September 30, 2026


Hello healers,

How much control do we really have over our health?

It is an interesting question running through this issue of the Townsend Letter. We can change what we eat, what we expose ourselves to, how we spend our time, and how we approach treatment. Medicine itself is becoming increasingly sophisticated at manipulating individual pathways, sometimes down to a single signal in the immune system.

But biology rarely gives us a simple cause and effect. Pull one lever and something else may move. Block one cancer pathway and resistance may develop. Change one part of the food supply and effects may appear somewhere we weren’t looking. Treat one disease successfully and another health risk may become more important.

That tension between what we can control and what we still don’t completely understand is part of what makes this issue interesting to me.

Our contributors approach it from very different directions, from cancer treatment and environmental exposures to diet, technology, the immune system, and the choices we make every day.

There is a lot to dig into here. I hope you enjoy it.

All the best for good health and healing,

Ben

P.S. If you haven’t subscribed to the Townsend Letter yet, now is a good time. Your subscription supports the independent writers and reporting that have kept Townsend going for more than 40 years, and gives you full access to everything we publish.


By Donnie Yance - Herbs and phytochemicals can alter drug metabolism, affect blood counts, liver function, coagulation, blood pressure, glucose control, and immune activity. Some may increase the risk of side effects; others may reduce drug levels and efficacy.

By Erik Peper - Individual choices matter, but they are not enough by themselves. Our health depends as much on government policy as on personal willpower. Government regulations set safety standards for the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink.

By Michelle Perro, MD - Early-onset colorectal cancer, generally defined as colorectal cancer diagnosed before age 50, has been rising for decades. The phenomenon is particularly disturbing because many cases occur in people without an obvious hereditary cancer syndrome.

By Gary Null, PhD - The average American now spends most of the day's free hours on a screen, and the newest ritual has a name the dictionaries have already accepted: doomscrolling —

By Ben Moss – Researchers are learning to selectively manipulate the levers of the immune system. A small study using a monoclonal antibody to prevent rejection of transplanted pancreatic islet cells shows incredible promise for people with Type 1 diabetes.

By Geo Espinosa, ND - Mortality has several doors: prostate cancer, cardiovascular disease, other cancers, and other causes. When the investigators tracked which door men went through, the excess deaths tied to saturated fat went mostly through the cardiovascular door.

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