New Ways To Boost Immunity
ByI recently received a question about a product called Beres Drops, named after the designer, Joszef Beres. This is a liquid which is designed to deliver adequate amounts of trace minerals in a favorable form.
In a discussion of cancer, the most relevant aspect of these drops are the effects on the immune system.
This is a good opportunity to stress the importance of immune stimulation in the fight against cancer, in treatment and prevention. So let’s look at cancer and immunity first.
Cancer is made of abnormal cells. These cells lack of apoptosis, which is defined as a normal, healthy death of cells whose time it is to die. Apoptosis allows new, young, vital cells to restore health, replacing abnormal, damaged or diseased cells.
Cancer cell keep on multiplying, damaging the body and robbing resources.
The body is designed to find abnormal cells and remove them, whether foreign or from the body.
The white cells are busy, patrolling for viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. The while cells are also supposed to find abnormal body cells and remove them.
Cancer is quite good at evading these immune responses. Cancer cells lack certain molecules on their surface that the body uses to tell if the cell is abnormal or not.
Cancer cells are also able to literally suppress the immune system by sending out certain chemical signals that turn down the healthy immune protection.
So one aspect of a Full-Spectrum Care strategy is to attempt to boost the immune system, in particular NK cells and cytotoxic T cells, the main players in cancer patrol immunity. Activity of these types of white cells is very important.
I have discusses different ways to accomplish this in the Guide. Previous blogs have looked at beta glucans, PSK, PSP, cordyceps, shitake,maitake, Bio Bran and more.
Beres drops supply to body with trace minerals, the most well studied being zinc. I feel zinc is important enough to include it in Apocaps, the dietary capsules being advanced by Functional Nutriments.
In spite of the fact that it appears the exact formula is proprietary, the makers of Beres drops do have some publications showing effects. When zinc is removed from their formula, the beneficial effects are lost, at least in the study where they took out the zinc.
Short story: the body is usually zinc deficient when there is a systemic cancer growing. These low levels of zinc limit the production of a hormone that stimulates the very white blood cells needed to combat cancer. This hormone is called thymulin.
You want these this hormone active!
Read more about zinc and immunity here and here, and here is some more.
I use about 4 mg of zinc gluconate per 40 lbs of body weight, once a day, with a small amount of food.
As with most outside-the-box therapies I discuss, my advice is to rotate between members of a single group. Use the zinc for a couple of weeks, then go to beta glucans, then maybe Bio Bran, and then back to zinc. You get the idea.
Best,
Dr D
About the Author
Dr. Demian Dressler, DVM is known as the "dog cancer vet" and is author of Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Beyond Surgery, Chemotherapy & Radiation. Visit his blog and sign up free to get the latest information about canine cancer. Go to http://DogCancerBlog.com.
3 Comments
May 9th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
I have just purchased your book which has given me so much information.
I cannot afford the cost of chemo. I would like to give my dog a chance rather than putting her down. At this stage, you wouldn’t you know she has it. Do you have an opinion on using Essiac to treat cancer in animals? My Jack Russell has just been diagnosed with leukemia.
Thank you
May 11th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Janice,
my impression thus far is that Essiac seems to have a paucity of published data on it. There is some rationale to the components, and there are anectodal success stories. From a logician’s viewpoint, not the strongest evidence. The flip side is who knows, it could help in your particular dog.
D
May 19th, 2009 at 8:12 am
Dear Dr.Dressler,
I wrote to you in late December right after Lucille was first diagosed and I can only thank you for your help, support and the suggestions that you gave then. To recap, our Lucille, who was diagnosed with Mast Cell, Grade II, Intermediate Stage in late December 2008.Surgery was done to remove the tumor located on her tail by amputaing her tail.She will be finishing three months of chemotherapy next week. At this time she is being given Prednisolone 5mg once per day, K9-Immunity, K9 Transfer Factor, 8000mg Fish Oil(any higher dose and she becomes nauseous, I also tried Krill oil and the same thing happened)she is also taking Vit E 400iu with Selenium. Once her chemo is finished her Pred will be decreased to 5mg EOD for about three more weeks and then can hopefully be stopped. At that time I will be starting her on the Zinc gluconate and also the Beta glucan. This will be given as you suggested on an alternating pattern. As Beta glucan is derived from therapeutic mushrooms as is the K9 Immunity do you feel that this combination would be ok if given together? Also regarding supplemention for a dog that has Mast Cell Grade II, has had chemotherapy treatment an now appears “clear” of that diagosed cancer through ultra-sound and bloodwork what other supplements would do well for using on her to keep her immune system strong to fight off any other attacks? Lucille is doing so wonderfully, feels good and if it weren’t for the loss of her tail you would not know that there was anything wrong in her life she is such a happy girl and for that we could not be any happier ourselves.
Once again thank you so much for all your help. Shirley & Lucille