This nourishing soup is a delicious way to naturally boost your immunity. Traditionally prepared in cultures throughout the world, bone broth is easily digested and provides a wealth of nutritional and immune support factors. The long simmering required for making bone broth is necessary for extracting the marrow, which contains myeloid stem cells (the precursors to red blood cells) and lymphoid stem cells (the precursors to white blood cells and platelets). Red blood cells deliver oxygen to cells throughout the body, white blood cells are an essential component of the immune system, and platelets are needed for clotting.

The last time I wrote a blog post on vaccines, it generated quite a bit of conversation and raised some very good questions. It is hard to find the “truth” about vaccines, if you want to hear the entire truth. One thing is certain: It would be a lot more fruitful if people on both sides of the debate stopped exaggerating the facts to make their point.

A great deal of fear surrounds the combination of botanical medicine and modern medicine that isn’t based in truth or scientific rigor, but rather on theory or hearsay. Unfortunately, that deters many patients from treatment protocols that can greatly enhance their quality of life and prolong their life as well.

There is an extensive body of research demonstrating in vitro and in vivo (animal and human) synergy between natural products and anti-cancer drugs including chemotherapy, targeted agents, and immunotherapy against primary cancer, cancer resistance, and particularly cancer stem cells.

I often find myself thinking that modern medicine has it all wrong when it comes to treating cancer. Miraculous new treatments for cancer make headlines every day, but what are the long-term results of these treatments? Are these wonder drugs truly extending life, and more importantly, are they enhancing quality of life?

According to a recently published paper in the British Medical Journal, one of the most prestigious, peer-reviewed medical journals, more than one-half of cancer drugs approved by the European Medicines Agency from 2009 to 2013 show no improvement in quality of life or survival.

“Success is never final, and failure is never fatal”
-John Wooden

If you have recently been diagnosed with advanced cancer or another serious life-threatening disease, remember that everything you might think about it—positive or negative—is merely an interpretation. You are the one who decides how you will relate to the diagnosis.

My advice, based on my three decades of working with people with serious illness, is simple. Do not limit yourself by assuming that you or anyone else knows what the outcome will be. The truth is that no one knows. Surrender to the unknown and focus your attention on living your best life.

It is blessedly freeing to accept what is in this moment, without projecting into the future. Use your mind and heart to seek out and consult with trained, experienced, well-respected professionals whom you trust. And use the power of prayer to help guide you.

Understanding Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio (Part 2): Research Demonstrating its Role as a Valuable Prognostic Marker in Cancer

A large body of research (as well as my clinical observations) point to chronic inflammation as a powerful force in the initiation, growth, and spread of cancer. As a result, an essential component of my protocol for health includes addressing inflammation.

As I discussed in part 1 of this series, there are three points to consider when evaluating the role of inflammation in cancer. First, a chronic inflammatory state can initiate cancer development. Second, it’s important to discover and address the root cause of the inflammation—for example, pathogenic (chronic infection), life-style, stress, and/or poor dietary habits. And third, recognize that the cancer itself creates inflammation—as the cancer energy mutates and gains intelligence, it manipulates the immune system, creating a pro-inflammatory micro-environment favorable to cancer growth.

Research indicates that the systemic manifestations of inflammation can provide a valuable biomarker for prognosis and treatment stratification. In particular, numerous studies indicate that a simple indicator of systemic inflammation—based on neutrophilia and/or lymphocytopenia—can provide prognostic information in a wide range of cancer types. In particular, the value of one index (the dNLR) derived from total white cell and neutrophil counts, is enabling large retrospective studies to be carried out.

Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio May Be a Predictor of Mortality in All Conditions

White blood cell (WBC) count is one of the useful inflammatory biomarkers in clinical practice. For example, even if WBC is within normal range, subtypes of WBC including N/L ratio may predict cardiovascular mortality.

N/L ratio is a readily measurable laboratory marker used to evaluate systemic inflammation. There are many different conditions that can affect N/L ratio, including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome (1), left ventricular dysfunction, acute coronary syndromes, valvular heart disease, abnormal thyroid function tests, renal or hepatic dysfunction, known malignancy (2,3,4), local or systemic infection, previous history of infection (<3 months), inflammatory diseases, and any medication related to inflammatory conditions.

Here’s one example of how the N/L ratio can be useful as part of the evaluation of a specific cancer and the treatment protocol: not only N/L ratio but also mean platelet volume, red cell distribution width (5), platelet distribution width, CRP, uric acid and gamma-glutamyl transferase (6) are easy markers to evaluate the prognosis of colon cancer patients (7). However, one should keep in mind that N/L ratio itself alone without other inflammatory markers may not give exact information to clinicians about the prognosis of colon cancer patients. (8,9).