Key Points

> The Functional Medicine approach targets the Cellular Terrain that houses the cancer cells:  The 'Cellular Terrain' makes up all the factors that ultimately have an impact on the cells that in turn, makeup all our tissues and organ systems. It is the sum total of all the following - our nutritional status, our hormonal system, signalling molecule effects, macronutrient impacts, postprandial (after-eating) impacts, sufficiency of all vitamins - minerals- trace elements, sufficiency of essential fatty acids (Omega-3's), the vascular and lymphatic drainage systems working efficiently (exercise, activity), the efficiency of our immune system, our gut microbiome being healthy, toxic exposures (our exposome) minimised, toxic elements neutralised or excreted effectively by optimised biotransformation pathways. All of these have a powerful impact on the Cellular Terrain and if this is affected then all of our human cells will be affected making it difficult for our body to prevent cancer or to make it hostile to existing cancer cells. 

To view the differences between Integrative Medicine and Functional Medicine Functional Nutrition approaches - CLICK HERE 

> Interventionist (Conventional) Medicine directly targets cancer cells:  The major focus of interventionist medicine is on cancer cells precisely and not the cellular terrain. It is important to state that these two approaches are not mutually exclusive, but COACTIVE. 

There are some stunning wins for interventionist medicine using new immuno-oncology therapies such as CAR-T. However, by not looking at dietary and lifestyle factors (including the environment and the exposome (all exposures toxic or otherwise), any treatment will be compromised, and the following may apply by ignoring the cellular terrain:

1) Treatment/s may be less than successful or
2) The risk of recurrence may be that much greater 

> 90-95% of Cancer is NOT Genetic; it is diet & lifestyle: This is vital to understand that only a small percentage of cancer is driven by genetic factors. This leaves 90-95% of cancer caused by diet and lifestyle factors which include environmental factors⁴¹. Dietary factors contribute to 30 - 35% of all cancers⁴¹.

> How do we know diet can influence cancer outcomes? The carbohydrate intake and breast cancer story^49-50

Any woman who is being treated for a breast cancer or is worried about the risk of recurrence needs to know this concerning research about recurrence related to carbohydrate intake and let's face it, the Western diet is dreadfully focused on carbs, carbs and more carbs if we think of bread, all that pasta, pizza bases, soft drinks, French fries, potato mash, sweets and copious amounts of nutritionally-deficient cereals including oats, poured out of a box for breakfast every morning. 

1) A two-fold risk of recurrence if the carbohydrate intake stayed the same or increased after treatment⁴⁹ (In other words, you need to lower your carb intake after treatment)

2) 70% more likely for breast cancer recurrence if the tumours tested positive for the IgF-1 receptor
(Carbs significantly increase blood insulin and IgF-1 levels this also occurs with dairy the so-called GI-Insulin Dissociation)

3) A 5-fold (5x) risk of recurrence if the breast cancer was IgF-1 receptor-positive and carbohydrate intake increased⁴⁹ (So a huge increase when you have IgF-1 receptors and your carb intake increases)

> The amazing mTOR story and the connection with cancer:  mTOR is the master regulator of cell multiplication and cell death^73,74. We have Easter Island to thank for discovering Rapamycin, a potent immunosuppressive and antiproliferative macrolide compound that was produced by a bacteria found in the soil of Easter Island. Rapamycin has a powerful suppressive effect on mTOR (the Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin), and by suppressing mTOR you suppress cell multiplication (cancer is all about cell multiplication gone wild) you increase apoptosis (cell death). With abnormal cells, you really do want them to die. mTOR is a sensor for cell energy (think all those carbs, meat, dairy and fat you consume providing massive amounts of energy). mTOR also senses levels of amino acids necessary for protein synthesis in particular L-Leucine found in abundance in animal proteins and dairy. Once mTOR senses a feast signal (lots of food, energy and amino acids) the mTOR gears up for cell multiplication (anabolic pathways) and ramps down apoptosis (catabolic pathways). When there is a mad rush to produce cells at all costs, then errors in the DNA occur, and cancer can be triggered, and this is made worse because apoptosis (cell death) decreases having a protective effect on abnormal cells and cancer cells. The Western diet is essentially a massive feast signal powerfully driving mTOR feast signalling pathways³⁸.  For those what want to know a little bit more about mTORC1 and mTORC2 CLICK HERE

> Using dietary approaches to make the cellular terrain hostile for cancer cells:  Understanding the mTOR story now gives you a powerful understanding of how to make the cellular terrain very hostile to cancer cells. Why this Functional Medicine approach is not adopted as a standard approach in managing not only cancer but all diseases is beyond me as a medical practitioner who has worked in primary care for 3 decades now. That diet and lifestyle can be excluded from standard medical practice in the 21st century is totally anachronistic and belongs to the dark ages. For any scientist who wants to research the heck out of this while untold millions of people die of overweight, obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer's and a multitude of other chronic diseases should do this as research on themselves a so-called N=1 study. They should order a family-sized pizza with copious amounts of pepperoni and red meat piled high and a thick crust and no veggies (nothing green on it), and have this three times a day and then follow themselves over a few months. Their risk for obesity and hence the risk for cancer will skyrocket greatly, and the risk from processed meat like pepperoni and the heme from red meat will increase their risk for bowel cancer will soar. The studies are in, and foods like this are rife in the Western world and consumed regularly by people who don't seem to know better because of a lack of education and such diets are riddled with energy, amino acids, dairy but at the same time lack many micronutrients and this will absolutely destroy the cellular terrain. 

> "We need to talk about the Warburg effect". A title of a Nature Metabolism article written just in 2020:  The Warburg Effect has been known for around 100 years where Otto Heinrich Warburg was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1931 for this groundbreaking discovery in cancer cell metabolism. It shows the folly of  interventionist medicine and interventionist oncology where a concept known for almost a century is simply ignored because a registered trademark ® can't be applied to dietary manipulation. The Warburg Effect which shunts glucose to lactate even in the presence of oxygen is something we can use to your advantage when faced with cancer or cancer recurrence. This will be discussed in more detail below. 

> With Functional Medicine we target the Cellular Terrain using many strategies: There is more complexity than meets the eye. Anything less than a Precision Nutrition approach can be a hit and miss affair. Trying to starve a cancer just makes you malnourished and weaker. Fasting can work but only if you can be guided by an expert Accredited Practicing Dietitian (APD) trained in this aspect of dietetics as are the Activ8Health Dietitians.

Malnourishment is not the name of the game as it will impair the Cellular Terrain and cancer cells with take advantage of their weakened environment. 

Let our highly qualified Activ8health Accredited Practicing Dietitians (APDs) guide you. Click on the Precision Nutrition button below to see what this is all about and take important steps to make your Cellular Terrain hostile to cancer cells. Give yourself the best chance possible 

Interventionist Medicine and Oncology are only a part of the story. Ignoring Diet and Lifestyle would have to be the worst thing one can do if you are trying to have a successful outcome and decrease the risk of recurrence 

Anyone who has the audacity to challenge this notion of the critical nature of nutrition in disease causation will have the weight of the medical profession and research institutions crush them as both groups are now moving headlong towards Precision Medicine and Precision Nutrition with Genomics (in particular Nutrigenomics) or to understand the critical link between the Gut Microbiome and immunity, and major ongoing research in the best institutions on the planet including our own Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney, all fighting hard to have a deep understanding of molecular processes in health and disease driving treatment modalities and not just pharmaceutical interventions which are really band-aid approaches without diet and lifestyle interventions as the absolute founcation of any medical intervention. Billions of dollars are being poured into this kind of research. 

> A Malignant Flame: How inflammation helps cancer spread: 'A Malignant Flame' was the title of an article in The Scientific American magazine in 2007. This article stated, "As some researchers have described the malignant state: genetic damage is the match that lights the fire, and inflammation is the fuel that feeds it." Two key areas that need to be targeted in cancer are: 

1) The master inflammatory switch NFkB that triggers a range of inflammatory responses that affect the whole body

2) An excess of Omega-6 Fatty Acids & Arachidonic Acid (AA) leading to inflammatory eicosanoids from excessive Arachadoinc Acid (AA) formation and a low anti-inflammatory Omega-3's (DHA, EPA) dietary intake that is insufficient to offset the damaging effect of excess Omega-6's & AA typical of the Western diet where Omega-6's may outnumber Omega-3's by 15:1 and expert opinion states should be between 1:1 to 4:1. The levels of these two omega fatty acids can be measured to find out the optimal intake of Omega-3's to dampen this malignant flame. Talk to your Activ8Health practitioner about this important test. However, other inflammatory factors are involved. 

Inflammation is discussed in more detail below