| Environmental Factors May Predispose Children to Develop This Disease. Can You Prevent it?
The term leukemia refers to cancers of the white
blood cells (also called leukocytes or WBCs). When a
child has leukemia, large numbers of abnormal white
blood cells are produced in the bone marrow. These abnormal
white cells crowd the bone marrow and flood the bloodstream,
but they cannot perform their proper role of protecting
the body against disease because they are defective.
As leukemia progresses, the cancer interferes
with the body's production of other types of blood cells,
including red blood cells and platelets. This results
in anemia (low numbers of red cells) and bleeding problems,
in addition to the increased risk of infection caused
by white cell abnormalities. Initially, abnormal leukemia cells appear
only in the bone marrow and blood, but later they may
spread elsewhere, including the lymph nodes, spleen,
liver, brain, and testes.
Types of Childhood Leukemia
In general, leukemias are classified into acute (rapidly
developing) and chronic (slowly developing) forms. In
children, about 98% of leukemias are acute.
Childhood leukemias are also divided into acute lymphocytic
leukemia (ALL) or acute nonlymphocytic leukemia (ANLL),
depending on whether they involve specific white cells
called lymphocytes. These are a type of white cell linked
to immune defenses. ANLL is also called acute myelogenous
leukemia (AML). As a group, leukemias account for about
25% of all childhood cancers and affect about 2,200
American young people each year. Approximately 60% of
children with leukemia have ALL, and about 38% have
AML. Although slow-growing chronic myelogenous leukemia
(CML) may also be seen in children, it is very rare,
accounting for fewer than 50 cases of childhood leukemia
each year in the United States.
Risk for Childhood Leukemia
ALL generally occurs in younger children ages 2 to 8,
with a peak incidence at age 4. It is more common among
white children than those of other racial backgrounds,
and it affects boys more often than girls. AML may be
seen in infants during the first month of life, but
then it becomes relatively rare until the teenage years.
Children have a 20% to 25% chance of developing
ALL or AML if they have an identical twin who was diagnosed
with the illness before age 6. In general, nonidentical
twins and other siblings of children with leukemia have
two to four times the average risk of developing this
illness. Children who have inherited certain genetic
problems - such as Li-Fraumeni syndrome, Down syndrome,
Kleinfelter syndrome, neurofibromatosis, ataxia telangectasia,
or Fanconi's anemia - have a higher risk of developing
leukemia, as do children who are receiving medical drugs
to suppress their immune systems after organ transplants.
Children who have received prior radiation
or chemotherapy for other types of cancer also have
a higher risk for leukemia, usually within the first
8 years after treatment. In most cases, neither parents nor children
have control over the factors that trigger leukemia,
although current studies are investigating the possibility
that some environmental factors may predispose a child
to develop the disease. Most leukemias arise from noninherited
mutations (changes) in the genes of growing blood cells.
Because these errors occur randomly and unpredictably,
there is currently no effective way to prevent most
types of leukemia. To limit the risk of prenatal radiation
exposure as a trigger for leukemia (especially ALL),
women who are pregnant or who suspect that they might
be pregnant should always inform their doctors before
undergoing tests or medical procedures that involve
radiation (such as X-rays). Regular checkups can spot early symptoms
of leukemia in the relatively rare cases where this
cancer is linked to an inherited genetic problem, to
prior cancer treatment, or to use of immunosuppressive
drugs for organ transplants.
The Good News:
A good immune system supported by
Immuplex™, a clinically tested natural product,
will help you prevent non-genetic cellular changes which
may end up as childhood and adult cancers. The ingredients
in Immuplex™
have been tested in 6 double blind clinical studies
and have been shown to increase the numbers of macrophages
and natural killer cells which cleanse the body of abnormal
cells. Immuplex™
has been shown to safe and effective. See our Special
Report on this recommended product. Also see our
Fresh N' Clean™ product line for the removal
of environmental mutation factors from fruits, vegetables
and non-ground meats.
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