Winning the War on Cancer:
Blood Sugar and Cancer

Cancer cells have a weakness that may allow us to detect and destroy tumors much better than in the past. The weakness is the need of malignant cells to use sugar as their primary energy source. Rapidly growing cancer cells "burn" a great deal of sugar each day. Without sugar to use as energy, cancer cells may become weak and vulnerable. The propensity of tumors to use sugar for energy allows us unique opportunities to 1) detect the tumors, 2) starve the tumors, and 3) make tumors more amenable to attack by medicines, vitamins, and herbs.

An exciting new advance in cancer detection is the PET scan (Positron Emission Tomography). PETs detect tumors by looking for areas within the patient in which blood sugar is being utilized in the rapid fashion characteristic of malignancy. In essence, the cancer cell's own need for sugar allows it to be "seen" on the PET scan. This allows for important advantages over older forms of cancer testing. PET scanners can detect much smaller tumors or aggregations of malignant cells than can CAT scans, bones scans, and X-Rays. PET scanners can tell us whether the cells within a tumor are still alive. This is quite important when a patient is being treated for cancer and the treating physician is trying to ascertain whether or not a mass visible on a CAT scan still contains living cancer cells. If the PET scan is negative, this indicates that the cancer cells within tumor have been successfully killed with the treatment. Prior to the advent of PET scans, doctors had to wait until the tumor shrank or disappeared in order to know that they were successful in their treatment.

Hypoglycemia therapy for cancer seeks to lower the blood sugar in an attempt to "starve" the tumors of their main food supply... sugar. Hypoglycemia means "low blood sugar". Some alternative medical clinics are using injections of insulin to profoundly lower the blood sugar of their cancer patients in an attempt to weaken or kill the cancer cells by depriving them of their main energy source. Dieticians and nutritionists well-versed in natural healing methods often advise their cancer clients to minimize foods that contain sugar, as well as foods that rapidly are converted by the digestive processes into blood sugar. They postulate that if a generally low level of sugar is maintained in the blood, then cancer may have more difficulty growing and developing. Foods that tend to easily and immediately raise blood sugar are those which contain sugar and simple carbohydrates. Products made of refined flour such as bread, cakes, and pasta are prime examples of simple carbs that readily increase the blood sugar levels. Whole grain precuts, nuts seeds, legumes and lean sources of protein, whether animal or vegetable sourced, tend to modulate blood sugar and fight high blood sugar from developing.

Seemingly to prove to us all how profoundly complex the human body truly is, some practitioners believe that temporarily causing an elevation in blood sugar may help them to fight cancer. The rationale is that at least two benefits may be gained from very short-term periods of elevated blood sugar levels, known in science as "hyperglycemia". Tests have revealed that tumors become internally more acidic when subjected to hyperglycemia. Some scientists believe that these periods of internal hyper-acidity within the tumors temporarily weaken the cancer cells, allowing a window of opportunity to open in which to attack them.

IPT, insulin potentiated therapy, uses a combination of hypo and hyperglycemia, plus herbs, vitamins, or medicines to treat cancer.