Short story - apoptosis does not work without magnesium, functioning mitochondria, and enough iodine for the mitochondria to function.
The FLCCC have developed a cancer care guide that is quite comprehensive but missing some important nutrients and more detail about the role of mitochondria and methylation in cancer risk.
Cancer Care - FLCCC | Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (covid19criticalcare.com) Cancer Care 2023 (pdf)
This recommendation in the quote below was in a linked protocol for insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a common underlying issue seen in many (40%) of cancer patients. an unlimited amount of saturated fat tells mitochondria to burn fat for energy (or ketones) and to not use the more efficient and less acidic waste producing Citric Acid Cycle. A ketogenic diet may help cancer treatment but it should not be long term if the goal is to repair the underlying metabolic problem that causes cancer - dysfunctional methylation cycles, cytoplasm in the cell, and mitochondrial dysfunction.
“Low-carbohydrate (ketogenic) diet:
Aim for a diet high in saturated fat, mono-unsaturated fat, and Omega-3 fatty acids. The carbohydrate content of a meal should not exceed 25 grams.” https://covid19criticalcare.com/protocol/i-care-insulin-resistance/
Cancer Care - FLCCC | Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (covid19criticalcare.com) Cancer Care 2023 (pdf)
The FLCCC authors of the Cancer Care guide based their recommendations on whether or not a treatment had as much peer-review journal article research as other treatments. So, right there, a red flag in play. Peer-review journals primarily only publish pharma friendly ‘research’. Research studies about nutrients are often poorly designed and use one nutrient as if it is a medication that doesn’t work in a complex team of many chemicals and nutrients. Chances are good, that if you try to play baseball with only the pitcher, you will not win the game, or only the catcher, or only the person out in left field (me in softball in grade school).
So, if I want to promote magnesium, iodine, and mitochondrial support nutrients for cancer care to the FLCCC group, then I will need to find a list of citations providing this information:
APPENDIX 1. Hierarchy of evidence for the stratification of repurposed drugs/nutraceuticals
Meta analysis of observational and/or randomized controlled trials (RCTs).
Prospective RCTs and/or observational studies.
Epidemiological data demonstrating that the agent reduces the risk of cancer and/or improves survival in those with cancer.
Case series (≥ 3 cases).
Individual case reports (at least 2).
In Vivo model demonstrating favorable effect on tumor microenvironment.
In Vivo/In Vitro model demonstrating synergistic/additive cancer cell killing in presence of cancer chemotherapeutic agent(s).
In Vivo model demonstrating killing of tumor cells and/or cancer stem cells.
In Vitro model (cell culture) demonstrating killing of cancer cells.
The flaw in using only peer review material to write a comprehensive cancer care guide - is that peer reviewed material is extremely unreliable. Much of it is not replicable when that is attempted. See: Why Most Published Research Findings are False, (Ioannidis, 2005).
“It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.”
― Marcia Angell, former Editor of the New England Journal of Medicine
“Once upon a time, drug companies promoted drugs to treat diseases. Now it is often the opposite. They promote diseases to fit their drugs.”
― Marcia Angell, The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It
Cancer has been heavily promoted with movies and talk shows and patient forum sites - it is so brave and courageous to have cancer and put up with the treatments that make it and you worse - SO BRAVE! And the patients and families defend the system - their doctors are saviors trying so hard to help. Too bad that they are so bad at it. Maybe they read too many peer review journal articles and not enough patient anecdotal success stories and alternative health guidance.
Medical errors were found to be the third leading cause of death in a study done by John Hopkins University researchers. Press release type article: (McMains, 2016).
Magnesium - needed for 80% of body function - do you want to be only 20% functional? *Roughly.
With only a brief look at magnesium in cancer research, it is odd. One review adamantly stated that 300 mg magnesium helped but more than that was bad. If they tried to give it all in a megadose, that would be bad for the gut. And if you have a bad gut anyway, then I think topical sources are needed. Different review: Dietary magnesium, higher intake, but not supplemental magnesium, was associated with a reduced rate for all-cause mortality and cancer mortality, but not for CVD mortality. (Bagheri, et al., 2021)
Sick people and heart patients and people with bad digestion need topical sources of magnesium. Anyone with excessive stress is going to have gut dysbiosis as it is a direct cause. Topical magnesium is needed and well absorbed through skin pores and nailbeds during foot or hand soaks or a bath with Epsom salt/magnesium sulfate. It seems better absorbed in the little available research, than the more popular magnesium chloride liquid or products made with it. The sulfate is helpful too for some conditions like autism and would be helpful in heart disease or cancer. We need cholesterol sulfate to help prevent misfolded proteins and magnesium and cholesterol sulfate to prevent atherosclerosis potentially. This link is about cholesterol sulfate’s role in heart health. (holisticprimarycare.net) It doesn’t get into the role of magnesium in reversing atherosclerosis, but the issue is too much calcium and magnesium helps the kidneys to excrete excess calcium.
Magnesium doesn’t make money for medication companies, so bunches of other medications are prescribed for symptoms of magnesium deficiency instead of calling it magnesium deficiency. Lab tests are not very accurate for magnesium and too much of ionic forms of the supplements can be poorly absorbed and/or cause diarrhea. We need independently funded research with Epsom salt soaks for cancer patients and many other chronic issues and alcoholics would benefit too. Acute magnesium deficiency causes anger → bar fights after peeing out electrolytes in a bar that no longer provides free popcorn or peanuts, chips and salsa, or other snacks that replace some lost magnesium, potassium and sodium.
We are an ocean not a freshwater lake and we adapted to a world with plenty of magnesium in the water.
Magnesium deficiency in drinking water and endocrine related cancers and in cancer progression.
"In addition, magnesium concentration in drinking water is inversely correlated with death from breast, prostate, and ovarian cancers, whereas no correlation existed for other tumors [36, 38, 39]." (Castiglioni, Maier, 2011)
Looking at the bigger picture - like our drinking and bathing water, can lead to a better understanding of the real underlying issues. We are overlooking or being deceived about the underlying causes of cancer:
"Experimental evidence therefore leads to the conclusion that in rodents, magnesium deficiency participates both in early (initiation) and late (progression) phases of tumorigenesis (figure 2)." (Castiglioni, Maier, 2011)
*Excerpt from this post about cancer and fingertip vasculitis - seen in many different types of malnutrition - deficiency of varying things including ‘warmth’ in hypthermia and frostbite.
Pomegranate/peel - peel extract treated pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest types of cancers. Effective … and safe - consistently no negative effects on healthy cells!
The last post had references and discussion about pomegranate’s ability to kill cancer stem cells. I would probably have better luck filling in the citation list for pomegranate/peel against cancer. It is also consistently beneficial at preventing metastasis - preventing wandering cancer cells that start growing elsewhere.
Anti-tumor review article. Pomegranate peel extract consistently shows benefits against metastasis risk in addition to other mechanisms of action. (Rahmani, Alsahli, Almatroodi, 2017)
Literature review on pomegranate peel extract or juice and cancer treatment, primarily in vitro or in vivo studies. Whole fruit versus arils alone “has an enormous impact” on the polyphenol content and antioxidant potential. More clinical trials are needed. Liver and prostate cancer cells seem to be inhibited in growth with no negative effects on normal cells. Inhibits MAP Kinases, PI3K/AKT/mTor, and NF-κB,
Reducing:
inflammation related to CO-2 and iNOS,
cell proliferation related to PCNA and Ki67,
angiogenesis related to VEGF and CD-31, and
metastasis related to MMPs. (Figure 2, Syed, et al, 2013)
Iodine and cancer
A review article in the Natural Medicine Journal -
“Epidemiological evidence also suggests that thyroid disorders, particularly goiter, may be associated with breast cancer incidence and/or mortality.5–8 Other cancers associated with goitrogenic state include prostate cancer, endometrial, ovarian, colorectal, and thyroid cancer. It is not clear whether these associations are due to an underlying hypothyroid state, the presence of occult autoimmune processes, or iodine deficiency itself.9 Ultimately, the etiology of all cancers is multifactorial, with benefit assumed in the reduction of modifiable risk factors. There is substantial evidence that iodine deficiency is a modifiable risk factor in cancers of the stomach and breast and possibly many other organs.” (Kaczor, 2014).
With magnesium deficiency and iodine deficiency linked to breast cancer and other endocrine cancers → they may be working together. We need adequate magnesium for vitamin D metabolism to work and we need the Vitamin D receptor to work with the thyroid receptor along with the Retinoic Acid Receptors. The three types work together, in pairs probably, for transcribing many genes involved in immune function.
The other problem with the medical approach to “health care” is that they focus on killing things. A search for “iodine magnesium cancer” led to a team that devised a radioactive iodine treatment that combines it with magnesium somehow to help it get into the body/into the tumor. They have great hope. (Li, et al., 2014) Note that radioactive iodine is a cause of cancer. Worth noting in my opinion.
Trace minerals in our diet and health can be helpful or harmful. Another team looked at data from a large survey-based study for mineral intake and colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence.
“Our findings suggest that higher calcium, magnesium, manganese, zinc, selenium, potassium, and iodine intakes,
…combined with lower iron, copper, phosphorus, and sodium intakes may be associated with lower risk of incident CRC [colorectal cancer].
As discussed below, our findings are consistent with much of the data available from previous studies on associations of calcium, magnesium, zinc, selenium, iodine, iron, copper, and phosphorus intakes individually with CRC risk. Our findings of decreasing risk of CRC with an increasing mineral score supports the antioxidant-related and other anti-colon carcinogenic effects of calcium, magnesium, manganese, zinc, selenium, potassium, and iodine, and the pro-oxidant and other pro-colon carcinogenic effects of iron, copper, phosphorus, and sodium.” (Swaminath, et al., 2019)
Our body is a team. We need to view it as a team and learn to work with it rather than trying to kill our team members.
That ‘cancer’ can ‘spontaneously’ get better means that those cells are not ‘bad’ cells. They are cells that need help.
FLCCC guide
This is a useful guide…but…. it is about peer-review research and the current standard of cancer ‘care’. I would be cautious in following it without doing additional reading. It covers a lot about the “genetics” of current cancer theory - note that the widely varying genetic differences seen in cancer are due to dysfunctional methylation within a cell nucleus. It describes the alternative metabolic theory of cancer and supporting research findings, but it doesn’t get into methylation cycles at all or the role of functioning mitochondria or magnesium in apoptosis. If you want to provide drugs that can cause apoptosis (safe killing and removal of cells by white blood cells), then you better make sure the patient has adequate trace minerals and nutrients for mitochondria and apoptosis to be able to work. And why do we want to kill our cells instead of healing their function?
Cancer Care - FLCCC | Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (covid19criticalcare.com) Cancer Care 2023 (pdf)
Other posts with cancer as a focus.
Cancer - excess deuterium -> mitochondrial dysfunction; also black chickpeas, SOD1 and sulfur.
Pfizer has invested in cancer drugs, post CoV 'success' (at promoting cancer), so a post on the underlying cause of cancer - fluid imbalance. Our structured water loses its shape from heavy hydrogen. - (Substack)
Nature loves a good design; Cancer, POTS, Epigenetics & the One-Carbon Methylation Cycles.
and keeps repeating it. Polyphenols should be considered essential for health. They do things and we can't make them (not being plants), therefore we need them in our diet. (Substack)
Cancer care or profit stream? Story of Dr. Burzynski and an ancient therapy (urine!).
Antineoplastins extracted from urine of healthy donors - cures cancer but FDA fought it hard and arrested the Dr. Efficacy and safety was never in question, only regulatory approval. (Substack)
Disclaimer: Opinions are my own and the information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes.
Reference List
(Bagheri, et al., 2021) Bagheri A, Naghshi S, Sadeghi O, Larijani B, Esmaillzadeh A. Total, Dietary, and Supplemental Magnesium Intakes and Risk of All-Cause, Cardiovascular, and Cancer Mortality: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies. Adv Nutr. 2021 Jul 30;12(4):1196-1210. doi: 10.1093/advances/nmab001. PMID: 33684200; PMCID: PMC8321838. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2161831322001533?via%3Dihub
(Castiglioni, Maier, 2011) Castiglioni S, Maier JA. Magnesium and cancer: a dangerous liason. Magnes Res. 2011 Sep;24(3):S92-100. doi: 10.1684/mrh.2011.0285. PMID: 21933757. https://www.jle.com/en/revues/mrh/e-docs/magnesium_and_cancer_a_dangerous_liason_290268/article.phtml
(Ioannidis, 2005) Ioannidis JP. Why most published research findings are false. PLoS Med. 2005 Aug;2(8):e124. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124. Epub 2005 Aug 30. Erratum in: PLoS Med. 2022 Aug 25;19(8):e1004085. PMID: 16060722; PMCID: PMC1182327. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1182327/
(Kaczor, 2014) Tina Kaczor, ND, FABNO, Iodine and Cancer - A summary of the evidence to date, June 1, 2014, naturalmedicinejournal.com, https://www.naturalmedicinejournal.com/journal/iodine-and-cancer
(Li, et al., 2014) Li C, Zhang Y, Chen D, Duan G, Liu Z, Zhang L, Yang G, Zhang T, Lu MJ, Singh S, Zhang W, Zhang F. Experimental research on a novel iodine-125 seed strand connected using magnesium alloy AZ31. Recent Pat Anticancer Drug Discov. 2014 May;9(2):249-57. doi: 10.2174/1574892809666140130215156. PMID: 24483348. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24483348/
(McMains, 2016) McMains, Vanessa, Johns Hopkins study suggests medical errors are third-leading cause of death in U.S. Physicians advocate for changes in how deaths are reported, May 3, 2016, John Hopkins University, HUB.jhu.edu, https://hub.jhu.edu/2016/05/03/medical-errors-third-leading-cause-of-death/
(Swaminath, et al., 2019) Swaminath S, Um CY, Prizment AE, Lazovich D, Bostick RM. Combined Mineral Intakes and Risk of Colorectal Cancer in Postmenopausal Women. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2019 Feb;28(2):392-399. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-18-0412. Epub 2018 Nov 21. PMID: 30464021; PMCID: PMC6363899. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6363899/
Modern life, children are being harmed directly, no pharma products needed.
Twitter claimed that this Tweet was deleted when I tried to reTweet it. But the link copied. It shows adult men with very small children tied up and kind of just in a pile on top of each other, but alive. One taller boy tied up standing up in the background. Money of some sort is exchanging hands between the adults.
https://twitter.com/DC_Draino/status/1678454199196033032?s=20
photo op
Why are pedophiles more protected than children?
Why are physicians more protected than patients?
👏👏👏👏👏🤗🤗🤗 E excellent piece and exactly why I stopped recommending FLCCC protecol. As is incomplete.
Fully agree with your recommendation of adding to their protecol, but would also add Selenium. Frankly the quickest, most permanent way to heal most people would be to stop spraying garbage on our food and support regenerative farming to get all these beautiful nutrients BACK into the soils globally. But yeah you know take a supplement, is way more profitable.🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
Love your work Jennifer, I'd like to see you running a school on future nutrition. The current market is about 15years behind the actual science.😉
Jen, Pomegranate is very high in Ellagic Acid content. I believe it's the second best source besides raspberry seeds. Some people have made full recoveries from cancer just doing prescribed levels of Ellagic.