I just wanted to put a few ideas on paper regarding good naturopathic medicine treatments and prevention for breast cancer that may not have been covered in the Breast Cancer Forum last week. You need to know this information if you have breast cancer, if you want to prevent breast cancer, or if you have a family member you would like to support.

As Joyce Stenvall says in her book, I Believe: Cancer is a New Beginning; the number one pillar for survival is getting rid of fear, then becoming aware of the past and accepting and forgiving what can’t be changed. Be prepared for MAJOR changes in your lifestyle if you decide to add alternative medicine to your program.

One of those changes is to take calcium D-glucurate.

The cause of breast cancer according to some of the latest research is environmental toxins. These come in the form of estrogen mimicking substances such as plastics and are too numerous to count. Babies start out having to detoxify these mimics in the form of plastic baby bottles, plastic car seats and new mattresses with pesticides and fire retardants. As we get older we are exposed to plastic cups, soda bottles, milk cartons, and genetically engineered soy products not to mention the soy formulas! (I wonder if genetically engineered soy is what is giving soy a bad reputation these days.) To this bombardment on the body add processed foods including cereals, trans fatty acids in the form of margarine and cooking oils, french fries and school lunches. These deplete the body of the vital nutrients required for the proper detoxification processes by the liver. These estrogen mimics head right for the estrogen receptors in the breast and if the body cannot detoxify them, then they persist in the tissues eventually causing cancerous changes. No wonder we have such increase in breast cancer in the developed countries.

There is a phase of detoxification in the liver that can re-circulate estrogens in the body, something you don’t want in breast cancer prevention and treatment. To facilitate the elimination of estrogens in the bowel calcium D-glucarate allows the estrogen molecule to not bind with the glucuronide complex responsible for this resorption. Calcium D-glucurate has been shown in animal studies to reduce tumor formation by 50-70% and the levels of serum estradiol were decreased by 23%. The added benefit is this pathway also excretes potentially damaging chemicals and toxins so by giving calcium D-glucurate you are assisting the body to rid itself of the main causes of breast cancer! You ask, "Why doesn’t my doctor prescribe this if it is so good?" Well this product is a natural occurring substance and the politics of medicine being the way they are huge sums of money and time are required to introduce one new drug. Often natural substances are not studied because patents can not be made on them. The long and short of it is you don’t have years to wait for all the double-blinded research to be done. In consultation with an expert in complementary medicine, including naturopathic medicine, blood and stool tests can be done to measure these glucuronide complexes if you want to do the research on yourself. In the meantime it isn’t so expensive that you can’t add it to your supplement protocol.

The next article I will talk about the importance of Indole-3-Carbinol or Indolpex.

This information does not take the place of medical consultation with your MD or ND nor is it meant for you to change your medical treatment program without consultation. References available on request.

Dr. Pincott has been practicing naturopathic medicine for 15 years and currently practices in Campbell River. She can be reached at 286-3655 or www.DrPincott.com