Chronic Illness in a Disease Management System vs. True Healthcare

Statistics show that in 2020 50% of those 65 or older had a chronic condition. 80% of that same age group were on at least 1 prescription drug and 50% were on 4 or more drugs. Statistics also show that if you are on 3 or more drugs there is a good chance they are interacting. I am not against pharmaceuticals. Some of my patients would not be here without them. However, pharmaceuticals treat symptoms, not causes. This is great for big pharma, the medical device industry, and the medical indus...
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How your Gut Bacteria Can Affect Your Cancer Risk

Most people have heard of the microbiome. If we break the word down - micro meaning small, and bios meaning life = small life. In other words, it is the entire bacterial community in your body. Any part of your body that touches the outside world has beneficial bacteria in it. Eyes, ears nose, mouth, throat, lungs, intestinal tract and skin. As most know, probiotics help inoculate the microbiome with good bacteria which plays many roles in the body, one of which is in the function of the immune...
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The Link Between an Untreated Infection and Brain Cancer

I recently came across 2 prospective studies suggesting a link between a common parasite and the development of a malignant brain tumor (gliomas). These studies examined the association between antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii and the risk of glioma development. The results of these studies suggest an increased risk of developing a glioma with this parasitic infection, especially in individuals who showed higher levels of antibodies in gliomas. Toxoplasma gondii is one of the most common para...
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How Your “Quarantinis” May Lead to Health Problems Down the Road: The Link Between Alcohol and Cancer

Alcohol consumption has been rising since the mid-90s but since the onset of the pandemic, alcohol consumption has risen significantly more. This significant increase is likely due to boredom, easy access from being home more, stress, or some combination of these three factors. The National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), a part of NIH, defines a standard drink as 12 ounces of beer, 8-9 ounces of malt liquor, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of liquor (aka a “shot"). The NIAA...
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Is Your Diet Improving Your Health? Or is it Increasing Your Risk of Breast Cancer?

New research from the European Perspective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study has determined a link between pro-inflammatory diets and the development of breast cancer. This study followed over 300,000 women for 14 years, of which about 13,000 developed breast cancer. Most studies prior to this have only looked at single nutrients or foods. Assessing the whole diet rather than just single nutrients or foods allowed the researchers in the study to make more accurate health conc...
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Do you love sugar… so do all Cancers

New research has found an association between early-onset colorectal cancer (EO-CRC) and consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). EO-CRC is defined as being diagnosed with colorectal cancer before age 50. The Nurses’ Health Study 2, a prospective study followed roughly 95,000 female nurses between 1991-2015. The participants who consumed 2 or more SSBs per day in adulthood had a more than doubled risk of EO-CRC when compared with those who consumed less than 1 serving per week...
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How Trauma Impacts Health

As practitioners of naturopathic oncology, we know that the vast majority of cancer diagnoses occur within 5 years of a major trauma. These include the death of a loved one, divorce, loss of a job, to name a few. However, even early childhood trauma can have negative health outcomes many years after the fact. ACEs, or “Adverse Childhood Experiences” are recognized by the CDC as contributing to conditions like heart disease, diabetes, depression, and cancer. When I did my residency at Cancer Tre...
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Cancer Prevention has a 100% Cure Rate

When I was in Naturopathic medical school, we were taught to treat the whole person. Today’s standard of cancer care model does a good job of treating the cancer. Unfortunately this takes up most of the oncologist’s time and the rest of the person goes untreated. I completed a rotation at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Tulsa Oklahoma (CTCA). In this model we did both, we treated the cancer and the patient. Every patient saw an Oncologist, Nutritionist, Naturopathic Physician, Physic...
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