What is Cancer? The Hallmarks of the Disease

​An elective course I took for my master's degree in holistic Health and Nutrition Education was called "Nutritional Foundations for Individuals with Cancer".  I'm happy to share the wealth of information I learned with you!

The statistics aren't good: Cancer takes the life of 1 in every 4 people in the United States, and more than 1500 people die of the disease every single day.  In a person's lifetime, 1 in 2 men will be diagnosed with cancer and 1 in 3 women.  The factors that cause cancer are wide, can be very unspecific, and may collaborate over a very long period of time.  The efficacy of many standard treatments has not changed or improved since President Nixon declared the "War on Cancer" back in 1971.  Even with age correction, more people are getting cancer than ever before.

However, there is some good news: 95% of cancers are related to lifestyle choices and exposures.  That means every person can do something to increase their odds of avoiding the disease.   My next post, "Factors that Trigger Cancer &  Steps to Avoid the Disease", will give you proactive steps you can take.   But, first things first...
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What exactly is cancer?

Over 200 types of cancer exist, yet all types of cancer have something in common: they involve cell mutations that cause cells to divide indefinitely and spread.  Like unruly, aggressive vampires, cancer cells break the normal rules of cellular control.  They steal nutrients and blood from healthy cells in order to thrive, grow, and proliferate.  Each new generation of cancer cells can become stronger than the one before.  This makes cancer an especially chaotic and complex disease. 
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There are 6 well recognized hallmarks of cancer:

 Self-Sufficiency in Growth Signals: In cancer, there is uncontrolled proliferation of cells through abnormal expression of genes that perpetuate continuous replication.

Insensitivity to Growth Inhibitory (Antigrowth) Signals: A cancer cell no longer responds appropriately to normal growth-inhibitory (non-proliferative) actions and signals.

Evasion of Programmed Cell Death (Apoptosis): Normally, cells that become damaged are eliminated in order to maintain health and homeostasis.  In cancer, abnormal tumor cells continue to live and proliferate despite their damaged DNA and insufficient respiration.

Limitless Replicative Potential: Most cells have a finite number of divisions.  However, cancer cells seem immortal and continue to divide without limit.

Sustained Vascularity (Angiogenesis): New blood vessels are formed to deliver nutrients to cancer tumors and eliminate its waste products.  This vascularization spurs further growth. 

Tissue Invasion and Metastasis: This is the invasion of tumor cells into other tissues and the spread to distant organs.  Complications due to metastasis are responsible for 90% of cancer deaths and it is the largest challenge in cancer management.            

Cancer is also a metabolic disease.  This fact leads to 2 additional hallmarks:

• Insufficient cellular respiration is the origin of oncogenesis (tumor formation) and is a hallmark of cancer.   According to Dr. Thomas Seyfried, in his 2012 book, Cancer as a metabolic disease on the origin, management, and prevention of cancer, approximately just 5%-7% of cancers are inherited genetically, and most mutations and cancer tumors arise sporadically.  Therefore, he asserts that cancer is primarily a disease of defective cellular energy metabolism due to damaged mitochondrial function.  Damaged mitochondria impair the cell’s ability to respire properly. Seyfried contends that the cellular mutations in cancer are a downstream effect of the abnormal energy metabolism.  Mitochondrial function can be impaired by the cumulative effects of many provocative, yet unspecific environmental factors that are carcinogenic, such as radiation, chemicals, viruses, damage to tissues, and inflammation.  This very non-specific initiation of a very specific disease (cancer) is called “The Oncogenic Paradox.”  Oncogenesis is the biological process of tumor formation.   

• Fermentation is also a defining characteristic of most tumors and another hallmark of cancer.   The cancer research by Otto Warburg in Germany in the 1950’s also asserted that all cancer cells have injury to cellular respiration, which he called Phase I in cancer formation.  This happens through either lack of energy due to oxygen deficiency or from respiratory poisons.  For cancer to form, the damage to cellular respiration must be irreversible.  In this oxygen poor environment, these damaged cells then must replace their lost energy, which they do by the compensatory process of fermentation; Phase II of cancer formation.  This is called the Warburg effect.  It is fermentation that involves elevated glucose uptake with lactic acid production as a waste product. With glycolysis, the cancer cells prefer to derive their energy from glucose/sugar, even if in the presence of oxygen, which would be a much more efficient source of deriving energy.  Because fermentation energy is inferior, highly differentiated body cells are converted into undifferentiated cancer cells that can grow wildly.  

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If you want just one fantastic resource with information to prevent cancer and/or understand your choices if dealing with the disease, this is the book:
The Definitive Guide to Cancer: An Integrative Approach to Prevention, Treatment, and Healing 
By Lise N. Alschuler and Karolyn A. Gazella.
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The book gives an integrative, holistic, whole-body approach to the disease and to strategies to prevent cancer.  In addition, it discusses incorporating the conventional cancer treatments with more alternative options.  It's also a great resource for supplements.​

REFERENCES:
Alschuler, L., & Gazella, K. A. (2010). The definitive guide to cancer: an integrative approach to prevention, treatment, and healing (3rd ed.). New York: Celestial Arts.

Seyfried, T. N. (2012). Cancer as a metabolic disease on the origin, management, and prevention of cancer. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.

Warburg, O. (1956). On The Origin Of Cancer Cells. Science, 123(3191), 309-314.



Read the Au Naturale Nutrition series on Cancer:

• What is Cancer?  The Hallmarks of the Disease.
• Factors that Trigger Cancer &  Steps to Avoid the Disease
• What's pH got to do with it?  The Connection to Disease & Cancer.
• An Integrative Approach to Cancer: Use of Supplements alongside Conventional Cancer Treatments

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