Why men need to test annually for prostate cancer and personally track any change from one year to the next

It seems as though we men are constantly bombarded by articles talking about the fact that the PSA test isn’t perfect and how it does more harm than good.

We hear these arguments despite the fact that the annual prostate cancer death toll dropped significantly following the introduction and widespread use of the PSA test.

The following update comes from a man who was diagnosed after his prostate cancer had metastasized – spread into his body beyond the prostate gland.

As you read this account, think about his situation and how different his story would be had his prostate cancer been diagnosed before it metastasized. By the way, the cost of a Provenge treatment series in 2011 was $93,000.00. Got health insurance?

Begin the story
“Well, got back last night from my follow up (60 day) after my last Provenge treatment. For those who don’t know what Provenge is, I’ll make it as simple as possible. For about 6 weeks before Christmas, I went to CTCA and they would take some of my white blood cells out of my blood and then send them off to be “engineered” or turned into “Transformers.” Then 4 days later inject them back into my blood stream. We would go through this process every two weeks for a total of 3 times. The idea is that my immune system would then attack JUST the prostate cancer cells. I had originally heard about this process while it was still in clinical trial testing over 2 years ago. I believed that this process would provide some miraculous results.

Well, it didn’t provide the results that I had been hoping and praying for. The cancer has progressed, only “slightly” but it has progressed. Since I have been feeling better than I have in maybe 3 years,….. I WAS PISSED!!!  Went through a day or two of “shit, damn, “poor little old me”, FU*K!!!” Didn’t seem to help, so……. I’m going back to my POSITIVE, I’m here for the other guy/gal, it ain’t gonna’ get me down, It ain’t over till the “Fat Lady” sings and she hasn’t even cleared her throat yet, “it’s all in GOD’s hands” attitude.

So, tomorrow (Friday) I start on Taxotere. It’s a chemotherapy that has in the past been used for breast cancer but they have found that it works for prostate cancer too. It seems to work in a couple of different ways. It seems to cause some cancer cells to “self-destruct”. However, it’s main process is to target and interfere with cell division so that the cancer cell cannot rapidly reproduce and grow. The problem is that the drug also effects the other “rapidly growing cells” like hair, nails, gastrointestinal and bone marrow cells. Since I have a bit of a shortage of bone marrow (since the cancer has eaten up a good share of what I had) this is going to be a bit of concern….. at least for me it will be. According to the oncologist, the Taxotere might even help provide a bit of a “chaser” or booster for the Provenge. (WE CAN ONLY HOPE & PRAY!!!) Should be interesting what I’m gonna look like bald, or should I say balder! I thought about getting my first treatment of the chemo at CTCA, but then I thought….. “If I’m maybe gonna puke my guts up….. let’s do it on my home turf.” Going to have to get treated every 3 weeks and then at the end of April it’s back to CTCA for bone scans and see if we can get this cancer stopped for a little while, cause …..CANCER SUCKS!!!!!

Thanks to everyone for your support, LOVE, prayers and thoughts. They DO mean a lot!

Hope everyone is doing well and may GOD bless each and everyone of you.”

What you can do to avoid this situation

Get a baseline PSA test at age 35. Then, test annually and track the values each year, looking for any increase.

Beginning in June 2012, you will be able to use the Prostate Cancer Awareness Project’s free online PSA tracker that will be available at ProstateTracker.org. You can get on the email list to be notified when the site goes live at http://eepurl.com/g6uiA.

A news release from Johns Hopkins on January 11, 2012, reported that researchers have identified the HOXB13 gene mutation as a predictor of prostate cancer development.

You can read the full news release at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_120695.html

How can this discovery help?

If you can afford it, it might be worth exploring the possibility of having the test done. Men who discover they have the gene then could take lifestyle measures to prevent the actual development of the disease, such as dietary modification as suggested in The China Study.

But, what if you can’t afford genetic testing?

It’s not perfect, but the PSA (prostate specific antigen) test still is the best tool to early detection of prostate cancer.

Although I am not a medical doctor and can not and do not provide medical advice, I believe that we men should begin testing annually for prostate cancer at age 35.

Just like women know they need an annual PAP smear and mammogram, we guys need a PSA test to see if our risk is increasing.

How can I track my PSA results?

Beginning in April 2012, men will be able to track this information online at www.ProstateTracker.org and receive an email reminder when their next test is due.

Follow this site for information on how to create your free ProstateTracker account.

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

[You can read the full article at the following line: How you can deflect some of this regret
March 17th marks the beginning of the PCAP Prostate Cancer Pony Express. Between March 17th and September 9th, a series of riders will ride through all 50 US states to raise awareness for prostate cancer and become part of the first ever national prostate cancer awareness event in our country’s history.

Visit our blog at http://prostatecancerponyexpress.wordpress.com for details.

Helping us bring attention on prostate cancer lets you pay it forward and save the lives of men who otherwise would be diagnosed too late for effective treatment.

Warm regards,

Robert

Today was my first ride of 2012 on Zonker, my time trial bike. I posted this morning on my Strava.com profile [http://strava.com/athletes/robertwhess] that I’ll send a free pair of Sock Guy cycling socks to the first person who can tell me why I named this bike “Zonker.” Just post your answer here or on my ride profile at Strava.com.

Why I bicycle

I’ve always enjoyed cycling, but I refocused my energy to it following my diagnosis and treatment for prostate cancer in 2012. My intuition told me that nutrition and exercise would help me keep the cancer from returning.

There still is no definitive, double-blind study proving the correlation, but evidence is mounting. I’m working my way through The Definitive Guide to Prostate Cancer by Dr. Aron E. Katz, and he makes clear the benefits of good nutrition and daily exercise. Bicycling is great aerobic exercise and it’s easy on the knees. You still need weight bearing exercise, but cycling is a great deal of fun.

Join me on Strava.com

If you’re a cyclist and would like to help with prostate cancer awareness, follow me on Strava, http://strava.com/athletes/robertwhess and join the 29000Men club on Strava.

You can create a free account on Strava. I think you’ll love it; it’s very motivational.

As most of my readers know, I’m a prostate cancer survivor, Class of 2003.

As you can imagine, one of my key goals in life is to “Stay in the Picture.” Staying in the picture means preventing the return of my prostate cancer for as long as possible.

The two levers of control I have are: 1) what I eat and 2) how much I exercise. Recent medical research is producing more and more evidence that these two factors account for as much at 30% of risk for prostate cancer.

Eliminating unhealthy food and exercising helps prevent prostate cancer, but it also improves every other element of our health. Now there’s a big plus.

So, how did I do in 2011? Here are my stats:

Miles ridden: 2,395.1

Vertical feet of climb: 100,977

Time spent on the bike: 137 hours

Calories burned: 110,400 (calculator at http://www.ultracycle.net/coach/total.php)

Pounds of fat burned: 31.5

Total percentage of the circumference of the earth ridden since my surgery in 2003: 79.78% (19,866.4 miles of the 24,901.6 miles around the earth. I expect to complete my journey sometime in 2014).

Want to join me in 2012?

If you are a licensed USA Cycling rider, you can list 29000Men as your club.

If you use Strava.com, we can list 29000men as your club and you can join in the King of the Mountain (KOM) competitions we will be staging in 2012, and win great awards like cycling socks, KOM jerseys, and other prizes. Click this link to join us on Strava.

Watch for information here on this blog, at http://MyBikeInfo.wordpress.com, and on FaceBook – “Prostate Cancer Awareness Project”

Have a wonderful 2012!

The following link will take you to a recent video by Dr. Snuffy Myers on metabolic syndrome and why our traditional eating habits cause us to gain weight and, for some men, increase the risk of prostate cancer and diabetes.

Dr. Myers talks about nutrition and the need for exercise, both weight training and daily aerobic exercise.

This short video is definitely worth listening to and integrating into our 2012 habits.

Metabolic Syndrome, Diabetes, and Prostate Cancer

Questions for this Post

We’ve all been taught that these two food groups are critical to our health.

1 – How important to you is eating animal protein dairy products?

2 – If they were actually unhealthy, do you think you could change to a whole foods eating program?

If you’ve been following my posts over the past several months, you know that I have been reading and researching about vegetarianism and veganism -everything seems to be an “ism” – as a tool in my prostate cancer recurrence prevention program.

Changing habits isn't that hard - we just need to do take on little step every day

I spent a career in the US Army – I’ll be updating my LinkedIn account with these details in the near future – and we Army people are pretty well training in planning and developing contingency plans.

As I’ve noted before in this blog, the only prevention tools I have under my personal control are what I choose to eat and how much and when I exercise.

Over the past year I worked on increasing my bicycling activity level and got into a Monday evening yoga routine. For 2012, I plan to continue those programs – including more velodrome time – while adding weight training at least once per week.

That’s about all of the exercise I can squeeze into my schedule – perhaps I can get back to early morning walking with my wife. Ops. I forgot the monthly golf tournament, but we ride in the cart so I probably should not count that.

Julie and Julia – How Julia Child may Prevent my Cancer Recurrence

Two weeks ago, not long after finishing Colin Campbell’s book, The China Study, I watched this delightful movie about Julia Child’s life. The main character in the movie, Julie, becomes enthralled with Julia Child and decides to cook one of Julia Child’s recipes each night for a year.

I won’t tell you the plot line but I will recommend this movie.

But, you ask, what does this have with preventing cancer? Especially since anti-cancer eating means avoiding all dairy and animal protein products.

Well, in my mind, it’s pretty simple. We eat the things we eat because they are simple and don’t take any preparation.

If you;re a guy and you;re hungry, you open the refrigerator and go after the first thing in sight. If there’s nothing in the frig, we tend to go after something packaged and ready to go – chips, etc. And those prepackaged foods are loaded with stuff that unhealthy and makes us fat.

Can Moosewood get Guys to “Fresh and Easy?”

Fresh and Easy is a UK grocery chain that it just making and entrance into the US market. In this case though, I’m talking finding and testing recipes that guys can make that are quick, easy, and made from whole foods; no dairy and no animal protein – and taste good!

My basis is going to be the Moosewood cookbook that my sister gave me for my birthday.

The Motorcycle Gourmet writes the Moosewood Chronicles

I’ll be posting my “good eating” escapades while riding my Dave III (my Harley Low Rider) periodically on this blog and at TheMotorcycleGourmet. Let’s just see what I’m able to accomplish over the next 52 weeks.

First up? A vegetable curry.

What’s a Vegan Lite?

I did mention this in the post headline so I’d better provide a definition. I love Thanksgiving and Christmas and turkey is indelibly imprinted in my holiday mind.

So, I;m going to make two exceptions during the year to my animal protein ban- organic turkey at those two holidays, That will be just a little extra holiday treat until I arrive at the point where I just don’t care for it anymore.

I’ve had my Christmas sandwich so It’s back to my normal diet. Just 364 days to turkey!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

The PSA Tracker will show the Total PSA and Free PSA Ratios

For most of the past 7+ years since my diagnosis and treatment for prostate cancer, I’ve been looking for a complete set of statistics about the side effects of prostate cancer treatment, and I have never found them.

What I have learned is that there is no validated set of statistics that men can use to understand their real risk of prostate cancer, the probabilities of side effects stemming from the various treatment options, and when those side effects might materialize.

The points made in the article below are very important, because they speak to the two fears that keep men from addressing their prostate cancer risk: fear of incontinence and fear of impotence.

This article makes the point these conditions do occur, but they are no where near the scale that is sensationalized by our media.

I strongly urge you to take just a few minutes and read this article.

The Prostate Cancer Awareness Project is currently programming a free online PSA tracking service that will allow men to follow their annual PSA changes and receive reminders when their next test is due. Join the mailing list at Free PSA Tracker.

I wish you all the best best for the Holiday Season and for the coming year.

Warm regards, Roberrt

BEGIN ARTICLE

5 prostate cancer myths discussed by UC urologist
Posted on December 22, 2011 by Stone Hearth News
Earlier this year, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force announced recommendations that surprised the medical community: Healthy men should no longer have the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test to screen for prostate cancer. An article published in the Dec. 6, 2011, issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine concluded that PSA tests resulted in little or no reduction in the number of prostate cancer deaths.

Local urologists—including Nilesh Patil, MD—say encouraging men to avoid the test all together may result in men dying unnecessarily, particularly for those in increased risk categories.

“There has been a 40 percent decline in prostate cancer-related deaths since the PSA test was introduced,” says Patil, an assistant professor at the UC College of Medicine and UC Health physician. “The test could be improved, but it can provide important clues that prostate cancer may be developing. If the patient waits until he has symptoms, the cancer may have advanced to a less treatable stage.”

The National Cancer Institute estimates that 240,890 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and 33,720 will die from the disease in 2011. Here, Patil addresses some of the common myths about prostate cancer.

MYTH: If I don’t have symptoms, I don’t need to have a check up or a blood test.
Truth: Most localized or early prostate cancers are asymptomatic. Prostate cancers arise from the periphery of the prostate, hence they are asymptomatic. If you are having symptoms of prostate cancer, then more likely than not, you are not going to be cured of prostate cancer as it will have been detected in an advanced stage.

MYTH: If you have surgical treatment of prostate cancer, you will be incontinent, i.e. leak urine.
Truth: Surgical treatment of prostate cancer, removes the prostate, not the control mechanism of urinary control.  Most men are completely continent after surgery, when they relearn the use of the external sphincter, a muscle that controls leakage of urine. With current available modalities of surgery and technology (robotic) and the vision and precision with which these structures are preserved over 96 percent of men undergoing surgery are completely continent.

MYTH: If you have surgery, you will be impotent, i.e. lose sexual function
Truth: Sexual function of an individual is based on the pre-operative sexual function, stage and extent of cancer and the surgical procedure one undergoes. Broadly speaking there are two nerves in very close proximity to the prostate which are responsible for the sexual function of the men. If these nerves are spared and if an individual is young, the recovery of sexual function is very good. These nerves are spared in low grade and low volume cancer. Hence earlier detection will allow for sparing of these nerves and better recovery of sexual function post operatively.

MYTH: Prostate biopsy is a painful procedure.
Truth: Prostate biopsy is not a painful  procedure Typically it is done as an office procedure and when done appropriately it is pain free. A nerve block is given and sample tissues are taken from the prostate. But the procedure requires a probe in the rectum which is uncomfortable, not pain inducing.

MYTH: If your PSA is normal, you don’t have prostate cancer.
Truth: The suspicion of prostate cancer is based on a digital rectal examination and a blood test (PSA). It is the combination of these tests that determine if you need a prostate biopsy. If there is one thing we know from the prostate cancer prevention trials, it is the fact that there is no range of PSA that rules out prostate cancer. Even people with PSA < 2 ng/ml can have prostate cancer.

Click the following link for a summary of the session – Prostate Cancer Screening: Dangerous or life saving?

The medical community just can’t seem to come to grips with prostate cancer.  The problem isn’t early detection or not, it’s the inability of current medical science to distinguish between aggressive and non-aggressive prostate cancer.

It seems to me that the USPTF should be arguing for more investment to develop more reliable testing instead of condemning men to death by prostate cancer.  I can’t image what the Task Force plans to prevent by eliminating early detection.

If you agree, email your Congressional representatives.  Or, even better, call your Representative’s local field office and give them you opinion.

Then join us in front of the White House on Sunday, September 9, 2012.  [http://on.fb.me/ProstateCancerPonyExpress]

. . . and why we need to track those results ourselves!

Here’s a typical recent prostate cancer survivor story
“I had PSA tests at every annual physical from age 50 on. Was always “normal” at around 1.5. Diagnosed in 2009 at age 62, 6 months after my last “normal” PSA with Gleason 8, T4, 11 out of 12 cores >60% cancerous which only presented when I had hematuria, so I am proof that some cancer does not produce much PSA. Nevertheless, I am strongly in favor of regular PSA testing since I realize I’m an exception to the rule. The USPSTF may be drawing the right statistical conclusions, but they are hardly drawing the right conclusions for an individual in an informed setting with his urologist. 

The reality of the alternative has been made all the more dramatic for me over the past few weeks: Visited my friend Bill today, who is now in hospice with end stage PCa. It is difficult to imagine a more painful, ugly death than metastasized cancer in the bones. He was diagnosed at age 62 with Stage IV mets everywhere only because he complained of neck pain, having never had a PSA test in his life. In short, he’s a not unreasonable example of the USPSTF’s recommended future without PSA testing.”

How you make sure you – or your significant other – doesn’t fall prey to prostate cancer

1. The first critical step is to take an annual PSA test. You can do this through your doctor or directly through a local laboratory and have the results sent directly to you
2. Then you need to track the change in that PSA value from one year to the next. Any change of .75 from one year to the next is serious cause for concern and you should visit your physician

How to track your PSA data

1. Send us an email at Tracker at 29000men.org and we email you a free PSA Tracker to post on your refrigerator
2. You can use our free online PSA Tracker that will send you an automatic annual reminder of when your test is due and show you any year-to-year change that is occurring. This service will be available in February 2012.

ProstateTracker.org coming in February 2012

We are programming this free online service right now. Send an email to Tracker at 29000men.org, or simply click on the following link Prostate Tracker Update List.

The PCAP Prostate Cancer Pony Express travels through all 50 states beginning in March 2012, and we need ride leaders for the two legs in each state. We have just 81 Road Captain positions available.

We have PCAP Prostate Cancer Pony Express Road Captains in North Carolina, California, Virginia, and Louisiana. But we need more!

Follow these steps to become a PCAP Pony Express Ride Leader:

1. Visit http://bit.ly/2012ProstateCancerPonyExpressRegistration  and register to be a rider. Your registration includes the necessary waiver and gives you a lifelong Prostate Cancer Pony Express rider number.

2. Visit http://bit.ly/2012ProstateCancerPonyExpressRouteCard and download the route card. The dates will remain the same but the meeting points may change.

3. Click on the following to be added to our ride information list http://bit.ly/prostatecancerponyexpressriderupdates

4. Visit our forum at http://prostatecancerponyexpress.websitetoolbox.com and create an account and request to be a Road Captain for one or more of our legs.  We will contact you directly if your desired Road Captain leg is still open.

5. Please send me a short paragraph about yourself and what caused you to support our project. I plan to post this on our blog and our Facebook page so that we can begin to tell the stories around prostate cancer. [robert dot hess @29000men dot com]

6. If you use Facebook, please Like the page and and ask your friends and colleagues to do the same

7. Follow us on Twitter – PCPonyExpress

8. If you are a prostate cancer survivor, go to http://29000men.wordpress.com and tell us your story.

Dan Jester, PCAP Prostate Cancer Pony Express Rider Number 39, is the national ride coordinator.

The current ride route is posted on the ride blog at http://prostatecancerponyexpress.wordpress.com . We are still working on identifying the exact locations where the Prostate Cancer Pony Express riders will meet to transfer the saddlebags.

Thank you for volunteering to be a part of the first national prostate cancer awareness motorcycle rally.

Warm regards,

Robert Hess

Prostate Cancer Survivor, Class of 2003

This is my first post since I wrote about the never-ending controversy over PSA testing. I’ve been taking a writing course and it consumed all of my time and didn’t produce much that I could post here. That said, though, I’m back!

Today’s post is about how we men can actually affect our chances for prostate cancer and for prostate cancer recurrence.

Several weeks ago I finished reading The China Study by T. Colin Campbell and followed that up with a book on vegetarianism by John A. McDougall, M.D., and his wife Mary.

The bottom line for both of these major studies is that animal protein and dairy products are highly correlated with a wide range of chronic diseases, including cancer,which, as a prostate cancer survivor, is particularly important to me

I switched over to an almost 100% vegetarian diet at the end of July of this year when I posted my cholesterol numbers from my most recent physical exam. You can find that data, along with a graph showing the correlation between my increased cholesterol levels and my return to meat and dairy in 2007, at my 7/22/2011 post..

So, I’m back on the wagon except for turkey at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’ll be posting my numbers here on this blog so you can see how the dietary change affects my health.

Hamburger helper – Isn’t

I just came across the following research study dealing with the correlation between meat consumption and aggressive prostate cancer -http://bit.ly/tCXJ2N.

This is a small study with an “n” of 1,000, but it is a reminder that research continues to point to the deleterious health impact of consuming meat and dairy products.

Meet Julie and Julia

If you haven’t seen it, this is a wonderful movie. It’s about the joy of cooking – and French cooking at that. In the movie, Julie commits to cooking everyone of Julia’s recipes within one year.

As you can imagine, this causes a bit of havoc with her marriage, but all ends well.

I’m preparing to do the same thing, but focused on vegetarian cooking. I think my goal is going to be to cook or prepare one vegetarian thing every day. I’m not placing this out as a formal goal, because I just listened to a TED presentation that implied that formally and publicly committing to a goal makes it less likely to be accomplished. Go figure.

So, it’s not a formal goal, but simply a “want” that I would like to accomplish.

Let’s see how that works.

Warm regards, Robert

Incidence up but mortality down since the PSA test was introduced

The SEER database shows that prostate cancer incidence continues to increase and that the mortality rate has dropped since the introduction of the PSA (prostate specific antigen) test in the early 1990s. [http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/prost.html]

Would you rather be diagnosed while your cancer is in it’s early stages or after it has spread in your body?

100% of men whose prostate cancer is detected before metastasis survive 5 years. But 72.2% of men diagnosed with advanced metastatic prostate cancer are dead within 5 years.

With a 72% death rate within 5 years for advanced prostate cancer diagnosis, how can competent medical authorities recommend ending prostate cancer testing, which is the only method for early detection?

How you can help save men’s lives

1. Education about the prostate cancer risk and how to detect it early are critical factors in beating this disease.
2. Beginning in March 2012, the Prostate Cancer Awareness Project’s “Prostate Cancer Pony Express” will visit every state in the union and end in Washington, DC on September 9, 2012.
3. We will be carrying survivor and victim journals in our saddlebags that will be read at the annual memorial service at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC, and then be presented to Congress.  If you have a loved one who was a prostate cancer victim or is a current survivor, send us their name for inclusion in the journals.
4. Join us on Facebook [http://www.facebook.com/pages/Prostate-Cancer-Pony-Express/139398576121502], and at our Blog [http://prostatecancerponyexpress.wordpress.com/].
5. Sign up to be part of the 2012 Prostate Cancer Pony Express at http://bit.ly/2012ProstateCancerPonyExpress.

How you can participate in the 2012 Prostate Cancer Pony Express

Sign up as a Prostate Cancer Pony Express rider. Even if you cannot be with us in person, your ‘virtual’ presence will help us show Congress the importance of prostate cancer research and awareness programs.

Sign up here: http://bit.ly/2012ProstateCancerPonyExpress

Ride along with the Prostate Cancer Pony Express when it comes through your state. The route is posted here [http://bit.ly/2012ProstateCancerPonyExpressRouteCard] You can join on your motorcycle or in your car.

There will be a handoff ceremony in each state where one group of Prostate Cancer Pony Express riders passes the saddlebags to the next group of riders. There will be a press conference at each event and we need people to be present.

Sign up for our email newsletter here: [http://prostatecancerponyexpress.wordpress.com/ride-information-update/]

We hope to see you somewhere along the way in 2012.

Warm regards, Robert

Cover via Amazon

Why do most cancer survivors ignore the tools they have within their personal control?
My older sister was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in November 2002. She passed away from the disease in February 2003, just a few days before her 62nd birthday and less than three months before I underwent prostate cancer surgery. I never told her about my cancer.

During her 13 month battle against cancer, she continued to smoke cigarettes and made almost no changes to her diet. She was told to stop smoking but lifelong habits are difficult to change. I don’t think anyone advised there that dietary changes could help her in her struggle and her meal plan as she was dying in the hospital was mostly sugar, meat, and dairy-based.

At that point I did not know enough to provide any guidance at all. But now, after 8 and one-half years as a prostate cancer survivor I do have a body of knowledge that I intend to share with my fellow survivors and those who are sure to follow.

How nutrition and exercise makes a difference
More and more research is clearly demonstrating the connection between what we eat and the diseases we force ourselves to endure.

The following quote comes from the Cancer Survivor’s Guide, by Neal D. Bernard, MD, and Jennifer K. Reilly, RD: “Among the most important themes to emerge from research has been that foods influence the hormones that fuel cancer growth. For example, diets high in fiber and low in fat tend to reduce the amount of estrogens (female sex hormones) circulating in the bloodstream. This taming of estrogens seems to reduce the likelihood that cancer cells will multiply or spread.”

Dr. Bernard is a nutrition researcher and founder of The Cancer Project and is also the founder of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM).

In 2002, researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles reported a series of unusual experiments that demonstrated the power of diet and exercise. They drew blood samples from a group of eight men who had been following a low-fat diet and exercising regularly for several years. They also drew blood samples from overweight men who were not follow- ing the diet and exercise program.

They added portions of each man’s blood serum to test tubes containing standardized prostate cancer cells. Serum from men on the low-fat diet and exercise program slowed cancer cell growth by 49 percent compared to serum from the other men.

How could this be? Differences in testosterone, estrogen, and insulin account for part of the effect, but other changes in the blood exert additional effects the researchers have not yet teased out. The research team also found that a man’s serum shows demonstrable cancer-inhibiting power within as little as eleven days after beginning a low-fat diet and exercise regimen.

Watch my program here
In a previous post I showed my PSA history – as a radical prostatectomy patient it should be undetectable – that indicates I likely have some low-level of recurrent prostate cancer.

I also posted my LDL cholesterol history for the past 8 eight years that clearly shows my rise in LDL since I regressed to eating animal protein and diary products. After reading The China Study , I am convinced that I can strongly influence my cancer outcome by reverting to a plant-based eating program. You can watch my progress here in my blog.

If you are a cancer patient or someone who wishes to dramatically improve their health, I recommend you read The China Study and the pdf eBook at the following link: Cancer-Fighting Power You Can See