Normal body cells will degenerate if for some reason their oxygen respiration is impaired, and if the impairment is severe enough, of course they will die. As their respiration becomes reduced, the cells, in an effort to survive, gradually change over to a process of fermentation for their energy needs. This is an inefficient process, but capable of sustaining life. Lactic acid is produced as a byproduct instead of carbon dioxide.

   As the changeover progresses, the cells in stages come to resemble primitive forms similar to embryonic cells, although still identifiable with the tissue of their origin. This change is called de-differentiation.

   According to the degree of de-differentiation, the cells look and behave less and less like normal cells and more and more like primitive cells--capable of subdivision and growth outside of normal body control. Such unrestrained growth is cancer, and as there are varying degrees of de-differentiation, so there are varying degrees of cancer. In other words, the degree of malignancy (ie. uncontrollability and rate of growth) is proportional to the degree of de-differentiation and fermentation.

   It is significant that in pre-cancerous tissue, the process of unrestrained growth does not seem to commence until triggered by the call for new cell growth in a location where some form of irritation or injury has occurred. Because of this, the belief has widely been held that cancer can be caused simply by irritation or injury.

   And because the mere restoration of plentiful oxygen does not alone return cancer cells to normal, another widely held belief is that the process of de-differentiation is irreversible, and this would indeed be the case if cancer was caused by a mutation as is commonly believed. Contrary to this belief, Dr Koch always held that if the correct chemistry was provided, it was possible for the cells' respiratory cycle to be restored.

   Another interesting fact is that in all body cells, even those of a newborn baby, there exists a virus-like organism which always multiplies in conditions of disease. This proliferation occurs as a natural event, and so numerous do these organisms become in pre-cancerous cells and cancer cells that at one time it was generally believed that they were the actual cause of cancer. The virus theory of cancer is still believed by some researchers, who have unsuccessfully attempted for years to produce a vaccine against them.

   As cancer growth increases, so too do the levels of lactic acid and other toxic wastes which further worsen the cancer milieu so that a vicious circle ensues. The cancer, relying on fermentation for energy (fermentation is only one-fifteenth as efficient as respiration) demands more nutritional sustenance than the body can afford, and so the body, overloaded with toxins, wastes away. This is cachexia, which leads to death, usually by pneumonia or heart failure.

   The local swelling which occurs with cancer is enhanced due to the fact that cancer cells contain up to 90% of their mass as water compared to 66% for normal cells, according to Dr Raymond Damadian, the inventor of the FONAR* diagnostic scanner. The increased water is due to the high levels of sodium in the cells.

*FONAR is an electronic scanner which can detect cancer cells by interpreting their differently structured water content. The name FONAR is derived from the words, Field Focussing Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. FONAR is expected to replace the currently used CAT scanner and is described in the Journal of the American Medical Association (January 8, 1982) as characterizing "a new wave of medicine"

   Whereas it has been demonstrated in the laboratory that the intermittent withholding of oxygen from a cell can alone cause it to become cancerous, this condition does not appear to occur in the body to the extent of, by itself, causing cancer. Although high blood viscosity, reduced circulation and low oxygen supply are always involved, further nutritional or chemical impairment to the oxygen respiratory cycle within the cell is necessary. In fact, the latter influence alone, if pronounced enough, can initiate the cancer process even if adequate oxygen is available to the cell. In this case the cell is deprived of oxygen because it is deprived of the enzymes necessary to use the oxygen. This depends on nutritional factors, the presence of carcinogens, and the state of the vital organs, the liver in particular.

   Dr Warburg considered the breakdown of cell respiration to be due primarily to the absence of what he called "active respiratory substances" inadequately supplied in the diet, and to a lesser extent, poor oxygen supply in the circulation. He thought in some cases carcinogens were implicated by their effect of inhibiting the action of the active respiratory substances. The active respiratory substances included iron salts Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Thiamin (Vitamin B1) Pantothenic Acid, Nicotinamide and Cobalamin (Vitamin B12).

   Dr Koch said that clinical observations disclosed the persistence of toxemia over a period of as long as twenty years previous to the advent of the growth. The eventual breakdown in the cells' respiratory cycle occurred when various toxic amines deactivated the key respiratory component of the cell called the "functional carbonyl group (FCG)". Oxygen transport from the blood was reduced by poor circulation and gellation of tissue colloids, he said, but this alone, without the deactivation of the FCG was not sufficient to cause cancer. Evidence of subsequent fermentation was the large elimination of lactic acid even when the lungs were well ventilated (from the Survival Factor in Neoplastic and Viral Disease --William F. Koch MD).

   Dr Gerson divided the cancer process into two components, the general component and the local component. "The general component," he said, "comprises mainly of the deterioration of the essential organs of the digestive tract, chiefly the liver. There the damage is done by a permanent daily poisoning brought about by our modern civilization". The subsequent change in cells from normal to embryonic form, using fermentation--ie. the local component--he ascribed to an inadequacy of oxidizing enzymes and the presence in the cell of sodium excess and potassium shortage.

   Dr Moerman observed that cancer only appeared in tissues that were chronically sick, and said, "In perfectly sound tissues cancer has never yet, to my knowledge, come into being". He said the factor which finally caused the breakdown in cell respiration was injury to the oxygenating power of the cell due to the absence of nutritional substances such as Vitamins A, B complex, C and E, together with citric acid, iron, iodine, sulphur and others, together with an adverse sodium-potassium ratio. Dr Moerman said, "It is no longer a theory that cancer is a disease of the body as a whole, it has been incontestably proved. Each cancer patient shows a great number of clinical symptoms which have not been proved to be a consequence of the local tumor, but have been proved to be caused by an abnormal metabolism. To support this opinion I need only to point out the increasing emaciation of the body, which symptom we call cachexy, followed by death. We all know that this emaciation followed by death, occurs repeatedly, whereas on examination it appears that the cancer tumor is no larger than a chicken's egg. It is a fact the emaciation, followed death can never be explained by this tumor somewhere in the body; it can be explained by an abnormal condition of the metabolism. The cancer patient definitely does not die from the tumor in such a case, he dies from the disease of the body as a whole. This disease--and not the tumor exclusively--is cancer.

   "The symptoms that occur with cancer--namely general symptoms, cachexy, multiplication of the virus and the mortal growth of the tumor tissue--are results of disturbed metabolism." (From A Solution to the Cancer Problem --Cornelius Moerman, MD.)

   The "disturbed metabolism" (ie. the cancer milieu) referred to by Dr Moerman, is capable of causing varying degrees of cell de-differentiation but apparently not always to the extent of causing actual cancer--maybe benign tumor growth but not a malignant one. Malignancy requires a greater degree of de-differentiation, and this is where tissue irritation or injury comes in:

   When normal healthy tissue is injured, before healing growth can commence the cells in the injured area must first de-differentiate into near embryonic form in order to multiply rapidly. When the healing is complete, the cells become differentiated again and growth ceases. In pre-cancerous tissue, however, containing cells already partially de-differentiated, the further de-differentiation called for by the attempted healing at the site of irritation or injury may be sufficient to convert some of the cells into cancer cells.

   An illustration of this process is supplied by laboratory experiments in which the powerful carcinogen, coal tar, is applied to patches of skin on mice in order to produce cancer. In properly fed and exercised (ie. very healthy) mice, cancer does not eventuate, but in "normal" laboratory mice cancer usually appears after varying lengths of time. However, if before the appearance of the anticipated cancer, injury such as a cut* is caused in tissue remote from the patch of coal tar, cancer will appear not where the coal tar is, but at the site of the injury. This was demonstrated over sixty years ago by Dr H.T. Deelman of Groningen, Germany. Before that, in 1925, in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, Drs Murphy and Sturm reported: "It has not been an unusual observation in our experience that mice, failing to develop skin cancer as the result of the application of tar, are found to have tumors of the lungs".

*See Medical treatment of cancer, danger of biopsy and surgery.

   This shows clearly that the coal tar causes cancer essentially by its poisoning effect of the bloodstream and subsequent breakdown of the body's detoxifying capability, and that the local irritation at the site of the patch of coal tar is only a secondary cause.

   In humans the breakdown of the body's detoxifying capability may take many years, with the gradual deterioration of the liver, kidneys, and other vital organs, depending on the nature of the abuse they have been subjected to.

   It is held by most authorities that the process of cell de-differentiation is irreversible, and for the conventionally held mutation theory to be true this would have to be the case. However, Dr Koch long ago demonstrated how the oxygen respiration cycle could be restored in some cases and the cancer cells returned to normal. More recently, reversions of cancer cells to normal have been again reported and are described in the report of the National Research Council, titled, Diet, Nutrition and Cancer (1982). In one of the cases, cultured cells reverted to normal after the application of ascorbic acid, and in another, cancer cells reverted to normal of their own accord when, in an experiment, they were relocated to their location of origin in the body. One of the leaders in this sort of research is Dr Leo Sachs of Israel, who reported to the 13th International Cancer Congress in Seattle in 1982 how he had changed leukemia cells and sarcoma cells in laboratory animals back to normal differentiated cells, either by the injection of certain protein substances or by agents which caused the cell to produce these substances.

   Epithelial tissues such as the skin and lining of the digestive tract etc., which in a normal healthy body are being constantly renewed by continuous replication of cells and at the same time are exposed to varying degrees of irritation,* are therefore more prone to cancer. For this reason, cancer of the skin and at various locations along the digestive tract and respiratory system are by far the most common and account for the majority of cancer deaths. Cells capable of rapid growth when influenced by certain hormones, such as cells of the female breast, are also more prone in some circumstances to cancer. The most common stimulus to such cell growth is the excessive production of estrogen which occurs on a high fat diet. Such cancers are known as hormone-dependent cancers, but in all cases of common cancers, however, it can be shown that poor blood and reduced circulation are the primary factors.

*Irritation of the mouth and upper digestive tract, including the stomach, may be caused by highly salted or heavily spiced food, very hot food or drink, and the heavy use of alcohol or smoking. Constant pipe-smoking may irritate the lip, sufficiently to trigger lip cancer. Asbestos dust and cigarette smoke are irritants to the lungs, and talcum powder to the female genital tract. As such these are secondary, not primary, factors in producing cancer.

   For many years it has been believed by some doctors that cancer is caused by local irritation alone, so often has cancer been observed to appear at such sites (eg. cancer of the lip among pipe-smokers). It can easily be seen, however, that the irritation is not the prime cause of the cancer but merely the trigger action which by calling for a healing process has instigated the critical de-differentiation of cells.

   Although the intestine lining has a rapid turnover of cells, cancer of the intestine or duodenum is extremely rare. As can be seen from Fig. 20.1, there are four common cancer sites in the digestive tract ahead of the intestine or duodenum and six common cancer sites after it, while the intestine itself appears to be immune. Why is this? The explanation is that the first four sites are exposed to direct damage from irritants contained in food, such as spices, condiments, salt, various chemicals and excessive heat and cold. Once food enters the intestine however, it is no longer too hot or cold and the harmful irritants are neutralized by the enzymes of the digestive juices, and even though there is a high turnover of epithelial cells in the intestine, there is no direct tissue damage and therefore no subsequent cancer. Following the intestine is the bowel (colon) with its six common cancer sites. These are explainable by the toxic process and chemicals produced in the bowel itself, described under the heading "The Role of Diet".

There is strong medical support for the belief that many 

cancers might be prevented by eliminating chemical 

irritants from food. Malignant growths of the human 

digestive tract tend to appear in the "narrows' of that 

tract where food slows down its passage and rubs against 

the intestinal linings most forcefully. These "narrows" 

are shaded spots in, the above sketch, marked with numbers: 

1. the larynx; 2. the tracheal bifurcation; 3. the entrance 

to the cardiac stomach; 4. the pre-pyloric stomach; 

5. the ileo-cecal valve; 6. the cecum; 7. the right 

colonic flexure; 8. the left colonic flexure; 

9, the sigmoid colon; and 10. the rectum. Occurrence of 

cancers at these point is significant when one notes 

how relatively long are the cancer-free portions of the 

intestine. (Source: Natural Food and Farming,  Atlanta, Texas.)

   Primary tumors rarely, if ever, occur in nerve or muscle tissue, because although capable of healing when injured, they are made of cells which do not replicate.

   That the entire constitution is involved in the cancer process is evident by the fact that, preceding cancer there are many general signs of degeneration. Dr Moerman listed these as:

• Dry, cracked, scaly or horny skin
• Changes in mucous membranes
• Unhealthy color of tongue and inside lips
• Rhagades at comer of mouth
• Scaly rings around the rings of the nose
• Nails hard and crumbly with line formations
• Hair dry and dead looking
• Signs of edema on inside lower leg
• Low vitality
• Bleeding gums (Vitamin C deficiency)
• Easy bruising (Vitamin C deficiency)
• Slow healing of wounds
• Symptoms of anemia, alkalosis, poor blood
• Poor appetite, loss of weight

   Singly, these signs were not pathognomonic of cancer, Dr Moerman said, but in combination they were.

   Another sign which often precedes the appearance of cancer, cirrhosis and kidney failure, is body-wide itching. This finding was made after a study of generalized pruritis (itching) in elderly patients by Drs Gary Kantor and Donald Lookinghill of the Milton Hershey Medical Center, Pennsylvania.

   Dr R. Stoeger, of Germany, in his book, To Age--But Without Cancer, describes his observations of cancer patients which indicated that they previously had displayed low thyroid activity and lowered immune responses. More recently, studies at St John's Naturopathic Center, Portland, Oregon, reported in the Cancer News Journal, Vol 15, No 4, Winter, 1981, quote:

   "100% of all (cancer) patients had below normal temperatures (96.8-97.8°), but simultaneously with measurable immune response and the patients' increased sense of wellbeing, body temperatures returned to the normal range (98.0-98.6°). And, even more interesting, those patients who continued to improve, stabilized at 98.6°. This included the high percentage of patients who had always had a low temperature. "

   These observations fit in with those of Dr Edward Howell that in well established cancer and other chronic disease conditions, enzyme levels and activity in the body were below normal.

   Food aversions are yet another sign of cancer. It is common for cancer patients to develop aversions to certain food substances such as meat, chocolate and caffeine, which are known to be cancer causing. Such aversions are obviously a defense reaction by the body. In the book, Human Nutrition and Dietetics by Davidson, Passmore, Brock and Truswell, the authors state: "Doctors and dieticians should be constantly aware of the diagnostic significance of loss of weight, anorexia and food aversions as early signs of malignant disease".

   Notwithstanding the many general signs which precede the onset of cancer, it is difficult for conventional researchers to recognize the constitutional nature of the disease because they study only the biological process of the disease in its final stage. In their experiments with animals they apply a powerful chemical to the animals and observe cancer appear as a result. To the observer, a single chemical has caused the cancer, even though he knows that dietary factors can influence the onset and course of the disease. The confusion in the medical outlook is unavoidable while cancer is viewed as a local cellular disease. Researchers concentrate on looking only for what Dr Gerson called the local component. They should read Dr Gerson's book which, in referring to experiments on animals shows that whatever chemical assault is necessary to cause cancer in them, the cancer never commences until after the liver has been damaged "together with pathological changes in the kidneys, spleen and lymphatic apparatus". Further enlightenment would follow after reading the description of Dr Gerson's experiment in which he completely eliminated cancer in a rat simply by interconnecting* its blood circulation with that of a healthy rat with a fully functioning liver.

*This is possible with inbred strains of animals which, like identical twins, are fully compatible.

   However, the constitutional nature of cancer--a point of medical contention for nearly two hundred years--is gradually being realized in conventional circles. It is now recognized that cancer occurs in stages and references are made in medical reports to conditions of pre-cancer. A fairly recent news item is significant, headed:

   "Cancer Detected Before It Begins" (Sydney Daily Telegraph, September 2, 1980) "A unique technique detecting the onset of breast cancer before it appears is being developed by a Sydney biophysicist. Dr Veronica James is working at the University of NSW on an x-ray technique to pick up changes in breast tissue which might herald a cancerous tumor. Changes occur in the elastic substance collagen of the breast before even a minute cancer appears, according to Dr James."

   It must soon become obvious to everyone that cancer does not suddenly originate from a mutation in the nucleus of a healthy cell.

   Once the biological sequence necessary for cancer is complete, and cancer cells have actually formed, cancer growth will still not eventuate if the immune system has reasonable function. Many people live apparently cancer-free because of this protection. Therefore, although not a cause of cancer, failure or partial failure of the immune system is a necessary prerequisite for development of cancer growth.

   In his book, Cancer--The Facts (Oxford University Press, 1979), Sir Ronald Bodley Scott says: "In the majority of cases there is a preliminary period of vague ill-health rapidly succeeded by a phase in which the symptoms are those of the primary tumor".

   Thus the cancerous growth or tumor is really only a symptom of the real disease which is lipotoxemia and the subsequent tissue degeneration and immune system weakness which follow. A world famous cancer specialist, Dr D.W. Smithers in his paper "Cancer, an Attack on Cytologism" (Lancet: 493, 1962) said: "overgrowth and de-differentiation (of cells) are effects of disorganization--repercussions, not driving forces. Cancer is no more a disease of cells than a traffic jam is a disease of cars".