Cancer Info for Newbies

Monicaemilia
Monicaemilia Member Posts: 455 Member
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
A friend of mine sent me the following, and although I know most of it (mostly through trial and error), I thought the newbies on this board might find the information helpful. Monica

1. Every person has cancer cells in their body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.

2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.

3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.

4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors.

5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastro-intestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.

7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.

8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumour size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumour destruction. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.

9. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to; destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.

10. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.

CANCER CELLS FEED ON:

A. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in colour. Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt.

B. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened Soya milk cancer cells are being starved.

C. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.

D. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable
juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh
vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts)and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F(40 degrees C).

E. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer-fighting properties. Water: it is best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

F. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines become putrefied and leads to more toxic build-up.

G. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells. Some supplements build up the immune system (anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the body's own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.

H. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, unforgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.

I. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.

(PLEASE FORWARD IT TO PEOPLE YOU CARE ABOUT)
«1

Comments

  • LOUSWIFT
    LOUSWIFT Member Posts: 371 Member
    Goodstuff to be sure and most of it may even be right for some people some of the time. It forgets the one universal truth and that is we are all not the same or are cancers, their treatement, or their effects. I think its great to get out this info but these conditions for cancer development, growth and prevention isn't suggesting that if we all do this that you'll get cancer or cure cancer for everyone- is it?. The numbers over population doesn't suggest this. Still since no one has the answers to our problem looking at possibilities is a good thing.
  • CAMaura
    CAMaura Member Posts: 719 Member
    Thank you! Really nice and much appreciated. Hands down, this is MY favorite type of posting! And, no matter how strongly I am trying to improve my entire lifestyle, I LOVE to have it reinforced...I NEED the reminders and the motivation!
    Thanks again and all the best to you - Maura
  • scouty
    scouty Member Posts: 1,965 Member
    Nicely put. Thank you and like Maura, the reinforcement is always helpful.

    Lisa P.
  • pink05
    pink05 Member Posts: 550
    Thank you for sharing this info. with us. It reinforces all of the things I have learned since my father was diagnosed about a year ago.

    God bless,

    -Lee-
  • valeriec
    valeriec Member Posts: 348 Member
    Thanks Monica, very impowering and modivating.
    God bless-
    Valerie
  • Monicaemilia
    Monicaemilia Member Posts: 455 Member
    LOUSWIFT said:

    Goodstuff to be sure and most of it may even be right for some people some of the time. It forgets the one universal truth and that is we are all not the same or are cancers, their treatement, or their effects. I think its great to get out this info but these conditions for cancer development, growth and prevention isn't suggesting that if we all do this that you'll get cancer or cure cancer for everyone- is it?. The numbers over population doesn't suggest this. Still since no one has the answers to our problem looking at possibilities is a good thing.

    You are so right Lou. Someone once asked me "Do you know why it is so hard to find a cure for cancer? Because it is such an individual disease". That comment made a lot of sense to me, especially reading the many stories on this forum. This last week alone there was an article on how deaths related to cancer are dropping in the States, while here in Canada, there has been no significant drop. I could speculate as to the reasons, but it would just be that, speculation. We just have to keep on fighting and use every resource at our disposal. Monica
  • This comment has been removed by the Moderator
  • Monicaemilia
    Monicaemilia Member Posts: 455 Member
    Oops...it seems that my post has upset a few people and that was never my intention. I just thought some of the points were very good, and I wished I had been told of them a year ago when I was dx'd. On a personal note, although the post mentions surgery and chemo on a negative note, although I have to admit it is nothing I have not heard before, I'll be the first one in line to cut anything out that will make me NED. I will be much more careful in posting in the future. Monica
  • 2bhealed
    2bhealed Member Posts: 2,064 Member
    Monica!

    This is a wonderful compilation of very important info. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this and sharing.

    You are singing to the choir here (for me)! :-)

    With your permission I want to copy it off to use as a hand-out in my Juicing For Life workshop that I put on at my local coop.

    I focus a lot of info on LIVE ENZYMES (which the juices obviously provide) and how important they are to healing a body that is compromised with cancer. It was a delight to read such affirmations.

    And yes, all body chemistries are unique so we all respond differently, but trying to balance the body out and give it optimal nutrition that is easily assimilated (through whole foods, veggie juices and avoiding "dead foods" and toxins) we are giving our bodies the best shot at fighting off the cancer cells. No one protocol has all the answers for everyone, but it could be perilous for us to ignore the obvious -- lifestyle and diet changes are non-negotiable when it comes to trying to cure cancer. Period. And why doctors don't see this is still a mystery to me and a travesty.


    Thank you.

    peace, emily
  • 66Rose
    66Rose Member Posts: 58
    unknown said:

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

    Since I am new I am unaware who CSN Guy is, a moderator?!

    First off I LOVED the post Monica, says it all.

    And I beg to differ with CSN Guy on point #9.

    I know first hand this is true, or should I say that 3 of my doctors told me this could happen during surgery, or were they plagued by the myth?

    One can read into this from several angles. They first went to get my tumor in May of 2006, and did not remove it, but gave me a lovely ileostomy. The reason they did not touch it was concurred by all 4 of the surgeons in the room at the time. If they touched the tumor, it was so big and not "stable" and trying to remove it would make it worse i.e. spread, break apart etc. Sounded logical to me, but who am I am? They were the experts. So to me it means doing surgery on it would make it worse.

    So we waited, tried one Chemo for 2 months, did not work to shrink it, and then went to radiation and 5FU and Whala it shrank! Then back into surgery on October 2nd, they took out that nasty ole tumor, margins were clear, tumor came out very nicely, they were pleased.

    So here comes the intriguing part that makes some want to think hmmmmmm. So here this CSN guy who seems to be connected with the ACS he says that it is a myth that cancer spreads during surgery, ok lets say he is right, then about 75% of the Chemo given to people after surgery should not be? Not including Stage IV people. Remember I am not advocating this but simply trying to understand what he said.

    Because according to my oncologist my surgery was a success, they got the tumor, margins were clear, nodes clear BUT because of this so called myth that most doctors believe, during surgery a piece could have been left behind, to small to see and it is floating around my body, Chemo needs to be done to find this rogue cell/cells and kill it so it will not grow again. I met with my oncologist on Wednesday and said this very thing to him so I completely understood why he wanted to do Chemo, and he concurred again for the fourth time I asked, he wants to chase a cell that could have or not have been knocked lose during surgery. And as I have said here before I am liking my odds of not going after that cell or cells, again I am STAGE II OR III, that silly node involvement can't be verified.

    So does anyone else see this dilemma that CSN Guy has produced, or have our Western Doctors fallen into the myth too? Well at least my Western Doctors? Because my doctors told me cancer can spread because of surgery.

    Just as we discussed earlier about someone reading our posts and saying I can survive stage IV with no Chemo. We are not medical board, just a sharing board.

    I would love to be set straight, in a nice way pretty please.

    And for the record again I LOVED Monica's post and print it off and have it on my desk.

    God Bless,

    Liz
  • Monicaemilia
    Monicaemilia Member Posts: 455 Member
    2bhealed said:

    Monica!

    This is a wonderful compilation of very important info. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this and sharing.

    You are singing to the choir here (for me)! :-)

    With your permission I want to copy it off to use as a hand-out in my Juicing For Life workshop that I put on at my local coop.

    I focus a lot of info on LIVE ENZYMES (which the juices obviously provide) and how important they are to healing a body that is compromised with cancer. It was a delight to read such affirmations.

    And yes, all body chemistries are unique so we all respond differently, but trying to balance the body out and give it optimal nutrition that is easily assimilated (through whole foods, veggie juices and avoiding "dead foods" and toxins) we are giving our bodies the best shot at fighting off the cancer cells. No one protocol has all the answers for everyone, but it could be perilous for us to ignore the obvious -- lifestyle and diet changes are non-negotiable when it comes to trying to cure cancer. Period. And why doctors don't see this is still a mystery to me and a travesty.


    Thank you.

    peace, emily

    Thank you Emily. I was also glad to see some affirmation of a lot of what I have read on this forum. You can go ahead and share the info if you wish, as it was sent to me via e-mail that is circulated as most of these e-mails do to people with interest in the subject. Monica
  • StacyGleaso
    StacyGleaso Member Posts: 1,233 Member
    66Rose said:

    Since I am new I am unaware who CSN Guy is, a moderator?!

    First off I LOVED the post Monica, says it all.

    And I beg to differ with CSN Guy on point #9.

    I know first hand this is true, or should I say that 3 of my doctors told me this could happen during surgery, or were they plagued by the myth?

    One can read into this from several angles. They first went to get my tumor in May of 2006, and did not remove it, but gave me a lovely ileostomy. The reason they did not touch it was concurred by all 4 of the surgeons in the room at the time. If they touched the tumor, it was so big and not "stable" and trying to remove it would make it worse i.e. spread, break apart etc. Sounded logical to me, but who am I am? They were the experts. So to me it means doing surgery on it would make it worse.

    So we waited, tried one Chemo for 2 months, did not work to shrink it, and then went to radiation and 5FU and Whala it shrank! Then back into surgery on October 2nd, they took out that nasty ole tumor, margins were clear, tumor came out very nicely, they were pleased.

    So here comes the intriguing part that makes some want to think hmmmmmm. So here this CSN guy who seems to be connected with the ACS he says that it is a myth that cancer spreads during surgery, ok lets say he is right, then about 75% of the Chemo given to people after surgery should not be? Not including Stage IV people. Remember I am not advocating this but simply trying to understand what he said.

    Because according to my oncologist my surgery was a success, they got the tumor, margins were clear, nodes clear BUT because of this so called myth that most doctors believe, during surgery a piece could have been left behind, to small to see and it is floating around my body, Chemo needs to be done to find this rogue cell/cells and kill it so it will not grow again. I met with my oncologist on Wednesday and said this very thing to him so I completely understood why he wanted to do Chemo, and he concurred again for the fourth time I asked, he wants to chase a cell that could have or not have been knocked lose during surgery. And as I have said here before I am liking my odds of not going after that cell or cells, again I am STAGE II OR III, that silly node involvement can't be verified.

    So does anyone else see this dilemma that CSN Guy has produced, or have our Western Doctors fallen into the myth too? Well at least my Western Doctors? Because my doctors told me cancer can spread because of surgery.

    Just as we discussed earlier about someone reading our posts and saying I can survive stage IV with no Chemo. We are not medical board, just a sharing board.

    I would love to be set straight, in a nice way pretty please.

    And for the record again I LOVED Monica's post and print it off and have it on my desk.

    God Bless,

    Liz

    FYI....

    the CSN guy, or Jose, as we know him, is a vital link to this web site. It is the hard work of him, Dana, and Greta (the founder of this site) who make our discussion pages, chats, and web pages possitle. They work diligently to make sure that information passed through the use of this site is accurate. They work diligently to make sure that folks aren't using this site or its discussion boards as a bible in which to dictate their course of action without any consideration for their personal need or that of medical influence.

    I do not believe that Monica meant any harm. But you have to consider that when people read things, they automatically tend to jump on bandwagons and sometimes that isn't good. In a nutshell, the chemo vs no chemo is one debate I would never jump back into. Burn me once, shame on you....burn me twice, shame on me! lol But I think sometimes people read things in search of an "easier" way to treat cancer. Not saying that emily's food lifestyle is easy....my hat goes off to her as I doubt I could ever be that disciplined! lol But if merely eating more veggies cured cancer, don't you think everyone would be cancerfree? There comes a time when medicine may and should come into play. And would it be the surgery causing more cancer or the fact that some cancer spreads, no matter how hard you try to strangle it? Because by NOT removing the tumor surgically, there is a real reason to think it could spread because it's left there to travel.

    Anyway....don't misinterpret....I'm not bitter, just feeling the need to defend my pal, Jose.

    Hugs,
    Stacy
  • stage4mom
    stage4mom Member Posts: 22 Member

    Thank you Emily. I was also glad to see some affirmation of a lot of what I have read on this forum. You can go ahead and share the info if you wish, as it was sent to me via e-mail that is circulated as most of these e-mails do to people with interest in the subject. Monica

    I would like to thank you too, Monica, for posting this very valuable information. In my opinion, lifestyle and diet changes are a must after a diagnosis of cancer.

    And to Emily: Well said, as usual! I couldn't agree more.

    Jane
  • 66Rose
    66Rose Member Posts: 58

    FYI....

    the CSN guy, or Jose, as we know him, is a vital link to this web site. It is the hard work of him, Dana, and Greta (the founder of this site) who make our discussion pages, chats, and web pages possitle. They work diligently to make sure that information passed through the use of this site is accurate. They work diligently to make sure that folks aren't using this site or its discussion boards as a bible in which to dictate their course of action without any consideration for their personal need or that of medical influence.

    I do not believe that Monica meant any harm. But you have to consider that when people read things, they automatically tend to jump on bandwagons and sometimes that isn't good. In a nutshell, the chemo vs no chemo is one debate I would never jump back into. Burn me once, shame on you....burn me twice, shame on me! lol But I think sometimes people read things in search of an "easier" way to treat cancer. Not saying that emily's food lifestyle is easy....my hat goes off to her as I doubt I could ever be that disciplined! lol But if merely eating more veggies cured cancer, don't you think everyone would be cancerfree? There comes a time when medicine may and should come into play. And would it be the surgery causing more cancer or the fact that some cancer spreads, no matter how hard you try to strangle it? Because by NOT removing the tumor surgically, there is a real reason to think it could spread because it's left there to travel.

    Anyway....don't misinterpret....I'm not bitter, just feeling the need to defend my pal, Jose.

    Hugs,
    Stacy

    All I wanted to know was who he was, you answered that question THANK YOU! And I just wanted my question answered about #9.

    And we could debate forever about how we eat in America, and yes I do think how we eat attributes to cancer rates, along with smoking drinking and lack of exercise.

    I was guilty before my diag, although was not as bad as the average person. And now I am changing that!

    I had a VERY YUMMY Carrot, Apple and Garlic fresh pressed juice today, yum!

    God Bless,

    Liz
  • JADot
    JADot Member Posts: 709 Member
    66Rose said:

    All I wanted to know was who he was, you answered that question THANK YOU! And I just wanted my question answered about #9.

    And we could debate forever about how we eat in America, and yes I do think how we eat attributes to cancer rates, along with smoking drinking and lack of exercise.

    I was guilty before my diag, although was not as bad as the average person. And now I am changing that!

    I had a VERY YUMMY Carrot, Apple and Garlic fresh pressed juice today, yum!

    God Bless,

    Liz

    Hi Liz:

    Garlic in the juice!? That's some strong brew! Whew, that should keep vampires away.

    Let me take a stab at your concern with #9 above.

    You said:

    "So here comes the intriguing part that makes some want to think hmmmmmm. So here this CSN guy who seems to be connected with the ACS he says that it is a myth that cancer spreads during surgery, ok lets say he is right, then about 75% of the Chemo given to people after surgery should not be? Not including Stage IV people. Remember I am not advocating this but simply trying to understand what he said."

    I think it's fair to say that if someone is having cancer surgery, that person has already had cancer, and that their surgery is life-saving, and critical to giving their bodies a fight chance to win again. During surgery, I can imagine when a drop of blood rolls from one spot to another, and it had cancer cells in it. But the original post, at least to me, seems to imply that cancer surgery is a considerable cause of spread of cancer. I think this is very misleading.

    The 75% number which you cite on people taking follow up chemo, I don't think it's accurate to attribute all of it to cancer cells knocked loose by surgery. It is simply impossible to remove every cancer cell by surgical means, ever, to no fault of the surgeon; it's just the nature of the disease. When a tumor grows in your body, connected to your lymph system and your blood vessels, and it discharges the crap it creates into your blood stream, stuff gets around, to use a laywoman's term. These lurkers, rogues cells cannot be eliminated by surgery. That's why it's important to have follow up treatments, be it chemo or lot of vitamin and garlic.

    So, without putting words in Jose's mouth, I am sure he was re-iterating the American Cancer Society's position on the importance of cancer surgery as a key lifesaving treatment, and that it is not a prime cancer spreading villain.

    To summarize, can cancer cells be knocked loose during surgery? Sure, I am easily see that. Should one avoid surgery? I don't think so. What are the shortfalls of nutrtion programs? Not mentioned in the original post. What if nutrition alone doesn't work? Not mentioned in the original post. To me, and a few others here, the data and advice seemed very one sided and therefore misleading. If we are talking responsible risk assessment, something should be said about the risk associated with no surgery and no chemo as well.

    I myself have had surgery, just days before a complete obstruction. I've also had chemo for 6 months. I am a passionate vegan, I take supplements, I exercise, and most of all, I believe that it's never this or that. A healthy diet and life style is a natural compliment to conventional cancer treatments, they are not mutually exclusive, and there is no need to bash one thing to extol the virtue of the other.

    And I might add, the list A-I is great. I live by most of them daily. Monica, thank you very much for sharing this list. It pulls together a lot of things in one spot for a pretty comprehensive reference, and it is great information for newbies. However, the list 1-11 is fraught with misinformation. But again, I don't for a moment think that you didn't offer the post with the best of intentions. If anything, a healthy discussion every now and then is a way for us to all learn new things. So please don't take personal offense is what I said. The only personal fight I have is with cancer.

    Hope this makes sense!

    Cheers,
    Ying
  • 66Rose said:

    Since I am new I am unaware who CSN Guy is, a moderator?!

    First off I LOVED the post Monica, says it all.

    And I beg to differ with CSN Guy on point #9.

    I know first hand this is true, or should I say that 3 of my doctors told me this could happen during surgery, or were they plagued by the myth?

    One can read into this from several angles. They first went to get my tumor in May of 2006, and did not remove it, but gave me a lovely ileostomy. The reason they did not touch it was concurred by all 4 of the surgeons in the room at the time. If they touched the tumor, it was so big and not "stable" and trying to remove it would make it worse i.e. spread, break apart etc. Sounded logical to me, but who am I am? They were the experts. So to me it means doing surgery on it would make it worse.

    So we waited, tried one Chemo for 2 months, did not work to shrink it, and then went to radiation and 5FU and Whala it shrank! Then back into surgery on October 2nd, they took out that nasty ole tumor, margins were clear, tumor came out very nicely, they were pleased.

    So here comes the intriguing part that makes some want to think hmmmmmm. So here this CSN guy who seems to be connected with the ACS he says that it is a myth that cancer spreads during surgery, ok lets say he is right, then about 75% of the Chemo given to people after surgery should not be? Not including Stage IV people. Remember I am not advocating this but simply trying to understand what he said.

    Because according to my oncologist my surgery was a success, they got the tumor, margins were clear, nodes clear BUT because of this so called myth that most doctors believe, during surgery a piece could have been left behind, to small to see and it is floating around my body, Chemo needs to be done to find this rogue cell/cells and kill it so it will not grow again. I met with my oncologist on Wednesday and said this very thing to him so I completely understood why he wanted to do Chemo, and he concurred again for the fourth time I asked, he wants to chase a cell that could have or not have been knocked lose during surgery. And as I have said here before I am liking my odds of not going after that cell or cells, again I am STAGE II OR III, that silly node involvement can't be verified.

    So does anyone else see this dilemma that CSN Guy has produced, or have our Western Doctors fallen into the myth too? Well at least my Western Doctors? Because my doctors told me cancer can spread because of surgery.

    Just as we discussed earlier about someone reading our posts and saying I can survive stage IV with no Chemo. We are not medical board, just a sharing board.

    I would love to be set straight, in a nice way pretty please.

    And for the record again I LOVED Monica's post and print it off and have it on my desk.

    God Bless,

    Liz

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator
  • JADot
    JADot Member Posts: 709 Member

    Oops...it seems that my post has upset a few people and that was never my intention. I just thought some of the points were very good, and I wished I had been told of them a year ago when I was dx'd. On a personal note, although the post mentions surgery and chemo on a negative note, although I have to admit it is nothing I have not heard before, I'll be the first one in line to cut anything out that will make me NED. I will be much more careful in posting in the future. Monica

    Monica,

    No worries, I don't think any of us are questioning your intentions. As you said, most of the nutrition advises are good and they would be useful to newbies.

    The other stuff, since it is posted, then I think there should be a discussion to go along with it. So when the newbies do read it, they can get another POV.

    Cheers,
    Ying
  • JADot
    JADot Member Posts: 709 Member
    unknown said:

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

    Hi Jose:

    You guys do a marvelous job at running this board which has been a life line to me as I fought my battle! You guys are awesome! Thanks for doing what you do!

    Cheers,
    Ying
  • spongebob
    spongebob Member Posts: 2,565 Member
    unknown said:

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

    Dude!

    Working on a Saturday? At like 7 pm?? I hope you're getting paid overtime!

    Thanks for your comments!
  • Betsydoglover
    Betsydoglover Member Posts: 1,248 Member
    Hi Monica (and everyone) -

    Regarding the idea that cancer cells "feed on mucus", here is an interesting link (there are many others out there). Cancer cells don't "feed" on mucus, but some of them may produce mucus as a protective mechanism. (In the digestive tract, mucus is essentially a major protective mechanism for normal cells - unfortunately it therefore also protects cancer cells.)

    The following article from Harvard about some Dana Farber research is kind of interesting:

    http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/04.29/01-mucus.html

    Betsy