In the 1930s, an interesting natural cancer treatment was proposed as a simple, effective answer to cancer—almost any cancer. This treatment approach is not well known because it is considered alternative or experimental, or even dangerous[i] by the medical and scientific community, and hence has been referenced primarily in obscure publications outside the mainstream press.
This treatment approach is called alkaline therapy or pH therapy, and is based in part on observations of cultures without significant incidence of cancer[ii] and in part on scientific observations of and experimentation with cellular metabolism.[iii]
The principles of pH therapy are very simple. The metabolism of cancer cells has a very narrow pH tolerance for cellular proliferation (mitosis), which is between 6.5 and 7.5. As such, if you can interfere with cancer cell metabolism by either lowering or raising the internal cancer cell pH, you can theoretically stop cancer progression.
While lowering cancer cell pH (increasing acidity) is effective against cancer cell mitosis in the lab, increasing acid levels in the live body of a cancer patient puts stress on normal cells and causes a lot of pain. So the proposed alkaline therapy for people is a “high pH therapy” and has been developed to normalize the intracellular pH of the cancer patient’s body through the elimination of latent acidosis, while increasing the pH of cancer cells to a range above 7.5. According to published research, it is at that pH they revert to a normal cellular apoptosis cycle (programmed cell death).[v]
Ideally, this approach begins with an alkaline diet. There is general agreement amongst natural healers and medical professionals alike, that changing a cancer patient’s diet is extremely helpful when someone is confronted with a cancer diagnosis. In a previous article, I outlined the six steps that every cancer patient should take to provide the best chance to heal from and prevent future recurrences of cancer using alkaline diet principles.[vi]
The alkaline diet, which is primarily plant-based and avoids sugar, dairy, wheat, and other high-gluten grains, as well as an excess consumption of fruits, while emphasizing fresh vegetables and vegetable juices along with cruciferous vegetables and greens, changes the body’s intracellular pH to come close to the ideal blood pH of 7.3 to 7.41—a key metabolic accomplishment on the path to longevity whether you have cancer or not! An alkaline diet based on vegetables and fruits creates a less-than-optimal environment for cancer proliferation, while at the same time strengthens the immune function and supports healthy cells in the body through improved nutrition.
The second step is to use some nutritional mechanisms to move the internal cancer cell pH from the optimal mitosis range of pH 6.5 to 7.5, to above 8, which shortens the life of the cancer cell. As described by its proponents, alkaline therapy neutralizes the acid waste of the cancer that causes so much pain, interferes with the anaerobic fermentation of glucose that starts the self-feeding acidic cancer-wasting cycle called cachexia, and in time, can induce remission. If this theory of alkaline therapy holds true, it should be possible to address cancer without chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery, and use alkaline therapy as a primary cancer treatment.
This bold statement comes from a somewhat abstruse body of research. In the 1880s, Louis Pasteur published his work on cellular aerobic respiration and glycolysis. In 1931, Otto Warburg won the Nobel Prize for his work on the metabolism of tumors and the respiration of cells, which was later summarized in his 1956 paper, “On the Origin of Cancer Cells.” His work on cancer expanded upon Pasteur’s findings and described respiratory insufficiency and cellular metabolism of glucose fermentation as the primary trigger for cancer progression[vii].
Warburg’s conclusions on cancer were much discussed in scientific circles, as they are academically elegant, but were not accepted by most members of the scientific community engaged in cancer research. Most cancer researchers in the late 1950s believed that the anaerobic metabolism of cancer cells and their accompanying output of lactic acid was a side effect or an adjunct effect of cancer, not a cause. Cancer research since the 1960s has focused primarily on genetic aberrations as causative for cancer, and has ignored the body of research on cancer pH and its implications for therapeutic approaches.[viii]
Warburg’s work was a catalyst for yet another research effort on the nature of cancer cells, beginning in the 1930s. A. Keith Brewer, PhD (physicist) performed experiments on the relationship between energized, oxygenated cell membranes and elemental uptake, verses cellular membranes in an unenergized state, such as cancer cells exhibit. He wrote a number of papers discussing the cellular mechanisms of cancer cells and the changes in metabolism induced or indicated by the lack of or presence of oxygen in combination with other elements, particularly potassium and calcium. He noted that cancer cells share one characteristic no matter what type of cancer: they have lost their pH control mechanism.
Brewer’s summary conclusion regarding cancer was that by changing the pH of cancer cells to alkaline (above 7.5), they will cease to function, as they need an acidic, anaerobic environment to thrive. In other words, he proposed that cancer cells will die if they can be pushed into an alkaline, oxygenated state.[ix]