Saturday, January 24, 2009

Heart Cancer?

In the past I've noted that there is some evidence for treating cancer with a low carb diet. Cancer cells need glucose to survive and if you starve them of it they die. Richard pulled a lot of the references together here too.

Here is an interesting post noting that you never hear about heart cancer.

While the heart muscle can use sugar as fuel, many experts claim that the hearts preferred source of fuel is saturated fat and ketone bodies.

In fact, Richard Veech MD has shown that the heart works 28 percent more efficiently using ketones as a fuel than it does using glucose. Therefore, more than likely the experts are right that fat is the 'gas' of the heart.

Cancer needs sugar to survive. No sugar, no cancer. Your liver is the creator of glucose (sugar) and liver cancer is one of the worst forms of cancer you can get. You pretty much don't get better once you have liver cancer.

I tried to help my mother who died of lung cancer a few months ago to adopt a no sugar diet. She didn't or wouldn't. Same for my father who died of liver cancer.

I've noticed that people with cancer eat a lot of sugar -or drink it.

And when you are in the hospital taking chemo to treat your cancer, you tend to lose your appetite. And what does the hospital give you to eat since you do need to eat? They give you a drink called Nutrament. The primary ingredients in Nutrament are carbohydrate and sugar to the tune of 52 grams and 49 grams respectively.

Seems to me the thing to do to help combat cancer is to remove sugar (carbs) from the diet. Eskimo's never got cancer. And they never ate sugar. A coincidence? Maybe, maybe...




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4 comments:

David said...

I just discovered your blog the other day (per Dr B G), and I think it's great! I was a fan of Atkins and low carb for years, and have, over the past year or so, been discovering paleo/WAPF type diets.

This post is fantastic, and it's something I myself have pondered for some time. I've watched a few friends die of cancer, and always cringed at how much sugar they ate leading up to that point. Here they were searching for the perfect cure on the one hand, but then eating cinnamon rolls out of the other.

I suppose a lot of people still have the idea that meat and fat cause cancer, though, so until that concern is dealt with to everyone's satisfaction, we probably won't see sugar free/low carb diets promoted for cancer patients.

On a different note, I see you have a Krav Maga link on your page. I used to teach the Marine Corps' LINE System of h2h, and have dabbled in krav maga. My expertise is LINE, but I believe krav maga to be vastly superior.

Again, love the site!

David

Chris said...

Thanks David

The blog is just for me to put up stuff that I find interesting - I'm glad other peopel enjoy it too.

The Krav Maga Edinburgh link is to the club that i train with. I've only been doing it a couple of months, but I really enjoy it. Pretty reality based self defense and simple to pick up.

Anonymous said...

I have been a believer in this for several years after I heard Dr. Atkins mention it in an interview. Unfortunately, most people refuse to believe it.

On a side note, I have a sister-in-law who was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. She refused chemo and instead opted for handling it with diet. While not defined as a low-carb diet, it is one made up of mostly fresh vegetables (admittingly, many are juiced). During the last year, the cancer has shrunk and she seems to be on a path to being healed. This tells me one thing, there is a lot out society has to learn about food and healing. It is too bad we as a society are so quick to use the latest, "greatest" drug instead of looking to the foods we are poisoning ourselves with.

Anonymous said...

Great post and insightful comments as well. Whenever I think of the cancer-glucose connection, I am reminded of Lance Armstrong's battle with the disease. I can't help but thinking that was born with a natural susceptibility to cancer that was ultimately triggered by his monstrous carb intake.