The Epoch Times: Expert Explains Cancer May Be Metabolic Disease, and Shares a Cure.
“Cancer is not a genetic disease, it’s a metabolic disease,” Thomas
N. Seyfried, a well-known scholar in cancer research and a
Professor of Biology at Boston College, told The Epoch Times. “Once people
understand that cancer is a metabolic disease, then you will begin to see a
very big reduction in death and greatly improved quality of life and survival.”
Cancer Has Remained High for Decades
According to the statistics of the American Cancer Society, although the
incidence of cancer in the United States has been declining slowly since the
beginning of the 21st century, if we look at it over an extended period of
time, we will find that the incidence of cancer is actually increasing, not
decreasing.
In 1975, approximately 400 out of every 100,000 Americans had cancer. By
2018, that number had grown to roughly 445, an increase of more than 10 percent
[1].
Cancer rates in the United States
remain high. (Health 1+1 / The Epoch Times)
From the perspective of cancer mortality, in the past nearly 100 years, the
number of women who died of cancer per 100,000 Americans has gradually declined
from roughly 190 in 1930 to 130 in 2022; whereas cancer deaths among men per
100,000 Americans rose from around 160 in 1930 to 180 in 2022 [2].
In 2022, nearly 2,000,000 new cancer cases are expected in the United
States, and over 500,000 people are expected to die from
it. This means that every day, on average, 5,000 Americans are
diagnosed with cancer, and over 1,600 people die from it [3].
Cancer May Not Be a Genetic Disease
“Why are so many people dying from cancer?” Seyfried asked. “Because the
theory is wrong. The theory that underlies cancer is incorrect.”
Cancer is still generally considered a genetic disorder. Medical textbooks
use somatic mutation theory to explain the cause of cancer. These textbooks
state that cancer is caused by mutations in proto-oncogenes or tumor
suppressor genes [4], and the mutated cells
then multiply indefinitely and form malignant tumors. However, Seyfried
mentioned a number of facts in this interview and in his published research [5]
that are inconsistent with the above theory:
- Some
cancers do not have genetic and chromosomal mutations;
- Some
carcinogens do not cause gene mutation;
- Cancer
“mutations” also occurs in normal cells, but some do not develop further
into cancerous cells;
- The
result of studying cancer as a genetic disorder is the development of
personalized treatment or precision medicine, but there are off-target
effects for some customized cancer precision medicines.
- Ancient
people from thousands of years ago rarely had cancer, nor did the
indigenous people living in the natural environment.
Seyfried also conducted experiments on nuclear and cytoplasmic
transplantation [6], providing evidence for
the possibility that cancer is not a genetic disorder.
Under regular circumstances, normal cells develop into normal cells with
controlled growth (case 1 in the figure below), while cancer cells develop into
cancerous cells with uncontrolled growth (case 2).
Genes are stored in the nucleus. When the nucleus of a cancer cell was
implanted into a cytoplasm containing normal mitochondria, the cell developed
into a normal cell anyway (case 3). According to the somatic mutation theory, a
cell with a cancer cell nucleus should have developed into a cancer cell.
However, when the researchers implanted a normal nucleus into a cancerous
cytoplasm with abnormal mitochondria, they found that it still developed into a
cancer cell (case 4).
Research suggests that cancer may
not be a genetic disorder. (Health 1+1 / The Epoch Times)
Besides, studies of glioma, melanoma, and metastatic breast cancer cells
have found that normal mitochondrial function inhibits dysregulated cell
growth, regardless of how many genetic or chromosomal abnormalities may be present
in the tumor cell nucleus. Seyfried said that all these prove that cell
mutation is not the main cause of cancer, and that cancer is in fact, a
metabolic disorder.
The Biggest Difference Between Normal Cells and Cancer Cells
The theory that cancer is a metabolic disorder was first proposed about 100
years ago by a well-known German scientist named Otto Warburg. Normal cells
break down glucose through aerobic respiration, but Warburg observed that
cancer cells are different. Cancer cells obtain energy through fermentation,
even in an aerobic environment. Thus, Warburg proposed, aerobic respiratory
insufficiency is the origin of cancer.
Seyfried’s research adds another metabolic pathway in cancer cells that
Warburg did not observe: cancer cells also get a lot of energy from the
fermentation of an amino acid called glutamine, which updated Warburg’s theory [7][8].
The truth, Seyfried said, is that “They [cancer] cannot breathe … they can’t
get energy through oxygen, they can only get energy from
fermentation.” All cancers can survive without oxygen, but they “cannot
live without sugar, glucose, and the amino acid glutamine.”
Cellular aerobic respiration mainly takes place in mitochondria.
Mitochondria, which are responsible for respiration, are damaged and hollow in
all major types of cancer. The cristae, the wrinkled and wavy structures in the
mitochondrial structure, are cluttered and defective. The abnormality of
mitochondrial structure will change the function of mitochondria, resulting in
the inability of cells to obtain energy through oxidative metabolism. This
changes the cell’s metabolism from relying primarily on oxidation to
fermentation.
Seyfried further explained that the various abnormalities in cancer cells
are caused by the loss of normal function of cell mitochondria due to various reasons
(including carcinogens, radiation, pollution, inflammation, age, viruses, etc).
A large number of reactive oxygen species (ROS) will be produced when
mitochondria are damaged, further attacking and destroying the nucleus.
“The mutations that we see in cancer come as the result of damage from
reactive oxygen species,” Seyfried said. “The mutations are an effect,
they are not the cause of cancer.”
Defective mitochondrial structure
in cancer cells. (Health 1+1 / The Epoch Times)
Furthermore, Seyfried also talked about a phenomenon, that is, cancers with
myriad variants share a consistent metastatic process. First, individual
cells become cancerous and form tumors; the tumor cells then spread through the
blood vessels and circulatory system to other parts of the body, forming new
tumors.
Why do all cancers have the same metastatic process? How does this relate to
the theory that cancer is a metabolic disorder?
Seyfried said that the mitochondrial metabolic theory explains cancer
metastasis better than the somatic mutation theory. After macrophages engulf
and fuse with the defective proto-cancer cells, the normally functioning
mitochondria are gradually replaced by dysfunctional mitochondria due to
inflammation. As immune cells, macrophages have the ability to travel around
the body. As a result, these cancer cells, which are fusions of proto-cancer
cells and macrophages, spread throughout the body.
Press-Pulse Therapy: Adjust Cancer Cell Metabolism to Improve Condition
Seyfried believes the existing cancer treatment system is “broken.” He
said once people understand the metabolic theory of cancer, treatments like
chemotherapy and radiotherapy will be replaced by new treatments.
Based on the theory, Seyfried and his team developed the “press-pulse
therapy” [9][10][11], which is a cocktail treatment consisting of the
ketogenic diet, glutaminase inhibitor medicine, and stress management.
The ketogenic diet is adopted because cancer cells have defective
mitochondria and impaired metabolism, so they can only rely on fermented sugars
and glutamine for energy. Cancer cells cannot obtain energy as ketone bodies
cannot be fermented. As for cells with normal metabolic function, they can
obtain energy by metabolizing ketone bodies [12].
The purpose of a ketogenic diet combined with basic drugs is to control the
ratio of glucose and ketone bodies in the blood to an ideal range while
inhibiting the ability of cancer cells to acquire glutamine. In this way, we
can “starve” cancer cells from a metabolic perspective, thereby achieving the
same effect as cancer treatments.
An important aspect of “press-pulse therapy” is stress control and emotional
management. Seyfried emphasized in the interview that people’s mental stress
has a direct relationship with the development of cancer. When patients are
diagnosed with cancer, they experience extreme panic and cannot rest or eat in
peace. Excessive stress can raise blood sugar levels, which can feed cancer
cells into rapid growth. As a result, cancer cannot be controlled. Easing the
emotional and stress levels of the patient and his or her family can further
stabilize the patient’s psychological and physical condition.
There have been many successful cases of cancer control by managing
metabolism. Moreover, many patients use this method when traditional cancer
treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, are ineffective, or when
cancer has spread.
A 38-year-old man developed symptoms in February 2016 and was subsequently
diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme (the most common and malignant form of
primary adult brain cancer). After 20 months of ketogenic diet therapy and
completion of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the patient’s tumor decreased by
approximately 1.5 cm in diameter. He seemed in good health with no apparent
clinical or neurological deficits [13].
Another 54-year-old man was diagnosed with lung cancer; the cancer cells had
metastasized and tumors were found in his brain. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy
had no effect, so the patient opted for a ketogenic diet. Two years later, the
tumors in his brain and lungs shrank; after nine years of treatment, the brain
and lung cancer tumors remained stable in size [14].
A 45-year-old woman in Ohio was diagnosed with breast cancer in late 2016.
In August 2018, the cancer had spread and she developed tumors in her brain,
lungs, mediastinum, liver, abdomen, and bones. Her doctor expected her to have
less than a month to live. The patient began receiving press-pulse therapy in
November 2018. In April 2019, the scan report indicated that the treatment was
effective. According to the published study, her last check-up was in March
2021 and the results showed a stable condition, no recurrence, and improved
quality of life [15].
In a study published in the Clinical Nutrition journal, 80 patients with
locally advanced and metastatic breast cancer were randomly assigned to a
ketogenic diet or a control group for a 12-week treatment test. Patients in the
ketogenic diet group had lower serum insulin levels, and their tumors shrank [16].
Two papers recently published in Nature: Prostate Cancer and Prostatic
Disease describe the therapeutic benefits of a low-carb diet and a
fasting-mimicking diet for patients with prostate cancer [17][18].
A ketogenic diet, which requires fasting and has low carbohydrates, can lower
blood sugar levels and control tumor growth. These findings support the
hypothesis that elevated ketone bodies are associated with reduced tumor growth
[19].
Exercising, Fasting, and Avoiding High-Carb Diets May Keep Cancer Away
As for how an average person can maintain a healthy metabolism and prevent
cancer, Seyfried said that by keeping the mitochondria in cells healthy, people
are less likely to get cancer. He said this can be achieved through a certain
period of fasting (drinking only water), a low-carb diet, and exercise.
He also emphasized that high carbs and unnutritious foods such as junk food
can cause cancer, and advised to stay away from such foods. It’s not just
cancer, diseases like Alzheimer’s, Type 2 diabetes, and obesity, among others
are all related to the Western diet.
“As soon as the Western diet comes into the population, you get cancer … and
diabetes and things like this.” He also joked, “The bottom line is don’t eat
anything and you’ll get very healthy. Just drink water.”
Flora Zhao is a health reporter for The Epoch Times. Have a
tip? Email her at: flora.zhao@epochtimes.nyc
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