Life with Cancer: Nutrition, Fermented Soy, and Supporting Recovery

Introduction to the show and guest 0:00

When we start with soy as a substrate, especially our species of soy, not only are you getting the benefits of our particular fermentation, but you're also getting those benefits. We really unlock a lot of the hormone balancing, the anti-inflammatory and the immune modulating benefits that come with soy in general that just aren't available kind of in that raw form. We really want it in that fermented form. And what we do that takes it to just the moon, it takes it to a whole new level, is we actually have a patent on a specific type of fermentation.

It's a nitrogen fermentation. It's a multi-stage fermentation. That's where the real magic happens. Welcome to the Belgiansky Cancer Talk Show, where integrative science and holistic healing come together. I am Sylvie Belchanski, and in each episode, we explore nutrition, lifestyle, mental health, and research-backed approaches to support the whole person through cancer and chronic diseases. Hello, and welcome to the Belchanski Cancer Talk Show. Today, I have the pleasure to welcome Jim Ladwick.

has been battling his own cancer issue. And he was introduced to, he's going to tell us more about that. And he saw by himself amazing results. So he developed a passion for natural ways to heal the body. He's a certified health coach and he's fully embracing the healing products mission of helping individuals and families experience the joy that comes with restored health. So he chose to call this episode Cachexia, how nitrogen fermentation is changing cancer nutrition. Jim, welcome to the Belgiansky Cancer Talk Show, but I would like to tell you first that the title that you have chosen needs some explanation.

What is cachexia? Yeah, so interestingly enough, in our original journey, well, first of all, thank you so much for having me. Actually, I skipped right over it. Thank you. I was excited to, I know we've chatted at conferences over the years and seen each other, but it's really good to have a conversation with you. Yeah, so cachexia is the wasting syndrome that happens typically in late stage cancer and often could be triggered by the cancer itself, the body's inability to start or to continue processing proteins and nutrients.

And we've all seen it, usually in these late stage cancer situations, people just lose tons of weight and they don't want to eat even what they do eat, they don't assimilate it. And so back in the mid 80s, that was the real driving force or driving factor into why we created the Healan 951 was to help,

What cachexia is and why it matters 2:51

you know, not only with the treatment side effects and things, but help really put healthy weight, healthy muscle mass, back on and help people to start recovering the gut and assimilating nutrition because many, many times, and there's a lot of stats out there and it's kind of ever changing, but a very significant portion of late stage cancer, it's not the cancer that ends up causing the end of life, it's that wasting syndrome. There's nothing left, people aren't eating, there's no nutrition. That for us has always just been a core element of why we created the product and then also ongoing of what we've seen as just such an incredible benefit.

So going back to you and your own cancer story, what kind of cancer did you have? What stage of cancer? When you started to use healing products, how did you discover them? And then what happened? What did you experience? Yeah, it was pretty wild for me. I wasn't super familiar with really anything cancer as most of us find ourselves. We get thrown into this journey that none of us asked for. My background is in marketing. I've worked with software companies and local businesses and so my background is so far from you know, health and wellness.

Growing up, I will say my mom, she's a yoga instructor and a very, you know, healthy fitness. Like she was very health driven. So I wasn't unfamiliar with a lot of the concepts, but it certainly wasn't on my radar because my, you know, my, my job has always been building sales and marketing teams. And so I was- You were pretty young because- Yeah. Oh yeah. I was, I was very young. Early 30s, I had my second kid was one years old. I was pretty green. And it was very unexpected because it was colon cancer.

And if anybody's ever followed Chris Wark, it's wild how similar our situations aligned. And I learned about him, you know, after the fact, actually, when I was going through my, you know, my battle, I was, you know, I was actually kind of you know, intrigued because his situation was so similar to mine. It was colon cancer, similar stage, similar area, similar development. And so for me, it was obviously, you know, rushed, they rushed you through everything, you know, you finally get the diagnosis.

I went through seven different doctors just to get a diagnosis. then they finally found what the other scans had missed and so it was just a whole fiasco. I'm sure we've all got stories like that but the real thing for me is once I did have a diagnosis I was like okay now I can kind of dig my head into because I love to research that's just data and research has always just been a fascination of mine and so for me I dove right in and thankfully a friend of mine I reached out to him and his dad was the founder, Joe Tedesco of Heal in 951. And so I was introduced to the product in a period of life where I absolutely needed it.

And so I got on it right away. And the way my journey progressed was essentially I had surgery. It was blocking my digestion. And so I had developed H. pylori and a couple of other issues. And that's where the majority of my symptoms came from. And so once the digestion was cleared, we got into these, you know, we had the surgery, the surgery went well, and we started talking about all these, you know, follow ups, the chemotherapy, you know, all the stuff that they wanted to do. And I was like, okay, let's pump the brakes.

and and slow down and I felt because I was young and I just I didn't I still didn't have any idea of of this world this all happened in a matter of weeks and so you know I'm laying there I'm recovering and I decided hey I'm gonna try some natural stuff I'm gonna I'm gonna try you know diet lifestyle change

Jim's cancer diagnosis and recovery journey 6:54

all that And I had gotten introduced to Healan 951. I started it just before my surgery. And so I went hard at it and I really, for the next, you know, six months was just really, really tight on, I stayed on my 951. I, you know, I had other supplements that I would cycle in, but Healan had always just been kind of my quarterback. It was the, you know the foundation that I had built off of and you know fast forward you know I'm going in for my my monthly then 90 days then six months then annual and eventually my doctors were just like you're doing so good we don't really need let's just push this out so they were super thrilled they were like huh this is whatever you're doing keep doing it you know you always hear those things and my digestion started just working so I was just reacting to all these foods and then I was starting to be able to eat again.

I was starting to put healthy weight back on. I had lost, you know, probably 40 pounds, 45 pounds. And so for me, I just saw such a transformative effect in my immune system, in my hormones, in my blood work and my energy levels that I just, I knew there was something there. I knew there was something to this product. And so I stayed on it. I stayed with it. And then years later, I ended up getting a call from that same friend and he said, hey, I need you to come work for the company. I'm like, OK.

And that was kind of my journey into healing. When you are facing cancer, you are suddenly facing a myriad of questions. Questions about nutrition, lifestyle, mental and emotional support, and how integrative approaches can work alongside conventional care. The Belgiansky Integrative Cancer Conference brings the conversation together in one place. From June 26 to 28, join leading oncologists, integrative physicians, researchers and survivors in San Diego, California, for three days of science-informed all-person cancer care.

These live events expose evidence-based integrative strategies, emerging research, and practical tools you can apply immediately while connecting with a community that understands the journey. Whether you are 10 in person or virtually, this conference is designed to educate, empower, and support informed decision-making. Learn more and reserve your spot at integrativecancerconference.com because better outcomes begin with better conversations. So for how long have you been with Helen now? About seven years.

Yeah, I've been here about seven years. Okay. And I assume you know everything now at this stage about inside and out about the product itself. What is fermented soy? Yeah. Yeah. It's a weird one. And, you know, it took me some education on the front end because I had I had really bought into a lot of the misconceptions around soy. And some of them, I'll be perfectly clear and honest on soy itself. It has some problems, especially with what's grown here in the United States. We don't use United States grown soy just so people know.

We use a truly heirloom organic species of soy. and we grow it at elevation and there's a lot of reasons we do that for soil density, soil nutrient quality, how we fertilize, the timing of how we pick it. So it's very very specific soy that we use but there's a lot of misconceptions around how soy works with estrogen and inflammation and the immune system and so I had to just do a deep dive on how incredible soy as a substrate for fermentation is. If you think about sauerkraut, you start with cabbage.

Cabbage in and of itself is fine. But when you ferment it and you go through that process, it becomes just a superfood of probiotics and just amazing beneficial bacteria for your gut and your health. It becomes something totally different. And when we start with soy as a substrate, especially our species of soy, Not only are you getting the benefits of our particular fermentation, but you're also getting those benefits. We really unlock a lot of the hormone balancing, the anti-inflammatory, and the immune modulating benefits that come with soy in general that just aren't available kind of in that raw form.

We really want it in that fermented form. And what we do that takes it to just the moon, it takes it to a whole new level, is we actually have a patent on a specific type of fermentation. It's a nitrogen fermentation. It's a multi-stage fermentation. That's where the real magic happens. And so we end up, if you've seen it, we end up with this. It's a liquid, it's a brown liquid. does not taste good, just as a warning. We don't flavor it. It's nothing, you know, fancy. But we end up with this nitrogenated, so nitrogen binds to all these really beneficial compounds, the amino acids and the peptides and the fermentation metabolites that happen during that process.

And now we have something that's able to just deliver incredible cellular nutrition. And the benefits, I mean, we've just have so many various studies on what we've seen the product do. It's pretty incredible. The benefits are just next level when it comes to really providing the best nutrition, the best compounds and delivering it right to the cells that need it. You mentioned in passing the hormonal balancing, but a lot, especially women, are concerned with breast cancer, are afraid of soy. What makes the soy sometimes a good thing and sometimes a bad thing?

Yeah, so the problem isn't soy. And this has been something that I had to do a lot of research on. I have a shelf of books that are anti-soy. And that's where actually I started this mission was, okay, why not soy? And you've seen a lot of research over the years, probably in the early 90s, and some in the early 2000s, late 90s, where soy became demonized. And they're specifically looking at one isoflavone. which is Genistin and it looks like the natural estrogen produced by the body. It's not. It's a very, very weak estrogen and just because it looks like it doesn't mean it functions like it.

Conference and sponsor messages 13:42

It functions actually very different and it's what they call CIRM. Now, the problem we run into with a lot of soy is you're not just getting Genistin in that package, you're getting a lot of pesticides, which are very, very strong xenoestrogens. We don't want that. You're getting a lot of other byproducts and, you know, chemicals that are used to either produce isolates or soybean oils, all that stuff I am firmly not a big fan of. So I stay far away. But the when you come to just the pure element that people were concerned about.

There are so many studies from about 2015 on that show that jenison is a CIRM molecule. It's a selective estrogen receptor molecule or modulator. And so what it ends up doing is it binds, you have your alpha and your beta receptor, and it ends up preferentially binding to the same receptors that can cause the cancer to feed, that can cause the high estrogen, and it binds to it, but it's super, super, super weak. So it ends up telling your body and it helps it to balance. And so what we see, and I would say primarily, 80% of the people who have taken Healan historically have had breast cancer, estrogen driven, or in men, it's prostate cancer.

And what we see is we don't see this massive spike in estrogen. We don't. And honestly, any of the more recent studies you find on even fermented soy, you don't see massive spikes in estrogen. You don't see men's testosterone dropping. What you do see is PSA lowering, testosterone balancing, and natural hormones like estrogen and women balancing. And it does this by more of a signaling than a dump of phytoestrogen into the body causing this massive overload of estrogen. So it doesn't function the way that historically, you know, probably 20 years ago, we believe that it was like, oh, soy is going to promote estrogen given estrogen driven cancer, I need to stay away.

Well, What ended up being true is exactly the opposite, is soy has a protective effect and helps to balance estrogen. Now, I'm not an advocate for all soy because again, you don't know what else you're getting with it. And in a raw form, like just an edamame or an unfermented state, It's not really going to have that much of effect either way. The real benefit that you get in a kind of therapeutic way is fermented. So even things like natto, where you have that natto kinese enzyme, you see a more of a functional food versus just a food that has a, you know, a good protein and an amino acid content.

Fermented is just world superior. When you are facing cancer, the choices can feel overwhelming, conflicting advices, endless options, and very little clarity. At Maison Belchanski, everything begins with science. For decades, molecular biologist Dr.

How fermented soy and nitrogen fermentation work 17:00

Mirko Belchanski studied how specific plant extracts interact with cancer cells, work that continues today through independent research and real-world use. Maison Beljanski offers carefully formulated supplements inspired by that research, along with targeted support for immune health, cellular resilience, digestion, detoxification, and overall wellness. You will also find educational books, organic teas, personalized health coaching, and wellness programs designed to support the whole person, not just the diagnosis.

This is not about quick fixes. It's about informed choices, thoughtful formulations, and supporting the body alongside conventional care. Explore the products, the research, and the resources at maisonbelchanski.com. Because when science leads, wellness follows. So you would say that the benefits of the product are mostly, I mean, the microbiome, of course, because it's a fermented food. You mentioned hormone balancing. You mentioned anti-inflammatory. What else can we expect? What are the benefits you can expect when taking the product?

Yeah, so a few of the compounds in there are in soy natively. Genistin in particular, we mentioned, you know, hormone balancing, anti-inflammatory, and it's immune modulating. Those are the three big areas that Genistin has been studied, which is that main soy isoflavone. And there's, you can search PubMed and find a lot of information on that. We believe that with our fermentation, we, you know, have probably the most bioavailable, readily usable form of that. But beyond that, there are a lot of other compounds natively in soy because we're not taking isolates.

We're not isolating specific things. So there's amino acids, peptides, enzymes, protease inhibitors, phytosterols. So you still see some of the native benefits that you'd see with with soy, like the cholesterol benefits, the heart benefits, things like that. That's not something, an area that we've specifically studied, but it is in there and it's, those are all, it's very, it's. we're leaving it all together so we get that kind of entourage effect. I think the most notable notable things though are you know anti-inflammatory immune modulating and that hormone balancing which those three pathways alone are responsible for just so much you know in the body.

But there's a lot of other noted things, like you said, the gut microbiome, we've seen increased spifidobacteria. In nitrogen fermented soy studies, we've seen reduced bacterial load, reduced viral load, better sleep. I mean, obviously all of those pathways are just so connected that when you start to, you know, we're not just focusing on one specific thing, we're having this kind of entourage effect. We get a myriad of benefits. You mentioned studies. Where can people find any of those studies and where are they conducted?

Yeah. So a lot of the studies you could find at like NFS, it's nitrogen fermented soy, it's nfsresearch.com. There's a compilation very specific to nitrogen fermented soy, but they're on PubMed. There's, you know, there's just a lot of stuff that you can find on like Science Direct. I think some of it has the We had a PTSD study was on there, a pilot study on that. Dr. Kerry Goda had a case study on ALS stabilization that's on PubMed. So, I mean, there's, there's a number of different ones out there.

There's some specific ones like RGCC had done on specific cancer cell lines. They, they actually called us afterwards and we, they had a, so it's thick. It's like a thicker. You know, it's not like water, it's a little bit thicker. And so they had a hard time with the viscosity on their machines. So they were like, I'm sorry, the study is limited, but the product is amazing. But yeah, I mean, so they're kind of all over the place, but you could look up either Helan 951 or FSWW08, same product, you know, and you'll find a lot of nitrogen fermented soy studies.

I have heard of Helene for decades, actually. So the product has an history also of its own beyond your own history and you meeting the product for your benefit. How was that developed and what is the story behind Helene? I mean, you don't stumble one morning on fermented soy. Yeah. Yeah. It was a long process. So the, the initial development was, it was started with a team in China and obviously soy being a staple food over there. It's a complete protein. They may have access to a lot of, you know, especially back then a lot of organic soy.

And so what it was, was an initial onset to help with that late stage cachexia and to help with the wasting syndrome. How do we get the gut to start assimilating nutrition again? And they tried a number of different fruits, vegetables as a substrate for their development of this nitrogen-rich fermentation. And through a lot of trial and error and experiment, they came up with the specific species of soy that we still use and grow today and its ability to go through this nitrogenation or this nitrogen fermentation process.

That was really right around 1985-86 and then up until about 1991. 1991 is when we really landed on the 951 formula because it used to be 851 and several iterations and then now there's the 951 formula. It sounds like what? 951 what? So 951, so 851 used to have a significance in the the essentially part of the name of a specific bacterial strain that they had started with. And then they started iterating and then it became to the 951 and that just became the name. So everybody just calls it Helin at this point, but the 951, I mean, it has some significance in the fact that it was an iteration of the formula itself.

Soy, estrogen concerns, and hormone balance 23:30

Okay. Yeah. And so basically the initial studies that we did were hospital studies in China. We had like a 320 hospital patients study on treatment combinations with chemotherapy and radiation and they just saw better outcomes, less side effects, better treatment outcomes. And so then that kind of developed into how is this helping with the immune system and survival rates. Even in, you know, things started getting noticed in mental health. So it branched off into a PTSD study. So there's a lot of different things.

Obviously we've been around a number of years so that, you know, things have just kind of gone in different ways from ALS stabilization to Deshane's muscular dystrophy to all kinds of different things. And one of the main reasons it's kind of seen such a a broad journey is when you think of healing, it's really kind of the quarterback of the team. I have a friend of mine that uses that term and in helping the body to start assimilating again. So any nutrition that's coming in either along with it or as you've started taking it is getting assimilated and used better.

I've even, I've had clinics tell me that they're able to reduce things like vitamin C IVs and other supplementation because healing is just causing the body to assimilate nutrition much more efficiently by repairing the gut, by providing the right nutrition to the gut. And then the body starts, you know, activating systems in the immune system that, that help it to process, to help it to assimilate and deliver nutrition to the cells. So it really is kind of a foundational element that, you know, we've seen to kind of nutrition on the next level, if you will, because we still, I mean, still you get a lot of people, you know, combining various other protocols, especially yours, and combining those and seeing that, okay, not only is the healing beneficial, but stacking these things together, there's a synergy, they're working together to provide delivery like you couldn't before.

Absolutely. I mean, if you reinforce the strength of the body, the ability of the body to fight back and to have the proper nutrition it needs to sustain itself, that is the beginning of life. I mean, if that is not happening, nothing else can happen. And you are mentioning, you know, synergy with the Belchansky products. In France, several years ago, like 20, 30 years ago, there was a product that was also about helping people with cancer not wasting away and providing, it was a little can at the time in France, but providing everything they needed to support their nutrition.

And of course, pharmaceutical companies together with the French government, they made that disappear. It was a total, I mean, waste of opportunity for cancer people. So I hope that people understand how lucky they are to be here in the States and to have access to a product who is doing that because it's not a given again. I mean, Pharmaceutical companies don't always want you to get, I mean, cancer patients to get better, even though you could think that, you know, a patient who stays alive can be a consumer, but they don't see always that like this.

They think that those kinds of consumers are not big clients of their products and and they don't want the success story to take a life of its own and being told. So I think what you are doing is really, really important. I appreciate the fact that you are open with also, I mean, not looking at even those soy products as a just enough to destroy all cancer cells and that it's a base to bring the patient to a level of sustainability where he can achieve better recovery with other things. Yeah. And I think people as they kind of dive deeper into this journey, I mean, I'm sure people who are watching this are at all levels of understanding, but cancer is not dumb.

It's not, you know, it finds a way to adapt. And so cycling in things and. And, you know, having various methods of, of how we're attacking. It's very important. And it's, there's no silver bullet. It's just, it doesn't, I've never seen it. You know, it's just not. And so everybody's body is different. Everybody is at a different level of how they will assimilate nutrition and how there's certain supplements and protocols out there that.

Research, product history, and clinical benefits 28:30

are going to work amazing for some people and other people, you know, you're going to have to tweak it. You're going to have to adjust. And so I think having a multifaceted approach is so important. Always be learning and educating ourselves on what these compounds are doing in our body so that we can adapt. It's very important. When cancer enters your life, the questions don't stop at treatment. You start asking, why? What else? And what more can I do to support my body? At the Beljansky Foundation, we believe cancer care deserves deeper answers.

Answers rooted in science, not in shortcuts. For decades, groundbreaking molecular research by Dr. Mirko Belzhansky explored how specific natural compounds selectively target cancer cells while spearing healthy ones. That work continues today through independent research, education, and global collaboration. At belgianski.org, you will find evidence-based resources, expert-led conferences, books, and conversations that explore integrative approaches to cancer and chronic disease alongside conventional care.

Whether you are a patient, a caregiver, or practitioner, this is the place to learn, to question, and to think more expansively about healing. Visit belzhansky.org to explore the research, attend upcoming events and connect with the Belzhansky community. Because informed choices begin with credible science. Absolutely. And it's part of the opportunity of, I mean, the curiosity that you need to have to heal yourself, to look at all the options, try different things, see what works for you. You just cannot expect the doctor who is giving you.

15 to 20 minutes of his time to write a laundry list on his notepad. It's not going to happen. And you need to do the work by itself. And that's why also it is so important that companies like yours, I mean, make the effort to come to podcasts, speak about the products, also come to conferences, give lectures, explain what you are doing to a number of people. How people can learn about, I mean, about you, about Helen, where can they get the product? Yeah. So you can purchase it right on the website.

It's HAELAN951.com. Obviously for a number of reasons, there's not a ton of information on there about the product and what it might do for your body. But there are other websites out there. Like I mentioned, the one is NFS. stands for nitrogen fermented soy. So it's nfsresearch.com. There's also fermentedsoyresearch.com. There's a couple out there. There's other, you know, you can search nitrogen fermented soy and you might find some other resources out there. and reviews on other people's websites that maybe we're not allowed to publish.

So there's a lot of research out there on nitrogen fermented soy specifically. We have seen that ours is just the most superior. We're kind of the OGs in the space. And so when you're looking for that kind of level of nutrition, definitely check out healin951.com. And our phone number is right on there. Call us. Usually somebody picks up the phone. If not, leave us a message. We're happy to walk people through it because it's weird. It's a different product. Like I said, there's a little bit of an education that needs to happen with it and how to take it and all that kind of stuff.

But I'll tell you, for me personally and what I've seen over the last seven years, it's pretty crazy stuff. I mean, it's pretty powerful. Yeah. And you are also going to come to San Diego to the Belgian Integrative Cancer Conference. I'm excited. Yeah, I'm so excited. We're going to be booking our event or whatever booth space. So we'll be there. If you're at the conference, come chat with us. We'd love to chat. Very good. I'm sure that you will have a lot of visits at the booth. There will be three full days of exhibition and we are building the schedule in order to make sure that the exhibitors will have prime time and attention.

Well, every time we've been in the past to the conference has always been just an awesome time, great networking, just such wonderful people.

Where to learn more and closing remarks 33:00

I mean, all the people there, it's like you start building a family around all these people you see at the conference and you can see them again. It's a lot of fun. Indeed. And thank you. But that was the idea to create a community of like-minded people who want to help people and make a difference and make the world healthier. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. If you haven't been before, this is my little plug for your conference. I mean, you'll meet so many good people, so many good people. Yeah, and people who have cancer are recovering from cancer, have recovered from cancer and also health professionals.

So it's a very good mix, actually. And that's what I like with this conference. That's cool. Yeah, that's great. Jim, is there anything else you would like to add for the audience? We covered everything. Yeah, I'm just so appreciative of you having me on here and sharing your platform to educate people about the product. Obviously it's a passion project of mine because it's very near and dear to me. So I encourage people to go check it out and learn a little bit more and give us a call if you have any questions.

Very good. Thank you very much, Jim. And we look forward to seeing you in San Diego. Thanks, Sophie. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Belgianski Cancer Talk Show. If this conversation supported or inspired you, please follow the podcast, share it with someone who may benefit, and leave a review to help us discover these integrative perspectives. For more resources and to see what we offer, please visit Belgianski.org.