Professor Thomas Seyfried – Cancer As A Metabolic Disease

One in two men and one in three women will develop cancer by the age of sixty. Everyone either knows someone who has cancer or has had it themselves. As with any problem, in order to find an effective treatment for cancer, the condition needs to be understood.

What is the root cause of cancer and what is going on inside cancer cells? Are their metabolic processes different to the metabolism inside normal cells? We spoke to Professor Thomas Seyfried who received his PhD in genetics and biochemistry in 1976. More recently he became interested in the idea that mechanisms of metabolism, in particular how our energy is produced, may be significant in managing chronic disease.

Cancer: What Is It And What Causes It?

The definition of cancer is simple: It is cells that are no longer regulated in their growth. Cell proliferation is out of control. It happens in blood cancers and solid tumour cancers. The cells grow very rapidly and a mass forms.

For a long time there didn’t seem to be a common pathophysiological link between these risk factors and the development of cancer. Prof. Seyfried made the connection. Every one of the risk factors have one thing in common; they all in one way or another damage the mitochondria impacting the respiration of our cells.

Aerobic respiration is the term used to describe the production of energy in our cells. It takes place in the numerous mitochondria, organelles found inside the cell. The more active the cells, the more mitochondria they contain. Brain cells and muscle cells have a particularly high concentration of mitochondria.

Mitochondria use oxygen from the air we breathe and nutrients, especially glucose, from the food we eat to produce ATP, a form of fuel that the cells can burn for energy. The waste products of aerobic respiration are carbon dioxide and water which we excrete when we exhale and in urine. If cell respiration stops, no energy is produced and the cell dies.

Practical Advice From Professor Thomas Seyfried

The risk factors for developing cancer include:

• Radiation
• Carcinogens
• Viruses
• Inflammation
• Hypoxia
• Rare inherited mutations
• Age

How To Prevent Cancer

• Protect your mitochondria from oxidative stress. The best way to prevent cancer is to avoid environmental agents that promote the development of cancer by damaging the mitochondria.
• A ketogenic diet that allows you to achieve therapeutic ketosis reduces risk by boosting the health of the mitochondria.
• Avoid highly processed, nutritionally depleted foods.
• Exercise