Anticancer: A New Way of Life Paperback – Illustrated, 6 Jan. 2011

Many thank you

This book is exceptional. Its power lies in the credentials of its author, an ambitious young medical research scientist with little interest in the welfare of patients until he discovered, by pure chance, that he had a brain tumour. Cancer often proves a turning point in someone's life - in his case it threw into stark relief the limited view and lack of care so endemic in orthodox medicine. It opened his mind to the whole world of complementary and alternative medicine and the many methods on offer to support people with cancer physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually.The combination of sound scientific discrimination allied with a truly caring interest in any treatment that could be of help, regardless of its provenance, makes for some of the best reading on the subject. Whilst being well stocked with excellent information and advice, the personal experience of Dr Servan-Schreiber is at the heart of this book and ensures that this is anything but a `dry' read.Above all, Anti Cancer inspires optimism, encourages people to look beyond the impersonal statistics of their prognosis, and, through sound scientific information, builds the confidence needed for people to regain their autonomy and start to exercise personal choice in their treatment programme. Readers with cancer are left with absolutely no doubt as to how much they can do to help themselves and to influence both the course and the outcome of their illness.If you suspect that the spiralling cancer statistics in the western world are mainly a response to the way we live and want to know what we are doing wrong and how to change direction; if you are already a part of those dread statistics but don't want to be a `victim of cancer'; or if you are a `cancer survivor' who wants to know what you can do to minimise the chances of a relapse - then Anti Cancer is a `must read'.Note: I am Founder and Chairman of Yes to Life, a UK charity directly supporting people with cancer in obtaining Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

This is an inspiring book (301 pages plus notes but no index) by David Servan-Schreiber (1961-2011), physician, neuro-psychiatrist and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. He was diagnosed with brain cancer at 31 but lived till 2011. He had conventional treatment (e.g., surgery/chemotherapy) but the book is about other things, many dietary, he did to extend his life.David Servan-Schreiber explains that "the median is not the message" - that life needn't be short after cancer is diagnosed and the odds can be greatly improved by altering the "terrain" ... the context in which cancer exists. For example, do the right things (e.g., eat green tea and turmeric, take exercise) and avoid the wrong things (e.g., stress, red meat, trans-fats, sugar, white flour, pesticides) so the growth and spread of tumours is discouraged or stopped. The book discusses a broad range of diet and other e.g., attitudinal ideas; at times it's a smorgasbord of possibilities. Amongst interesting arguments, the author says: the balance of omega-3 fatty acids to omega-6 fatty acids has changed post-WW2 (we now get too much omega-6 e.g., because cows are less grass-fed) which increases the incidence of cancer; and there are synergistic gains from using beneficial foods (e.g., in one study tomatoes and broccoli, in another green tea and mushrooms) in combination.I bought Anticancer partly because I wanted to know if it said anything about acid-alkaline balance (which is about atomic structure, oxygenation, oxidation, pH) and ORP (oxygen reduction potential) given there is research arguing cancers like sugar but not alkali. Servan-Schreiber doesn't mention acidity/alkalinity and ORP though he talks about detox. In summary, I think it's wise to drink alkaline water because - amongst its effects - there is increasing evidence it discourages cancer; it's an easy way of (tweaking the body's acid balance helping it to detoxify and) augmenting whatever other changes are made to the terrain.