"Can we Eat to Starve Cancer?"

Obesity and Cancer. These are two hot button topics in the U.S. today. William Li, head of the Angiogenesis Foundation, asks the question "Can we eat to starve cancer?"

In a 2010 lecture at a TED talks convention, Li presented compelling scientific results suggesting that the food we eat can help treat cancer as well, if not better than, common medical treatments. It should be no surprise to use that Mother Nature has provided us with a smorgasbord of foods that help our body protect and defens itself. Li has compiled a long list of foods that have remarkable anti-angiogenesis qualities. More so, he has found that combining certain foods can have a synergenic effect, making their anti-angiogenesis quality even stronger.

What's so important about Angiogenesis? This is the process that allows our body to control blood vessel growth. When our body needs more, stimulators (proteins) trigger their growth, when they are no longer needed, inhibitors (proteins as well) stop their growth. Malignant tumors are able to recruit their own blood supply, sometimes at an alarming rate. This blood supply allows for tumors to grow and metastisize (travel to other parts of the body). Anti-angiogenesis treatments stop blood vessel development and therefore starve the tumor. Taking doses of anti-angiogenesis cocktails has proven to be an efficient means of treating cancer. However, Li suggests a diet of anti-angiogenesis foods, can be even more efficient, not too mention more economical and practical for many.

The idea that locally grown sustainable crops can help prevent and treat cancer, which results in millions of deaths every year is a beautiful idea. Not to mention, the reduction in obesity that would result from such a diet.

So, what are these magical foods that Li speaks of? A few are strawberries, green tea, artichokes, soy beans and tomoatos. The list is extensive and tastey! Lose some weight, improve your bodies ability to control tumor growth, support local farmers, and practice your culinary skills; this is the best disease prevention and treatment plan I can imagine.

How do antibiotics work?

Billions of antibiotics are prescribed every year for all sorts of common ailments; acne, staff infections, urinary tract infections, sinus infections. I would venture to guess that few patients question how the antibiotic does its job, how that particular antibiotic is chosen or how safe their antibiotic is.

The basic idea of how an antibiotic works is simple. Antibiotics target bacterial cells for eradication. This begs the question, how to antibiotics distinguish between a healthy human cell and a bacterium? That is, why don't antibiotics kill the patient as well as the bacteria?

There are certain processes that are unique to bacterium. Antibiotics are chosen for their ability to target these bacteria specific processes. Different antibiotics target different processes.

Penicillin targets Peptidoglycan, a macromolecule found in the cell wall of bacteria. The group of antibiotics known as Sulfas interupt metabolic pathways within a bacteria cell by preventing the production of folic acid. Folic acid is required by all cells for proper growth and development. Without this macromolecule, the cell dies. Tetracycline, an antibiotic commonly prescribed for acne, is able to interupt protein synthesis within a bacterial cell. Yet another common antibiotic, Ciprofloxacin, is able to target an enzyme within bacterium, which interupts DNA replication.

Selecting compounds that only attack bacterium is crucial to the safety of antibiotics. Without an understanding of the similarities and differences between the cells of bacteria and those of humans and other animals, we could not effectively use antibiotics to fight infection.