August 5, 2025 • 25 mins
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the sea of “anti-cancer” supplements out there—everyone seems to have a miracle cure. But the truth? Not every supplement is helpful. Some can even be harmful, especially if they’re not right for your body.
In this episode of The Flourish After Cancer Podcast, I’m breaking down five popular supplements that might not be the best choice during or after cancer treatment—based on research, clinical insight, and what we’ve seen work (or backfire) with real clients.
⚠️ This is a must-listen if: • You’re taking supplements but aren’t sure what’s helping—or hurting. • You’ve heard glowing testimonials about Essiac tea or black seed oil and want to know the real evidence. • You’re ready to stop guessing and start choosing supplements based on your own health data.
🧬 In this episode, I'll cover:
• Why Popular Doesn’t Mean Safe or Effective – How some supplements, like glutamine and glutathione, may actually support cancer growth under the wrong circumstances.
• The Myth of “Cancer-Killing” Cures – Why apricot seeds and overhyped natural remedies could do more harm than good.
• The Role of Individualized Care – When it is appropriate to use certain supplements (like iron or glutathione)—and how to know if it’s right for you.
• Why You Can’t Out-Supplement the Root Causes – What to focus on instead: gut health, inflammation, contaminants, and your unique biochemistry.
• How to Feel More Confident in Your Choices – Stop chasing cancer cures, and start making supplement decisions based on science and your body’s real needs.
💡 You’ll walk away with: • Clarity on why some supplements might not belong in your protocol • A smarter, calmer way to evaluate what your body actually needs • An invitation to work with your body, not just throw pills at cancer
📚 This episode isn’t about fear—it’s about freedom. When you understand what’s really worth taking (and why), you can stop second-guessing and finally feel confident in your recovery plan. Link to S01|E02 on the BEST supplements: https://flourishaftercancer.com/blog/s01e02
🎓 PubMed References: • Glutamine and cancer growth – PubMed ID: 31263277 • Glutathione’s dual role in cancer – PubMed ID: 33435532 • Iron and cancer risk – PubMed ID: 34155733 • Amygdalin (from apricot seeds) toxicity – PubMed ID: 31831164
🎧 Listen in now, and don’t forget to leave a kind review and subscribe so you don’t miss upcoming episodes of The Flourish After Cancer Podcast.
As a thank-you for your kind review, here’s what you’ll receive: ✅ 60 Days of Meals: 30-day plans for both vegetarian & omnivore lifestyles — includes grocery lists, nutrition facts & delicious photos
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How to Enter: 1️⃣ Leave a 5-star review on your favorite podcast app 2️⃣ DM me “5 STARS” + a screenshot of your review on Instagram (@MeganBernardND) 3️⃣ I’ll send your meal plan + you can enter into the draw!
I’m Dr. Megan, a licensed naturopathic doctor. My team and I have worked with hundreds of women globally to rebuild their health after cancer and reduce recurrence risk using science-backed nutrition, lifestyle, and targeted supplement strategies—so they can feel confident, strong, and free to enjoy life again.
✨ BEST FREE RESOURCES:
• The First 4 Steps To Staying Cancer-Free: HERE
• The Staying Cancer-Free Workshop: HERE
• The Blood Test Clarity Guide For Cancer Survivors: HERE
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Medical Disclaimer: The information provided in these videos and podcasts is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Consult with a qualified healthcar
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I did have a patient once who didn't know she had cancer at the time when she started taking glutamine, she was experiencing some stomach pain and some heartburn, and she went on the internet and she decided that she was gonna take glutamine.
(00:12):
And within just a couple of months she found out that she had esophageal cancer.
And it was always kind of sitting in the back of her mind.
Was it because she did the glutamine? That it, she spit up the growth of that cancer? And I'll never forget that kind of feeling that she was having like the guilt, the dread.
And we don't want that to happen for you. 6 00:00:56,266.294395728 --> 00:01:00,286.294395728 So today's episode comes with a little bit of a disclaimer. 7 00:01:00,566.294395728 --> 00:01:06,586.294395728 This episode may feel a little bit challenging for some of you, especially if you're someone who has put a lot of hope into certain supplements. 8 00:01:06,586.294395728 --> 00:01:10,126.294395728 You might even be someone who kind of swears by essiac tea or I. 9 00:01:10,411.294395728 --> 00:01:20,701.294395728 Black seed oil or maybe you've read an inspiring story from someone who's gone through cancer treatment and saw fantastic results and they might have been on one of the supplements that I'm going to mention today. 10 00:01:21,241.294395728 --> 00:01:33,391.294395728 And the thing is that my goal, my job, is to provide you with the most, the most impactful changes in the safest changes when it comes to reducing the risk of cancer coming back. 11 00:01:34,21.294395728 --> 00:01:45,551.29439573 And I totally will listen with both ears open to people who have had a certain experience with certain supplements or a lot of people have certain experience with certain tech, like red light mats and things like that. 12 00:01:45,851.29439573 --> 00:01:49,61.29439573 But my ultimate goal is to make sure that I. 13 00:01:49,61.29439573 --> 00:02:00,356.29439573 You and the person that we're working with one-to-one are really focusing in on what is the most impactful thing between looking at the strongest research and also looking at you as an individual. 14 00:02:00,566.29439573 --> 00:02:09,986.29439573 Your medical history, your, your overall health history, not just your cancer diagnosis, also your blood work, your test results, all these kind of things. 15 00:02:10,196.29439573 --> 00:02:13,856.29439573 This is what should really determine your best supplements moving forward. 16 00:02:14,471.29439573 --> 00:02:26,591.29439573 And a lot of the time when it comes to choosing supplements if we think of it this way, if you ever see a commercial for toothpaste and it says four out of five dentists recommend Colgate toothpaste. 17 00:02:26,961.29439573 --> 00:02:32,896.29439573 Well, I feel like in the world of supplements, it's a little bit opposite in a way, where that it's usually one out of five. 18 00:02:33,826.29439573 --> 00:02:48,476.29439573 Health experts recommend this black seed oil, and unfortunately that one out of the five who's recommending this black seed oil is just the loudest and they're just saying the right words to get you interested and hopeful. 19 00:02:48,746.29439573 --> 00:02:59,356.29439573 And unlike the other four people who might be a little bit more based on research and personalization, this loud, one person is telling you to take this supplement, and that's what you're hearing. 20 00:03:00,31.29439573 --> 00:03:07,831.29439573 And again, be it, we wanna look at you as an individual as well as the, the best, the strongest research. 21 00:03:07,921.29439573 --> 00:03:11,581.29439573 But I also wanna hear the one of stories and the case studies and things like that. 22 00:03:11,611.29439573 --> 00:03:13,891.29439573 'cause there's still a lot in research that's not covered. 23 00:03:14,71.29439573 --> 00:03:16,201.29439573 So we wanna take it all into, into place here. 24 00:03:16,741.29439573 --> 00:03:24,131.29439573 And a lot of times when you walk through cancer, you're also left with a very little guidance, right? It makes sense to seek out anything that gives you this sense of control. 25 00:03:24,131.29439573 --> 00:03:26,711.29439573 And supplements can give you that sense of control a lot of the time. 26 00:03:26,936.29439573 --> 00:03:30,746.29439573 Especially when you're seeing that it's cancer killing, anti-cancer, things like that. 27 00:03:30,956.29439573 --> 00:03:37,226.29439573 Like that's what you want and you want to take your supplements so that you can do everything in your power to make sure that cancer doesn't come back. 28 00:03:37,226.29439573 --> 00:03:40,376.29439573 And that's great, that deep desire to feel safe again. 29 00:03:40,496.29439573 --> 00:03:41,366.29439573 It's so real. 30 00:03:41,366.29439573 --> 00:03:42,296.29439573 It's so valid. 31 00:03:42,506.29439573 --> 00:03:44,726.29439573 The root, the feeling to feel in control. 32 00:03:44,996.29439573 --> 00:03:45,641.29439573 It's great. 33 00:03:45,641.29439573 --> 00:03:46,106.29439573 We want that. 34 00:03:46,106.29439573 --> 00:03:47,6.29439573 It's motivational. 35 00:03:47,66.29439573 --> 00:03:48,236.29439573 You're great clients. 36 00:03:48,546.29439573 --> 00:03:52,776.29439573 But I really wanna bring clarity to a lot of the noise whenever we're doing a lot of these episodes. 37 00:03:53,451.29439573 --> 00:03:57,411.29439573 I've already done an episode on the best supplements for reducing cancer recurrence risk. 38 00:03:57,411.29439573 --> 00:04:00,441.29439573 I really wanted you to go back and listen to that if you haven't already. 39 00:04:00,711.29439573 --> 00:04:15,321.29439573 And the, the overall topic of that conversation was, was how to apply the supplements, not necessarily the best supplements, but what are the actions you want the supplements to take? And unlike a lot of the supplement marketing, it's not cancer killing anti-cancer, things like that. 40 00:04:15,491.29439573 --> 00:04:21,881.29439573 We actually wanna look at you and your picture of health and also the research and all the aspects and contributors to how does cancer start and grow. 41 00:04:21,941.29439573 --> 00:04:26,621.29439573 And that's how we apply supplements is to intrude upon those processes in the best way possible. 42 00:04:26,621.29439573 --> 00:04:26,681.29439573 I. 43 00:04:27,291.29439573 --> 00:04:31,851.29439573 But all of this aside, what we're gonna talk about today are actually the worst supplements for cancer. 44 00:04:31,851.29439573 --> 00:04:41,151.29439573 I will give you specific examples in these cases and how I've chosen these is more based on safety and yeah, actually it's safety, not even efficacy. 45 00:04:41,151.29439573 --> 00:04:42,711.29439573 They're just more safety reasons. 46 00:04:42,711.29439573 --> 00:04:44,541.29439573 We wanna make sure that they're safe for you to take. 47 00:04:44,901.29439573 --> 00:04:48,561.29439573 So let's go through why some supplements might sound promising. 48 00:04:48,751.29439573 --> 00:04:52,801.29439573 Why do people sometimes choose them and instead, like, why do we. 49 00:04:52,821.29439573 --> 00:04:56,661.29439573 Decide and advise people not to take these particular supplements. 50 00:04:57,361.29439573 --> 00:04:59,11.29439573 Because that can be harmful sometimes. 51 00:04:59,311.29439573 --> 00:05:05,671.29439573 And I feel like there's a lot of extra fear around supplements that necessarily, which shouldn't necessarily be there. 52 00:05:05,941.29439573 --> 00:05:15,481.29439573 So we have a lot of fear coming from your oncologist or pharmacist or radiation therapist, whoever it might be, and they're saying this might interfere with treatment a lot of times, or we just don't know. 53 00:05:15,601.29439573 --> 00:05:21,661.29439573 And I feel like that is taken, or that is said with a lot of love, but it's also not saying it's not taken with a lot of. 54 00:05:22,66.29439573 --> 00:05:23,206.29439573 Respect to the research. 55 00:05:23,206.29439573 --> 00:05:31,906.29439573 'cause there is research out there showing that a lot of things are safe during radiation therapy and chemotherapy and don't necessarily interfere with your med medications. 56 00:05:32,116.29439573 --> 00:05:37,876.29439573 Some do, definitely and we wanna be cautious about that, but we can't just blanket statement everyone and say, no, you shouldn't be on those supplements. 57 00:05:37,876.29439573 --> 00:05:43,876.29439573 Just do your conventional therapy because there is good research out there showing that we can help people to get through their therapy better. 58 00:05:44,166.29439573 --> 00:05:47,376.29439573 And to even feel better, heal better post-treatment too. 59 00:05:47,376.29439573 --> 00:05:49,836.29439573 So we can't just poo poo all supplements. 60 00:05:49,956.29439573 --> 00:05:55,486.29439573 We definitely have to put put strength where strength is due here, and advise people to take them where it's safe. 61 00:05:55,756.29439573 --> 00:05:57,886.29439573 But today, let's talk about where they might not be safe. 62 00:05:57,886.29439573 --> 00:05:57,946.29439573 I. 63 00:05:58,391.29439573 --> 00:06:01,271.29439573 Without further ado, let's start with glutathione. 64 00:06:01,691.29439573 --> 00:06:04,271.29439573 So glutathione is a powerful antioxidant. 65 00:06:04,271.29439573 --> 00:06:13,961.29439573 It can help with detoxification, which is something that a lot of people feel they need to do post-treatment when they've gone through all the chemo medications or the radiation. 66 00:06:13,961.29439573 --> 00:06:19,631.29439573 And what radiation does is it kind of kills the cells and you have to push those through your system and just heal all the tissue that's been damaged. 67 00:06:19,961.29439573 --> 00:06:25,71.29439573 Perhaps you've been on some medications, whether it's for surgery or. 68 00:06:25,246.29439573 --> 00:06:27,136.29439573 Other reasons, immunotherapy, things like that. 69 00:06:27,286.29439573 --> 00:06:32,146.29439573 You just feel like your body's a big sludge of messy things that you don't want anymore. 70 00:06:32,686.29439573 --> 00:06:44,26.29439573 So glutathione is a common thing, or NAC YL cysteine is a common thing that people will go toward because it's been marketed and shown to help with liver support, detoxification support. 71 00:06:44,751.29439573 --> 00:06:47,571.29439573 Also it helps with a boosting immune function too. 72 00:06:47,571.29439573 --> 00:06:53,341.29439573 And a lot, I know a lot of you are struggling with the low white blood cell counts and just like a sluggish immune system. 73 00:06:53,761.29439573 --> 00:06:58,441.29439573 And also glutathione has potentially shown a role to, to improve DNA repair. 74 00:06:58,921.29439573 --> 00:07:01,21.29439573 And all of these are very important for cancer. 75 00:07:01,21.29439573 --> 00:07:21,621.29439573 So why am I saying that we shouldn't be using glutathione to detoxify or to boost immune immune function or for DNA repair? The current, the concern is that if cancer is still present or if your risk of recurrence is even high, we, we wanna limit antioxidants in high doses especially like glutathione, which is a strong one. 76 00:07:22,226.29439573 --> 00:07:24,596.29439573 Because it might actually protect cancer cells. 77 00:07:24,956.29439573 --> 00:07:32,246.29439573 Some studies suggest that antioxidants can reduce oxidative stress in cancer cells, and that's going to keep the cells from not dying. 78 00:07:32,426.29439573 --> 00:07:34,736.29439573 We don't want that to happen whenever it's cancer cells. 79 00:07:35,276.29439573 --> 00:07:42,536.29439573 Also, there's been research showing that potentially glutathione can promote chemo resistance, meaning that if you're taking it while you're in chemotherapy. 80 00:07:42,811.29439573 --> 00:07:51,241.29439573 Which a lot of the times we work with people who finished chemotherapy, but we do have some people who are still in chemotherapy, but it might encourage the chemotherapy to not work anymore. 81 00:07:51,271.29439573 --> 00:07:55,801.29439573 'cause it's kind of like allowing the cells to adapt to the treatment or protect itself from the treatment. 82 00:07:56,561.29439573 --> 00:08:04,931.29439573 Also there's some research showing that glutathione may even promote cell growth and possibly even the spread of these cells, the cancer cells, to other parts of the body. 83 00:08:05,111.29439573 --> 00:08:10,331.29439573 So we do wanna be cautious if someone has active cancer or is very recently post-treatment. 84 00:08:10,571.29439573 --> 00:08:16,151.29439573 Also like a lot of the therapies will continue to work in the body, even post your last session. 85 00:08:16,721.29439573 --> 00:08:26,621.29439573 So we definitely wanna be careful whenever we are applying certain supplements that they're not gonna interfere with a lot of the treatment or protect the potential cancer cells that are still dying off or hanging out behind. 86 00:08:27,161.29439573 --> 00:08:29,591.29439573 So that being said, we do recommend glutathione quite often. 87 00:08:29,591.29439573 --> 00:08:32,891.29439573 So if you are a client, you're like, oh my gosh, I'm taking glutathione, you guys told me to. 88 00:08:33,366.29439573 --> 00:08:40,976.29439573 It's probably 'cause we've assessed all of this and it, it is because we've assessed all of this, we're very, very cautious with all of our supplements. 89 00:08:41,276.29439573 --> 00:08:48,556.29439573 But what we, what we do to determine if someone is a good fit for glutathione is one, we make sure that their treatment is completed. 90 00:08:48,736.29439573 --> 00:08:51,196.29439573 Usually we wait at least one month, if not three months. 91 00:08:51,196.29439573 --> 00:08:55,216.29439573 Sometimes post-treatment before we would start recommending a glutathione supplement. 92 00:08:55,686.29439573 --> 00:09:06,666.29439573 We also look at epigenetics with a lot of our clients or all of our clients, which tells us a little bit more about how does your body create antioxidants and support your body with reactive oxygen species and free radical damage. 93 00:09:07,626.29439573 --> 00:09:11,286.29439573 If we see that being a little bit low in someone, then we will recommend something like glutathione. 94 00:09:11,466.29439573 --> 00:09:19,176.29439573 Of course, we're already doing a lot of the other things that are gonna naturally allow your body to boost glutathione as well, such as certain foods and magnesium. 95 00:09:19,326.29439573 --> 00:09:22,356.29439573 So we are looking at green leafy vegetables, cruciferous vegetables. 96 00:09:22,596.29439573 --> 00:09:29,436.29439573 We're looking at even sulfur containing foods, which would be the cruciferous vegetables, but even eggs can help pro produce glutathione. 97 00:09:29,676.29439573 --> 00:09:36,366.29439573 And then making sure your magnesium and a lot of your micronutrients are all topped up too, that can help with your body's own natural production of glutathione. 98 00:09:37,266.29439573 --> 00:09:44,646.29439573 A lot of this comes down to like the saying that the dose makes the poison so your body naturally producing glutathione is actually something we do want. 99 00:09:44,646.29439573 --> 00:09:50,576.29439573 It produces a certain level that can protect against any damage that might encourage further cancerous changes to happen. 100 00:09:51,191.29439573 --> 00:09:55,61.29439573 But if we're giving someone a supplement, again, it's gonna be a higher dose, more concentrated. 101 00:09:55,181.29439573 --> 00:10:00,251.29439573 We wanna make sure that it's fully warranted for their body and that we're not doing anything to protect the cancer cells. 102 00:10:00,251.29439573 --> 00:10:03,341.29439573 We're doing things more to boost the overall functions of the body. 103 00:10:03,341.29439573 --> 00:10:09,736.29439573 So we're helping with immune cell count, we're helping with DNA repair, we're helping with the the detoxification of the liver as well. 104 00:10:10,356.29439573 --> 00:10:21,476.29439573 So glutathione and NACN acetylcysteine, we are very cautious about when it comes to, do we recommend these for people or not? And really we recommend it based on their treatment history. 105 00:10:21,476.29439573 --> 00:10:28,926.29439573 Where are they at? Is there any evidence of disease still? We can even look at things like Signatera results and I'll do sign Terra results in another day. 106 00:10:28,926.29439573 --> 00:10:29,736.29439573 But you can look it up. 107 00:10:29,736.29439573 --> 00:10:32,286.29439573 Signatera, S-I-G-N-A-T-E. 108 00:10:32,556.29439573 --> 00:10:34,356.29439573 I don't know if it's RRA or just ra. 109 00:10:34,386.29439573 --> 00:10:35,166.29439573 So sign Terra. 110 00:10:36,76.29439573 --> 00:10:37,666.29439573 Just overall we wanna look at you. 111 00:10:37,666.29439573 --> 00:10:51,316.29439573 What's going on for you? Is it something where your body needs a little boost from going through the chemo medications and the stress, and does your body have a decreased ability to produce antioxidants and glutathione? Then we would figure out that glutathione would be a, a benefit to you. 112 00:10:51,316.29439573 --> 00:10:51,376.29439573 I. 113 00:10:52,126.29439573 --> 00:10:53,446.29439573 So very personalized there. 114 00:11:51,863.49321426 --> 00:11:54,773.49321426 Alright, the second one I wanna talk about is glutamine. 115 00:11:54,803.49321426 --> 00:11:56,543.49321426 So we just talked about glutathione. 116 00:11:56,693.49321426 --> 00:11:58,313.49321426 This one is glutamine. 117 00:11:58,643.49321426 --> 00:12:00,623.49321426 So glutamine is an amino acid. 118 00:12:00,623.49321426 --> 00:12:02,963.49321426 It helps with repair of the gut lining. 119 00:12:03,183.49321426 --> 00:12:10,533.49321426 It's also very good for supporting someone with mouth sore from certain chemotherapies or even diarrhea from certain chemotherapies. 120 00:12:11,238.49321426 --> 00:12:25,818.49321426 And while we will recommend it short term, for a lot of people, long-term supplementation may feed certain cancer cells, certain cancer types, we don't know exactly which ones will feed off of glutamine versus more, versus ones that don't feed off glutamine as much. 121 00:12:26,288.49321426 --> 00:12:31,298.49321426 But some, some tumors are particularly dependent on glutamine as a fuel source. 122 00:12:31,298.49321426 --> 00:12:32,258.49321426 So we're a little bit picky. 123 00:12:32,258.49321426 --> 00:12:34,268.49321426 If someone do, does have active cancer again. 124 00:12:34,728.49321426 --> 00:12:43,224.93321426 Or a high risk of recurrence, we will stay off the glutamine Although we will recommend it very short term for someone who has mouth sores or diarrhea. 125 00:12:43,254.93321426 --> 00:12:45,684.93321426 'cause like it can cut those symptoms off so quickly. 126 00:12:45,894.93321426 --> 00:12:48,744.93321426 But it's not like we want you to be on it for months at a time. 127 00:12:49,254.93321426 --> 00:12:51,664.93321426 A lot of the times in the functional medicine world. 128 00:12:52,194.93321426 --> 00:13:08,314.93321426 More than probably a conventional medicine world, someone will get a recommendation or like a prescription from their functional medicine naturopathic doctor, and they potentially forget when they were told to stop taking it or the, the functional doctor expected them to come back and they were gonna. 129 00:13:08,509.93321426 --> 00:13:13,849.93321426 Do the follow-up care and they never actually came back for the follow-up appointment to say, this is what happens, this is when you stop it. 130 00:13:14,119.93321426 --> 00:13:18,619.93321426 So, so many times we get people coming to us and they've been on something like B12 for example. 131 00:13:18,619.93321426 --> 00:13:24,419.93321426 They're like, oh, I was on, I started B12 like two years ago 'cause my B12 was low and I'm still taking it for the last two years. 132 00:13:24,419.93321426 --> 00:13:27,449.93321426 And then we test their blood work and their B12 is like through the roof. 133 00:13:27,719.93321426 --> 00:13:31,379.93321426 And we're like, we, we need you to stop that and we don't need you to be on that any longer. 134 00:13:31,679.93321426 --> 00:13:33,809.93321426 I find Glutamine is one of these as well, where. 135 00:13:34,274.93321426 --> 00:13:47,324.93321426 So I went to see a functional practitioner or just kind of looked it up on the internet themselves and they started taking Glu glutamine because it was very good for their gut health 'cause they were experiencing some gut issues and then they just continued to take it forever. 136 00:13:47,674.93321426 --> 00:13:54,84.93321426 I did have a patient once who she had esophageal cancer and she didn't know she had esophageal cancer at the time. 137 00:13:54,84.93321426 --> 00:13:57,774.93321426 When she started taking glutamine, she was experiencing a lot of GI distress. 138 00:13:57,774.93321426 --> 00:14:00,604.93321426 So, she was having like a little bit of diarrhea and. 139 00:14:00,684.93321426 --> 00:14:02,964.93321426 Some stomach pain and some heartburn. 140 00:14:03,264.93321426 --> 00:14:06,684.93321426 And she went on the internet and she decided that she was gonna take glutamine. 141 00:14:07,44.93321426 --> 00:14:11,54.93321426 And within just a couple of months, she found out that she had esophageal cancer. 142 00:14:11,324.93321426 --> 00:14:20,954.93321426 And it was always kind of sitting in the back of her mind, was it because she did the glutamine, that she spit up the growth of that cancer? And I'll never forget that kind of feeling that she was having, like the guilt, the dread. 143 00:14:21,254.93321426 --> 00:14:22,844.93321426 And we don't want that to happen for you. 144 00:14:22,844.93321426 --> 00:14:29,24.93321426 We definitely wanna be clear on what is safe and what should be taken short term versus long term and glutamine again. 145 00:14:29,234.93321426 --> 00:14:40,64.93321426 Super safe, especially if you're still in chemotherapy because as you're receiving chemotherapy, the glutamine is going to, well, basically glutamine causes the cells to grow a little bit faster of your di digestive lining. 146 00:14:40,64.93321426 --> 00:14:45,284.93321426 And that's how it helps to resolve the diarrhea and the mouth source is 'cause it's repairing those cells much more quickly. 147 00:14:45,464.93321426 --> 00:14:48,164.93321426 But if you're in chemo, chemo targets the fast growing cells. 148 00:14:48,374.93321426 --> 00:14:51,764.93321426 So if the glutamines causing it to grow faster, the chemo's still gonna be taking care of that. 149 00:14:52,109.93321426 --> 00:14:59,399.93321426 We can get you through your treatment more effectively by getting rid of those mouth sores so that you can eat better, have more energy, and continue on your directed treatment plan. 150 00:14:59,609.93321426 --> 00:15:03,929.93321426 That we can reduce the diarrhea from chemotherapy so that you don't have to lower your dose of chemo or anything like that. 151 00:15:04,584.93321426 --> 00:15:11,754.93321426 Then we're gonna give you the glutamine because we know that the, the chemotherapy is gonna be taking care of any fast-growing cancer cells for you. 152 00:15:12,54.93321426 --> 00:15:19,374.93321426 But long-term, I would say that we are actually super cautious and we do not necessarily recommend glutamine post-treatment for anyone. 153 00:15:19,639.93321426 --> 00:15:24,139.93321426 Unless they've got major digestive issues, and then we'll only give it to them for like a month if that. 154 00:15:24,499.93321426 --> 00:15:25,339.93321426 And we'll monitor. 155 00:15:25,369.93321426 --> 00:15:35,539.93321426 Monitor the dose as well, because there's a difference between whenever some people take it at five grams per day and then some prescriptions for like irritable bowel disease or whatever might be up to like 15 grams per day. 156 00:15:35,719.93321426 --> 00:15:40,889.93321426 We wanna be cautious and focused whenever we're choosing glutamine for people for sure. 157 00:15:41,769.93321426 --> 00:15:43,299.93321426 Alright, so that was glutamine. 158 00:15:43,304.93321426 --> 00:15:44,979.93321426 So we did glutathione, we did glutamine. 159 00:15:45,379.93321426 --> 00:15:46,879.93321426 Now I wanna talk about iron. 160 00:15:46,909.93321426 --> 00:15:50,599.93321426 It's another one that again, we do recommend often, kind of like glutathione. 161 00:15:51,19.93321426 --> 00:15:56,689.93321426 We recommend iron quite often, but we only recommend it when our clients have low iron. 162 00:15:56,899.93321426 --> 00:16:03,949.93321426 Whereas again, it's one of the things like the B12 where someone's like, I had low iron a couple years ago, so I start taking it, but no one ever told 'em to stop it. 163 00:16:04,229.93321426 --> 00:16:06,329.93321426 And they're just kind of bringing their levels up high. 164 00:16:06,829.93321426 --> 00:16:12,919.93321426 And the other reason we see a lot of people on iron is 'cause they've got a lot of fatigue and they think that iron's going to resolve it. 165 00:16:13,239.93321426 --> 00:16:21,739.93321426 But really if your iron levels are already adequate and optimal, so we're saying about above 50 maybe 50 to like a hundred, 150 on blood work. 166 00:16:22,454.93321426 --> 00:16:25,124.93321426 Then we don't want you to be taking an iron pill. 167 00:16:25,394.93321426 --> 00:16:30,224.93321426 But I would say the majority of our clients actually have very low iron and they have a lot of fatigue. 168 00:16:30,254.93321426 --> 00:16:37,369.93321426 And the reasons are, whether it's because of the cancer treatment that they went through, had an impact on like their red blood cells or their, their. 169 00:16:38,4.93321426 --> 00:16:42,334.9332143 Their iron, their ability to keep iron in their body that'll allow lower their iron. 170 00:16:42,334.9332143 --> 00:16:51,334.9332143 So we're always testing someone's ferritin as well as their iron panel on blood work because we wanna see if you're low, you definitely can safely supplement. 171 00:16:51,664.9332143 --> 00:16:59,434.9332143 But if it's already adequate levels on blood work, like I would say around 50, then we probably wanna make sure that you're not taking a supplement at all. 172 00:16:59,884.9332143 --> 00:17:01,474.9332143 The reason being is that. 173 00:17:01,584.9332143 --> 00:17:05,154.9332143 The high iron can actually be a fuel for cancer cells. 174 00:17:05,154.9332143 --> 00:17:11,754.9332143 It likes to eat it, it likes it to, to eat it in order to proliferate, and also if we have high iron levels. 175 00:17:12,549.9332143 --> 00:17:14,699.9332143 It could either be due to inflammation. 176 00:17:14,699.9332143 --> 00:17:20,909.9332143 So if we're testing someone's ferritin and it's high, that could be typically a sign that they have a lot of inflammation in the body. 177 00:17:21,329.9332143 --> 00:17:26,249.9332143 And also having a lot of high ferritin, like having that ferritin being high is contributing to inflammation. 178 00:17:26,249.9332143 --> 00:17:29,459.9332143 So not is, not only is inflammation causing high ferritin. 179 00:17:29,494.9332143 --> 00:17:38,944.9332143 High ferritin is causing more inflammation and oxidative stress, and these are both contributors to cancer cell changes and causing them to start in the first place. 180 00:17:38,944.9332143 --> 00:17:42,484.9332143 And also encouraging cancer to grow is that inflammation and oxidative stress. 181 00:17:42,784.9332143 --> 00:17:44,104.9332143 So we wanna be careful about that. 182 00:17:44,254.9332143 --> 00:17:52,504.9332143 So really we only recommend iron if you've had your blood work done recently and only whenever your ferritin is below 50. 183 00:17:52,834.9332143 --> 00:17:56,794.9332143 And really, if you're below 50 and you otherwise feel good, you don't have a lot of. 184 00:17:57,104.9332143 --> 00:17:58,934.9332143 CO because iron plays a role in so many things. 185 00:17:58,934.9332143 --> 00:18:03,194.9332143 So if you don't have a lot of fatigue, if you don't have a lot of shortness of breath. 186 00:18:03,719.9332143 --> 00:18:10,89.9332143 If you don't have a lot of anxiety or depression, 'cause adequate iron has also been shown to improve anxiety and depression. 187 00:18:10,569.9332143 --> 00:18:23,169.9332143 If you, I'm trying to think of other ways that iron is beneficial, but basically if you don't have any symptoms of why iron being low and but your, your levels are below 50, then we still wouldn't necessarily supplement depending on how low it is. 188 00:18:23,499.9332143 --> 00:18:24,969.9332143 But if you've got symptoms. 189 00:18:25,134.9332143 --> 00:18:28,914.9332143 And it's 50 or like below 50, then we would probably wanna supplement. 190 00:18:29,94.9332143 --> 00:18:35,394.9332143 If it's above a hundred, 150, then we definitely don't wanna supplement for sure, because that could be fueling the cancer growth. 191 00:18:36,24.9332143 --> 00:18:41,364.9332143 So again, I wanna be clear on this one 'cause I know a lot of my clients are listening and they're like, well, I was told to take iron. 192 00:18:41,609.9332143 --> 00:18:45,329.9332143 You were told with good purpose because your ferritin is probably below 50. 193 00:18:45,729.9332143 --> 00:18:51,279.9332143 And potentially you might be vegan, vegetarian, and we've got you on like a low dose maintenance iron over time as well. 194 00:18:51,579.9332143 --> 00:18:56,649.9332143 But if your iron is high, we definitely don't want you on iron and it's rare that we see that. 195 00:18:56,649.9332143 --> 00:19:02,679.9332143 But I just wanna put out there so that everyone knows that iron at high doses is not necessarily the best thing for you to be taking. 196 00:19:02,809.9332143 --> 00:19:04,819.9332143 Because it might encourage cancer to start and grow. 197 00:19:06,449.9332143 --> 00:19:13,469.9332143 All right, so the fourth and last one I wanted to chat about today is something that I feel like we'll get a lot of feathers ruffled as well. 198 00:19:13,719.9332143 --> 00:19:19,749.9332143 But I do stand very strong in my belief that apricot seeds are not something that we want cancer survivors taking. 199 00:19:20,319.9332143 --> 00:19:31,629.9332143 The reason is that there's actually amygdala that's produced, which is thought to be the anti-cancer impact, which is the B 17, but apricot seeds actually produce cyanide in the body. 200 00:19:31,999.9332143 --> 00:19:43,59.9332143 And yes, the levels are low, but so many times we've got people coming to us and they're afraid of every little thing from their, the, the microplastics and non-organic foods and things like that. 201 00:19:43,269.9332143 --> 00:19:47,649.9332143 But here they are taking apricot seed with the cyanide being produced in it and. 202 00:19:48,434.9332143 --> 00:20:00,784.9332143 I just feel like if we're gonna be if we're gonna be so in depth with choosing specific clean foods and clean products, that I feel like your supplements should be definitely clean as well and not producing cyanide in your body. 203 00:20:01,324.9332143 --> 00:20:06,344.9332143 The big reason I'm not on this apricot seed train is that there is no research. 204 00:20:06,704.9332143 --> 00:20:09,884.9332143 We might have one study and I, I've searched for it. 205 00:20:09,884.9332143 --> 00:20:12,314.9332143 I have had so many people on Instagram say like. 206 00:20:12,894.9332143 --> 00:20:19,224.9332143 Oh, my functional medicine doctor recommend apricot seeds, and I've even had functional medical professionals reach out to me. 207 00:20:19,224.9332143 --> 00:20:20,574.9332143 He's like, we recommend apricot seeds. 208 00:20:20,574.9332143 --> 00:20:21,174.9332143 Here's the research. 209 00:20:21,174.9332143 --> 00:20:21,834.9332143 I look into it. 210 00:20:21,834.9332143 --> 00:20:23,244.9332143 There's no actual research. 211 00:20:23,514.9332143 --> 00:20:25,824.9332143 It's like a rat study. 212 00:20:25,874.9332143 --> 00:20:28,94.9332143 Or a really, really poorly done. 213 00:20:28,844.9332143 --> 00:20:33,254.9332143 A case of two or three people taking apricot seeds and showing potential benefit. 214 00:20:33,344.9332143 --> 00:20:37,544.9332143 And to me, there's so many other things we could do that are way more impactful. 215 00:20:38,64.9332143 --> 00:20:40,644.9332143 And I, I really apologize if I ruffle anyone's feathers. 216 00:20:41,4.9332143 --> 00:20:44,724.9332143 This podcast is totally for you to take what works for you and leave what doesn't. 217 00:20:44,934.9332143 --> 00:20:47,484.9332143 But to me, I feel like apricot seeds, they don't work. 218 00:20:47,934.9332143 --> 00:20:53,574.9332143 So basically there's, there's no reliable evidence of benefit of apricot seeds. 219 00:20:54,99.9332143 --> 00:20:55,629.9332143 But there's definite risk of harm. 220 00:20:55,659.9332143 --> 00:21:15,219.9332143 'cause we even have human studies showing that people, and granted they take too many of the seeds, but they take many seeds over a longer period of time, or sometimes a lot in a short period of time, and they end up in the hospital because of the cyanide In these seeds, we're really not meant to eat the seeds, we're meant to eat the fruits of things, right. 221 00:21:16,144.9332143 --> 00:21:18,484.9332143 We just can't really break them down appropriately. 222 00:21:18,634.9332143 --> 00:21:21,904.9332143 Our body doesn't move things outta the body and appropriately. 223 00:21:21,904.9332143 --> 00:21:23,674.9332143 And then also it creates cyanide. 224 00:21:23,704.9332143 --> 00:21:24,514.9332143 It is toxic. 225 00:21:24,784.9332143 --> 00:21:27,934.9332143 So I'm really not on the apricot seed bandwagon here. 226 00:21:28,204.9332143 --> 00:21:35,794.9332143 Again, I do feel like we can be way more impactful and resourceful with what we're encouraging people to take. 227 00:21:36,124.9332143 --> 00:21:40,474.9332143 And there are way more effective, safer options than. 228 00:21:40,874.9332143 --> 00:21:41,594.9332143 Apricot seeds. 229 00:21:41,654.9332143 --> 00:21:48,464.9332143 Alright, so I hope you learned a few tidbits on here that can help you to navigate your supplement choices a little bit more safely. 230 00:21:48,834.9332143 --> 00:21:53,304.9332143 I just always have to point out you can't outs supplement the deeper contributors to cancer. 231 00:21:53,424.9332143 --> 00:21:57,534.9332143 We can't just take her human and expect chronic inflammation to be resolved. 232 00:21:57,534.9332143 --> 00:22:01,524.9332143 We wanna dig in a little bit deeper to see what is behind the inflammation as best as we can. 233 00:22:01,934.9332143 --> 00:22:10,574.9332143 We can't just take cancer killing supplements that are gonna talk tackle colon cancer cells whenever you've got a microflora imbalance and inflamed gut lining. 234 00:22:11,389.9332143 --> 00:22:22,849.9332143 We can't just expect a cancer killing supplement to kill off all the cancer cells when we should really be focusing on antioxidant support in your body through foods and stress reduction and things like that. 235 00:22:23,239.9332143 --> 00:22:30,139.9332143 Honestly, no cancer killing supplement's gonna make a true dent until we look a little bit deeper into what's going on in your body. 236 00:22:30,444.9332143 --> 00:22:37,674.9332143 What's contributing to cancer starting and growing, and how can we create this environment where cancer just doesn't wanna be? But I know that you're trying to do things right. 237 00:22:37,794.9332143 --> 00:22:38,574.9332143 I see your efforts. 238 00:22:38,574.9332143 --> 00:22:39,954.9332143 I totally commend you for it. 239 00:22:39,954.9332143 --> 00:22:40,584.9332143 I love it. 240 00:22:40,674.9332143 --> 00:22:43,704.9332143 Keep moving forward, keep seeking out information. 241 00:22:43,704.9332143 --> 00:22:44,964.9332143 I think it's fantastic. 242 00:22:45,354.9332143 --> 00:22:56,824.9332143 And I do find that the moment that you start to gather your own data and kind of block out a lot of the extra noise whenever you start to understand what do you really need for your body when it comes to more comprehensive blood work. 243 00:22:57,39.9332143 --> 00:22:59,289.9332143 Or just looking at your particular health history. 244 00:22:59,289.9332143 --> 00:23:04,959.9332143 Have you struggled with hormone issues or gut issues or stress or things like that? Those are gonna be the big needle movers. 245 00:23:05,774.9332143 --> 00:23:14,84.9332143 And you can always do lifestyle changes as well as supplements to encourage those big needle movers as opposed to latching onto cancer, killing this anti-cancer. 246 00:23:14,84.9332143 --> 00:23:23,744.9332143 That, and whenever you understand what's best for your body, you can lead with more intention and focus and it just, the world opens up, you feel less stress, you feel more motivated. 247 00:23:23,969.9332143 --> 00:23:27,779.9332143 It's less like a deer in a headlights, and you just can kind of feel like you're on the right track again. 248 00:23:27,779.9332143 --> 00:23:33,119.9332143 So that's where I want you to put your attention and your energy is into figuring out what works best for you. 249 00:23:33,149.9332143 --> 00:23:48,29.9332143 What are your facts and data? What is the research truly saying? Let's cut out the noise from Sally on the internet, although we'll listen to her a little bit, but we mostly wanna see is it really important for you? What is the most impactful thing, and not just do what someone else is doing. 250 00:23:48,239.9332143 --> 00:23:51,539.9332143 All right, so just a little recap and I'll let you go for today. 251 00:23:52,124.9332143 --> 00:24:02,504.9332143 So the supplements that we, my team and I will approach with caution whenever we're supporting someone who has finished cancer treatment or nearly finished cancer treatment and they're looking to feel better, reduce their risk of cancer coming back. 252 00:24:02,744.9332143 --> 00:24:07,934.9332143 The things that we're gonna be most cautious about are glutathione, which can be helpful in the right context. 253 00:24:07,934.9332143 --> 00:24:14,254.9332143 Again, we do recommend equate regularly, but we don't want it to be recommended in someone who has cancer 'cause it can be risky. 254 00:24:14,554.9332143 --> 00:24:16,804.9332143 Someone who has an active cancer diagnosis. 255 00:24:17,409.9332143 --> 00:24:24,969.9332143 Glutamine is okay short-term during treatment, but it's really not ideal long-term, and mostly we use it for managing side effects from treatment. 256 00:24:25,449.9332143 --> 00:24:36,369.9332143 Iron is essential only if you're truly deficient and apricot seeds are, we don't recommend them because they have clear toxicity issues and unclear benefits for sure. 257 00:24:37,39.9332143 --> 00:24:38,359.9332143 So thank you all for hanging out. 258 00:24:38,359.9332143 --> 00:24:40,99.9332143 I hope that was helpful to you. 259 00:24:40,369.9332143 --> 00:24:47,629.9332143 If you have any questions, you can go find me on Instagram at Megan Bernard nd and otherwise, here's to you Flourishing After Cancer. 260 00:24:49,186.5998809 --> 00:24:52,906.5998809 Thank you so much for joining me today on the Flourish After Cancer Podcast. 261 00:24:52,906.5998809 --> 00:24:57,526.5998809 If you love this episode, please be sure to leave a review and subscribe so you never miss an episode. 262 00:24:57,736.5998809 --> 00:24:59,446.5998809 Sending all my best your way, Dr. 263 00:24:59,446.5998809 --> 00:24:59,836.5998809 Megan.
I did have a patient once who didn't know she had cancer at the time when she started taking glutamine, she was experiencing some stomach pain and some heartburn, and she went on the internet and she decided that she was gonna take glutamine.
(00:12):
And within just a couple of months she found out that she had esophageal cancer.
And it was always kind of sitting in the back of her mind.
Was it because she did the glutamine? That it, she spit up the growth of that cancer? And I'll never forget that kind of feeling that she was having like the guilt, the dread.
And we don't want that to happen for you. 6 00:00:56,266.294395728 --> 00:01:00,286.294395728 So today's episode comes with a little bit of a disclaimer. 7 00:01:00,566.294395728 --> 00:01:06,586.294395728 This episode may feel a little bit challenging for some of you, especially if you're someone who has put a lot of hope into certain supplements. 8 00:01:06,586.294395728 --> 00:01:10,126.294395728 You might even be someone who kind of swears by essiac tea or I. 9 00:01:10,411.294395728 --> 00:01:20,701.294395728 Black seed oil or maybe you've read an inspiring story from someone who's gone through cancer treatment and saw fantastic results and they might have been on one of the supplements that I'm going to mention today. 10 00:01:21,241.294395728 --> 00:01:33,391.294395728 And the thing is that my goal, my job, is to provide you with the most, the most impactful changes in the safest changes when it comes to reducing the risk of cancer coming back. 11 00:01:34,21.294395728 --> 00:01:45,551.29439573 And I totally will listen with both ears open to people who have had a certain experience with certain supplements or a lot of people have certain experience with certain tech, like red light mats and things like that. 12 00:01:45,851.29439573 --> 00:01:49,61.29439573 But my ultimate goal is to make sure that I. 13 00:01:49,61.29439573 --> 00:02:00,356.29439573 You and the person that we're working with one-to-one are really focusing in on what is the most impactful thing between looking at the strongest research and also looking at you as an individual. 14 00:02:00,566.29439573 --> 00:02:09,986.29439573 Your medical history, your, your overall health history, not just your cancer diagnosis, also your blood work, your test results, all these kind of things. 15 00:02:10,196.29439573 --> 00:02:13,856.29439573 This is what should really determine your best supplements moving forward. 16 00:02:14,471.29439573 --> 00:02:26,591.29439573 And a lot of the time when it comes to choosing supplements if we think of it this way, if you ever see a commercial for toothpaste and it says four out of five dentists recommend Colgate toothpaste. 17 00:02:26,961.29439573 --> 00:02:32,896.29439573 Well, I feel like in the world of supplements, it's a little bit opposite in a way, where that it's usually one out of five. 18 00:02:33,826.29439573 --> 00:02:48,476.29439573 Health experts recommend this black seed oil, and unfortunately that one out of the five who's recommending this black seed oil is just the loudest and they're just saying the right words to get you interested and hopeful. 19 00:02:48,746.29439573 --> 00:02:59,356.29439573 And unlike the other four people who might be a little bit more based on research and personalization, this loud, one person is telling you to take this supplement, and that's what you're hearing. 20 00:03:00,31.29439573 --> 00:03:07,831.29439573 And again, be it, we wanna look at you as an individual as well as the, the best, the strongest research. 21 00:03:07,921.29439573 --> 00:03:11,581.29439573 But I also wanna hear the one of stories and the case studies and things like that. 22 00:03:11,611.29439573 --> 00:03:13,891.29439573 'cause there's still a lot in research that's not covered. 23 00:03:14,71.29439573 --> 00:03:16,201.29439573 So we wanna take it all into, into place here. 24 00:03:16,741.29439573 --> 00:03:24,131.29439573 And a lot of times when you walk through cancer, you're also left with a very little guidance, right? It makes sense to seek out anything that gives you this sense of control. 25 00:03:24,131.29439573 --> 00:03:26,711.29439573 And supplements can give you that sense of control a lot of the time. 26 00:03:26,936.29439573 --> 00:03:30,746.29439573 Especially when you're seeing that it's cancer killing, anti-cancer, things like that. 27 00:03:30,956.29439573 --> 00:03:37,226.29439573 Like that's what you want and you want to take your supplements so that you can do everything in your power to make sure that cancer doesn't come back. 28 00:03:37,226.29439573 --> 00:03:40,376.29439573 And that's great, that deep desire to feel safe again. 29 00:03:40,496.29439573 --> 00:03:41,366.29439573 It's so real. 30 00:03:41,366.29439573 --> 00:03:42,296.29439573 It's so valid. 31 00:03:42,506.29439573 --> 00:03:44,726.29439573 The root, the feeling to feel in control. 32 00:03:44,996.29439573 --> 00:03:45,641.29439573 It's great. 33 00:03:45,641.29439573 --> 00:03:46,106.29439573 We want that. 34 00:03:46,106.29439573 --> 00:03:47,6.29439573 It's motivational. 35 00:03:47,66.29439573 --> 00:03:48,236.29439573 You're great clients. 36 00:03:48,546.29439573 --> 00:03:52,776.29439573 But I really wanna bring clarity to a lot of the noise whenever we're doing a lot of these episodes. 37 00:03:53,451.29439573 --> 00:03:57,411.29439573 I've already done an episode on the best supplements for reducing cancer recurrence risk. 38 00:03:57,411.29439573 --> 00:04:00,441.29439573 I really wanted you to go back and listen to that if you haven't already. 39 00:04:00,711.29439573 --> 00:04:15,321.29439573 And the, the overall topic of that conversation was, was how to apply the supplements, not necessarily the best supplements, but what are the actions you want the supplements to take? And unlike a lot of the supplement marketing, it's not cancer killing anti-cancer, things like that. 40 00:04:15,491.29439573 --> 00:04:21,881.29439573 We actually wanna look at you and your picture of health and also the research and all the aspects and contributors to how does cancer start and grow. 41 00:04:21,941.29439573 --> 00:04:26,621.29439573 And that's how we apply supplements is to intrude upon those processes in the best way possible. 42 00:04:26,621.29439573 --> 00:04:26,681.29439573 I. 43 00:04:27,291.29439573 --> 00:04:31,851.29439573 But all of this aside, what we're gonna talk about today are actually the worst supplements for cancer. 44 00:04:31,851.29439573 --> 00:04:41,151.29439573 I will give you specific examples in these cases and how I've chosen these is more based on safety and yeah, actually it's safety, not even efficacy. 45 00:04:41,151.29439573 --> 00:04:42,711.29439573 They're just more safety reasons. 46 00:04:42,711.29439573 --> 00:04:44,541.29439573 We wanna make sure that they're safe for you to take. 47 00:04:44,901.29439573 --> 00:04:48,561.29439573 So let's go through why some supplements might sound promising. 48 00:04:48,751.29439573 --> 00:04:52,801.29439573 Why do people sometimes choose them and instead, like, why do we. 49 00:04:52,821.29439573 --> 00:04:56,661.29439573 Decide and advise people not to take these particular supplements. 50 00:04:57,361.29439573 --> 00:04:59,11.29439573 Because that can be harmful sometimes. 51 00:04:59,311.29439573 --> 00:05:05,671.29439573 And I feel like there's a lot of extra fear around supplements that necessarily, which shouldn't necessarily be there. 52 00:05:05,941.29439573 --> 00:05:15,481.29439573 So we have a lot of fear coming from your oncologist or pharmacist or radiation therapist, whoever it might be, and they're saying this might interfere with treatment a lot of times, or we just don't know. 53 00:05:15,601.29439573 --> 00:05:21,661.29439573 And I feel like that is taken, or that is said with a lot of love, but it's also not saying it's not taken with a lot of. 54 00:05:22,66.29439573 --> 00:05:23,206.29439573 Respect to the research. 55 00:05:23,206.29439573 --> 00:05:31,906.29439573 'cause there is research out there showing that a lot of things are safe during radiation therapy and chemotherapy and don't necessarily interfere with your med medications. 56 00:05:32,116.29439573 --> 00:05:37,876.29439573 Some do, definitely and we wanna be cautious about that, but we can't just blanket statement everyone and say, no, you shouldn't be on those supplements. 57 00:05:37,876.29439573 --> 00:05:43,876.29439573 Just do your conventional therapy because there is good research out there showing that we can help people to get through their therapy better. 58 00:05:44,166.29439573 --> 00:05:47,376.29439573 And to even feel better, heal better post-treatment too. 59 00:05:47,376.29439573 --> 00:05:49,836.29439573 So we can't just poo poo all supplements. 60 00:05:49,956.29439573 --> 00:05:55,486.29439573 We definitely have to put put strength where strength is due here, and advise people to take them where it's safe. 61 00:05:55,756.29439573 --> 00:05:57,886.29439573 But today, let's talk about where they might not be safe. 62 00:05:57,886.29439573 --> 00:05:57,946.29439573 I. 63 00:05:58,391.29439573 --> 00:06:01,271.29439573 Without further ado, let's start with glutathione. 64 00:06:01,691.29439573 --> 00:06:04,271.29439573 So glutathione is a powerful antioxidant. 65 00:06:04,271.29439573 --> 00:06:13,961.29439573 It can help with detoxification, which is something that a lot of people feel they need to do post-treatment when they've gone through all the chemo medications or the radiation. 66 00:06:13,961.29439573 --> 00:06:19,631.29439573 And what radiation does is it kind of kills the cells and you have to push those through your system and just heal all the tissue that's been damaged. 67 00:06:19,961.29439573 --> 00:06:25,71.29439573 Perhaps you've been on some medications, whether it's for surgery or. 68 00:06:25,246.29439573 --> 00:06:27,136.29439573 Other reasons, immunotherapy, things like that. 69 00:06:27,286.29439573 --> 00:06:32,146.29439573 You just feel like your body's a big sludge of messy things that you don't want anymore. 70 00:06:32,686.29439573 --> 00:06:44,26.29439573 So glutathione is a common thing, or NAC YL cysteine is a common thing that people will go toward because it's been marketed and shown to help with liver support, detoxification support. 71 00:06:44,751.29439573 --> 00:06:47,571.29439573 Also it helps with a boosting immune function too. 72 00:06:47,571.29439573 --> 00:06:53,341.29439573 And a lot, I know a lot of you are struggling with the low white blood cell counts and just like a sluggish immune system. 73 00:06:53,761.29439573 --> 00:06:58,441.29439573 And also glutathione has potentially shown a role to, to improve DNA repair. 74 00:06:58,921.29439573 --> 00:07:01,21.29439573 And all of these are very important for cancer. 75 00:07:01,21.29439573 --> 00:07:21,621.29439573 So why am I saying that we shouldn't be using glutathione to detoxify or to boost immune immune function or for DNA repair? The current, the concern is that if cancer is still present or if your risk of recurrence is even high, we, we wanna limit antioxidants in high doses especially like glutathione, which is a strong one. 76 00:07:22,226.29439573 --> 00:07:24,596.29439573 Because it might actually protect cancer cells. 77 00:07:24,956.29439573 --> 00:07:32,246.29439573 Some studies suggest that antioxidants can reduce oxidative stress in cancer cells, and that's going to keep the cells from not dying. 78 00:07:32,426.29439573 --> 00:07:34,736.29439573 We don't want that to happen whenever it's cancer cells. 79 00:07:35,276.29439573 --> 00:07:42,536.29439573 Also, there's been research showing that potentially glutathione can promote chemo resistance, meaning that if you're taking it while you're in chemotherapy. 80 00:07:42,811.29439573 --> 00:07:51,241.29439573 Which a lot of the times we work with people who finished chemotherapy, but we do have some people who are still in chemotherapy, but it might encourage the chemotherapy to not work anymore. 81 00:07:51,271.29439573 --> 00:07:55,801.29439573 'cause it's kind of like allowing the cells to adapt to the treatment or protect itself from the treatment. 82 00:07:56,561.29439573 --> 00:08:04,931.29439573 Also there's some research showing that glutathione may even promote cell growth and possibly even the spread of these cells, the cancer cells, to other parts of the body. 83 00:08:05,111.29439573 --> 00:08:10,331.29439573 So we do wanna be cautious if someone has active cancer or is very recently post-treatment. 84 00:08:10,571.29439573 --> 00:08:16,151.29439573 Also like a lot of the therapies will continue to work in the body, even post your last session. 85 00:08:16,721.29439573 --> 00:08:26,621.29439573 So we definitely wanna be careful whenever we are applying certain supplements that they're not gonna interfere with a lot of the treatment or protect the potential cancer cells that are still dying off or hanging out behind. 86 00:08:27,161.29439573 --> 00:08:29,591.29439573 So that being said, we do recommend glutathione quite often. 87 00:08:29,591.29439573 --> 00:08:32,891.29439573 So if you are a client, you're like, oh my gosh, I'm taking glutathione, you guys told me to. 88 00:08:33,366.29439573 --> 00:08:40,976.29439573 It's probably 'cause we've assessed all of this and it, it is because we've assessed all of this, we're very, very cautious with all of our supplements. 89 00:08:41,276.29439573 --> 00:08:48,556.29439573 But what we, what we do to determine if someone is a good fit for glutathione is one, we make sure that their treatment is completed. 90 00:08:48,736.29439573 --> 00:08:51,196.29439573 Usually we wait at least one month, if not three months. 91 00:08:51,196.29439573 --> 00:08:55,216.29439573 Sometimes post-treatment before we would start recommending a glutathione supplement. 92 00:08:55,686.29439573 --> 00:09:06,666.29439573 We also look at epigenetics with a lot of our clients or all of our clients, which tells us a little bit more about how does your body create antioxidants and support your body with reactive oxygen species and free radical damage. 93 00:09:07,626.29439573 --> 00:09:11,286.29439573 If we see that being a little bit low in someone, then we will recommend something like glutathione. 94 00:09:11,466.29439573 --> 00:09:19,176.29439573 Of course, we're already doing a lot of the other things that are gonna naturally allow your body to boost glutathione as well, such as certain foods and magnesium. 95 00:09:19,326.29439573 --> 00:09:22,356.29439573 So we are looking at green leafy vegetables, cruciferous vegetables. 96 00:09:22,596.29439573 --> 00:09:29,436.29439573 We're looking at even sulfur containing foods, which would be the cruciferous vegetables, but even eggs can help pro produce glutathione. 97 00:09:29,676.29439573 --> 00:09:36,366.29439573 And then making sure your magnesium and a lot of your micronutrients are all topped up too, that can help with your body's own natural production of glutathione. 98 00:09:37,266.29439573 --> 00:09:44,646.29439573 A lot of this comes down to like the saying that the dose makes the poison so your body naturally producing glutathione is actually something we do want. 99 00:09:44,646.29439573 --> 00:09:50,576.29439573 It produces a certain level that can protect against any damage that might encourage further cancerous changes to happen. 100 00:09:51,191.29439573 --> 00:09:55,61.29439573 But if we're giving someone a supplement, again, it's gonna be a higher dose, more concentrated. 101 00:09:55,181.29439573 --> 00:10:00,251.29439573 We wanna make sure that it's fully warranted for their body and that we're not doing anything to protect the cancer cells. 102 00:10:00,251.29439573 --> 00:10:03,341.29439573 We're doing things more to boost the overall functions of the body. 103 00:10:03,341.29439573 --> 00:10:09,736.29439573 So we're helping with immune cell count, we're helping with DNA repair, we're helping with the the detoxification of the liver as well. 104 00:10:10,356.29439573 --> 00:10:21,476.29439573 So glutathione and NACN acetylcysteine, we are very cautious about when it comes to, do we recommend these for people or not? And really we recommend it based on their treatment history. 105 00:10:21,476.29439573 --> 00:10:28,926.29439573 Where are they at? Is there any evidence of disease still? We can even look at things like Signatera results and I'll do sign Terra results in another day. 106 00:10:28,926.29439573 --> 00:10:29,736.29439573 But you can look it up. 107 00:10:29,736.29439573 --> 00:10:32,286.29439573 Signatera, S-I-G-N-A-T-E. 108 00:10:32,556.29439573 --> 00:10:34,356.29439573 I don't know if it's RRA or just ra. 109 00:10:34,386.29439573 --> 00:10:35,166.29439573 So sign Terra. 110 00:10:36,76.29439573 --> 00:10:37,666.29439573 Just overall we wanna look at you. 111 00:10:37,666.29439573 --> 00:10:51,316.29439573 What's going on for you? Is it something where your body needs a little boost from going through the chemo medications and the stress, and does your body have a decreased ability to produce antioxidants and glutathione? Then we would figure out that glutathione would be a, a benefit to you. 112 00:10:51,316.29439573 --> 00:10:51,376.29439573 I. 113 00:10:52,126.29439573 --> 00:10:53,446.29439573 So very personalized there. 114 00:11:51,863.49321426 --> 00:11:54,773.49321426 Alright, the second one I wanna talk about is glutamine. 115 00:11:54,803.49321426 --> 00:11:56,543.49321426 So we just talked about glutathione. 116 00:11:56,693.49321426 --> 00:11:58,313.49321426 This one is glutamine. 117 00:11:58,643.49321426 --> 00:12:00,623.49321426 So glutamine is an amino acid. 118 00:12:00,623.49321426 --> 00:12:02,963.49321426 It helps with repair of the gut lining. 119 00:12:03,183.49321426 --> 00:12:10,533.49321426 It's also very good for supporting someone with mouth sore from certain chemotherapies or even diarrhea from certain chemotherapies. 120 00:12:11,238.49321426 --> 00:12:25,818.49321426 And while we will recommend it short term, for a lot of people, long-term supplementation may feed certain cancer cells, certain cancer types, we don't know exactly which ones will feed off of glutamine versus more, versus ones that don't feed off glutamine as much. 121 00:12:26,288.49321426 --> 00:12:31,298.49321426 But some, some tumors are particularly dependent on glutamine as a fuel source. 122 00:12:31,298.49321426 --> 00:12:32,258.49321426 So we're a little bit picky. 123 00:12:32,258.49321426 --> 00:12:34,268.49321426 If someone do, does have active cancer again. 124 00:12:34,728.49321426 --> 00:12:43,224.93321426 Or a high risk of recurrence, we will stay off the glutamine Although we will recommend it very short term for someone who has mouth sores or diarrhea. 125 00:12:43,254.93321426 --> 00:12:45,684.93321426 'cause like it can cut those symptoms off so quickly. 126 00:12:45,894.93321426 --> 00:12:48,744.93321426 But it's not like we want you to be on it for months at a time. 127 00:12:49,254.93321426 --> 00:12:51,664.93321426 A lot of the times in the functional medicine world. 128 00:12:52,194.93321426 --> 00:13:08,314.93321426 More than probably a conventional medicine world, someone will get a recommendation or like a prescription from their functional medicine naturopathic doctor, and they potentially forget when they were told to stop taking it or the, the functional doctor expected them to come back and they were gonna. 129 00:13:08,509.93321426 --> 00:13:13,849.93321426 Do the follow-up care and they never actually came back for the follow-up appointment to say, this is what happens, this is when you stop it. 130 00:13:14,119.93321426 --> 00:13:18,619.93321426 So, so many times we get people coming to us and they've been on something like B12 for example. 131 00:13:18,619.93321426 --> 00:13:24,419.93321426 They're like, oh, I was on, I started B12 like two years ago 'cause my B12 was low and I'm still taking it for the last two years. 132 00:13:24,419.93321426 --> 00:13:27,449.93321426 And then we test their blood work and their B12 is like through the roof. 133 00:13:27,719.93321426 --> 00:13:31,379.93321426 And we're like, we, we need you to stop that and we don't need you to be on that any longer. 134 00:13:31,679.93321426 --> 00:13:33,809.93321426 I find Glutamine is one of these as well, where. 135 00:13:34,274.93321426 --> 00:13:47,324.93321426 So I went to see a functional practitioner or just kind of looked it up on the internet themselves and they started taking Glu glutamine because it was very good for their gut health 'cause they were experiencing some gut issues and then they just continued to take it forever. 136 00:13:47,674.93321426 --> 00:13:54,84.93321426 I did have a patient once who she had esophageal cancer and she didn't know she had esophageal cancer at the time. 137 00:13:54,84.93321426 --> 00:13:57,774.93321426 When she started taking glutamine, she was experiencing a lot of GI distress. 138 00:13:57,774.93321426 --> 00:14:00,604.93321426 So, she was having like a little bit of diarrhea and. 139 00:14:00,684.93321426 --> 00:14:02,964.93321426 Some stomach pain and some heartburn. 140 00:14:03,264.93321426 --> 00:14:06,684.93321426 And she went on the internet and she decided that she was gonna take glutamine. 141 00:14:07,44.93321426 --> 00:14:11,54.93321426 And within just a couple of months, she found out that she had esophageal cancer. 142 00:14:11,324.93321426 --> 00:14:20,954.93321426 And it was always kind of sitting in the back of her mind, was it because she did the glutamine, that she spit up the growth of that cancer? And I'll never forget that kind of feeling that she was having, like the guilt, the dread. 143 00:14:21,254.93321426 --> 00:14:22,844.93321426 And we don't want that to happen for you. 144 00:14:22,844.93321426 --> 00:14:29,24.93321426 We definitely wanna be clear on what is safe and what should be taken short term versus long term and glutamine again. 145 00:14:29,234.93321426 --> 00:14:40,64.93321426 Super safe, especially if you're still in chemotherapy because as you're receiving chemotherapy, the glutamine is going to, well, basically glutamine causes the cells to grow a little bit faster of your di digestive lining. 146 00:14:40,64.93321426 --> 00:14:45,284.93321426 And that's how it helps to resolve the diarrhea and the mouth source is 'cause it's repairing those cells much more quickly. 147 00:14:45,464.93321426 --> 00:14:48,164.93321426 But if you're in chemo, chemo targets the fast growing cells. 148 00:14:48,374.93321426 --> 00:14:51,764.93321426 So if the glutamines causing it to grow faster, the chemo's still gonna be taking care of that. 149 00:14:52,109.93321426 --> 00:14:59,399.93321426 We can get you through your treatment more effectively by getting rid of those mouth sores so that you can eat better, have more energy, and continue on your directed treatment plan. 150 00:14:59,609.93321426 --> 00:15:03,929.93321426 That we can reduce the diarrhea from chemotherapy so that you don't have to lower your dose of chemo or anything like that. 151 00:15:04,584.93321426 --> 00:15:11,754.93321426 Then we're gonna give you the glutamine because we know that the, the chemotherapy is gonna be taking care of any fast-growing cancer cells for you. 152 00:15:12,54.93321426 --> 00:15:19,374.93321426 But long-term, I would say that we are actually super cautious and we do not necessarily recommend glutamine post-treatment for anyone. 153 00:15:19,639.93321426 --> 00:15:24,139.93321426 Unless they've got major digestive issues, and then we'll only give it to them for like a month if that. 154 00:15:24,499.93321426 --> 00:15:25,339.93321426 And we'll monitor. 155 00:15:25,369.93321426 --> 00:15:35,539.93321426 Monitor the dose as well, because there's a difference between whenever some people take it at five grams per day and then some prescriptions for like irritable bowel disease or whatever might be up to like 15 grams per day. 156 00:15:35,719.93321426 --> 00:15:40,889.93321426 We wanna be cautious and focused whenever we're choosing glutamine for people for sure. 157 00:15:41,769.93321426 --> 00:15:43,299.93321426 Alright, so that was glutamine. 158 00:15:43,304.93321426 --> 00:15:44,979.93321426 So we did glutathione, we did glutamine. 159 00:15:45,379.93321426 --> 00:15:46,879.93321426 Now I wanna talk about iron. 160 00:15:46,909.93321426 --> 00:15:50,599.93321426 It's another one that again, we do recommend often, kind of like glutathione. 161 00:15:51,19.93321426 --> 00:15:56,689.93321426 We recommend iron quite often, but we only recommend it when our clients have low iron. 162 00:15:56,899.93321426 --> 00:16:03,949.93321426 Whereas again, it's one of the things like the B12 where someone's like, I had low iron a couple years ago, so I start taking it, but no one ever told 'em to stop it. 163 00:16:04,229.93321426 --> 00:16:06,329.93321426 And they're just kind of bringing their levels up high. 164 00:16:06,829.93321426 --> 00:16:12,919.93321426 And the other reason we see a lot of people on iron is 'cause they've got a lot of fatigue and they think that iron's going to resolve it. 165 00:16:13,239.93321426 --> 00:16:21,739.93321426 But really if your iron levels are already adequate and optimal, so we're saying about above 50 maybe 50 to like a hundred, 150 on blood work. 166 00:16:22,454.93321426 --> 00:16:25,124.93321426 Then we don't want you to be taking an iron pill. 167 00:16:25,394.93321426 --> 00:16:30,224.93321426 But I would say the majority of our clients actually have very low iron and they have a lot of fatigue. 168 00:16:30,254.93321426 --> 00:16:37,369.93321426 And the reasons are, whether it's because of the cancer treatment that they went through, had an impact on like their red blood cells or their, their. 169 00:16:38,4.93321426 --> 00:16:42,334.9332143 Their iron, their ability to keep iron in their body that'll allow lower their iron. 170 00:16:42,334.9332143 --> 00:16:51,334.9332143 So we're always testing someone's ferritin as well as their iron panel on blood work because we wanna see if you're low, you definitely can safely supplement. 171 00:16:51,664.9332143 --> 00:16:59,434.9332143 But if it's already adequate levels on blood work, like I would say around 50, then we probably wanna make sure that you're not taking a supplement at all. 172 00:16:59,884.9332143 --> 00:17:01,474.9332143 The reason being is that. 173 00:17:01,584.9332143 --> 00:17:05,154.9332143 The high iron can actually be a fuel for cancer cells. 174 00:17:05,154.9332143 --> 00:17:11,754.9332143 It likes to eat it, it likes it to, to eat it in order to proliferate, and also if we have high iron levels. 175 00:17:12,549.9332143 --> 00:17:14,699.9332143 It could either be due to inflammation. 176 00:17:14,699.9332143 --> 00:17:20,909.9332143 So if we're testing someone's ferritin and it's high, that could be typically a sign that they have a lot of inflammation in the body. 177 00:17:21,329.9332143 --> 00:17:26,249.9332143 And also having a lot of high ferritin, like having that ferritin being high is contributing to inflammation. 178 00:17:26,249.9332143 --> 00:17:29,459.9332143 So not is, not only is inflammation causing high ferritin. 179 00:17:29,494.9332143 --> 00:17:38,944.9332143 High ferritin is causing more inflammation and oxidative stress, and these are both contributors to cancer cell changes and causing them to start in the first place. 180 00:17:38,944.9332143 --> 00:17:42,484.9332143 And also encouraging cancer to grow is that inflammation and oxidative stress. 181 00:17:42,784.9332143 --> 00:17:44,104.9332143 So we wanna be careful about that. 182 00:17:44,254.9332143 --> 00:17:52,504.9332143 So really we only recommend iron if you've had your blood work done recently and only whenever your ferritin is below 50. 183 00:17:52,834.9332143 --> 00:17:56,794.9332143 And really, if you're below 50 and you otherwise feel good, you don't have a lot of. 184 00:17:57,104.9332143 --> 00:17:58,934.9332143 CO because iron plays a role in so many things. 185 00:17:58,934.9332143 --> 00:18:03,194.9332143 So if you don't have a lot of fatigue, if you don't have a lot of shortness of breath. 186 00:18:03,719.9332143 --> 00:18:10,89.9332143 If you don't have a lot of anxiety or depression, 'cause adequate iron has also been shown to improve anxiety and depression. 187 00:18:10,569.9332143 --> 00:18:23,169.9332143 If you, I'm trying to think of other ways that iron is beneficial, but basically if you don't have any symptoms of why iron being low and but your, your levels are below 50, then we still wouldn't necessarily supplement depending on how low it is. 188 00:18:23,499.9332143 --> 00:18:24,969.9332143 But if you've got symptoms. 189 00:18:25,134.9332143 --> 00:18:28,914.9332143 And it's 50 or like below 50, then we would probably wanna supplement. 190 00:18:29,94.9332143 --> 00:18:35,394.9332143 If it's above a hundred, 150, then we definitely don't wanna supplement for sure, because that could be fueling the cancer growth. 191 00:18:36,24.9332143 --> 00:18:41,364.9332143 So again, I wanna be clear on this one 'cause I know a lot of my clients are listening and they're like, well, I was told to take iron. 192 00:18:41,609.9332143 --> 00:18:45,329.9332143 You were told with good purpose because your ferritin is probably below 50. 193 00:18:45,729.9332143 --> 00:18:51,279.9332143 And potentially you might be vegan, vegetarian, and we've got you on like a low dose maintenance iron over time as well. 194 00:18:51,579.9332143 --> 00:18:56,649.9332143 But if your iron is high, we definitely don't want you on iron and it's rare that we see that. 195 00:18:56,649.9332143 --> 00:19:02,679.9332143 But I just wanna put out there so that everyone knows that iron at high doses is not necessarily the best thing for you to be taking. 196 00:19:02,809.9332143 --> 00:19:04,819.9332143 Because it might encourage cancer to start and grow. 197 00:19:06,449.9332143 --> 00:19:13,469.9332143 All right, so the fourth and last one I wanted to chat about today is something that I feel like we'll get a lot of feathers ruffled as well. 198 00:19:13,719.9332143 --> 00:19:19,749.9332143 But I do stand very strong in my belief that apricot seeds are not something that we want cancer survivors taking. 199 00:19:20,319.9332143 --> 00:19:31,629.9332143 The reason is that there's actually amygdala that's produced, which is thought to be the anti-cancer impact, which is the B 17, but apricot seeds actually produce cyanide in the body. 200 00:19:31,999.9332143 --> 00:19:43,59.9332143 And yes, the levels are low, but so many times we've got people coming to us and they're afraid of every little thing from their, the, the microplastics and non-organic foods and things like that. 201 00:19:43,269.9332143 --> 00:19:47,649.9332143 But here they are taking apricot seed with the cyanide being produced in it and. 202 00:19:48,434.9332143 --> 00:20:00,784.9332143 I just feel like if we're gonna be if we're gonna be so in depth with choosing specific clean foods and clean products, that I feel like your supplements should be definitely clean as well and not producing cyanide in your body. 203 00:20:01,324.9332143 --> 00:20:06,344.9332143 The big reason I'm not on this apricot seed train is that there is no research. 204 00:20:06,704.9332143 --> 00:20:09,884.9332143 We might have one study and I, I've searched for it. 205 00:20:09,884.9332143 --> 00:20:12,314.9332143 I have had so many people on Instagram say like. 206 00:20:12,894.9332143 --> 00:20:19,224.9332143 Oh, my functional medicine doctor recommend apricot seeds, and I've even had functional medical professionals reach out to me. 207 00:20:19,224.9332143 --> 00:20:20,574.9332143 He's like, we recommend apricot seeds. 208 00:20:20,574.9332143 --> 00:20:21,174.9332143 Here's the research. 209 00:20:21,174.9332143 --> 00:20:21,834.9332143 I look into it. 210 00:20:21,834.9332143 --> 00:20:23,244.9332143 There's no actual research. 211 00:20:23,514.9332143 --> 00:20:25,824.9332143 It's like a rat study. 212 00:20:25,874.9332143 --> 00:20:28,94.9332143 Or a really, really poorly done. 213 00:20:28,844.9332143 --> 00:20:33,254.9332143 A case of two or three people taking apricot seeds and showing potential benefit. 214 00:20:33,344.9332143 --> 00:20:37,544.9332143 And to me, there's so many other things we could do that are way more impactful. 215 00:20:38,64.9332143 --> 00:20:40,644.9332143 And I, I really apologize if I ruffle anyone's feathers. 216 00:20:41,4.9332143 --> 00:20:44,724.9332143 This podcast is totally for you to take what works for you and leave what doesn't. 217 00:20:44,934.9332143 --> 00:20:47,484.9332143 But to me, I feel like apricot seeds, they don't work. 218 00:20:47,934.9332143 --> 00:20:53,574.9332143 So basically there's, there's no reliable evidence of benefit of apricot seeds. 219 00:20:54,99.9332143 --> 00:20:55,629.9332143 But there's definite risk of harm. 220 00:20:55,659.9332143 --> 00:21:15,219.9332143 'cause we even have human studies showing that people, and granted they take too many of the seeds, but they take many seeds over a longer period of time, or sometimes a lot in a short period of time, and they end up in the hospital because of the cyanide In these seeds, we're really not meant to eat the seeds, we're meant to eat the fruits of things, right. 221 00:21:16,144.9332143 --> 00:21:18,484.9332143 We just can't really break them down appropriately. 222 00:21:18,634.9332143 --> 00:21:21,904.9332143 Our body doesn't move things outta the body and appropriately. 223 00:21:21,904.9332143 --> 00:21:23,674.9332143 And then also it creates cyanide. 224 00:21:23,704.9332143 --> 00:21:24,514.9332143 It is toxic. 225 00:21:24,784.9332143 --> 00:21:27,934.9332143 So I'm really not on the apricot seed bandwagon here. 226 00:21:28,204.9332143 --> 00:21:35,794.9332143 Again, I do feel like we can be way more impactful and resourceful with what we're encouraging people to take. 227 00:21:36,124.9332143 --> 00:21:40,474.9332143 And there are way more effective, safer options than. 228 00:21:40,874.9332143 --> 00:21:41,594.9332143 Apricot seeds. 229 00:21:41,654.9332143 --> 00:21:48,464.9332143 Alright, so I hope you learned a few tidbits on here that can help you to navigate your supplement choices a little bit more safely. 230 00:21:48,834.9332143 --> 00:21:53,304.9332143 I just always have to point out you can't outs supplement the deeper contributors to cancer. 231 00:21:53,424.9332143 --> 00:21:57,534.9332143 We can't just take her human and expect chronic inflammation to be resolved. 232 00:21:57,534.9332143 --> 00:22:01,524.9332143 We wanna dig in a little bit deeper to see what is behind the inflammation as best as we can. 233 00:22:01,934.9332143 --> 00:22:10,574.9332143 We can't just take cancer killing supplements that are gonna talk tackle colon cancer cells whenever you've got a microflora imbalance and inflamed gut lining. 234 00:22:11,389.9332143 --> 00:22:22,849.9332143 We can't just expect a cancer killing supplement to kill off all the cancer cells when we should really be focusing on antioxidant support in your body through foods and stress reduction and things like that. 235 00:22:23,239.9332143 --> 00:22:30,139.9332143 Honestly, no cancer killing supplement's gonna make a true dent until we look a little bit deeper into what's going on in your body. 236 00:22:30,444.9332143 --> 00:22:37,674.9332143 What's contributing to cancer starting and growing, and how can we create this environment where cancer just doesn't wanna be? But I know that you're trying to do things right. 237 00:22:37,794.9332143 --> 00:22:38,574.9332143 I see your efforts. 238 00:22:38,574.9332143 --> 00:22:39,954.9332143 I totally commend you for it. 239 00:22:39,954.9332143 --> 00:22:40,584.9332143 I love it. 240 00:22:40,674.9332143 --> 00:22:43,704.9332143 Keep moving forward, keep seeking out information. 241 00:22:43,704.9332143 --> 00:22:44,964.9332143 I think it's fantastic. 242 00:22:45,354.9332143 --> 00:22:56,824.9332143 And I do find that the moment that you start to gather your own data and kind of block out a lot of the extra noise whenever you start to understand what do you really need for your body when it comes to more comprehensive blood work. 243 00:22:57,39.9332143 --> 00:22:59,289.9332143 Or just looking at your particular health history. 244 00:22:59,289.9332143 --> 00:23:04,959.9332143 Have you struggled with hormone issues or gut issues or stress or things like that? Those are gonna be the big needle movers. 245 00:23:05,774.9332143 --> 00:23:14,84.9332143 And you can always do lifestyle changes as well as supplements to encourage those big needle movers as opposed to latching onto cancer, killing this anti-cancer. 246 00:23:14,84.9332143 --> 00:23:23,744.9332143 That, and whenever you understand what's best for your body, you can lead with more intention and focus and it just, the world opens up, you feel less stress, you feel more motivated. 247 00:23:23,969.9332143 --> 00:23:27,779.9332143 It's less like a deer in a headlights, and you just can kind of feel like you're on the right track again. 248 00:23:27,779.9332143 --> 00:23:33,119.9332143 So that's where I want you to put your attention and your energy is into figuring out what works best for you. 249 00:23:33,149.9332143 --> 00:23:48,29.9332143 What are your facts and data? What is the research truly saying? Let's cut out the noise from Sally on the internet, although we'll listen to her a little bit, but we mostly wanna see is it really important for you? What is the most impactful thing, and not just do what someone else is doing. 250 00:23:48,239.9332143 --> 00:23:51,539.9332143 All right, so just a little recap and I'll let you go for today. 251 00:23:52,124.9332143 --> 00:24:02,504.9332143 So the supplements that we, my team and I will approach with caution whenever we're supporting someone who has finished cancer treatment or nearly finished cancer treatment and they're looking to feel better, reduce their risk of cancer coming back. 252 00:24:02,744.9332143 --> 00:24:07,934.9332143 The things that we're gonna be most cautious about are glutathione, which can be helpful in the right context. 253 00:24:07,934.9332143 --> 00:24:14,254.9332143 Again, we do recommend equate regularly, but we don't want it to be recommended in someone who has cancer 'cause it can be risky. 254 00:24:14,554.9332143 --> 00:24:16,804.9332143 Someone who has an active cancer diagnosis. 255 00:24:17,409.9332143 --> 00:24:24,969.9332143 Glutamine is okay short-term during treatment, but it's really not ideal long-term, and mostly we use it for managing side effects from treatment. 256 00:24:25,449.9332143 --> 00:24:36,369.9332143 Iron is essential only if you're truly deficient and apricot seeds are, we don't recommend them because they have clear toxicity issues and unclear benefits for sure. 257 00:24:37,39.9332143 --> 00:24:38,359.9332143 So thank you all for hanging out. 258 00:24:38,359.9332143 --> 00:24:40,99.9332143 I hope that was helpful to you. 259 00:24:40,369.9332143 --> 00:24:47,629.9332143 If you have any questions, you can go find me on Instagram at Megan Bernard nd and otherwise, here's to you Flourishing After Cancer. 260 00:24:49,186.5998809 --> 00:24:52,906.5998809 Thank you so much for joining me today on the Flourish After Cancer Podcast. 261 00:24:52,906.5998809 --> 00:24:57,526.5998809 If you love this episode, please be sure to leave a review and subscribe so you never miss an episode. 262 00:24:57,736.5998809 --> 00:24:59,446.5998809 Sending all my best your way, Dr. 263 00:24:59,446.5998809 --> 00:24:59,836.5998809 Megan.
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