Arginine in the Treatment of Cancerous Tumors

What is Arginine? (l-arginine)


Arginine is a complex amino acid and is considered to be conditionally essential. It does not fall perfectly into the essential or non-essential categories, due to the fact that arginine can be synthesized in the body at adequate levels for maintenance in normal adults. The body needs higher levels of arginine when it is under conditions of stress, illness, malnutrition or injury. When these conditions are present arginine then becomes essential. There are also some rare genetic disorders in which the synthesis of arginine is impaired; in these conditions supplemental arginine is necessary. It is interesting that even in those not deficient in arginine, beneficial effects were realized by supplementation.


In the human body arginine is most concentrated in skin and connective tissue.


Arginine has many benefits: 
Aids in liver detoxification
Detoxifies ammonia
Increases sperm count in males
Aids in kidney disorders and trauma
Maximizes protein synthesis 
Helps lower cholesterol
Stimulates blood flow
Stimulates cerebral circulation
Promotes optimum growth
Helps to reduce body fat and increase lean muscle mass
Assists the body in collagen production
Assists in the release of growth hormones
Enhances immune system function
Causes retardation of tumor growth


The actions of L-arginine which are related to its use in cancer treatment are:
Inhibits cellular replication of tumors
Assists in the release of growth hormones
Enhances immune response 
Improves rate of wound healing (in cases of surgical intervention) 


Arginine retards the growth of tumors and cancer by enhancing immune function. The thymus gland is the "director" of the immune system and plays a key role in determining the effectiveness of the immune response to cancer. When the body is under attack from cancer, protein loss causes the thymus to shrink, drastically reducing the strength of the body’s immune response. Supplements of free-form arginine, acting as the precursor of growth hormone, have shown the ability to increase the size and health of the thymus gland. The immune response becomes more vigorous as the thymus gland produces more of its enzyme, thymosin, which in turn stimulates the spleen and lymph nodes to manufacture higher levels of T lymphocytes (T-cells). The T-cells are not only increased in number, but also become more active and effective. T-cells aid in the destruction of pathogens, including cancerous cells, either by digesting the invading agents or by sending out toxic compounds to destroy them. 


A correlation has been seen between the excess of an enzyme, ornithine decarboxylase, and increased tumor growth. Arginine supplementation has been shown to decrease the activity of ornithine decarboxylase and aid in slowing tumor development in this manner also.  It is also believed that the by-products of normal arginine metabolism produce anti-tumor activity resulting in lowering polyamines, which are elevated in many cancer patients.



(Arginine is L-Arginine.  This is also the primary supplement in Hills Prescription Cancer Diet food. That food is canned because any cancer diet MUST be very high protein and medium fat. Almost all, probably 99% of all kibble dry dog foods no matter how much you pay is pretty high carb. Cancer loves carbs. Hills is available only at your vet at a very high price and does not have all that great ingredients. Just buy a good dry food and add l-arginine from your health food store to it with some cooked eggs or cooked ground turkey and some fish oil to up the quality protein and quality higher fats.)


I  GIVE LUCY A 80# LAB 900mg of Arginine capsule.




Arginine in the Treatment of Cancerous Tumors


Arginine and Fish Oil May Help Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy


Effect of fish oil, arginine, and doxorubicin chemotherapy on remission and survival time for dogs with lymphoma



Research Supporting the Use of Arginine in Cancer Treatment:
Animals fed arginine rich diets (5%) had considerably fewer and more benign tumors when later treated with the carcinogen DMDA (Takeda, Y., et al, Cancer Research, vol. 35, p.2390, Sept. 1975).
Arginine added to drinking water in animals was able to inhibit subcutaneous tumor growth (Pryme, If, Cancer Letters, Vol5, p. 19, 1978).
Arginine added to diet of mice (5% of wt.) produced fewer tumors, slower growing tumors, and twice the mean survival time as compared to untreated mice (Milner, JA, et al., Journal of Nutrition, vol.109, p.489, 1979).
Via animal studies, researchers have speculated on two primary functions of arginine in the body; essential for the synthesis of reparative collagen in wound recovery, decreases some of the negative aspects of metabolic responses to injury (Seifter, E., et al., Surgery, vol.84, no.2, p.224, 1978).
Arginine supplements in animals stimulated thymus activity which resulted in reduced tumor growth (Critselis, AN, et al., Federation Proceedings, vol.36, p.1163, 1977). Arginine also dramatically improves wound healing.
Arginine stimulates lymphocyte immune response in 21 healthy human volunteers Barbul, A., et al., Surgery, vol.90, no.2, p.244, 1981).
Arginine supplements in tumor-bearing mice provided enhanced T-cell function, increased response to autologous tumors, retarded tumor growth, and prolonged median survival time (Reynolds, JV, et al., Annals of Surgery, p.202, Feb.1990).
In mice with neuroblastomas, arginine supplements provided significant tumor retardation in the ummunogenic group (Reynolds, JV, et al., Journal of Surgical Research, vol.45, p.513, 1988). Arginine’s tumoricidal abilities go beyond its protein sparing abilities or immune stimulation.
Arginine supplements in mice provided significant enhancement of cytotoxic T-lymphocytes, natural killer cell activity, interleukin-2 receptors and general immune improvements (Reynolds, JV, et al., Surgery, vol.104, no.2, p.142, Aug.1988).
Accelerates protein synthesis and elevates albumin synthesis from 8.5% to 19.7% when used in TPN formula in 10 malnourished cancer patients (Tayek, JA, et al., Clinical Research, vol.33, no.1, p.72A, 1985).
Volunteers with breast cancer were given 10 milligrams a day for three days, which significantly enhanced several measures of immune function.. The mitogenic responses of peripheral blood lymphocytes were increased approximately 60%, while NK and LAK cytotoxicity were increased by 81 and 107%.

L-Arginine is an essential amino acid required for the normal cellular growth, metabolism and organ function. However, L-Arginine also plays a vital role in inducing cell death - Apoptosis. 

In a recent study conducted on dogs suffering with lymphoblastic lymphoma, researchers were able to increase survival time to a significant level by providing L-Arginine and fish oil only as a dietary supplement. L-Arginine was found to lower the levels of lactic acid and insulin in the blood and also reduce the levels of cytokines that can help in the growth of cancer. L-Arginine also helps in enhancing immunity in cancer patients who have undergone chemotherapy or surgery. Certain cancer types do not require L-Arginine for their growth. Studies have shown that overloading such cancer cells with excess L-Arginine has resulted in decreased tumor growth.  

Budwig Diet Plan for Dog Nasal Cancer or any cancer really

The Budwig Diet Plan and Cancer  

This protocol was created by Dr. Johanna Budwig, a bio-chemist, Nobel prize nominee and health practitioner who worked with patients in Germany between 1952 and 2002. During that time, people from all over the world who were suffering from various kinds of cancer, many of them terminal, met with this brilliant woman. She started them on her diet and general protocol and within three or four months, most regained their health.


Doctors who told cancer patients they had to have chemo, radiation or surgery, or told them nothing more could be done for them, giving them only weeks to live, retested them and declared them cancer-free, wrote Dr. Budwig. She claimed her success rate with cancer patients was over 90%.


Cancer epidemiologist John D. Potter of Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center said, "We're discovering a plethora of bioactive substances in plant foods."..."These compounds seem to interact with every step in the cancer process, mostly slowing, stopping, or reversing them..." Yes, he said that the substances in plant foods can stop or reverse cancer.
One of the keys in the Budwig diet is consuming foods that offer nutrients that help cells absorb oxygen. Dr. Otto Warburg received the Nobel Prize in 1931 for discovering that when cells can no longer absorb oxygen, cancer can develop. Dr. Budwig built on that knowledge and was the first to develop a diet and protocol that restores cells to normal functioning.
At the heart of the Budwig diet is organic, cold pressed, liquid flax seed oil blended with cottage cheese or “quark.” Dr. Budwig discovered that when these two foods are blended together, the sulfurated protein components in the cheese, such as cysteine, bond with the oil, making it more water soluble and easier to digest and metabolize. Consequently, more of the essential fatty acids and electrons in the highly unsaturated flax seed oil reach the cells and have a healing effect on the cell membrane where carcinogens attach themselves. The membrane of each cell is made up of lipids. Flax seed oil can improve this important outer cell lining that is crucial to cell function and division.


Her plan eliminates damaging fats and foods from the diet and replaces them with healing foods and life-saving essential fatty acids. Along with diet, she emphasized the benefits of sunlight and stress reduction. Dr. Budwig had over a 90% success rate with this protocol with all kinds of cancer patients over a 50 year period.  She worked with humans but she herself recommended using the flax oil and cottage cheese for dogs with cancer.  Obviously, her overall diet plan of fresh fruits and veggies is intended for her human patients—our pets can stick with carb free, grain free diets, foods as close to organic as possible and the FLAX OIL/cottage cheese mix once a day.


A main component of the Budwig Protocol is flaxseed oil Dr. Budwig discovered that FLAX OIL supplies the omega-3 and omega-6 oils that are deficient in cancer patients so the cell membrane can aid normal cell replication and attract oxygen to the cell. EFAs are also converted by the body into prostaglandins which regulate kidney function, inflammation response, immune function, keep blood vessels elastic, regulate blood pressure, influence platelet stickiness and properly metabolize cholesterol. A dog’s body can only absorb a limited amount of oil so the instructions below are important for binding the oil to a sulfur protein to allow the resulting water-soluble oil to be absorbed in greater quantities.


Omega 3 fatty acids, soften the cell membranes allowing penetration of supplements and oxygen, making the inner cell less hospitable to cancer. The Budwig protocol should be used in conjunction with Artemisinin, Artemix, Avemar, Oleander, low dose naltrexone, or anything else you are using.  It enhances what you are doing by softening the outer cell membranes to allow penetration of the herbal chemotherapy. 


Purchase organic flax oil—Barleans is a good brand. Get this fresh from the natural foods section of your grocer or health food store. 


There's one really important thing to do with the FLAX OIL to make sure it's maximally absorbable by the body. You need to blend it really well with a high protein dairy product like low fat cottage cheese with pineapple so the oil becomes water soluble. I use a hand held, immersible blender and blend until it looks like cheese cake or cheese with no signs of oil rising to the top, sort of like a smoothie.  But I sometimes just use a fork to mix for a good long time, due to my laziness. And it seems to be working.


The ratio of FLAX OIL to cottage cheese is 1:2 (1 tablespoon of flax oil to 2 tablespoons of cottage cheese). For a large dog (100 pounds) with cancer, your goal is 6 tablespoons of FLAX OIL per day but you should work up to it to avoid causing diarrhea. Start with 3 tablespoons of FLAX OIL per day for a couple weeks then go to 4T for a week, then 5T for a week, then 6T.  For a 50 pound dog, cut the dose in half and for little dogs, cut that in half again.  For prevention, 1 tablespoon of FLAX OIL per 100 pounds should be helpful.

 Tell your vet you are doing this amount of fat, to keep a watch on too much weight gain plus be sure to add this amount of fat over time like it says above so your dogs pancreas doesn't get mad trying to digest these increased fats.  Lucy never got fat.


Cancer loves an acidic environment because it cannot survive in an alkaline environment. Sugar causes acidity, plus it feeds cancer so avoid all sugars.  A grain free diet is best.  Use a high protein diet of cooked foods like eggs and ground turkey and good dog food kibble. Throw some veggies and blueberries so help fill them up and give them more nutrition. Because the protein and fats are going up with anti cancer diets you need to feed kibble in a lower amount and raise the veggies to they don't beg for more for their tummy. Dogs are made for pure protein and medium fat. So people stop with the myths of too high protein. Just make sure they have plenty of fresh water. A discussion of these myths will be blogged later. 
*Unless your dog has diagnosed kidney issues by your vet, feed them what they were built for.  


You can give the Budwig mix as a treat—Lucy is getting this once a day for a snack. She loves it! All I know is I have been doing this for many months now past her biopsy and x-ray proven diagnosis and her symptoms are gone. I am doing other natural stuff like I talk about in this blog, so obviously this is not a perfect study example, but she gets no radiation or chemo and has now lived many months past normally given AND now without symptoms even.


A few vets claim it is not possible for dogs to convert flax seed oil into omega 3 while others make no such claim. They all state, however, that the jury is still out on the dog’s ability to utilize flax seed oil. But Budwig proved it can be absorbed and that it can help. YOU CAN SEE EVERYWHERE THAT THIS STUFF IS GOOD FOR DOGS BECAUSE DOG FOOD MAKERS ARE NOW PUTTING IT IN ALL THE BETTER DOG FOODS AND SUPPLEMENTS FOR DOGS.

Dog Cancer Omega 3 Fish Oil

I give Lucy much more fat than anyone would think to give. She gets at least 8-10gram per day. 8 fish pills (4 at each meal) plus 1 tablespoon of Flax on Cottage Cheese which might be about 2grams.


Here some quotes around the web:

"Fish oil at 1000 mg per 20 lbs of dog each day is a recommended minimum dosage supplement for dogs with cancer"
"This is in addition to the Flax oil in the cottage cheese."


"Fats:
Not only do dogs have metabolism differences with carbohydrates, but they also
show abnormalities in lipid metabolism. These abnormalities contribute to
immune suppression. Malignant cells cannot use lipids for energy, so Dr. Ogilvie
suggests adding much more fat to a dogs diet, and in particular, the essential
fatty acid, Omega-3. He not only states that Omega-3 fatty acids will help a dog
with energy, but can actually help stop tumor growth.
Foods rich in Omega-3 include Flaxseed Oil, salmon and other cold water fishes.
He does suggest to limit the amount of Omega-6 fatty acids, as it has proven in
his tests that these oils can cause cancer to grow faster. Those oils would
include GLA's, or primrose oils, borage oil and black current oil."

"Many vets will recommend Hill’s n/d for cancer patients because it is clinically proven to improve outcomes, although the clinical results are only confirmed for lymphoma, nasal and oral tumors. Hill’s n/d is a prescription diet available through any veterinarian. It has what is thought to be an optimal ratio of proteins (37%), carbs (21%) and fats (32%) as well as additional Omega 3 Fatty Acids in the form of fish oil (min 7%) and an amino acid called Arginine (3%).( I GIVE 900mg of that)

There are some drawbacks to Hill’s n/d though, that lead many pet guardians to choose other options. First, it is a relatively expensive diet, especially for larger breeds. Secondly, it only comes in canned formula because of its high fat content. As a result, some picky eaters may not like the taste of it if they have been raised on kibble all their lives. Third, and most importantly to those who wish to feed their dog as naturally as possible, the quality of the ingredients in n/d are not ideal, as animal by-products are used to produce this food. "


A Vet blog:
"If your loved dog has a cancer at this time, you want to get as much omega 3 in him or her as possible. Start slowly and work your way up to large amounts over about 2 weeks to avoid an upset stomach. Give with food. For a dog about 60 lbs, you want about 18 grams of good quality fish oil containing omega 3′s. This usually means about 15-20 of the typical capsules daily, which is a large amount! For double strength caps, halve the dose. Adjust up or down for the size of your dog. The capsules can be popped and the oil mixed in food if your dog resists eating the capsules by themselves. Watch for digestive upset (vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite), and if so, stop and then later start with lower doses increased more slowly.
If your loved dog is not diagnosed with cancer and is on typical commercial food, I would have you begin an omega 3 fatty acid supplement at lower doses than those dogs with cancer. For a 60 lb dog, my opinion is a standard supplemental dose of roughly 4-6 grams of omega 3-containing capsules daily. Remember to start with low doses than work up over 2 weeks. "