Life Over Cancer Blog

No-Bake Brownies

Makes about 2 dozen small squares 

2 cups  medjool dates, pits removed

2 cups  raw walnut pieces

¾ cup   cocoa powder

Pinch   sea salt, finely ground

 

1.      Place walnuts in a food processor along with pitted dates, cocoa powder, and salt.  Process until a moist, crumb-like dough has formed.

Spread into an 8×8 inch pan and press firmly into a solid brownie layer. Cut into bite-size squares and serve.

Easy Stir Fry

Recipe Adapted from Cancer Survivors Guide, p. 190              Serves 4

 Ingredients:

1 bag           (16 ounces) frozen stir-fry vegetables

OR              mixture of frozen (broccoli, bell peppers, cauliflower, etc.)

1 ½             cups cooked or canned beans (your favorite kind), rinsed and drained

Or              other 1 pkg. of protein alternative: seitan, tempeh, tofu, etc.

¼  cup           low-fat stir-fry sauce (without unhealthy fats or sweeteners)

2 cups          cooked millet, amaranth, Brown Rice or other whole grain, kept hot

 

Optional:

1 each          onion, peeled and diced

1-2 cups        organic mushrooms, cleaned and chopped

1-2 tbsp.       Fresh ginger, peeled and diced

2 cloves        garlic, peeled and diced

1 head          kale or collard greens, (de-stemmed if using collards) and chopped

 

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

According to breastcancer.org:

• About 1 in 8 U.S. women (just under 12%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.
• In 2011, an estimated 230,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S., along with 57,650 new cases of non-invasive (in situ) breast cancer.
• About 2,140 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in men in 2011. A man’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is about 1 in 1,000.

About 85% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer.  However, there are diet and lifestyle choices a woman can make to help lower her risk, including:

Avoid alcohol. Research suggests that as little as one alcoholic beverage per day can increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer.

Sesame CucumberQuinoa Salad

 8 Serving    

 (Courtesy of Ted’s Recipes)

2         cups uncooked quinoa (rinsed and drained)

3         cups seedless cucumbers circular cut

1         medium size onion cut half moon and thinly sliced

1         tablespoon black sesame seeds

1 ½     tablespoon crushed red peppers

1         cup rice vinegar

¼        cup sesame oil

¼        cup canola oil

4         tablespoons tamari

1         tsp agave

1         tsp sea salt or to taste

Smashed Peas

Why do peas have such a bad reputation?  They’re a good source of several vitamins, including vitamin C, vitamin A and vitamin K.  They’re also a great source of B vitamins and provide some important minerals, including magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and iron.  And they can be quite tasty!  If you don’t believe us, try this recipe for Smashed Peas:

  Smashed Peas                                                                Serves 4-6

From FatFreeVegan.com

·       3/4 cup (180 ml) vegetable broth

·       1 medium yellow onion, diced

·       2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

·       2 tablespoons (30 g) prepared horseradish

·       2 tablespoons (30 g) mild Dijon mustard

·       1 to 2 teaspoons ground black pepper to taste

·       1 pound (454 g) fresh or frozen peas, thawed

·       Salt to taste

 

Tofu "Feta", Watermelon, and Basil Salad

Serves 4-5
http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com 
Salad:
18 ounces firm tofu, drained/squeezed dry
2 cups fresh watermelon, cubed
1 cup fresh basil, shredded
spices: cayenne, black pepper
optional: 1-2 Tbsp nutritional yeast

Aromatase Inhibitors, Musculoskeletal Pain and Vitamin D

Keith Block, MD

Arimidex (anastrozole), Aromasin (exemestane) and Femara (letrozole) are aromatase inhibitors (AIs) used to treat post-menopausal breast cancer patients whose cancer is estrogen receptor positive.  These medications block aromatase, an enzyme that converts androgens to estrogen, thus reducing the risk of cancer recurrence in this population.  However, aromatase inhibitors come with unwanted side effects – including musculoskeletal pain, which in some cases is severe, and bone loss.

 Several recent studies have noted that post-menopausal women taking aromatase inhibitors have a decrease in serum vitamin D and more musculoskeletal pain and arthralgia (joint pain) than their counterparts who are not taking AIs. Moreover, since estrogen depletion is associated with arthralgia as well, and since AIs work by ensuring extra estrogen is further depleted, it follows that some women will exhibit this common side effect.  This is cause for concern, since it’s often difficult for patients to be compliant with this therapy.

Common diabetes drug, metformin, appears to reduce cancer risk

Keith Block, MD

 Metformin, a commonly prescribed drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, has been touted in several recent studies as having the potential to reduce the risk of cancer in people taking it to control their disease. 

 Metformin (Glucophage) helps control both insulin levels and the amount of glucose produced by the liver.  It’s given to people with type 2 diabetes who have not been able to control the disease through lifestyle changes – diet and exercise.

 Since type 2 diabetes affects millions of people and those numbers continue to rise – even among children and teenagers – there is a lot of scientific interest directed toward this population. It has been observed that those taking metformin to control their disease also seemed to have less risk for certain cancers. Moreover, lab studies have shown an association between metformin and its ability to cause the death of cancer cells.

When it comes to Chemotherapy, Timing’s Everything

Keith I. Block, MD

When scheduling a health exam or procedure, most patients make their appointments based on convenience and availability. Research suggests there’s something else they should take into account: Timing.  Timing, as in the administration of any drugs they may be given, and timing, as in their own “biological clocks.”  

We now know that the results of many diagnostic tests – including blood tests, blood pressure readings and urinalysis, among others – can vary, depending on the time of day these tests are taken. In addition, doctors are finding that by taking a patient's body clock into consideration – a practice called chronotherapy – they are able to more effectively treat a wide range of illnesses, including asthma, arthritis, even cancer. And when it comes to treating cancer, the practice of synchronizing the administration of chemotherapy drugs to a patient’s malignancy, time zone and individual biological rhythm is called chronomodulated chemotherapy.

About chronomodulated chemotherapy

There are nine specific "clock-related" genes in our brainstems that control our time-dependent biological functions, including sleeping and eating patterns, heart rate, body temperature, and hormone production.  Similarly, cancer cells also have time controls; they divide and rest at different times each day. While rest and division also occurs among healthy cells, their timing differs from that of cancer cells. 

 

We can take advantage of this by administering the drugs at the specific time when cancer cells divide, and are more vulnerable to cell death, and when healthy cells are at rest, and least sensitive to toxicity from chemotherapy.  Research demonstrates chronotherapy not only improves treatment tolerance, but can improve response and survival as well.  In fact, the literature contains studies showing that chronomodulated chemotherapy can even allow for patients who previously needed to discontinue a chemotherapy protocol - either because it was ineffective, became ineffective prematurely, or was too debilitating to tolerate - and benefit from that identical drug protocol when it was administered via chronomodulated chemotherapy. 

 

Gold standard research supports the use of chronomodulated chemotherapy.  For example, for metastatic colon cancer patients, studies show that administering chemotherapy at the optimal time can halve toxicity and double treatment response.  For advanced metastatic ovarian cancer, a study in the journal Cancer reported that optimal timing of chemotherapy can reduce toxic side effects by 50 percent and quadruple five-year survival.  This is a four-fold improvement!  (Four times as many patients were alive at the five year mark). The same study demonstrated a 75 percent reduction in the need to cut the treatment dose! 

 

Chronotherapy at the Block Center

I brought this technology, software and knowledge to the U.S. from Europe in the mid 1990s, hoping to improve treatment tolerance among my patients, enhancing the benefits we were seeing from the integrative approach to treatment we were already providing.  (In fact, studies suggest that 1/3 of patients discontinue chemotherapy treatment prematurely due to the debilitating physical and psychological consequences). 

 

At the Block Center, we were implementing nutritional strategies and supplement formulations that could help diminish the side effects of chemotherapy – and my research team and I were conducting ongoing studies – when I came across the chronobiology evidence that sleep and activity cycles along with the timing of drug infusions were all clock dependent.  The extensive research that demonstrated decreased toxicity and improved survival with the use of chronotherapy persuaded me that we needed to bring this technology to our patients as soon as possible. 

 

At the Block Center, chronotherapy is administered using a portable, computerized pump, small enough to fit in a fanny pack.  The infusion of the chemotherapy drug resembles a sine wave curve, it starts infusing quite slowly, and ratchets up, hour by hour. It slowly increases to the middle point of the cycle where it peaks, meaning the drug will be infused at its highest rate, and then slowly ratchets back down. When the drug dosage reaches zero, the cycle is complete.

 

Though there are currently over 40 major centers in Europe that participate in cooperative research using this method of chemo administration, there are less than a handful of clinics in the U.S. that implement it.  Why is this?  Currently, cancer treatment in our country is scheduled at the convenience of the hospital, medical center, treating physician, etc., not at the optimal time for the patient.  In addition, the complexity of the technology would require training and incur expenses to the treating facility with no additional insurance coverage. 

 

However, the potential impact to reduce toxicity, improve response to treatment and even boost survival, makes the need to broaden access to this approach essential.  It is my hope that one day chronomodulated chemotherapy will be widely available in this country, as it is outside the U.S.

For more information on The Block Center for Integrative Cancer Treatment, visit BlockMD.com.

Preventing Colon Cancer: What You Need to Know

By Keith Block, MD

According to the Colon Cancer Alliance, colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States, and the second leading cause of cancer deaths.  The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2012, 143,460 people will be diagnosed and that 51,690 will die from colon cancer in the United States. Appropriate screening is extremely important, as the survival rate for people with colorectal cancers found early is more than 90 percent.