Metabolic therapy for cancer

Posted by birdman518 @birdman518, Jun 20, 2023

I have several posts here about my newly-diagnosed metastatic melanoma, but I wanted this to be a new thread.
I was looking for alternative therapies for cancer, and I was afraid that most of them would seem, well, a little kooky (sorry, but that's what I thought).
I found one, however, that seems to be both outside the mainstream standard-of-care, but yet very well represented in the scientific literature, including at least one Nobel Prize (Warburg), and that is the metabolic theory of cancer. It seems as though its primary promoter is Dr Thomas Seyfried of Boston College. He is a professor of biology, genetics, and biochemistry at Boston College.
He has many books, articles, and videos online, so it is easy to learn about this theory.
I cannot go into it in detail, but its premise is that cancer is a metabolic disease, and not a genetic one. Please take the time to look at the details before shooting me. šŸ™‚

My only question here is whether anyone else has looked into this, and what do you make of it? Did you ever ask your oncologist about it?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Cancer Support Group.

@mddrm

@colleenyoung : Thanks for the response and absolutely, we are charlatan-wary, understanding that any treatment is ultimately palliative. We're not looking for a cure. But, I have to say that charlatantry can be found just as much within the medical-industrial complex as without. While never saying "This treatment will cure you," (for fear of lawsuits!) the pitch is placed in either glossy terms or alternately in subtle scare-tactic fashion, such as, "If you *don't* do the chemo you won't live as long," all the while downplaying the side effects, quality-of-life issues, and the possibility that the treatment itself could be the thing which kills you! It's like all those drug commercials with happy people in soft focus, while the narrator rattles off the fine print.

ā€œLife is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.ā€ William Goldman, The Princess Bride

I believe your father chose wisely!

No, my wife is not a Mayo patient, and Virginia Oncology has no nearby locations to us. Traveling great distances for treatment is not an option, as I indicated. I also note that the "integrative medicine" there is meant to deal with side effects only while still practicing the standard slash, burn, and poison approach. This seems to me to be wholly different from the research being pursued by folks such as Dr. Seyfried.

And one needs to be careful as well with painting someone as a charlatan if the *only* reason for doing so is because they consider the possibility that the medical-industrial complex might just have it all wrong. No, I am not at all suggesting *you* are doing this! I'm just pointing out that it's oftentimes the outside-the-box thinkers who make the greatest discoveries.

So, all of that to say, yes, we deem the approach we are taking as palliative in nature, and because of my wife's character, discipline, and diet, she may very well be one of those statistical dots down in the far lower right of the survival curve. Or, she may not, but she's good with that.

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Excellent reply, you are so not alone in this thinking. Thereā€™s an oncologist william Li, if you havenā€™t heard of him.
Thereā€™s also a group on FB that are following this unique incorporative approach and support through cancer.
I canā€™t wait till Dr. Seyfried completes his protocol for this alternative approach in print. I do believe heā€™s working on it now.
Brilliant writing my friend, and i love the princess bride.

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I was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer approx 3 years ago. I had surgery to remove all tumors then a harsh series of chemo treaments. the chemo was was not affective on removeing cancer that could not be surgically removed. I have been living a healthy active life until about 2 months ago.things changed. I am involved in the lawsuit against johnson and johnson as the cancer was shown not to be genetic.I really do not want chemo but have read much about cancer as mitochondrial metabolic disease. Is the Mayo Clinic envolved in this research?

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@anniewoodyeti

I was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer approx 3 years ago. I had surgery to remove all tumors then a harsh series of chemo treaments. the chemo was was not affective on removeing cancer that could not be surgically removed. I have been living a healthy active life until about 2 months ago.things changed. I am involved in the lawsuit against johnson and johnson as the cancer was shown not to be genetic.I really do not want chemo but have read much about cancer as mitochondrial metabolic disease. Is the Mayo Clinic envolved in this research?

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Not surprised to hear the chemo wasnā€™t effective. From family memberā€˜s expert oncologist, we were told that radiation for her would attack the cancer and her low dose chemo was there to ā€˜light upā€™ the cells to be destroyed with radiation. She also had a recurrence after only getting a toxic load of chemo only as her first treatment. Some docs very much in the dark about what to do.

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Carb Genius Phone App

I started a 25 gram carbohydrate diet about one year ago, and it is very challenging to keep carbs that low!

I recently discovered a fabulous app called Carb Genius by MyNetDiary to help me. The app is easy to use and it integrates with my Apple Watch data and other devices. I enrolled a premium account for added features.

Here is link to a YouTube video :


The nutrient analysis feature helps me identify nutrient deficiencies. I am able to add in supplements to be included in the analysis. In addition, the app also allows me to customize the dashboard to include glucose, ketones, weight, etc.

My BMI is 19 and my goal is to maintain my weight. The goals you set to lose, maintain, or gain weight are calculated for you and the app includes many tutorials.

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@eileenham

this is it. this guy has put his finger on it, syphoned it down to understandable language. it's the glucose and glutamine that kill you. the cancer thrives on both so take them out of the equation. 1) no sugar or carbs, ketosis. 2) break down the glutamine either with berberine, or remove the precursors cysteine and methionine, and voila, you win. I think there is a class action suit in all of this. doctors take an oath "first not to do harm" and yet they are doing it every day with radiation and chemo. they know how to cure you but they don't tell you how. they are literally killing hundreds of thousands of people. 4 months ago I was diagnosed with stage IIb cervical and sent to die. it took awhile to figure it out but now I am working with a Gerson practitioner and following Seyfried's protocol. I'll get back to you in 10 years. it takes discipline and a positive attitude but it's all right there in front of us.

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@eileenham

Interesting thank you for sharing. Why each of us has cancer, have how each of us are affected by our cancer and how we respond to treatment (whether FDA approved or not) is fascinating.

Personally I was diagnosed stage 4 appendix cancer in 2021, had a radical hysterectomy and debulking surgery, 6 months of Folfiri and Avastin then in mid 2022 HIPEC with cytoreductive surgery and a peritonectomy. Iā€™ve been NED since then (surveillance scans and blood tests now 4 monthly) with almost no side effects from treatments (just need to watch my hydration and fibre intake due to a colon resection).

No way am I suing my doctor!! Heā€™s been fabulous. Heā€™s encouraged me to live holistically through, and then post, treatment as adjuvant therapies. Referred me to various holistic experts. I eat a Mediterranean diet, exercise well, sleep well, practice mindfulness, minimise stress, enjoy Pilates, yoga and aromatherapy etc etc.

I donā€™t do Botox and try to live clean. However, I drink minimal red wine as per the Mediterranean diet and I do worry that I should drink none at all as I did through treatment. Alcohol does have a level of toxicity.

Hopefully that lifestyle will help prolong my life before recurrence. My cancer is rare, cause unknown and cannot be cured.

Who knows what I will do when my cancer returns. It will depend on the research and possibly my level of desperation

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@janet23

Carb Genius Phone App

I started a 25 gram carbohydrate diet about one year ago, and it is very challenging to keep carbs that low!

I recently discovered a fabulous app called Carb Genius by MyNetDiary to help me. The app is easy to use and it integrates with my Apple Watch data and other devices. I enrolled a premium account for added features.

Here is link to a YouTube video :


The nutrient analysis feature helps me identify nutrient deficiencies. I am able to add in supplements to be included in the analysis. In addition, the app also allows me to customize the dashboard to include glucose, ketones, weight, etc.

My BMI is 19 and my goal is to maintain my weight. The goals you set to lose, maintain, or gain weight are calculated for you and the app includes many tutorials.

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Wow. That sounds very useful for all kinds of health goals.

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Dr. William W Li is a brilliant scientist and Harvard trained MD. He is the founder of the Angiogenesis Foundation (angio.org).

I follow the guidelines in his best selling book, ā€œEat to Beat Diseaseā€, by eating cancer fighting organic foods.

Here is a link to one of his many YouTube interviews discussing food and cancer:

TED Talk over 10 years ago :


More recent interview :

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In my experience, Metabolic Therapy, RGCC Circulating Tumor Cell tests, Oncottace and Onconomics Plus, are not offered by traditional Oncology.

I have stage 1a lung cancer that was resected with clean margins and negative lymph nodes. My CTC count was high before surgery, dropped a little after surgery, and has increased in October with dangerous levels of cells which appear to be causing metastasis. My recent CT scan showed a new GGO in a different lobe of my lung.

The RGCC test is expensive. You can find a list of doctors on the RGCC website that offers the test. FDA refuses to approve the test, so the blood is sent to a lab in Europe. The Onconomics Plus test will test your tumor cells against natural substances,
and traditional chemo and radiation to give you options of therapies to try.

I am trying Natural Substances, Keto diet, and eating cancer fighting foods for now. I have a great Oncologist who supports my decision to try other therapies.

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