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| induced by bile salts and fatty acids. 38 A recent study evaluating calcium as a possible inhibitor of colon cancer involved 175 patients with adenomatous colon polyps and 50 patients with colorectal cancer who received calcium supplementation. It showed that calcium supplementation can prevent the recurrence of polyps and can prolong survival in patients with colorectal cancer.39 |
| There have been several other epidemiological reports showing the inverse relationship between dietary calcium and the incidence of colon cancer.40 One study evaluated 2,591 Dutch civil servants, forty to sixty-five years of age, during a twenty-eight-year follow-up for the relationship between calcium intake and the risk of gastrointestinal cancer. Woman who had the lowest calcium intake had an increased risk of gastrointestinal cancer. Men and women with a lower than average calcium intake had an increased colorectal cancer mortality. These results were significant for women.41,42 |
| Potassium and Magnesium |
| Potassium and magnesium aspartate activate the formation of ATP that is needed to insure the optimal functioning of the host's defense system. Magnesium improves the activity of white granulocytic blood cells and increases the production of immune-defensive substances, including antibodies and other complementary factors that activate specific antibodies. |
| Increased potassium intake is associated with decreased cancer risk, whereas increased sodium intake is associated with increased cancer risk. The ratio of potassium to sodium appears to be more important than the levels of individual electrolytes. Generally, intracellular potassium concentrations are higher in noncancerous tissues than in cancerous tissues. Conversely, intracellular sodium is higher in rumor cells than in normal cells. |
| In potassium-depleted patients, villous tumors of the large bowel are prone to become malignant at an earlier stage than in patients whose potassium is not depleted. This suggests that potassium depletion plays a role in the loss of the growth control leading to malignant transformation of the tumor.43 |
| An increase of cancer has been found worldwide in areas where magnesium levels are lowest. This is also true of selenium. In rat studies, magnesium deficiency caused neoplastic growths of both lymphomas and leukemias. Many people with cancer have low levels of magnesium to begin with, and when they undergo chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy, their need for magnesium, as |
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