Scientifically Unraveling Misconceptions About Cancer
There is a saying that know the truth, and the truth shall set you free and when it comes to science, knowing the truth about anything will help a lot. There are a lot of science talks that look like the truth but in reality, they are far from the truth. These things are not conspiracy theories, they look like the truth whereas they are far from it. One Science topic which is health related that has this near truth talks is Cancer.
You might have heard a whole lot about cancer including what could cause it, what could treat it, risk factors and many more with the believe that these things are true whereas science doesn't back them up in any way. Today, let's discuss a few science facts about science so you can forget those misconceptions that you have.
You might have read in so many news headlines that sharks do not get cancer. This topic originated in the 70's after several studies that said that sharks don't get cancers and taking shark cartilage supplements will prevent as well as cure cancer. This is because a substance in cartilages prevent the flow of blood which cancer needs to grow and scientists have been using the process known as anti-angiogeneis to starve tumors of blood preventing them from growing.
To confirm if sharks could get cancer, another research was done where sharks were fed with a cancer causing chemical known as Aflatoxin B1 and waited for the sharks to develop tumors but they didn't show up. Well, since this study didn't look at the entire life of the shark till its death, we cannot say if the had tumors after the study was ended but then with this report, people have been selling shark cartilages as supplements.
https://www.psychreg.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/whale-sea.webp
https://www.psychreg.org
Because a person is taken tissues of sharks in supplements isn't a tick for that person to have the immunity from cancer because the chemical responsible for preventing cancer isn't enough to transfer the benefit to another person. I know you might still find this disturbing because you have the intention that sharks do not get cancer, well let me tell you that studies in recent times have shown that sharks do have cancers as researchers have been able to find sharks that have cancer although they are scarce to find and this is possibly because they do not live long.
Actually, I heard this one I will be discussing with you from someone on the street yesterday. She was talking about a person who died from cancer, either as a result of the poor health care system in the country or as a result of not having money to treat themselves, then she mentioned that the person who suffered the cancer made a mistake of consuming sugar. With this, she was saying that people who have cancer should not eat sugar.
This misconception looks well intended but the fact remains that the is misinterpreted information. Normal cells use up glucose molecules in aerobic respiration to produce ATP (1 glucose molecule equals around 30ATP molecules) but can also use anaerobic processes to produce energy, only that it will not produce lots of energy even when more glucose is burnt but Cancer cells prefer using the anaerobic method to burn glucose and produce energy. So cancer cells require lot of glucose anaerobically, the idea that taking sugar is bad for cancer emanates but researches have shown that not eating sugar doesn't give cancer cells access to less glucose. This is because either from sugar or protein, a calorie is a calorie to your body and the body will convert it to glucose and with this, the cancer cells will find their way to glucose either ways.
Antioxidant is good at preventing cancers is another thing that people who sell different types of tea and multivitamins say. To these set of people, antioxidant is the cure to almost every type of ailment. We can not dispute the fact that antioxidant is important in preventing free radicals or Reactive oxygen that damages our DNA which in turn can lead to cancers but the believe that consuming more antioxidant would prevent the damage more but that isn't true as there isn't much evidence to show that taking more antioxidants supplements reduces the risk of cancer as studies have been done on people taking vitamins A and E supplements and little benefits were found.
Other studies showed that taking antioxidants can speed up the progression of cancer for people who already had cancer. With antioxidants, the cancer cells grow well, and travel round the body properly.
In unraveling these cancer-related myths, it becomes evident that science-backed knowledge is crucial. Discerning fact from fiction empowers individuals to make informed decisions about their health, fostering a more accurate understanding of complex topics.
Reference
https://scienceblogs.com/observations/2010/09/06/ocean-of-pseudoscience-sharks
https://aacrjournals.org/cancerres/article/64/23/8485/512022/Shark-Cartilage-Cancer-and-the-Growing-Threat-of
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25157892/
https://anaximperator.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/sugar-depleted-diet-is-not-a-useful-cancer-cure/
https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/diet/antioxidants-fact-sheet
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/antioxidants-may-make-cancer-worse/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3473763/#b3
https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article/97/21/1562/2521495
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.288.5464.259d
https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2015/antioxidants-metastasis
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10045152/
https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_and_General_Biology
I have heard this myth that whales do not get cancer, and it is very common among people that if one doesn't make proper research, one would believe them blindly. Thanks for sharing this post, see you in your next post.
We know a lot, yet, there is much more we don't know. The more we know, the more we know that we don't know. As advanced as science is, we have yet to scratch the surface of how the human body operates.
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