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Interesting

Jo_the_boat

Jo_the_boat

Well-Known Member
Messages
805
Location
Littleborough, Lancashire
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
This article contains: "Cancer cells need much greater amounts of glucose, the form of sugar our bodies use for energy. So making it less available, which metformin in particular does, means that the drug combination is effectively starving the cancer cells."

They are looking at the treatment of cancer in association with chemo and radiotherapy so is the next step awareness (mainstream thinking) that excess glucose actually causes cancer and other diseases.
 
Article? I have heard of small studies where cancer patients have agreed to go low carb as an adjunct to conventional treatment. Certainly it is thought that some particular cancers can be 'starved' in this manner. It is also a possibility that the detrimental effects of chemotherapy itself can be offset by a lowered carb diet pre treatment. Havn't heard of the Metformin connection, though. Interesting stuff.
 
Brilliant! You wonder how these scientists come up with a seemingly random set of four drugs already in existence treating other diseases, to treat cancer!
 
Guzzler said:
Article? I have heard of small studies where cancer patients have agreed to go low carb as an adjunct to conventional treatment. Certainly it is thought that some particular cancers can be 'starved' in this manner. It is also a possibility that the detrimental effects of chemotherapy itself can be offset by a lowered carb diet pre treatment. Havn't heard of the Metformin connection, though. Interesting stuff.
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I recently read an article put out by the Mayo Clinic (well respected) indicating the sugar theory as myth. I too had not heard about the Metformin connection

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cancer/in-depth/cancer-causes/art-20044714?pg=2

Food for thought
 
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They have known for years that cancers attract glucose. One of the scans I had was a PET.. They inject you with a radioactive glucose solution and this goes straight to the tumours makes the cancers glow on the scan.
I'm having my second MRI scan next week. Last one showed my large tumour had gone but there was still a problem lymph node. If that hasn't gone this time I intend to hit it with as close to zero carb as I can for the next 3 months and see if that helps.
 
daisyduck said:
They have known for years that cancers attract glucose. One of the scans I had was a PET.. They inject you with a radioactive glucose solution and this goes straight to the tumours makes the cancers glow on the scan.
I'm having my second MRI scan next week. Last one showed my large tumour had gone but there was still a problem lymph node. If that hasn't gone this time I intend to hit it with as close to zero carb as I can for the next 3 months and see if that helps.
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I would do the same thing. It makes some sense to me that sugar would feed cancer and the lack of it would starve it. There certainly would be no harm in trying. Hope it goes well for you and please keep us updated.
 
Metformin has been trialled on cancer patients, for sure.
And on Alzheimer patients too.

I cannot find links but metformin in our diabetes news section was classed as wonder drug.
I have many reasons to stay on it.
 
ickihun said:
Metformin has been trialled on cancer patients, for sure.
And on Alzheimer patients too.

I cannot find links but metformin in our diabetes news section was classed as wonder drug.
I have many reasons to stay on it.
Click to expand...

I did try Metformin for 11 weeks when initially diagnosed with type 2 and felt ill the whole time. headaches, nausea and bowel problems, which all disappeared when I stopped taking it. Shame really as it might have helped with the cancer
 
daisyduck said:
I did try Metformin for 11 weeks when initially diagnosed with type 2 and felt ill the whole time. headaches, nausea and bowel problems, which all disappeared when I stopped taking it. Shame really as it might have helped with the cancer
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Was that just one tablet a day?

It has to be introduced slowly. I only ever took 2 a day for years. Now they want 4 a day but it can upset my tum so I reduce it til it goes. 2 tablets best suits me.

I have experienced its wonder. I had PCOS for years and infertility. Metformin gave me my fertility back. 2 pregnancies on it with only one ovary. :) :) :)
I add 2st not on it.
I cannot sing about metformin enough.
 
Going back to the original post, tt is a really interesting line of thought i.e. that if cancer is a metabolic disease then in addition to 'slash, burn and poison' we can add ;starve' (or ketogenic dieting) as a very cheap adjunctive therapy. The fact it is cheap makes it problematic in terms of investment by big pharma and the cancer industry (Mayo clinic et al).
There is still a debate between the mainstream view that cancer starts as a genetic problem with the curious way that cancer cells ferment glucose and can't use ketones being a downstream effect OR that the reason that cancer cells run rampant is precisely because they are in metabolic crisis (an alternative view).
Re metformin I am not sure if there were any trials in which non diabetic patients were given it. If you compare diabetics with reduced insulin resistance (those on metformin) versus diabetics treated with insulin stimulating drugs or insulin itself perhaps you would merely see less cancer because there is less insulin resistance?
If anyone is interested in the Metabolic Theory of Cancer see Thomas Siegfried speak on YouTube or read Travis Kristofferson's book Tripping Over the Truth.
 
ickihun said:
Was that just one tablet a day?

It has to be introduced slowly. I only ever took 2 a day for years. Now they want 4 a day but it can upset my tum so I reduce it til it goes. 2 tablets best suits me.

I have experienced its wonder. I had PCOS for years and infertility. Metformin gave me my fertility back. 2 pregnancies on it with only one ovary. :) :) :)
I add 2st not on it.
I cannot sing about metformin enough.
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Yes, just the one 500mg tablet. I did give it a good go, but it just didn't suit me
 
Hey daisyduck, trust all goes well with your MRI - good news that the large tumor is gone.....here's hoping you will see a decrease or disappearance of that lymph node. Blessings/L

I like your sense of humor Fleegle:)
 
The inability of cancer cells to metabolize ketones is something which is almost diagnostic for cancerous tissue - it has only one energy option, glucose.
Metformin might be a small help - particularly if it makes the patient so ill and despairing they can't eat anything at all, but I'd have thought that consistent low carbing week on week would prevent growth and perhaps - what it the word - stopping the cancer metastasizing.
 
Resurgam said:
The inability of cancer cells to metabolize ketones is something which is almost diagnostic for cancerous tissue - it has only one energy option, glucose.
Metformin might be a small help - particularly if it makes the patient so ill and despairing they can't eat anything at all, but I'd have thought that consistent low carbing week on week would prevent growth and perhaps - what it the word - stopping the cancer metastasizing.
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A vain hope Resurgam some cancers feed on hormones which are made from cholesterol and when you block the hormones it finds something else to feed on. More men die in the UK now with prostate cancer then women with breast cancer. Both those cancers often feed on hormones.
D.
 
lindisfel said:
A vain hope Resurgam some cancers feed on hormones which are made from cholesterol and when you block the hormones it finds something else to feed on. More men die in the UK now with prostate cancer then women with breast cancer. Both those cancers often feed on hormones.
D.
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Yes - I have heard that before - but it must be a very strange metabolism, and very slim pickings - the amount of any hormone circulating in the blood is very very very small - and how on earth is it metabolized?
The chemical pathways for utilizing glucose or ketones for energy are well known - but what it the process called which turns hormones into energy?
I could easily believe that the hormone stimulates the cancer's growth, fueled by glucose, but to feed off the hormone alone seems highly improbable.
 
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