What exactly is the Metabolic Approach to Cancer?
I’m sure in all of the research you’re doing about your diagnosis, you’ve come across buckets and buckets of different types of information and advice. It can be confusing and overwhelming. There is one certainty in the metaverse of misinformation: what we put into our bodies has a direct impact on the birth of disease and progression of disease. If you can wrap your mind around that concept, the rest should all make sense.
Food is information; it gives us energy. Deeper than that, on a cellular level, cancer begins with damage to the mitochondria. Back to high school biology, mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell, right?! They make energy (ATP!). Well, they do this by using glucose/sugar from our food. This is how our metabolism works. BUT, when there is damage to the mitochondria, cells switch the way they produce energy from respiration, (in normal cells) to fermentation, seen in cancer cells. The common feature of this altered metabolism is the increased glucose uptake and fermentation of glucose to lactate. Damaged mitochondria and increased fermentation is present in most all cancer types. Hence, cancer is a metabolic disease.
Phew, enough science for one day!
Knowing this information is one thing. How do we circumnavigate (Magellan!) our metabolism to take this power away from the damaged cell? Well, it would make sense that if the common feature of altered metabolism is increased uptake of sugar in the cell, we would need to find a different “food” source other than sugar, right? Right. Enter: FAT.
Fat is often feared when it comes to health. I get it, but when consumed the correct way, in the correct ratios, fat can actually be a wonderful source of energy, and a very supportive nutrient. Instead of sugar/carbohydrates, our normal cells can adapt to use fat as energy. They do this by producing ketones.
Mankind has unknowingly “used” the ketogenic diet since the dawn of evolution during of times of food scarcity. They could only eat what was available to them. Our cells naturally adapted to this feast and famine lifestyle. It’s called being metabolically flexible.
When this switch occurs, our bodies go into survival mode. It’s main concern is supplying fuel to the brain to keep us alive. It starts to repair damaged mitochondria, and make new ones to accommodate this change, essentially repairing our metabolism.
When it comes to cancer cells, research suggests that they lack the ability to make this switch as effectively from sugar to fat for fuel like normal cells can. This means taking away a primary fuel source may destabilize cancer cells. This is essentially the main idea behind the metabolic approach to cancer.
Here are some anti-cancer effects of a ketogenic diet:
Reduce angiogenesis
Restore normal apoptosis
Destabilize tumor DNA
Reduce tumor size
Reduce levels of insulin and IGF-1
Enhance action of standard treatments while reducing side effects
Prevent and reverse cachexia
Metabolic Nutrition Therapy is an essential therapeutic tool that should be part of the standard of cancer care.
Higgins Kelley, J. Course 2, Class 3 Plant Phytonutrient Compounds part 1; February 6th, 2024; Online/remote learning
Diet, Nutrition, and Cancer: Directions for Research. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1983.
"How Cancer Starts." Cancer Research UK. 2015. Accessed October 04, 2016. http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/what-is-cancer/how-cancer-starts
Graham, Gray, Deborah Kesten, and Larry Scherwitz. Pottenger's Prophecy: How Food Resets Genes for Wellness or Illness. Amherst, MA: White River Press, 2010.
Liu, Haibo, and Anthony P. Heaney. "Refined Fructose and Cancer." Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets 15, no. 9 (2011): 1049-059. doi:10.1517/14728222.2011.588208
