Can cancer cells be starved to death?
Scientists have described that one of the key features of cancer is the rapid division and growth of cancer cells, a process that requires a lot of energy. Researchers from Imperial College in the UK and other institutions have published a report in the journal Nature? Cell Biology, report that cancer cells usually rely on breaking down glucose for energy, and then turn to other sources of energy if glucose levels in the body are insufficient. The researchers found that a protein called NF-kB controls the switch in how it supplies energy. If this protein is inhibited, the cancer cells will not be able to switch their energy supply as needed, and will suffer from a lack of energy supply or even "starvation". The researchers experimented with intestinal cancer cells in the laboratory and showed that it is possible to kill cancer cells by limiting their energy supply in this way. In addition, if an existing diabetes drug, metformin, is used in conjunction with the inhibition of the function of the protein NF-kB, the "starvation" of cancer cells is much more efficient. Similarly, German biologist Dr. Johannes Koei, after many years of research, has also shown that the "starvation" of cancer cells is much more effective. Dr. Johannes Koy, a German biologist, has also shown over the years that glucose, the basic energy source for invasive cancer cells, can be taken away through continuous dietary modification. By continually limiting sugar and starch intake, the production of lactic acid by the "young" cancer cells is inhibited, leading to renewed sugar combustion in the cells, which restores the immune system and restores the efficacy of the tumor treatment. Cancer cells that have long relied on sugar for nourishment will die rapidly on a sustained low sugar diet. I did research during my PhD specifically on the relationship between high-sugar diets and tumor development, and came to a conclusion that is largely consistent with the experts mentioned above, that high-sugar diets promote cancer. Seeing this, many of you may think that people seem to have found a way to eliminate cancer cells, but they have not. It is true that limiting sugar intake (or strictly controlling sugar intake) is a way to reduce the energy supply to cancer cells. However, for cancer patients, during the period of illness, many of them are immunocompromised and severely wasted, and many of them, after nutritional assessment, need to be given certain nutritional support along with treatment, and moderate nutritional support helps a lot in treatment. Controlling the intake of sugar may reduce cancer cells to some extent, but the patient's physical and nutritional status is seriously low, which is absolutely unfavorable to the treatment and recovery, and this can only "see the cancer, but not the person", and the end result may be that the cancer cells are not starved to death, but the person is starved to death. Therefore, I suggest that on the basis of controlling the intake of sugar (the amount of sugar intake can be determined according to the actual needs of the patients on the basis of nutritional screening and assessment), guaranteeing a certain amount of protein supply, reducing the amount of fat intake, and providing a reasonable dietary plan according to the characteristics of the individual patients is a recommendable practice. So, while the conclusions of laboratory studies may have their scientific validity, we are really dealing with a real individual. When we implement any kind of treatment for a patient, we should consider the patient's physical condition, tolerance, patient's feelings and other "human" factors, rather than just seeing the "tumor" in the patient's body. The elimination of cancer tumors is only a means to achieve the recovery of patients, not the ultimate goal.