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Dramatically Effective New Natural Way to Starve Cancer and Obesity

June 08, 2010 | 278,095 views
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William Li discusses a new way to think about treating cancer and other diseases -- anti-angiogenesis, which means preventing the growth of blood vessels that feed a tumor. The crucial step: Eating cancer-fighting foods that beat cancer at its own game.

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Dr. Mercola's Comments:

"Angiogenesis" is the process your body uses to build blood vessels. Your body consists of some 19 billion capillaries (the smallest blood vessels), which are the vessels for both life, and yes, in many cases, death, as Dr. William Li, explains during his fascinating TED lecture.

This is because cancerous cells, like all other cells in your body, cannot thrive without the oxygen and nutrients supplied by your capillaries.

Virtually all of your blood vessels are formed while you're in the womb, but there are still certain circumstances in adulthood when your body will grow new blood vessels.

Blood vessels are created each month to form the lining of a woman's uterus, for example. And during pregnancy, new blood vessels form the placenta, which connects and shuttles nutrients to the growing fetus.

"Your body has the ability to regulate the amount of blood vessels it needs at any given time," Li explains, and it does this through an elaborate system of stimulators and inhibitors.

"But for a number of diseases there are defects in this system," Li says.

In some cases, your body becomes incapable of "pruning back" extra blood vessels, and in others it cannot grow enough new ones.

In these situations, angiogenesis is out of balance, and a myriad of diseases result.

For example, insufficient angiogenesis (too few blood vessels) can lead to:

  • Chronic wounds that will not heal
  • Heart disease
  • Stroke
  • Neuropathy
  • Erectile dysfunction

Excessive angiogenesis (too many blood vessels) promote diseases such as:

  • Cancer
  • Blindness
  • Arthritis
  • Endometriosis
  • Multiple sclerosis

According to Dr. Li, there are more than 70 major diseases, affecting more than a billion people worldwide -- which on the surface appear completely different from each other -- that all share abnormal angiogenesis as a common denominator.

"This realization allows us to reconceptualize the way we approach these diseases -- by controlling angiogenesis," Li says.

This is exciting, as I believe and have taught for years that your diet is the key to preventing diseases of all kinds, including cancer. Dr. Li's research explains, and scientifically validates what many of us have experienced, and our ancestors intuitively knew.

You are what you eat, and there are vast differences between a historically wholesome, nutritious diet, and the processed, chemical-based foods that pass for sustenance today.

Strategies for Starving Cancer, and Obesity

In his TED talk, Dr. Li focuses primarily on cancer, because angiogenesis is a hallmark of the disease. As stated earlier, cancer cells cannot grow into noticeable tumors without sufficient amounts of capillaries feeding them oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood.

As it turns out, the majority of people carry around microscopic cancer cell clusters in their bodies, but not everyone actually develops cancer.


"Anti-angiogenic therapy is the method of cutting off blood supply to the cancer," Li explains. "This can be done because tumor vessels, unlike healthy vessels, are abnormal and poorly constructed, and because of that, they're highly vulnerable to treatments that target them."

There are currently about a dozen different anti-angiogenic cancer drugs that, according to Li's statistics, have significantly increased survival rates.

However, the answer to the cancer epidemic is not just devising better drugs to treat it in its advanced stages. The answer is preventing cancer from occurring in the first place, and that's what's so exciting about Dr. Li's research.

Interestingly, obesity is also largely dependent on angiogenesis.

"Like tumor cells, fat cells grow when blood vessels grow," Li says. So in essence, a cancer-preventive diet is also an obesity-preventive diet.

The Cancer-Preventive Diet

Dr. Li believes the answer to cancer is to prevent angiogenesis, which can effectively starve any microscopic cancerous growths, preventing them from growing and becoming dangerous.

But how do you prevent angiogenesis, aside from using a drug?

As it turns out, "mother nature has laced a large number of foods, beverages and herbs with naturally occurring inhibitors of angiogenesis," says Li.


As shown on a graph in the video, diet accounts for at least 30-35 percent of all environmentally caused cancers.

So, "eating to starve cancer" could have a dramatic impact on cancer rates across the world.


Other anti-angiogenetic foods include:

Green tea Berries: strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries Cherries
Red grapes Kale Turmeric
Nutmeg Artichokes Parsley
Garlic Tomato Maitake mushroom


Logically, different foods contain different potencies of anti-angiogenetic compounds. But interestingly, when researchers evaluated a combination of two of the LEAST potent teas, for example, they discovered that this combination tea had greater potency than any given tea by itself.


Synergy is indeed what makes fresh, whole foods so potently nutritious! The sum is far greater than the individual parts, and this is why it's far more important to focus on eating a diet of whole, organic foods, rather than obsessing about individual nutrients.

Some Foods are As Potent, or More Potent than Anti-Angiogenetic Drugs!

In his lecture, Dr. Li shows a graph comparing anti-angiogenetic drugs with foods. It's a beautiful illustration of just how potent foods can be, because, as Li says, "foods hold their own, and in some cases are more potent than the drugs!"

Examples of foods equaling or exceeding the potency of drugs include parsley, garlic, and red grapes.

Dr. Li is now involved with creating the world's first rating system that will score foods according to their anti-angiogenetic, cancer-preventative properties. But there's really no reason to wait for a comprehensive list, because we already know that optimal health hinges on a healthy diet consisting of a wide variety of whole, organic foods.

Just like a single food contains synergistic compounds, and a combination of foods can work together synergistically, a healthy diet overall will help you prevent all manner of disease, including cancer, in more ways than one.

For example, balancing your insulin levels will have a beneficial, protective effect on a number of diseases, including cancer. And eating according to your nutritional type also has potent anti-cancer effects. When we treat cancer patients in our clinic, this is in fact one of the most powerful anti-cancer strategies we have.

Other Important Strategies that Can Help Prevent Cancer








So clearly, no cancer prevention plan is complete without this simple lifestyle modification.

Normalizing your vitamin D levels with safe amounts of sun exposure is one of the most effective, and least expensive, strategies that is available to most people. Ideally, you'll want to monitor your vitamin D levels to make sure your levels stay within a therapeutic range year-round.

Here are several additional strategies you can incorporate to virtually eliminate your cancer risk:

  1. Control your insulin levels by limiting your intake of processed foods and sugars as much as possible.
  6. Maintain an ideal body weight.
  7. Get enough high-quality sleep.


Food Democracy Now
Mercury Free Dentistry
Fluoride Action Network
National Vaccine Information Center
Institute for Responsible Technology
Organic Consumers Association
Center for Nutrtion Advocacy
Cornucopia Institute
Vitamin D Council
Alliance for Natural Health USA
GrassrootsHealth - Vitamin D*action
American Holistic Veterinary Medical Foundation
The Rabies Challenge Fund
Cropped Catis Mexico