TEDTalks topic – Anti-angiogenesis to prevent fertilization of cancer tumors (occurrence/recurrence)

CAUTION: a) if you don’t want to hear about or talk about anything related to the impact of diet on cancer occurrence/recurrence, then simply skip this thread, b) if you don’t want to talk about medical research that’s not a 100% cure, then skip this thread (and good luck with that), c) if you don’t want to watch a 20 minute video before commenting, then please skip this thread and consider coming back to it later when you can watch it first. TEDTalks is a presentation series about Ideas Worth Spreading . It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds, T echnology, E ntertainment, and D esign. Since then its scope has become even broader, and now the talks are available free online. As a reminder, just about a week ago (on 1/23/12), James C posted another thread (“ Gratitude for the day ” was the thread title) with a YouTube link to a videographer’s presentation at TEDTalks . I enjoy the technological presentations at TEDTalks because the speakers are outstanding at taking extremely complex, leading-edge topics and reducing them down to very understandable kernels. In this presentation, Dr William Li talks about how cancer tumors are fertilized. Cancer tumors exist in different parts of a healthy body, but they are usually kept in balance (called “cancer without disease”) naturally through angiogenesis. When those harmless tumors gain a blood supply, they get fertilized and can grow out of control. Angiogenesis is the tipping-point between harmless and harmful tumors. So if you are interested in educating yourself about (avoiding) cancer growth—and even though different cancer tumors have different sources, angiogenesis is how ALL cancers get fertilized—then you might find this presentation fascinating. Dr William Li’s 20-minute TEDTalks presentation from 2010: www.ted.com/talks/William_Li.html If you’d like to access other TEDTalks videos—there are over 1,000 available—go to this link: www.ted.com/talks .

Boy, I hope this guy is correct when he says that the key to stopping cancer with angiogenesis is hitting it early - as I'm nearing completion of an Avastin (potent anti-angiogenesis drug) trial which started when the only indication of spread was a PSA of 10.8.

As many of you may be aware, the Avastin trials in late stage PCa had limited success and did not meet endpoint.

...Jerry

This is the primary basis for the Color Doppler Ultrasound. It identifies areas of increased blood flow in the prostate, as aggressive tumors need a large blood supply in order to grow.

I first read about angiogenesis in the book "AntiCancer, A New Way of Life", by David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD. He gave a number of food items that can help inhibit angiogenesis, but I didn't really get a feel for what foods promote angiogenesis, and thus to avoid.

The presentation by Dr Li made passing mention that obesity is linked to angiogenesis, but the thrust of the presentation was more on what you can include in your diet, rather than what you should exclude.

I found the following on the Angiogenesis Foundation web site, and I quote: "Obesity is a disease now linked to angiogenesis. Adipose tissue is highly vascularized, and angiogenesis promotes fat expansion by supplying fat cells with oxygen and nutrients. Fat tissue itself contains many promoters of angiogenesis, including angiogenic stem cells. Laboratory studies have shown that inhibiting angiogenesis in obese mice decreases their weight to normal levels. Obesity increases the risk of various cancers. Obese individuals have increased levels of proangiogenic factors that may contribute to tumor growth."

There is another book out, both highly popular and highly controversial, titled "Wheat Belly" by William Davis, MD. Dr. Davis makes the case that modern dwarf wheat, a genetically modified strain developed in the 1950s and available world-wide since the 1970s, is the prime cause of the explosion of obesity and diabetes being experienced today.

The case I am making here is that elimination of wheat from the diet can inhibit angiogenesis. My own personal situation can only be called an anecdote, and not a case study, but in May of 2011 I eliminated all grains, including wheat, from my diet. Since then I have lost 40 pounds of mostly belly fat, and my overall blood work numbers have shown much improvement.

I have always had post-op, post-RT, and post-HT psa numbers of <0.01, so I am not going to be able to see a psa reduction from having eliminated grains from my diet. But, if I can stay at a zero from now on..... Time will tell.

All the best.
Roger

Casey, thanks for posting this. I did see it a while back, and it's one of the reasons that I have changed my diet and take a number of suppliments like resveratrol and curcummin.

Very good. Thanks, Casey.

Casey,
I love the TED talks and this one in particular hit home. After my DX, I started drinking pomegranate juice daily. I'll probably add cur cumin too. Also, prior to my even knowing that I had PC, I lost 25 pounds and really kicked up my exercise. I think that this had a significant impact on how I handled the RRP