UCLA researchers just discovered that the most common — and deadliest — type of lung cancer produces unusually high levels of a molecule that transports sugar.
And by testing for this molecule, doctors may soon be able to detect the presence of very small lung cancer tumors — and perhaps even precancerous cells — in their earliest stages, when they’re still localized and easier to remove and cure surgically.
Putting this research into real-world practice could eventually provide us with an accurate and early screening test for lung cancer. And perhaps even help wipe out the disease entirely.
I’ll tell you all about this truly ground-breaking study in a moment. But first, I want to give you the insiders’ backstory on the sugar-cancer connection…
Sugar connection uncovered nearly a century ago
I’m certainly pleased to see U.S. researchers finally acknowledging the sugar-cancer connection again. But it’s a tragedy that it’s taken so long…
In fact, Nobel Prize winner Otto Warburg first discovered that sugar causes cancer almost 100 years ago in Germany.
He also found that cancer cells need significant amounts of sugar and oxygen to fuel their growth. After all, these types of cells grow at a much faster rate than normal. So clearly, they’re going to need more fuel.
These cancer cells hijack blood vessels to carry more blood — filled with sugar and oxygen — to the tumor. The process is called angiogenesis.
And one effective approach to combat cancer prevents the growth of the blood vessels that deliver more sugar to the tumor. The treatment approach is called anti-angiogenesis.
Unfortunately, when WW II started, Warburg’s ground-breaking research on cancer and sugar quietly slipped beneath the waves (sort of like the battleship Bismarck).
U.S. cancer experts continue to ignore sugar
By the 1970s, research into cancer finally began to pick back up again — this time in the U.S. And the mainstream-academic-industrial-government complex began looking more closely at lung cancer, in particular, and its causes.
They considered all the conceivable culprits — except sugar.
Eventually, by the mid-1980s, the science bureaucrats at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) decided that smoking was the only cause of lung cancer — despite all the science. And they focused all of their lung cancer funding on smoking cessation and prevention programs.
This tragic political decision meant they ignored all the science showing that a small percentage of genetically susceptible people have a much higher risk of developing lung cancer from smoke inhalation. (The fact is that approximately 90 percent of people who smoke never get lung cancer. Plus, most of the people who do get lung cancer never smoked or quit a long time ago.)
These bureaucrats also ignored the research that shows people who smoke less than half-a-pack of cigarettes per day have no more risk than non-smokers. And people who smoke just one or two cigars per day have lower risks of most chronic diseases.
And then, in 2011, a new generation of NCI “experts” even rejected the widespread use of a new screening test called low-dose computed tomography (LDCT). Like the new testing for the sugar molecule transporter I briefly mentioned earlier, LDCT also detects lung cancers at a much earlier stage —when these tiny tumors can still be removed, and the disease can be cured. But, of course, a simple blood test, like the new one used in the UCLA research, is much more convenient and affordable than a body scan.
So, now that you have the background on sugar and lung cancer, let’s take a closer look at that new UCLA research…
High levels of sugar transporter molecule signals lung cancer
The UCLA research involves the most common type of lung cancer called non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). It’s also the leading cause of cancer-related death in the world.
And it’s NOT related to smoking.
Additionally, we’re now aware that the best way to survive NSCLC is to catch it early and remove it, as the chance of survival worsens as it grows and spreads. Tragically, by the time most people go to the doctor with this type of cancer, it’s already begun to spread. Which is why it causes so many deaths.
However, as I mentioned at the very beginning of this Dispatch, in the early stages, long before they become fatal, NSCLC tumors can be identified by their high levels of sodium glucose transporter 2 (SGLT2) — a molecule that transports sugar to the insatiable cancer cells via the hijacked blood vessels.
By labeling these molecules using sophisticated lab techniques, the UCLA researchers observed that SGLT2 is produced at high levels in early stage NSCLC tumors and pre-cancerous lesions.
And it turns out — not just lung cancer cells produce this biomarker. Pancreatic and prostatic cancer cells also use SGLT2 to consume more sugar.
The UCLA researchers also found a drug that blocked the activity of SGLT2 and slowed the progression of NSCLC-like tumors in a mouse lab model. It also reduced tumor growth and prolonged survival compared to placebo.
Although, in one experiment, the tumors treated with the drug still found a way to keep growing — simply by making more SGLT2 than the drug could block.
Of course, you don’t need a drug to block sugar. Simply limit your sugar intake and you’ll get even better results!
Indeed, as this new research suggests, reducing blood sugar may make all the difference in the prevention and treatment of lung, pancreatic, and prostate cancers.
It also makes sense that the botanically based, generic Type II diabetes drug metformin, which reduces blood sugar, drastically reduces the risk of cancer.
Furthermore, as this line of research continues, I think the researchers will find once again— like Otto Warburg did nearly 100 years ago — that restricting sugar can help to prevent and treat all types of cancer!
As I’ve always said, the real answers for cancer have been hiding in plain sight all along. In fact, there are dozens of safe, natural alternatives for preventing, detecting, AND treating all types of cancer. And I’ve covered them all in my groundbreaking online learning tool, my Authentic Anti-Cancer Protocol. You can learn more about my Authentic Anti-Cancer Protocol, or enroll today, by clicking here.
Source:
“Sodium-glucose transporter 2 is a diagnostic and therapeutic target for early-stage lung adenocarcinoma.” Science Translational Medicine 2018; 10 (467): eaat5933. https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.aat5933