If you or your family and friends have been affected by cancer please read this condensed version of a recent interview with Dr. Seyfried.
Thomas Seyfried, Ph.D., is a professor of biology at Boston College and a leading expert and researcher in the field of cancer metabolism and nutritional ketosis. Ketogenic therapy calls for restricting net carbs (carbs less fiber) and limiting protein.
Cancer is a metabolic disease, not a genetic one. The genetic mutations observed in some cancers are a downstream effect of defective energy metabolism in the mitochondria (the energy stations inside your cells). As long as your mitochondria remain healthy and functional, your chances of developing cancer are slim.
The traditionally held dogma (view) is that cancer is a genetic disease. As noted by Seyfried:
“A dogma is considered irrefutable truth… The problem with dogma is that sometimes it blinds you to alternative views and sets up ideologies that are extremely difficult to change.
But evidence is accumulating that the mutations we see that are the prime focus and the basis for the genetic theory are actually downstream effects of this disturbance in the metabolism (processes to maintain life) …”
Seyfried complied of research from independent and well-respected scientists within various disciplines, who conducted valuable experiments to form a strong scientific foundation for the theory that cancer is indeed a metabolic disease, not a genetic one, and that genetic mutations are a downstream effect of defective energy metabolism in the mitochondria.
Nuclear Transfer Experiments disproved the gene theory. When the nuclei of a cancer cell were transferred into a healthy cytoplasm (material inside the cell membrane), the new cytoplasm did NOT form cancer.
If genetic mutations are not the primary cause of cancer but rather a secondary, downstream effect of dysfunctional cell respiration, why and how do mutations occur? Seyfried explains, “Once the cells’ respiration (intake of oxygen and release of carbon dioxide) is damaged, that damage then leads to a compensatory fermentation (existing without oxygen), which requires the upregulation (increasing the response) of oncogenes (cancer genes).
Damaged respiration also produces large amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and secondary free radicals that damage DNA proteins and lipids (fats inside your cellular membranes). The ROS also cause mutations in the nuclear genome. So the mutations are the result of defective respiration and subsequent exaggerated ROS production.
Dr. Seyfried says, “Those nuclear transfer experiments were always present in the literature. They were considered anomalies.
It was just interpreting a series of experiments in light of the origin of the disease, and then asking what conclusion would these experiments support. Would it support the nuclear genetic theory of cancer, or would it support the mitochondrial metabolic theory of cancer? In each of these cases, the results more strongly supported the metabolic theory of cancer than the nuclear genetic theory.
Why the War on Cancer Has Not Yet Been Won? The cancer industry is focusing on the downstream effects of the problem. Dr. Seyfried says, “Even though you may get success for a few months, or even a year in some people, the majority of people will not respond effectively to these kinds of therapies.”
If defective mitochondria are responsible for the origin of cancer, and defective energy metabolism is responsible for the majority of the characteristics of the disease, then how do you treat the disease?
The answer is be an efficient fat burner. Fat-derived ketone bodies, through a process, reduce the production of ROS. Hence, ketone bodies are considered a more “clean” fuel. Today, most people are burning glucose as their primary fuel, thanks to an overabundance of sugar and processed grains in the diet and a deficiency in healthy fats.
If you have less ROS being generated in the mitochondria, you end up with less mitochondrial damage and less DNA damage. Switching to ketones to fuel your body is the key component of cancer treatment.
“One of the things that trigger cancer is inflammation. … Chronic high levels of blood sugar create inflammation. … Glucose itself is not carcinogenic, but elevated dysregulated (poorly controlled) glucose metabolism can lead to inflammation, and can cause a number of other disturbances in the overall metabolism of the body,” Seyfried says.
Do Not Confuse Nutritional Ketosis With Ketoacidosis. These are two entirely different states.
As noted by Seyfried, “Mitochondria actually get very healthy when ketones are metabolized as opposed to some of the other fuels, especially glucose.”
What about preventing disease with antioxidants? If you suppress reactive oxygen species (ROS) indiscriminately, you’ll create biological dysfunction. When your body is burning ketones as its primary fuel, you have neither too much nor too little ROS.
It is far more effective to address the ROS generation at its source, which is the fuel your body is primarily burning for energy. Change the fuel, from sugar to fat to generate fewer ROS.
Ketones Prevent Dysregulated ROS Production, Thereby Reducing Your Risk for Cancer: “There’s no question about that. It’s what we call a homeostatic state (the cell’s ability to maintain internal stability),” Seyfried notes. “Ketones prevent dysregulated ROS production… You’re allowing your body to remain healthier for a longer period of time. That’s basically what we’re doing here … Cancer is accelerated entropy, a total disorganization of the homeostatic parameters within cells and outside the cells in the morphogenetic field and in the entire body itself.
When you view cancer as a metabolic disease, as explained by Seyfried, you treat it this by targeting the fuels the cancer cells are using, primarily glucose and glutamine.
According to Dr. Seyfried, if you prevent damage to your mitochondria then the probability of getting cancer is reduced to a least 80%.
Prevent cancer and most of the major diseases by eating less carbs and protein and moving more.
Cancer cells can use glutamine for energy and growth as well. The combination of both glucose and glutamine (the common amino acid in proteins) creates a really “supercharged system,”Seyfried notes.
For more information please read my Blog post, How Do I Do the Ketogentic diet?
https://2healthyhabits.wordpress.com/2018/04/13/how-do-i-do-the-ketogenic-diet/
Restrict your net carbs (carbs less fiber) below 50 grams per day and your protein to below 1 gram per kilogram of lean body mass.How much protein is outlined in my Blog post https://2healthyhabits.wordpress.com/2018/11/09/how-much-protein-do-you-need-in-nutritional-ketosis/
For the layperson, Dr. Seyfried is a major contributor to the book, Tripping over the Truth: How the Metabolic Theory of Cancer Is Overturning One of Medicine’s Most Entrenched Paradigms https://www.amazon.ca/Tripping-over-Truth-Overturning-Entrenched/dp/1603587292/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=VX20GWBM2VV4VYH885FK
If you really want to dig deep into the details of therapeutic ketosis, read Seyfried’s book, “Cancer as a Metabolic Disease: On the Origin, Management, and Prevention of Cancer.” If you want to start with a shorter treatise, you can read his paper, “Cancer as a Metabolic Disease: Implications for Novel Therapeutics,” published in the journal Carcinogenesis in 2014,4 or his 2015 paper in the journal Frontiers, titled “Cancer as a Mitochondrial Metabolic
Too many people have died and continue to die needlessly. It’s time to get back on the right track. The information about how to prevent cancer and other chronic illness already exists. It’s just a matter of applying it.
Source: Why Cancer Needs To Be Treated as a Metabolic Disease. Here is the link https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/01/06/metabolic-disease.aspx
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