Potential colon cancer cure: How real is it?
Claims for “super cures” often are so exaggerated or even downright bogus that they leave your head spinning. Take this one, for example: Aussie cookbook author Belle Gibson recently claimed that she cured her brain cancer through nonmedical means
— then admitted that she’d never even had cancer. And a Food and Drug Administration crackdown on false autism treatments targeted useless clay baths and a “miracle” mineral supplement that actually triggers lifethreatening low blood pressure and severe vomiting.
It’s always smart to have a wait-andsee attitude about unconventional health-be-stowing claims: You avoid losing money and your health. But there’s a new mouse-tested treatment for colorectal cancer that claims a 100-percent cure rate — and it’s got us intrigued.
A study published in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine explains how researchers used radioimmunotherapy to target and kill off cancer cells without any negative side effects or damage to surrounding tissue. Researchers developed a three-step system that uses a radioactive antibody to target an antigen found on over 95 percent of primary and metastatic human colorectal cancers.
The researchers now hope to set up a safe and effective human trial. If that turns out well, they say, the system also may be useful in snuffing out cancers of the breast, pancreas, lung, esophagus and skin (melanoma). It’s designed as a “plug and play” system, which, they explain, “allows for the use of many fine antibodies targeting human tumor antigens and is applicable, in principle, to virtually all solid and liquid tumors in man.” Here’s hoping that’s one grand claim that turns out to be true!
It’s always smart to have a wait-andsee attitude about unconventional health-bestowing claims: You avoid losing money and your health. But there’s a new mouse-tested treatment for colorectal cancer that claims a 100-percent cure rate — and it’s got us intrigued.
PPIs and histamine 2 blockers to the rescue
In the 1970s TV sitcom “Sanford and Son,” whenever Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx) got disagreeable news — usually about a failed moneymaking scheme — he’d place his hand over his heart and exclaim: “This is the big one!
I’m coming, Elizabeth.” Of course, there was nothing wrong with the character’s heart.
A serious flare of acid reflux can feel like a heart attack. Luckily, proton pump inhibitors and histamine 2 blockers ease the discomfort. But a new study in the journal Gut found that folks who use PPIs (Prevacid, Prilosec and Nexium) for extended stretches are at risk of developing stomach cancer (even after taking antibiotics to eliminate H. pylori infection, a known cause of stomach cancer).
The risk goes up fivefold after more than a year on the meds, more than six-fold after twoplus years, and over eight-fold after threeplus. Another study indicated that prolonged PPI use is associated with a doubling of heart attack risk. H2 blockers such as Pepcid and Zantac were found to have no link to stomach cancer or increased heart attack risk.
The scoop: PPIs are generally safe if taken as directed. Prilosec advises you to use the product once every 24 hours, for up to 14 days; four months later, you may repeat a 14-day course. But many folks use overthe-counter PPIs for months or years.
The right moves:
■ Don’t take PPIs for extended periods of time without your doc’s permission.
■ Try easing heartburn by making changes to your diet and reducing alcohol or coffee intake.
Question: I’m 65 and have struggled with my weight for years. (I am 5-foot-5 and weigh 220 pounds.) Is it safe to get bariatric surgery at my age and weight? — Carol G., Akron, Ohio
Answer: The Annual Obesity Week meeting that wrapped up in Washington D.C. at the beginning of November offered new insights into the benefits and risks of weight-loss surgeries.
One major revelation was from a follow-up study that tracked 367 folks ages 60 to 75 who had either sleeve gastrectomy, or open or laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass between 2007 and 2017. These participants had an average body mass index of 46.9 (yours is 36.6); were taking more than eight medications for various conditions; and almost 63 percent had Type 2 diabetes. (Obesity and stress make your RealAge — the physical age of your body and the real age-related risk for postoperative complications — much older.)
The participants’ 90-day major and minor complication rates post-surgery were 5.6 percent and 16 percent, respectively, comparable to the rates of younger patients. At one year out, they’d reduced their daily meds by an average of three drugs. Three years after their surgery, the group had shed more than 60 percent of their excess weight, and almost 46 percent were free of Type 2 diabetes. Overall, the surgery was as safe and effective for older folks as for younger folks.
The conference also highlighted a study showing that cognitive behavioral therapy addressing disordered eating habits before weight-loss surgery helps make the benefits of gastric bypass more substantial and enduring.
One important warning: A University of California, Irvine, study found that people who had laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy and were discharged on the same day as that surgery had over a five-fold increased odds of death versus those who were discharged the following day. Even though the overall risk in either case is low, if you opt for that form of weightloss surgery, talk to your surgeon about staying overnight in the hospital!
Q: I have chronic back pain from a car accident, and my doctor prescribed oxycodone. I don’t want to take it. I hear there’s an effective pain-relieving extract from marijuana that doesn’t get you high or addicted. Is it legit? — Michael J., Provo, Utah
A: That’s an important question. We’ve been talking recently about how this country needs to encourage high-quality scientific research into the painrelieving powers of cannabis/marijuana. It just makes sense to help people like you, who don’t want to take opioids and need effective pain relief!
But the bottom line is, we don’t yet know the answer to your question.
What we kinda know: When it comes to using a marijuana derivative for pain relief, the best option appears to be an extract called cannabidiol, or CBD.
It’s a non-psychoactive component of marijuana (you don’t get high); early research indicates that it can suppress chronic inflammatory and nerve pain without triggering addiction.
And a lab (animal) study found that transdermal CBD reduces chronic arthritis pain. But we still need more data on its use for non-cancerrelated pain.
On top of that, there currently are no Food and Drug Administrationapproved applications for CBD, even though as of 2016, D.C. and 36 states had legalized medical cannabis and another 16 had allowed limited access to lowTHC/high-CBD products.
Where does that leave you, Michael? Well, probably thinking about buying CBD online.
Beware! A new study in JAMA found that more than 42 percent of CBD products contained a higher concentration of CBD than indicated; 26 percent contained a lower concentration of CBD; and only 30 percent contained
CBD that was within 10 percent of the amount listed on the label.
So, talk to your doc about alternative pain-reducing options, including: meditation; acupuncture; nutritional and supplement choices, such as DHA-omega-3; aspirin and other
NSAIDs, such as cox-2 inhibitors; and cognitive behavioral therapy. Also, ask if it makes sense to try CBD, if a safe and legal (locally) source is available.