Cancer

Nutrition Discussions Eating Well
1

The Overlooked Cancer Cure From Japan

By Bill Sardi

Nature provides an anti-cancer molecule found in rice bran that exceeds the effectiveness and safety of most anti-cancer drugs. Yet it goes unutilized by modern medicine.

Most drugs are modeled after molecules found in nature. Nature’s molecules are then re-arranged so as to acquire a patent. Pharmaceutical companies can then justify the expense of conducting studies to prove the safety and efficacy of their pharmaceutical compounds. But frequently, nature cannot be improved upon. This is the case in regards to rice bran extract

Given that tumor cells utilize iron as a primary growth factor, cancer researchers are searching for a drug that would be able to attach to (chelate) iron molecules and remove them from the body, thus producing an effective anti-cancer drug. Researchers at Wake Forest University Health Sciences state that “iron chelators (pronounced key-lay-torz) may be of value as therapeutic agents in the treatment of cancer. They may act by depleting iron, a necessary nutrient, and limiting tumor growth.” [Current Topics Medical Chemistry 4: 1623-35, 2004]

Another report says: “There is therefore an urgent need for an orally active, inexpensive iron chelating drug, because the only currently available iron chelator cannot be administered orally, is expensive and side effects have raised doubts about its safety.” [Hoffbrand AV, Current Opinion Hematology 2: 153-58, 1995]

Toxicity of iron chelating drugs

The primary iron chelator utilized in anti-cancer studies, Desferal (desferrioxamine), can retard tumors. [Buss JL, Current Medicinal Chemistry 10: 1021-34, 2003] However, Desferal has a modest effect because of its poor ability to get inside tumor cells and remove iron. [Richardson DR, Critical Review Oncology Hematology 42: 267-81, 2002]

Adriamycin (doxorubicin), an antibiotic drug often used for cancer treatment, is an iron binder. One of the major drawbacks of Adriamycin is that it often results in severe damage to the heart. In certain circumstances this drug can release iron from its storage protein (ferritin), resulting in the heart damage. [Thomas CE, Arch Biochem Biophysics 248: 684-89, 1986] The beating force of the heart is reduced by 50 percent with Adriamycin. [Husken BC, Cancer Chemotherapy Pharmacology 37: 55-62, 1995] Even if Adriamycin cures cancer, the patient is likely to die of a heart problem.

Recently, an oral drug that can remove iron from the body was introduced. Ferriprox (deferiprone) is the world’s first and only orally active iron chelating drug, which is effective and inexpensive to produce, but has similar toxicity to other chelating drugs. [Kontoghiorghes GJ, Current Med Chemistry 11: 2161-83, 2004]

I’ve gone to the trouble of citing these many scientific reports to make this undeniable statement – that iron sequestering molecules are currently utilized to treat cancer and less toxic iron chelators are being sought. Many of the drugs and alternative therapies for cancer already involve iron chelation.

Rice bran extract (IP6)

Nature’s most effective iron chelating molecule is inositol hexaphosphate (IP6), found naturally in seeds and bran. IP6 is a selective agent against cancer cells. Because cancer cells are high in iron content, IP6 directs most of its attention to abnormal cells. IP6 selectively removes iron from tumors cells, which deprives them of their primary growth factor. IP6 does not remove iron from red blood cells which are tightly bound to hemoglobin. Unlike cancer drugs, healthy cells are not affected with IP6, so IP6 has very low toxicity. [Deliliers GL, British J Haematology 117: 577-87, 2002]

There have been numerous lab dish and animal studies that conclusively prove IP6 is an effective and non-toxic anti-cancer molecule. But the National Cancer Institute has never seen fit to conduct a human trial even though IP6 made it on a list of promising anti-cancer agents. [Fox CH, Complementary Therapy Med 10: 229-34, 2003]

As an alternative to chelating drugs, IP6 has been shown to desirably alter the expression of proteins produced by the p21 and p53 genes that control cancer growth, but goes unused as a cancer treatment. [Saied IT, Anticancer Research 18: 1479-84, 1998]

IP6 enhances the anti-cancer effects of Adriamycin and Tamoxifen, two commonly used cancer drugs. Tantivejkul K, Breast Cancer Research Treatment 79: 301-12, 2003] However, it goes ignored by cancer doctors.

While Desferal, an iron chelating cancer drug, has a modest effect because of its poor ability to get inside tumor cells and remove iron, IP6 is found in every cell in the body and is essential for life. By virtue of its ubiquitous presence in living human cells, it is non-toxic. [Richardson DR, Critical review Oncology Hematology 42: 267-81, 2002]

In 2001 Food and Drug Administration researchers reported that 8 of 12 chelating agents tested were mutagenic (caused gene mutations). Among the four non-toxic chelators was IP6. [Whittaker P, Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis 38: 347-56, 2001]
The obvious choice among available iron chelators is inositol hexaphosphate or IP6. IP6 meets all the requirements for a safe iron chelator to treat cancer. It penetrates inside cells. It is non-toxic, and inexpensive, and very effective. It’s just not a drug.

Rice bran extract from Japan

In my many investigations involving cancer cures I traveled to visit the Tsuno Foods & Rice Company of Wakayama, Japan (near Osaka). This company sends trucks to rice processing plants in Japan to pick up rice husks. From rice bran, Tsuno Foods extracts many useful nutrients such as inositol used in baby formulas, tocotrienols used in dietary supplements, ferulic acid, a natural sunscreen agent, rice bran oil (which has twice the antioxidants as virgin olive oil), and inositol hexaphosphate (called IP6), which is nature’s most potent iron chelator.

A few years ago Tsuno Foods & Rice Company sponsored a worldwide symposium on the role of IP6 rice bran extract and cancer. Researchers from around the world attended and extolled its potential as a cure for cancer. [Anticancer Research 19:3633-808, 1999] Efforts by Tsuno Foods & Rice Company to educate the world about the potential anti-cancer properties of IP6 rice bran extract have been ignored by cancer treatment specialists.

Meanwhile, the Japanese people who labor at Tsuno Foods & Rice Company in Wakayama, like most Japanese, are not given to boasting. They labor dutifully without fan fair for the miraculous molecules they have extracted from rice bran. Tsuno Foods, founded in 1947 by Masaji Tsuno, is now managed by his daughter, Fumi Tsuno, an exception in the male dominated Asian business world. They must wonder why world cancer therapists and researchers have not continued to explore the use of IP6 for cancer prevention and therapy.

About 70% of the IP6 made by Tsuno Foods and Rice Company of Wakayama, Japan, is available to chelate (attach) to iron (as well as heavy metals), which are primary growth factors for tumors. IP6 as an extract from rice bran is a far more effective anti-cancer agent than rice bran or bran cereal alone. [Vucenik I, Nutrition Cancer 28: 7-13, 1997]

The safety record of IP6 is long standing. First, it is a normal dietary component and is found in every living cell of the body. Second, extensive studies have been conducted to confirm the lack of toxicity of IP6. In 1987 phytic acid researcher Ernst Graf reported that only 4 of 22 chelating agents studied, including IP6, block hydroxyl radical production. Only phytic acid IP6 was found to be economical, nontoxic, and effective. [Graf E, Journal Biological Chemistry 262: 11647-50, 1987]

Does it work? Case reports

Since writing a book about iron and IP6 ( The Iron Time Bomb, www.naturalhealthlibrarian.com ), numerous reports of dramatic cancer remissions involving this dietary supplement have been received. Some of them notably stand out.

An 80-year old man with terminal liver cancer took IP6 for a few weeks prior to a scheduled rescue procedure where an anti-tumor drug was to be injected directly into the liver. A cat scan performed just prior to the procedure revealed the liver tumor was completely necrotic – the tumor was a ball of dead cells.

A middle-aged woman whose husband worked for a prominent member of Congress, who had stage 4 breast cancer, experienced a rapid and complete remission following the consumption of IP6.

At age 70, a man was diagnosed with lung cancer. Radiologists had missed a lung tumor the size of a golf ball in an earlier x-ray. A year later it was the size of a softball. Chemotherapy reduced the tumor by 75 percent. In 1999 the man began taking IP6. By 2004 the lung tumor had completely disappeared, which was confirmed by bronchoscopy and x-ray.

A man with recurrent bladder tumors submitted to surgical removal in 1999, 2000 and 2001. He then embarked upon the use of IP6 as a dietary supplement and has not experienced a return of bladder tumors in 38 months.

IP6 rice bran extract, made by Tsuno Foods of Wakayama, Japan, is available under different brand names as a dietary supplement in health food stores throughout the USA. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) only makes brief mention of IP6 as “a substance found in many foods that come from plants, including corn, wheat, rice, and soybeans, and in large amounts in cereals and legumes. It is being studied in the prevention of cancer.” According to the website, there are no current or planned human clinical studies of IP6.

http://www.knowledgeofhealth.com/report.asp?story=The%20Overlooked%20Cancer%20Cure%20From%20Japan

2

How to overcome cancer at home
By Bill Sardi

Cancer…what is it? Such fear surrounds it. Experts say it will never be cured because malignancies are caused by so many factors – viruses, inflammation, toxins, poor immunity, etc. The sole approach to cancer treatment is to kill the cancer cell, either by surgical removal or toxic treatment (chemicals or radiation). These harsh treatments often lead to the demise of the patient before the malignancy produces a mortal conclusion. None of the current conventional treatments for cancer addresses its cause. Because of this, recurrence rates are high. Sadly, after more than 30 years and billions of dollars of research, the cancer mortality rates have not dropped overall. Some patients, knowing this, begin a search on their own for alternatives, such as treatments in Mexico, or they hear about laetrile (amygdalin, apricot pits), or Essiac tea.

They are now on an unguided path. Told by their doctors that vitamins may interfere with treatment, they are torn between complying with their doctor and listening to others whisper in their ear about someone who overcame cancer with some alternative treatment. It’s so difficult to know whom to trust, especially when burdened by testing, doctor visits, and the pain of knowing an abnormal growth is taking over inside one’s body.

Block new blood vessels

Drug companies are searching for a common factor that is involved in all tumors. Drugs are under testing that block the formation of new blood vessels (neovascularization, or angiogenesis) that feed the tumor nutrients. Patients are never told that vitamin D, bioflavonoids like green tea, grape seed extract and quercetin, are potent, natural, non-prescription anti-angiogenesis agents. Breast, prostate and colon cancer rates are higher in geographic areas where there is cloud cover for many months of the year (northern latitudes) and natural vitamin D production via solar ultraviolet radiation skin exposure is impaired. Many drug companies are working to make synthetic varieties to vitamin D to treat cancer. Cancer patients can purchase natural vitamin D3 cheaply at health food stores.

Gene therapy

Another promising cancer treatment patients may hear about is gene therapy. To date, gene therapy has not produced one cure for any disease. Some gene therapy experiments have produced mortal side effects. Mutations of DNA, the genetic material in cells, are healed with folic acid, a B vitamin that is required for the formation of DNA. In fact, one of the commonly-used cancer drugs is an anti-folic acid agent that causes cells to die. The problem is that it also causes healthy cells to die off as well. This is why oncologists say vitamins interfere with treatment. How will the cells ever return to normal without folic acid?

Mutations within the mitochondria of cells are another common factor in malignancies. The mitochondria are small bodies within cells that surround the cell nucleus and produce all the cellular energy. They are the cell’s atomic power plants. Coenzyme Q10 is a natural mitochondrial antioxidant that thwarts mutations in the mitochondria. It is another natural cancer therapy agent. Natural gene therapy can be performed with folic acid and coenzyme Q10.

Blocking the spread of tumors (metastasis)

Still, we search for a knock out drop, a remedy that will shrink tumors and make them disappear. Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy all shrink tumors, but they haven’t increased survival rates. The gold standard for cancer treatment is survival, not the size of the tumor. Survival rates are fairly high as long as tumors don’t spread (a process called metastasis). Once linked to newly-formed blood vessels, tumors release malignant cells into the blood circulation where they are challenged by tumor fighting cells of the immune system (natural killer cells, phagocytes, thymus cells and others). This is why the immune system is important. Some natural agents, like echinacea or medicinal mushrooms (maitake, agaricus and others) are sometimes employed to boost immunity. It is unlikely that a tumor cell will survive against the immune system.

Tumors cells must stop in one location for 20 minutes to begin to colonize in another location. What would make tumor cells stop within the fast-moving circulatory system? A blood clot. The clot works like stickly fly-paper to catch tumor cells and start a new tumor-cell colony. Nearly all cancer patients exhibit a tendency towards thick blood. This is well documented in the medical literature, yet not one oncologist addresses this issue.

In 1979 a British researcher studied 532 of his patients taking blood-thinning medications for 12 years. Seventeen of these patients developed tumors, but none spread to another location, they remained local. Cancer patients should know that vitamin E, fish oil or flaxseed oil, magnesium and garlic are all natural agents that help to thin the blood and prevent the spread of tumors. A cure for the metastatic form of cancer was published in 1979, but the world missed it.

The antidote to cancer: chelation

Still, cancers grow, and they wreak their havoc in the brain, prostate, breast, lung and elsewhere. All cancers exhibit a common phenomenon — the massive arrival of iron and copper at the tumor site. These metallic minerals are rusting agents (oxidants). They are apparently sent to the tumor site as part of the healing mechanism to kill off any undesirable viruses or bacteria. Immune-fighting cells, the phagocytes, over-respond to the cellular chaos and arrive in such large numbers at the tumor site, they also begin to dump iron and copper. The result is destruction of the surrounding tissues and eventually loss of function of the affected organ.

Another problem is that iron feeds tumor cells. Iron is a growth factor for viruses, bacteria, fungi and tumor cells. Take away the iron and copper and you stop tumor growth and shrink the tumor. Some anti-cancer drugs are iron-binders, such as the mycin drugs (Adriamycin), but they also produce mortal side effects. How can iron and copper be removed from the body? Chelation therapy. Chelation refers to removal (a claw) of minerals.

The body performs its own chelation by producing iron-binding molecules (ferritin, transferrin, lactoferrin). These binders are often overwhelmed by the iron. Transferrin transports excess iron back to the liver, which is where most tumors spread first.

Glutathione

The body actually performs its own chelation on heavy metals (cadmium, lead, mercury) with glutathione. A healthy liver produces a backup supply of glutathione when supplied sulfur. Glutathione is nature’s universal antioxidant. Foods such as asparagus, garlic, onions and eggs are rich in sulfur and boost glutathione levels, as do sulfur-bearing food supplements such as alpha lipoic acid, N-acetyl cysteine and taurine.

IP6 rice bran extract

Alternative doctors perform chelation intravenously with a mild mineral chelator called EDTA. But this approach is time-consuming and costly, and the tumor grows in between treatments. The answer is to use nature’s most powerful antioxidant and mineral chelator, phytic acid, also called inositol hexaphosphate (IP6), a component of seeds and whole grains. IP6 is a 6-sided molecule that works like a magnet to selectively remove iron, copper, calcium, and heavy metals, while leaving essential electrolyte minerals such as potassium and sodium. When extracted from rice bran, IP6 can be taken orally to perform chelation therapy at home. IP6 should be consumed in between meals so as not to interfere with mineral absorption from foods. It should only be taken with water, as vitamin C in juices interferes with its action. Anemic individuals will feel weak after taking IP6. (IP6 should NOT be taken by pregnant women, or with caution in low-dose by growing children who need minerals). A decade of research with animals reveals that IP6 shrinks all types of tumors (brain, lung, prostate, breast, liver, colon) when given to animals in their drinking water.

A therapeutic daily dose for adults would be about 2400-4800 milligrams taken in one sitting. Or a maintenance or preventive dose might be 1000-1600 milligrams daily. IP6 is the most potent anti-cancer weapon on the planet. It is available at health food stores. All IP6 is currently produced by Tsuno Foods of Wakayama, Japan, and the claim that added inositol improves natural killer cell function is poorly founded.

Total regimen

A comprehensive anti-cancer regimen of natural agents would include:

[b]* Vitamin D3, 5000+ IU
* Folic acid 800 mcg
* Coenzyme Q10 100-200 mg
* Quercetin + vitamin C 2000 mg
* Flaxseed oil 2500 mg
* Magnesium 400 mg
* Garlic capsules or fresh clove
* Vitamin E 400-800 IU
* Alpha lipoic acid 200-300 mg
* IP6 rice bran extract in doses described above, in between meals (don't take with vitamin C at the same time)[/b]

Other measures:
Pure unchlorinated drinking water
Plenty of sunlight to produce natural vitamin D
No artificial sweeteners
No alcohol, tobacco

http://www.knowledgeofhealth.com/report.asp?story=Cancer%20Regimen

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4

What exactly are you talking about? There is no link between creatine and cancer. Creatine is a necessary part of the body’s energy system. Please show your sources. Comments like yours make me upset.

5

I second herb on that one :@

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What on earth are you talking about!? Got any references for such arguments?

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… Riiiiight…

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The Agencies Francaise de Securite Sanitaire des Aliment (AFSSA), (French Agency for Medical Security for Food) commissioned by the French government said creatine increased the risk of cancer.

Don’t believe a word of it though.

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…

10

From IFBB.com

BREAKING NEWS

THE PHONY FRENCH
CREATINE SCARE

News Reports of Creatine’s Evils are Sensationalized Fiction

Written by Jim Schmaltz
First the facts. Creatine is safe. It is produced naturally from amino acids in the body and stored in muscles. Creatine in supplement form works as a training aid for many athletes. Creatine has never been proven to be carcinogenic or a health risk. And creatine has nothing to do with any perceived decline of Western civilization.

Unfortunately, news stories published around the world Wednesday claimed otherwise. These alarming bulletins of a creatine-cancer link were based on a report posted on the Web site of the French Agency of Medical Security for Food (AFSSA) that demonized the popular sports supplement. In its report, the AFSSA contends that creatine supplements present “a potential carcinogenic risk,” offer little if any benefit to athletes, and should be banned by all sports governing organizations.

The French officials’ statements were based on their interpretations of a smattering of old data of questionable relevance - not on any new research. Not only is there no new information released by the AFSSA report, its assertions are simply wrong. In fact, many of the studies listed in the bibliography of the AFSSA report actually confirm creatine’s safety and effectiveness.

Some of these studies have been cited in FLEX magazine. FLEX Science Editor Jim Wright, PhD, has written extensively on creatine supplements, and as recently as the December 2000 issue, Wright cited several dozen studies published last year in peer-reviewed journals that verified creatine’s safety. “Creatine is one of the most scrutinized sports supplements in history,” says Wright, “and it continues to be proven safe in scientific research.”

So, how did last Wednesday’s creatine scare story get its legs? How could respected news organizations accept these sensationalized findings by a French government agency and circulate them all over the world?

Blame it on a variety of factors. First, there are the now familiar excesses caused by the increasingly competitive need to be the first to run breaking news. Combine that with the immediacy of the Internet, and the first casualty is the cherished journalistic practice of carefully verifying stories and contacting corroborating sources.

Then there are the factors peculiar to this issue. Clearly, some of the finer points of the French report were lost in translation, and we don’t mean in the language differences. Rather, the conversion from scientific data to practical layman’s vernacular was once again irresponsibly mishandled by a media unprepared to carefully judge scientific reports. The result led to the AFSSA’s faulty conclusions going unexamined and unchallenged by news organizations before being distributed over the wires.

As culpable as the mainstream media is in this situation, the worst culprit in this fiasco by far is the AFSSA with its groundless assertions of a supplemental creatine-cancer link. Where the French officials went awry is in their extrapolation of data from a single review (M. Wyss and R. Kaddurah-Daouk, “Creatine and Creatine Metabolism,” Physiological Reviews, 80 [3], 2000) in which researchers determined if creatine in meat could be converted into cancer-causing agents by heat during cooking (see “Meat the Data” below for more details on this study). Inexplicably, the French health authorities implicated supplemental creatine as having the same harmful effects that carcinogenic substances found in charred meat are suspected of having! That’s the only support the AFSSA offers for its cancer-creatine claims. That leaves the French report with zero real data even remotely suggesting that supplemental creatine has any cancer-causing or cancer-promoting properties.

Even more damning to the French findings is the response from Dr. Markus Wyss, the lead author of the review at the center of the French report. Wyss was contacted by FLEX Contributing Editor Jeff Feliciano, and the researcher strongly refuted the AFSSA conclusions: “At present, there is absolutely no indication that creatine supplementation is carcinogenic,” Wyss informed FLEX (for Dr. Wyss’s full comments, see below).

So, not only is the AFSSA report based on weak evidence, the proof they cite supporting their conclusions is contradicted by the very researcher whose work supposedly provides the smoking gun for the creatine-cancer allegations. Of course, you wouldn’t know it by the screaming headlines claiming that creatine may cause cancer. The result was needless hysteria, fear and confusion among the many athletes who use supplemental creatine.

The news reports on the creatine-cancer link that permeated the media Wednesday offered little perspective at all, and gave no explanation of the properties or many well-documented benefits of creatine. The accuracy and relevance of the AFSSA’s information were never questioned. We call on all news organizations that distributed this sensationalized story to clarify the facts of this important subject.

DR. WYSS REFUTES FRENCH FINDINGS
The following is an exchange between FLEX Contributing Editor Jeff Feliciano and Dr. Markus Wyss, lead researcher of the study that the AFSSA cited as indicating a creatine-cancer link.
FLEX:
Dr. Wyss, recently a report from the French Agency of Medical Security for Food (AFSSA) stated that there is evidence that creatine monohydrate is carcinogenic. They base their statements on information taken from your recent creatine review (“Creatine and Creatinine Metabolism,” Physiological Reviews, 2000; 80[3]:1107-1213.). Is it your opinion that dietary creatine monohydrate taken in supplement form poses a potential cancer risk?

Dr. Markus Wyss:
To give a straight answer right at the beginning: definitely not (based on current knowledge).

The rumor of French “experts” linking creatine to a potential cancer risk is a typical example of over- and misinterpretation of scientific data. In a recent scientific review, Rima Kaddurah-Daouk from the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, and I have tried to provide an objective picture of almost all aspects of creatine metabolism known to date. We mentioned all the potential benefits of creatine and of creatine analogues, but also indicated in which areas our knowledge is still not sufficiently complete, and where, therefore, additional studies are required to evaluate any kind of potential side effects.

However, the cancer risk mentioned by the French food safety experts is definitely the lowest possible risk. We’ve mentioned in our review that during the cooking of meat, potential carcinogens may be formed from creatine - although in such a low concentration that it is still not clear whether they contribute to any significant extent to our overall cancer risk. Since human beings are not supposed to be(come) cannibals, this mechanism is irrelevant in the present context.

It’s true that there is one reference in the scientific literature that reports formation of these carcinogenic metabolites also at 37 °C. However, this is a single isolated report that could not be reproduced by others, definitely is not representative, and in which - again - only very low concentrations of these metabolites were formed. It is therefore highly questionable whether these in vitro findings (under artificial conditions) have any relevance at all for people ingesting creatine.

The conclusion from the above pieces of evidence must be:

At present, there is absolutely no indication that creatine supplementation may be carcinogenic in humans.

There must be a balanced evaluation of all possible benefits and risks of creatine and its analogues. At present, clearly, the (scientific) literature is in favor of the benefits. However, to be perfectly sure about the safety of creatine supplementation, the still open questions are worthwhile to be answered in an educated, scientific way.

Scientific literature is not to be confounded with a popular science report and needs careful and critical evaluation. Rather than creating a lot of confusion and rumours, it would have been a wiser approach by the French authorities to consult the true experts in the field for a balanced opinion.
I sincerely hope that we can continue to build on the many favourable effects of creatine supplementation in health and disease.

MEAT THE DATA
What the Wyss and Kaddurah-Daouk Study Really Says
The Wyss and Kaddurah-Daouk reference cited in the AFSSA report discusses the formation of cancer-causing chemicals called AIA (amino-imidazo-azaarenes) that are produced when foods that contain creatine/creatinine are cooked, particularly when the food is charred. The study did not look at supplemental creatine monohydrate, the type used by athletes and the focus of the French report. Clearly, and without question, creatine and its metabolic relative creatinine are themselves not carcinogenic. Furthermore, Wyss and Kaddurah-Daouk posit that “creatinine rather than creatine is likely to be the actual precursor for AIA mutagens.”
Wyss and Kaddurah-Daouk go on to state that creatine is not the only component required for the production of AIA in charred meat. Heat, amino acids and sugar are also required. Omission of any one component from the mixture greatly reduces mutagenicity. And despite the potential for charring creatine/creatinine to produce AIA, food-borne mutagens are not restricted to cooked creatine/creatinine-containing foods. AIA are also found in beer, wine, and roasted coffee beans to name only a few other potential sources.

RESEARCH MEMO

DATE: 31 January, 2001

SUBJECT: CREATINE CANCER SCARE UNTRUE

After careful investigation into the issue of creatine and cancer, we have concluded that the report from the AFSSA in France constitutes unscientific characterizations about creatine causing cancer.

At issue is the formation of heterocyclic amines by creatine, which are known as probable cancer-causing agents. The key issue is that to form these compounds, creatine must be heated in the presence of amino acids, sugars and acid. These situations are not encountered with creatine supplements, a fact not stated by the French report. Thus, there is no risk of cancer formation from creatine supplements.

We contacted Dr. Markus Wyss, from Hoffman-LaRoche in Basel, Switzerland, lead author of the review (which we have in our possession), on formation of carcinogens referenced by the French report. He stated to us that there is “definitely not” any risk of cancer from creatine supplements. He also goes on to claim his article was misinterpreted by the French report. He emphatically stated that “At present, there is ABSOLUTELY NO indication that creatine supplementation is carcinogenic.” [emphasis his]

There was one report that the compounds in question were formed at body temperature (37°C), and the French report used that single article to base their dire estimations. According to Dr. Wyss, the results of that article have never been reproduced or seen by anyone else. In addition, the conditions were very specific, only trace amounts were formed and the study conditions do not correlate with real-life situations.

The issue of heterocyclic amine formation in cooked foods is not new, and has been a very large field of research for many years. Accordingly, many papers have examined this issue. Cooked foods (meats) are the source. Creatine supplements are not cooked, and thus, there is NO risk that carcinogens can be formed from creatine supplements at any dose.

The French report called for a ban on creatine supplements because of an unproven and unlikely link to cancer. If we follow their logic, then first, all meats should be banned immediately, since there is extensive and probable evidence that eating cooked meat is associated with higher rates of cancer. Putting reality into perspective makes the French position ludicrous.

Bottom line: There is no evidence or risk of cancer from creatine supplements.

Luke R. Bucci, PhD, CCN C(ASCP) CNS

Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Bucci received his Doctorate in Biomedical Sciences (Biochemistry and Cell Biology) from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in 1983.
A Postdoctoral appointment to the Department of Experimental Radiotherapy at M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute (University of Texas System Cancer Center) followed.

Next, Dr. Bucci was Director of Research for Biotics Research Corporation, a nutritional supplement manufacturer.

In 1991, Dr. Bucci formed InnerPath Nutrition, a practice in clinical nutrition, and a nutritional consulting and educational company.

In 1992, Dr. Bucci became Director of Science and Quality for SpectraCell Laboratories, Inc., a clinical laboratory specializing in functional nutrient assessment by lymphocyte growth responses in a series of serum-free media.

Dr. Bucci continues to conduct medical education and relicensing seminars on nutritional topics, be featured on national television and radio news programs, and has been invited to speak at the US Olympic Center, National Institutes of Health, and meetings in Europe and Asia.

Dr. Bucci is the inventor on several patents concerning dietary supplementation and clinical laboratory testing.

Dr. Bucci has authored Nutrients as Ergogenic Aids for Sport and Exercise (1993) and Nutrition Applied to Injury Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine (1994) for CRC Press, and Pain-Free (1995) and Healing Arthritis the Natural Way (1997) by The Summit Group to educate health care practitioners and the public about benefits of nutrients.

Dr. Bucci has published several books, chapters and scientific articles in a diverse array of prestigious journals, and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Utah.

In 1994, Dr. Bucci received the CCN of the Year Award from the IAACN.

Dr. Bucci is a Member of the Clinical Nutrition Certification Board, which certifies Clinical Nutritionists.

Dr. Bucci is a Certified Clinical Nutritionist, a Certified Nutrition Specialist, and a Certified Chemist in Medical Technology, reflecting his major interests in nutrition and clinical laboratories.

11

Thanks for ruining a previously informative thread.

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elars21, sorry if i hurt your feelings, but hey, don´t turn public your personal ofences against my point of view ok, tks. :wink:

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Elars21 & Flying,

I see were you are coming from. Just do a bit of research. All will be good and the group will be happy. We work on facts here, not fiction. Elars, Flying didnt ruin this thread…

Enough already.

Rupert

14

Plus u cant compare body builders creatine use as causeing cancer, they take alot of other supplements as well.

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The major causes of cancer are hydrogenated oils. Eliminate them, increase your EFAs and you’ll be fine. Before processed foods were used (prior to World War 2) there was no such thing as skin cancer. Coincedence?? probably not. I talk more about this later, right now i’m tired…

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You’re pointing at the core of the problem, but in fact there was (skin) cancer before WW2, it was just very rare.
(My grandmother told me that in pre-war time the children were told not to pinch each other because it causes skin cancer… :wink: )

There are a lot of other factors, too - much higher radiation we are exposed to nowadays (a transatlanitc flight every week over a period of several years increases cancer rate significantly!), heavy metals in your food (fish), excessive use of fertilizer, even the simple fact that people live much longer, just to name a few…so a healthy diet will surely help drop the risk, but…