What do cancer cells feed on?

It is less well known that cancers have an equally voracious appetite for glutamine, an amino acid - see Glutamine and Cancer References.

Briefly, glutamine is the most important "nitrogen shuttle" in the blood. It brings the organic nitrogen to the cancer cells so they can use it to make the essential amino acids and thus proteins required to make more cancer cells. As the glutamine supply goes to zero, tumor growth goes to zero.

In order for cancer cells to survive they basically require three conditions:

• Availability of glucose
• Anaerobic surroundings - less oxygen
• Availability of glutamine

So if you want to really reduce the growth of cancer cells you simply starve their food sources such as glucose and glutamine-rich foods, and you increase the amount of oxygen in the blood, which they hate as they survive best in low-oxygen environments, like sewer rats. Cancer cells are really quite stupid and it is not difficult to kill them if you understand their behaviour.

A rich dietary source of glutamine is red meats. This is why excess consumption of red meats and other concentrated sources of protein tend to promote tumor growth. Since normal cells also require both glucose and glutamine, reducing the intake of either to zero would have an undesirable outcome. Consumption in moderation (small quantities), along with fruits and vegetables seems to be the best approach.

FOODS THAT SHOULD BE AVOIDED IN CANCER:

GLUTAMINE-RICH FOODS SUCH AS:

• Red meats (fish and eggs is better in small quantities)
• All dairy products except cottage cheese
• Wheat (which is rich in glutamine)

SUGAR-RICH FOODS SUCH AS:

• All sugar products
• All refined foods (white flour products, white rice)
• Fruit juices (vegetable juices are fine)

FOODS THAT ARE DISEASE-CAUSING IN GENERAL:

• High saturated fats (animal fats)
• Trans fats from fried foods and hydrogenated fats in margarine
• All food additives, colouring agents and preservatives

Further Reading:

Read a more scientific paper on Glutamine and Cancer published in the Journal of Nutrition

Read Dr. Mercola's article on Sugar and Cancer

Read Glucose and Cancer in the New Zealand Medical Journal

Glucose deprivation and Apoptosis - National Academy of Sciences

University of Iowa researchers in the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center have been awarded a five-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to investigate a novel hypothesis by which increased glucose metabolism could be used to selectively destroy cancer cells ....... read HERE

High glucose levels and diabetes associated with increased cancer risk

High glucose increase cancer risk

A review of cancer cachexia and abnormal glucose metabolism in humans with cancer - Journal of the American College of Nutrition

The Cancer Diet

The cancer diet is just as important as the cancer treatment. The cancer diet can in itself be used to treat cancer, as there are many people that have been treated using diet alone. However, if the diet is not adequately balanced and proper, then it could end up feeding the cancer cells, or interfering with the cancer therapy in some way. Therefore, do not believe that you can treat your cancer without changing your diet - DIET IS CRUCIAL IN CANCER TREATMENT.

Understanding What a Cancer Diet Is

With regards to a cancer treatment, every food that we eat or drink can be categorized into several different categories:

1) Foods that feed and strengthen the cancer cells and/or the microbes in the cancer cells and body. Examples would be: refined sugar, refined flour, soda pop, dairy products, etc.
 

2) Foods that cause cancer (e.g. trans fatty acids [margarine, french fries and virtually every other processed food you buy], aspartame [Diet Coke, NutraSweet, Equal, etc.], MSG, polyunsaturated oils [e.g. corn oil], etc.)
 

3) Foods that directly interfere with alternative treatments for cancer (e.g. chlorine, fluoride, alcohol, coffee, etc.)
 

4) Foods that occupy and distract the immunity system from focusing on killing the cancer cells (e.g. beef, turkey, etc.)
 

5) Foods that contain nutrients that kill the cancer cells, stop the spread of cancer, or in some other way help treat the cancer (e.g. purple grapes with seeds and skin, red raspberries with seeds, strawberries with seeds, broccoli, cauliflower, several herbs, carrots, pineapples, almonds, etc.)