Ginger, Beta-Carotene, and Anti-Fungals

Thanks, Jill, for starting to gather all the pertinent information on foods' anti-cancer properties. A huge job, but invaluable to us!

Having read through the responses to her first posting on ginger, would like to add the following:

I'm a firm believer in the efficacy of ginger. Years ago, a very annoying tremor in my leg--which didn't respond within a month to the anti-inflammatories prescribed by my doctor--was squelched after I did some research and consumed 2 capsules of ginger (Nature's Way) every few hours. In just a few days, the tremor that had dogged me all summer disappeared. Coincidence? I don't think so.
Ginger has a powerful anti-inflammatory with a long medical history in Eastern cultures. And few side effects.

But thanks, Jill, for reminding us that when platelets are really low, we should avoid ginger--as well as ALL blood-thinning foods and supplements, such as the following:
a lot of green tea, our beloved berries, garlic, fish oil and vitamin E. These are all BENEFICIAL under normal circumstances but not when platelets are very low. And one of the reasons they are beneficial--not the only reason--is their blood-thininning properties. As cancer patients, we WANT thin blood (blood with relatively low platelet counts), for thick blood (platelet counts on the higher side of normal) tends to encourage metastasis, according to Dr. Keith Block, eminent in the field of integrative medicine.

Likewise, according to Block, we want low levels of INFLAMMATION, measured by CRP levels in our blood tests. (C-Reactive Protein). Low levels correlate with reduced danger of cancer spread. Ginger--as well as garlic, curcumin, green tea, quercetin--all help to suppress inflammatory reactions.

So in effect, if our platelets are not critically low, we WANT to ingest all of these substances.

As for the warnings about beta-carotene: Several analyses of clinical studies explain that beta carotene was surmised, in a few studies, to CAUSE lung cancer because it was used a) by itself (rather than along with the other carotenes) and b) in artificial form. Several writers including Blaylock and Block clarify this point. Beta carotene is GOOD for us, but best when combined, synergistically, with lutein and other carotenes, preferably those derived from the algae dunsinella (sp?) if we are taking "mixed carotene" supplements.

I was particularly struck by one of your comments that "anti-fungals" deserve their own thread. If one reads James Quillen's idiosyncratic book on nutrition and cancer (he has the credentials to be authoriative but tends to be quirky and anecdotal at times; footnoting is sometimes sporadic), he keeps speculating that many cancers may be little more than a FUNGUS. Repeated anecdotal evidence leads to his speculation as he cites several patients, told to "get their affairs in order," with, say, stage 3 lung cancer, who refused more chemo and asked for an antifungal medication--and who, ten years later, were NED. Granted, it's speculative, but many profound findings begin with speculation based on anedcotal evidence. Obvisoulsy they need confirmation through concerted study.

But I think we should all pursue anything we can find on the possible connection between some cancers and fungi and list anti-fungal properties in foods and spices.
Rosemary and thyme, I recall, are powerful antifungals--as is garlic.

Sugar, in contrast, feeds fungal growth, and it was fascinating for me to read, in a book about Chinese medicine, that "uterine disorders" are associated with "too much dampness." Dampness = fungus, does it not?
Eggplant, in the same text, was cited as a vegetable that, in ancient Chinese practice, was always prescribed for uterine disorders.

Best,
Rosey