Protect Your Healing by Lowering Chemical Exposure After Cancer Diagnosis

Although some environmental factors are beyond individual control, patients with cancer and survivors of cancer have the opportunity to take meaningful steps to reduce their body’s burden, according to Dr. Lorenzo Cohen and Alison Jefferies, MEd. This can be done by making intentional choices about what is ingested, applied to the skin and breathed in at the home.

Cohen and Jefferies sat down for an interview with CURE, in which the pair discusses why it is important for patients and survivors to take these important steps to limit the chemical burden on their body both during and after treatment. In addition, Cohen and Jefferies addressed common misconceptions surrounding the topic.

Cohen works at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston, Texas, and is a member of the CURE advisory board. Jefferies is a wellness coach at the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, as well as co-author of the book, "Anticancer Living: Transform your Life and Health with the Mix of Six."

Transcript:

Cohen: One of the challenges in this area is that we have the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It's our belief that these regulatory agencies are there to protect us, and to some degree, they are. They exist to ensure that there are no unhealthy substances in our food, water, or personal care products.

The challenge, however, is that many chemicals found in our personal care products, often used as preservatives, are analyzed as single molecules, focusing on the potential harm of that individual substance. But, as all viewers know, if you look at a shampoo bottle or the ingredients in makeup, there isn't just one chemical; there are dozens.

Even the word "fragrance," which you will often see somewhere down the list of ingredients, is due to a deal the industry struck: if an ingredient is below a certain amount, they don't have to list what it is. So "fragrance" isn't one thing; it can actually be 100 different molecules, and they don't need to list them because they're below a certain threshold. None of these chemicals, however, have been analyzed for the potential harm that can come from their combined effects.

Jefferies: You might also be thinking to yourself, "Well, I can't control what I'm exposed to." And I think a big misconception is that you don't have control. Granted, there are certainly things you don't have control over, but you do have a lot of control over, as Lorenzo said, what you put in your body, what you put on your body, and what you breathe in within your own home. Therefore, we have many different ways we can reduce the burden on our bodies.

When we receive a cancer diagnosis, we particularly want to reduce the burden our body carries from things that are not health-sustaining. If we are undergoing treatment, we want all of our body's energy to go towards being successful in receiving that drug, healing, and getting better. So, reducing the burden of chemicals your body carries is a great place to start.

Cohen: To add to that, chemotherapies, immunotherapies, and other targeted therapies, while effective, can be quite toxic. They need to be processed by our kidneys and liver. If these organs are already burdened, as Alison was saying, by processing toxins from personal care products and other items we use in our daily lives, that can be quite challenging.

Another issue in this area, particularly with the EPA, is that many chemicals have been "grandfathered in," so to speak. It's estimated that there are over 80,000 different chemicals in our system — in terms of food and other products we're exposed to — and only a fraction of them have been formally evaluated for their potential toxicities.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

For more news on cancer updates, research and education, don’t forget to subscribe to CURE®’s newsletters here.