Over the last several of our weekly Columns, we have focused on cancer in its various aspects. We pointed out that an imported discovery –more than 20 years ago- found that cancer is linked to a high blood level of a growth hormone going by the long name of Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1). 

It so happens that when we eat animal-based foods (including cow’s milk) our liver increases the production of IGF-1 and so the blood levels of this hormone increase: as a result, for example, it was found that men with higher than normal IGF-1 blood levels had more than 5 times the risk of advanced-stage prostate cancer. Mind you, IGF-1 is important to us: it is one of the body’s most important growth promoters during infancy and childhood, but later in life, elevated IGF-1 levels accelerate the aging process and promote the growth and spread of cancer cells. 

Think about it: humans are the only mammals that keep drinking breast milk (from cows) beyond the infant stage and sometimes all the way during adult life! Adolescent or older Samoans were not accustomed to drinking cow’s milk until 1975 when under International Aid the famous ‘milk biscuits’ were introduced to our school children. Eventually, adults started to dip the biscuits in their tea and coffee, and as a result, Anchor or Devondale full milk became part of the Samoan diet, how sad! 

In our previous columns, we also explained the important concept of the 20 to 80 billion cells that make up our body ‘talking’ to each other constantly using chemicals that turn on a cascade of chemical reactions that, combined, make ‘a signalling pathway’, propagating the signal through the cell, ultimately leading to the cell’s response. Every cell has receptors that are constantly bombarded with ‘messages’ from other parts of the body causing a constant biological conversation. In this way, there are thousands of ‘conversations’ that take place every second – in every cell - that deal with the various cell functions that constantly need to be monitored and adjusted. 

However, the complexity of the many signaling pathways is such that errors in signaling interactions can take place that upset normal cellular function and lead to various diseases, including cancer. METI’s experience with cancer allows us to be optimistic that in many cases, those crucial signaling pathways that have become damaged can be fixed through a powerful and sustained nutritional approach, based on the whole food plant-based (WFPB) diet that METI has been promoting for the past several years. 

The nutritional approach to control cancer is increasingly being practiced worldwide due to its safety and beneficial therapeutic effects that have been observed for thousands of years. A summary of our observations based on solid scientific evidence leads to only one conclusion: animal-based diets promote cancer; Plant-based diets protect against cancer. Unfortunately, to result in a cancer cure, there is more required than just following a plant-based diet… 

What can be learned from observing cancer survivors is the importance of the patient acquiring the ‘Beat the Cancer Mindset’. We agree that it is not easy to develop such a mindset in the present medical climate. Most patients are devastated when they are told they have cancer, especially when the doctor ventures the opinion that ‘you only have six more months to live…’ This is where the patient has to make up her mind about whether she wants to live or not. It is in fact one of the first questions we ask of the cancer patient. And if she answers ‘I want to live!’ then our immediate advice to such persons is ‘prove the doctor wrong!’ 

There are now so many cancer survivors that valuable lessons can be learned from just how they managed to reverse a Stage 4 diagnosis of breast or colon or brain cancer. We recommend readers interested in pursuing such a search go to the ‘Chris Beat Cancer’ website where they can watch interviews with many of such survivors. What all of them have in common is that they have developed the ‘Beat the Cancer Mindset’, which is the crucial ingredient in every successful healing story. 

In the next column, we will go deeper into this essential component for a successful outcome in your efforts to contain and reverse cancer and how you can develop it. In the meantime, we invite you to visit METI’s Healthy Living Clinic at House No. 51 at Motootua (across from the Kokobanana Restaurant) to become acquainted with METI’s whole food plant-based diet and Lifestyle Change program and reap its benefits if you suffer from cancer or a chronic disease. You can also purchase METI’s WFPB Cookbook with 50 recipes written in English and Samoan. You can contact us at 30550.