Cancer refers to a group of diseases in which cells deviate from the usual controls that regulate cellular growth and reproduction.  They begin to multiply more rapidly than is normal, invading and destroying other body cells.  Cancerous cells can spread, or metastasize, from their primary site to other parts of the body through the bloodstream and lymphatic system.

The most common form of cancer is the carcinoma.  This is a tumor that originates in the skin, in the epithelial tissue that lines the body, or in glandular tissue, such as the breast or prostate gland.  Another type of cancer is the sarcoma, affecting connective and supportive tissue, such as bone, muscle, cartilage, and fat.  Melanomas are a type of skin cancer; lymphomas affect the lymphatic system; and leukemias are cancers of the blood-forming organs.

Causes

Cancer is largely attributable to the cumulative impact of toxins on our systems.  External factors, such as polluted air, water, and food, play a major role, as do microscopic pathogens in our internal environment, such as parasites, fungi, bacteria, viruses, and toxic chemicals, including heavy metals.  Genetic tendencies and immunological weakness come into play, and psychological factors are believed to affect the incidence and course of cancer.

Lifestyle Factors

Over half of all cancers have been linked to lifestyle factors, with some estimates as high as 70 percent.  Prime among these factors is the altered state of our nutrition.  More than 60 percent of all women's cancers and 40 percent of men's have been attributed to nutritional losses incurred as a result of modern farming and food industry practices.

Before the 1940s, most food was organically grown.  Then, the widespread introduction of pesticides, fertilizers, antibiotics, and mono-crop farming changed the face of agriculture forever, and with it, the health of consumers.  These changes were coupled with the increased promotion of processed foods designed for long shelf-life and addictive tastes, but filled with empty calories.  Today, chemically grown and denatured foods and drugs are the norm; these include such poisons as processed meats, caffeinated tea and coffee, soft drinks, liquor, tobacco, meat, white sugar, white flour, and margarine.

Modern diets create a state of chronic toxicity and slow down the organs of elimination:  the bowels, kidneys, liver, lungs, and skin.  Poisons eventually accumulate around the weakest organs and set the stage for the development of cancer.  Three ways an inadequate diet harms the system are through nutrient depletion, free radical damage, and a shift in pH levels.

Nutrient depletion may be the result of gross deficiencies of certain nutrients over long periods of time.  An analogy can be drawn between the body's nutrient supply and a reservoir of water.  Ideally, a reservoir should be full and able to trickle over slightly.  When levels are lower, people can still fish and boat quite comfortably.  But at a certain point, the water is too low for these activities.  The same is true in terms of a person's nutrient reservoir.  It can be significantly reduced without producing any symptoms, but once it reaches a certain level of depletion, the disease process begins.

The average American diet lacks sufficient nutrients to keep the reservoir full.  A healthful diet is high in potassium and low in sodium, for example, but processed foods reverse this ratio.  People need only between 600 and 700mg of sodium a day, but one fast-food meal supplies them with over 5000.  Also missing from the average diet are enough essential fatty acids, such as omega-3 and gamma linoleic acid (GLA), found in deep-sea fish and unsaturated oils such as flaxseed oil.  Instead, people get an excess of arachidonic acid from too many animal proteins.  This combination of factors sets the stage for the development of cancer.

Modern farming practices may make agribusiness more efficient, but they have depleted essential trace elements from our soils.  A lack of selenium, zinc, chromium, and magnesium in foods grown today has been implicated in increased incidences of cancer.  Without these protective nutrients, free radical damage goes unchecked in our systems, and abnormal cell reproduction can lead to cancer.

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