The Importance of a Strong Flora in Cancer Treatment
To better explain the relationship between cancer and flora (microbiota), it would be more accurate to first define the terms.
What Are the Most Important Factors Blamed for Cancer Development?
Many factors are blamed for the development of cancer. The most important ones are listed below:
- Genetic factors
- Physical pollutants (radiation, electromagnetic, etc.)
- Chemical pollutants (medications, chemicals, pesticides, etc.)
- Biological pollutants (viruses, fungi, yeasts, bacteria, parasites)
- Poor nutrition
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Immune system diseases
- Weak biodiversity of flora (microbiota)
- Insufficient application of protective vaccines in childhood and beyond (Hepatitis, HPV, etc.)
- Alcohol
- Cigarettes
- Industrial waste (chimney gases and various toxic substances)
What is Cancer?
Cancer is the lack of the genetic code that stops cell proliferation, even though the necessary genetic code for the proliferation of the tissues exists. All types of cells that make up our tissues can develop cancer. Cancer can be described as an uncontrolled cell proliferation.
What Are the Criteria for Benign (Good) or Malignant (Bad) Tumors?
If cancer cells only proliferate at their site and do not spread outside the organ they originate from, they are called benign tumors. If cancer cells spread to distant areas of the body through neighboring tissues, blood vessels, or lymphatic vessels (metastasis), they are called malignant tumors.
How Does Cancer Develop?
Cancer occurs due to the disruption of the genetic code in any cell through factors that cause cancer.
Why Does Cancer Develop in Some People?
In some people, there are constantly cancer cells in tissues and blood circulation, although in fewer amounts compared to others. Cancer cells differ from the original cells they come from. The immune system cells, “T lymphocytes,” eliminate cancer cells present in the tissues and blood circulation. Some people’s immune systems are very strong, while others may have weaker immune systems for various reasons. Weaker immune systems result in a higher frequency of cancer development.
What is the Relationship Between Cancer and the Immune System (Immunity)?
The strength of the immune system is influenced by many factors along with overall body health. All factors causing cancer may also harm the immune system. Protective measures, such as vaccines that create immune memory, strengthen the immune system and also act as factors preventing cancer. Additionally, autoimmune diseases that arise from the loss of coordination in the immune system can fatigue and weaken the immune system.
What is Autoimmunity?
Autoimmunity occurs when elements that the body’s defense system recognizes as threats (microbes, toxins, allergens, genetically modified foods, incompletely digested foods, etc.) chronically enter the bloodstream, causing the immune system to fatigue. This leads to a breakdown in the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, and the body mistakenly attacks its own tissues as foreign or harmful. Diseases resulting from this are called autoimmune diseases. (Rheumatoid Arthritis, Behçet’s Disease, Food Allergies, Lupus, Type 1 Diabetes, Celiac Disease, Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Psoriasis, Hashimoto’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, etc.)
What is the Relationship Between Our Immune System and Flora (Microbiota)?
The most important entry point for harmful and/or foreign substances into our body is the digestive system. Our digestive system, particularly the small intestines, has the largest surface area in the body, with an internal surface area of approximately 20,000 square meters. In addition, the respiratory system, skin, and eye mucosa are also points through which substances enter the bloodstream. Our digestive system hosts a variety of microorganism populations with specialized functions throughout its entire length, from the mouth to the anus, and these populations are collectively called the DIGESTIVE SYSTEM FLORA (MICROBIOTA). Our flora has many specific functions, including ensuring the selective permeability of the digestive system’s absorption surface.
What is Digestive System Flora (Microbiota)?
From the mouth to the anus, and along the nose and upper respiratory tract, each area has specialized functions, hosting thousands of varieties of bacteria, viruses, and yeasts that coexist with us. These microorganisms continuously renew themselves, with the ones that have completed their life cycle naturally exiting as feces. All these microorganisms together form the digestive system microbiota (FLORA). Our FLORA has many functions, including the digestion of food, absorption of digested food in the intestines, mucus production in the intestines, neural communication between the brain and intestines, synthesis of certain elements (vitamins, hormones, neurotransmitters, etc.), maintaining the pH and moisture balance of the region, providing the first line of defense against microbial attacks from outside the body, and eliminating toxins.
What is Flora (Microbiota) Biodiversity? And Why is It Important?
Over 1054 different types of bacteria have been identified as part of our flora throughout the digestive system. Additionally, more than 10,000 varieties of other flora members, including viruses and yeasts, have been identified. Each of these beneficial microorganisms has a specific region it occupies within the digestive system and plays an essential role in various functions, including digestion, regional acidity and moisture regulation, mucus secretion, providing the first line of defense against external microbial attacks, neutralizing and eliminating toxins entering our body, and contributing to the neural communication between the intestines and the brain.
We live healthier, happier, more peaceful, illness-free, productive, and long lives when we have a diverse flora throughout our digestive system. Therefore, flora biodiversity is extremely important.
What Are the Factors Affecting Flora Biodiversity?
The gains in our flora biodiversity begin from the womb and many factors play a role in this diversity throughout life.
Factors That Increase Flora Biodiversity
- The mother being between 22-36 years old during pregnancy
- The mother being properly nourished during pregnancy
- The mother not using medication during pregnancy
- The mother having a healthy and biodiverse flora
- Being born via normal delivery
- Not having frequent infections and not using antibiotics during infancy and childhood
- Having contact with as many people with a high biodiversity of flora as possible, especially between 0-7 years of age
- Receiving adequate breast milk (at least one year)
- Growing up in a healthy, biodiverse, and crowded family environment
- Living away from industrial areas
- Having a healthy, natural, balanced, and sufficient diet
- Avoiding processed foods and agricultural chemicals (pesticides)
- Maintaining a healthy weight
- Exercising and staying active
- Avoiding smoking, alcohol, sugar, and salt
Factors That Decrease Flora Biodiversity
- The mother being over 36 years old during pregnancy
- The mother being poorly nourished during pregnancy
- The mother using medication frequently during pregnancy
- The mother having a weak flora
- Being born via cesarean section
- Having frequent infections and using antibiotics during infancy and childhood
- Undergoing appendectomy and tonsillectomy
- Living in a poor flora environment, especially between 0-7 years of age
- Receiving inadequate breast milk (less than 6 months)
- Growing up in an unhealthy, poorly biodiverse, and narrow family environment
- Living in metropolitan and industrial areas
- Undergoing radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and cancer treatment
- Having an unhealthy, unnatural, insufficient, and unbalanced diet
- Consuming excessive processed foods
- Obesity
- Leading a sedentary lifestyle
- Not being careful about smoking, alcohol, sugar, and salt consumption
What Is the Relationship Between Flora Biodiversity and Leaky Gut Syndrome?
Our intestines have selective permeability. This property protects us from harmful agents. The most important factor that ensures the selective permeability of our intestines is a healthy absorption surface area. The food we eat and that has been digested is absorbed through the cells lining the intestinal surface, enters the bloodstream, and reaches its relevant places through the blood. These cells, which line the inner surface (mucosa) of the intestine, are tightly connected to each other, thus ensuring selective permeability. What will pass through our intestines or what will be blocked is controlled by our genetic memory. The mucosal layer is coated with a gel-like secretion called MUCUS, which is secreted by the mucosa itself, and there are specific flora colonies on it for each region. Our flora is extremely important in the formation of mucus. Thanks to MUCUS, the digestive secretions in the intestines, the food we eat, toxins, and microbes are prevented from directly contacting the mucosa, allowing it to function healthily. Any damage or weakening in our flora can lead to the weakening or loss of the mucus layer. When the mucus layer weakens or disappears, digestive secretions, food, toxins, and microbes directly contact the mucosa, causing mucosal damage. This damage (ulcer, infection, swelling, etc.) disturbs the selective permeability of the relevant part of the intestine. There are many diseases caused by the disruption of selective permeability, and the general name for these diseases is LEAKY GUT SYNDROME. With the disruption of selective permeability, undigested food, harmful products, toxins, and microbes that should not enter the bloodstream begin to pass into the circulation. The “T lymphocytes,” which are defense system elements, try to destroy these harmful and foreign substances entering the bloodstream. If the uncontrolled entry from areas of the intestine that have lost their selective permeability continues chronically, our defense system gets exhausted and eventually starts losing its coordination. As a result, some tissues are mistakenly recognized as harmful and/or foreign, and the immune system attacks them as well. This is what we call AUTOIMMUNITY. The autoimmune process is a series of chain reactions. The reaction starts by recognizing a tissue as foreign and attacking it, and this attack continues on other organs and tissues. After flora damage, Leaky Gut Syndrome and subsequent autoimmune diseases are observed.
What Is the Relationship Between Leaky Gut Syndrome and Cancer?
Leaky Gut Syndrome (GBS) leads to the development of allergies to many foods, causing nutritional deficiencies. The onset of autoimmunity after GBS weakens our defense system, impairing its ability to fight cancer. The initiation of autoimmune diseases weakens our defense system, making it a facilitating factor in cancer formation. After cancer diagnosis, the body requires a high-quality and biodiverse flora to combat cancer effectively.
The Importance of a Strong and Biodiverse Microbiota in Preventing and Treating Cancer
A patient with a strong and biodiverse flora will fight cancer much more successfully for the reasons mentioned above. After cancer, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and other complementary treatments can be applied more effectively and continuously with a strong flora. If your flora is not strong, the conditions for applying complementary cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy cannot be met. After cancer treatments, which primarily damage blood and skin tissue components, serious damage is also caused to our flora. If our flora is weak, the effects of the damage are much more dramatic.
After cancer treatments, the damage to our flora is attempted to be repaired by the remaining flora elements regenerating. However, cancer treatment is like a hurricane, and no matter how much our flora regenerates afterward, the traces of the damage will still be visible. These traces may manifest as serious nutrition and allergy problems in some patients, while others may pass through this period with less damage.
“IF YOUR FLORA IS STRONG, DO NOT FEAR CANCER.”
How Can We Strengthen Our Flora?
In the case of irreversible damage to our flora, the only solution is FLORA TRANSPLANTATION. Flora transplantation can be performed through “Fecal Microbial Transplantation” (FMT) or, in its more advanced form, “Total Gastrointestinal Flora Transplantation” (TGFT). FMT is a non-specific process, while TGFT is a restoration performed specifically for all anatomical regions.
What is Fecal Microbial Transplantation (FMT)?
Feces (Stool) is made up of 60-70% dead and live flora waste. The live flora waste it contains mostly consists of flora settled in the final parts of the digestive system (colon).
FMT involves the collection of stool samples from a healthy and biodiverse (see Donor Transplant Criteria table) donor/donors under appropriate conditions. These samples are analyzed and processed before being prepared as “FMT transplant material” and introduced into the patient’s colon.
FMT is administered through an enema (rectally). To increase the effectiveness of FMT, the “Transplant Material” prepared for the upper segments of the colon is introduced via colonoscopy.
FMT only restores flora at the colon level.
FMT is applied in at least one session, but ideally, it should be applied four sessions, one week apart.
The effectiveness of FMT increases the more donors are used and the more points are transplanted.
What is Total Gastrointestinal Flora Transplantation (TGFT)?
TGFT involves the collection of flora samples from 30-45 different anatomical regions of a healthy and biodiverse (see Donor Transplant Criteria table) donor/donors under general anesthesia, using endoscopic and colonoscopic methods. After undergoing certain procedures, these 30-45 separate flora samples are transplanted into the patient’s equivalent anatomical regions under general anesthesia, again using endoscopic and colonoscopic methods.
TGFT is performed in one session and is permanent for life. The more donors the flora samples are obtained from, the more effective the TGFT will be.
The success rate of TGFT is 85%.
Doç Dr Murat KANLIÖZ
Specialist in General Surgery