By Dr. Dan Gleason

In the early 1900s, Otto Warburg said that cancer can only use glucose for fuel and he received the Nobel Prize in 1931. He noted that cancer cells have altered metabolism and that all cancer cells have damaged and diminished mitochondria.

The concept of damaged metabolism in cancer was put on the back burner for many years by researchers who believed that the DNA in the cell nucleus caused the proliferative nature of cancer. Carcinogens were thought to act primarily on the DNA, which in turn told the cells to grow rapidly, to invade the surrounding tissues and to metastasize to other areas of the body. Carcinogens also damage other parts of the cell, particularly the mitochondria (as Warburg observed).

Jane McClelland, author of How to Starve Cancer, explains that while cancer cells prefer glucose, it is not an absolute truth that cancer only burns glucose. Cancer cells can adapt and find ways to use fats and glutamine (an amino acid protein) to proliferate.

In her book, McClelland describes her personal journey to starve her stage four cervical cancer. She shares her struggles with the medical system as well as discoveries of the multiple ways cancer feeds itself. She rediscovered ways of using older medications to prevent cancer from getting the food it needs, which she says weakens the cancer and gives the immune system time to kill off the cancer.

She also presents the concept of the cancer stem cell. Most traditional cancer therapy is focused on killing the rapidly growing cancer cells using surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. While these approaches may be initially effective at reducing the size of tumors, they do not affect the cancer stem cells that caused the problem in the first place.

McClelland postulates that starving these stem cells using diet, supplements and/or off-label medications will cut off its food supply and weaken the cancer. She suggests a three-pronged approach for reducing the three sources of foods that cancer can use:

Glucose: To reduce overall blood glucose levels and limit post-meal glucose spikes she recommends a low carb/low glycemic index diet, exercise immediately after meals, and several nutritional supplements that help keep blood glucose low and limit post-meal glucose spikes.

Fatty Acids: To reduce fatty acids in the blood McClelland recommends a healthy fat diet that is also low in carnitine (lamb, beef) in addition to taking multiple supplements.

Glutamine: To reduce glutamine she recommends a diet lower in meat, seafood, milk, nuts and protein drinks as well as adding supplements, green tea and anti-inflammatory herbs.

McClelland suggests using her regimen for three to four months to aggressively starve cancer, in addition to much lower doses of chemo, intravenous Vitamin C, hyperbaric oxygen therapy and ultraviolet blood treatments.

Recommended reading:

How To Starve Cancer by Jane McClelland; Tripping Over the Truth, The Metabolic Theory of Cancer by Travis Christopherson

Other resources:

Jane McClelland on Facebook; The Care Oncology Clinic in London, UK; Mark A. Rosenburg, MD at Advanced Medical Therapeutics of Boca Raton, FL; Daniel Thomas, DO, MS in Mount Dora, FL

Dr. Dan Gleason is the owner of The Gleason Center located at 19084 North Fruitport Road in Spring Lake. For more info: go to TheGleasonCenter.com or call 616-846-5410. See ad page 13.