Cancer needs nutrients to survive and thrive!

Let’s start with what we know about the role of glucose in cancer.

• Cancer cells are greedy, sucking up more glucose than normal cells.

• Glucose is then converted to lactate which the cell can use to create the building blocks for new cancer cells.

• When glucose is in short supply, this “biomass synthesis” is slowed.

• Most normal cells adapt: they increase their use of fats for fuel.

• The brain can’t use fats but evolution created a solution: Ketones!

• When carb intake is low, the liver converts fats to energy molecules called ketones.

• Tumor cells suffer because they are not as fuel flexible as normal cells.

The glucose/insulin connection…

1.     dietary carbohydrates spike blood sugar levels which in turn causes a spike in insulin secretion

2.     insulin moves glucose from the blood into cells to be used for energy. 

3.   cancer cells have more glucose transporters and insulin receptors than normal cells

4.     insulin acts as an anabolic hormone, signaling “grow! grow! grow!” to cancer cells

What’s glutamine’s role?

• Glutamine is a “conditionally essential” amino acid that is critical to the health of our immune system and the growth and repair of tissues, incliding muscle mass.

• Given its importance, our bodies have developed a network of systems to ensure a smooth and steady supply. Cancer cells hijack these activities to ensure a steady supply of glutamine.

• Cancer cells then ferment this glucose, providing the needed substrates for cancer cell growth and proliferation.

  How do cancer cells get what they need if dietary intake is limited?

1.    recycling used parts within the cell

2.    making new glutamine from other amino acids

3.    extracting it from the microenvironment of the cell

4.    stealing it from neighboring cells

And methionine?

• Methionine is an “essential” amino acid, meaning that you do need to get it through dietary intake.

• It’s involved in growth and repair of tissue along with other crucial roles including methylation and detoxification.

• Some cancers hijack this pathway; although there is no universal test for determining which cancers favor methionine, there is a blood testing protocol and some gene SNPs that can help to sort this out.

• Short-term restriction, cells recycle their limited resources, just enough to keep essential activites running while choking down the supply to cancer cells.

• This needs to be done carefully as cancer treatment puts an extra load on those detoxification pathways in the liver.

Strategic fasting can limit the dietary supply of methionine.

1. controlling the flow of methionine might put the brakes on (but not stop) cancer cell growth, repair and proliferation

2. safety first! Compromising those pathways also compromises methylation and detoxification so it’s best to work with an integrative practitioner who knows how to test, assess and treat