Each year, I return to City of Hope in Duarte for my annual follow-up after successfully receiving cryoablation for my early-stage breast cancer in 2019. This year, I was ecstatic to see the many changes incorporated with the completion of The Cherng Family Center for Integrative Oncology. Integrative oncology combines standard medical treatments with more natural lifestyle therapies. Throughout the beautiful new facility, I saw flyers and posters promoting yoga, tai chi and plant-based nutrition classes for patients. I enjoyed a nutritious vegetarian spring roll at their new Nourish Café. And, most importantly, I had a completely different conversation with my doctor who seemed newly versed in the science behind lifestyle medicine. With my imaging clear and even benign cysts appearing reduced in size, lifestyle was the only thing to discuss. My doctor shared the sciencebased benefits of vitamin D, aerobic exercise and antioxidant foods like blueberries, and emphasized the importance of avoiding sugar and minimizing caffeine—all practices I adopted during treatment and continue today. She also shared that she personally started a keto diet and understood both the challenges and benefits such lifestyle choices can bring. The Cherng Family Center was made possible by a $100 million gift from philanthropists Peggy and Andrew Cherng, founders of Panda Express and the Panda Charitable Family Foundation. With a focus on eastern and western medicine, a key mission of the center is to develop multidisciplinary approaches that combine standard medical treatments like chemotherapy, radiation and surgery with holistic modalities such as nutritional therapy, mind-body practices, acupuncture and herbal medicine. According to information provided by City of Hope, an estimated 40% of cancer patients use integrative therapies annually to address disease and chronic issues, such as pain.1 “However, few health care organizations — let alone cancer centers — provide access to integrative therapies under physician supervision, much less use them holistically in treatment for patients with cancer.” Their goal is to make integrative oncology an evidence-based, interwoven standard of care that supports optimal cancer treatment and survivorship. They are working to reshape the future of cancer care by improving access to whole-person therapies, advancing research on complementary therapies and training the next generation of clinicians in this field. This incredible news is music to my ears. In 2016, I interviewed Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds author Kelly Turner, PhD, and learned of thousands who beat cancer through integrative care. Then I became one of them. With renowned institutions like City of Hope leading the way, integrative oncology is certain to become the standard of care for those in treatment, as well as for cancer prevention and survivorship. Lauren Del Sarto is founder and publisher of Desert Health and can be reached at Lauren@DesertHealthNews.com. For more information, visit www.CityofHope.org. Search Lauren’s Cancer Journey at www.DesertHealthNews.com. Reference: 1) https://ascopubs.org/doi/full/10.1200/JCO.22.01357 www.DesertHealthNews.com Continued on page 17 Integrative Medicine The Valley's Leading Resource for Health and Wellness 14 www.restorehealth.me www.restorehealth.me Ketogenic Weight Loss Functional Medicine Cancer Remission Anti-Aging Live Longer and Healthier — All Naturally Personalized health services offering non-pharmaceutical solutions to reverse disease Joseph Scherger, MD, MPH Medical Director (760) 898-9663 • Indian Wells office@restorehealth.me www.RestoreHealth.me www.md100.com Eduardo Ramirez, MD Obesity, Functional and Integrative Medicine Visit MD100.com Obesity Medicine We use advanced diagnostics and personalized care plans to address the root causes of obesity and metabolic health issues through medical, nutritional and lifestyle strategies. Patients receive consistent virtual access to a physician who listens, adapts and supports their long-term goals. 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SCHEDULE YOUR CONSULTATION AT VITARA WELLNESS TODAY PERSONALIZED RELIEF FOR PAIN, PERFORMANCE & LONGEVITY IDEAL FOR 760-208-4011 bewell@vitarawellness.com 73345 Hwy 111 Suite 203B Palm Desert, CA 92260 Interventional Spine, Joint & Sports Pain Management Regenerative Medicine | Health Optimization If insults that degrade the brain are replaced by healthy nutrition and lifestyle, is the brain capable of healing, similar to other organs? Contrary to conventional thinking in neurology, Dale Bredesen, MD, gives a resounding “yes.” Dr. Bredesen, a research neurologist, has a series of cases dating back to 2014 when he published his first report of remission of early Alzheimer’s disease. Two years later, he published a report of 11 patients, and subsequently, through his work and his New York Times best-selling book, The End of Alzheimer’s, hundreds of patients have been helped on his protocol. Bredesen is best described as a neurobiologist. Like his mentor, Leroy Hood, MD, PhD, he studied biology at California Institute of Technology before graduating from Duke University Medical School. For over 20 years, he searched for a “magic bullet” to treat Alzheimer’s disease and found that all drugs that could reduce the pathological markers of Alzheimer’s, amyloid plaques and tau protein bundles, actually resulted in patients getting worse. Bredesen realized these markers are actually scar tissue on the chronic inflammation causing the disease, and you cannot treat a disease by treating the scars. Bredesen’s wife is an integrative primary care physician and advised him that to prevent and treat this disease, you have to fix the patients' lifestyle. They compared the disease to a leaking roof with 36 different holes which all must be patched. From that perspective, Bredesen developed and refined a protocol he named ReCODE (reversing cognitive decline) that is being used worldwide. Bredesen is a controversial figure in the academic neurology community. A weakness in his research is that he publishes patient success stories and is unclear about who succeeds and who fails. The Ageless Brain is the best and most useful of his four books on preventing and reversing cognitive decline. Early-stage Alzheimer’s can now be tested through blood biomarkers for the accumulation of amyloid and tau proteins. Since I have one genetic marker for the disease, an ApoE4 chromosome, I had this test done and am gratified that at age 74, I do not have these markers. I follow the Bredesen recommended lifestyle. As described in his book, Bredesen notes that the most critical actions for an “ageless brain” are to: • Maintain normal blood sugar levels. • Avoid high glycemic foods (those containing sugar) and inflammatory foods like grains. • Practice intermittent fasting of 12 hours or more daily. • Maintain low inflammatory markers such as a C-reactive protein (CRP) less than one. • Avoid toxins such as lead, mercury and arsenic. Dale E. Bredesen, MD’s The Ageless Brain A Review by Joseph E. Scherger MD, MPH Changing the face of cancer care City of Hope Embraces Integrative Cancer Care By Lauren Del Sarto
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