Every year, a small number of terminal cancer patients experience what doctors call “spontaneous remission”—recovery without a clear medical explanation. Few research studies have examined the phenomenon, which remains a mystery to conventional doctors.
But a new book by Kelly Turner, a Harvard-educated cancer researcher, reveals nine common factors in such remarkable cases—including faith, dietary changes and certain alternative-medicine practices. The book—Radical Remission: 9 Key Factors That Can Make a Real Difference—has just been issued in paperback.
“For every one case that’s published in medical journals, a hundred more go unpublished,” notes Turner, who spent a decade interviewing more than 100 cancer patients in 10 countries who’ve experienced such recoveries. She also analyzed 1,000 other similar cases to identify commonalities in against-all-odds survivors.
Her research identified nine top factors that were common among those who have experienced radical cancer remissions.
“I found over 75 different things that they were doing to try to get well,” she tells Newsmax Health. “Not everyone did all 75, but almost everyone that I’ve studied did nine of these things.”
According to Turner’s findings, the following factors were common to all of the “radical remission” cases she examined:
Taking Control
The most dramatic case Turner discovered was a Japanese kidney cancer patient who underwent unsuccessful surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. But once he started taking control of his health—drinking filtered water, eating healthy food and watching the sunrise every day—he went into remission. “He did all the nine factors in my research and, 25 years later and counting, he is completely cancer-free and has grandchildren,” she says.
Spiritual Connections
The practice of some form of spirituality—praying, meditating or interacting with the natural world—has measurable impacts on the immune system, Turner found. “What helps them survive, according to the people I studied, is not what they believe but how they practice their spirituality,” she explains.
Changing Your Diet
Nearly all of the long-term survivors Turner interviewed had taken aggressive steps to boost the nutritional value of their diets—boosting their consumption of fruits, vegetables, organic foods, filtered water and limiting foods such as meat, wheat, sweets and soda. She calls this factor “the big one” among the patients she studied.
Herbs and Supplements.
Most survivors used three types of herbs and supplements—those that aid digestion and increase the body’s absorption of nutrients, help detoxify the body of bacteria and viruses and boost the immune system. These include probiotics, prebiotics, digestive enzymes, detoxifying herbs (such as goldenseal, wormwood, dandelion root, milk thistle, licorice root, and walnut hull), anti-bacterials (oil of oregano, garlic), aloe vera, turmeric, and vitamins C, B12, and D.
Social Support
Many studies have linked close connections with family and friends to cancer survival—something Turner’s research confirmed. “Scientifically we know that that’s actually possible, because when you feel loved, oxytocin is released in huge amounts from the master glands of your brain and that increases (the immune system’s) natural killer cells and white blood cells,” she explains.
Trusting Intuition
Learning to trust your gut instincts was also a key factor Dr. Turner observed in the patients she studied. “They used their intuition to help make decisions,” she says. “And intuition is interesting because it actually can sense danger and paths to safety, long before the front of your brain—which is the thinking part of your brain—even knows what’s going on.”
Accentuating the Positive, Eliminating the Negative and Focusing on Reasons for Living
Three other characteristics of long-term survivors were inter-related: embracing positive emotions, letting go of negative ones and developing stronger reasons for living. Turner found the patients she studied made time every day to do these things, just as they made time to eat, sleep and exercise.
“Research has shown that having a fighting spirit and fighting against your cancer actually doesn’t lengthen survival time. And that’s exactly what I found among my radical remission survivors, as well,” Turner says.
“Many of them weren’t fighting their cancer; many of them were just simply focused on enjoying life for as long as they had it. And so again that’s moving them out of fear, and out of sort of this fight-or-flight mode and into the rest-and-repair mode, where you’re enjoying life, you’re relaxing, you’re taking happiness when you can get it. And that is actually better for your immune system than being in a fight with something.”
For the original article, visit newsmaxhealth.com.
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