The
Roles of Inflammation, Gene Amplification and Cell Adaptation
in Cancer and Other Degenerative Diseases
How Your Body Adapts to
Health or Disease
The laws of natural
health begin with the principle that all living things, both
plants and animals, all conform and adapt to their surroundings.
Everything we eat, drink, breathe, absorb through our skin… even
our thoughts influence our health.
Every toxin in
our bodies, every nutritional deficiency, every bit of stress
or anger has a harmful effect on us; while everything nourishing
and calming has a beneficial effect. Scientifically this
is called our context. Our bodies will adapt to everything
in and around us, and our existence depends on this ability
to adapt.
Think about how
a plant’s health is determined by its context. There
must be adequate sun, water, temperature; nutrients in the
soil, the pH of the soil must be in the proper range, there
must be room for its roots and foliage for the plants to
thrive.
When the context
is right, plants are not bothered by diseases or insect pests.
Botanists have recently discovered that insects will only
eat diseased plants, (even though visually they may look
healthy.)
All living things
have a specific ideal context in which to live.
So to make this
very simple: Every disease (in plants, animals, and humans)
is caused by two conditions in their context:
- Something
that should be there and isn’t (a nutrient deficiency)
- Something
that shouldn’t be there and is (a toxin)…
And in our bodies,
the symptoms of every disease are the results of
the immune system’s attempt to adapt to the context
using the metabolism, hormones and peptides from the glands,
organs, and nervous system, and available nutrients from
our food.
To comprehend
this process, it’s absolutely critical to understand
the differences between treating symptoms and treating the
cause. A symptom is like an oil light on your car that goes
on when your oil level is low. The cause, of course, of that
light going on is an insufficient amount of oil for the engine
to operate safely. The light warns you to take action to
prevent engine failure. Treating the symptom (by cutting
the wires to the oil light) in no way solves your problem,
and in the same way, treating symptoms in your body can not
solve your health problems. In both cases you must treat
the cause.
Strictly speaking,
treating the symptoms is called an allopathic approach, and
treating the causes is called a homeopathic approach regardless
whether herbs or drugs are used.
(And for this
study I will use the word “drug” whenever I’m
addressing any substance used to treat symptoms, since
that is what's most commonly used. And besides, an herb
used to treat symptoms really is a drug.)
Inflammation
is Not a Disease
Inflammation is
always a very important part of the healing process, but
more often than not it’s labeled a disease, as in the
case of arthritis. Inflammation is the result of your immune
system sending fluids to an area of injury to bring healing.
That’s why inflammation is a part of all chronic progressive
degenerative diseases; the body is trying to heal. But
as you will see, inflammation is not the enemy, it’s
the helper.
Most of the attempts
to “control” disease focus on shutting down the
healing responses (like the inflammatory process) rather
than eliminating the cause. The allopathic approach undermines
all hopes of healing while giving the appearance of success
because, for example, the pain is taken away.
All drugs and
allopathic herbs have a two-phased effect: the first phase
is how it affects the body. The second phase is how the body
adapts to the drug. This cellular adaptation is exactly
the reason why drugs can’t heal. And
while it may seem to make sense to shut off the inflammatory
process, the way that anti-inflammatory drugs work is by
shutting down the immune system.
Here’s the
problem: there’s a condition causing that inflammation
and unless you find and address it there will be continuously
more degeneration and a downward spiral leading to death– and
if you shut down your immune system your body will have no
ability to reverse it.
(All degenerative
diseases are chronic and progressive, meaning your body
deteriorates continuously and progressively faster as your
body deteriorates. Degenerative disease cannot stop until
the cause is removed.)
So phase one of
the drug is to reduce inflammation. The second phase is for
the body to adapt to the new context by creating more inflammation.
The result is that stronger and stronger drugs and higher
dosages will be required to keep the “disease” “under
control”. This resistance is called adaptation and
will be addressed later in this article.
(In addition
to this resistance, medications create problems of their
own by creating side effects [by perhaps hindering the
digestive process] so that additional medications are needed--which
in turn will create their own side effects and the need
for more drugs-- more and more, over and over.)
No one has any
idea of what this is doing to the chemistry of the body… except
the patient him- or herself. They don’t know what it
is or how to explain it, but they just don’t feel right…
Drugs
Don't Heal
I’ll never
argue with the fact that prescription drugs keep people alive,
but they absolutely don’t heal… they take over
and eliminate the body’s ability to heal itself. Cellular
adaptation is the reason why. And whether you want to believe
it or not, outside of antibiotics, there has never been a
drug that healed anyone of any disease. According to literature
distributed by the drug companies, it's a given that every
prescription medication has harmful side effects. And in
the same way, it’s been documented that synthetic vitamins
(as opposed to the nutrients in food) shorten the lifespan
of those who take them.
Damaged cells
release chemicals that activate the inflammatory process--
peptides, histamine, bradykinin, proteolytic enzymes, prostaglandins,
leukotrienes, etc. These substances initiate the healing
process, but more importantly they signal the rest of the
body that there’s a problem so the body can prioritize
its resources to the healing process.
There’s
always a reason for every symptom; you can’t underestimate
the intelligence of the body. If you have inflammation it’s
because you need to heal; if you have high blood pressure,
it’s because you need more pressure to push blood through
the circulatory system to supply the cells with oxygen so
they won’t die or mutate.
The problem is,
sometimes the body’s healing responses create problems
of their own. For example, inflammation can push the bones
out of joint and cause extreme pain; or elevated blood pressure
can lead to a heart attack or a ruptured artery, and in these
cases you may need to use prescription medications (at least
temporarily.) But if you were able to interpret the symptoms
you could address the cause and eliminate the danger.
So, the key to
understanding the healing process is to trust in the body’s
wisdom while taking steps to remove the toxins or stress
and reverse the deficiencies causing the problem. The body
knows what it’s doing, but there’s a part we’re
responsible for.
Cells
have much more intelligence than we ever
thought possible.
The organization
of the brain and nervous system was once thought to be accomplished
through neurotransmitters (such as serotonin and dopamine)
hormones, (like adrenaline and cortisol), and enzymes. Today,
we know that it is infinitely more complex. As I’ve
already mentioned, there are numerous chemicals manufactured
by the cells that facilitate communication with the brain
and with all other cells. Dr. Steve Henricksen, senior staff
scientist at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California states, “We
used to think the brain was like a computer. Now we think
each separate cell is like a computer. And one single cell
is like the whole brain!” And we don’t know more
than we know!
We begin our lives
as one cell, with one DNA code, the blueprint for our bodies.
That cell divided into two cells, and those two into four,
and those four into eight,  and
so on, until we became adults with over one hundred trillion
cells. During the first hours and days the cells replicate
themselves very rapidly and use a tremendous amount of energy.
The DNA strands with over 120 thousand individual genes at
the end of our lives remain exactly the same as that first
cell. What’s more, our immune system will destroy any
cell that does not have this exact code. So, when there are
no interferences (toxins or nutrient deficiencies) and when
our body’s systems are working properly, every cell
in our body knows what every other cell should be doing and
if there’s anything wrong, anywhere in the body, what
steps to take to correct it.
It’s remained
a mystery to scientists to this day how the cells, though
they all have exactly the same DNA, at some point become
different from each other and form organs, blood, skin, and
bones, etc. This is called cell differentiation. Not only
do the cells differentiate, but they also arrange themselves
precisely in the body so that every person has virtually
the same immune system, organs and arteries, etc. basically
in the same position. It is not something that happens by
chance. There’s a super-intelligence orchestrating
it.
Differentiation--
how the body forms cells of many kinds even though they all
have the same DNA code
So every cell
has the exact same DNA but somehow forms cells of many kinds.
This isn’t mutation, it’s differentiation and
it’s a matter of gene amplification and the expression
of a specific part of the DNA code that turns a
cell with absolutely no function (other than to divide) into
a highly specialized cell (such as a skin cell or a cell
that makes up your heart). I’ll explain more on this
momentarily. But let’s turn our attention for a moment
to what we thought we knew about cancer:
According to conventional
medical theory, cancer begins with a single cell whose DNA
code has become mutated through free radical damage or injury
causing the cell to multiply out of control. When the cell
multiplies, the new cells created have the same faulty genetic
code and their growth destroys the body’s normal functions—all
the while using a tremendous share of nutritional resources
to fuel its massive growth. So the person basically is basically
starved to death at the cellular level. That’s how
cancer kills.
Gene
Amplification and Suppression
Gene amplification
is the process of a cell making more of a particular gene
or group of genes. This is how all living plants and animals
adapt to their environment. If there is a toxin
in their environment, the cell is able to amplify the genes
that resist that toxin. Cells can also suppress genes
that can have an undesirable effect. For example, there are
cancer producing genes (called oncogenes) that supposedly
everyone has, but everyone doesn’t get cancer because
the genes are suppressed.
So, gene amplification
and suppression assures survival to the organism… But
this is also why certain genetic diseases will show up later
in life. Whatever was suppressing the disease causing gene
was taken away and caused that particular gene to be expressed
and amplified.
Gene amplification
occurs in all living organisms and it’s the process
by which bacteria resist antibiotics. You probably have heard
about “superbugs” which are bacteria that can’t
be killed off with antibiotics. These bugs were created by
the overuse of antibiotics and antibacterial cleaners. These
are the kind you will most likely pick up after a stay at
the hospital.
Cells of all living
things (including bacteria) amplify resisting genes when
they’re exposed to repeated doses of toxins, but not
when they’re exposed to a large single dose. When cells
first experience toxins, they undergo a temporary gene amplification
that reverses itself when the toxin is removed, but when
exposed multiple times, they undergo gene amplification that
persists even after the toxin is removed.
So while cell
adaptation is a survival mechanism it should not lull you
into a sense of security. There is a lot of cellular destruction
to every exposure to a toxin that can cause mutation to a
cell, known as the free radical causes of disease. Those
theories haven’t been thrown out the door. The contextual
principle of cancer is in addition to the free radical principle.
Whenever our cells
are exposed to toxins, remember that there is a two phased
reaction in the body, the first being the effect it has upon
the cells and second the cellular adaptation (resistance
to the toxin). Sometimes the first effect will kill
the cells outright before the cells have a chance to adapt.
However, when the healing agent (drug) is the toxin there
will be a resistance to the effect of the drug.
Contextual
Organizing Fields
As we’ve
already seen we began as a single cell that divided, then
redivided, again and again. In the process, we became trillions
of cells, all of our cells have the same genes as the original,
yet they do many different things. The differences obviously
can’t depend on the genes since the genes in every
cell are the same. Cells have differing functions because
of which genes get expressed, and that is determined
by the cell’s context.
Research has shown,
for example, up to a certain point in an embryo’s development,
a liver cell transplanted to the heart becomes a heart cell,
and vice versa. This has led scientists to talk about organizing
fields, or contexts that organize a cell’s functions.
When the organizing
field is strong, the cell develops specifically and is perfectly
suited to assume the function for which it was created. When
the organizing field is weak, the cell develops rapidly,
weakly, and without direction. By rule the context determines
the cell’s purpose and development.
There are energy
fields in the body that are chemical/electromagnetic in nature.
These fields are similar to the induction field created by
passing an electric current through a wire. The body’s
chemical/electromagnetic field has an organizing influence
upon living tissue.
To show how this
works, for example, some lizards are able to regenerate their
tails after loss. The organizing field changes undifferentiated
cells into muscle, nerve, bone and skin cells. If the organizing
field is disrupted by exposing them to an outside electromagnetic
field, the tail can’t regenerate and a scar forms instead.
It takes all the
components of the organizing field to allow this regeneration.
There’s an exact point on the lizard where the organizing
field begins. When scientists planted a tumor cell on the
tail side of that point, it transformed into a normal tail
cell. But when they transplanted it on the body side of that
point it remained a tumor cell and multiplied without direction.
It was always
assumed that adult mammals didn’t have organizing fields.
The scientists knew it existed in mammal embryos, and they
thought it guided development before birth but not adaptation
after it. We now know that organizing fields operate in adults
as well. We know, for example, that up to 90% of the liver
can be surgically removed and it can grow back to the same
size and shape.
Cells
Lose Control in a Weak Context
As you can see,
cells need two things to work right: 1) Good genes; and 2)
a strong organizing context. Even the best genes lose control
in a weak context.
For example, when
scientists take healthy cells from the body and culture them
in a dish, the cells stop doing what they did in the body
and begin to multiply out of control just like cancer cells.
Cells have markers
that tell them where they came from. Some of those markers
start to disappear instantly; some last two days; some five
days, some eight. After ten days or so, the cells no longer
bear signs of what their function in the body might have
been.
The changes that
take place in these cultured cells are the very ones that
turn normal cells into cancer cells. Cancer theorists blame
them on mutations or genetic accidents. Yet they happen here
with only a change in context.
All this directly
contradicts medicine’s assumption that cancer cells
have damaged or mutated genes. The same changes occur both
in cancer cells within the body, and in normal cells that
are separated from the body and cultured in a dish. What
these two kinds of cells have in common is a weak or disorganized
context.
Delay
Can Make Disorder Permanent
In fact, when
scientists take these cultured cells from their dishes and
return them to their normal healthy context within the body
they become normal, healthy cells. They regain their markers,
they begin to make their proper chemicals, and they resume
their relationship to the cells around them. Cancer cells
taken from a cancerous animal and placed in the body of a
healthy animal also return to normal.
But this happens
only up to a point; after a period of time in the disorganized
context, the cell’s adaptations to it become permanent.
Researchers found that the cells quickly lose their capacities
for making their specific products when dispersed but quickly
regain them when they are packed together again. If they
are kept in the dispersed state for more than ten days, however,
reassociation fails to restore their function.
Resisting
Chemotherapy
With this background,
let’s consider what chemotherapy does. Chemotherapy
is toxic. Its purpose is to kill cells. Doctors treat people
with the hope that they can find a chemotherapy that will
kill cancer cells and leave normal cells alone. But
if cancer cells are normal cells whose context is abnormal,
can you see how hopeless that aspiration is, particularly
since chemotherapy simply adds one more abnormality to the
context?
In fact, cells
react to chemotherapy exactly as they react to any other
toxin: by resisting it. And they resist chemotherapy through
the very process of gene amplification. So while chemotherapy
seeks to destroy cancer cells, only some of the cells are
killed. The cells not destroyed respond by amplifying their
genes to become more strongly cancerous!
These cancer cells
are resisting. As doctors seek to kill them, they seek to
stay alive… and they become stronger for doing so.
When the surviving cells divide, all the daughter cells have
the same resistance and cannot be killed by chemotherapy.
The tragic reality is that these cancer treatments convert
benign tumors into more lethal forms.
Our enemy in cancer
is not the cells, but the context we’re created for
them. Chemotherapy simply pollutes an already unhealthful
context, which only makes the problem worse.
Creating a healthy
context can never be a medical treatment; You are what you
eat. And you are what you do not eliminate. Creating a new
way of living incorporates diet, internal cleansing, exercise,
attitude, and lifestyle.When you supply the body with what
it needs, and remove the interferences, the body knows how
to heal!
So in review:
- Everything we
eat, drink, breathe, absorb through our skin… even
our thoughts influence our health.
- Our bodies adapt to everything in and around us, and our
existence depends on this ability to adapt.
- Symptoms are warning signs of an underlying condition
and are often the focus of medical treatment instead of the
real core problem.
- Symptoms, like
inflammation, are created by the immune system’s response to the underlying cause. Treating
the symptoms alone, without addressing the underlying cause,
which is the context, remove completely your body’s
ability to heal.
- All degenerative diseases are chronic and progressive,
meaning your body deteriorates continuously and progressively
faster as your disease progresses, and cannot stop until
the cause is removed.
- Because you are what you eat and what you do not eliminate,
creating new habits and a new lifestyle is the only way to
change your condition permanently.
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