Fasting and Hyperinsulinemia

Reducing insulin is key to weight loss and metabolic health

There is a strong relationship between cancer and obesity as discussed in our last post. Since I’ve spent several years arguing why hyperinsulinemia is the root cause of obesity and type 2 diabetes, it would only make sense that perhaps i think it may play a role in cancer development, too.

This link has been known for quite some time, although it has been obscured in the hurry to proclaim cancer a genetic disease of accumulated mutations. Since obesity and hyperinsulinemia is clearly not mutagenic, this relationship is easily forgotten, but emerges once again as the paradigm of cancer as a metabolic disease begins to be considered seriously. For example, it is quite simple to grow breast cancer cells in a lab. The recipe has been used successfully for decades. Take breast cancer cells, add glucose, growth factor (EGF) and insulin. Lots and lots of insulin. The cells will grow like weeds after a spring shower.

But what happens when you try to ‘wean’ them off insulin? They drop off and die. Dr. Vuk Stambolic, a senior cancer researcher says it’s like “They’re addicted to (insulin)”.

But wait a second, here. Normal breast tissue is not particularly insulin dependent. You find insulin receptors most prominently in liver and…