from Hacker News

An Old Idea, Revived: Starve Cancer to Death

by joshrotenberg on 5/14/16, 7:32 PM with 145 comments

• by stellar678 on 5/14/16, 9:52 PM

  This is one of the best newspaper science articles I've ever read. It's a survey of the landscape, talks to a wide variety of experts, and modulates expectations for some miracle cure while still laying out the possibilities that could come from this approach.

  Very good read!

• by WalterBright on 5/14/16, 9:38 PM

  A family member of mine was diagnosed with metastatic cancer and told to get her affairs in order. She went on a strict no sugar diet. 5 years later, she has no sign of cancer.

  Of course, she also had standard surgery and chemo. But I wouldn't be in the least surprised if the no sugar diet slowed the cancer down enough for the chemo/surgery to be more effective.

• by dnautics on 5/14/16, 9:39 PM

  This is probably why cannabinoids are likely to have a synergistic effect in treating some (but not all) cancers when used in concert with immunotherapies and chemotherapies... The cannabinoid receptors connect into the akt system and modulate cell energy use. In vitro, some cancer cell lines are eradicated by cannabinoids, probably in vivo it's more complicated but weakening the cells probably helps.

• by numair on 5/14/16, 10:37 PM

  I was recently shocked and practically offended to read guidelines on what to eat while undergoing chemo[1]. It was a high-sugar diet, basically (milkshakes were encouraged!). I couldn't imagine anything worse than shocking your body with radiation, and then providing cancer cells with all the sugar they need for growth. Hopefully the ideas in this article start to affect public health policy and guidelines.

  1: http://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/resources/patient-informat...

• by berberich on 5/15/16, 2:32 AM

  Tim Ferriss had Dr. Dom D'Agostino on his podcast late last year[1], where they talked about this subject in-depth. I thought it was a fascinating conversation and a great introduction to the topic.

  [1]: http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/11/03/dominic-dagostino/

• by sergioisidoro on 5/15/16, 12:10 AM

  I've read in multiple places that biohackers are using Intermittent fasting as a way of preventing cancer.

  By making sporadic (eg. once a month) fasting periods of 12h to 24h, they expect to starve cancer cells in their very early stages (basically using the underlying principle of the article).

  I would be extremely interested in seeing a study of the incidence of cancer in people doing Intermittent fasting vs general population.

• by tiatia on 5/15/16, 6:39 AM

  Dichloroacetic_acid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dichloroacetic_acid#Cancer

  Can't be patent protected, hence clinical trials are very difficult (to fund) but are under way for limited applications: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24297161

  The mechanism of action targets the unique cancer cells energy metabolism.

• by danieltillett on 5/15/16, 7:27 AM

  It is not only glucose that cancer cells can become addidicted to, but also amino acids. Often the cancer cells can overcome a lack of glucose by using an amino acid. An idea that was explored too soon (i.e. before we knew which cancers this would work on) was starving the cancer cells with multiple nutrient withdraws.

• by xchip on 5/14/16, 10:19 PM

  TL;DR: Cancer cell live on glucose... keep levels down

• by dschiptsov on 5/15/16, 3:24 AM

  At least do not become a fat fertile ground for it.

  BTW, in developing world with traditional simple, not processed foods and setting in a tribal culture eating habits rates of cancers are way lower (and no, it is not because lack of diagnostic tests).

• by ValleyOfTheMtns on 5/15/16, 7:22 AM

  Such a method may also force the cancer to evolve to survive under such stress.

• by codeulike on 5/14/16, 9:30 PM

  So would a ketogenic diet be effective then?

• by known on 5/15/16, 6:49 AM

  Cancer cells need to be isolated to starve them; That's the difficult part;

• by SherlockeHolmes on 5/14/16, 10:34 PM

  I am very sorry for your loss.

  my (armchair) analysis on cancer treatment - i) chemotherapy, in vacuum, most likely does considerably more harm than good, ii) sugar feeds cancer cells, iii) essential to feed body nutrients from a variety of sources (all must be plant based and non-processed), iv) it is likely a prudent investment to engage in holistic treatments such as being immersed in positivity and fulfilled environment and ingesting plant products with powerful healing properties known to locals across the world.

  Having said all this, it is difficult to say no to conventional treatment and to MDs working at prestigious hospitals when the life of your loved one is at stake.

  I have multiple cancer patients in my extended family, and this is in a family that lives on a south Asian diet (with all kinds of spices and turmeric, lots of vegetables). the cancer epidemic is extremely scary, and makes me feel vulnerable with my life - regardless of how knowledgeable I try to be on the subject.

  My belief is that we must approach cancer as we have approached infectious diseases such as measles and whooping cough. We must identify carcinogens in our environment (this may be physical and spiritual), and take serious steps to remove them from our social construct.

• by mookerific on 5/15/16, 2:20 AM

  Just a plug for /r/ketoscience.

• by andreygrehov on 5/15/16, 4:08 AM

  A friend of mine (she is a microbiologist, let's call her Lucy) was diagnosed with Uterine cancer. Oncologist told her they have to remove her womb, otherwise she'll die in a couple weeks. She decided to avoid "traditional treatment". Instead, she shared her issue with various professors from the university she is working at. One of the professors (another friend of mine) advised her to go to the Republic of Peru. He gave her contacts of his friend who's already been there and suggested to talk to him first. Lucy got in touch with this guy, he convinced her to go and in a week or so she was already in Peru.

  In Peru, Lucy met some sort of a shaman. He wrote down her a list of things she must eat and things to avoid. This list also contained some herb, that she had to eat during the 2-3 months she was there.

  After a few months, she got back home. 6 months after - no cancer. Year after this all happened she was dancing at my sister's wedding, healthy and happy.

  Now as for the Peru guy and the friend of my friend who been there :) He had a brother. They both got cancer. One of the brothers decided to go with traditional treatment (radiation and all that). The other one went to Peru.

  Long story short: the one who picked traditional methods died many years ago. The other one (who convinced Lucy to go) - completely recovered.

  As far as I know, overall treatment was less than $5,000. If I'm not wrong, this was including rent + air flight.

  I must add, that Lucy lost 45 pounds within a year. During my sister's wedding, she was only eating some oceanic fish and rice.

  Edit:

  This is just a short story from people I know in person. All of them are scientists working at university, doing researches on molecular genetics & microbiology.

  I'm not even sure the guy in Peru was a shaman. That's just how I called him here. I just don't believe he was a real doctor. The gist of the whole treatment was fasting, not a herb.