March 4, 2025 • 28 mins
Sometimes misinformation gets so ingrained that we come to believe it as truth when it's actually not. Karolyn is joined by highly respected naturopathic oncologist Tina Kaczor, ND, FABNO, to clear up some common cancer misconceptions. Does sugar really feed cancer? Do your genes determine if you'll get cancer? Is cancer contagious? These issues and much more will be addressed. In addition to her clinical oncology practice, Dr. Kaczor is the co-host of the popular podcast, The Cancer Pod.
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Five To Thrive Live is broadcast live Tuesdays at 7PM ET and Music on W4CS Radio – The Cancer Support Network (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com).
Five To Thrive Live Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Any health related information on the following show provides general
information only. Content presented on any show by any host
or guest should not be substituted for a doctor's advice.
Always consult your physician before beginning any new diet, exercise,
or treatment program.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hello everyone, and welcome to Five to Thrive Live. That's
our new intro music. Wow, that was interesting. Tell us
what you think and let us know how you feel
about our new intro music. Anyway, I'm Carolyn Gazella and
I co host the show with my good friend, doctor
Lisa al Schuler, and today I'll be talking with one
(01:02):
of my other good friends, doctor Tina Kayser. Doctor Kaser
is a highly respected naturopathic oncologist. She has spent years
helping people navigate their cancer journey and now she teaches
other doctors about integrated oncology. She is the founder of
Roundtable CancerCare dot com, and she is the co host
of the popular podcast The Cancer Pod. But before we
(01:24):
dive in, of course, I'd like to thank our wonderful sponsors.
Beginning with Cetria, a patented form of gudeathione clinically proven
to raise blood glutothione levels. Glutothione is the master antioxidant
in the body's primary defense against free radicals. It also
helps support respiratory health. For more information, visits Cetria Glutathione
dot com. Also cognizanceitacoline, which is nature's way of keeping
(01:48):
the brain's energy producing centers firing on all cylinders. If
you're looking for a way to enhance your brain function,
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Prothriver's Wellness Brain is a product that contains cognizan as
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(02:08):
You can find Prothriver's Wellness Brain online at pure formulas
dot com. And there's also Prothrivers Wellness Sleep, which combines
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also at pure formulas dot com. And finally, doctor Ohre's Probiotics.
(02:28):
It's a best selling probiotic for more than thirty years,
and it contains twelve probiotic strains that are shelf stable,
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can learn more at doctor Oheira probiotics dot com. Well,
doctor Kaser, you've become one of my favorite regulars. Oh
(02:51):
that's flattering. Thank you. Welcome back to five to Thrive Live.
Thanks for inviting me. So it's a good time. It is,
and I love this topic. You actually covered this topic
on your podcast, The Cancer Pod, and I want to
encourage our listeners to look for The Cancer Pod. It's
a wonderful podcast. You and I are going to do
a little bit of a different take on this, but
(03:13):
let's start with something very basic. Well, you know, why
is it important to clarify some common cancer misconceptions? You know,
it's interesting that you asked that because we just did
another and it wasn't on myths, but it was on
fakers and frauds and these people who pretend to be
in their influencers and they pretend to have cancer and
(03:34):
people follow them. One of the big reasons, no matter
how people get the wrong idea or any misconception that
they're following and they believe is true. Honestly, the biggest
thing is people's lives are at stake. I mean, I
really thought about that. It's egregious what goes on out
there with the misinformation that if someone's using that information
(03:56):
and making poor choices in their own treatment or care,
then that's the worst type of misconception, misinformation, myth, whatever
we want to call it. If they delay proper diagnosis
of their own cancer or proper treatment then of an
otherwise curative cancer like that kind of stuff is very
(04:18):
real and it's happening. I mean, I've seen it in
my office. I'm going to give it an example of
a misconception that's that's out there and I notice, and
that is colonoscopies. One of the things people would come
to me and say is I don't want to get it.
It's very risky. I could perforate my colon I've seen
(04:38):
this stuff online. It's you know, they have this idea
and they have an outsized concern for something that is
extremely rare. Usually happens in older patients, you know, over
the age of seventy for example. So right now we're
looking at rates ofpy of you know, at best six
out of ten people over the age of forty five
are getting it done. But our information on kolonoscopy saving
(05:01):
lives is very good becauseies don't just screen for a tumor,
they remove pre cancerous polyps and adenomus. So this is
one that I mean, we talked about this all the time.
I got to a point where I had a little
piece of paper that had all the data on it,
and I would show people like, here's what you're saying,
(05:21):
here's the data on the risks, here's the data on
the benefits. And if you really are going to refuse this,
you need you to assign the bottom line that I
told you all of this information because it was unfathomable
to me. But that misconception was really strong and they
held onto that and I was like, that's really not
what you should be using to make this decision. This
is the concerns of the risk are way outsized by
(05:44):
some anecdotal stories of people online. Yeah, I would agree,
And that's such a good point. I mean, lives are
at stake, I mean, and what drives me crazy are
the hucksters who are trying to sell products. I remember
when we were first wrote the Definitive Guide to cant Or,
we had this whole section on rating these and there
was this thing that was being sold online called, you know,
(06:06):
black salv or something that was being touted like, oh,
you put this black salv over your tumor and it
just eats away at the tumor. And that kind of
stuff drives me baddy. And that's actually one of the
reasons why I wanted to do this show because it's
so critical. And what we're going to do is we're
going to take people through some of these myths and misconceptions.
(06:31):
Maybe some listeners have heard of these, maybe not, And
I'm going to start with something very basic and then
we're just going to kind of build from there. There
is a thought from some people that cancer can be contagious.
What is your view on that statement cancer is contagious?
(06:53):
I think this might be an example of people hearing
some little factoid like there are organisms involved in several
different cancers, to leaping a leap of logic that takes
them to saying it's contagious. It's not contagious in humans.
There are some organisms about fifty to twenty percent of
cancers around the world now in the United States, but
around the world. Because we have very good hygiene here,
so we don't get exposed to as many organisms as
(07:15):
other places do. Fifteen to twenty percent is caused by
organisms and infections. We have H. Pylori, which is bacteria
for stomach cancers, or we have human peppoloma virus for
various squamous cell carcinomas in the body. That's cervical cancers.
And then generally mucosal layers in the head and neck
(07:36):
with mouth layering's throat cancers, that kind of thing. But
those aren't contagions. There's a difference. So just because an
organism is involved in leading to a higher risk of
having that cancer doesn't mean that it is an actual contagion.
There are animals out there, dogs, and I believe Tasmanian
devils are the ones that they study amos in odd factoid.
(08:00):
But yeah, there are there are contagious cancers. There are.
There is such a thing. It's just not in humans. Okay, cool,
Well that's a good one. Here's a biggie. If I
eat cancer, it will cause my cancer to spread. So
doctor Kser does sugar feed cancer? That might be You know,
this is our most popular episode that we've ever done
on the Cancer Pod. People are still looking at that
(08:22):
one up because it is a misconception and it's more
complicated than that. Right, So I agree this is a
biggie because I think this is always a question because
we have to eat, and what to eat becomes a
huge question. So if you look at the biology of cancers,
you can say cancer cells take up sugar from our systems,
(08:42):
from our glucose from our bloodstream. Right. So when you
get a lab done, you see glucose on your laboratory values.
Glucose is the primary sugar in our blood, in our bloodstream, right,
But it's so much more complex the high glucose. If
you have glucose, it stimulates insulin like growth factor or
what it's like. Growth factor IGF is what we say
(09:05):
for short high levels of those hormones is not a
good thing when you have cancer. The cancer may bind
those hormones, and those hormones generally lead to more growth
and proliferation. So glucose does provide some fuel and it
does stimulate hormones that stimulate more growth of tumors. Those
things are true. The problem is we can't bring glucose
(09:25):
to zero. So higher glucose is a higher risk for
various types of cancer. So this is all these are
all truisms. I'm going to back up to say it's
an oversimplification to say sugar feeds cancer because what we
can think of it more like is kind of like
fanning the flames. Like if you have spikes in glucose,
(09:47):
you are fanning the flames. If you have cancer in
your body, you're causing perhaps a greater growth of tumors.
So it's not completely without premise. The problem is what
can you do about it. Controlling your blood sugar, your glucose,
keeping it within normal limits by eating on the lower
carbohydrate side, not eating simple sugars, not having a bunch
(10:10):
of sweets, not eating processed food. All of those things
really do help control your blood sugar. So that has
to do with the getting cancer in the first place.
When someone has cancer, higher glucose may or may not
have to do with recurrence as well, So glucose, higher
(10:30):
levels of glucose are associated with more recurrence, and so
again you just have to control the blood glucose so
it's not higher. So at the end of the day,
it's about not allowing glucose in your blood, your blood
sugar to spike because you're eating sweets or soda, pop
or highly processed meals. It is associated with poor prognosis why,
(10:54):
I don't know. Is it glucose itself fanning the flames,
or is glucose to immune suppression which then causes cancers
to you know, have more growth potential. In my mind,
keeping glucose on the lower end of normal is a
no risk proposition for most people. So you want to
(11:17):
control the glucose so that when you eat a meal
or even if you have something that's sugary, you're eating
protein with it, you're eating fat with it, You're eating
it in context of a meal. If you're going to
have dessert, you do it when you've already eaten you know,
something that has protein, fat, and fiber, and then you
have dessert or you really want your sweet treat, make
sure you're doing something very active right after so that
(11:38):
glucose has somewhere to go, which is your muscles. So
if you're you know, out dancing all night and you
have something sweet that's not gonna that's not gonna have
much consequence on your blood sugar. You'll have more consequence
if you eat that same swee while you're sitting in
front of the TV watching watching it, So that makes
a lot of sense. And it's a sugar source, like
you mentioned how you process sugar versus an apple, you know,
(12:01):
So that makes a lot of sense. And I love
the fact that you said that. You know, it's an
over simplification, because I think that's what cancer is so complex.
When they hear something simple like that, they want to
glom onto it because cancer is so complex. So some
of these things are just a matter of oversimplification. And
here's another one. Cancer is a genetic disease. My genes
(12:24):
are what causes me to get cancer? True or false?
Oh boy, how can I say true and false? I
know that I wish you would because this is another
nuanced one.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Yeah, so it is all too true for people who
inherited a genetic mutation like the bracogene Brako one or two.
So it's a very individualized answer, right. So, population wise,
there's an estimate that up to ten percent of cancers
are due to a single gene defect like that Braco
one or Braca two gene. Right, So single gene mutations
(13:00):
or mutate or deletions of it. The particular person with
that hereditary risk, though, has a huge bracket for example,
has a huge risk of actually having the cancer. So
for that person, eighty percent or sixty five percent chance
of ovarian cancer, eighty percent chance of breast cancer. That's
(13:21):
very real. So those people who do have that genetic defect,
I'm not going to call it a defect, it's a
horrible word, genetic mutation or deletion, they do have a
very high risk. So that is up to ten percent
of cancers, which means ninety percent don't have a single
gene dat effect. Now we are gaining insight into something
called polygenetic or multigenetic risk as well, So ten to
(13:44):
twenty percent of cancers out there may be due to
small variations in multiple genes that individually don't do anything,
but put all together raises cancer susceptibility. So we're probably
at the end of the day are looking at thirty
percent now if we've took into account the multiple gene
variations that together increase risk. We're just just breaking through
(14:09):
with whole genome sequencing sequencing to learn that now though,
So we've got a ways to go to really nail
that data down. Yeah, but it's such a good point,
and as you know, I'm brack a positive, and then
my family has been studied and many of my family
members are brack A positive. So this is a topic
that is very near and dear to my heart, So
(14:29):
thank you for that clarification. I think this next one
is pretty important. Some people are told that taking dietary
supplements if you have cancer is dangerous. You know. I've
heard a lot of people saying, oh, you know, I
want to take dietary supplements, but my doctor won't let me.
My doctor says there's no scientific evidence and they're dangerous.
(14:52):
What's your take on this one, Well, I certainly think
that calling him dangerous is an overstatement right now. I mean,
the only concern I have out there is people buying
things on Amazon that are contaminated or poor product. But
other than that, I don't think they're dangerous from a
(15:12):
purely data driven perspective. I mean, you do have to
do the foundational things. First, exercise is overwhelmingly the most
beneficial aspect that you can institute in a healthy lifestyle,
and then sleeping at night in a routine schedule, optimizing
your circadian rhythm that way, and then eating a good diet,
and then supplements being very supplemental to that already foundational
(15:34):
good health habits. I don't think they're dangerous. I do
think people need to be mindful to use supplements wisely.
Get your nutrients from diet if possible, get your vitamin
D from sunshine if possible, but if that's not possible
for whatever reason. I don't think there's any danger to
taking a multi vitamin certainly. I don't think there's any
(15:55):
danger to taking vitamin D in lower end doses, you know,
a thousand IUD. There's no danger in fish oil supplements.
That's one that it's really hard for people to get
in their diet unless you are a fan of sardines
and such. So I think of supplements as supplemental to
(16:15):
the foundational pieces that are already in place, which do
have more data consistently, especially exercise. You can't go wrong
with that. So first you make sure you don't have
deficiencies right with supplements. That's the first goal is to say, Okay,
what could I be deficient in? O my get three
fatty acids Very possible in a lot of people, because,
like I said, unless you like sardines a lot, Vitamin
(16:38):
D very possible for many reasons. If that's tested on
blood work as often on the low side. So I
think those two are probably my top two if I
had to just guess what people need, and then after
a certain age you might not be absorbing your B
vitamins so well, for example. Or the other reason to
use supplements that I think of is tried and true
(17:01):
is you have a condition. You've got joint pain, you
can't sleep at night, whatever your issue is. You have
digestive issues, you need to take certain enzymes so that
you can eat beans. You know, there's many reasons that
supplements are very useful from a symptom management or condition
management point of view too. So I think it's a
mindful use of dietary supplements and not just buying everything
(17:21):
that you find in a newsletter or sent to your house,
because that was the one thing as a slippery slope
before you know what, people came in and they brought
in a box of like thirty six different bottles, And
there's definitely a point where it's not doing you any good,
and I'd rather all that go towards either a gym
membership or a better food. Yeah. Absolutely, And I will
(17:42):
say that, especially if you're going through active treatment, it
helps to have a naturopathic oncologist or an integrative oncologists
on your team, because those doctors are specifically trained about
interactions and what to do and how to dose it,
and you know when to take it and things like that.
(18:05):
And I think for some of the more esoteric or
less common things, you know, you mentioned some foundational items
that I think are perfectly great and people should be considering.
But when it comes to some of these other specialized formulations,
getting advice from a naturopathic oncologist or an integrated oncologist
(18:25):
I think would be very helpful, and having that person
on your team would be very helpful. Absolutely. I agree, yeah, yeah, exactly,
you and doctor al Schuler. So I feel like this
next one is also not black and white, but I'm
interested in hearing your thoughts. Of course, I have thoughts
(18:45):
on this as always. Okay, So here it is attitude
does not matter when it comes to recovery and healing
from cancer. Well, I think that that would be a
myth that attitude doesn't matter. I think attitude does matter.
I also think that we have to be careful because
(19:08):
it's not black and white. It's a tough question because
I never want to imply. I'm very concerned with this too.
I don't want to apply that people can think their
way out of something, or that they're creating things with
their mind, or they're somehow responsible for their own cancer
because they were sad or angry or this or that.
I don't want to put that burden on anyone because
(19:29):
I think that that's not founded. But I do think
attitude is important, but I always frame it more about
the present, right. So the best thing about a positive
attitude and being joyous and being grateful and maybe addressing
any anxiety or depression that is underlying you or your
(19:51):
life is that's today's quality of life, regardless of what
else is going on. It's all about living the best
you can today. And so when it comes to being healed,
whether you have cancer or not, being healed, to me
is it means doesn't necessarily mean you're disease free, whether
it's pretty vascular disease, diabetes, or cancer, but it means
(20:12):
you're living your life to its fullest capacity. So in
that regard, I think attitude is very very important right
for a good life. Yeah, and I agree. I'm so
glad because I always got concerned whenever we would write
about this or talk about it at conferences and such.
I always got concerned that somebody in the audience would
be like, Oh darn, I cause my cancer, or oh darn,
(20:33):
you know, I'm feeling depressed, so I'm going to make
my cancer worse, or I'm going to get cancer again.
And I feel that there's a balance in finding the
power that's associated with a positive attitude and gratitude and
optimism and all these wonderful things, and yet there's also
(20:54):
this double edged sword where you don't want to use
that against you. I mean, the research is pretty clear
that when we're optimistic and grateful, we do have better outcomes.
But yeah, I think there's a balance there, and I'm
just so glad that you pointed that out, because there's
you know, life is challenging enough without having us beat
up ourselves because we're having a down day and we're
(21:15):
worried that a down day is going to make our
cancer come back. Exactly. That's exactly the concern with putting
the burden on someone's shoulders that way. So I think
that that's probably why I frame it in the present
and I leave cancer out of it, because I think
in some ways it's not really relevant to the discussion.
I mean, you should the idea of being grateful and
(21:36):
optimistic and feeling joy in life is separate from your condition.
There's not a time that I wouldn't advocate for that, right, Yeah,
exactly whether you have cancer or not, or whether you
have any other conditions. So yeah, and it's it's I
feel that it's it's more enjoyable to be optimistic and
(21:56):
positive and you know everything else. Yeah, And I want
say that I think that some people do need the
medications to make sure that they don't go into deep depressions.
And I think there is biochemical imbalances for some people
that cannot be treated fully naturally. So I always say
that because I've known people like this. I mean, you
could do everything perfectly, but if you, for whatever reason,
(22:19):
have an imbalance in your neurotransmitters such that even doing
everything you possibly can with your lifestyle and you know,
whatever your therapy is, kind of behavioral therapies or what
else you do to address it, if you still are
left needing a medication to have a positive attitude in life,
then so be it. I mean, it's not the worst
thing in the world. I would agree I would agree wholeheartedly. Okay,
(22:41):
so some people are told that a second opinion is
not necessary. What do you feel about second opinions? What
do you tell your patients? Because I bet that patients
often ask you about second opinions. You know, I have
the advantage of knowing whether their cancer is common or not,
or whether that second opinion is really going to vary
at all. There are scenarios where it's not going to
(23:03):
and that would be the more prevalent the cancer, the
more likely the second opinion is not going to vary much.
The rarer the cancer, the more likely I am to
say you need to go see somebody who just sees
that cancer all day long. So if someone has a sarcoma,
or they have multiple maloma, or they have even leukemia,
you go to a center that has oncologists who see
(23:25):
only that condition all day long. Because our community clinics,
as good as they may be, don't have the same
experience with rare cancers and rare tumors that a large
center or an academic center that is specializing in that
particular cancer is going to have. So I would say
for sure, if it's a less common cancer, you get
a second opinion, there's not even a doubt in my mind.
(23:47):
My one concern is delay of treatment. It has to
happen quickly. I think, just get it going, because delay
of treatment is never a good thing. That is. One
thing that's pretty consistent in the data is when people
put off treatment. Actually, one study that said alternative medicine
was associated with worse outcomes, it really wasn't. When you
(24:09):
parsed out the data in the study, it wasn't the
alternative medicine. It was that people put off conventional medicine longer.
So regardless of whether they did an alternative or not. In
that study, even people who didn't do alternative medicines, if
they delayed their treatment, they had worse outcomes. So I
wouldn't do it and delay treatment. But I do think
that rarer cancer is certainly in secondary a second opinion.
(24:31):
That's just such a good point. Yeah, it's really a
good point. Okay, So we have a few minutes before
I want to wrap up. Did I miss anything? Is
there a myth or misconception that you would like to
end with. Well, I'm just going to do a shameless
plug for our last episode on seed oils. So there's
a lot on there. Apparently influencers are all over the
seed oils and claiming that it's because of seed oils
(24:54):
that we're seeing colorrectal cancer and younger people. And yeah,
that's probably a myth, so seed oils. So people are
consuming seed oils and they're getting cancer? Is that? Is
that what the myth is? Well, in the word seed oils,
I don't even know where this came from. It's not
a medical term, and it's not a term you're going
to see a nutrition books. But seed oils, by that,
(25:14):
they mean safflower oil, sunflower seeds, soybeans. They're gonna put
soy and corn in there, so they mean vegetable oils.
I see. Okay, I haven't heard that one, so that
I'm glad you're brought it up. That's because you don't
follow these influencers. I do not. I am. I'm not
a big of social media. You know, I probably should
be from a marketing standpoint, but I'm not. You know,
(25:36):
I'm just like, no, I'm not either emotional media savvy.
So okay, well, that that is a good one. Thank
you for that. So where can people find out more
about you and your work? Do you have any websites
or any information that you can share with us so
they can find more about you. Well, you can find
me online. The cancerpod dot Com has a website, so
(25:57):
you can find me there and at the Cancer Pod
on any social media and places that's probably not going
to be me, it's going to be my co host
Leiah Sherman. But in any case, that's where that is. That.
In my own website is Roundtable Cancer Care, and I've
been posting kind of in real time more lately on LinkedIn,
mostly on cancer related topics and quite a bit on
(26:19):
brain health. And what I like is to follow PhDs
and fellow colleagues or even mds that are steeped in
the medicine, so that I can not only be there
helping my colleagues, but also learning myself. So you'll see
me posting there. Yeah, that's great. And you and I
have done shows on brain health, and you've helped me
(26:40):
out with some articles that I've written on the topic
and your wealth of information, and yeah, I highly encourage it. Especially,
I mean, you're listening to this podcast, You're going to
love the Cancer Pod. So check out the Cancer Pod
and then also go to Roundtable CancerCare dot com and
then look up doctor Kaser on LinkedIn dot Kaser. Once again,
(27:01):
you're a wealth of information and this has been great.
Thank you so much for joining me, Thank you for
having me. It's always a pleasure. All right. Well, that
wraps up this episode of five to Thrive Live once again.
I'd like to thank our sponsors pro Thrivers Wellness, Sleep Formula,
Cetria Glutathione the superior glutathione to support liver and immune health,
(27:21):
Cognizance of Colone to help enhance memories, focus and attention,
and doctor Ohiro's award winning shelf Stable probiotic. This has
been a great show by you experience joy, laughter and love.
It's time to thrive everyone, have a good night and
(28:00):
man
Any health related information on the following show provides general
information only. Content presented on any show by any host
or guest should not be substituted for a doctor's advice.
Always consult your physician before beginning any new diet, exercise,
or treatment program.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hello everyone, and welcome to Five to Thrive Live. That's
our new intro music. Wow, that was interesting. Tell us
what you think and let us know how you feel
about our new intro music. Anyway, I'm Carolyn Gazella and
I co host the show with my good friend, doctor
Lisa al Schuler, and today I'll be talking with one
(01:02):
of my other good friends, doctor Tina Kayser. Doctor Kaser
is a highly respected naturopathic oncologist. She has spent years
helping people navigate their cancer journey and now she teaches
other doctors about integrated oncology. She is the founder of
Roundtable CancerCare dot com, and she is the co host
of the popular podcast The Cancer Pod. But before we
(01:24):
dive in, of course, I'd like to thank our wonderful sponsors.
Beginning with Cetria, a patented form of gudeathione clinically proven
to raise blood glutothione levels. Glutothione is the master antioxidant
in the body's primary defense against free radicals. It also
helps support respiratory health. For more information, visits Cetria Glutathione
dot com. Also cognizanceitacoline, which is nature's way of keeping
(01:48):
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doctor Kaser, you've become one of my favorite regulars. Oh
(02:51):
that's flattering. Thank you. Welcome back to five to Thrive Live.
Thanks for inviting me. So it's a good time. It is,
and I love this topic. You actually covered this topic
on your podcast, The Cancer Pod, and I want to
encourage our listeners to look for The Cancer Pod. It's
a wonderful podcast. You and I are going to do
a little bit of a different take on this, but
(03:13):
let's start with something very basic. Well, you know, why
is it important to clarify some common cancer misconceptions? You know,
it's interesting that you asked that because we just did
another and it wasn't on myths, but it was on
fakers and frauds and these people who pretend to be
in their influencers and they pretend to have cancer and
(03:34):
people follow them. One of the big reasons, no matter
how people get the wrong idea or any misconception that
they're following and they believe is true. Honestly, the biggest
thing is people's lives are at stake. I mean, I
really thought about that. It's egregious what goes on out
there with the misinformation that if someone's using that information
(03:56):
and making poor choices in their own treatment or care,
then that's the worst type of misconception, misinformation, myth, whatever
we want to call it. If they delay proper diagnosis
of their own cancer or proper treatment then of an
otherwise curative cancer like that kind of stuff is very
(04:18):
real and it's happening. I mean, I've seen it in
my office. I'm going to give it an example of
a misconception that's that's out there and I notice, and
that is colonoscopies. One of the things people would come
to me and say is I don't want to get it.
It's very risky. I could perforate my colon I've seen
(04:38):
this stuff online. It's you know, they have this idea
and they have an outsized concern for something that is
extremely rare. Usually happens in older patients, you know, over
the age of seventy for example. So right now we're
looking at rates ofpy of you know, at best six
out of ten people over the age of forty five
are getting it done. But our information on kolonoscopy saving
(05:01):
lives is very good becauseies don't just screen for a tumor,
they remove pre cancerous polyps and adenomus. So this is
one that I mean, we talked about this all the time.
I got to a point where I had a little
piece of paper that had all the data on it,
and I would show people like, here's what you're saying,
(05:21):
here's the data on the risks, here's the data on
the benefits. And if you really are going to refuse this,
you need you to assign the bottom line that I
told you all of this information because it was unfathomable
to me. But that misconception was really strong and they
held onto that and I was like, that's really not
what you should be using to make this decision. This
is the concerns of the risk are way outsized by
(05:44):
some anecdotal stories of people online. Yeah, I would agree,
And that's such a good point. I mean, lives are
at stake, I mean, and what drives me crazy are
the hucksters who are trying to sell products. I remember
when we were first wrote the Definitive Guide to cant Or,
we had this whole section on rating these and there
was this thing that was being sold online called, you know,
(06:06):
black salv or something that was being touted like, oh,
you put this black salv over your tumor and it
just eats away at the tumor. And that kind of
stuff drives me baddy. And that's actually one of the
reasons why I wanted to do this show because it's
so critical. And what we're going to do is we're
going to take people through some of these myths and misconceptions.
(06:31):
Maybe some listeners have heard of these, maybe not, And
I'm going to start with something very basic and then
we're just going to kind of build from there. There
is a thought from some people that cancer can be contagious.
What is your view on that statement cancer is contagious?
(06:53):
I think this might be an example of people hearing
some little factoid like there are organisms involved in several
different cancers, to leaping a leap of logic that takes
them to saying it's contagious. It's not contagious in humans.
There are some organisms about fifty to twenty percent of
cancers around the world now in the United States, but
around the world. Because we have very good hygiene here,
so we don't get exposed to as many organisms as
(07:15):
other places do. Fifteen to twenty percent is caused by
organisms and infections. We have H. Pylori, which is bacteria
for stomach cancers, or we have human peppoloma virus for
various squamous cell carcinomas in the body. That's cervical cancers.
And then generally mucosal layers in the head and neck
(07:36):
with mouth layering's throat cancers, that kind of thing. But
those aren't contagions. There's a difference. So just because an
organism is involved in leading to a higher risk of
having that cancer doesn't mean that it is an actual contagion.
There are animals out there, dogs, and I believe Tasmanian
devils are the ones that they study amos in odd factoid.
(08:00):
But yeah, there are there are contagious cancers. There are.
There is such a thing. It's just not in humans. Okay, cool,
Well that's a good one. Here's a biggie. If I
eat cancer, it will cause my cancer to spread. So
doctor Kser does sugar feed cancer? That might be You know,
this is our most popular episode that we've ever done
on the Cancer Pod. People are still looking at that
(08:22):
one up because it is a misconception and it's more
complicated than that. Right, So I agree this is a
biggie because I think this is always a question because
we have to eat, and what to eat becomes a
huge question. So if you look at the biology of cancers,
you can say cancer cells take up sugar from our systems,
(08:42):
from our glucose from our bloodstream. Right. So when you
get a lab done, you see glucose on your laboratory values.
Glucose is the primary sugar in our blood, in our bloodstream, right,
But it's so much more complex the high glucose. If
you have glucose, it stimulates insulin like growth factor or
what it's like. Growth factor IGF is what we say
(09:05):
for short high levels of those hormones is not a
good thing when you have cancer. The cancer may bind
those hormones, and those hormones generally lead to more growth
and proliferation. So glucose does provide some fuel and it
does stimulate hormones that stimulate more growth of tumors. Those
things are true. The problem is we can't bring glucose
(09:25):
to zero. So higher glucose is a higher risk for
various types of cancer. So this is all these are
all truisms. I'm going to back up to say it's
an oversimplification to say sugar feeds cancer because what we
can think of it more like is kind of like
fanning the flames. Like if you have spikes in glucose,
(09:47):
you are fanning the flames. If you have cancer in
your body, you're causing perhaps a greater growth of tumors.
So it's not completely without premise. The problem is what
can you do about it. Controlling your blood sugar, your glucose,
keeping it within normal limits by eating on the lower
carbohydrate side, not eating simple sugars, not having a bunch
(10:10):
of sweets, not eating processed food. All of those things
really do help control your blood sugar. So that has
to do with the getting cancer in the first place.
When someone has cancer, higher glucose may or may not
have to do with recurrence as well, So glucose, higher
(10:30):
levels of glucose are associated with more recurrence, and so
again you just have to control the blood glucose so
it's not higher. So at the end of the day,
it's about not allowing glucose in your blood, your blood
sugar to spike because you're eating sweets or soda, pop
or highly processed meals. It is associated with poor prognosis why,
(10:54):
I don't know. Is it glucose itself fanning the flames,
or is glucose to immune suppression which then causes cancers
to you know, have more growth potential. In my mind,
keeping glucose on the lower end of normal is a
no risk proposition for most people. So you want to
(11:17):
control the glucose so that when you eat a meal
or even if you have something that's sugary, you're eating
protein with it, you're eating fat with it, You're eating
it in context of a meal. If you're going to
have dessert, you do it when you've already eaten you know,
something that has protein, fat, and fiber, and then you
have dessert or you really want your sweet treat, make
sure you're doing something very active right after so that
(11:38):
glucose has somewhere to go, which is your muscles. So
if you're you know, out dancing all night and you
have something sweet that's not gonna that's not gonna have
much consequence on your blood sugar. You'll have more consequence
if you eat that same swee while you're sitting in
front of the TV watching watching it, So that makes
a lot of sense. And it's a sugar source, like
you mentioned how you process sugar versus an apple, you know,
(12:01):
So that makes a lot of sense. And I love
the fact that you said that. You know, it's an
over simplification, because I think that's what cancer is so complex.
When they hear something simple like that, they want to
glom onto it because cancer is so complex. So some
of these things are just a matter of oversimplification. And
here's another one. Cancer is a genetic disease. My genes
(12:24):
are what causes me to get cancer? True or false?
Oh boy, how can I say true and false? I
know that I wish you would because this is another
nuanced one.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Yeah, so it is all too true for people who
inherited a genetic mutation like the bracogene Brako one or two.
So it's a very individualized answer, right. So, population wise,
there's an estimate that up to ten percent of cancers
are due to a single gene defect like that Braco
one or Braca two gene. Right, So single gene mutations
(13:00):
or mutate or deletions of it. The particular person with
that hereditary risk, though, has a huge bracket for example,
has a huge risk of actually having the cancer. So
for that person, eighty percent or sixty five percent chance
of ovarian cancer, eighty percent chance of breast cancer. That's
(13:21):
very real. So those people who do have that genetic defect,
I'm not going to call it a defect, it's a
horrible word, genetic mutation or deletion, they do have a
very high risk. So that is up to ten percent
of cancers, which means ninety percent don't have a single
gene dat effect. Now we are gaining insight into something
called polygenetic or multigenetic risk as well, So ten to
(13:44):
twenty percent of cancers out there may be due to
small variations in multiple genes that individually don't do anything,
but put all together raises cancer susceptibility. So we're probably
at the end of the day are looking at thirty
percent now if we've took into account the multiple gene
variations that together increase risk. We're just just breaking through
(14:09):
with whole genome sequencing sequencing to learn that now though,
So we've got a ways to go to really nail
that data down. Yeah, but it's such a good point,
and as you know, I'm brack a positive, and then
my family has been studied and many of my family
members are brack A positive. So this is a topic
that is very near and dear to my heart, So
(14:29):
thank you for that clarification. I think this next one
is pretty important. Some people are told that taking dietary
supplements if you have cancer is dangerous. You know. I've
heard a lot of people saying, oh, you know, I
want to take dietary supplements, but my doctor won't let me.
My doctor says there's no scientific evidence and they're dangerous.
(14:52):
What's your take on this one, Well, I certainly think
that calling him dangerous is an overstatement right now. I mean,
the only concern I have out there is people buying
things on Amazon that are contaminated or poor product. But
other than that, I don't think they're dangerous from a
(15:12):
purely data driven perspective. I mean, you do have to
do the foundational things. First, exercise is overwhelmingly the most
beneficial aspect that you can institute in a healthy lifestyle,
and then sleeping at night in a routine schedule, optimizing
your circadian rhythm that way, and then eating a good diet,
and then supplements being very supplemental to that already foundational
(15:34):
good health habits. I don't think they're dangerous. I do
think people need to be mindful to use supplements wisely.
Get your nutrients from diet if possible, get your vitamin
D from sunshine if possible, but if that's not possible
for whatever reason. I don't think there's any danger to
taking a multi vitamin certainly. I don't think there's any
(15:55):
danger to taking vitamin D in lower end doses, you know,
a thousand IUD. There's no danger in fish oil supplements.
That's one that it's really hard for people to get
in their diet unless you are a fan of sardines
and such. So I think of supplements as supplemental to
(16:15):
the foundational pieces that are already in place, which do
have more data consistently, especially exercise. You can't go wrong
with that. So first you make sure you don't have
deficiencies right with supplements. That's the first goal is to say, Okay,
what could I be deficient in? O my get three
fatty acids Very possible in a lot of people, because,
like I said, unless you like sardines a lot, Vitamin
(16:38):
D very possible for many reasons. If that's tested on
blood work as often on the low side. So I
think those two are probably my top two if I
had to just guess what people need, and then after
a certain age you might not be absorbing your B
vitamins so well, for example. Or the other reason to
use supplements that I think of is tried and true
(17:01):
is you have a condition. You've got joint pain, you
can't sleep at night, whatever your issue is. You have
digestive issues, you need to take certain enzymes so that
you can eat beans. You know, there's many reasons that
supplements are very useful from a symptom management or condition
management point of view too. So I think it's a
mindful use of dietary supplements and not just buying everything
(17:21):
that you find in a newsletter or sent to your house,
because that was the one thing as a slippery slope
before you know what, people came in and they brought
in a box of like thirty six different bottles, And
there's definitely a point where it's not doing you any good,
and I'd rather all that go towards either a gym
membership or a better food. Yeah. Absolutely, And I will
(17:42):
say that, especially if you're going through active treatment, it
helps to have a naturopathic oncologist or an integrative oncologists
on your team, because those doctors are specifically trained about
interactions and what to do and how to dose it,
and you know when to take it and things like that.
(18:05):
And I think for some of the more esoteric or
less common things, you know, you mentioned some foundational items
that I think are perfectly great and people should be considering.
But when it comes to some of these other specialized formulations,
getting advice from a naturopathic oncologist or an integrated oncologist
(18:25):
I think would be very helpful, and having that person
on your team would be very helpful. Absolutely. I agree, yeah, yeah, exactly,
you and doctor al Schuler. So I feel like this
next one is also not black and white, but I'm
interested in hearing your thoughts. Of course, I have thoughts
(18:45):
on this as always. Okay, So here it is attitude
does not matter when it comes to recovery and healing
from cancer. Well, I think that that would be a
myth that attitude doesn't matter. I think attitude does matter.
I also think that we have to be careful because
(19:08):
it's not black and white. It's a tough question because
I never want to imply. I'm very concerned with this too.
I don't want to apply that people can think their
way out of something, or that they're creating things with
their mind, or they're somehow responsible for their own cancer
because they were sad or angry or this or that.
I don't want to put that burden on anyone because
(19:29):
I think that that's not founded. But I do think
attitude is important, but I always frame it more about
the present, right. So the best thing about a positive
attitude and being joyous and being grateful and maybe addressing
any anxiety or depression that is underlying you or your
(19:51):
life is that's today's quality of life, regardless of what
else is going on. It's all about living the best
you can today. And so when it comes to being healed,
whether you have cancer or not, being healed, to me
is it means doesn't necessarily mean you're disease free, whether
it's pretty vascular disease, diabetes, or cancer, but it means
(20:12):
you're living your life to its fullest capacity. So in
that regard, I think attitude is very very important right
for a good life. Yeah, and I agree. I'm so
glad because I always got concerned whenever we would write
about this or talk about it at conferences and such.
I always got concerned that somebody in the audience would
be like, Oh darn, I cause my cancer, or oh darn,
(20:33):
you know, I'm feeling depressed, so I'm going to make
my cancer worse, or I'm going to get cancer again.
And I feel that there's a balance in finding the
power that's associated with a positive attitude and gratitude and
optimism and all these wonderful things, and yet there's also
(20:54):
this double edged sword where you don't want to use
that against you. I mean, the research is pretty clear
that when we're optimistic and grateful, we do have better outcomes.
But yeah, I think there's a balance there, and I'm
just so glad that you pointed that out, because there's
you know, life is challenging enough without having us beat
up ourselves because we're having a down day and we're
(21:15):
worried that a down day is going to make our
cancer come back. Exactly. That's exactly the concern with putting
the burden on someone's shoulders that way. So I think
that that's probably why I frame it in the present
and I leave cancer out of it, because I think
in some ways it's not really relevant to the discussion.
I mean, you should the idea of being grateful and
(21:36):
optimistic and feeling joy in life is separate from your condition.
There's not a time that I wouldn't advocate for that, right, Yeah,
exactly whether you have cancer or not, or whether you
have any other conditions. So yeah, and it's it's I
feel that it's it's more enjoyable to be optimistic and
(21:56):
positive and you know everything else. Yeah, And I want
say that I think that some people do need the
medications to make sure that they don't go into deep depressions.
And I think there is biochemical imbalances for some people
that cannot be treated fully naturally. So I always say
that because I've known people like this. I mean, you
could do everything perfectly, but if you, for whatever reason,
(22:19):
have an imbalance in your neurotransmitters such that even doing
everything you possibly can with your lifestyle and you know,
whatever your therapy is, kind of behavioral therapies or what
else you do to address it, if you still are
left needing a medication to have a positive attitude in life,
then so be it. I mean, it's not the worst
thing in the world. I would agree I would agree wholeheartedly. Okay,
(22:41):
so some people are told that a second opinion is
not necessary. What do you feel about second opinions? What
do you tell your patients? Because I bet that patients
often ask you about second opinions. You know, I have
the advantage of knowing whether their cancer is common or not,
or whether that second opinion is really going to vary
at all. There are scenarios where it's not going to
(23:03):
and that would be the more prevalent the cancer, the
more likely the second opinion is not going to vary much.
The rarer the cancer, the more likely I am to
say you need to go see somebody who just sees
that cancer all day long. So if someone has a sarcoma,
or they have multiple maloma, or they have even leukemia,
you go to a center that has oncologists who see
(23:25):
only that condition all day long. Because our community clinics,
as good as they may be, don't have the same
experience with rare cancers and rare tumors that a large
center or an academic center that is specializing in that
particular cancer is going to have. So I would say
for sure, if it's a less common cancer, you get
a second opinion, there's not even a doubt in my mind.
(23:47):
My one concern is delay of treatment. It has to
happen quickly. I think, just get it going, because delay
of treatment is never a good thing. That is. One
thing that's pretty consistent in the data is when people
put off treatment. Actually, one study that said alternative medicine
was associated with worse outcomes, it really wasn't. When you
(24:09):
parsed out the data in the study, it wasn't the
alternative medicine. It was that people put off conventional medicine longer.
So regardless of whether they did an alternative or not. In
that study, even people who didn't do alternative medicines, if
they delayed their treatment, they had worse outcomes. So I
wouldn't do it and delay treatment. But I do think
that rarer cancer is certainly in secondary a second opinion.
(24:31):
That's just such a good point. Yeah, it's really a
good point. Okay, So we have a few minutes before
I want to wrap up. Did I miss anything? Is
there a myth or misconception that you would like to
end with. Well, I'm just going to do a shameless
plug for our last episode on seed oils. So there's
a lot on there. Apparently influencers are all over the
seed oils and claiming that it's because of seed oils
(24:54):
that we're seeing colorrectal cancer and younger people. And yeah,
that's probably a myth, so seed oils. So people are
consuming seed oils and they're getting cancer? Is that? Is
that what the myth is? Well, in the word seed oils,
I don't even know where this came from. It's not
a medical term, and it's not a term you're going
to see a nutrition books. But seed oils, by that,
(25:14):
they mean safflower oil, sunflower seeds, soybeans. They're gonna put
soy and corn in there, so they mean vegetable oils.
I see. Okay, I haven't heard that one, so that
I'm glad you're brought it up. That's because you don't
follow these influencers. I do not. I am. I'm not
a big of social media. You know, I probably should
be from a marketing standpoint, but I'm not. You know,
(25:36):
I'm just like, no, I'm not either emotional media savvy.
So okay, well, that that is a good one. Thank
you for that. So where can people find out more
about you and your work? Do you have any websites
or any information that you can share with us so
they can find more about you. Well, you can find
me online. The cancerpod dot Com has a website, so
(25:57):
you can find me there and at the Cancer Pod
on any social media and places that's probably not going
to be me, it's going to be my co host
Leiah Sherman. But in any case, that's where that is. That.
In my own website is Roundtable Cancer Care, and I've
been posting kind of in real time more lately on LinkedIn,
mostly on cancer related topics and quite a bit on
(26:19):
brain health. And what I like is to follow PhDs
and fellow colleagues or even mds that are steeped in
the medicine, so that I can not only be there
helping my colleagues, but also learning myself. So you'll see
me posting there. Yeah, that's great. And you and I
have done shows on brain health, and you've helped me
(26:40):
out with some articles that I've written on the topic
and your wealth of information, and yeah, I highly encourage it. Especially,
I mean, you're listening to this podcast, You're going to
love the Cancer Pod. So check out the Cancer Pod
and then also go to Roundtable CancerCare dot com and
then look up doctor Kaser on LinkedIn dot Kaser. Once again,
(27:01):
you're a wealth of information and this has been great.
Thank you so much for joining me, Thank you for
having me. It's always a pleasure. All right. Well, that
wraps up this episode of five to Thrive Live once again.
I'd like to thank our sponsors pro Thrivers Wellness, Sleep Formula,
Cetria Glutathione the superior glutathione to support liver and immune health,
(27:21):
Cognizance of Colone to help enhance memories, focus and attention,
and doctor Ohiro's award winning shelf Stable probiotic. This has
been a great show by you experience joy, laughter and love.
It's time to thrive everyone, have a good night and
(28:00):
man
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