dr. thomas seyfried

When I started medical school in 1995, we were taught that one in four people was likely to develop cancer in their lifetime. Today, that statistic has changed to one in two – a rapid rise that can’t be explained by genetics. But if our modern diet and lifestyles are the cause, we have more control than we might think.

That’s the message my guest, Professor Thomas Seyfried, has worked tirelessly to prove and communicate over his four decades as a cancer researcher. Professor Seyfried is a professor of biology, genetics and biochemistry at Boston College, Massachusetts, and author of more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, as well as the 2012 book Cancer As A Metabolic Disease.

Through his research, and in this conversation, he sets out to explain how it’s a malfunction in our mitochondria – the energy powerhouses in each of our cells – that’s at the root of every cancer he’s studied. Normal-functioning mitochondria, he explains, use oxygen to make energy. In cancer, this process is disrupted. Cancer cells cannot use oxygen, so they fall back on a primitive form of energy creation known as fermentation.

It follows then, explains Professor Seyfried, that if we can somehow stop this fermentation process, then cancer cells will die. Cancer uses glucose and glutamine to fuel fermentation. While we don’t want to block glutamine, as it has other uses in the body, we can drastically lower our glucose levels to stop driving cancer growth.

We discuss some of the ways in which we can start doing this – for example, using specific low-carb diets and nutritional ketosis. Professor Seyfried also talks us through his ground-breaking ‘metabolic therapy’ protocols for treating cancer – sometimes, alongside conventional treatments like chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Professor Seyfried has spent decades researching and proving a metabolic cause for this devastating disease. This a compelling and optimistic conversation, packed with actions we can all take to reduce our risk not just of cancer, but all the chronic conditions driven by metabolic disruption.

CAUTION: This podcast discusses ketogenic diets and water-only fasting. Always consult a qualified healthcare practitioner before making any drastic changes to your diet or before going for prolonged periods without eating.

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Over the years, it has become a widely held belief that cancer is predominately a genetic disease or simply the consequence of bad luck. An empowering evolution in cancer research, however, suggests we have far more control over our risk than previously thought. 

I’m excited to talk to Dr. Thomas Seyfried about the underlying causes of cancer and why addressing metabolic dysfunction is a very important and often overlooked area of its prevention and treatment. 

Dr. Thomas Seyfried is an American professor of biology, genetics, and biochemistry at Boston College. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1976 and did his postdoctoral fellowship at the Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Seyfried has over 150 peer-reviewed publications, and his research focuses primarily on the mechanisms driving cancer, epilepsy, and neurodegenerative diseases and calorie-restricted ketogenic diets in their prevention and treatment. He is the author of Cancer as a Metabolic Disease: On the Origin, Management, and Prevention of Cancer and presently serves on the Nutrition & Metabolism, Neurochemical Research, Journal of Lipid Research, and ASN Neuro editorial boards.

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Here are more details from our interview (audio version / Apple Subscriber version):

• How Dr. Seyfried’s work on treating epilepsy with a ketogenic diet informed his understanding of cancer (6:57 / 3:14) 
• Mitochondrial damage and cancer (16:58 / 14:44) 
• Glucose fermentation and oxidative stress and their links to cancer (25:52 / 24:47) 
• Our current misunderstanding of the cause of cancer (32:19 / 29:54) 
• Current cancer treatments vs metabolic oncology (38:31 / 36:50) 
• Populations without cancer incidence (56:10 / 51:55) 
• Metabolic cancer treatment for dogs (1:09:27 / 1:05:11) 
• Using a ketogenic diet with current cancer treatments (1:12:56 / 1:08:50) 

Learn more at tomseyfried.com and at the Foundation for Metabolic Cancer Therapies.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Thomas Seyfried, a cancer researcher and professor of biology at Boston College, discusses a controversial view of cancer as a mitochondrial metabolic disease. Many topics related to the causes, treatments, and prevention of cancer are covered in this in-depth conversation.

We discuss:

• How Tom got interested in cancer research [9:00];
• Calorie-restricted ketogenic diets, fasting, and epileptic seizures [18:30];
• Otto Warburg and the Warburg effect [30:45];
• Germline mutations, somatic mutations, and no mutations [42:00];
• Mitochondrial substrate level phosphorylation: Warburg’s missing link [51:30];
• What is the structural defect in the mitochondria in cancer? [1:02:00];
• Peter’s near-death experience with the insulin suppression test while in ketosis [1:06:30];
• Insulin potentiation therapy and glutamine inhibition [1:13:15];
• The macrophage fusion-hybrid theory of metastasis [1:39:30];
• How are cancer cells growth dysregulated without a mutation? [1:47:00];
• What is the dream clinical trial to test the hypothesis that we can reduce the death rates of cancer by 50%? [2:03:15];
• How can the hypothesis be tested rigorously that structural abnormalities in the mitochondria impair respiration and lead to compensatory fermentation? [2:26:30];
• Case studies of GBM survivors [2:32:45]; and
• More.

Learn more at www.PeterAttiaMD.com

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