(NaturaHealth365)  Western medicine has convinced millions that surgery, chemotherapy and radiation are the only deal with a cancer diagnosis.  But here’s what oncologists rarely mention: chemotherapy can cause permanent heart damage, and that cardiovascular death is twice as likely for cancer patients as the general population.

Research from the University of Alberta, published in Nature Communications, has identified exactly why some patients’ hearts are destroyed by chemotherapy while others escape damage.  The findings are revealing and deeply troubling.

What researchers discovered about chemotherapy’s assault on your heart

The research team examined blood samples from 22 breast cancer patients receiving anthracyclines and taxanes – two chemotherapy drug classes notorious for causing heart damage.  By comparing blood samples and cardiac function tests before, during, and after treatment, they identified specific “tumor-secreting factors” that predict which patients will suffer cardiotoxicity.

Higher levels of inosine and hypoxanthine in the blood correlated with a dramatically higher risk of heart damage.  Here’s the mechanism: these tumor factors bind to receptors in heart muscle, degrading the cells’ defenses.  Normally, tightly wound DNA in heart cells unwinds, making it vulnerable to the DNA-damaging chemotherapy drugs.

Unlike damage to fast-growing cells in hair or gut lining that regrow after chemo stops, heart cells are “terminally differentiated” – they can’t regenerate.  The damage is permanent.

Death from cardiovascular disease is twice as likely for cancer patients as in the general population.  Cardiotoxicity is a leading cause of death among cancer survivors.

Let that sink in: you may survive cancer, only to die from the treatment that “saved” you.

Chemotherapy effects most patients are not aware of

Cardiotoxicity isn’t the only devastating side effect conventional oncology dismisses as “necessary collateral damage.”  The documented adverse effects of chemotherapy include:

• “Chemo brain” – cognitive impairment, memory loss, and mental fog that can persist for years after treatment ends.  Studies show chemotherapy causes measurable brain damage and accelerated brain aging.
• Severe immunosuppression that leaves patients vulnerable to life-threatening infections.  The same drugs that kill cancer cells also destroy your immune system’s ability to fight anything else.
• Peripheral neuropathy – permanent nerve damage causing pain, numbness, and loss of function in hands and feet.
• Secondary cancers caused by the chemotherapy itself.  The drugs are so toxic and DNA-damaging that they can trigger new cancers years later.
• Gut destruction, including severe nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and damage to the intestinal lining that impairs nutrient absorption for life.
• Bone marrow suppression causing dangerous anemia and bleeding disorders.
• Kidney and liver damage from the toxic burden of processing these poisons.
• Fertility destruction and premature menopause.
• Severe fatigue that can last for years after treatment ends.

The conventional oncology response?  “These are acceptable risks.”  But acceptable to whom?

Natural approaches that support the body rather than destroying it

Metabolic strategies that exploit cancer’s dependence on glucose.  Fasting protocols, and blood sugar control starve cancer cells while strengthening healthy cells.

High-dose intravenous vitamin C has shown remarkable anti-cancer effects in studies, selectively killing cancer cells while protecting normal cells – the exact opposite of chemotherapy’s indiscriminate destruction.

Immune system support through medicinal mushrooms (turkey tail, reishi, chaga), beta-glucans, and targeted supplementation that enhances your body’s natural cancer-fighting abilities rather than destroying them.

Hyperthermia and hyperbaric oxygen create environments hostile to cancer while supporting healthy tissue.

Plant-based compounds, including curcumin, resveratrol, EGCG from green tea, and sulforaphane from organic cruciferous vegetables, have demonstrated anti-cancer properties without the devastating side effects.

Detoxification support to reduce the toxic burden that contributed to cancer development in the first place.

Addressing root causes: chronic inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, immune suppression, hormonal imbalances, and toxic accumulation that create the conditions allowing cancer to thrive.

A different approach to cancer

The chemotherapy model assumes you must poison the body to save it.  But what if strengthening the body’s own defenses, addressing root causes, and using targeted natural therapies could achieve better outcomes without permanent heart damage, brain injury, or a destroyed immune system?

If you are ready to discover evidence-based natural approaches to cancer, get access to Jonathan Landsman’s Stop Cancer Docu-Class, featuring leading integrative oncologists, researchers, and doctors revealing strategies that conventional oncology ignores.

Learn metabolic approaches that starve cancer cells; immune-enhancing protocols that strengthen rather than destroy your defenses; detoxification strategies that address root causes, natural compounds with anti-cancer properties without devastating side effects; and comprehensive approaches that treat the whole person – not just attack symptoms with toxic drugs that cause permanent heart damage.

Sources for this article include:

Nature.com
Medicalxpress.com