Latest / Health Wealth / Do Sugar And Red Meat Cause Cancer? Cancer Doctor Reveals Early Signs Most Indians Ignore | Doctor vs Internet

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Do Sugar And Red Meat Cause Cancer? Cancer Doctor Reveals Early Signs Most Indians Ignore | Doctor vs Internet · Health Wealth

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This is India Today Podcasts. Hello and welcome. I'm Sonal
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Mehrotra Kapoor. This is Doctor vs Internet. Every second man
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: and every third woman is likely to get cancer in
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  Speaker 1: their lifetime. But does that number hold only for the
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  Speaker 1: American society and not for India? Are numbers different when
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  Speaker 1: it comes to India? Importantly, why are cancer cases on
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  Speaker 1: the rise? When we were growing up, they were far
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  Speaker 1: and few and now every family has one case. When
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  Speaker 1: it comes to cancer, we know by now that the
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  Speaker 1: only way to get out of it early is to
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  Speaker 1: detect it early. What are the tools available then for it?
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  Speaker 1: To talk to us all about that, I'm very glad
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  Speaker 1: to have Dr. Archit Pandit here with us. He's a
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  Speaker 1: director of surgical oncology at Fortis Scott. Thank you so
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  Speaker 1: much for your time, doc.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Sonal. Thank you for having me over here
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: for doctor versus internet. Yeah. I would just add on
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: versus ChatGPT versus Google versus Gemini versus everyone else.
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  Speaker 1: You're speaking my love language now. This is amazing. So
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  Speaker 1: let me start by one question that perhaps is on
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  Speaker 1: everybody's mind. Why are there so many cancer cases? Why
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  Speaker 1: is we as a society and different parts of society,
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  Speaker 1: not just in urban India, in rural India also now,
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  Speaker 1: cancer cases have spiked in the last one decade.
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  Speaker 2: Why? So there are multiple reasons for it. One of
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  Speaker 2: the most important factors is that our detection rates have
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  Speaker 2: also increased. The technology has built up over the last
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  Speaker 2: two decades. So we are diagnosing them appropriately, more accurately,
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  Speaker 2: and in abundance. These tests are now frequently available at
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  Speaker 2: every nook and corner of the city, even in the
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  Speaker 2: rural population, rural areas. The doctors per se, for example,
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  Speaker 2: cancer doctors, which were hardly handful 20, 30 years back. Now,
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  Speaker 2: thanks to the government policies and everything, we have enough
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  Speaker 2: cancer doctors who are going to the second and the
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  Speaker 2: third tier cities and trying to diagnose them early. Rather
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  Speaker 2: than these patients going to some other speciality and getting delayed.
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  Speaker 2: That is one factor. The second factor is us. Always
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  Speaker 2: look within. See, when I was a child, my mother
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  Speaker 2: used to scold me that, why are you going out
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  Speaker 2: all the time and not coming in and studying? Now
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  Speaker 2: we scold our child to go out and play. We
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  Speaker 2: don't ask them to hold back. Please go outside and play.
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  Speaker 2: So physical exercise is one of the most important reasons
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  Speaker 2: that cancer is increasing. Because of less physical exercise, obesity
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  Speaker 2: is on the rise. And you would be surprised to
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  Speaker 2: know that after tobacco smoking... Obesity is one of the
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  Speaker 2: number one causes of cancer for many organs in our body,
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  Speaker 2: not just one or two, but organs like prostate cancer,
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  Speaker 2: colon cancer, rectum cancer, stomach cancer, endometrial cancers in women,
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  Speaker 2: breast cancers, and many others.
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  Speaker 1: Wow.
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  Speaker 2: Apart from that, environmental reasons. Now let us look outside.
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  Speaker 2: Air pollution, we all know that. There is enough data
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  Speaker 2: to suggest that World Health Organization has suggested there are
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  Speaker 2: wonderful literature available, studies available on nature in 2023, then 2025,
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  Speaker 2: which has explained in detail about 2.5 particulate and causative
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  Speaker 2: agent for cancer.
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  Speaker 1: I'm pretty amazed by the fact that you said after
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  Speaker 1: tobacco and alcohol, obesity is now the biggest cause of cancer.
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  Speaker 1: Explain that to me, because not every obese person is
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  Speaker 1: going to get cancer. But would it be fair to
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  Speaker 1: say that most of the cancer cases would end up
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  Speaker 1: being obese?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely right, Sonal. So many of these cancer patients that
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  Speaker 2: we see nowadays in our OPDs, in our outpatient department,
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  Speaker 2: many of them we try to understand what is the
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  Speaker 2: cause of cancer. We rule out genetic associations. We rule
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  Speaker 2: out many associations. But somehow... Obesity pops out as one
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  Speaker 2: of the very important causative agents, especially for cancers like
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  Speaker 2: gastrointestinal cancers, stomach cancers, wherein if they're obesity, there are
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  Speaker 2: more chances of having reflux. Especially in women, obesity causes
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  Speaker 2: hyper estrogenic states because to go into the detail, our
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  Speaker 2: fat in our body also produces estrogen. So whenever there
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  Speaker 2: is a high estrogenic state in our body, cancer can
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  Speaker 2: be caused, especially endometrial cancers and breast cancers.
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  Speaker 1: Explain that to me. Okay.
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  Speaker 2: So in women, there are two main hormones. One is
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  Speaker 2: estrogen and one is progesterone. Both are good, first and
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  Speaker 2: foremost for our viewers. Okay. Both are good hormones. Both
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  Speaker 2: are important for the human body. But then God has
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  Speaker 2: made our body in such a way that they have
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  Speaker 2: also provided progesterone, which is a sort of an anti-estrogen.
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  Speaker 2: So whenever, for example, we see a lot of cancers
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  Speaker 2: like ovarian cancers happening in women who don't have kids
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  Speaker 2: or just one, don't want to scare anyone off. But
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  Speaker 2: just the philosophy behind it is that these patients who
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  Speaker 2: have had less pregnancies, the progesterone exposure is less because
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  Speaker 2: progesterone comes only when there is pregnancy. Hmm. So whenever
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  Speaker 2: pregnancy happens, progesterone comes. It dampens the effect of estrogen.
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  Speaker 2: Prolonged estrogen exposure is not there. So it acts like
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  Speaker 2: a protective mechanism. Now let's see a woman who doesn't
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  Speaker 2: have a child. She has constant estrogen exposure in her lifetime.
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  Speaker 2: So there has never been a time when progesterone has
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  Speaker 2: come for 9 months period to break that estrogen exposure.
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  Speaker 2: And this estrogen exposure is carcinogenic. Yeah, it sounds very scary.
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  Speaker 1: But you said something even more important earlier. In your
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  Speaker 1: first sentence, you said, it's not just people who have
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  Speaker 1: no kids, but even people with one child.
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  Speaker 2: It is just about the number of times the progesterone
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  Speaker 2: comes and gets exposed in your body. It's one of
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  Speaker 2: the risk factors. That is not the only risk factor.
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  Speaker 2: It doesn't mean that People who have one kid will
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  Speaker 2: have cancer. It's not like that. But if you are running,
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  Speaker 2: if you are doing good physical exercise, your estrogen content
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  Speaker 2: in your body is less. So it is all cumulative
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  Speaker 2: effect of a lot of factors which causes cancer and
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  Speaker 2: not just one thing per se.
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  Speaker 1: Okay. So you're saying even if you have for life
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  Speaker 1: choices decided not to have kids or you cannot have kids,
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  Speaker 1: It's a difficult one. Women are judged both ways. But
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  Speaker 1: there are ways in which you can still keep your
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  Speaker 1: estrogen in check.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: Tell me how.
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  Speaker 2: We regularly, in fact, regularly in our OPDs, we tell
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  Speaker 2: our patients to do yoga exercises, which is known to
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  Speaker 2: reduce the estrogenic state. We ask them to do good
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  Speaker 2: physical exercises. This 10,000 steps is not just a statement.
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  Speaker 2: It is very, very important. And that is why this
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  Speaker 2: thing has come into play. that every day achieving 10
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  Speaker 2: to 15,000 steps is very important. It is to reduce
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  Speaker 2: your fat content. And if you reduce your fat content,
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  Speaker 2: then again, the estrogen exposure is less.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, this relationship that you have just formed between estrogen
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  Speaker 1: and fat and cancer, is there a cycle that one follows?
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  Speaker 1: And could you sort of dumb it down for our viewers?
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  Speaker 2: So high fat content, will lead to high estrogen content.
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  Speaker 2: A constant rise of estrogen will lead to, can lead
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  Speaker 2: to cancer. And that is why we see a lot
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  Speaker 2: of obese patients having cancer.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so we spoke about causes of cancer. Alcohol, tobacco,
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  Speaker 1: we know by now. You've said obesity is one, air
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  Speaker 1: pollution you mentioned. I want to bring in a question
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  Speaker 1: on stress. There is no evidence for it. But anecdotally,
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  Speaker 1: every time you meet someone who's just had been, you know,
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  Speaker 1: diagnosed with cancer, etc. They say, oh, you know, somebody's
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  Speaker 1: parent had died or somebody had lost their job, or
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  Speaker 1: which happens a lot these days. Or there was a
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  Speaker 1: life changing incident that happened. And immediately after that, you
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  Speaker 1: see cancer trigger. I'm trying to understand from a oncologist
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  Speaker 1: like you, is there a relationship between stress and cancer?
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  Speaker 2: See, factually, no one can prove that. But in my practice,
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  Speaker 2: what I have come across is whenever I keep on asking,
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  Speaker 2: because we, you know, being a cancer surgeon or a
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  Speaker 2: cancer doctor, the good part is that you are associated
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  Speaker 2: with a patient for five years, 10 years. You are
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  Speaker 2: into their family. You are there into their system. You
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  Speaker 2: are a part of their family member, right? So eventually
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  Speaker 2: you get to know what was that stress factor that
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  Speaker 2: was caused a year back. So a lot of my patients,
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  Speaker 2: they come up that either their son has expired or
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  Speaker 2: there was a major mishap in the family or there
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  Speaker 2: was a major quarrel in the family or some other,
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  Speaker 2: which people take in a different way. So a stressor,
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  Speaker 2: maybe less stressor for you, but the same thing could
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  Speaker 2: be a big stress for me. So I think, That
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  Speaker 2: is why we also advise meditation routinely in our clinical practice.
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  Speaker 2: Not just good diet, not just good physical exercise or
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  Speaker 2: just to keep yourself fit, but also a good healthy mind.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, but biologically, how is that possible? Stress is a
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  Speaker 1: mind game, right? Like how can that trigger cancer?
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  Speaker 2: So basically, it is all about the mind, right? Some
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  Speaker 2: things would be more stressful for you. And how I
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  Speaker 2: train my mind, it may be less stressful for me.
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  Speaker 2: Even in a clinical practice, if a patient that comes
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  Speaker 2: with stage one and a stage three cancer, the stage
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  Speaker 2: three cancers patient, sometimes this happens. He's very relaxed about
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  Speaker 2: his treatment. He says, you please go ahead. God is
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  Speaker 2: there with me. He will heal me. He will do everything.
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  Speaker 2: The belief, the faith, and that is what has accustomed
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  Speaker 2: his mind to be stress-free. Whereas a stage 1 patient
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  Speaker 2: keeps on coming back and says, I will get this
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  Speaker 2: cancer back. And invariably we have seen that that stage
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  Speaker 2: 3 patient who we initially said that you have less
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  Speaker 2: chances of cure, he is cured. He now still comes
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  Speaker 2: after 5 years, 10 years. And the patient in whom
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  Speaker 2: we confidently said that your cancer will be cured with
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  Speaker 2: good chances of more than 90%, the cancer come back.
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  Speaker 2: So tame your mind. Tame your body. Get control of
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  Speaker 2: your mind. Get control of your body. Lot of these factors,
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  Speaker 2: you know, even World Health Organization says 40 to 50%
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  Speaker 2: of cancers are preventable. Hmm. Not early detectable, preventable. You
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  Speaker 2: can just prevent them from coming inside into your body system. How?
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  Speaker 2: By good physical exercise, getting vaccinated against certain cancers which
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  Speaker 2: can prevent cancers, reduce your obesity, BMIs, good exercise, yoga, meditation,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of things.
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  Speaker 1: But yet we have.
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  Speaker 2: Smoking and of course... Yeah, but.
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  Speaker 1: Yet we have so many people who say, I never
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  Speaker 1: had a drink in my life. I never lit a smoke.
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  Speaker 1: I was such a good girl or a good boy.
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  Speaker 1: I've lived my life on the right principles. I'm a vegetarian.
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  Speaker 1: And yet they get cancer. How do you explain that?
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  Speaker 2: Very good. So there is a very good terminology in
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  Speaker 2: medical science that is called as idiopathic. Idiopathic means we
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  Speaker 2: don't know it yet.
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  Speaker 1: I thought it had something to do with idiots.
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  Speaker 2: No, idiopathic means... that I don't know it yet. Okay.
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  Speaker 2: But I'm sure in due course of time, this is
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  Speaker 2: how cancer treatment is evolving. We used to see more
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  Speaker 2: patients not getting cured. We used to see more of
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  Speaker 2: stage four cancers in our 20 years back in my OPD.
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  Speaker 2: Now we are seeing 60% of patients who are more
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  Speaker 2: than five years survivors as follow-ups in our OPDs. So
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  Speaker 2: this is a big change that has happened. And apart
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  Speaker 2: from idiopathic, I always tell them that Okay, it's just
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  Speaker 2: bad luck. Now let's deal with it.
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  Speaker 1: But the way to turn that bad luck into manageable
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  Speaker 1: luck is by detecting it early, right?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: Do you see a change in awareness of people coming
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  Speaker 1: to your OPD much earlier now?
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  Speaker 2: Huge change. Earlier, 60% of our patients used to come,
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  Speaker 2: 60 not, maybe 80-85% of patients used to come in
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  Speaker 2: stage 3 or stage 4. And we had nothing to
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  Speaker 2: offer them much, you know. 70, 60, 50% cure rates. Now,
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  Speaker 2: 50 to 60% of our patients are in stage 1
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  Speaker 2: and stage 2. So this is a big change.
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  Speaker 1: What do you think caused that change? Is it awareness?
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  Speaker 1: Because there are no early signs, right? I was asking
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  Speaker 1: you about early signs being loss of appetite and you
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  Speaker 1: told me that it's not an early sign, it's a
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  Speaker 1: very late sign. So is there an early sign for cancer?
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  Speaker 2: See, honestly, I feel... Honestly, not just to impress or
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  Speaker 2: the whole staff. Podcasts like this. There were two patients
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  Speaker 2: who came to me in last couple of weeks back.
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  Speaker 2: They said, Instagram, we saw that breast cancer may nipple
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  Speaker 2: goes inside skin. I was so happy that Instagrams and
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  Speaker 2: all are doing a good job. These podcasts, you guys
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  Speaker 2: have really pitched in hard to make aware people aware
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  Speaker 2: of how to Take care of their body. How to
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  Speaker 2: detect this at an early stage. Or at least not
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  Speaker 2: early stage, get yourself screened. Get a mammography done. Get
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: an ultrasound done. Get certain blood tests done. So these
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  Speaker 2: can pick the cancers very early in your life.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. And also I think a lot of celebrities speaking
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  Speaker 1: about it and talking about how you can do a
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  Speaker 1: basic cancer score at home. There's a basic assessment that
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  Speaker 1: one can do. And I think one thing I learned
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  Speaker 1: through medicine is that always know your lineage. Your certain
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  Speaker 1: aunt or your certain uncle who had a very mysterious
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  Speaker 1: death and nobody got to know. You should ask those
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  Speaker 1: questions within the family and understand if something runs in.
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  Speaker 1: And you think today's generation, and I'm not just saying
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  Speaker 1: Gen Z, which is the buzzword, but even millennials are
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  Speaker 1: more aware. They want to keep health first and they
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  Speaker 1: come more informed.
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  Speaker 2: See, that's a very good thing. as compared to three
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  Speaker 2: decades back where doctor was a God, I am, I
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  Speaker 2: don't really like the statement. Doctors are God and they
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: are not gods. Okay. So, so just to keep the
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  Speaker 2: expectations also down of the public. So earlier people never
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  Speaker 2: used to question their doctors that what, what is my
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  Speaker 2: treatment going on? Well, what, what is the source of
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  Speaker 2: your treatment? What are you referring to? Is there a protocol?
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  Speaker 2: Are you following some norms, guidelines nowadays? in my clinical practice,
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  Speaker 2: I show guidelines to each and every patient who can
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  Speaker 2: read or understand so that they are aware that whatever
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  Speaker 2: treatment we are giving them in India is the same
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  Speaker 2: treatment that we can give anywhere in the world.
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  Speaker 1: Right. Okay. So, but if you could list out some
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  Speaker 1: early signs that one can watch out for, and you're
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  Speaker 1: saying catch it early. So I'm assuming 30s is the
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  Speaker 1: time when you start?
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  Speaker 2: So 30s is the time when you start looking out
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  Speaker 2: for certain cancers. For example, nowadays we are seeing early
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  Speaker 2: breast cancers. So girls with 35 years of age, 30
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  Speaker 2: years of age are coming with breast cancers, uterus cancers.
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  Speaker 2: That's so surprising. But early breast cancers have now started
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  Speaker 2: to occur. So definitely the age that is suggested by
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  Speaker 2: the Indian society is 40 years. That's where the screening
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  Speaker 2: should start. I think if there's a strong family history,
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  Speaker 2: get yourself checked from 30, 35 years of age. There's
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  Speaker 2: nothing wrong in it. Apart from that, self breast examination,
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  Speaker 2: at least one should start at the age of 30.
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  Speaker 2: But that's my personal opinion.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, but you would say mammogram still not before 40
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  Speaker 1: in case you don't have a family history.
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  Speaker 2: Yes. Okay.
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  Speaker 1: So if you're not getting a mammogram, if you are
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  Speaker 1: a man or a woman, let me say in their
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: early 30s, what kind of tests do you think or
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  Speaker 1: early signs that one must see?
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  Speaker 2: Okay, so if we start from top to bottom, any
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: lump which is increasing in size is an alarming sign.
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  Speaker 2: Any lump, any small lump which was peanut in size,
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  Speaker 2: it has increased to a walnut size or then to
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: an apple size. It is a sign of something which
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  Speaker 2: is wrong going on with that lump. So get yourself checked.
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  Speaker 2: Any ulcer in the mouth which is not getting healed.
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  Speaker 2: So for example, there are certain ulcers that happen. They
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: usually get okay by maximum one month. Nothing goes beyond
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  Speaker 2: one month. But if they're not getting healed, get yourself checked.
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  Speaker 2: We get a lot of patients who said one of
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: the tooth was removed and then there was an ulcer
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: over there and which did not heal. So the whole
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: blame comes unfortunately on the dentist, but it's not like that.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: There was an underlying pathology because of which the tooth
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: was removed. And that ulcer is not healing. So get
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: yourself checked. Any ulcer in the mouth which is not
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: getting healed. If there's a change in voice, probably, you know,
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: in a week or so, it will get fine. But
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: if it is not getting fine over the next one
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  Speaker 2: or two months, get yourself checked. There could be a
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: vocal cord cancer. If there's any lump in the neck. Hmm.
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  Speaker 2: Get yourself checked. These are lymph nodes. These are early signs.
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  Speaker 2: Coming to the breast, any lump in the breast, any
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  Speaker 2: nipple retraction, any skin puckering, or any pudy orange, which
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  Speaker 2: is a reddish color on the skin of the breast,
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  Speaker 2: is a sign that you should be alarmed of. Going
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: into the abdomen side, if there is persistent reflux disease.
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  Speaker 2: So recently got a patient, she said, I was having
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: reflux since 10 years. And I've been wanting an endoscopy,
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: but no one advised me an endoscopy. And then eventually
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: we did diagnose them as stomach cancer. So reflux, which
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: keeps on happening, it keeps on causing inflammation, that acid
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: that can cause injury, constant injury, irritation, inflammation, eventually cancer
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: to the esophagus or the stomach. Any change in bowel habit,
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: for example, you were eating solid diet, then you slowly
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: moved on to semi-solid diet. Now you're on liquid diet.
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  Speaker 2: It means that there is an obstruction through which the
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: solid content cannot pass. And hence you have changed your
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: diet slowly and steadily to liquid diet. So being aware
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: of your body. The whole thing is about being aware. Anything,
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: if you're passing different color stools, black, dark brown, red,
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: means there's bleeding, get yourself checked. Not every bleeding per rectum,
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: bleeding is not hemorrhoid. Everyone thinks in India, this is crazy.
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  Speaker 2: And I see many of these patients coming up to
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: us I thought it is that, it is not cancer.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: They turned out to be cancer. So all these things
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: we need to understand and be aware. Any mole that
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: is changing its color, its character, its margins, it's getting
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: elevated or spreading horizontally is a sign of cancer.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: So treatment is available. Early detection is well on its way.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Are there certain things that you still want to warn
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: the millennials and young people about cancer? Are there still
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: stuff because cancer are of like a thousand times. If
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: you know breast cancer runs in the family, you'll probably
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: do those checks, but you will not run, you know,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: probably read about everything else. The last time we had
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: a cancer podcast here, it blew my mind that colon
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: cancer is now almost chronic. That was the word used.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: And that's something unheard of. I never used a chronic
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: word being used in terms of a cancer, right? Are
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: there certain kinds of cancer that you're seeing which are
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: on the rise?
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: So we are seeing breast cancers, which has been already
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: there before. There's a drop in cervical cancers because, again,
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: people are now aware the socioeconomic strata has gone up,
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: which was one of the major factors. There is much
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: more awareness about protection while having, you know, intercourse. So
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: these kind of awareness have led to reduction in certain cancers.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: But we definitely see more of colon cancers and rectum
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: cancers as we used to see before. Now, again, there's
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: a very interesting fact. Colon and rectum cancers used to
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: be more prevalent in the Western population because of their
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: dietary habits. India used to be majorly a vegetarian diet. Earlier,
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: we have taken over their diet and we have transformed
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: into a very different diet now as compared to before. Like,
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: we take a lot of non-vegetarian diet. No offense to non-vegetarians.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: A lot of spices now.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Spices have always been there.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: So if you see states like Jammu, Kashmir, colon cancer
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: is very high. Rectum cancer is very high. Because of meat.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: Meat consumption. So meat, that is red meat, can cause
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: colon and rectum cancers. If you go to Nagaland and
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: North East states, There is high incidence of esophageal cancer
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: and stomach cancers. Because they eat charred meat. They char
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: their meat. And then you have heard of Bhut Cholakya.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: That's the spicy thing of Nagalan people. So their food
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: has a lot of spice in it. Which causes gastritis
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: and erosions of the esophagus and stomach. And constant irritation, inflammation, stress.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: will increase the chances of cancer of the esophagus, that
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: is the food pipe and stomach. Similarly, we are seeing
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: a rise of lung cancer, even in non-smokers, in metropolitan cities.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: Air pollution. Air pollution. So you have cancer based on
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: regions and not just one whole factor. In West, they
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: used to have a lot of colon and rectum cancers
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: earlier because of their meat consumption. They are taking this
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: diet from us and they are becoming vegan and vegetarian.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: Their rates of colon and rectum cancers have gone down.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: Our colon and rectum cancers have gone up. So similarly,
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: states like Uttar Pradesh, again, not to generalize.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: My state, please be careful. And don't say anything about
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: our food.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: So they eat a wonderful thing called as paan masala
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: and paan paratha.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Oh, that you can talk about.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: Okay. So that causes oral cancers. So again, cancers are
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: based on region. Gallbladder cancers are more prevalent in Northern India,
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: not in Southern India.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: Fascinating details, Doc. But people would say that this is
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: something people have had genetically for such a long period
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: of time. Generations have consumed this food. So wouldn't their
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: body have adapted to it by now? I mean, on
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: one hand, if I talk to a nutritionist, they'll tell
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: me that, you know, go back to the kind of
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: food your dadi, nani were having. You are telling me
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: the opposite. You are saying don't eat that food. It
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: probably is going to get you.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: No, no. I'm saying eat healthy food. I'm just saying
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: eat healthy food. I'm not saying that people who are
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: staying in Jammu and Kashmir should not eat meat. It
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: is important for them to have that because it's in
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: their culture.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: Hmm.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: Try to reduce that consumption. Try to introduce more of
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: white meat rather than red meat. Because red meat is
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: the causative factor.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: You're saying if red meat causes or can cause cancer.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: Let me, you know, sort of be sure on that.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: We live in a world where protein is everything. We
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: are constantly being told to include protein in our diet.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: In fact, we're telling our parents who are vegetarians for
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: religious reasons also, sometimes to say, listen, keep that aside.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: If you want to have a longer life, a better
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: quality of life, please ensure that your protein intake is fine.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: That means include eggs once in a while, include vegetarian
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: sources of protein as well. So this somehow is not
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: matching up to what you're supposed to do for your body.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: Have fish, have eggs, there's no problem. They have chicken.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: I routinely eat breast chicken because that is the highest
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: source of protein. The only thing that causes cancer in
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: certain groups of peoples, like for example, even we get
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: a lot of patients from Iraq, a lot of patients
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: from the Middle East. Again, we see a lot of
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: colon and rectum cancers. In fact, highest number of colon
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: and rectum cancers are from the Middle East. From Jammu, Kashmir.
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: Why so? Because of red meat consumption. Hmm. So instead
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: of that, give it a rest. Take white meat. Take
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: eggs if you want as protein. Take fish. These are
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: very healthy. Fish has some wonderful oils and some wonderful
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: acids in it.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: Hmm.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: Which is very helpful for our body. And definitely take protein.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Hmm.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: Again, don't take processed protein. I'm not a very good
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: proponent of boxed protein.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: Hmm.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: Canned protein. I would suggest take fresh protein. Okay.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: So not processed and not canned.
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: And not something which is very spiced or charred.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. See, World Health Organization has clearly stated that processed food, stored,
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: and these things are known causative agents for cancer. Yeah.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: If I had to ask you about... a healthy way
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: of life today from an oncologist's perspective to tell me
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: what is a way of life that one must adapt
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: in terms of food and fitness that keeps me healthy.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: And I'm not looking at it from a longevity lens.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: I'm looking at it just to ensure that I don't
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: get cancer and I'm cancer free. Is that something that
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: one can look at or is it all just faith?
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: No, no, definitely it's not like that. No, faith is everything.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: But it's not like that. Hmm. My message to Gen
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: Zs or millennials or people of our generation, I would
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: say that have a good healthy life. Healthy life means vegetables, protein,
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: white meat, fruits, so that because they have antioxidants.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: Now, these are the ones that reduce the inflammation in
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: your body. Have a lot of seeds. Every day, a
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: cup of, half a cup of seeds like, maybe nuts, seeds,
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: flax seeds, chia seeds. These are all healthy.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: And some lovely omega-3.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: Omega-3 acids, yes. So this is, for me, a good
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: nutritious diet. Burgers, pizzas, this was never our diet to
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: begin with. Again, I understand that Gen Zs and millions
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: will not understand But I'm talking 30 years back.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: I think Gen Z understands it more. The more and
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: more young people I meet these days are off alcohol.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: They have kombucha parties.
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: They are turning vegan. I think this generation is very aware.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: And like you were saying, you were giving the example
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: of a young patient who walked into your clinic. Share
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: that with the viewers on how he came and detected
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: something at stage zero. What is that story?
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: See, again, everything revolves around being aware. So this patient
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: who came to us around two to three weeks back,
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: he came in. just stating that my father has a
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: colon cancer, had a colon cancer. My chacha had a
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: colon cancer two to three years back. And one more
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: person in their second degree relative had a colon cancer.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: And they were all related to that boy. And he said,
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: I had to go to Denmark for my work things
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: and all. So just get me a colonoscopy so that
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: I'm just free of my mind. We got a colonoscopy.
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: There was a polyp, which had stage zero cancer. So
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: we operated upon him. And we were so confident in
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: telling him that you are 100% cancer-free, at least in
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: this region, per se.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: Polyp is stage 0.
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: Let's not confuse it. For colon cancers, polyp is stage 0. Okay.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: I would have thought that... And polyp is not an ulcer.
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: And polyp is not an ulcer. Polyp is just like
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: a lollipop sort of a thing. Okay. To make the
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: general viewers understand what I'm trying to say.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Okay, clearly not the one to be had. But okay,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: is sugar another reason? High sugar diet another reason for
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: high cases of cancer?
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: That's a very good question. Now, there's a lot of
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: myth around sugar. Sugar does not cause cancer. Sugar is
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: not the causative agent for cancer. Having diabetes is not
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: a result of cancer. But the association is such that
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: most of the diabetic patients are obese. People who take
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: high sugar are obese. That is why cancer happens in them.
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: The issue is obesity. We are back to obesity. So
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: obesity causes cancer. That is the clear mantra. And I'm
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: really happy to see that nowadays, the newer generation, they
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: are so much into fitness. And that's a very good thing.
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: One thing that is unmonitored, which I routinely see, is
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: instead of smoking, they've gone into vaping. Which is, again,
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: completely unmonitored territory. We do not know what is there
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: in it. We still don't know what effects it can cause.
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: So I think vaping is something which is very dangerous
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: for me. Okay, that's a good note.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: Because half the time you don't even know what the
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: chemical inside the vape is.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: Right, exactly.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: Anybody is selling it. You don't even know the deadly company.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: You don't even know what is it. Yeah, yeah. At
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: least in a... Okay, no. I think people have.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: Understood what you were trying to say. A lot of
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: people don't know where to start. once they've had a
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: cancer diagnosis, a lot of people have managed to detect it,
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: but now they don't know which doctor to go, who
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: to consult, where to even start. Do you have a
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: kind of a checklist on what to do when you
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: are actually diagnosed with cancer?
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: So this one thing I'll tell all your viewers, whoever
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: is diagnosed, just recently diagnosed of cancer, Please ask your oncologist,
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: be it a surgeon, be it a radiation, be it
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: a medical oncologist. Please put your file through tumor board.
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: Every credible organization in India runs a tumor board. What
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: is that? It is compulsory. A tumor board is a
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: round table meeting of oncologists, radiation, medical, surgical, pathologist, radiologist
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: who sees your CT, MRIs and all. So all of
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: them sit across a table and discuss each and every
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: file that is newly diagnosed of cancer. And they discuss
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: out that what is the best treatment. So what happens
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: is that you are getting seven, eight opinions at that
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: point of time. Everyone is going to look at the
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: doctor who's not giving the right advice and they will
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: correct him. Legally for the doctor also, it becomes very safe.
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: And for the patient, it's all a win-win situation because
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: he's rest assured.
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: Then you have second, third, fourth opinion all.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: On the same table. And everyone is on the same page.
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: Everyone signs on that document, whatever is advised. A proper
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: documentation is made. This is a requirement of NABH, which
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: is a hospital board, which accredits the hospital. So it
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: is a requirement to have a proper documentation of tumor board.
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: So even in our hospital, any patient that is coming
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: to us, We run it through tumor board so that
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: in case I am losing my mind on something, my
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: colleague is there to correct me. Ultimately, everything revolves around patient.
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: We should be all patient centric. And that is what
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: we are. At least now, everyone is towards that. That's interesting.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: But a lot of times, the doctors who actually detect
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: cancer are not oncologists. You often end up going, say
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: I have just been getting stomach burns. right, I've just
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: been feeling a little acidic or bloated for a while,
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: you'll probably go to a gastro. I mean, gone are
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: the days where we could just walk up to our
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: GP because it's become so decentralized now. It's very hard
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: to find a good GP. So you end up going
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: to a super specialist. That person is only looking at
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: one organ and perhaps not being able to figure out
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: why this is happening. A great doctor once told me
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: that if you have something sort of bothering you, don't
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: let go. Just because your doctor said. Take a second
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: and a third opinion. and go to a GP who
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: will perhaps look at your whole body. Is there certain
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: wisdom there?
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: I think you've raised a very important question over here.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: I always tell in all my CMEs where I do
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: a lecture that the importance of a general practitioner cannot
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: be let behind in a place like India. In India,
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: a family physician, a general physician, he's the most important
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: person because he holds the local faith of the patient
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: of that area. He is usually the one who refers
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: us the patient. So the patient when comes to us,
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: he is usually diagnosed with cancer. Eventually, even if your
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: physician by chance is not getting you tested, and if
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: there is something that is constantly bothering you, even a
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: back pain, please get yourself an opinion from an orthopedician.
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: or a neurosurgeon, and get yourself evaluated. Anything which is
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: persisting for more than two months needs a check. It's
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: very clear.
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: Your timeline is two months, if it's going on for
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: more than that.
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: It's my personal timeline. But definitely, because, you know, being Indians,
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: we have a very high threshold for everything. Especially the
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: women of India. I mean, hats off to them. They're
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: taking care of everything in their life, but not their
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: own body and themselves. So anything beyond two months should
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: be checked. Yeah, yeah.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: That's a good one. Let's talk about cancer cure then
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: and treatment. I understand that there are very few cancers
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: now or very rare ones for which treatment is required abroad.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: India has become pretty self-sufficient and good on easy on
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: the pocket as well to sort of do cancer treatments.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: I'm seeing of late a lot of reels etc that
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: pop up of even people in the uk travel to
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: india for cancer care and they talk about how they
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: have to wait there for three months to just get
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: one appointment or get one treatment done and here in
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: india you come and they take care of your entire
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: well-being that's just a perspective anybody who's undergoing cancer right
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: now might find this very very different i totally acknowledge
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: that but how has it evolved and where are we
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: headed in that direction.
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: The cancer treatment in India, when we talk about the cost,
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: it's actually very low, to be honest. And that is
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: why patients fly, they fly all the way from UK,
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: not just Uzbekistan or countries, that's the CIS countries. But even, no, no,
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: no disregards to Uzbekistan and CIS countries or Middle East.
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: They are all wonderful countries. But even from Germany, Switzerland, US, Canada,
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: and UK. That is because the one reason is that
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: they are too slow in their diagnosis. They take a
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: lot of time. Then there is an issue of the
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: health policy over there. There are a lot of factors.
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: And then they know as compared to their country's health system,
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: India is very much cheaper. And India provides wonderful world-class
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: care in cancer. Where probably we lack is research, but
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: I'm sure we are also coming up with that.
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: So you're saying if those days are gone when you
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: had to travel abroad.
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: For a treatment? Absolutely. There is no doubt on that.
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: Those days are absolutely gone. If you have to travel outside,
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: only those people are traveling who don't have those drugs,
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: which are still invented outside and they are not there
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: in India. maybe after a year, they will be provided
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: because after all, we are the manufacturing unit of the world.
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: We are the pharmacy of the world.
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: Exactly. So for that, patients definitely go to US for
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: certain drugs. But apart from that, we follow a standard
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: guidelines for surgical, for chemotherapy or radiation. And we have
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: at par technology as compared to any other place in
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: the world. And I think COVID has proven that beyond
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: doubt about our medical health system, in spite of such
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: a huge burden of population.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah. You brought in drugs. So I have to ask
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: you a question, which has been disturbing me for a while.
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: Off late, we've had a lot of stories of fake
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: drugs in the market. There have been also a lot
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: of questions on the pricing of the drugs as well. Immunotherapy,
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: as we know, is very expensive, very effective, but very expensive,
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: not covered by a lot of insurance. We every now
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: and then get emails from people who write to us
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: to say that, you know, this hospital gave me this
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: drug at X price. I found it in the market
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: at a quarter. As a doctor, are you saying that
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: I should leave everything, trust the hospital for it? Or
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: do you think don't take a risk and if you're
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: getting something cheaper outside, take it?
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: So, the problem is very realistic. If I'm not a doctor,
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: I can definitely answer that yes, the MRP cost of
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: a medicine is pretty high. I don't know what is
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: the landing cost of that onto the hospital. I'm not
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: very sure of that. But, As compared to the other side,
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: the Western world, our drugs are still very cheaper. And
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: that is why I always insist patients to have a
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: medical insurance. Everyone should have a medical. I personally have
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: a huge medical insurance for myself. But having said that,
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: the medical cost is the medicine. The cost of the
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: medicine is high as compared to you get at a drugstore.
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: Hmm.
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: I'm sure both places you will get an authentic drug.
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: I'm no one to question that. But hospital cannot legally
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: provide a purchased drug from outside because we don't know
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: the source. So hospital can only vouch for their own medicine.
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: And that is where I feel that one should take
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: medicines from the hospital as far as possible.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: Dr. Pandit, you've had how many years in practice? 2008, so.
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: 18 years.
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: 18 years. 18 years of experience behind you in this
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: very interesting phase of medicine that we are in, and
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: especially for oncology as well. So much research is happening.
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: Is there like this one advice that you have for
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: everybody watching who either fears cancer or has one in
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: the family and is in constant pressure or, you know,
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: constantly thinking about it's going to happen to me next?
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: Is there an advice that one can follow?
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: See, one of the most commonest cancers is breast cancer.
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: And we have a very good tool which has the
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: least amount of radiation exposure. People have a lot of
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: myths around mammography, that there is radiation exposure or not.
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: It has the least amount of radiation exposure. So I
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: feel every woman in the house, in the family, who
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: is 40 years of age, please get an ultrasound of
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: the breast which has zero radiation. And a mammography of
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: the breast which has minimum radiation once in a year.
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: It hardly costs 1500 rupees. But it saves you a lot.
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: It saves you your life. The family remains intact. We
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: ran a thing in which we said that If you
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: want to be the real man of the house, please
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: get the woman of your house, the grandmother, the mother
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: of your mother, your girlfriend, your would-be wife, your sister.
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: Please get them tested by just a simple measure. Go
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: take them for a mammography. Only then I would call
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: the man of the house, the real man of the house.
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: That's quite lovely. So maybe this Diwali... while we go
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: out and gift each other presents and pamper ourselves, maybe
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: a good advice would also be that gift somebody maybe
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: a mammogram, right? And ensure that, or gift a test.
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: and ensure that they're taking care of their health. And
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: you're right, absolutely right about women not taking care of themselves,
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: not prioritizing. So let's see if the men are up
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: to the task and they can really do it.
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. I think that's a wonderful idea. Give them a test.
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: Give them a coupon, you know, instead of sweets, which
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: will cause obesity.
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: Get them a test done.
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: That brings me towards the end of this podcast, Dr. Pandit.
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: Is there something that you want to tell women all
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: patients who are currently in remission. They don't just live
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: with the glass half full that they've come out of it,
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: but they also live with the half empty, with the
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: constant fear of cancer coming back. How are you tackling it?
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: Have you become better? Are there early signs? Are there
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: early markers? I was again talking to another doctor the
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: other day who said that for him, the biggest marker
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: of cancer coming back is actually inflammation, which I found
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: very interesting. So even before they get down to doing
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: the scans, they say, oh, inflammation marker. So even before
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: that rises, let me tackle it, nip it in the bud.
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: Is there something like this that you are doing in
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: your practice? And basically, is there some hope?
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: See, in India, especially in a city like Delhi, where
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: we are, inflammation is happening in your body every sec,
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: every minute, to be honest. Be it air pollution, it's
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: causing constant inflammation. Every day morning you come, you get
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: up with a... in your throat. That's a part of
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: your inflammation. So I'm not very sure how those markers
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: would act if there's an early recurrence. Because in any case,
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: you have an inflammation in your body. But patients who
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: are in remission and who are 5-year survivors, 4-year survivors...
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: I would say now start that this is the time
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: when they should start working on their mind. I'm a
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: firm believer. Of course, there's no fact behind it that
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: everything is controlled by your mind. Your body is controlled
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: by your mind. If you have a good, healthy mind,
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: you meditate. You can manifest and it definitely happens. And
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: I have seen that in my practice.
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: This is the first time I'm hearing an oncologist say that.
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: I would generally, you know, hear this from a psychologist.
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: An oncologist saying that.
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: Is really interesting. I think every oncologist will agree to
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: that because every oncologist has a miracle story, has tens
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: of miracle story with him. Patient with stage four cancer cured.
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: It's not just the drug. It is also the mind.
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: Everyone would agree.
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: What's your miracle story?
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: There are a lot of patients who had this. Tell
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: us one. Really?
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: So there's a patient. She knows I'm talking about her now.
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: Okay. So she came to us with endometrial cancer, uterus cancer,
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: around seven, eight, nine years back. We treated her. We operated.
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: Everything went fine. We told her, you need to take
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: chemo radiation. She said, no, I'll go to Singapore. I'll
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: do naturopathy. Again, with due respect to naturopathy. Because people
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: will just keep on commenting about Ayurveda. Fine. So, we
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: tried convincing her, don't go for that. Let's finish this.
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: And then you go do everything that you want. She went,
• 46:53
  Speaker 2: she came back. And then she said that, doc, my
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: disease has come back. I'm sorry. Now you tell me
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: what you can do. I said, now your disease is
• 47:02
  Speaker 2: already spread in the abdomen. It's already stage 4. I
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: cannot promise you anything much. But then again, one thing
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: she said. You do your best. He will take care
• 47:14
  Speaker 2: of the rest. And we did everything. We gave her chemotherapy.
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: We did some NGS test, which is a next generation sequencing.
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: And we gave her those medicines. I'm sure those medicines
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: have played a role. But she started doing meditation. She
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: started doing yoga. And she went to a state of
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: meditation where she would close her eyes. She'll pick that
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: particular sketch pen that she wants to. And she will
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: draw it over there. And she knows what she would draw.
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: She'll end up drawing a dog. Perfectly fine with closed eyes.
• 47:47
  Speaker 2: So this was crazy and I've seen it. Okay. So
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: this is the kind of level that you can reach
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: with meditation. Of course, seeing is believing. That's why I
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: always tell my patients to go for meditation. And then
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: not just her, everyone else.
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: So you are an oncologist who does not believe in
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: alternate therapy, but believes in the power of the mind.
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. And the power of God. Do you think that
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: I am doing everything?
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: No.
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: Every patient that is getting treated under me and who's
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: getting cured, it is his decision only. And I'll tell
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: you another very good fact. Yes. Yes. Now that we
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: are having.
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: All these game for stories. Yeah.
• 48:25
  Speaker 2: Okay. So, I have... I watch the world in two
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: different people. I don't watch them as men and women.
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: I watch them as those who have not had cancer
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: and those who have had cancer and they are cured.
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: Their mindset is amazing. They know the value of life.
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: We still do not know. We are still on this side.
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: We do not value. We don't value what we are drinking.
• 48:50
  Speaker 2: We don't know what we are eating. They value their life. And,
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: you know, they are the ones who are actually living it.
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: This is a patient of mine. She's saying, I've started
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: to play flute. I always wanted to. I could never
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: do it. She's 70 years old. She now runs an
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: NGO of 250 kids, street kids. And she's teaching them.
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: She said, I just wanted to do this. And now
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: she started getting funding on its own. So they are
• 49:18
  Speaker 2: living their life. We are just dragging on with our
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: work and all. But now they are the ones who
• 49:25
  Speaker 2: actually want to live their life. So it's wonderful to
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: see that other sect of people.
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: So there are two types of people in this world.
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: Like you've said, one are the delusion souls who are non-cancerous.
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: And those who are, have suffered or recovered or are
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: still dealing with are the enlightened ones.
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: They are the enlightened ones, truly.
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: On that very enlightening note, thank you so much, Dr. Pandit,
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: for being here. This was lovely.
• 49:52
  Speaker 2: Pleasure talking to you. Thank you so much. Thank you.