Germanium and Cancer
Germanium
The Missing Element
However,
it was the Japanese scientist Dr. Kazuhiko Asai who first
synthesized an organically bound compound, germanium
sesquioxide (Ge-132), in 1967.
Asai,
who worked for the Coal Research Institute was intrigued
by the high concentrations of germanium in coal. Since coal
is composed of fossilized plants, Asai theorized that germanium
must be present in plants. He discovered that the highest
concentrations of germanium were found in those plants used
for medicinal purposes including ginseng, shittake mushrooms,
aloe vera, comfrey and garlic. Shelf fungus, a substance
highly regarded by the Russians for centuries in the treatment
against cancer, had the highest levels. An analysis of the
healing waters of Lourdes, France also revealed significant
quantities of germanium.
Dr.
Asai experimented with germanium for over 30 years, using
the nutritional supplement on patients with a variety of
diseases. He believed germanium was a miracle cure for many
minor ailments as well as some serious illnesses. He also
saw its effectiveness in protecting healthy people
from becoming ill. According to Dr. Asai, "Ge-132 restores
health to those afflicted with disease and sustains health
in those who are healthy."
Another
Japanese researcher experimented with ginseng, treating
half of the plants with germanium. The ginseng which did
not receive germanium grew normally. Those plants stimulated
with germanium showed improved growth.
One
of the more spectacular demonstrations illustrated germanium's
ability to increase rices' resistance to cold temperatures.
When researchers lowered the greenhouse temperature, the
rice which was not treated with germanium shriveled up and
died. The germanium treated plants continued to thrive.
Germanium's
regenerative effects on a plant's immune system have been
duplicated in animal and human studies. In the 1985 September/October
issue of Anticancer Research, test animals who were inoculated
with cancer cells and then treated with germanium showed
an increase in the body's defense mechanisms.
Germanium's
Energizing Qualities
How
does germanium produce such widespread benefits? The key
is that germanium works on the body’s most basic level -
the cellular level. The cumulative evidence suggest that
germanium enhances the cell’s ability to generate energy
by raising the cell’s oxygen supply.
At
the 1987 meeting of the Orthomolecular Medical Society,
researchers told the symposium that organic germanium appears
to work by increasing tissue oxygenation. The Townsend Letter
For Doctors, says, "Its oxygenation phenomenon allows
greater organism function with reduced oxygen intake. It
creates an oxygen economy with extremely fast-acting effects.
Those with Raynaud's syndrome, for example, will feel warmth
in the affected fingers and toes one-half hour after taking
germanium. Healthy people will feel the warmth in a couple
of minutes.1'
Why is oxygen so important to cell metabolism? Well, we
all know that oxygen is essential for our cells to grow
and function properly. Some scientists have christened oxygen
“Vitamin O” because our body needs oxygen for proper nutrition.
In order to release the stored chemical energy in any food,
for instance, the substance must be combined with oxygen.
This process is known as oxidation.
Without oxygen, our cells and tissues begin to die within
a few minutes. When a person suffers a stroke, brain cells
are destroyed because a deposit of fatty substances
along the lining of the arteries restricts oxygen flow.
People who suffer a stroke may lose their ability to speak,
write or read because some of the areas responsible for
those functions have incurred brain tissue damage.
In
fact, deficiencies in your tissues' oxygen storage may be
the cause of most degenerative illnesses. According to Dr.
Rinehardt many diseases are characterized by hypoxia, an
inadequate supply f oxygen to the cells and tissues.
"Many
diseases can be looked upon as a chemical imbalance
in the body, an imbalance of electrons and protons. With
germanium, you have a compound that can get to these sites
and begin to modify and reestablish homeostatis, a healthy
biochemical balance in the cells. Many researchers believe
germanium helps the cell metabolize oxygen more efficiently,
which would account for its energizing effects."
In fact, germanium's ability to increase tissue oxygenation
may explain why it offers such valuable and measurable effects
on maintaining healthy cells and organs.
Germanium's
Maintains Health
In a well-known medical text, Pathologic Basis of Disease,
S. L. Robbins and R. S. Cotran describe cellular injury
as "any adverse influence which deranges the cell's
ability to maintain a steady, normal or adaptive homeostatis."
Imagine that an emergency keeps you up all night and leaves
you tired and emotionally drained the next day. Losing valuable
sleep creates a physiological imbalance in most of us. Similarly,
a cell whose homeostatis is disrupted will be more susceptible
to disease and less able to fend off the harmful effects
of pollutants.
Fortunately, germanium helps each cell and organ maintain
homeostatis, a healthy chemical balance within your body.
When your body is in balance, it is better able to withstand
physical, emotional and environmental stresses. According
to Dr. Kidd, germanium normalizes many physiological functions
such as lowering high blood pressure in humans and
rats. It also restores deviant blood characteristics to
their normal range including pH, glucose, the minerals sodium,
potassium, calcium and chlorides, triglycerides, cholesterol,
uric acid, hemoglobin and leucocytes (white blood cells).
Dr. Asai has also found germanium beneficial in arresting
osteoporosis by restoring a normal calcium balance. During
a 12-month study, he demonstrated that the compound prevented
bone volume decrease often associated with aging.
Dr. Jeff Anderson, a practitioner from Corte Madera, California,
also discovered that germanium's ability to normalize the
metabolism corrected a number of chronic health problems
in one of his patients. One 40-year-old man who had experienced
a two year bout with fatigue, depression and irritability,
noticed that his energy improved and his depression vanished
after he took germanium which Dr. Anderson prescribed.
All of these clinical studies illustrate germanium's role
as an adaptogen, a nontoxic substance which normalizes body
functions indirectly. Adaptogens, such as Vitamins C and
E and Coenzyme QlO, also enhance your capacity to cope
with stress, particularly the potentially damaging
effects of pollutants. Dr. Asai reported astonishing
success when he treated cases of heavy metal poisoning (mercury
and cadmium), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) poisoning
and carbon monoxide asphyxiation with germanium. Some
scientists believe germanium's chemical structure may help
the nutritional supplement bind or chelate (grab) toxic
sub-stances and remove them.
Germanium
and Heart Disease
Two of the major causes of heart disease in this country
are hypertension or high blood pressure and arteriosclerosis,
clogged arteries. One hundred million people alone suffer
from elevated blood pressure which places undue strain on
the heart and its vessels. Unfortunately, many people do
not realize they suffer from this "silent killer"
and risk a sudden death heart attack or stroke. Due to its
ability to normalize metabolic functions, germanium appeared
to lower blood pressure in several Japanese experiments.
At the Japan Experimental Medical Research Institute in
Tokyo, test animals with normal blood pressure showed no
change when researchers administered organic germanium .
However, lab animals with high blood pressure returned to
normal levels after seven to 10 days of germanium use.
Arteriosclerosis also affects thousands of people. Again,
most individuals are unaware that their arteries are gradually
constricting as cholesterol builds up on the walls.
Preliminary results suggest that germanium may be as beneficial
in reducing cholesterol levels as it is in regulating high
blood pressure.
In an examination of 30 surgery patients, Dr. Asai found
that all test subjects had elevated cholesterol and triglycerides
prior to receiving germanium. After four weeks of treatment,
he observed a definite decrease in cholesterol which he
attributed to the germanium. The average drop was from
360 mg to 260 mg. Many doctors are urging their patients
to reduce their cholesterol below 250 mg.
Dr. Anderson was treating a patient who suffered from severe
coronary artery disease. Cholesterol lowering medication
and a low cholesterol diet had failed to bring his serum
cholesterol level below 435. Without a change in diet or
medication, but with a daily dose of germanium, his level
dropped to 234 mg.
Germanium
Boosts the
Immune
System
Do
you have difficulty warding off colds and flu? Do you succumb
to most of the bugs that make the rounds of your office
or your child's school? If your immune system is depressed,
taking germanium may be one way to help your body defend
itself. Researchers Dr. Kidd and Dr. Summerfield believe
that germanium's ability to stimulate the body's natural
defense mechanisms makes it an ideal candidate for combating
viruses, funguses and bacteria especially candida albicans,
a yeast infection.
Dr.
Anderson obtained excellent results in using germanium
on a 53-year-old patient who had been suffering from recurrent
diverticulitis, an inflamed colon, for five years. Despite
treatment with antibiotics, the patient still experienced
fevers, night sweats, headaches and fatigue. Within 10 days
of receiving 500 mg per day of germanium, the patient experienced
a complete regression of his symptoms.
What is even more astonishing, is that germanium does not
directly kill viruses and bacteria. Some researchers believe
that germanium plays an active role in returning the body's
defenses to normal so the body can fight off the invading
germs. This is the prime reason why the International AIDS
Treatment Conference approved germanium's use for clinical
testing on AIDS patients.
Why do these scientists think that germanium positively
effects the immune system? First, you need to understand
how viruses, the most difficult infections to treat, spread
through the body. A virus is a cleverly disguised enemy
which invades your cells and uses the cell's own reproductive
processes to clone itself. To destroy this enemy, your body
mounts an attack using its warrior cells. These T and B
lymphocytes, macrophages and natural killer cells devour
foreign cells and defend the body against viruses and cancer.
However, none of these cells can function properly if the
person is deficient in interferon, a protein which blocks
viruses from infecting cells.
Germanium
appears to significantly enhance the body's production of
interferon. At the annual meeting of the Japan Cancer Association
II in 1979, proceedings showed that germanium was a significant
interferon-inducing agent. Studies published in the 1984
Journals of Interferon Research 4 confirmed these results.
In
animal experiments, germanium has reduced the harmful
effects of influenza. At the Germanium Research Institute,
Dr. Asai demonstrated that germanium substantially prolonged
the life expectancy of mice injected with influenza virus.
In the control group, all the mice who were not given germanium
died by day 14. In the groups treated with 100 mg of Ge-132,
60 percent of the animals survived to day 20.
Dr. Rinehardt has found that germanium's anti-viral powers
have been particularly potent in one patient, against the
Epstein Barr virus, a very debilitating infection related
to herpes, which, like herpes, has no known cure.
"When
this 34-year-old patient first came to us, she had been
sick 11 years," observed Rinehardt. "In that time
she had consulted numerous doctors, but had found no relief
for the chronic fatigue she felt which made it difficult
for her to work. By the time she saw us she was distraught
and quite depressed. We helped her in various ways, but
clearly when she started taking the germanium, that made
a big difference in her energy level and her outlook on
life. Subsequently, she was able to go back to work and
now has a full-time job as a public relations manager."
Germanium
and Cancer
Not surprisingly, many cancer patients are immuno-deficient.
Preliminary research suggests that germanium appears to
exhibit an ability to help normalize the body's defenses
in cancer patients.
A
report by Fuijio Suzuki and Richard Pollard in The Journal
of Interferon Research (]984) states that, studies in immuno
suppressed animals and patients with malignancies (cancer)
or rheumatoid arthritis, suggest that Ge- 132 restores the
normal function of T cells, B lymphocytes and anti-body
forming cells."
In
a report given at the International Symposium at Osaka in
July of 1981, Japanese doctors observed that Ge- 132 normalized
activity in immune cells such as T lymphocytes and NK cells
and increased interferon production in seven cancer patients.
The doctors concluded that Ge-132 had increased the
patient's resistance in both malignancies and rheumatic
disorders. According to this study, one patient's abdomen
cancer disappeared after 16 months of Ge132 treatment
and intermittent therapy with a chemotherapy agent. Another
patient's post operative condition was controlled well on
Ge-I 32 alone.
A
member of researchers including Otto Warburg, a Nobel prize
winner, believe the prime cause of cancer is oxygen deprivation
in the cell. While aerobic (oxygen-using) cells exhibit
regular controlled growth patterns, anaerobic (oxygen-deprived)
cells show abnormal growth.
According to a Dutch researcher, Dr. Schuitemaker, "It
(germanium) is involved as a catalyst in the supply of oxygen
to oxygen poor tissue, such as cancerous growths. . . It
lessens the per oxidation of fatty acids, thus establishing
the role of germanium in free radical pathology." Free
radicals are highly reactive molecules which reduce the
cell's oxygen supply. When free radicals abound, tissue
injury and disease states such as cancer can occur.
Germanium
and Aging
As we grow older, we accumulate more free radicals. Dr.
Lars Ernster of the University of Stockholm confirms that
free radical formation results in serious membrane damage
and is responsible for age granules in aging cells.
Our body's natural defense system also declines with years.
Again, germanium may be able to normalize our failing immune
system. Some scientists believe that the body's ability
to preserve our immune system is critical in preventing
premature aging and extending the quantity and quality of
our lives. The International Archives of Allergy and Applied
Immunology reported that germanium has helped the restoration
of impaired immune responses in aging lab animals.
Some exciting reports have suggested that germanium may
act as a painkiller. In a clinical report on germanium's
effect on rheumatoid arthritis at the Osaka International
Symposium in 1981, "clinical improvement of joint pains
and morning stiffness by Ge-132 were observed in 14 out
of 17 patients." Older people are more apt to notice
germanium invigorating powers. “It has been my experience
that the people who notice germanium energetic effects most
are the middle aged to the elderly," says Dr. Rinehardt.
“This is even more noticeable in sedentary older people."
Many of us, as we age, experience a decline in our energy.
Germanium may help us to retain our youthful vigor and physical
zest for life.
The
Safety of Germanium Supplements
Organic germanium appears to be remarkably safe. Researchers
at major Japanese medical universities performed numerous
tests for toxicity, many according to the strict "Guidelines
for Manufacturers" developed by the Welfare Ministry
of Japan. The results confirmed that Ge-I 32 was highly
safe, even at dosages as high as 10 grams per day. The nutritional
substance has practically no toxicity and no influence on
reproductive functions.
In fact, no trace of germanium can be found in the body
after 20 to 30 hours. Therefore it cannot accumulate in
the tissue. The only reported side effects from germanium
are minor skin irritations confirmed in two to three percent
of Dr. Asai's patients. Dr. Rinehardt observed that a few
patients who are very immuno-deficient, may experience slight
afternoon fevers. Rather than being a cause for alarm, he
believes these very low grade temperatures indicate that
the germanium is stimulating the patient's compromised
immune system. Inorganic germanium compounds, however, can
have toxic effects. Make sure that you purchase the organic
form called germanium sesquioxide (Ge-132).
Germanium
Supplements
Even in substances high in germanium such as garlic, ginseng
and aloe, the amount of Ge-132 is extremely small. For this
reason, germanium supplements may be more costly than some
nutritional compounds, but naturally synthesized germanium
sesquioxide is your best source of this vital element.
As a preventative aid, most people like 25 to 100 mg per
day. In treating chronic conditions such as ongoing viral
symptoms, yeast infections and food allergies, Dr. Anderson
has recommended that his patients take between 300 and 500
mg a day. Dr. Asai often treated seriously ill people with
daily doses of one or two grams.
In
Conclusion
Although germanium is new to this country, initial clinical
trials here have been promising. Teamed with oxygen germanium
hones our natural defenses, helping the body protect itself.
The many illnesses successfully treated by germanium is
so long that it invites skepticism unless one realizes that,
by restoring oxygen to the cells, germanium works at a fundamental
level common to all disease processes. Therefore germanium
sesquioxide (Ge- 132) can be considered a versatile sustainer
of human health and a dramatic enhancer of natural immunity.
The
information contained in this booklet was prepared from
sources which are believed to be accurate and reliable.
However, the opinions expressed herein by the author(s)
do not necessarily represent the opinions or views of the
publisher. READERS ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO SEEK THE ADVICE
AND ASSISTANCE OF THEIR PERSONAL HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL(S)
BEFORE PROCEEDING WITH ANY CHANGES IN ANY HEALTH CARE PROGRAM.
Some
Key References
Optimal,
1163 Chess Drive, Suite F, Foster City, CA 94404 Tel. 800-966-8874
Asai,
Germanium Research Institute, "Ge-132: Outline,"
Tokyo, Japan. 1984.
Asai,
Kazuhiko, Ph.D.; Norihiro, Kakimoto, Pharmacist; and Saito,
Michael T., M.D., Ph.D.; 1976 International Medical Convention
of Surgeons, "Germanium Research of Surgical Patients."
Fuijio,
Suzuki, R. R. Bruthiewicz and R. B. Pollard, "Ability
of Sera From Mice Treated with Ge-132, an Organic Germanium
Compound, To Inhibit Experimental Murine Ascites Tumours.
BR.. Journal Cancer 52: 757-763.1985.
Angstrom Minerals Product And Price List
The information on this page has been extracted from http://www.stopcancer.com/germaniumstor2.htm
