The MAIN CAUSES Of Cancer & How To PREVENT IT | Dr. Jason Fung

Summary

The video script discusses the primary causes of cancer, emphasizing that while tobacco smoke is the leading contributor, diet is a significant factor, particularly the consumption of refined sugars and carbohydrates. It highlights the rise of obesity-related cancers and the importance of understanding how lifestyle and diet can either cultivate or prevent cancer development. The speaker advocates for reducing refined foods and frequent eating to lower insulin levels, potentially inhibiting cancer growth, and suggests that traditional diets and lifestyle practices offer valuable insights for cancer prevention.

Takeaways

• 🚭 Tobacco smoke is the leading cause of cancer, contributing to around 35% of cancer cases.
• 🍽️ Diet is the second largest contributor to cancer, with obesity being particularly linked to certain types of cancer.
• 🔍 The World Health Organization maintains a comprehensive list of carcinogens, but the focus should be on the major contributors like tobacco and diet.
• 🔬 Past theories about fiber, fat, and vitamins affecting cancer risk have largely been disproven, leading to a better understanding of obesity as a key factor.
• 🌱 The idea that a diet high in fiber, low in fat, or supplemented with vitamins could prevent cancer has been largely debunked by research.
• 🌡️ Obesity and type 2 diabetes are recognized as significant risk factors for developing cancer, especially certain types like breast and colorectal cancer.
• 🌿 The shift from traditional diets to Western-style diets, rich in sugars and refined carbohydrates, has been linked to increased cancer rates.
• 🌍 Cancer was once considered a disease of civilization, with traditional societies showing lower incidences before adopting Western lifestyles.
• 🛑 High consumption of sugar and refined foods is suggested to be reduced to lower the risk of cancer.
• ⏸️ Intermittent fasting and reducing meal frequency may help decrease insulin levels, potentially slowing down cancer growth.
• 🌱 The importance of understanding the traditional diets and lifestyles of societies with lower cancer rates to inform modern preventative strategies.

Q & A

What are the main causes of cancer according to the transcript?

The main causes of cancer, as discussed in the transcript, are tobacco smoke and diet, with tobacco smoke being the largest contributor at around 35 percent. Diet is also a significant factor, contributing almost as much as tobacco smoke.

What role does tobacco smoke play in causing cancer?

Tobacco smoke is identified as the biggest contributor to cancer, accounting for approximately 35 percent of cancer cases. This makes it the single most preventable cause of cancer.

How does diet contribute to the development of cancer?

Diet is a significant factor in the development of cancer, with certain dietary components like sugar and refined carbohydrates providing a fertile environment for cancer cells to grow. The transcript also suggests that obesity is closely linked to cancer development.

What was the initial belief about fiber intake and its relation to cancer?

Initially, it was believed that a high-fiber diet could help prevent cancer by promoting regular bowel movements and clearing out the bowel. However, this theory was later disproven.

What was the misconception about dietary fat in the 80s and 90s, and was it linked to cancer?

In the 80s and 90s, there was a widespread belief that dietary fat was harmful and could cause heart disease and possibly cancer. However, subsequent research has shown that this link to cancer was not true.

What role do vitamins play in the development of cancer, according to the studies mentioned in the transcript?

The transcript mentions that studies on various vitamins (A, D, B, C, E, and others) have shown no significant impact on reducing the incidence of cancer. In fact, some studies suggested that certain vitamin supplements might even increase the risk of cancer.

How has the understanding of cancer as an obesity-related disease evolved?

The understanding of cancer as an obesity-related disease has evolved significantly since 2003, with research showing that obesity is a significant risk factor for certain types of cancer, such as breast and colorectal cancer.

What is the connection between obesity and cancer, as discussed in the transcript?

The transcript explains that obesity is now considered a major risk factor for several types of cancer, with the World Health Organization recognizing 13 different types of cancer as obesity-related.

What is the role of genetics in the development of cancer?

Genetics play a role in the development of cancer, but the transcript emphasizes that lifestyle factors, such as diet and maintaining a normal weight, can significantly reduce the risk of cancer, even in individuals with a genetic predisposition.

How does the transcript describe the impact of lifestyle on cancer risk, particularly among traditionally living societies?

The transcript discusses how traditionally living societies, such as the Inuit or pre-westernized African communities, had significantly lower rates of cancer. It suggests that adopting a western lifestyle, with changes in diet and habits, has led to an increase in cancer rates.

What dietary changes are suggested in the transcript to reduce the risk of cancer?

The transcript suggests reducing the intake of sugar, refined carbohydrates, and processed foods, as well as considering the frequency of eating, to create an environment less conducive to cancer growth.

How does the transcript relate the concept of 'fertile soil' to the growth of cancer cells?

The transcript uses the 'fertile soil' analogy to describe how continuous nutrient signaling from frequent eating can promote the growth of cancer cells, similar to how fertilizer promotes weed growth in an empty field.

Outlines

00:00

🚬 Major Causes of Cancer

The first paragraph discusses the primary causes of cancer, emphasizing the role of carcinogens. Tobacco smoke is identified as the leading cause, followed closely by dietary factors. While other potential contributors like radiation and chemicals are acknowledged, their overall impact is much smaller. The conversation highlights the evolving understanding of diet-related cancer causes, debunking past theories about fiber, fats, and vitamins, and points to obesity as a significant factor in modern cancer risk.

05:01

🏃‍♂️ Cancer in Non-Obese Individuals

This paragraph addresses the occurrence of cancer in healthy, non-obese individuals. It explores the complexity of cancer development beyond obesity, including genetic factors and environmental exposures. The text mentions the role of lifestyle changes and how certain genetic predispositions, like the BRCA gene, can increase cancer risk. It also delves into the concept of cancer being a 'seed' that needs a 'fertile soil' to grow, underscoring the interplay between genetics and lifestyle.

10:02

🌍 Lifestyle and Cancer Prevention

The third paragraph explores the historical perspective of cancer prevalence among different populations. It discusses how traditional lifestyles in indigenous and non-Westernized societies had lower cancer rates until the adoption of Western diets. The text emphasizes the significant impact of diet and lifestyle on cancer risk, illustrating how changes in these areas could potentially reverse the increase in cancer incidence.

15:04

🍽️ Diet's Role in Cancer

This paragraph focuses on specific dietary factors that influence cancer risk. It suggests eliminating or reducing refined sugars, carbohydrates, and processed foods, highlighting how these contribute to creating a 'fertile soil' for cancer. The discussion also touches on the importance of eating habits, including meal frequency, and how constant nutrient intake can promote cancer cell growth.

20:06

🥗 Eating Habits and Cancer Growth

The fifth paragraph delves deeper into the role of eating frequency and nutrient signaling in cancer development. It explains how frequent eating and high insulin levels can stimulate cancer cell growth. The text contrasts modern eating patterns with past practices and argues that reducing meal frequency and refining dietary intake can significantly lower cancer growth signals.

25:07

🏫 Modern Snacking Culture

This paragraph criticizes the modern culture of constant snacking, particularly among children. It compares past eating habits, where snacking was minimal, to today's frequent eating, which is seen as detrimental to health. The text argues that excessive snacking contributes to the rise in diseases like cancer, pointing out that dietary habits have a more significant impact on disease development than previously thought.

Keywords

💡Carcinogens

Carcinogens are substances or factors that can cause cancer. They are the central theme of the video as the main causes of cancer are discussed. The World Health Organization maintains a list of these carcinogens. In the script, it's mentioned that tobacco smoke is the biggest contributor to cancer, accounting for around 35 percent of cases.

💡Tobacco Smoke

Tobacco smoke is identified as the leading cause of cancer in the video, emphasizing its significant role in public health discussions about cancer prevention. The script highlights that it contributes to a large percentage of cancer cases, illustrating the direct link between smoking and cancer.

💡Diet

Diet is discussed as the second largest contributor to cancer, after tobacco smoke. The video script explores how certain dietary habits can increase the risk of cancer, suggesting that what and how often we eat can have profound effects on our health.

💡Obesity

Obesity is mentioned as a significant risk factor for certain types of cancer. The script explains that obesity-related cancers have become more prevalent, and the World Health Organization recognizes 13 different types of cancer as obesity-related, showing the link between body weight and cancer risk.

💡Insulin

Insulin is described as a nutrient sensor in the body that signals the availability of food and the need for growth. The video script suggests that high insulin levels, often associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes, can create a fertile environment for cancer growth, making it a key concept in understanding the diet-cancer connection.

💡Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is presented as a potential method to reduce cancer risk by lowering insulin levels and overall growth signaling in the body. The script explains that by reducing the frequency of eating, one can decrease the growth signals that might otherwise support cancer development.

💡Refined Foods

Refined foods, including sugars and carbohydrates, are identified as substances that should be reduced in the diet to lower cancer risk. The script points out that these foods contribute to high insulin levels and a growth environment that could be detrimental to health.

💡Vitamin Supplements

Vitamin supplements are discussed with caution in the context of cancer prevention. The script mentions that instead of reducing cancer risk, certain supplements like folic acid and beta-carotene might actually increase the risk due to their role in promoting cell growth.

💡Growth Factors

Growth factors are molecules that stimulate cell growth, and they are integral to the discussion on how cancer cells can thrive. The script explains that cancer cells rely on growth factors, such as insulin, to grow and spread, highlighting the importance of controlling these factors in the body.

💡Fertilizer Metaphor

The 'fertilizer' metaphor is used to describe how certain dietary components and supplements can inadvertently promote cancer growth. The script likens the overuse of growth-promoting substances to applying fertilizer, which can lead to the proliferation of weeds (cancer) instead of the desired grass (healthy cells).

💡Diseases of Civilization

Diseases of civilization refer to conditions like obesity, diabetes, and cancer that were not prevalent in traditional societies but have become common in modern, westernized cultures. The script uses this term to illustrate the link between lifestyle, diet, and the rise of these diseases.

Highlights

The main causes of cancer are carcinogens, with tobacco smoke being the largest contributor at around 35%.

Diet is the second largest contributor to cancer, often outstripping other factors such as radiation or chemicals.

Initial theories about fiber, fat, and vitamins affecting cancer risk were disproven by research.

Obesity has been identified as a significant cancer risk factor, almost as influential as smoking.

World Health Organization recognizes 13 different types of cancer as obesity-related.

Maintaining a normal weight can reduce the risk of certain types of cancer, similar to the benefits of stopping smoking.

Cancer development is complex and not fully understood, often described as a 'seed' that exists in all cells.

Lifestyle factors, including diet, play a significant role in whether the 'cancer seed' germinates.

Traditional societies with different diets and lifestyles often had lower cancer rates.

The transition to Western diets and lifestyles has been linked to increased cancer rates globally.

Sugar and refined carbohydrates are highlighted as key components to reduce in the diet to lower cancer risk.

Refined foods, including fats and proteins, may also contribute to a cancer-promoting environment.

The frequency of eating may be as important as the types of food consumed in affecting cancer risk.

Intermittent fasting could potentially reduce cancer risk by lowering overall growth signaling in the body.

Vitamin supplements, which promote cell growth, were found to not reduce but rather increase cancer incidence in some studies.

Insulin, derived from eating, is identified as a significant growth signal for cancer cells.

Cancer cells behave like a foreign organism, separate from the body's normal cells, prioritizing their own growth.

The immune system recognizes and responds to cancer cells as foreign invaders.

Cancer is a complex disease that has seen slow improvements in treatment compared to other diseases like heart disease.

Transcripts

what are the main causes of

cancer as it seems like you hear about

it more and more

recently that so many people are getting

cancer or

um the early stages of cancer what are

the main causes

of cancer yeah that's a great question

and that's something that we've always

been trying to deal with and sometimes

some people say well we don't know what

causes cancer that's sort of a cop-out

because we actually do know

a lot about what causes cancer and these

are things that

cause cancer are called carcinogens and

the world health organization maintains

a huge list of these

carcinogens but if you want to break it

down into what causes cancer

in most people you can look at the sort

of

a couple of studies have looked at the

sort of percentage

contribution of these carcinogens to

um to cancer and the biggest one of

course is

tobacco smoke so that's sort of by far

and away

the the biggest contributor to cancer at

around 35 percent and these estimates

were from 2015

so it's it was higher before when more

people are smoking

but as a contributor to a cancer it's

the biggest

interestingly the second biggest and

almost as big is actually our diet

so it's a huge huge part

of what contributes to cancer in general

and far outstrips so those two are way

above any other causes of cancer so when

you worry about things such as

radiation or you know chemicals

sunscreens and

pesticides and stuff like that they do

cause cancer

but the contribution in a whole

population

is very small so what's interesting

about diet

is that we we know this from our studies

but what part of the diet actually

contributes to a cancer and that's where

things sort of bogged down a lot so

initially in the 70s people talked about

fiber so people thought about oh hey

well

you know maybe if you eat a lot of fiber

what you're going to do is have a lot of

big bowel movements and that's going to

clean out your bowel and you're not

going to get cancer

turns out that wasn't true then the next

thought was hey maybe it's dietary fat

so if you remember the 80s and 90s

there's this huge movement against fat

that

you know all fat is bad for you it

caused the heart disease and all this

sort of stuff much of which is sort of

um been you know overturned at this

point

but there's this thought maybe it causes

cancer too turns out that wasn't true

either

um and then people talked about vitamins

so maybe

cancer is like a vitamin deficiency so

we did many many studies

millions of dollars decades of research

where we would randomize people to say

one group that took

a certain vitamin and one group that

didn't and see if there's any difference

in cancer so we tested vitamin a

didn't work vitamin d b didn't work

folic acid

didn't work vitamin c didn't work

vitamin d didn't work

vitamin e didn't work selenium didn't

work

omega-3 fatty acids didn't work so all

of those supplements

didn't actually make any difference to

the incidence of cancer and the

the so we're sort of stuck at that point

in the mid 2000s saying oh no

it's the diet but what part of the diet

and that's when

it became sort of more and more clear

that this cancer is actually an obesity

related disease

so what happened of course is that in

the 70s 80s and 90s

people didn't really think about it but

then we had this obesity epidemic so it

became

a bigger and bigger problem so uh

obesity in in 2003

when they started to look at the studies

that was the first really definitive

studies that said hey

you know obesity is actually a huge risk

factor as well as type 2 diabetes and

and both of those conditions

will actually increase your risk of

certain types of cancer law

so it really depends on what type of

cancer you're talking like if you're

talking lung cancer obesity plays almost

no role in it right that's smoking

or if you have asbestos which causes

mesothelioma which is a cancer of the

lining of the lung again

obesity plays no role but things like

breast cancer and colorectal cancer

which are sort of

really important cancers they actually

are

obesity related cancers so that was the

sort of big

link and uh to this you know at this

point the world health organization

considers

13 different types of cancer as obesity

related cancers which is huge because

from 2003 we didn't even know like when

i went to medical school

nobody thought obesity caused cancer

really

it's just almost as big as smoking it's

a huge huge thing

so therefore if you know that that's

super powerful because

if you can maintain a normal weight

you're going to reduce just like

stopping smoking right

you're going to reduce your risk of

these types of cancer but aren't there a

lot of

healthy people out there or non-obese

people that also get cancer

oh absolutely because there's a lot of

different things that go on and that's

what i spend the first half of the book

talking about

is how the sort of cancers develop so

it's not just about obesity

just like you can smoke forever and not

get lung cancer but it raises your risk

so same as what what are the other

factors if you're

say you're there's people out there

they're super healthy they're working

out they're

eating well but then they get cancer

they're yeah

under 15 body fat 12 percent body fat

what are those other factors of people

getting cancer

yeah the rest of it we actually know

very little about so we need to know

more about those because certain things

so

smoking and diet are probably your

biggest factors and then there's a whole

there's like a hundred different uh

other risk factors for cancer these are

the other carcinogens that we talked

about

but also things such as you know

background radiation and sun exposure

you know like if you get too much sun

for example so there's all sorts of

other things and genetics plays a role

but one of the big mistakes i think we

made is that we focus so much on the

genetics part of it thinking that well

this is sort of a random mutation

that causes cancer not

sort of which puts the puts the onus on

sort of this random luck

uh sort of uh idea that it's just bad

luck

my parents had this my grandparents had

this gene so i have this i'm gonna get

cancer

yeah exactly and some people think that

that's sort of a death sentence like if

you take

brca which is a certain type of gene for

example

uh so this is the gene that angelina

jolie for example

got diagnosed with her her mom had

cancer i think her

you know an ant had cancer so she got

tested and she had the gene

and people think well for sure you're

going to get you know cancer but it

turns out that

if you look at the incidence of cancer

if you have brca if you have that gene

in like you know in the 30s and 40s and

50s

at risk of breast cancer was like 30

compared to sort of like 80

in modern day america so what's the

difference even though you have the same

genes what's the difference between

those two situations and it comes down

to the lifestyle so the point about

cancer is that

cancer is like a seed so if you have

other genetics

you have the propensity to develop

cancer and this

seed of cancer actually exists in all of

our cells and actually not just all our

cells

but in all multicellular animals have

that sort of seed of cancer

so what's important then is you can't do

anything about the seed but what you can

do something about is the soil

which is that if you provide a fertile

sort of soil for that seed to germinate

then you are going to increase your risk

of developing

this cancer and cancer is not a rare

disease i mean it affects

like one in ten of us one in eight of us

something like that so it's something

that we really have to think about

as we live longer because it is one of

these really important things

it sounds like you know in the next 30

to 60 years if we don't figure out

how to reverse this or solve this or

i guess create bad soil for the seed of

cancer

by creating healthy habits in other ways

it seems like this is going to

accelerate where it was 30

i guess 20 30 years ago or 50 years ago

now and now it's 80

i guess it's going to be even more in 20

to 30 years right oh absolutely and

the the trend is very clear because if

you look at

the uh you know the biggest killers of

americans

it's always been heart disease and

cancer so if you go back sort of to

70 so 50 years ago you look at heart

disease

number one killer of americans that's

heart attacks strokes that kind of thing

cancer was a fairly distant second

but the rate of death from heart disease

has been improving

very very quickly and the rate of

improvement for cancer has been

improving very very very slowly why is

that

it's it's because cancer is a very

complex disease and the way we

think about cancer we just don't know

what it is so

for such a common disease it's a total

mystery

why we get this cancer because if you

think about it it doesn't make any sense

for cancer to develop because it's

actually part of us that is if you

develop breast cancer or colon cancer

for example

that cancer cell was initially derived

from our own

natural cells so what why would it

want to do this that is if you get

cancer

then the cancer grows and then it kills

you and it kills itself in

the in in it kills it yeah why would

this sort of thing ever develop it

doesn't make any sense from a

sort of uh that that looking at it that

way

but most diseases want to spread but

they want to stay alive exactly

exactly like the coronavirus doesn't

want to kill you necessarily it wants to

be able to spread to effect

in fact other people exactly and and in

the in

you know if you sort of by standard it

just kills you uh you know along the way

but that's not its primary purpose

so the point about cancer is that we

have never sort of

understood what this is as a disease

that is if you look at heart disease

heart disease is caused by blockages and

arteries so we develop all kinds of

things so we develop

drugs we develop blood thinners we

develop you know you go in and you use a

balloon to open up the artery

you develop new technologies such as

imaging technologies you develop ways to

monitor patients so

because you know what causes it because

if you don't know what causes something

it's really hard to fix like if you have

a car and all you hear is a random plank

and you don't know what the clanking is

from it's really hard to fix it same

thing with diseases if you have a

disease like covid for example

you know it's a virus well now at least

you have somewhere that you can start

that is okay it's a virus let's

develop a vaccine or let's develop some

antiviral drugs but if you have no idea

what this disease actually is then you

have nowhere to go so that's what i talk

about is how

how we how we think about cancer the

paradigm of cancer as a disease

what causes it you have to first

understand what it is and that's been

the

real mystery the medical mystery is what

is cancer

and the the way we look at cancer has

changed significantly over the last 10

years

right and most people don't even

understand that so it's a very

interesting story from that standard

yeah it's interesting you mentioned you

know the the heart disease

uh i saw dr steven gundry who endorsed

the back of your cancer code book and

he's been on my show a few times and

he's a guy who did

ten thousand heart surgeries and

realized that like the things that he

was doing on the surface level to create

temporary relief

people were coming back in because they

weren't solving the root problem

which was a lot of it around diet and

lifestyle

and that's what i'm hearing you say is

that diet is a massive contributor

to cultivating the seed of

cancer to grow and flourish with the

wrong

side is it possible is it possible in

your mind to reverse cancer

by the right diet and by fasting which

is something you talk about a lot

oh yeah because the thing is that if you

like once you have the cancer it's

really hard because that's sort of like

you know if you if you don't change the

oil in your car then your car breaks

down then you say oh i'm going to start

changing you oh my god well

yeah that's good but you need you know a

lot more than that

it's the same thing once you actually

develop the cancer then it's really hard

to fix from a diet standpoint you really

need the drugs that we've spent

you know millions and billions of

dollars developing over these last 30

years

but in terms of preventing cancer

there's actually no reason why

you couldn't because you can look at

sort of

people who live in a traditional society

for example

so you can take a look at say the inui

or the american indians sort of before

before sort of they became westernized

and or you can look at the african

people before they're sort of

assimilated into a western culture

and interestingly those those

uh peoples were actually considered some

of them were considered

immune to cancer there was so little

cancer

that they thought that the inui for

example or what used to be called the

eskimos

actually could not get cancer so the

university queen's university in

kingston ontario they used to send

an expedition up to the arctic circle

every year to study why these

these inuit couldn't get cancer of

course as they became westernized and

started eating

you know sugar and white flour then they

started getting

all the same cancers that we did in

africa for example this this fellow by

the name of denis burkitt who is a sort

of

a missionary and and doctors when he got

down there he's like

wow in my he was like look at these the

difference the

the people who live traditionally in

africa

get no cancer no colon cancer but the

minute they transition

to a western style civilization with

their foods with their that

you know the whole thing they actually

start to get cancer you don't find

cancer when

when that so it was called actually a

disease of civilization

so all of these diseases obesity

diabetes and cancer

were not found in people living

traditionally so the point is

not that you know one is that they

didn't live as long but the point is

that

if you can find and understand what

makes it

you know protective from them why this

soil is sort of

soil like we all have to seed that the

soil was different

what it is about that if we can

understand that then you can

you can you can reduce your risk

substantially

to the point where your you know your

risk is very low

again as an example if you take a

japanese or chinese woman

from japan or from shanghai and you move

them to san francisco

within a couple of generations the risk

of breast cancer

approximately tripled crazy so it's

crazy

exactly but that's great hope because

you know the root of it that you can go

back to a different way of living

exactly because if you can and remember

shanghai and japan and so on they're

they're

you know modern societies so if you can

understand what it is about the the diet

about the lifestyle that's so important

you could actually take that woman in

san francisco

and reduce her risk of breast cancer by

a third so that's very very powerful

knowledge

so what would you say are the the five

foods we must eliminate

to support us in preventing cancer

what are those five key things here like

and if you can get rid of as much of

this as possible

it's going to really support your

chances

yeah i think that's a good question and

it's um

sort of sugar is probably one of the

very very important things that we

really need to lower because that

really supports it and it gets to how

cancer develops

a lot of the refined foods and people

taught

and the most that we eat like the one

thing we eat more than anything else

tends to be refined carbohydrates

um so you know white bread and that kind

of thing

that's probably the most important thing

uh is the sugar and refined

uh grains refined anything is probably

bad for you

so you know even if you're not talking

about carbohydrates but refined say oils

you should

eat natural oils like eat eat foods that

are sort of in the natural state

and refined uh meats like um you know

it's

you know eating bologna for example

people talk about meat all the time it's

like

there's a big difference between baloney

and you know grass finished beef sort of

thing it's

there's a huge difference because one is

jam packed full of chemicals and

other crap and one is just beef right

and people have been eating beef for

thousands of years

so those are fine foods so refined carbs

but also refined fats and refined

proteins

probably those play a decent role

although the evidence is lower

and then the other thing that is really

important the fifth thing

that's probably very important is likely

uh the frequency that we eat that is

eating all the time provides that

sort of fertile soil so to understand

why this is you have to get back to sort

of how cancer

develops so you have to understand that

cancer almost develops

evolves almost as a separate species

from

us so when you have a breast cancer cell

for example it originated from a normal

breast cell

but after it evolves it it grows or

doesn't grow

depending on growth factors and it's

almost a separate species from us that

is it will grow

and it won't the normal breast cell or a

normal lung cell they will do everything

to

you know play on the team right so

they're always supporting the body

you're part you're a team player those

cancer cells are not team players

basically they're out for themselves

and it's the enemy coming to attack you

that's right it's it's it's like the guy

who's just trying to pad his stats you

know

right it's like you should have passed

it's like yeah

but that's the point that this cancer

cell now is only interested

in its own survival that is it will grow

and it will grow at the expense of its

neighbors so it will keep growing and it

will destroy everything around it

so it will move around for example so a

breast cancer cell will move around the

body

and that's not for the good of the whole

body right it's for the good of itself

it's trying to spread itself around so

you've got to realize that the the

the cancer cell responds as a foreign

organism and it sounds very strange to

say okay we have this foreign organism

almost like an infection

in us but that's actually how our body

sees that cancer that is

our immune system actually detects

is a very powerful um you know it kills

stuff

but it's very powerful so it has to be

reigned in because you don't want it

destroying you know normal parts of the

body so it recognizes certain cells as

foreign and

certain cells itself and cancers are

actually innately

seen as foreign cells so it is a foreign

invader almost that has evolved from us

but during the development of this

cancer

it will grow or not grow depending on

growth signal

so our body has certain nutrient sensors

so nutrient sensors tells our body when

food is available

so when you eat certain certain hormones

like insulin and mtor will go up

that tells our body that food is

available we should grow

right because you don't want your cells

to grow when there's no food

right it's just natural if there's no

food you got to get rid of some of those

extraneous cells so if you have

if you're eating all the time and you're

always

you're always activating these nutrient

sensors you're actually telling your

body

grow grow grow grow so if you eat

six eight times a day you're telling

your body your cells in your body grow

grow grow grow if you eat fewer times

like

three times a day or you do intermittent

fasting if you don't eat at all

what you're going to do is shut down

those growth signals

and this cancer will have a diff more

difficult time

to grow so if you grow breast cancer

cells in the lab for example you can't

do it without insulin

it will actually wither up and die so

therefore if you know that then you can

say well

if i and that's one of the secrets

insulin insulin comes from eating any

food or is this only sugar

mostly it's carbohydrates and protein

so you know but the nutrient sensors

come from

different foods so different foods will

activate different nutrient sensors

but the point is that if you don't eat

like fasting for example

one is you're going to lower your

insulin levels

which will you know lower the growth

overall growth

signaling in our body which is a good

thing for adults and adults growth is

not good

generally you you stay the same size you

don't want to be growing too much

because the you know growth a high

growth environment of course

lets the cancer sort of grow out of

control and that was the secret to why

vitamins for example was not a good

thing

because it's basically growth

it's it's it supports growth of cells

and what they found in a lot of studies

was when they gave people these vitamin

supplements

they actually got more cancer they

didn't get less cancer they got more

cancer

so in fact it's just like if you spray

spread fertilizer on an

empty field you want the grass to grow

but what grows are a bunch of weeds

because you've put down all this

growth signaling uh stuff so therefore

all you get is the weeds

of the body are so are supplements and

vitamins bad for us then

there's no there's no evidence that it's

really bad for you

when you give high doses in these

studies you do get certain ones so folic

acid for example

and beta-carotene which is a precursor

to vitamin a and those two studies

there is actually a suggestion that you

actually get more cancer from them

because in our current situation in

north america most of us are not vitamin

deficient

most of us actually have too much you

actually want to slow down the growth

really and this is why obesity and type

2 diabetes

are so intimately linked with cancer

is because both conditions are

conditions where we have too much

insulin in our body

so we want to lower insulin overall

because

insulin is one of the main causes of the

fertilizer

for cancer to potentially grow exactly

and

and there's several ways to do that one

is to change either the foods that you

eat

and that is the sugar for example the

refined carbohydrates that make up the

bulk of our diet

and the other thing is to change the

frequency with which you eat

because you can affect both things so

just like if you're for example to pay

you know ten dollars and you pay it

every day adds up quickly right if you

have a coffee every day and it's like

you know

five or seven bucks at starbucks every

day every day every day

it adds up so just like that it's not

just the amount that you're paying which

is not much but it's the frequency

right same thing with the foods it's not

just the the amount that you eat or what

it is that you eat it's how often you

eat it

so if you're eating now six eight times

a day well that's a lot worse if you ate

once a day

right that's just basic math like you

can't get around that

and the problem is of course that if you

look at how people eat today

compared to sort of 1970

it's very different so in 1970 people

ate three times a day breakfast lunch

and dinner

no snacks nobody ate snacks back then

now it's a snack culture

like smacking all day exactly and people

say it's good for you people say oh you

should eat multiple times in the day six

times a day it's good for you

but nobody in the history of humanity

has done that before

because we had work to do right it's not

like your great grandparents you know

working in the factory they're taking

off every two hours to make themselves a

little you know

ham sandwich or something right it was

like there's work to do you eat when you

have time

so you know in the 70s it's funny

because

i always say you have breakfast lunch

and dinner and that was it if you wanted

an

after-school snack your mom said no

you're going to ruin your dinner

and if you wanted a bedtime snack she

would have said

no you should ate more at dinner right

right you should have finished your meal

exactly and that was the point and

nobody ate not a lot of desserts and all

that nowadays of course

when you look at the studies people are

eating five six times a day you even

look at schools it's like

you know uh oh you know they're gonna

have breakfast then they're gonna have a

mid-morning snack then they're gonna

have lunch then they're gonna have an

after-school snack

then they're gonna eat dinner and then

if they play soccer in between the

halves of soccer

parents think that you need to feed them

like cookies it's like

okay well you know i played soccer

growing up and nobody chased me around

with a bunch of cookies we had a

great time gradually you didn't need it

right and but that's six times a day

every single day and it's ingrained into

us

um you know a few years ago when my son

was you know going on a trip or

something the school said well you

should pack him two snacks

like why why would you want to give them

a bunch of snacks like

they're not good for you we look at the

root causes of disease and there are

many

right there's environment there's

lifestyle there's genetics

all affect these systems in your body

right but by far the biggest cause is

food

by far and it affects i mean we

what's amazing is it's not it's not just

like a little bit