus, thyroid, and skin. Experts don't know the reason for the increase, but a few point their fingers at the obesity epidemic. "More than a million deaths averted"     That's according to Dr. Ahmedin Jemal, coauthor of the study that shows a decline in cancer. He was the first to cite early detection and treatment as an explanation for the reduction in deaths. He also cited improvements in cancer prevention, but at the same time pointed out that cancer deaths overall are bound to go up because of our aging, ever-growing population.     Jemal went on to say the best way to overcome these disparities is to expand medical centers, put more doctors in place, and energize the health sector. That way, the medical professionals can apply what they know to all segments of the population.     At the same time, Jemal — and most of mainstream medicine, like him — seems more focused on treating the symptoms of cancer on a massive level … instead of actively working to stop cancer from starting in the first place. The problem with cancer statistics     Most people read cancer statistics and assume cancer is evenly spread throughout a population. But that's not true. Look at breast cancer in England and Wales. According to a report from several years ago, breast cancer in women over 45 who lived in Leicestershire was 20% higher than the national average. Yet, in Cumberland it was 20% lower than the average. Oddly, Cumberland women were 50% more likely than average to have malignant melanomas, yet nearby in Durham, incidence was 30% below average.     How do you account for all the variation? It's pretty simple. It's practically positive proof that cancer extends far beyond genes into diet, lifestyle, and environmental factors.     Wouldn't you agree then, that interventions should be more focused on these areas than in adding more medical centers to the world?     The problem with cancer statistics is that they get everybody excited about facts that may not matter in the grand scheme of things. You see, there are a number of ways to parse the numbers, and mainstream medicine tends to cook the figures to make itself look good.     I can easily believe the absolute number of lung cancer deaths is down because of the decline in smoking. Deaths from breast cancer went down massively when women found out hormone replacement therapy was a dangerous treatment, and stopped doing it. The reduction in new breast cancer cases was swift and drastic following this discovery.     And I do know colonoscopy screening is touted as a great success and doctors are catching a huge number of colon polyps before they become tumors.     The survival rate is even pretty good for more developed cases of colon cancer, those where a portion of the colon has to be removed by surgery. But I also have to tell you that life can be unpleasant following the operation.     When it comes to prostate cancer, I'd be suspicious that there's been any real progress. Aggressive screening has led to the discovery of a great many more prostate tumors than in the old days, but most of those tumors would have remained undiscovered (and harmless — part of the reason these screenings are going out of vogue). The old saying is "Most men die WITH prostate cancer, not OF it."     If a man over 65 has a small prostate tumor, chances are pretty good he'll die years later of some other cause. 30 years ago those little tumors weren't even diagnosed. Nowadays they're found, treated (usually over-treated) and the medical statisticians claim they've "saved a life."     For early-stage prostate cancer, total removal of the prostate is said to be nearly 100% successful at preventing cancer death. But the quality of life is low following prostatectomy, and in my opinion most or all of these early-stage cancers can be cured by alternative treatments, without surgery.     The underlying problem here is that as cancer rates improve slightly, everybody gets excited about early detection and surgical or drug intervention but little progress is made at prevention. And of course nondrug, nonsurgical alternatives are largely ignored although they could really knock down cancer rates. Your health is in your hands     The American Cancer Society itself admits that at least 25 percent of total cancer deaths can be prevented because they relate to lifestyle issues: tobacco use, being overweight, lack of exercise, and poor nutrition. I would guess even more could be prevented if we paid more attention to environment and cultural issues.     Cancer remains an extraordinary problem. In North America and Western Europe alone, it's the equivalent of eight fully-loaded jumbo 747s crashing every day with no survivors. It's only going to get worse because the population is aging, and the risk of cancer rises sharply with age.     Health officials and individuals at risk should focus more on why cancers develop in the first place. This means examining everything about the way we live, from the food we eat, to the sources of our food, to the government subsidies that promote certain foods over others. And instead of looking the other way, they should also focus more on toxins in our soil, chemicals in our homes, and all the cultural trends that promote sitting the whole day through and never getting off our hind ends.