Grouppe Kurosawa Natural Medicine Blog Archives

Flax Lignans and Prostate Cancer

I have spent the last few weeks looking into different nutritional approaches for the treatment of prostate cancer. Since Japanese men who reside in Japan have a low incidence of prostate cancer, I checked out EGCG from green tea, soy isoflavones, walnuts, and everything else I could find. Although each of these studies report some inhibition of PSA release in human studies, they report little cancer cell death.

The Japanese eat a primarily vegetarian and fish diet. Many of the plant fiber they consume contains a large amount of lignan. The commonly ingested high lignan food varies from the horseradish Wasabi to asparagus to various grains. The list is quite extensive.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/queryd.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=18163563&itool=pubmed_docsum

It is very possible, if not probable, that the high intake of lignans is responsible for the low incidence of prostate and breast cancer in Japan.

Two studies, both conducted in a culture dish, provide excellent information on how the lignan enterolactone kills the extremely malignant human prostate cancer cell line LNCaP. This cell line is extremely resistant to apoptosis. Yet enterolactone doses, attainable in the body, readily induce apoptosis by activating various pro-death pathways, including mitochondrial membrane instability.

The abstracts speak for themselves.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/queryd.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=18398867&itool=pubmed_docsum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/queryd.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=17876055&itool=pubmed_docsum

The following is an inexpensive, high SDG pre-lignan source.

http://www.swansonvitamins.com. Search under flax. On page two of the selections, you will find Spectrum Essentials product SPO27. 15 ounce bag. Two tablespoons of this product contains 98 to 260 mgs of SDG, a pre-lignan.

The ARAI concentrated flax lignan product is also a fine product, but it is much more expensive.

Pre-lignans such as SDG have no biological activity unless converted by gut bacteria into enterolactone.

Only a few gut bacterial strains are capable of making this conversion. These strains are anerobic which means they are killed by the presence of oxygen. You cannot purchase these bacterial strains as a supplement and ingest them.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/queryd.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=17978502&itool=pubmed_docsum

Keep in mind that the excessive use of antibiotics will kill these bacterial strains and others in the gut. This will negate the clinical value of flax pre-lignan products. The number of these lignan activating bacteria probably differs widely in the general propulation due to diet or lifestyle (alcohol use).

Stay tuned...

Grouppe Kurosawa, Medicine in the Public Interest

http://www.grouppekurosawa.com

My New Hat

Yesterday was my birthday. I am officially 61 years old. A few days ago I received an Indiana Jones style hat in the mail. This is a VERY expensive hat and I did not order it. When I read the mailing address, Dr. Sensei Martin, I broke out laughing.

My beloved clinical colleague Dr. Will LaValley, MD of Austin Texas calls me sensei (master). I call him grasshopper. He used to pay me $50 an hour to answer his questions about the integration of traditional and modern medicine. He is the only clinical physician on the face of the earth who reads cell and molecular biology textbooks for fun. I am SOOOO pround. Obviously, he sent me the hat. But I didn't know why.

Yesterday, my birthday, the phone rings. Someone is screaming into the phone "Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You....". You guessed it. It was Willy Boy. I didn't even remember that it was my birthday. I completely forgot.

When I asked him how he knew it was my birthday, he responded something like "I am a physician...we know everything." Naturally, I laughed even harder.

Why the hat? "Because you are the medical version of Indiana Jones. Think about it."

So now my official name is Dr. Sensei Indiana Martin, explorer of medical mysteries.

Willy made my day. It is nice to have true friends who never forget.

Steve, AKA Sensei Indiana Martin

The Innate Immune System and Cancer

This is an interesting article on the role innate immunity plays in controlling cancer.

http://www.knowledgeofhealth.com/blog/2008/05/staring-at-cure-for-cancer.html

Stay tuned...

Grouppe Kurosawa, Medicine in the Public Interest

http://www.grouppekurosawa.com

The Flax Lignan Wars

Steven Evans, a former cancer research scientist and a long time member of the Natural Medicine Blog, and I have been fighting the flax lignan war for some time now. In brief, Dr. Evans and myself, as traditionally trained scientists, don't REALLY believe anything unless it can be proven.

We have both asked Omega Nutrition to prove that their flax product does indeed include the concentration of flax lignans claimed for their product. After repeated efforts by Steve and myself, this company has not provided the information. Therefore, they can be considered a fraud. Do not purchase ANY product sold by Omega Nutrition.

This is a copy of Steve's recent email to me.

There are a number of updates to pass along, so mindful of your time, I will try to summarize them as short as possible.

1. Omega Nutrition.  Recall this is the firm that supplies the flaxseed I had recommended based on the fact that they stated their product has 105 mg of lignans per tablespoon.  You had attempted to contact them, got nowhere, so moved on.  I said I would work on it.  Here's the update.  From Jan 3, 08 through April, I emailed and called them more than a  dozen times.  Finally I received a response from their quality assurance officer -- who after more emails and calls -- figured out we wanted some documentation of the product and that we were not a threat.  After yet many more calls and emails, she finally said the "new" [Canadian] management [her supervisor] was stone-walling providing the information she said she could provide.  Then I tried to contact her supervisor -- to no avail. So after 4 months and a very substantial number of call, conversations, and emails, they will provide zip.  I bore you with this long litany so you could see that they had ample opportunity.  In my [free] Newsletter I send to those on our clinical trials, I stated that I was withdrawing Omega Nutrition  as a recommendation.  In substitution, I have recommended a product carried by Swanson, a 15 ounce 100% certified cold-milled organic ground flaxseed with a stated range of SDG lignans of 98-256 mg per 2 tablespoons.  It is made by Spectrum Essentials and is product #SP007 on the Swanson site.  Several things.  First it is far more believable and realistic that a product when tested will show a range, not a constant value like Omega Nutrition uses.  Second, Swanson is a certified GMP company, which includes the requirement that they only work with other GMP-compliant companies.  So there is some increased level of confidence with the new recommendation while Omega Nutrition is not a certified-GMP company, for example.  What I like about the new product is that there is a given lower bound of lignans, so by adjusting the muffin recipe, individuals can have a good idea of their likely lignan intake per muffin.  I also contacted our own testing firm to see if they could test for lignans, since I thought I would possibly test Omega Nutrition from my own pocket, but it turns out this is a costly and more difficult process which they did not do.

2.  Recall the case report you carried on your site about the fellow with prostate cancer whose PSA went from the 300's to 14 during about a 6 week period on the cytotoxic protocol.  The immune support protocol did not help him, and you agreed that he should return to a cytotoxic protocol, but unfortunately he was never able to get back on the cytotoxic protocol.  One illness after another kept him in and out of the hospitals, and finally he was too weak to get on any Protocol.  I did have his daughter deliver 50 grams of glutamine every day as per the case study of the man "who stopped dying,"  but it was too late, and he died about two weeks ago.  I have another prostate cancer patient starting on the cytotoxic protocol, the most recent one, and there is a woman with breast cancer starting at the end of July [she had been on it briefly but has stopped for a while].  I will monitor both closely.  I think the new prostate case will provide excellent data.


Thanks again for all your fantastic efforts!

Steve

This is the best source for standardized flax lignans. Recipies are provided.

http://www.spectrumorganics.com/?id=60

The product is called Ground Organic Flaxseed. 15 ounces cost $6.79. Two tablespoons of this product contains between 98-256 mgs of SDG lignans. Keep refrigerated.

Although flax lignans are not part of the current autophagy protocol, I strongly recommend their use. Bake with the products or sprinkle them over yogurt/cottage chese or salads. 

Stay tuned...

Grouppe Kurosawa, Medicine in the Public Interest

http://www.grouppekurosawa.com

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New Book Press Release

The following PR was written by professionals. Trust me, writing a PR is an art form. It will go out internationally on Tuesday, May 20. Hopefully, this small book will draw greater attention to Grouppe Kurosawa and our mission to find ways to treat diseases with natural medicines.

NEW BOOK EMPOWERS CONSUMERS TO CREATE POTENT HOMEMADE
REMEDIES FOR PAIN, HAIR LOSS AND HERPES INFECTIONS

San Francisco, Calif., May 20, 2008—In a new book titled “If You Can Cook…You Can Make Powerful Topical Remedies for Pain, Hair Loss, and Herpes Infections,” the medical organization Grouppe Kurosawa opens a new world of medical intervention.  This compelling new book—written by Grouppe Kurosawa’s Chief Scientist Dr. Stephen Martin and now available on Amazon.com—leverages the power of topical creams to cure some of today’s most prevalent and chronic medical challenges.

According to industry experts, pain-related problems are extremely diverse as are the severity of symptoms facing Americans and others around the world.  Today, Americans spend billions of dollars annually on a wide range of pain-relief products.  Unfortunately, many if not most of these products are not as effective as promised.  Equally problematic is the costly nature of these solutions.  Finally, many are extremely addictive as can be the case with prescription narcotics such as morphine and OxyContin.

In contrast, solutions such as topical ibuprofen have proven highly effective as evidenced by their successful use in Europe for almost 20 years.  Yet these topical solutions are not sold in the United States due to their potential ability to replace some prescription and most over-the counter pain remedies.

To help consumers tap into the power of these topical solutions, Dr. Martin’s new book gives detailed instructions on how to make homemade versions of pharmaceutical grade products such as topical ibuprofen at very little cost.  Once applied, these topical solutions are almost immediately effective and remain in the skin for many days after the initial application.

Commenting on Dr. Martin’s special formula, one user said “This cream is a MIRACLE…I have no other word for it.  I have had horrible back pain since 1989…and 2 back surgeries to no avail.  Until now, I would say that at least $250,000 [worth of treatment] has been stuck into my back…with no relief. When I can make a cream in my own home for less than $10 and get real pain relief for the first time in all these years…to me that is truly a Miracle.”

In addition to pain relief, the book provides step-by-step instructions on how to make hair growth formulations using caffeine, a powerful growth factor when applied directly to the hair follicles. Finally, the book provides topical solutions to alleviate the symptoms and pain associated with the outbreak of herpes lesions.


-more-



NEW BOOK EMPOWERS CONSUMERS TO CREATE……………………………………….Page 2


Dr. Martin reports that the formulas discussed in this book are not speculative but rather the result of extensive scientific documentation.  In addition, the formulations use common household items as well as readily available “over the counter” pharmaceutical ingredients.  “If You Can Cook….” is available from Amazon.com or through the website www.ifyoucancook.com.

About Grouppe Kurosawa:  Founded in 2000, Grouppe Kurosawa is an alternative medical organization dedicated to developing treatment protocols for acute and chronic diseases using natural medicines, over the counter drugs and some generic prescription drugs. To ensure the efficacy of these formulations, volunteers use their own bodies as experimental organisms to test these treatment protocols on a wide variety of disease conditions.  Results are then reported to Grouppe Kurosawa’s discussion group so that they can be honed and optimized.  At a time when current health care costs are skyrocketing, Grouppe Kurosawa members are successfully developing inexpensive, bioavailable and effective treatment protocols for a diversity of diseases that do not require the supervision of a physician.  For more information visit www.grouppekurosawa.com.

#  #  #


Contact Info:
Dr. Stephen Martin
smartin@grouppekurosawa.net

Oxidative stress/Autophagy Treatment Protocol

I have update this protocol and placed it in a file on the discussion group. Directly below this file is another file where members can post their comments. Any further changes to the protocol will be made ONLY in the discussion group file.

Steve

If you can cook...You can make powerful topical remedies for hair loss, pain and herpes infections

Yes, my new book is finally out. Our beloved Mouse Thea designed the covers for the book and the corresponding web site. And she refuses to take any money from me.

As the book title suggests, this short book cites information published in the scientific literature on methods to alleviate pain, including arthritic, muscle and CNS pain, promote hair growth with simple compounds like topical caffeine, and stop the development of herpes lesions in their tracks.

The book is available from Amazon.com for $29.95. Select the books category and type in If You Can Cook. The book's page will be near the top of the selections. The Amazon entry allows you to read the front and back covers, table of contents, and some internal content. If you order through Amazon, please do so via the Amazon logo on the bottom of our home page. We get an affiliate fee that way.

The home page of the book is http://www.ifyoucancook.com. This book is one of four in the IF YOU CAN COOK series. These books will eventually be available in many different languages, but only in electronic format. If you order the book through this web site, the price is the same, but we get a higher commission since the publisher, Create Space, is handling the transactions.

As the members know, it is amazing what you can find in scientific databases if, and only if, you know where to look.

Stay tuned...

Grouppe Kurosawa, Medicine in the Public Interest

http://www.grouppekurosawa.com

Glutamine Enhances the Anti-Cancer Potency of TNF, Tumor Necrosis Factor

"He just stopped dying". Those words continue to be burned in my brain. I just can't stop thinking about this remarkable story.

http://grouppekurosawa.typepad.com/grouppe_kurosawa_natural_/2008/04/he-just-stopped.html

An elderly man, probably in his 70s, with terminal pancreatic cancer takes 50 grams of glutamine a day for 30 days and walks out of a Hospice. "He just stopped dying".

In the new autophagy cytotoxic protocol, I recommended a minimal dose of 50 grams of glutamine a day. But this dose may be too low. The elderly man referenced above probably did not weight very much. Therefore, for a large person like myself (250 pounds) 50 grams is probably therapeutically inadequate. But who knows. I do know that you cannot overdose on a natural amino acid like glutamine.

This is the bottom line question. Did this man get better because

1. Glutamine provided nutritional value.

2. Glutamine enhances the uptake of nutrients from the GI tract.

3. Glutamine enhances immune functioning.

4. Glutamine and its metabolite glutamate promoted cancer cell death.

I believe the correct answer is ALL of the above.

Everyone who is sick or under excessive stress is defacto glutamine depleted. Regardless of diet, when tissues are stressed they consume glutamine at a rapid rate. Although glutamine is considered a non-essential amino acid, the scientific literature is clear that this is BS. Glutamine is a critically important amino acid and in HIGH concentrations it can induce necrosis, autophagy and apoptosis in cancer cells.

I have already written extensively about the use of glutamine in the treatment of cancer. Now we know that the metabolism of glutamine also directly promotes cancer cell death. Consider the following...

TNF or tumor necrosis factor is THE most potent natural anti-cancer agent known. In proper concentrations, it promotes necrosis, autophagy and apoptosis. Unfortunately, TNF is also toxic to normal cells so it cannot be administered via an IV injection.

We know that low levels of chronic inflammation promotes the development of cancer. One of the inflammatory agents is TNF. In high concentrations, TNF kills cancer cells. However, in low chronic concentrations, such as that present in tumors, TNF promotes cancer cell growth and survival. With the use of high oral doses of glutamine, we should be able to enhance the anti-cancer potency of TNF that is normally present in tumors.

Consider the following diagram.

http://grouppekurosawa.typepad.com/grouppe_kurosawa_natural_/2008/04/you-must-print.html

On the right, glutamine blocks NF-kappaB activation by interfering with PI-3K/AKT signaling and by promoting the synthesis of HSP70, an inhibitor of IKK.

The apoptosis pathway described on the left is a tad simplistic. In order for TNF to induce mitochondrial damage, oxidative stress must be initiated.

If the oxidative stress pathway is impaired (respiration), TNF cannot kill a cancer cell. The production of superoxide radicals by respiration is of fundamental importance in the initiation of necrosis, apoptosis and autophagy by TNF.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/queryd.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=8344250&itool=pubmed_docsum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/queryd.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=1312087&itool=pubmed_docsum

Glutamine is metabolized by respiration. If glutamine is depleted in the culture media of cancer cells, respiration is impaired and the cells become desensitized to the killing powers of TNF. Glutamine is not an ordinary amino acid. It plays many roles in cellular metabolism. Until recently, I did not realize that the metabolism (oxidation) of glutamine in the mitochondria promoted oxidative stress and eventual death in cancer cells. The lack of glucose in the culture media does not desensitize cancer cells to TNF.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/queryd.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=8550558&itool=pubmed_docsum

Remember Coleys Toxin? This bacterial extract promoted necrosis in highly malignant cancer cells by stimulating the secretion of TNF. We really don't need to stimulate further TNF release, a potentially dangerous procedure. But we do need to increase the cytotoxic potential of the small amounts of TNF present in all cancer lesions.

I can't stop thinking about that elderly gentleman with terminal pancreatic cancer who "walked" out of a hospice after taking 50 grams of glutamine daily for 30 days. There is NO question that this extremely sick individual had almost no glutamine in his body. This is true of all cancer patients. Unfortunately, due to my stupidity we have no feedback information on his condition. Did the high glutamine dose clinically affect his pancreatic cancer? Considering what we know about the anti-cancer properties of glutamine, I would venture to say that it did. How could it not? I don't think this is a case where glutamine simply provided nutritional support. Something else is going on.

In summary, glutamine blocks the ability of TNF to induce NF-kappaB signaling and cancer cell survival. It also directly promotes cell death by inducing mitochondrial oxidative stress. Also, don't forget that glutamate, a metabolite of glutamine, inhibits the uptake of glutathione into the mitochondria. This further destabilizes the mitochondria and enhances the cytotoxic efficacy of TNF.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/queryd.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11522449&itool=pubmed_docsum

Stay tuned...

Grouppe Kurosawa, Medicine in the Public Interest

http://www.grouppekurosawa.com

New Bulk Supplier

One of the members sent me information on this company.

AIE Pharmaceuticals in Ontario, California sells bulk materials and performs contract packaging.

http://www.naturalvigor.com

I have spoken to Jasmine, their customer service representative, on two occasions now. AIE is very willing to sell to individuals, and they ship internationally.

l-isoleucine, 1 kilogram $42 USD

l-glutamine, 1 kilogram $27 USD

curcumin, 95%, 1 kilogram $76 USD

These are excellent prices.

You must order by phone. They do not have a shopping cart.

909-947-9898 or 909-947-9811

Stay tuned...

Grouppe Kurosawa, Medicine in the Public Interest

http://www.grouppekurosawa.com

Metformin and Vitamin B12. Revised.

If you take metformin, you must also take vitamin B12 and calcium supplements.

http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2007/aug2007_atp_01.htm

A member sent me this information. I will incorporate it into the treatment protocol.

Stay tuned...

Grouppe Kurosawa, Medicine in the Public Interest

http://www.grouppekurosawa.com