Exercise as medicine - Helping fght cancer

blood vessels to the tumour would also mean that treatment with chemotherapy drugs would be able to reach and kill the tumour; however, this is not the case. The vessels built are often of poor structure, blocked or damaged, or ineffective for normal blood fow.

Cancer and nutrition

And it goes from there.

e capacity our rst responders have to the dangerous encounters they have can only eventually take its toll and Bob shows it through this book.

During his time in the Victorian Police Force he served in uniform and in the Criminal Investigation Branch as a detective.

e tasks he investigated include murders and manslaughter, armed robbery, fraud, arson and sexual o ences.

e book leaves the reader with a full appreciation of what our police go through to keep our communities safe.

A er leaving the police force, Bob followed his passion for military history and studied at university as a mature age student before eventually completing a PhD in Victorian history at the University of Melbourne.

Bob has published a number of books and articles on Australian military history and Victorian history.

He has also written a true-life murder mystery from World War Two called Murder at the Fort.

It is also available online for purchase through shawlinepublishing.com.au

In the last article, we discussed the importance of muscle quality in the cancer journey and how exercise helps with the hallmarks of a cancer cell. In this article, I will explain the process created by cancer cells to increase oxygen and food supply (angiogenesis) and, exercise effectors to combat the process, and the role nutrition plays in the cancer journey.

Angiogenesis is the building or creation of vasculature (blood vessels), a natural physical response to stressors such as exercise, wound healing, and menstruation. Our body closely controls angiogenesis, aiming to maintain our fnely balanced internal systems (called keeping Homeostasis).

Tumours creating imbalance

As a cancer tumour grows, it will require a supply of food and oxygen to enable the replicative immortality process of cancer growth to continue. The tumour will also want to move to other areas in the body that suit its needs (metastasis), continuing the spread of the disease. A cancer growth that needs food and oxygen will ‘hijack’ our natural processes by stimulation of two signifcant proteins called Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (a or c), which attach to respective receptors on the outside of our cells in close vasculature. These proteins stimulate the degradation of the layers of arteries and veins and then the building of branches to the tumour.

In normal circumstances, our body would stop this by down-regulating the protein action with angioinhibitors such as angiostatin and endostatin. Here is where the cancer tumour shows how challenging it is to stop. Not only does it stimulate the proteins for the growth required, but it will also turn off the inhibitors that prevent the process from occurring.

Typically, building

Ultimately, they will be enough to sustain tumour growth and metastasis but be inadequate for normal blood fow.

When we exercise (particularly cardiovascular types), acute actions can help treat a tumour, with chronic adaptations helping long-term disease management.

Acutely our blood vessels go through a process called vasodilation, allowing stronger blood fow to the body, whilst chronic adaptations are the building of strong, healthy, and resilient blood vessels into the deeper outreaches of our body. Processes like this allow our immune cells and any chemotherapy treatment to have a greater chance of fnding the tumours and having the required effects. Combining cardiovascular exercise (for improved vessels) and resistance training (to boost our immune system) could be powerful tools in helping fght cancers.

Having the right balance of nutrients and energy sources during all stages of the cancer continuum has been shown to help attenuate some of the side effects such as muscle loss, cachexia, and malnutrition. If you look on the internet, there are many unqualifed and untested eating plans or superfoods that are marketed as a tool to help you win the battle. Unfortunately, when desperate and looking for anything to help, people often take these pathways. The wrong nutrition or use of supplements that are not prescribed may be feeding and promoting tumour growth. If you are looking at the right pathway to optimal nutrition while dealing with cancer see a qualifed and experienced cancer dietition.

In the next article I will cover some more hallmarks that exercise can combat, lifestyle factors that may be related to increased cancer risks, and the epigenerational effect these may have on your family.

If you have any questions on exercise and cancer, feel free to email me at david. ba.hoffmann@gmail. com.

RIGHT throughout my life when I think back, I’ve belonged or identified outright with one tribe or another, in every sense of the word. The ultimate one is humanity itself, my fellow person; the creature most defined, albeit conflicted by the combination of its unbounded potential, introspection, and ego.

The American cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead once noted, “Ninety-nine percent of the time humans have lived on this planet we’ve lived in tribes, groups of 12 to 36 people. Only during times of war, or what we have now, which is the psychological equivalent of war, does the nuclear family prevail, because it’s the most mobile unit that can ensure the survival of the species. But for the full flowering of the human spirit, we need groups, tribes.”

I was reminded of this recently when I met a woman called Heather, and a fellow Melbourne Demons tragic, one who has been following the team since the 1950’s – an era which the team won with such ease that they are still referred to as being the greatest team of all-time. But it was the deep connection we formed straight away via our shared affection for this club, our tribe, a tribe richly dyed in red and blue.

Connections I develop a similar bond with others come through a love of literature and the arts; as one of my favourite artists, Wassily Kandinsky once said, “To harmonise the whole is the task of art.” And life itself when it is lived in such a way that reveres the presence of others, irrespective of how different or seemingly disagreeable they might