Thyme: An an herb with multiple beneficial uses!

March is traditionally noted as Women's Health Month.  Generally NHN often encourages you to uses thermography and ultrasound for best breast cancer screening because of the risk of developing cancer from mammogram.

This herb and of course many others can be helpful to you if you are concerned with breast cancer.

Thyme was used during the embalming process in Ancient Egypt and as incense for temples in Ancient Greece. According to writer Maud Grieve, the Romans used thyme to flavor up alcoholic beverages. (1)

Hippocrates, also known as “the father of medicine” noted thyme as an amazing culinary herb that can be grown in gardens and gathered in countrysides. In one of his documents, he mentioned the therapeutic uses of thyme in treating respiratory diseases and conditions. (1)

Strongest antioxidant known to man

Today, we see many people touting the benefits of essential oils and their ability to manage stress levels, boost mood, deal with specific pain, and fight off any infections. (2)

The essential oils of thyme support body systems and are the strongest known antioxidants. Thyme contains a large amount (between 20% to 54%) of thymol, which is a naturally occurring compound, biocides, that can destroy harmful organisms. Additionally, when thymus is used in conjunction with other biocides, such as carvacrol (Oregano), the antimicrobial attributes are incredibly strong. (1)

The leaves, flowers, and oil of thyme are most commonly used by people for conditions such as bedwetting, diarrhea, stomach ache, arthritis, colic, sore throat, cough (including whooping cough), bronchitis, flatulence, and as a diuretic. (1)

But did you know that thyme could also be an effective anti-cancer remedy, especially breast cancer?

Shows promising treatment for breast cancer

Breast cancer is less prevalent in Greek women than American women. Thyme has been used as a staple in Mediterranean cooking, which is possibly why Greek women experience less than half the incidence of breast cancer. (2)

According to the journal Nutrition and Cancer, researchers from Celal Bayar University in Turkey conducted a study to see what effect wild thyme might have on breast cancer cells, especially how wild thyme affected cell death and epigenetic events in breast cancer cells. (1)

Researchers in this study confirmed that wild thyme induced cell death in the breast cancer cells, noting that wild thyme “may be a promising candidate in the development of novel therapeutic drugs for breast cancer treatment.”

Proven to kill 98% of breast cancer cells

In as little as 72 hours of in vitro breast cancer treatment, thyme essential oil was able to kill 98% in human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) with a concentration of only 0.05%. However, if concentrations were used as low as 0.01%, thyme essential oil still was able to kill 40% of breast cancer cells.

In other studies, thyme essential oil has also proven successful in treating oral and ovarian cancer. If you’re struggling with skin issues, digestive woes, yeast infection, high blood pressure, anxiety, insomnia, fatigue, or circulation, then thyme essential oil may be of benefit to you as well. (1)

Sources for this article include:
(1) www.medicalnewstoday.com
(2) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Ask us about chaparral and Venus Fly Trap as well as other natural cancer therapies from our herbal products farmacy.

Thanks to Raw Food World.

Alternate Media follows our lead

Now that millions have seen the true colors of the Komen Foundation Following its withdrawal of funding from Planned Parenthood I'm posting a selection of our articles on "PINK" from over the years.

After 20+ years of PINK there is no cure. And there is little aimed at prevention and different screening and treatment options that may be better than what if offered and supported by Komen.

I applied one year for a grant to do education and was denied.  I take it that my focus to help women learn about options was not on the agenda for Brinker.

This also says too that the Pink Lid campaign from General Mills ignored a request for a grant from the 501c3 non profit that sponsors this blog.

I started educating in earnest against the lineal mind set of breast cancer care and lack of sure in the early 90s.

The fact that Komen backed mammography screening was advised against in the early 70s by an expert in radiation effects is also quite unknown. It was opposed because it was expected to increase the risk of breast cancer, which it has done.

Now with the outrage and backpedaling from Komen on awards to Planned Parenthood, mostly effecting poor women, Alternet has picked up on some of what we have been saying for decades.

Donations to our 501c3 are welcome. 

Please use the PayPal link in the right column to support us. 

Women

There are quite a few more that listed here which you can locate with our search function.

Natural Health News: NEARLY $$$1 BILLION FOR WHAT?

Jan 21, 2007

General Mills won't support Creating Health Institute's Women's Health programs (especially those we provide to people with limited income) through the pink lids program. Komen never responds when we submit a proposal.

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/

Natural Health News: CLUCK FOR THE CURE PART 1, AND NOW ...

Apr 26, 2010

The sprawling chicken purveyor and Susan G. Komen for the Cure® have teamed up "to raise funds and spread breast cancer awareness and educational messaging" via a campaign at 5000 KFC restaurants. Participating ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/

Natural Health News: Why Insurance Reform Doesn't Get You Better ...

Jan 04, 2010

It seems as if the controversy over Hadassah Lieberman, the Senator's wife, is on the payroll of the Komen Foundation to the tune of about $300K a year. Gary Locke's wife is on their payroll too, most likely lobbying while she's ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/

Natural Health News: Parade of the Pink Lids

Sep 30, 2009

After five years of asking consumers to collect and send in Yoplait pink foil lids to raise money for Komen, Yoplait sought a way to enhance consumer involvement and elevate its brand awareness in the crowded breast cancer ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/

Natural Health News: October Pink Promotions

Oct 01, 2008

We at Creating Health Institute would be very grateful if we could get donations for our year-long women's health initiative from Komen or other corporate programs that promote Komen. Donations for this effort go a long way to ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/

Natural Health News: Pink Cause Marketing

Feb 24, 2011

4 September 2010 - The Pink Cause Marketing is getting underway once again. I just received a spam from a PR firm about a massage clinic in Seattle that would give $15 from each massage to the Komen Foundation.

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/

Natural Health News: PINK Cause Marketing

Sep 04, 2010

I just received a spam from a PR firm about a massage clinic in Seattle that would give $15 from each massage to the Komen Foundation. I wrote the fellow back and explained a few things about the Politics of Pink. Here at ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/

Natural Health News: Question Authority and Breast Screening

Apr 04, 2009

Just this week I sent a message to the Inland NW contingent of the Komen Foundation who are gearing up for another "Race for the Cure". My message was the same: "Why aren't you providing women with the facts about ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/

Natural Health News: Pink ribbon overkill: Exploitation?

Oct 13, 2009

With their "Buckets for the Cure" campaign, KFC and Susan G. Komen for the Cure are telling us to buy buckets of unhealthy food to cure a disease that kills women. When a company purports to care about breast cancer by ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/

Natural Health News: Pink Lids Marching

Sep 21, 2009

I direct a 501c3 organization and I can't get General Mills/Kraft to donate to it for our educational efforts, like this blog for example, as they give only to Komen. Komen refuses to communicate with my office. Maybe there is a ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/

Natural Health News: Does Going Pink Lead to "The Cure"?

May 26, 2011

Similarly, Yoplait requires participants in its “Save Lids to Save Lives” campaign to either mail lids to the company or enter a code online to donate a whopping 10 cents to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Why not donate a ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com

Natural Health News: Radiation of any kind increases cancer risk

Jan 18, 2009

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation and Bristol-Myers Squibb, which makes the imaging agent used in the study, paid for the work. The next test will be to see how MBI stacks up against MRI. The federal government ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/

Natural Health News: Large Numbers of Breast Cancer Cases ...

Mar 25, 2010

"We hope that no one comes away from these studies with the idea that they're an attempt to 'blame' anyone for breast cancer," said Diana Rowden, a vice president at Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a breast cancer group in ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/

Natural Health News: Chemo continues to damage

Apr 23, 2008

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the Komen Foundation for the Cure, and the Wilmot Cancer Center. Adapted from materials provided by University of Rochester Medical ...

http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/

Key Nutrients Protect Breast Health

I call this Breast Health Awareness Month as do several of my more enlightened health care collegues. 

Please be aware that these (and other) nutrients help support breast health -

• Vitamin A
• Vitamin B complex and also B6 and B9 (folic acid)
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin D
• Vitamin E
• CO Enzyme Q 10
• Iodine
• Lycopene
• Selenium

Enlightened health care providers can offer you lab tests to check your nutrient protection levels.

NUTRIENT FYI

More about supplements

ReThink Pink

As the pink madness of the October 2009 programming winds down, because today is October 31, I am pleased to provide readers with this very good article from an MD with an open mind.

As more and more doctors and other health professionals start to get the idea that mammogram really isn't good for health or breast cancer screening, sanity will creep slowly back into women's health care.

A Closer Look at Screening Mammography

Until then, become your own best health advocate.

Ginkgo Found to Protect Against Radiation Damage

This is good news for women, and men, who are exposed to radiation via mammogram, MRI and other scans in standard breast screening and therapy.

Of course we hope that more will stand up to the status quo and demand access to thermography, but in the interim, this information certainly can be of help.

It is also good news for our military, now known to be over exposed to DU.

A report published and October, 2009 issue of the International Journal of Low Radiation added evidence to a protective effect for Ginkgo biloba against radiation damage. Ginkgo biloba is a tree species whose leaves have been used for centuries in Chinese medicine. Ginkgo leaf extract contains antioxidant compounds called ginkgolides and bilobalides which help scavenge free radicals that attack nearly all components of the cell, including DNA.

In their article, Chang-Mo Kang of the Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences in Taegu and colleagues describe their use of an assay for radiation-induced programmed cell death (apoptosis) to evaluate the protective effect of ginkgo extract against radiation exposure that occurs during accidents or occupational overexposure. In one experiment, white blood cells from human donors aged 18 to 50 were treated with one of four concentrations of ginkgo extract or a 9 percent saline solution before being exposed to gamma rays.

The researchers found a significant dose-dependent reduction in apoptotic cells among those treated with ginkgo. While radiation-induced apoptosis occurred in nearly one third of irradiated cells not treated with ginkgo, the number declined to 5 percent or less in cells treated with the herb.

In another experiment, mice were treated with ginkgo extract or saline before and after receiving whole body ionizing radiation. Mice that did not undergo radiation served as controls. Examination of the animals' spleens found that treatment with ginkgo maintained organ size comparable with that of animals that did not receive radiation, while spleens in irradiated animals that did not receive ginkgo were significantly smaller.

In their discussion of the findings, the authors note that cell-damaging free radicals and reactive oxygen species can be generated in excess under numerous conditions, including exposure to environmental chemicals, specific drugs, and during normal aging.

"These results indicate that the radioprotective effects of ginkgo extracts administered prior to radiation are due to the OH radical scavenging activity," the authors write. "Therefore, ginkgo extract should be useful for the protection of radiosensitive organs against free radicals.

An Important History of Cancer Politics

This article is a long one but it provides insight into how methods that truly cured cancer have been sidetracked by the politics in mainstream medicine over the decades.

Bringing this to light certainly can provide you with some fuel to question your medical provider about cancer care.

It is so very sad that the system we have in the US today is so totally focused on profit, regardless of the sector.

Thoughts On Breast Cancer Awareness Monthby Lawrence Broxmeyer, MD

Breast Health Awareness Education and Advocacy Campaign

Something you won't learn from mainstream medicine

Continuing to advocate and educate during our Breast Health Awareness campaign


Iodine is extremely important for breast health and health in general. If you happen to live in northern latitudes it is much more important as well as if you live in US western states bordering with Canada. In this area low selenium levels in the soil and food impact thyroid health because selenium helps make iodine work.

Other risks include environmental exposure, especially to other halides like chlorine and fluoride (check your drinking water) as these two partners block iodine from doing its job to feed your thyroid gland.

One well known Canadian physician, Donald Derry MD, lost his license because he was curing breast cancer without chemo and radiation, but using natural methods including iodine.

Here another MD, well respected for his opinion on iodine, explains further -

Breast Health Iodine and Other Nutrients Play a Crucial Role
By Jorge D. Flechas M.D., M.P.H.
Of all the cancers women develop, 29 percent are breast cancer. By age 25, 1 in 19,608 women will develop breast cancer. By age 50, this number changes to a shocking 1 in 50 and by age 75 an even more dismal statistic: 1 in 11. In a total lifetime, one woman in 8 will develop breast cancer.

In January 2005, cancer became the leading cause of death in the United States. Each year about 211,000 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in the USA. The number of new breast cancer cases increased from 82 per 100,000 women in 1973 to 195 per 100,000 women in 2000. The main cause of death prior to that was heart disease. The estimated death rate from breast cancer is 40,600: 40,200 females and 400 males.

Much is said in the public media about a genetic link with this cancer. Yet, genetics play only a small role in the development of breast cancer — less than 7 percent. In the September 8, 2006 issue of USA TODAY one of the lead articles was on Killer Cancer Genes ID’d. It mentioned that 122 breast cancer-causing genes have been identified. The scientist quoted in the article mentioned that we may not be able to tackle all the genes in a tumor but that we may have to work on silencing the cancer-causing genes. Doctors in the future may find that silencing even one of these genes could be enough to keep a tumor in check or kill it. They mention in the article that treatments could be a decade or more to develop.

Yet, the technology for tomorrow is here today in the supplements we have at our disposal. For example, methylation of DNA and gene silencing are affected by nutrition. Many articles exist on silencing genes and how the use of methyl-folic acid, methyl-vitamin B12, selenium, trimethylglycine powder and zinc help to methylate the DNA.

Breast Cancer Risk Factors
Many breast cancer risk factors have been identified such as a high-fat diet, low-fiber diet, tobacco use, and alcohol use. These risk factors can be modified by an individual. There are other factors that are mostly out of a woman’s control. The longer a woman is exposed to estrogen in her body, for example, the higher her risk. This would include early age at menarche, late age at menopause, long-term use of birth control pills and nulliparity (never having given birth). There seems to be a group of women whose use of birth control pills for more that 4 years puts them at higher risk before age 45. Women who take thyroid hormone are also at higher risk for developing breast cancer.1 Conversely, a lower risk for breast cancer is seen in women who are late in age at menarche, early age at menopause, and early age at first pregnancy.

Fibrocystic Breasts
In the New England Journal of Medicine, July 22, 2005 issue, there was a lead article showing that benign breast changes in women are associated with breast cancer. Benign breast changes is a new term for what we have called fibrocystic breast disease (FBD) in the past. FBD is currently affecting about 84 percent of the female population in North America.2 FBD is a misnomer because the medical problem is not a disease in the strictest sense. It is more a problem of cyclic breast pain that is associated with the menstrual cycle. In some patients the breast pain is seen daily, regardless of their menstrual cycle. Tissue biopsy for these benign breast changes that do grow larger are called proliferative lesions and if they do not grow they are called non-proliferative lesions.

Non-proliferative lesions (non-growers) can include cyst of the breast, radial scars, apocrine cells which generally make up sweat glands—the breasts are classified as a modified sweat gland—fibroadenoma, and hyperplastic cells that are normal in appearance under the microscope but are more numerous than usual. Proliferative lesions with normal cells are called sclerosing adenosis, which have a slightly increased risk (1.5 to 2 times). There are proliferative lesions with abnormal or atypical cells that are called hyperplasia—high degree with a moderate increased risk of breast cancer of (4 to 5 times), lobular neoplasia and intraductal papilloma. As a rule in medicine, the more abnormal cells look under the microscope, i.e., the more atypical the cells look, the higher the risk of cancer being present.

Iodine’s Supportive Role
Back in the early 1990s it was noted that patients who had iodine deficiency had associated benign breast changes. By giving these patient’s iodine the breast changes that were present would regress.2 It had been noticed a few years earlier that in animal studies, where the animal had been denied access to iodine, the animals developed benign breast changes like humans.3-5 In animal studies, researchers have been able to produce breast cancer in animals by depriving them of iodine.4

In my own personal medical practice I have literally seen the regression of cysts, nodules, scar tissue, and painful breast with the use of 50 mg of Iodoral® per day for 2-3 years. The breast pain goes away in just a few weeks, but the cyst/cysts, scar tissue and breast nodules take up to 2 to 3 years to resolve. On mammograms I have seen a 50 to 80 percent reduction in the scar tissue present in the breast. Studies are needed to show via biopsy that the many different types of FBD will regress with iodine supplementation.

Before starting on iodine therapy, a patient should have their thyroid hormone values investigated. A doctor should check the size of the thyroid for enlargement and or nodules. An iodine-loading test should also be done prior to starting iodine therapy to establish the need for iodine therapy. In this test the patient is given 50 mg of iodine and a 24-hour urine test is then collected. The iodine level in the urine is measured. The more saturated the body is with iodine the higher the level of iodine excreted. The more saturated the body is, the less breast abnormalities have been seen. The test is repeated at 3 months to document increasing saturation. If saturation is not occurring then further investigation is called for to find out why saturation isn’t happening.

Additional Support
Several other nutrients/hormones are also important to breast health and can be used in conjunction with Iodoral. DIM (diindolylmethane), the nutrient derived from cruciferous vegetables, for example, is influential in helping the body metabolize estrogen. DIM has been shown to change the way estrogen is metabolized. Metabolism of the natural estrogen estradiol occurs via one of two pathways. The tumor enhancer metabolic pathway, 16 alpha-hydroxylation, is elevated in patients with breast and endometrial cancer and in those at increased risk of such cancers. This increased 16 alpha-hydroxylation activity has been shown to precede clinical evidence of cancer, and it represents a significant risk factor for developing estrogen-dependent tumors.

Conversely, when estrogen veers away from the 16-alpha pathway and takes another route out of the body, the incidence of cancer decreases. This alternate route, which acts as a tumor suppressor metabolic pathway, is called 2-hydroxylation, a process that transforms estrogen into 2-hydroxyestrone (20HEI), an antiestrogen. Healthy individuals not at risk for breast or endometrial cancer bypass the 16-alpha route and instead metabolize estrogen through this preferable pathway. DIM signals the body to metabolize estrogen via the tumor suppressor 2-hydroxylation pathway.

In addition to this more well known estrogen-related mechanism of action of DIM, recent research also indicates that DIM can prevent angiogenesis, the process by which new blood vessels develop. Cancer cells use the development of new blood vessels to spread throughout the body. In mice, DIM inhibited angiogenesis by up to 76 percent.6 In addition, in mice implanted with human breast cancer cells, tumor growth was inhibited by 64 percent in animals treated with DIM.6

Another means of supporting breast health is by using natural progesterone cream. A syndrome known as Estrogen Dominance is prevalent in women, especially postmenopausal women. According to progesterone researcher Dr. John Lee, estrogen unopposed by progesterone results in a number of adverse effects including painful breasts, fibrocystic breast disease, and breast cancer.

Estrogen dominance usually occurs at menopause, when progesterone production falls to approximately 1 percent of its pre-menopausal level. At this time, the production of estrogen falls to about 50 percent of its pre-menopausal levels. This dramatically alters the estrogen: progesterone ratio, causing estrogen to become toxic without progesterone to oppose it. As a result, the risks for breast and uterine cancer and fibrocystic breast disease increase.7 Therefore, progesterone also has a crucial role to play in maintaining breast health.

Vitamin D is another breast-supportive nutrient. Women who have mutations in their vitamin D receptor gene are nearly twice as likely to develop breast cancer compared to women who do not have the mutation. The vitamin D receptor gene controls the action of vitamin D in the body. Scientists have found that Caucasian women with certain versions of this gene not only have an increased risk of breast cancer but also may suffer from a more aggressive form of the disease if it spreads. The results suggest that vitamin D does indeed play a part in protecting the body against breast cancer, as past studies indicate.

Five to ten percent of breast cancer cases are due to already established gene mutations such as BRCA1. However, the underlying cause of breast cancer in women who do not have this gene and have no family history of the disease has remained a mystery. The study suggests that the mutation in the Vitamin D receptor gene may have a role to play in disease development in women who would not ordinarily be expected to develop the disease.8

References
1. Ghandrakant C, Kapdim MD, Wolfe JN. Breast Cancer. Relationship to Thyroid Supplements for Hypothyroidism. JAMA. 1976; 238:1124.

2. Ghent WR, Eskin BA, Low DA, et al. Iodine Replacement in Fibrocystic Disease of the Breast. Can J Surg. 1993; 36:453-460.

3. Eskin BA, Bartuska DG, Dunn MRea. Mammary Gland Dysplasia in Iodine Deficiency. JAMA. 1967; 200:115-119.

4. Eskin BA. Iodine Metabolism and Breast Cancer. Trans New York Acad of Sciences. 1970; 32:911-947.

5. Eskin BA. Iodine and Mammary Cancer. Adv Exp Med Biol. 1977; 91:293-304.

6. Chang X, Tou JC, Hong C, Kim HA, Riby JE, Firestone GL, Bjeldanes LF. 3,3’-Diindolylmethane inhibits angiogenesis and the growth of transplantable human breast carcinoma in athymic mice. Carcinogenesis. 2005 Apr;26(4):771-8.

7. Lee, John R., What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause. Warner Books, May, 1996.

8. Guy M, Lowe LC, Bretherton-Watt D, Mansi JL, Peckitt C, Bliss J, Wilson RG, Thomas V, Colston KW. Vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms and breast cancer risk. Clin Cancer Res. 2004 Aug 15;10(16):5472-81.

Parade of the Pink Lids

Since I started Natural Health News over 5 years ago as an outgrowth of my original web site, Natural Healing through Natural Health, more than 100 articles have been posted here regarding cancer, and specifically breast cancer. You may locate those articles with our blog search box. Additional articles are found on that web site's Celebrating Women page.


After five years of asking consumers to collect and send in Yoplait pink foil lids to raise money for Komen, Yoplait sought a way to enhance consumer involvement and elevate its brand awareness in the crowded breast cancer field. Working with Cone Inc., Yoplait created an award celebrating 25 “Yoplait Champions,” ordinary people doing extraordinary things in the fight against breast cancer. The results: 125 million media impressions for the Champions program on top of the usual attention generated by Yoplait’s lids promotion, sponsorship of Race for the Cure and $2 million contribution to Komen. (Cause Marketing)

There is yet to be a "cure", don't you wonder why?