Cancer Rates

You learn lots of things about cancer generally when you are doing research into supplements, treatments and clinical trials.


It's stunning to me that on an age adjusted basis, the U.S. has breast cancer rates (for women) which are three times higher than Japan.

12.2% of U.S. women will develop breast cancer during their life.

That is a lot of women doing surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and Tamoxifen.

The good news is, if it has not metastasized, the 5 year survival rates are greater than 82% if it's hit a lymph node and greater than 98% if it hasn't.

The part that interests me of late is comparisons between the U.S. and other countries in that many of the supplements we've been educated about and Meagan has or is taking come out of non-Western medical tradition. So the obvious question is, do they make a difference? Clearly something makes a difference in the development of the disease. Our oncologist thinks it's pretty much diet related. Mostly because, for example, breast cancer rates rise for Asian women once they come to the U.S.  Must be all those Omega-6's and high fat, high protein foods.

But on the supplement and treatment side, if turkey tail mushrooms represent 25% of cancer related medical expenses in Japan (as we've been told by our naturopath and some articles we read online), is there a material difference in outcomes vis a vis the U.S. once you have the disease. The answer is "no". No material difference. Does that mean those supplements don't work? Or work as well as our "poison the body" approach here in the U.S.? I don't know what the other 75% of expenditures are - maybe the same protocols to a lesser degree. But it's curious, and part of the larger puzzle about what causes cancer and how to cure it.