Cancer is Now the Leading Cause of Death
In Brief
- The Facts:Cancer has
surpassed heart disease as the No. 1 cause of death in high-income
countries, highlighting the urgent need to change the way this disease
is prevented and treated.
- Reflect On:Rather than being a random result of DNA mutations, it's possible that cancer could have much deeper roots that would be better targeted with natural therapies than toxicity.
This article was written by the Greenmedinfo Research Group, originally published by Greenmedinfo.com. Published here with permission.
Cancer has dethroned heart disease to
earn the nefarious title of leading cause of death in high-income and
certain middle-income countries.[i] While heart disease remains
the No. 1 cause of death globally among adults aged 35 to 70, in
high-income countries, which included Saudi Arabia, United Arab
Emirates, Canada and Sweden, cancer caused twice as many deaths as heart
disease.[ii]
Some middle-income countries, which
included the Philippines, Iran, South Africa, Colombia, China, Brazil,
Malaysia, Turkey, Poland, Argentina and Chile, also saw cancer become
the leading cause of death.
While the U.S. was not included in the
new analysis, research published in 2018 suggested, “the United States
is in the midst of an epidemiologic transition in the leading cause of
death,” moving from heart disease to cancer.[iii]
That study, too, found that cancer was
quickly outpacing heart disease as the top killer, with high-income
counties transitioning first. In fact, while only 21% of U.S. counties
had cancer as the leading cause of death in 2003, this rose to 41% in
2015.
“The shift to cancer as the leading cause of death was greatest in the highest-income counties,” the researchers explained,[iv] echoing
the current study, which also cited “a transition in the predominant
causes of deaths in middle-age” in high-income countries.[v]
“The world is witnessing a new
epidemiologic transition among the different categories of
noncommunicable diseases, with CVD [cardiovascular disease] no longer
the leading cause of death in HIC [high-income countries],” lead author
Dr. Gilles Dagenais, professor emeritus, Laval University, Quebec,
Canada, said in a statement.[vi]
Why is Cancer a Top Killer?
The study suggested cancer is rising to
the top because heart disease is better treated in high-income
countries, saving more lives from heart disease and paving the way for
cancer deaths to flourish. But perhaps a better question is why cancer
continues to kill so many.
Even globally, cancer still comes in as
the second leading cause of death behind heart disease, responsible for
26% of deaths worldwide.[vii] In
the U.S., Americans have a 1 in 3 risk of developing cancer at some
point in their lifetimes, along with a 1 in 5 risk of dying from the
disease.[viii]
In early 2019, it was announced that cancer death rates in the U.S. declined 27% since 1991,[ix] a
statistic that makes it seem as though we’re winning the “war on
cancer.” But most of these declines can be attributed to reductions in smoking —
and perhaps a limited measure of increased early detection and
treatment — and are not a sign that conventional medicine’s model of surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation to treat cancer is, on the whole, working.
While death rates from certain cancer
have declined, others have increased. Overall, cancer deaths in the U.S.
in 2016 were similar to those in 1930[x] — despite all the “advances” in detection and treatment.
Changing the Way We Think About Cancer
It’s becoming increasingly clear that in
order to conquer cancer, it’s necessary to change the way we think
about it. Cancer is found in virtually all animals, suggesting it has
evolutionary significance.[xi] It’s possible that cancer is an ancient survival program unmasked — even a process the body undergoes in order to survive nutrient deprivation and exposure to toxins.
Rather than being the result of an
accumulation of DNA mutations that create rogue cells that multiply out
of control, cancer could be cells that have flipped an epigenetic switch
into survival mode in the form of a tumor. In the journal Physical
Biology, researchers theorized:[xii]
“[C]ancer is an atavistic [primitive] condition that occurs when genetic or epigenetic malfunction unlocks an ancient ‘toolkit’ of pre-existing adaptations, re-establishing the dominance of an earlier layer of genes that controlled loose-knit colonies of only partially differentiated cells, similar to tumors.”
If this is true, it makes sense that
conventional cancer treatments aimed to poison or “kill” the cancerous
cells may only make the problem worse by creating an even more toxic
environment, which could trigger the cancer to reach back into its
“ancient toolkit” to find additional means of survival.
This explanation may be overly
simplistic, as there are many factors that contribute to cancer, but
there is evidence to suggest that natural substances and therapies that
support the body’s overall health can be useful in the fight against
cancer.
Nearly 1,000 Natural Substances Have Anti-Cancer Potential
GreenMedInfo has a database of 986 substances that
have been researched as potential cancer prevention and treatment
strategies. There are undoubtedly many more out there that have yet to
be discovered. At the top of the list is curcumin, the active ingredient in the curry spice turmeric, which targets cancer stem cells while leaving normal stem cells unharmed.[xiii]
Another top contender is vitamin D,
which you can get for free from adequate sun exposure. Higher vitamin D
levels are not only known to lower your cancer risk but also to improve
outcomes if you’ve already been diagnosed.[xiv] Fiber, resveratrol, sulforaphane and vitamin E — all substances you can get from your diet — also show anti-cancer promise, as does coffee, perhaps because it improves the body’s ability to efficiently repair DNA damage.[xv]
So if there was one silver lining to the
news that cancer is now the leading cause of death in some countries,
it would be that it’s a condition that has many promising natural
avenues for prevention and treatment. Current conventional cancer
treatments are failing, but that doesn’t mean cancer is unstoppable — it
means it’s time to broaden our research into and usage of traditional
therapies.
Many natural substances, like noni leaf,[xvi] have
even been shown to work better than chemotherapy, highlighting why, if
we’re going to win the war against cancer, we’re going to need to do it
with nature on our side.
For more on how to naturally fight Cancer, visit the GreenMedInfo database on the subject.
Originally published: 2019-09-14
References
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