Welcome to the Keto4Cancer & the LowCarbMD website.
My name is Scott Porter and I’m a medical doctor. My goal is to provide research and evidence based information on:
Cancer and Adjunctive Metabolic Therapies
Metabolic Health and Low Carb, Ketogenic, Carnivore Lifestyles
Information on a Proper Human Diet and what the true nutritional goals should be
Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis and recent dietary therapies
How to lose weight properly and keep it off
Information on Statin medications and if you should be taking them (Benefits and Side Effects)
And other info as listed in the topics below
That information is provided here along with published peer reviewed studies to provide a basis for what is stated.
Does being an MD qualify me to give you this information? No! MDs are given very little nutritional training in medical school. But I do have the background in the sciences to understand the research and question what we have been told on nutrition. We are one of the sickest societies in the world with the best health care system, yet we continue to be obese, diabetic and cancer ridden. The answer is PROPER NUTRITION! What we eat determines our health.
Here is my perspective. Our diet has massively changed over the last 100 years. The amount of “vegetable oils” (seed oils) which have inflammatory Omega-6 polyunsaturated fats, have risen dramatically while the amount of saturated fats has declined. The amount of sugars and carbohydrates that we consume has risen exponentially. Fructose, a simple sugar contained in table sugar and all sweetened beverages is a massive part of our diet. Processed foods, which make eating cheaper and easy, are massively abundant but contain polyunsaturated fats and sugars, making them very unhealthy. Our fruits and vegetables have been dramatically altered. They contain much more carbs and simple sugars and are available all year round. And the grains and other agricultural products are covered in chemicals.
My goal is to demonstrate, through the peer reviewed research, that a massive change in our dietary patterns are needed. Saturated fats are GOOD FOR YOU, seed oils are bad. Red meat is the most nutritious component of one’s diet and does not hurt you. Fruits should be eaten sparingly because of their fructose content. One should be wary of vegetables as they contain plant defense chemicals that many cannot tolerate (lectins, oxalates, phytates and anti-nutrients that block absorption of the vitamins and minerals they contain). Scott B. Porter MD
Topics Related to Cancer
Cancer is primarily a metabolic disease. There are genetic components, but virtually ALL cancers share the same metabolic defects. This was discovered by Dr. Otto Warburg and is known as the “Warburg Effect”. Cancer cells rely on sugars to survive (and also Glutamine, an Amino Acid which I will discuss in a separate section). In technical terms they up-regulate glycolysis to make energy and down-regulate oxidative phosphorylation. Cancer cells exhibit damaged and far fewer mitochondria. As such, a diet low in carbohydrates and sugars can help limit their supply of fuel. There are clinical trials studying this.
There is also research on how to stop the burning of sugars, or slow it down (glycolysis) in cancer cells through the use of sugar mimicking drugs (glucose analoques) sucas 3-Bromopyruvate (3BP) and 2-dexoy-glucose.
Glutamine Blockers and Press Pulse Therapy
As I noted previously, cancer cells can utilize an amino acid called Glutamine as fuel. Unfortunately, unlike carbs and sugars, glutamine is a necessary and vital nutrient for the body. We can not just stop using it. However, we can stop its use from time to time. Just like taking chemotherapy on a time to time basis, we can “pulse” glutamine blocking drugs. The Press Pulse theory is to limit the sugars and carbs full time (pressing that therapy) and pulsing the glutamine blocking drugs from time to time.
Cancer cells produce oxidative byproducts that would kill a normal cell. To survive, they produce more antioxidants. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is actually getting in a “room” that we can increase the atmospheric pressure. This causes more oxidative byprocucts in cancer cells than they can deall with, even with producing an upregulated amount of antioxidants. This tips them over the edge and kills them. Normal cells which do not have this level of oxidative products survive.
Recent research has shown that fasting, or using a fasting mimicking diet, can reduce the side effects of chemo such as nausea and fatigue. It aso increases the efficacy of chemo (makes it more potent to cancer cells).
Other adjuvantive Therapies
Metformin, Aspirin, Toradol given perioperatively Vitamin D and Melatonin have uses as well and are dealt with in their individual sections.
Topics Related to Metabolic Health
There are three types of fats - saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. We have been told that saturated fats, mostly found in animal products, are bad for us and cause atheroslerosis and heart disease. We have been instructed to eat “low fat diets”, meaning to cut down on saturated fats. My goal is to show that saturated fats are good for you and that Omega-6 polyunsaturated fats (found in vegatable/seed oils) are terrible for you. The research absolutely shows this.
Fructose and Uric Acid, Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver disease
Fructose is a simple sugar (the others being glucose and galactose). When combined they make up other sugars - glucose + fructose = sucrose or table sugar. Research has been done, particularly by Richard J. Johnson on how fructose is metabolized and in doing so depletes ATP and raises uric acid. This leads to metabolic syndrome diabetes, fatty liver disease, hypertension, increases in oxidative stress, impairsed endothelial nitric oxide and vascular dysfunction. Uric acid acts as a pro-oxidant in the vascular wall, causing endothelial dysfunction and chronic low-grade inflammation that support atherogenesis and cardiometabolic disease.
As table sugar is 50% fructose and high fructose corn syrup is 40-60% fructose, it can be easily seen how bad a diet that includes a lot of fructose can be very harmful.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
IBD is thought to be an autoimmune disease where the body attacks its own gut (gastrointestinal tract). Recent research has shown that a diet excluding plants and plant products decreases the symtoms and increses the quality of life for those with this condition.
Weight Loss and a Proper Human Diet
The traditional way to lose weight is ineffective, because it involes calorie restriction and exercise. One always gains the weight back because it’s impossible to starve oneself forever. The best way to lose weight and keep it off it to eat a healthy diet low in carbohydrates and high in saturated fat and protein. Both sat fat and protein are very satiating, whereas carbs are not. Eat a nice steak and one is satisfied but eat a bag of chips and you are still hungry. Further, it is impotant to cut out processed foods as well as they contain mostly seed oils and carbs.
I have no problem with being on a LOW CARB plant based diet. The only nutrient that is missing is Vitamin C and one must take supplements for that. However, it does not seem satiating. The people I have seen tend to “graze” all day never feeling totally satisfied for any length of time. I may be wrong on this. Plants do contain defense chemicals and antinutrients (chemicals that prevent the absorption of the various nutrients they do have). If one can tolerate those, that is great. Go for it!
Recent research has indicated that microdosing Lithium (Lithium Oratate in 5mg or less doses daily) slows or stops the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and may reverse it.
Epilepsy and Psychiatric Illnesses
The ketogenic diet was first used as an effective therapy for epilepsy. And it still is for medication refractory seizures. New studies have shown it to work very effectively for psychiatric illness such as depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disease.
The traditional Diet-Heart Hypothesis championed by Ansel Keys states that eating saturated fat raises cholesterol (the molecule) and causes cardiovascular disease (CVD). The original studies on this were flawed and have been re-evaluated. Saturated fat is good for you. Seed oils and carbs are bad. But, “cholesterol” the molecule has now become “lipoproteins” such as LDL and Total Cholesterol. Studies are showing a higher Total Cholesterol is beneficial and lower level detrimental. Thus, the puropse os using Statins to lower cholesterol is moot. In fact, when looking at the absolute risk benefit of statins, those that already have had a MACE (major adverse cardiac event) benefit by only 1%! That’s one in one hunfred benefit…and this comes straight frome the Lipitor page ad. The side effects are much more worrisome.
This section delves into the true causes of heart disease and atherosclerosis. It involves inflammation and glycation products that damage the heart’s glycocalyx and arterial walls. Once again, this comes from what we eat - foods that are inflammatory and have sugrs that cause glycation products. are bad. It also encompasses what we can breathe, such as smoking.
This is the diet of our ancestors over 12000 years ago. It made us have a larger brain and a decrease gut size (The Expensive Tissue Hypothesis). We ate mostly meat and what we could forage for. Those fruits and vegatables have been altered greatly since then and were smaller and less nutrious. It is also the ultimate elimination diet. If a food or class of foods is causing you harm, then one can start on this diet and slowly introduce other foods to see what is harmful.
This is a sugar substitute that is 70% as sweet as sugar and is actually good for you. It helps regulate your blood sugar.
Metabolic Health
What is metabolic health? It encompasses the overall processing and utilization of energy from the cellular to systemic levels in the body.
It can be “measured” in a number of ways like blood sugar levels, lipoprotein counts, blood pressure, weight, inflammatory markers, etc.
What I wish to delve into is how the macronutrients one eats (fats, carbs and protein) affect the cellular machinery and those systemic effects. In other words, how does diet affect one’s health? What is the proper human diet? Why are Americans one of the sickest people in the world? I will hope to define these by looking at what we eat and why…what have been the social forces leading Americans in this direction.
And yes, this includes big food, big pharma, big sugar, big agra and their relationships with our government. Good metabolic health helps to put in remission and prevent chronic diseases and cancer.
Processed foods, sugars and seed oils have destrroyed health in America. I believe low carb diets are our solution. Whether it is carnivore, ketogenic or vegetarian, keeping carbohydrates low and reducing the amount of Omega-6 fatty acids in our diet will make us healthier.
Disclaimer - although this site details medical information and research, it in no way is medical advise. DO NOT act on any of this information without consulting your doctor. DO NOT make changes in diet, medications, exercise or lifestyle without consulting a medical professional.
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