Over the years, hundreds of individuals have recovered from cancer with the help of a macrobiotic diet and way of life. Scientific and medical studies are beginning to show the efficacy of this approach.
Green-food concentrates are chlorophyll-rich supplements. Most are derived from microalgae (such as spirulina, blue-green algae, or chlorella) or from the young grasses of cereal plants (such as barley, wheat, and alfalfa). Chlorophyll acts as an antioxidant and may have medicinal benefits against cancer and immune problems

What are algae?

Pond scums, terrestrial algae, snow algae, seaweeds, freshwater and marine phytoplankton. The plant body is relatively undifferentiated, and there are no true roots, leaves, etc.
Algae are very simple chlorophyll-containing organisms: some say that they are plants; other say that the are not, calling them Protists or Protoctists. We use the term “algae” very loosely because defining them is very difficult. In general, we can say that they are simple organisms composed of one cell, or grouped together in colonies, or as organisms with many cells, sometimes collaborating together as simple tissues.
Most algae form some sort of spore, which is a cell that is often motile and serves to reproduce the organism. Algae also have sex, often a very simple kind of sex where the algae themselves act as gametes, but sometimes very complicated with egg and sperm-like cells.
Some of the larger kelps have translocation but most do not. They have no need for water-conducting tissues as they are, at some stage, surrounded by water. They reproduce by spores of some kind. There are no seeds. Spores may be motile or non-motile; varies from phylum to phylum, e.g., the red and blue-green algae are non-flagellated.
Algae of one kind or another have been around for more than 2 billion years. We are still discovering new algae, sometimes whole groups of them at a time.
Some micro-algae have very favorable nutritional profiles for cancer and immune therapies. Spirulina, chlorella, and wild blue-green (Aphanizomenon flos-aquae) provide cellular protection with exceptional amounts of beta carotene (provitamin A) and chlorophyll; dunaliella is the highest known natural source of beta carotene.
One of your most powerful weapons against cancer is chlorella — a unicellular, green algae. This tiny algae packs a powerful punch. Chlorella contains the highest chlorophyll level per ounce of any plant, as well as protein (nearly 58 percent), carbohydrates, all of the B vitamins, vitamins C and E, amino acids (including all nine essential ones), enzymes and rare trace minerals. Due to its dense and nutrient-rich nature, chlorella offers your body a two-fold attack against cancer. In addition to strengthening the immune system’s response to cancer cells, the mighty chlorella acts as a preventative measure against cancer by raising blood levels of the protein albumin.
To grasp chlorella’s benefits in fighting cancer, you must first understand cancer’s connection to immune system dysfunction. Cancer cells develop in all of our bodies, even in those of us who have never “had cancer.” When these cancer cells develop, our immune systems naturally and efficiently destroy them before cancer symptoms appear. On the other hand, when cancer symptoms do appear, these symptoms are an indication of the immune system’s sudden inability to effectively fight cancer cells that had been appearing all along. In this sense, cancer is an immune system malfunction more than anything else.
Another example is cyanobacteria. It is sold in health food stores as blue green algae. Its supporters claim health benefits, including increased energy, improved memory, greater mental clarity and focus, improved digestion, control of appetite and cravings, heightened immune function, and relief from fatigue, hypoglycemia, PMS, anxiety and depression.

What are seaweeds?

Seaweeds are algae that liven in the sea or in brackish water. Scientists often call them “benthic marine algae”, which just means “attached algae that live in the sea”. Seaweeds come in three basic colours: red, green, and brown, as shown above: dulse is the red seaweed; sea lettuce is amongst the green algae; and the brown is a wrack. Red and brown algae are almost exclusively marine, whilst green algae are also common in freshwater and in terrestrial situations. Many of these algae are very ancient organisms, and although lumped together as “algae” are not actually closely related, having representatives in 4 of the 5 Kingdoms of organisms. There are about 10,500 species of seaweeds, of which 6,500 are red algae (Rhodophyta). Up-to-date numbers are given by Algae Base.

  • Brown seaweeds (Ochrophyta, Phaeophyceae)
  • Fucus (Wracks)
  • Laminaria and Saccharina (Kelps)
  • Green seaweeds (Chlorophyta, Chlorophyceae)
  • Ulva (Sea Lettuce)
  • Red seaweeds (Rhodophyta)

The anticarcinogenic properties of brown seaweeds (kelp) are well known in some cultures but not yet understood. Traditional Chinese medicine includes the brown alga Laminaria in the treatment of cancer and it has also been recommended in ancient Ayurvedic texts. There is even a mention in the Ebers Papyrus of the ancient Egyptians having used seaweed to treat breast cancer.
The first use of seaweed to treat cancer in Western medicine was in the 1960s, when something called Algasol T331 was used in Italy.
In the 1980s, work was done on VivaNatural, a health-food supplement based on a folk remedy for cancer in rural area of Japan. It was studied in a series of animal models. Again, it appeared to be effective, showing more antitumor effect than several conventional cancer chemotherapeutic agents, and again research interest seemed to end. In other laboratories, brown seaweed extracts have shown inhibition of cancer cells grown in cell culture, inhibition of cancer growth in animals who have been given chemical carcinogens and in animals who have had tumors transplanted into them. Four studies have used powdered seaweed incorporated into rat food, and found that the seaweed-supplemented diet was associated with a delay in time to tumor development and fewer tumors per tumor bearing animal. Other work has focused on particular constituents of kelp, such as fucoidan, a sulphated polysaccharide found only in brown seaweeds and some bacteria. Another line of research has focused on alginic acid. Several studies have also found that kelp extracts appeared to show some activity against HIV in cell culture.
Sources: Seaweed, Macrobioticpath, News Target

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