Bring Your Cells Into Balance

Natural ways to heal and maintain health

This post delves into theories about Cancer and other illnesses having a metabolic origin. Generally it is not what people like to hear, even though they know deep inside that it makes a lot of sense.

“You are what you eat” - to admit that this is true, wrenches at our deepest addiction, food addiction.

In the 1920’s, Otto Warburg maintained that Cancer was a metabolic disease.

The “Warburg effect” hypothesised that the respiratory impairment of cells through aerobic glycolysis created an environment which perpetuated Cancer growth.¹

In the 1950’s Walter and Crick discovered DNA.² They found mutations in Cancer cells. This was when the “Warburg effect” was tossed aside to be replaced by genetic theory, to explain Cancer. Most people now subscribe to the theory that Cancer is a genetic disease and not a metabolic disease.

Many are certain that most diseases are rooted in genetics. With billions or trillions(?) of dollars having been spent on genetic research, many diseases have still not been cured or prevented.

Is this a clue that placing the blame solely on genetics is not helpful in our pursuit of health?

A better way to Manage Cancer

Dr. Thomas Seyfried’s book Cancer as a Metabolic Disease was published in May of 2012. In it, he explains thoroughly the theory that Cancer is a Metabolic disease and he explains how Cancer can be prevented and managed through metabolic health.

Dr. Thomas Seyfried and his associates found dramatic effects on Cancer cells by using metabolic therapies which include caloric restriction, fasting, and ketogenic diets. ³

This research into the metabolic origin of Cancer shows that tumour cells cannot live very long without sugar (glucose) or the amino acid glutamine.

Warburg’s effect was focussed mainly on glucose, he was not aware of Glutamine’s effect.

The Theory that Cancer is a genetic disease is incorrect!

Cancer is a mitochondrial metabolic disease. Once people realize this, treatments will become more effective, and more lives will be saved.

The Ketogenic diet was developed for Epileptic Children in 1921

The ketogenic diet, developed at the Mayo clinic, is used for the management of Epilepsy in children. It is not understood even today how this diet blocks Epileptic seizures.

With Cancer the therapeutic effect of the ketogenic diet is straight forward.

Tumour cells cannot live without glucose. With tumour cells, the metabolism is around fermentation, thus they can’t survive on ketone bodies or fatty acids.

Before the discovery of the role of the amino acid glutamine, it was not clear why ketosis was not enough to restrict energy supply to a tumour.

The research of Dr. Thomas Seyfried discovered that tumour cells were able to make energy by fermenting glucose and glutamine.

After finding this second fuel, the question was: how do you target glutamine without harming the rest of the body?

Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in our bodies. Unfortunately glutamine cannot be targeted through diet because the body makes this amino acid on it’s own. But there are a couple of other ways that glutamine can be targeted.

Glutamine Targeting with DON

One of the drugs that is used for glutamine targeting is called 6-Diazo-5-oxo-l-norleucine (DON).⁴

The reason this drug works is because it’s structure is similar to Glutamine. This helps to block the metabolic pathway of Glutamine, removing this essential fuel for Cancer.

Dr. Seyfried says that some of the research into the drug shows that it is too toxic, but in testing, the drug was not combined with metabolic therapies.

His protocol uses a very low dose of DON in combination with metabolic therapies such as caloric restriction, fasting, and ketogenic diets. He mentions how not only does the Cancer resolve in his patients, other ailments that go into remission are: Type 2 Diabetes, Cardiovascular disease, hypertension, high blood pressure, and others.

Unfortunately the drug is not available, because as mentioned earlier the testing was done using a high dose, which was toxic because it was so high. They did not combine the drug testing with other metabolic therapies.

Consider the possibility that if many of these metabolic diseases go into remission, there would be a lot at stake here!

Another method of reducing the production of Glutamine is exercise. But the amount of reduction of glutamine production through exercise, is not enough in the treatment of Cancer, according to Dr. Seyfried.

Evolutionary biology and cell metabolism

How does this fermentation metabolism which fuels cancer, get out of control?

The organelle that controls the differentiated state is the mitochondria in the cytoplasm of the cell. That organelle controls division and the quiescence state of fermentation pathways. Normally the metabolism of the cell does not rely on fermentation of glucose and glutamine, these are ancient pathways, going back to 2.5 billion years ago, when Earth was an anoxic environment. At that time there was not oxygen on Earth. This is why there is an alternative pathway for energy.

When that organelle becomes damaged in some way, the cells fall back on these ancient pathways. These pathways are not normally used, unless there is damage. Damage can result from stress, exposure to electromagnetic frequencies (EMF), chemical toxicity, and (fill in the blank) you can fill in the blank.

Because of this cell ancestry the Cancer cell can live without a supply of oxygen, because it derives it’s energy through fermentation of glucose and glutamine.

Mutations in our DNA are not a result of genetics, they are a result of the abnormal metabolism where cells use fermentation to derive their energy. This does not happen until the cells are damaged. But by restricting fuels that these mutations rely on we can remove, starve tumours and cancer cells, and restore healthy metabolism.

But don’t we need glucose?

No.

Despite what you have heard from the fact checkers, we don’t need glucose, the brain can transition to ketone bodies, and the heart can transition to fatty acids.

But Cancer cells cannot transition. They are locked into these fermentation pathways. So the best way to manage Cancer is to restrict these 2 fermentable fuels, while transitioning the body over to non fermentable fuels.

We evolved to use alternative fuels to glucose.

Remember that we didn’t have boxed processed foods, high in carbohydrates, for most of history. This new phenomenon of shelves full of shelf stable, boxed, processed foods coincides with the rise of a lot of metabolic diseases.

Once upon a time we did not have refrigerators and we did not have processed foods. It follows that we also had a lot less metabolic diseases.

There is most definitely a mainstream effort to avoid the realization that many of the diseases that are rampant in the West could be managed better through metabolic therapies.

Investments in drugs and therapies that treat disease are lucrative. It is unlikely that we will see metabolic therapies advertised by the very same people who profit from disease management through modern methods which offer returns on the stock market. Just saying.

1. The Prime and Integral Cause of Cancer in the Post-Warburg Era

2. Discovery of DNA Structure and Function: Watson and Crick

3. Breakthrough Cancer Treatment Using Keto Diet! w/ Dr. From Boston College

4. Tumor-Targeted Delivery of 6-Diazo-5-oxo-l-norleucine (DON) Using Substituted Acetylated Lysine Prodrugs