Be a survivor: if you were on a desert isle, what herb would you take along? - frontiers of science - Brief Article

When I called Dr. James Duke the other day to ask him a question about a journal article on garlic and cancer, he asked me to hold on, since he had a pot of garlic soup on the oven and didn't want it to burn!

"If I were stranded on a desert isle, I'd rather have garlic than almost any other herb," Duke said. "It'll boost your immune system and fight the nasties better than anything I can think of."

And there are plenty of bugs and diseases around, some of them deadly serious. In fact, since 1990, 15 `million new cases of cancer were diagnosed. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), by 1997 8.9 million Americans with a history of cancer were alive--some of the people still living were considered cured while others still had evidence of cancer and were undergoing treatment.

It's expected that, when the figures for 2001 are tabulated, approximately 1,268,000 new cancer cases will have been reported. The predicted figures are also supposed to tell us that about 553,400 Americans will have died of cancer in 2001. This dreaded disease robs 1,500 people a day of life; in fact, one out of four deaths is from cancer.

As daunting as cancer stats are, there really is some good news out there--lifestyle modifications (e.g., diet and exercise) can help prevent cancer.

--Smoking and drinking. The plain fact is, according to the American Cancer Society, all cancers caused by cigarette smoking and heavy use of alcohol could be completely prevented.

--Lifestyle. Nearly 33 percent of the 553,400 cancer deaths that were predicted for 2001 will have been linked to diet, physical activity and other lifestyle factors. And most of thc one million cases of skin cancer predicted for 2001 could have been prevented by avoiding excess sun exposure.

--Maintaining a healthy weight. The risk of breast cancer in post-menopausal women in 50 percent higher for those who are obese; the risk of colon cancer in men is 40 percent higher for the obese; the risks of gallbladder and endometrial cancers are five times higher in people who are obese; and obesity appears to play a role in cancers of the kidney, pancreas, rectum, esophagus and liver.

--Physical activity. Thirty percent of adults don't engage in any type of leisure-time activity, even though, according to the ACS, "Physical activity can help protect against some cancers, either by balancing caloric intake with energy expenditure or by other mechanisms." NIH guidelines recommend that all healthy adults perform at least 30 minutes of physical activity five or more times a week.

--Nutrition. Although not even 25 percent of Americans eat five, or more, servings of fruits and vegetables a day, five-a-day people have an easier time maintaining their weight and they also-take note-have lower incidence of gastrointestinal and respiratory tract cancers--proof positive of nutrition's key role in maintaining powerful immunity.

NUTRITION TO THE RESCUE

So, okay, once you've taken care of making sure you get your five-a-day (or seven or nine), do your exercise, stay away from too many "bad" things that increase your cancer risk, what then? Have you boosted your immunity to the point where you have the nutritional equivalent of a "Star Wars" missile defense shield, full antioxidant protection to neutralize a whole host of tissue-damaging free radicals that start us on the way to cancer? If not, you should look to your diet and targeted dietary supplementation to give you that extra boost.

As Dr. Duke so rightly explains, few healing foods have as much immune-boosting renown as garlic, that "wonderful stinking rose," fame that is backed up by science.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND GARLIC VS. CANCER

The foundations for garlic research were arguably laid by German chemists, Theodor Wertheim (in 1844) and F.W. Semmler (in 1892), who discovered volatile sulfur compounds through steam distillation. Over 50 years went by before, in 1944, a group of researchers at the Sterling-Winthrop Chemical Company, in New York, used alcohol to yield garlic oil. Although there is much debate today as to what type of garlic product is the most health-enhancing--raw garlic, cooked garlic, powdered garlic, aged garlic, and so forth--let's take a brief look at some very recent research that's looked specifically at a proprietary garlic product, aged garlic extract (AGE).

THE LATEST RESEARCH

A study by E. Kyo, and colleagues, that appeared in the March 2001 issue of the The Journal of Nutrition (131 [3S]:1075S-1079S) looked at aged garlic extract (AGE) on immune functions in mice with either sarcoma-180 or LL/2 lung carcinoma. Treatment with AGE significantly improved the cancer-fighting ability of natural killer (NK) cells in animals with sarcoma-180, suggesting, say the authors, that AGE "could be a promising candidate as an immune modifier," an immune-boosting supplement that maintains balance among cells involved in immunity.

Another study that appeared in that same issue of The Journal of Nutrition (1058-1060S), in this case by Richard Rivlin, M.D., and John T. Pinto, Ph.D., was a review of their own test-tube studies (ex vivo) using compounds derived from AGE vs. human cancer cell lines and other research. Rivlin and Pinto concluded that garlic "derivatives" cause cancer cells (of the prostate and breast) to die (called "apoptosis," or programmed cell death) and block the spread (division) of cancer cells.

IF YOU WERE STRANDED ON A DESERT ISLE ...

What herb would you want to bring along? Dr. Duke sure seems to have the right idea. Although cancer is very serious business, isn't nice to know that there are natural immune boosters out there, such as garlic and aged garlic extract (AGE), which can boost immunity. In conjunction with your doctor's advice, garlic can help you, or a loved one, be a real survivor.

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