QuoteReplyTopic: Anticancer: A New Way of Life Posted: Aug 25 2011 at 8:51am
Many of us have read Dr. David Servan-Schreiber's wonderful book, Anticancer: A New Way of Life.
Sadly his website announced that after a 20 year battle with cancer, David Servan-Schreiber passed away on July 24, 2011. I hope his project with MD Anderson continues so that we can all benefit one day.
Sad news, indeed. I will continue to believe that the lifestyle changes he recommends not only contributed to additional time for him, but greatly improved the quality if that time.Susan and I have been following the guidelines he sets forth in his book since shortly after her diagnosis when I found some of his presentations on YouTube. After reading his book, I have recommended it to just about every one I know. As he says, even if it doesn't help with the cancer, I would follow these principles anyway because you feel so much better.
Yes, it is sad. I think he has done a great deal to inform, and promote a healthier lifestyle that we all can incorporate into our lives. So much of what he says makes perfect sense and I too have recommended it to others as a hopeful resource to arm ourselves with. RIP Dr. Servan-Schreiber!
Mary
Dx: 1/10, 5mm, 1/28/10 SN negative, lumpectomy, 30 rads, no chemo.
Very interesting. . . I was just on Amazon.com browsing around and saw his book. Then, I flipped over here and saw this thread. I am going back right now to purchase the book. Sounds good and it's a big help to see that others here have enjoyed it and found it helpful. Thanks for the comments.
Can Lifestyle Changes Improve Outcomes in Breast Cancer?
Winter 2012
They’ll kick up their exercise a notch, learn how to shop for and prepare healthy meals, and practice stress reduction techniques.
All under the watchful eye of trained coaches.
Perhaps most important, they’ll do these things with others in the same boat.
“They” will be 120 breast cancer patients recruited from MD Anderson’s Nellie B. Connally Breast Center and Department of Radiation Oncology to test the premise that comprehensive integrative oncology, including certain lifestyle and behavior changes, may strengthen the body’s defenses against cancer.
In an ambitious clinical trial set to begin next summer, researchers from the Integrative Medicine Program and the departments of General Oncology and Behavioral Science will explore whether improving patients’ diet and nutrition, levels of physical activity, stress management and social engagement can help them avoid a recurrence and increase survival.
A control group will receive the standard of care without the lifestyle interventions. Both groups will be monitored regularly for immune function, endocrine function, insulin and glucose metabolism, and more.
A cancer cell doesn’t grow in a vacuum
Though we all have premalignant cells in our bodies, not all of them grow or become malignant.
The tumor microenvironment — the environment surrounding the cells including immune cells, blood vessels, proteins, and other molecules — plays an important part in whether cancer cells survive and multiply, are killed by the system or undergo spontaneous death.
The trial will test whether conscious efforts to strengthen the body’s natural defenses against cancer can make a difference.
Funded by the Servan-Schreiber/Cohen Anticancer Fund, the trial will explore several components as part of the comprehensive, integrative oncology intervention:
dietary coaching to help reach or maintain a healthy weight and focus on eating an anti-cancer diet,
supporting daily physical activity,
practical tools for managing stress, and
fostering social connection and mindfulness in all aspects of life.
Cohen worked closely with the late David Servan-Schreiber, M.D., Ph.D., to design the trial.
Servan-Schreiber, who died in July 2011 of a brain cancer recurrence, was a physician, neuroscientist and author of the New York Times bestseller "Anticancer: A New Way of Life." He was also an adjunct professor in the section of Integrative Medicine in MD Anderson's Department of General Oncology.
Although the study will be conducted only at MD Anderson, if the results are positive, it may set an example for other cancer centers around the world.
The Anticancer Research Program at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
The initiative, led by Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., professor of behavioral science and general oncology at MD Anderson, will examine the effects of an innovative, standardized integrative oncology program based on the model outlined in the bookAnticancer, by Dr. Servan-Schreiber.
The study will dramatically move the integrative medicine field forward through several ground breaking strategies where previous research has fallen short. The Servan-Schreiber/Cohen Anticancer Fund will support a 5-year research project with the following measurable aims:
Develop a comprehensive, novel, standardized, web-based, integrative oncology intervention program based on the model outlined in Anticancer. The program will include special diets, physical activity, stress management, social support, control of environmental contaminants, and some supportive natural supplements that many people with cancer are already taking (e.g., vitamin D3, fish oil, and turmeric).
Develop reliable techniques to assess a person’s natural defenses against cancer through simple objective measures (e.g., blood tests of inflammation, vitamin D levels, stress hormones, omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratio, antioxidant capacity, and immune system activity) and determine how these measures are related to clinical outcomes and other existing biological markers.
Pilot test the integrative oncology intervention to evaluate to what degree it is possible to improve a person’s natural defenses and clinical outcomes as measured by the above tests through the biological assessment of the tumor microenvironment, and conventional psychological and quality of life measures.
Evaluate to what degree this comprehensive integrative oncology intervention reduces the progression of disease.
M. D. Anderson Cancer Center & Anticancer are currently seeking philanthropic funding to advance the goals of the Integrative Medicine Program, and to specifically support the development and testing of a novel, comprehensive integrative oncology intervention.
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