Dr. Robert Pluenneke : July 2009 Archives

I love finding reports on natural ways of fighting cancer. This study is great. I can't wait to see more research into this juice. 

 Pomegranate Juice May Slow Prostate Cancer

April 26, 2009 -- Drinking 8 ounces of pomegranate juice daily may slow the progression of localized prostate cancer ( prostate cancer that hasn't spread), a new study shows.

The study included 48 men who had surgery or radiation therapy to treat localized prostate cancer.

When the study started in 2003, the men's PSA levels were doubling every 15 months. In prostate cancer patients, PSA (prostate specific antigen) is used to monitor their cancer.

All of the men drank 8 ounces of pomegranate juice daily, and that slowed down the time it took for their PSA levels to double, as the researchers reported in 2006.

After that, the researchers -- who included Stanford University urologist Allan Pantuck, MD -- kept following the patients every three months. Fifteen of the patients stayed with the study for up to 64 months (a little more than five years), and it typically took four times longer for their PSA levels to double when they were drinking pomegranate juice, compared to their PSA doubling time at the study's start.

The results were presented at the American Urological Association's 104th annual scientific meeting in Chicago.

Five of the six researchers who conducted the study disclose ties to POM Wonderful, which makes the pomegranate juice used in the study.

In 2007, another team of researchers bought pomegranates, made their own pomegranate juice, and tested it against human prostate cancer cells grafted into mice. Those tumors grew slower than other tumors treated with a placebo solution.

I cannot believe what I heard.  The President held the news conference on healthcare reforms and like many Americans; I listened with great interest to what he had to say.  Of all Americans in this country, this legislation will likely affect my job in future more than most.  I fully expect it cut my pay, make my life more complicated and likely make it more difficult to take care of the patients as I see fit. I have been willing up to now to keep an open mind about President Obama's healthcare plans.  I believe that it is a wonderful goal of this country to insure healthcare for the maximum amount of our population..

Last night, however, one exchange angered me. When President Obama said that the physicians make decisions to take out children's tonsils based on economics.  I believe that the vast majority of physicians do their job and make the decisions for their patients based on what they believe is best for the patient.  It is true in oncology that part of my income is derived from giving patients chemotherapy, giving them radiation therapy, and following their disease on CT scans, but I would like to assure the president that I would give everything that I own, all my retirement if cancer would just disappear.  I would be more than happy to be put out of business if cancer no longer existed.  I am truly saddened that The President of The United States would characterize the profession that I have been a part of and have been proud to be a part of in such a demeaning, dark and ugly way.

The human condition is a messy one.  The human body is designed to produce or secrete endless number of fluids and by-products. Despite all the many billions of dollars that people spend on perfumes, sanitizing wipes, soaps, shampoos, and colognes our bodies continue this process around the clock.  To most people, these secretions and fluids smell and are to be flushed, wiped or disposed off as quickly as possible.  In medicine, however, these secretions are incredibly vital to the diagnosis of diseases and their therapy.  From the chloride sweat test used to make the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis, to the complex serum chemistries that we do on blood, these fluids and secretions provide a fertile ground to test for possible diseases.  The analysis of these fluids and secretions is becoming ever more advanced. We are finding small bits of cancer in blood called circulating tumor cells, at the molecular level we are doing protein analyses and gene analysis on blood and blood cells. Tissue that is removed at the time of a surgery is being diced, mashed and processed to give us an ever expanding ability to diagnose and predict the prognosis of patients with cancer.

The human condition is one of endless production of these fluids.  Our bone marrow with its ability to produce a near endless supply of blood, our stomachs producing gastric acids, and our livers producing bile to help in our digestion are examples. Our sweat glands produce sweat in an effort to cool our bodies during exercise and in the heat of the summer. Our kidneys produce an ever continuing supply of urine to dispose of endless amounts of wastes that must be processed and removed from our body.

So much of what we worry about in many diseases today is based on the transmission of these secretions.  Hospitals wipe down rooms to prevent coming in contact with aerosolized respiratory secretions. We wear rubber gloves to prevent the touching of skin to decrease the transmission of Staph infections. We do not enter a patient’s room without spraying out hands full of antimicrobial foam.  We are seemingly in a constant battle to rid our patients and ourselves of the various secretions that are vital and really honestly make us human.  The human condition can never ever be a sterile condition.  We will never ever be rid the waste products that are produced by life.  I find it amazing how this complex organism that we call the human body can make such an almost seemingly endless number of secretions and how our mind has spent hundreds of years trying to come up with ways to cover up, remove, and suppress these secretions.

My family and I went to the movie theater last month to see the Disney production of “Earth”. I enjoyed this film immensely and would recommend this to anyone.  The main point of this film is that our earth is an incredibly special place and that a very unique set of circumstances has led to its ability to sustain and support life.  I believe it is a wonderful testimony to man's wanting to do good that such a film had been made.

I would never call myself an environmentalist, so much of my professional life has been dedicated to taking care of humans. The environment around me has always been seemingly second place in my heart.  I do realize how important this planet that we live on. If we are not good stewards of this planet we run the risk of destroying its ability to sustain life.  I do believe as we deplete our planet and utilize its resources that illness and specifically cancer will become more likely and more prevalent.  I know the answers to the problems of green house gases and pollution are difficult; they are complex and the solutions may be costly. As a warrior of a different battle; the battle against cancer, I believe this other battle needs to be waged.  Ultimately, I think that the final triumph over cancer or pollution is a battle that will be well worth the cost.