Herbalist and Herbs
HOW DIABETES AND INSULIN RESISTANCE FEED CANCER
By Harry Chrissakis, Herbalist, M.H. Natural Healing
I have written about both of these disorders (Insulin Resistance and Type 2 Diabetes) separately. In this article I will bring them together.
Whenever you have an epidemic on the scale of cancer, many things have to be in place in order for it to take hold and accelerate. Two of the primary influences in our present day cancer epidemic are Insulin Resistance and Diabetes. Another name for Insulin Resistance is Metabolic Syndrome. This is often Insulin Resistance in a more advanced state. The patients are usually overweight or obese and show related problems in their blood work.
Insulin resistance is the pre- diabetic condition that has many of the destructive elements of full blown diabetes. Insulin Resistance/Metabolic Syndrome is on a continuum with type 2 Diabetes.
Right now there are about 40 million Type 2 Diabetics in the U.S. However there are about 80 million people with Insulin Resistance/Metabolic Syndrome (taken together those 2 numbers equal about 1/3 of the U.S. population). What this adds up to is that 120 million people have developed one of the main foundations that cancer can build on.
When a patient has been diagnosed with cancer and has Insulin Resistance/Type 2 Diabetes as an underlying condition, prognosis is compromised. There are many reasons why. It is also true that the ramifications of Insulin Resistance/Type 2 Diabetes are not handled with enough depth in both the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Insulin Resistance/Metabolic Syndrome and Diabetes, over the long term, alter things in our bodies in a profound way. Many of these negative changes favor cancer.
Cancer is an opportunistic systemic disorder. Once it has developed in our bodies it applies everything and anything it can to further its ends and Insulin Resistance/Metabolic Syndrome and Type 2 diabetes are the perfect partners.
The two most overt areas in Insulin Resistance/Diabetes that feed and drive cancer are sustained elevated blood glucose and elevated insulin.
When excessive amounts of glucose are maintained in the bloodstream for extended periods, the glucose binds to red blood cell Hemoglobin. This process damages the functionality of the cell and begins to produce free radical by products (AGE). The excess glucose also binds to free amino acids in the bloodstream (protein structures). In both cases, whether the excess glucose is binding to Lipids or Proteins, the damaged end result forms what is known as Advanced Glycated End Products (AGE). AGES are damaged protein/lipid structures that produce large amounts of free radicals and are very hard for the body to get rid of. This combination of damaged blood cells and damaged amino acids overwhelms the body’s buffering anti oxidant system. The result is that the excess free radicals begin to damage (through oxidation) everything they come into contact with producing systemic inflammation. Cancer needs and uses the process of inflammation to further its ends. Ages are also instrumental in the hyper production of a communication molecule called Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha. TNFa is one of the primary communication molecules that push the inflammatory cascades that occur inside the cell. Elevated TNFa is also a marker (along with others) that can indicate that a cancer is in the process of metastasis
Blood glucose binding to hemoglobin can be measured with an HbA1C blood test. This is one of the definitive markers for type 2 diabetes (above 5.6). The systemic inflammation produced by glucose binding to blood cell membranes and or protein structures can be measured by blood testing for C-reactive protein. Insulin Resistance/Diabetes and excess Cortisol (stress response hormone) will elevate C-Reactive Protein. C-Reactive Protein is also one of the definitive markers for Cardio-Vascular disease.
So how does excess glucose and insulin feed cancer?
Cancer is both sloppy and wasteful in its energy cycle. What this means is that it needs lots of glucose to continue and that it produces a lot of waste material in its energy cycle. In the state of Insulin resistance/ Diabetes our normal cells become resistant to Insulin delivering glucose and amino acids into the cell (insulin’s primary job). Over the long term this produces sustained blood levels of excess insulin and glucose. Cancer cells never become Insulin Resistant and are able to access and utilize the excess glucose. Cancer’s need is so great for glucose that it will put up extra Insulin receptors on the cell surface (5-10 x the normal amount) so that it is able to absorb the excess blood glucose for its mal formed energy cycle. The byproduct of this perverse energy cycle is lactic acid which acts as growth stimulants for the cancer cell. Cancer loves an acidic environment with thickened and poorly oxygenated blood.
Running excess Insulin in our bloodstreams for sustained periods of time is extremely damaging over the long term. The list of detrimental effects from high insulin levels is both extensive and far reaching in terms of negative impact on our bodies.
Over the long term excess insulin thickens blood by raising clotting factors, platelet levels and platelet aggregation in the blood stream. These events favor cancer (and Heart Disease) in multiple ways. Thickened blood (hyper-coagulation) favors tumor formation. Coagulated blood is rich in growth factors that the cancer uses to expand its reach. Looking at this through the lens of the vascular system shows how these same influences also create Cardio and Cerebro-Vascular problems.
When cancer has begun to establish itself as a tumor it will need more blood, oxygen and sugar at a very early stage. The only way this can happen is for the cancer to make more vascular structure to grow and feed itself. This process is called Angiogenesis and is generally part of the normal wound healing cycle. In this case, the cancer has hijacked the system and manipulated it for its own ends. Excess insulin helps the cancer by up regulating angiogenesis through the resulting process of inflammation.
It is an established fact that estrogen acts as a growth factor for cancer. It is not well recognized that this occurs in men as well as women. Post menopausal women produce their much needed estrogen through the conversion of androgens to estrogens. This is a normal and healthy process. This transformation occurs in fat cells by the enzyme Aromatase. Excess fat cells produce excess estrogen. Overweight/obese people often run excessive amounts of estrogen (men and women). This process remains unrecognized in men and is one of the driving forces behind prostate cancer. Improperly regulated insulin up regulates the conversion of androgens (like Testosterone) to estrogens and reduces the clearance of estrogens out of our bodies. Excess, sustained insulin favors the conversion of weaker forms of estrogen to much stronger, more proliferative forms in women (Breast Cancer) and in men converts Testosterone to estrogen (Prostate Cancer). These same estrogens help to create and promote cancer in both women and men.
Excess insulin produces excess amounts of something called Insulin Like Growth Factor (IGF). High amounts of IGF and insulin both push cell division and reduce programmed cell suicide (apoptosis). Apoptosis is a necessary process for maintaining the right number and right work of cells. Apoptosis is also the builtin default mechanism that down regulates and destroys a cell that is mutating. Normal cells produce about 40 daughter cells in their pre programmed lifetime. Cancer cells selectively mutate out the apoptotic mechanisms in order to attempt to attain immortality and in doing so can produce an unlimited amount of daughter cells (Cancer Cells) as well as living much longer lives. This perverse process is one of the formative elements in cancer’s expansive strategy.
When I am working with a cancer patient whose blood glucose and insulin levels are elevated, it is one of the first places I begin to work on.
From the above article it can be seen just how destructive an influence Insulin Resistance/Diabetes can be in feeding cancer.
Both Insulin Resistance/Metabolic Syndrome and Type 2 Diabetes are reversible disorders.
Harry Chrissakis Herbalist, M.H. Natural Healing 530-933-8244 • HerbalistandHerbs.com •