Goji and Cancer

According to World Health Organization statistics, more than 10 million new cases of cancer are diagnosed annually. The disease kills more than 6 million people each year, making cancer the second leading cause of death throughout the world.

In the United States alone, cancer has just eclipsed heart disease to become the country’s number one killer.

There is much that you can do to decrease your risk of cancer and to help your body to battle it should it strike. With a little education, you can arm yourself against this deadly enemy.
What Is Cancer?

Cancer is a group of many related diseases that begin in cells, the body’s basic building blocks. To understand cancer, it is helpful to know what happens when normal cells become cancerous.
Normally, cells grow and divide to produce more cells as they are needed to keep the body healthy. Sometimes, this orderly process goes wrong. New cells form when the body does not need them, and old cells do not die when they should. The extra cells form a mass of tissue called a growth, or tumor. Not all tumors are cancerous; tumors can be benign or malignant.

Benign tumors are not cancer. They can often be removed and, in most cases, they do not come back. Cells in benign tumors do not spread to other parts of the body. Most important, benign tumors are rarely a threat to life.

Malignant tumors are cancer. Cells in malignant tumors are abnormal and divide without control or order. Cancer cells invade and destroy the tissue around them. They can also break away from a malignant tumor and enter the bloodstream or lymphatic system, which can carry them throughout the body, causing new tumors to form in other organs. The spread of cancer is called metastasis.
Scientists have learned that cancer is caused by changes in genes that control normal cell growth and cell death. Certain lifestyle and environmental factors can damage genetic DNA, causing the genes to mutate and promote cancer growth. The National Cancer Institute lists five prime causes of cancer-promoting genetic mutations: tobacco use; poor diet; UV radiation from the sun; exposure to environmental toxins and pollutants; and inherited predisposition to cancer.

DNA is the most vital chemical in your body, carrying the blueprint of your entire genetic history. Goji’s betaine and master molecule polysaccharide can restore and repair damaged DNA, protecting your body’s ten trillion cells.
Cancer Prevention and Treatment

You can reduced the risk of getting cancer by not using tobacco products, avoiding harmful rays of the sun, exercising regularly, avoiding obesity and choosing foods with less fat, and consuming more vegetables, whole grains, fruits and juices – especially cancer-preventive, phytonutrient-rich goji.

Goji is one of the only plant species one earth that contains the anti-cancer mineral germanium. Its antioxidants are unique polysaccharides can stop the genetic mutations that can lead to cancer.

Goji increases stamina and endurance, and helps to eliminate fatigue — especially when recovering from illness. Lymphocytes are specialized white blood cells that are of crucial importance to the adaptive part of the body’s immune system. The adaptive portion of the immune system mounts a tailor-made defense when dangerous invading organisms penetrate the body’s general defenses. Goji increases lymphocyte count and helps to activate them when the body is under attack.

Goji has been shown to enhance the effects of radiation in combating cancer, allowing a lower dose to be used. Other research indicates that goji can protect against some of the noxious side effects of chemotherapy and radiation.

Goji polysaccharides have been shown in Chinese studies to enhance the production of IL-2, a crucial cytokine (cell protein) that induces potent anti-tumor responses in a variety of cancers. Goji also kills tumor cells by inducing apoptosis, a process in which cancer cells are broken down and recycled.

Patients receiving a cancer drug together with goji exhibited response rates up to 250 percent better than those obtained by the drug alone. These advanced cancer patients experienced amazing regressions of malignant melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, colorectal carcinoma, lung cancer, nasopharyngeal carcinoma and malignant hydrothorax. Remission of cancers in patients treated with goji lasted significantly longer than those treated without goji.

Research and traditional use for cancer prevention suggests a daily intake of 2 to 4 ounces of high-quality standaridized goji juice, taken with meals. For cancer management, take 4 to 8 ounces daily, to be taken with meals.

Katrina Coyoca is a staff writer for Goji Juice Review, a leading information resource for news and articles about goji juice. For more information about goji, please visit Goji Juice.