Transcription
Did you know that compared to people of healthy weight, those who are overweight or obese are at greater risk of developing at least 13 types of cancer? In the United States alone, these cancers account for 40% of all cancer cases. That is why, in this video, with the help of Dr. Michael Greger, we are going to reveal five supplements that not only fight cancer but will also help your body shed those extra pounds. We will dive into the science by which these powerful supplements help fight cancer cells and boost your metabolism.
But before we reveal these five potent supplements, let's explore the link between obesity and cancer a little bit further. The cause is primarily the obesity epidemic. Yes, we are raising the first generation of Americans set to live shorter average lives than their parents. This was before COVID; it continues to drop down. We are 39th in life expectancy around the world. The risk of developing cancer is higher if you are overweight or obese for a long time. These types of cancer include breast, colon, esophageal, kidney, gallbladder, uterine, pancreatic, and liver cancer.
Since obesity and cancer are closely linked through various molecular mechanisms, excess body fat creates an environment that promotes the growth of cancer tumors. Other factors in obesity, such as chronic inflammation, insulin resistance, and metabolic issues, can equally lead to the production of harmful chemicals called adipokines. These adipokines can stimulate cancer cell growth, spread, and angiogenesis, which is the formation of new blood vessels from pre-existing ones to support tumors. Concerning cancer cells, angiogenesis facilitates the supply of nutrients and oxygen to tumors, enabling them to grow and spread.
For people with obesity, chronic inflammation is a common occurrence. This persistent inflammation can hinder the body's ability to respond appropriately to insulin, a condition known as insulin resistance. When insulin resistance occurs, the body compensates by producing higher levels of insulin to maintain blood glucose balance. The elevated insulin levels resulting from insulin resistance can stimulate increased cell production and uncontrolled cell growth. Over time, this abnormal cell replication can result in the production of cancer cells. Elevated insulin levels can also affect hormone regulation, including estrogen. This can lead to increased cell growth and division, potentially contributing to tumor growth.
It is worth noting that fat cells in both men and women can produce estrogen, which is why obesity is often associated with excessive estrogen levels in women. High estrogen levels are linked to a higher risk of developing post-menopausal breast cancer, including endometrial and ovarian cancers.
Now, without further ado, let's dive into the top five supplements that can effectively kill cancer and burn fat. First on Dr. Greger's list of supplements that kill cancer and burn fat is pomegranate supplement. Different studies have shown that taking whole pomegranate supplements can kill cancer cells effectively and slow down their progression. The attention over the last decade has focused on pomegranates and prostate cancers, starting with in vitro studies showing that more and more pomegranate extract can suppress the growth of prostate cancer cells in a Petri dish by up to 95%.
What about normal prostate cells? This is what normal prostate cells look like under a microscope with a lot of pomegranate extract: no real difference; it doesn't seem to do much to healthy cells. But here's what prostate cancer looks like—just decimated by the pomegranate. So, what makes these pomegranate supplements so effective at killing cancer cells? Well, it is because pomegranate supplements are rich in bioactive compounds like ellagic acid, punicalagin, and anthocyanins, which have been found to exhibit anti-cancer properties through various cellular mechanisms.
One of the primary ways pomegranate supplements kill cancer cells is by inducing apoptosis, or programmed cell death, using ellagic acid and other pomegranate-derived compounds found in it. These compounds increase the oxidative stress within cancer cells, thereby leading to their destruction. In addition, these compounds interfere with the cancer cell cycle and prevent their spread or metastasis. Another method by which pomegranate supplements kill cancer cells is by suppressing angiogenesis, which is a process by which tumors develop new blood vessels to support their growth. By suppressing angiogenesis, pomegranate supplements restrict the supply of nutrients and oxygen to the cancer, ultimately leading to cell death.
However, according to research, pomegranate supplements are known to work best when combined with small amounts of other healthy plant-based supplements. So, if you have two people eating the same number of servings of healthy foods, the one eating a greater variety may do better. The researchers didn't just put in some pomegranate powder; they added some powdered broccoli, some powdered turmeric, and some powdered green tea concentrate. So, a fruit, a vegetable, a spice, and a leaf—but tiny amounts. That's like one-fifth of a broccoli a day, less than an eighth of a teaspoon a day of turmeric, and about one-sixth of a tea bag worth of green tea.
All great plants, but could such tiny amounts actually affect the progression of cancer? Yes! In the group of men with early-stage prostate cancer trying to avoid surgery, the PSA levels rose in the placebo group—rose nearly 50%, indicating the cancer continued to flourish. Whereas in the pomegranate, broccoli, turmeric, and green tea food supplement group, the PSAs didn't rise at all. But that's not all; pomegranate supplements have also been found to have a major impact on how the body processes fat, leading to increased fat burning and healthy weight management.
The bioactive compounds present in pomegranate, particularly ellagic acid and punicalagin, activate an enzyme called AMP-activated protein kinase, or AMPK. Think of AMPK as a metabolic master switch that regulates how the body uses energy. When AMPK is activated, it triggers a series of downstream effects that ultimately lead to increased fat burning. One way it does this is by inhibiting an enzyme called acetyl-CoA carboxylase, or ACC, which is involved in storing fat in adipose tissue. Therefore, by inhibiting this enzyme, less fat is stored, and the body can burn fat more effectively.
Another powerful supplement that kills cancer and burns fat, according to Dr. Greger, is the amazing lycopene supplement. This supplement is a naturally occurring carotenoid found in red and pink fruits, especially tomatoes, watermelons, and pink grapefruits. You can find lycopene in refreshing drinks like tomato juice, watermelon juice, and grapefruit juice, which are all known for their cancer-fighting properties. If you do not regularly consume these foods, lycopene supplements are a great alternative to ensure you get enough of this beneficial compound to help kill cancer.
High dietary intakes of lycopene—those that eat the most pizza—so maybe it's no surprise there are mixed results. What we need is to put lycopene to the test. It started with a case study of a 62-year-old man with terminal prostate cancer who failed surgery and failed chemotherapy, with metastases all over, spread to the bone, and so he was sent to hospice to die. He took it upon himself to initiate phytotherapy, plant-based therapy, taking the amount of lycopene found in a quarter cup of tomato sauce or a tablespoon of tomato paste every day. His PSA, a measure of tumor bulk, started out as 365 but dropped to 140 the next month and then down to 8. His metastases started disappearing, and as of his last follow-up, he appeared to be living happily ever after.
Lycopene is a potent antioxidant that can neutralize harmful free radicals, reducing oxidative stress within cells. This oxidative stress can cause DNA damage and lead to the formation of cancer cells. However, by scavenging these free radicals, lycopene can help protect cells from damage and potentially kill cancer cells. Lycopene can also help kill cancer cells by boosting the body's immune system, which acts like an army fighting off harmful invaders. It does this by enhancing the activity of natural killer cells and cytotoxic T cells, which are essential components of the immune system responsible for identifying and destroying infected or cancerous cells.
The anti-cancer effects of lycopene supplements have been shown against various cancer models, including breast, prostate, lung, and colon cancer. Especially beneficial, they suspect it might be the red pigment, lycopene, which has greater antioxidant power than some of the other pigments, like the orange beta-carotene pigment in carrots and cantaloupes. Lycopene dramatically kills off prostate cancer cells in a Petri dish. Lycopene supplements can equally help with weight management by increasing the body's ability to burn fat. Lycopene does this by activating a protein called PPAR-alpha, which is like a switch that turns on fat-burning genes. When these genes are activated, the body starts to break down stored fat or triglycerides into smaller pieces or fatty acids that can be used for energy. This process is called lipolysis.
In addition, lycopene helps to reduce inflammation in the body, which is like a fire that can slow down metabolism and make it harder to lose weight. Inflammation is also often linked to the development and progression of cancer. Therefore, by reducing inflammation, lycopene not only aids in cancer prevention but also supports fat burning, performing a dual role in promoting overall health.
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The third supplement on Dr. Greger's list of cancer-fighting and fat-burning supplements is none other than the versatile vitamin D. If you look at vitamin D concentrations achieved in breast cancer trials, regardless of which group the subjects were randomized to, there was a whopping 82% lower incidence rate of breast cancer for women with vitamin D concentrations greater than or equal to 60 ng/mL versus less than 20. The higher their levels were, the lower their breast cancer risks seemed to fall.
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble nutrient essential for various physiological processes. Besides obtaining it from dietary sources such as egg yolks, milk, and fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, and sardines, including orange juice, mushrooms, and cheese, you can also ensure adequate intake through vitamin D supplements. Higher concentrations of vitamin D in the blood enhance your ability to effectively target and kill cancer cells. Vitamin D demonstrates its anti-cancer effects by regulating cell differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis. By promoting the differentiation of cells into specialized types and inhibiting uncontrolled cell growth, vitamin D helps prevent the development and spread of cancer cells.
Vitamin D equally plays an important role in regulating the immune system, helping it recognize and eliminate cancer cells. It stimulates the production of immune cells with anti-tumor activity and reduces inflammation. According to Dr. Greger, cancer patients who take vitamin D supplements during treatment are less likely to die from cancer. Putting all the randomized control vitamin D studies together for cancer prevention, those randomized to take vitamin D supplements were 13% less likely to die from cancer over the subsequent 3 to 10 years.
When it comes to burning fat and maintaining a healthy weight, vitamin D has equally got you covered. It aids in regulating the expression of genes involved in fat metabolism and thermogenesis, which is the process by which the body generates heat through the burning of calories. By enhancing fat metabolism and thermogenesis, vitamin D can increase the body's overall energy expenditure and facilitate fat burning. But that is not all, because vitamin D is also involved in regulating appetite and satiety by influencing the hormones that control hunger and fullness, making it easier for you to shed that stubborn fat.
Turmeric is another potent supplement Dr. Greger recommends for cancer prevention and weight loss. We have all heard of the various health benefits of turmeric and how it has been used for centuries to treat different ailments. But turmeric is more than just a local medicinal herb; it is a cancer-killing weapon of nature. Taking the supplements grants your body this cancer-killing benefit. It's estimated that the human body consists of 10 or so trillion cells—that's a million million. Almost all these cells get turned over within approximately 100 days. We're like a new person every three months; we reinvent ourselves physically.
Turmeric contains a potent bioactive compound known as curcumin, which has been extensively studied for its anti-cancer properties and has demonstrated potential in preventing and inhibiting the growth of various types of cancer cells. Curcumin fights cancer by causing cancer cells to die in a controlled way, a process known as apoptosis. It does this by activating proteins that promote cell death and blocking proteins that prevent it. This shift helps ensure that cancer cells are eliminated. Curcumin also exhibits anti-angiogenic properties, meaning it can inhibit the formation of new blood vessels that supply tumors with new nutrients and oxygen. This way, turmeric supplements can help starve cancer cells of essential resources and stop their growth.
The best thing about taking turmeric supplements is that while it has various ways of inducing cell death, cancer cells cannot easily develop a resistance to it, unlike other methods of cancer treatment. In fact, turmeric does not target or negatively affect normal healthy cells; instead, it only focuses on killing off cancer cells. In addition, if you want to burn unwanted fat, go for turmeric supplements because the curcumin present in turmeric can regulate lipid metabolism by enhancing the breakdown of fats and reducing triglyceride accumulation in the liver. This is achieved through the activation of enzymes involved in fatty acid oxidation, but it tends to leave normal cells alone for reasons that are not fully understood.
Overall, this review showed that curcumin can kill a wide variety of tumor cell types through diverse mechanisms. Because curcumin can affect numerous mechanisms of cell death at the same time, it's possible that cancer cells may not easily develop resistance to curcumin-induced cell death like they do to most chemotherapy. Furthermore, its ability to kill tumor cells and not normal cells makes curcumin an attractive candidate for drug development. Curcumin and turmeric also help insulin work better and reduce insulin resistance, which can lead to weight gain and obesity. It equally triggers a protein that controls energy and insulin, helping your cells use sugar more efficiently. This eventually leads to better insulin sensitivity and less resistance.
Dr. Greger equally recommends yeast supplements as they benefit the body in more ways than one. Yeast supplements, especially the ones containing beta-glucans and selenium, are known to have the ability to prevent the growth of cancer cells. Beta-glucans, for example, are polysaccharides found in the cell walls of yeast, and they play a major role in immune regulation. They stimulate the activity of immune cells such as natural killer cells and macrophages, which are responsible for identifying and eliminating cancer cells. Beta-glucans have also been shown to induce apoptosis, or programmed cell death, in cancer cells. They achieve this by regulating various signaling pathways that regulate cancer cell survival and death.
Taking yeast supplements also provides your body with other bioactive compounds like polyphenols, flavonoids, and terpenes, which possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, further enhancing their anti-cancer effects. Some studies have specifically demonstrated the potential of yeast supplements in preventing and treating various types of cancer, including breast, lung, colon, and prostate cancer. Beta-glucans can cause dramatic tumor shrinkage in mice, but there appears to be only one human study published in English. Twenty patients with advanced cancer on chemotherapy were given a beta-glucan supplement in an open-label uncontrolled trial. Sixty percent of the patients supposedly reported a sense of well-being while taking the beta-glucan and asked to remain on the treatment after the completion of the study. But that just sounds like classic placebo effect—same thing with reporting being less tired.
But this is interesting: one patient with lymphoma and enlarged lymph nodes in the neck, who delayed his standard chemotherapy for four weeks during the study, noted a marked reduction in the size of the nodes while taking the supplement alone. Yeast also has fat-burning benefits due to the presence of chromium and beta-glucans. Chromium has been linked to increased lean body mass and reduced body fat percentage. It achieves this by regulating the activity of enzymes involved in fatty acid oxidation, such as acetyl-CoA synthetase and carnitine palmitoyl transferase. This enhances the breakdown of fats and their usage as an energy source.
Beta-glucans, which are polysaccharides found in yeast cell walls, also contribute to fat burning and weight management. These compounds have been shown to increase satiety and reduce appetite by regulating the release of various gut hormones, thereby contributing to weight loss.
While these five supplements have shown promising results when it comes to preventing cancer and burning fat, you can further maximize their effectiveness with a healthy plant-based diet. Also, before adding any supplements to your regimen, be sure to seek your doctor's guidance to ensure safety and appropriate usage.
Now tell us, how often do you include these supplements in your daily routine? Do you know any other powerful supplements that can fight and prevent cancer? Share your thoughts in the comments below; we'd love to hear from you. If you enjoyed this video, don't forget to like the video and subscribe to the channel. Also, kindly share with your family and friends so they can also benefit from it.