Participants: Nick Evenson (Host), Dr. James Marcum
Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP000073B
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00:03 Welcome back, on today's program we've been
00:05 talking about breast cancer which is a cancer that affects 00:08 1 in 8 women in the United States... 00:10 And Dr. Marcum, let's just refresh and review a few of the 00:14 points that we've covered so far. 00:15 Well, we can't cover everything, but one of the 00:16 couple of things we want are women and men to 00:19 pay attention to - is some of the basic facts. 00:22 We want to try to lower our exposure to estrogen, if we can, 00:26 in food and eat a healthier diet. 00:28 We want to get people exercising and keep the weight down, 00:32 and things that cause stress, we want to lower those. 00:35 We talked about that. Right 00:37 And there are other things that raise the risk of 00:39 breast cancer; things like drinking alcohol... 00:42 that will raise your risk of cancer as well. 00:44 Those are the things we want to minimize, 00:46 and if you're in a high risk group, 00:48 especially be attentive to your body. 00:51 High risk groups are people that had first degree relatives 00:54 that had breast cancer at young ages. Okay 00:56 And most of the time, another thing that we needed 00:59 to mention is exposure to estrogens, you know, 01:02 when you take estrogen products postmenopausal, 01:05 that raises your risk of cancer as well. 01:08 What kind of products are we talking about? 01:09 Well, you know, the things that postmenopausal women 01:12 sometimes have symptoms of cramping and problems of 01:16 that nature and they take products with estrogen in it, 01:19 and estrogen products, postmenopausal, has been 01:22 shown to raise the risk of cancer. 01:24 It doesn't surprise me because, remember, we said that 01:28 part of the reason we have this problem is prolonged 01:31 exposure to estrogen... Right 01:32 So estrogen, when we're not supposed to have it, 01:35 does not seem to be good for a woman's body. 01:38 Now at "Heartwise," you know, one of the things 01:41 we like to do is answer questions; 01:43 we like to pray for people and we realize that 01:47 the world is not perfect... That's right 01:49 And sometimes, people have bad things happen to them 01:53 and we need to Savior and a God 01:55 to love and heal that way. 01:56 So I really think it's very important to have 01:59 positive healing beliefs. 02:01 We talked about "What is a positive healing belief," 02:05 and that's the belief that you're going to do well, 02:08 you believe that you can have the power. 02:10 God gives us the those healing beliefs within us, 02:13 and that's very important for someone that wants to lower 02:16 their risk of cancer because that lowers their stress; 02:19 lower their anxieties. 02:20 You almost have to be positive and expect to do well. 02:23 I think that's another very important thing that we can 02:26 factor in to not only lower the risk of cancer, 02:29 be it the stress mechanism, but if we have had cancer, 02:32 to turn those cells off a little bit, Nick. 02:34 So faith that God can heal us could be very beneficial. 02:38 Very beneficial - I think that's very important in all of this. 02:42 Let's go to some questions... Yeah 02:43 So we've got some questions on our website: 02:45 heartwiseministries.org 02:46 If you have a question, you can go there, 02:48 submit your question and our team of doctors 02:50 will get back to you with some general health advice 02:52 to point you in the right direction. 02:54 Our first question today comes from a woman who asks: 02:56 "Should women with a family history of breast cancer 02:59 take extra precautions?" 03:00 And I think you kind of answered that, 03:02 but expound on that a little bit. 03:03 But I think that they should just be more in tune 03:06 than ever - make sure you self-examine your breasts; 03:09 Do some of these things we've talked about and learn. 03:12 Learn about things that could help you lower your risk, 03:15 and we talked about some of them today. 03:17 We've talked about the exercise, avoiding the weight, 03:20 avoiding alcohol. 03:22 You know, prolonged exposures to estrogen through 03:24 animal products, maybe take more antioxidants, 03:27 lower stress, plug into your faith system and that's a 03:30 great place to start. 03:32 Now, another thing that we haven't mentioned is 03:34 "ionizing radiation." Tell us about it... 03:37 That's a big word, but x-rays are radiation. 03:42 CAT scans - a lot of people are getting CAT scans now. 03:45 That has lots of radiation, so that's like 400 times 03:49 more than you would get from an x-ray. 03:51 When you get that kind of radiation, 03:53 that also damages cells, damages DNA, 03:56 increases the rate for mutation and damage from cancer. 04:00 So, if you can not get ionizing radiation especially 04:03 with CAT scans - you want to lower the risk. 04:06 Now the mammograms have very, very, little radiation, 04:09 and that's sort of the way that predominantly screens for 04:12 cancer today. 04:14 There are other methods called "thermography" that screen well, 04:16 but pretty much, most physicians will recommend 04:19 the self-breast exam and mammograms 04:21 for early detection. 04:23 And early detection is so important because if it's 04:26 before the cancer gets out of control, 04:28 then you can do things to enhance your own defenses; 04:30 you can remove the cancer and sometimes 04:33 modern medicine is needed with 04:35 things that would block estrogen 04:37 effect on the tissues in a woman's breasts. 04:41 So a person needs to take extra precautions, 04:43 and, yeah, here's another good point... 04:45 if they've really had breast cancer at a very young age, 04:49 very, very young age in the family, 04:51 like Angelina Jolie's family did. Sure 04:53 This might be one that wants to check for that cancer gene. 04:57 Because even though a woman might do everything right, 05:00 sometimes the genetics are too hard to overcome. Right 05:04 That's a good answer. 05:05 Another viewer asks: "Why have breast cancer rates 05:09 continued to rise?" 05:10 You know, we would think that with the improved technology 05:12 and medical breakthroughs, we would think 05:14 that maybe we'd see a decline in some of these diseases, 05:16 but breast cancer rates continued to rise. 05:18 What would you attribute that to? 05:20 Well if you look at our discussion earlier, 05:23 we sort of attribute part of it to stress - stressors, 05:27 but we're using more ionizing radiation; 05:30 we have prolonged exposure to estrogen. 05:32 Girls are having their periods much younger. 05:35 We're eating foods that pass more estrogens to us. 05:38 We're gaining weight which makes more estrogen. 05:41 We're damaging our cells, our stress cells, 05:44 so they can't take care of themselves as well. 05:48 Of course, people are eating more bad foods and alcohol... 05:53 You add that up and with the detection rates improving, 05:56 we see that it goes up every year. 05:58 Now, it's 1 in 8, that's why I wore this 06:00 tie today - because they have an awareness program 06:03 in the United States called, "Go Red for Women." Okay 06:07 And this is an awareness thing and anyone that's been 06:10 touched with breast cancer 06:11 realizes how it affects the entire life. Right 06:15 It affects the family, it affects your relatives, 06:17 it affects your spirituality, it affects everything 06:21 in your life and it's very important that we support 06:24 people that are at risk for breast cancer and that have 06:27 breast cancer and give them the tools they have 06:30 to help combat this serious disease that 06:33 now is affecting 1 in 8 women, that's a lot of women! 06:37 You know, as we have these discussions, 06:38 I keep hearing the theme that our lifestyle causes 06:43 a lot of the pain and suffering in the world today, 06:45 and if we would get back closer to the original design 06:48 for our lives - living simply, not worrying about things, 06:51 eating plants, you know, that a lot of these 06:53 things would be taken care of if we just 06:55 lived the way that God created us to. 06:57 Yes it is and it's about a balance in life, 07:00 and modern medicine has its place, lifestyle has it's place, 07:05 but I found what brings it together is that relationship 07:08 you have with God and we're never going to be perfect... 07:10 And that's why that relationship with our Father 07:14 guarantees us having healing, it's just where, when and how. 07:17 And that's why I think that's the core for all illnesses, 07:21 and people with cancer, people that are at risk 07:24 for cancer - I think that relationship is even 07:27 so vital to keep the body running well, 07:29 to take away fears, to keep stress down, 07:33 to give our bodies the ability to fight the best it can. 07:35 Now we've had another interesting question come in... 07:38 "Can a man get breast cancer?" 07:40 I don't think that's probably as common, but what do you say? 07:42 Yes, man does have breast tissue, 07:44 but not as much breast tissue as women. 07:48 So a man can get breast cancer and basically what cancer is 07:51 is cells mutate and start dividing really quick. Okay 07:55 The cells just start dividing and they get bigger 07:58 and bigger, and bigger, and they bump into things 08:00 and take over things that they shouldn't do. 08:02 And based on where that cell type is, 08:04 is that the type of cancer - lung - lung cancer, 08:06 skin - skin cancer, and it causes differing degrees 08:10 of problems wherever that cell starts dividing, 08:13 and then, of course, it can be spreading. 08:15 So men don't have as much breast tissue, 08:17 but they still can get breast cancer, 08:19 so if a man has a lump in their breast... 08:22 they should check their lumps too. 08:23 Now they don't get mammograms because the treatment 08:25 is very similar in a man, but it is possible 08:29 for a man to get breast cancer. 08:30 So if a man notices lumps and bumps in their breast tissue, 08:34 they need to get it evaluated. 08:36 Usually, the way we evaluate this is with a biopsy 08:39 after a mammogram. 08:41 So we would get a biopsy and we would get a piece of tissue, 08:43 look at it under the microscope 08:45 and see exactly what cell type it is 08:47 because sometimes we have nodular tissue that's not 08:50 cancer, it's just like - we call it fibrocystic or fibroids, 08:53 and it's not cancer, but it's just lumpy tissue 08:56 called fibrocystic tissue. Okay 08:58 Our next question asks: 09:00 "What does estrogen receptor- positive mean?" 09:03 Okay, that is a good question 09:05 and something that we should be aware. 09:06 Estrogen receptor-positive means that the cells 09:10 have a receptor where estrogen can bind. 09:14 So that means this type of cancer is stimulated 09:17 by estrogen. 09:19 So an estrogen comes and it's going to make this 09:22 cancer go "wild." 09:23 This is very important for doctors because they want to 09:26 give chemotherapy that blocks estrogen. 09:31 If estrogen can't get to the tissue, guess what? 09:33 The tissue won't divide as quick. Right 09:36 So that's very important and that they look at the breast 09:38 tissues especially when they do biopsies to see if it is 09:41 estrogen positive or estrogen negative. Okay 09:44 So it's mainly to help doctors know how to 09:46 use chemotherapy. 09:48 Now once someone has had breast cancer, 09:50 what is the best way to keep it from recurring 09:53 and happening again? 09:55 Well, we talked early about early detection, 09:59 and that's checking the breast regularly, 10:01 getting the mammograms if you are in a high risk group 10:04 being very attuned to that. 10:06 But if we go back to our discussion, 10:08 some of the studies have shown that in women that have had 10:10 breast cancer, exercise, movement is very valuable, 10:14 very valuable. 10:15 Eating a diet that is heavy in plants, a plant-based diet, 10:19 is very, very valuable. 10:21 Now I don't have randomized studies, but I think that 10:24 keeping the stress down in the life, 10:26 you know, because I think, remember we talked about how 10:29 prolonged stress - no matter where it's from, 10:31 causes oxidation, hurts your own ability to repair itself... 10:35 Those aren't things very good either. 10:38 There have been some studies that they're looking into now 10:41 that certain vitamins - vitamin D 10:43 might help with the cancer. 10:45 We know that antioxidants help the cancer. 10:48 But just generally being as healthy as you can be, 10:51 and it's like I said, do things that help the 10:53 chemistry of the entire body. 10:55 That will not only help lower your cancer risk, 10:57 but help lower the risk of heart 10:59 disease and other things as well. 11:01 So some of the best ways 11:04 for a woman that has had cancer is to start an exercise program, 11:08 try to move to a whole food plant-based diet, 11:11 and just pay attention to their bodies and do everything 11:14 they can to lower the risk of stress hurting their genetics. 11:20 Now you mentioned earlier about some younger women 11:23 not having the proper gene to fight cancer and turn it away, 11:26 but is it possible for a teenager... 11:27 like what's the age social to where you see 11:30 breast cancer happening? 11:31 Well, you know, it's mainly as people get older usually. 11:36 Now in some family histories, it comes early, 11:40 but usually the younger women, they haven't been 11:43 exposed to estrogen as long... you know I guess 11:45 anything is possible, we very rarely see it 11:48 in younger women. 11:49 It's mainly in the older women and, of course, 11:51 as women get older, the risk of breast cancer 11:54 goes higher because they've been exposed to estrogen 11:58 for a longer period of time. 12:00 They've been exposed to other 12:01 carcinogens that we talked about. 12:03 They might gain extra weight and all these things are 12:05 cumulative and their genetics, as we get older, 12:09 our ability to repair our genes decrease as well. 12:13 As we age, everything gets a little bit worse, 12:16 so these are just some general things that we want to 12:19 throw out there to help with breast cancer, 12:21 but I want everyone to just learn about it; 12:25 do some simple things that they can and 12:27 for sure, if a woman is out there, make sure you 12:29 do your regular breast checks, get your mammograms 12:32 when needed and work on everything that we can do 12:35 to keep the entire body healthy. 12:37 And, just real quick, what would you say to families 12:41 who have someone in their family, their mother or sister 12:44 who has gotten breast cancer, 12:45 how can we support them. What do you recommend? 12:47 We can support them by giving them good information, 12:50 by helping them have stress-free lives, 12:52 and of course, I think we can do things through prayer, Nick, 12:56 that we can't even imagine. 12:58 That's why we have a website that we pray for people. 13:01 God can have miracles in many ways all the time... 13:04 So I think prayer is very, very, important. 13:07 Dr. Marcum, thank you for sharing your knowledge 13:10 and studies on breast cancer, it's a difficult topic, 13:12 and thank you for sharing with us. 13:14 We're going to be right back 13:16 and Dr. Marcum is going to close with prayer. 13:22 The Ultimate Prescription is that relationship 13:26 we have with our Heavenly Father and through 13:28 prayer and Bible study, it opens up ALL manners 13:32 of healing both through modern medicine, as well through 13:36 giving us power to change our lives and if someone might have 13:39 cancer, it can even heal that cancer as well. Let's pray... 13:42 Father God, We want to pray for all of those 13:45 who might be suffering from any affliction, 13:47 especially those from cancer, Father. 13:49 Please support them and we pray for their healing today. 13:53 We know You heal in many different ways, 13:55 and we thank You for Your love. 13:56 This is our prayer today... Amen 13:59 We want to thank you for joining us on 14:02 "The Ultimate Prescription," and each week, 14:04 we want to encourage each other, pray for each other, 14:07 and let everyone know that true healing comes 14:10 from that relationship we have with our Heavenly Father. 14:13 Until next time, I'm Dr. James Marcum 14:16 wishing you the best of health. |
Revised 2016-08-15