Over the past 30 years, cancer has been either the most or second most likely cause of death for Americans over the age of 51. Yet, cancer is much more common than it is lethal. The American Cancer Society has estimated that, this year, over 1.9 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer while over 600,000 will die from it2. This means that, as in past years, a population considerably larger than that of Phoenix, Arizona3 will find itself newly in need of costly, invasive, and often painful medical and surgical treatment, after which about a third of them will likely die from the disease.
Because the likelihood of having cancer increases with age, cancer only became prevalent in the United States during the 20th century, as the average American life expectancy at birth gradually doubled from 39 years in 1880 to 78 years in 20204. Cancer became especially widespread during the 20th century due to the rise of cigarette smoking. Whereas just 54 cigarettes were sold per year per American adult in 1900, that number rose to 4,171 in 1960 before declining by half to 2,076 in 2000 and half again by 20205. Unsurprisingly, the surge in smoking led to a surge in cancer death rates, which peaked around the year 1990 for men and the year 2000 for women due to the earlier and greater prevalence of smoking by men during the 20th century6.
Despite over a century of progress in the testing and treatment of cancer, resulting in over a decade of declining death rates8, it would seem that a cure for cancer is still beyond the horizon, no matter how greatly it may be needed here and now. But, what if things are not as they seem? What if there is an easier way to cure cancer than by continuing to do what we’ve been doing?
As a systemic wellness advisor, I am not an oncologist, epidemiologist, or other medical practitioner. Rather, my practice is to advise people and organizations on how to create wellness (an increased ability to function) systemically (in a way that relates to and affects the whole). As I see it, cancer is an illness (a decreased ability to function) whose remedy can only be made apparent when seen from a more useful perspective. The purpose of this article is to offer you such a perspective.
Cancer is often thought of as being “a group of diseases characterized by the uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells that can result in death if not treated”9. This perspective is equivalent to viewing water leaks in a building as “a group of problems characterized by uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal wetness that can result in structural collapse if not fixed”. From this perspective, cancer is categorized by the location of the primary tumor, such as lung cancer, brain cancer, or breast cancer. This is akin to categorizing water leaks in a building by the location of the main leak, such as a bathroom leak, roof leak, or window leak.
When having such a perspective, it is natural to focus on the various ways that leaks may be stopped, based on the specific qualities of a leak’s location. Accordingly, it makes sense that different categories of cancer are treated in different ways, based on the specific qualities of a tumor’s location. However, in order to cure cancer, it is essential to address what is causing the formation and spread of tumors, similar to how “curing” a building of water leaks requires addressing what is causing the formation and spread of leaks.
Similar to how preventing leaks in a building is understood to relate to the maintenance of exterior waterproofing, pipe fittings, and moderating water pressure, preventing cancer is understood to relate to maintaining a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and minimizing contact with carcinogens (substances known to increase the likelihood of cancer). While this perspective is certainly useful in reducing the odds of having cancer, it has also shown itself to be insufficient to cure cancer. Instead, a more accurate understanding is needed, because human beings are not like buildings; men are not manmade.
Rather than being fundamentally mechanical, human beings are fundamentally biological. We are living beings in the form of multicellular organisms, each adult composed on average of roughly 30 trillion cells and 37 trillion microbes10. In order for a human being to be well, these cells and microbes must cooperate with each other and with their environment to increase the ability of the entire organism to function as a whole. When they fail to do so, the organism experiences physical illness.
Utilizing this understanding, curing cancer is a matter of both removing cells that are growing at the expense of the whole and preventing cells from growing at the expense of the whole. So, how might we do that?
All living beings function on the basis of dynamic equilibrium. This means that living beings function by maintaining a balance of opposing forces (equilibrium) that is continuously changing (dynamic). For example, you inhale and exhale, eat and excrete, drink and urinate, stay asleep and stay awake, ...in the same way that there is day and night, summer and winter, high tide and low tide, and so on. The only constant in life is change. Understanding this fact is essential to curing cancer because cancer is a consequence of a multicellular organism being out of balance due to the behavior of its own cells.
Traditionally, cancer has been thought to be a consequence of the accumulation of undesirable genetic mutations (changes to a person’s DNA) that occur due to chemical and/or radiological stressors. From this perspective, preventing cancer is seen as a type of gambling that is best played by decreasing one’s odds of being dealt a poor hand. Yet, it turns out that cancer is not truly a genetic disease but rather a metabolic disease that can be triggered and exacerbated by genetic mutations. This metabolic perspective of cancer was first explored in the 1920s by Otto Warburg11. His discovery that cancer cells exhibit an abnormal form of metabolism later became known as the Warburg effect12. Since then, cancer research has progressed with advances in the study of both genetics and metabolism. Yet, the differing perspectives of the disease have too often been treated as if they were in conflict with each other, rather than each perspective seen as contributing to a more complete understanding.
Because cancer is a consequence of metabolic imbalances that can be either initiated or exacerbated by genetic mutations, the easier way to cure cancer is not merely by improving your odds of not getting it or by improving upon the surgical and medical techniques used to eliminate it from your body but by also facilitating metabolic dynamic equilibrium. By helping your body regain and maintain its metabolic equilibrium, you help it to not only prevent cancer but also to recover from cancer and the damaging effects of cancer treatments.
Like all living beings, your body is replete with means for achieving and maintaining dynamic equilibrium at every functional level. Because of this, facilitating metabolic dynamic equilibrium may at first appear to be an overwhelming task. Yet, your body’s functionality does exhibit a degree of hierarchy. Commonly, the body is thought of as composed primarily of organs, that are composed primarily of tissues, that are composed primarily of cells, that are composed primarily of subcellular structures, that are composed of chemical compounds, that are composed of atoms. Of course, such a simplistic model does not address the numerous microbiomes (ecosystems of microbes) that are present on and in the body nor the complexity of the interactions of its component parts. But, since cancer relates to the behavior of human cells (which have human DNA) rather than microbes (which do not), the model is still useful for the purpose of this discussion.
By starting at the very foundation of the body’s functional hierarchy and working our way up, it is possible to facilitate metabolic dynamic equilibrium systematically, starting with atoms. At first it may seem surprising, or even far-fetched, to suggest that the human body has the means to achieve dynamic equilibrium at the level of atoms or that submolecular processes influence cancer. Yet, such is indeed the case.
On average, roughly 62% of the atoms in the human body are hydrogen atoms13. Since hydrogen is the lightest of all the elements, though, that number of atoms makes up only 10% of the body’s weight. The majority of the body’s weight is due to oxygen atoms, which are about 16 times heavier than hydrogen atoms. This is because between 45% and 75% of the mass of a human body consists of water14, whose chemical composition of H2O means that 1 molecule of water contains 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom. This is surprisingly important when it comes to curing cancer because atoms come in multiple forms, known as isotopes, which exhibit subtle differences in their biological effects.
Hydrogen has two stable isotopes, meaning forms that are long-lived and non radioactive. These isotopes are known as protium and deuterium. Whereas protium has one proton and no neutron, deuterium has both one proton and one neutron. Due to its simplicity, protium is by far the most common isotope of hydrogen. Yet, about 1 out of every 6,600 hydrogen atoms near the Earth’s surface is in the form of deuterium, which has twice the mass of protium. This doubling of mass results in deuterium having significantly stronger chemical bonds than protium. Deuterium’s relative rarity combined with its significantly stronger chemical bonds result in it having a wide variety of seemingly unusual biological effects, such as facilitating genetic mutations by warping the double helix of DNA as well as impairing the functioning of mitochondria, the primary regulators of cellular energy and metabolism.
Because the concentration of deuterium in the water we ingest has been fairly consistent at roughly 150 parts per million (ppm) throughout our evolution as multicellular organisms, individual cells and the body as a whole evolved means to, in some cases, reduce the concentration of deuterium and, in other cases, increase the concentration of deuterium, so as to help maintain the body’s dynamic equilibrium. In his book Deuterium Depletion : A New Way in Curing Cancer and Preserving Health, Gábor Somlyai refers to this as a Submolecular Regulatory System.
Over the past 30 years, Dr. Somlyai and others have been researching the effects of reducing the concentration of deuterium in the body, most especially its ability to help stop and reverse the growth of tumors. Essentially, the functioning of mitochondria decreases the concentration of deuterium in a cell while the functioning of sodium-proton exchangers (SPEs) on the surface of a cell increase the cell’s concentration of deuterium. Under normal conditions, this results in a dynamic equilibrium of intracellular deuterium concentrations due to metabolic activity.
Whenever the SPEs receive growth hormones (chemical signals from outside a cell that tell it to start growing into two cells and then divide) their activity increases, resulting in an increasing deuterium concentration. This increasing deuterium concentration is what then facilitates the start of cell division inside of the cell. As a result, unregulated cell divisions (cancer) can occur when, a) too many growth hormones are received, b) the SPEs are overly active, c) the mitochondria are impaired in their metabolic activity, or d) any combination thereof. Any combination thereof can occur due to genetic mutations, which are especially problematic due to how genetic errors persist through multiple generations of cell divisions and allow for the evolution of complex cancerous behaviors over a period of years. Yet, there are also other ways to impair SPEs and mitochondria, such as poor diet, lack of exercise, and contact with carcinogens, which can cause genetic mutations either directly or due to deuterium’s interference with the reading and writing of DNA.
Fortunately, the body’s means of facilitating dynamic equilibrium include ways to prevent and correct genetic errors, suppress the growth of tumors, and destroy cancerous cells. We simply need to help the body to do so if we are to cure cancer. In the case of bodies already having cancerous tumors, one way to do so is by reducing the concentration of deuterium in the body. This is done most easily by drinking deuterium-depleted water (DDW)15 as well as eating a diet based on plants and animal products with lower than average deuterium concentrations. Numerous studies have consistently shown that the ingestion of DDW improves outcomes for cancer patients16 — and the reason for this is that it facilitates the body’s dynamic equilibrium both at the submolecular level, by helping it to rebalance intracellular deuterium concentrations over time, and at the metabolic level, by reducing the biochemical burdens caused by deuterium’s stronger chemical bonds.
Of course, there are almost certainly other submolecular regulatory systems yet to be discovered. However, the pervasiveness of hydrogen in the body combined with the significant biochemical differences between protium and deuterium make it the easiest and most useful one to research. From the submolecular level, it is then possible to systematically work on facilitating metabolic dynamic equilibrium at every functional level of the body. Doing so then helps the body to prevent and correct genetic errors, suppress tumor growth, and destroy cancerous cells. Clearly one place to start is by ensuring a healthy balancing of growth hormones, the healthy functioning of SPEs, and the healthy functioning of mitochondria. Yet, there are plenty of other possible routes for scientific advances that also facilitate metabolic dynamic equilibrium (such as immunotherapy) to supplement the more toxic and invasive approaches currently used to destroy cancerous cells directly.
Given that preventing cancer is a natural consequence of facilitating metabolic dynamic equilibrium, there are plenty of options for doing so which require no additional scientific advances. To help you get started right away, some of the most well established means are described below. However, if you have been diagnosed with cancer, please consult first with your doctor to see how best to incorporate these and other approaches to facilitating healthy metabolism into your prescribed care regimen.
Because mitochondria use oxygen to process energy, aerobic exercises (such as walking, jogging, dancing, and swimming) facilitate their functioning. While muscle building exercises help with the proliferation of mitochondria in the specific muscles being built, the primary focus here is in extending your overall muscular endurance. Related to this, breathing slowly and deeply throughout the day, rather than breathing quickly and shallowly17, helps facilitate the functioning of mitochondria by making oxygen more readily available throughout your body. Breathing deeply and evenly is also known to help ease emotional stress18 which can lead to inflammation19.
Since inflammation impedes metabolic functioning20, facilitating healthy metabolism requires sleeping well21, which clears out inflammatory metabolic waste products from your nervous system22. It also includes avoiding sunburns, tobacco, alcohol, and other chemical stressors known to cause inflammation, a primary cause of the high cancer rates seen in Europe and countries with predominantly ethnic European populations23. Since obesity results in chronic inflammation24, it is best to avoid frequent overeating. In fact, because we human beings evolved as hunter-gatherers who alternated between experiencing times of feast and famine, facilitating metabolic dynamic equilibrium requires that you sometimes go hungry. The most beneficial ways to do so are either by occasional fasting (such as fasting for 24 hours once a week) or by intermittent fasting (ingesting nothing but water for at least 12 hours every day). The fact that followers of Islam engage in sunset to sunrise intermittent fasting for the month of Ramadan every year, combined with their avoiding alcohol, sufficiently explains the lower age-adjusted rates of cancer seen in predominantly Muslim countries when compared with predominantly Christian ones25.
Other dietary considerations for facilitating healthy metabolism include minimizing sugars, which are more easily utilized by cancerous cells (the Warburg effect), and instead eating non hydrogenated fats, which are utilized by mitochondria more easily than by cancerous cells. Also, do what you can to minimize ingesting or breathing in microplastics and nanoplastics, as they are known to damage mitochondria26. While ketogenic diets are known to increase metabolic functioning, it is important to ensure that your diet varies throughout the week and contains a wide variety of nutrients in order to facilitate your body’s dynamic equilibrium. Similarly, your body’s dynamic equilibrium and healthy metabolism are facilitated by varying your exposure to colder and warmer temperatures, rather than by staying in the comfort of climate-controlled environments. If you have cancer, however, it is best to avoid warm temperatures and instead stay cool, so as to encourage the functioning of your mitochondria to warm you up from the inside. Doing so helps to deplete the deuterium in your cells and makes it easier for your body to bring itself back into a healthy state of balance.
Given that the beneficial effects of deuterium depletion therapy for persons with cancer have been known for over 20 years now and that research into the metabolic aspects of cancer have been underway for the past century, a quick look at the state of cancer treatment in America raises some obvious questions, such as:
In the United States, the answer to these questions can be simply summarized as this, American culture. The rise of cancer in the 20th century coincided with an America at war, first in World War I and II, then the Cold War, inclusive of the Korean War and Vietnam War, before starting a War on Drugs in 1971 and liberating Kuwait in 1991. This trend to engage in hostility and violence continued with the War on Terror begun in 2001, inclusive of the subsequent invasions and military occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. In every case, the working cultural assumption has been that causing sufficient damage to an enemy yields desirable results. This cultural presumption is why efforts to cure cancer are still often referred to as the “War on Cancer”, ostensibly begun when President Nixon signed the National Cancer Act into law in 197127.
Yet in the same way that it is not possible to win a war on an idea, such as a “War on Drugs” or a “War on Terror”, it is also not possible to win a “War on Cancer”. In the same way that drug abuse and terrorism are indications of emotional, communal, and societal illnesses, cancer is an illness to be healed, not an enemy to be vanquished. America’s cultural predilection for hostility and violence, made evident by its widespread gun ownership and the glorification of weapons and violence in American entertainment, is a way of thinking that encourages hostile behaviors and allows healing to happen only after subsequent damage has been done, if at all. While such an approach is quite capable of harming tumors, it certainly cannot be successful in curing cancer, given that tumors can grow back.
Along with its hostility, American culture has also been one of excess. The assumption that more is better has led to such extreme levels of overconsumption that Americans have been experiencing epidemic levels of obesity, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, respiratory diseases, and (yes) cancer, along with severe ecological and climate destabilization as a consequence of the excessive consumption of natural resources. Because we human beings evolved as hunter-gatherers whose lives alternated between periods of feast and famine, excessive consumption literally makes us ill by destabilizing the metabolic dynamic equilibrium of both our bodies and our planet over time.
The reason we’ve been harming the body to treat cancer, rather than helping the body to heal its dynamic equilibrium, is that we have viewed cancer as an enemy to be vanquished, disregarding the fact that cancer arises from the behavior of our body — and our body is more our ally than our enemy. The reason we’ve treated cancer as an enemy, rather than as a dysfunctional behavior of the body, is that we are accustomed to engaging with hostility towards perceived threats rather than bearing responsibility for our excessive behaviors. The reason deuterium depletion therapy is almost unheard of rather than being a standard part of cancer treatment is that it hasn’t fit the narrative we’ve been telling ourselves and each other; it simply hasn’t been visible from the perspective of a culture of hostility and excess. Consequently, the United States has primarily opted to rely on costly, invasive, and painful medical and surgical treatments that fit its cultural narrative, rather than opting to utilize a well proven, effective, and relatively inexpensive supplemental cancer therapy which doesn’t sit well with its story.
For us as individuals to cure cancer the easier way, it is essential that we supplement toxic and invasive cancer treatments with robust efforts to facilitate our metabolic equilibrium. For America to cure cancer the easier way, it is essential that American culture changes from being one of hostility and excess to being one of cooperation and balance. Just as hostile and excessive cellular behaviors are evidence of cancerous cells, cooperative and balanced cellular behaviors are evidence of healthy cells. This is because cancerous behaviors facilitate cancer, just as healthy behaviors facilitate health, regardless of the functional level of the body or the functional level of society.
In the same way that it takes time and consistent, dedicated effort to cure cancer in a person, it takes time and consistent, dedicated effort to cure cancer in a culture or a society. Cultures grow, just as people grow. And, just like people, cultures grow well when they are cultivated well. When beliefs change, cultures change. So, to change your culture to be healthy rather than cancerous, simply change your beliefs and behaviors. To get started:
Indeed, there is an easier way to cure cancer — and together we can cure cancer in all of its forms.