Alternative Cancer Treatments—Part 8

This is the eighth in a series of articles on the Ty Bollinger book CANCER: Step Outside the Box. You can get caught up by reading Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7 before continuing.

The Budwig Diet

This diet was devised by, and named for, Dr. Johanna Budwig, a German biochemist, who was, among other things, a seven time Nobel nominee.

One big part of her cancer treatment is concerning the damage done by hydrogenated fats, like margarine, which, being rigid fats, stick to the cell membranes, causing these cell membranes to malfunction.

Dr. Budwig surmised that we become susceptible to chronic and terminal diseases because these hydrogenated and processed fats and oils interrupt the electrical field of the cells. And not only that, but since hydrogenated fats and oils are being used, the healthy and necessary fats are absent in our diets—the omega-3 and omega-6 fats. The absence of these good fats causes the production of oxidase, which induces cancer growth—as well as causing other chronic disorders.

She believed that instead of cancer causing too much cell growth, it actually caused defective cell growth, or division. And this points directly to the combination of too many bad fats and too little good ones.

Her research dealt with analyzing blood samples of thousands of seriously ill patients, compared with samples from healthy people. The seriously ill patients proved to be deficient in some essential ingredients, such as phosphatides and lipoproteins, where the healthy people had plenty of these ingredients in their systems.

And this convinced her that the lack of these ingredients cause the proliferation of cancer cells.  When the essential ingredients were introduced into the systems of cancer patients, their tumors began to shrink.

Dr. Budwig discovered that a combination of two foods replaced the lipoproteins and phosphatides in cancer patients. And these two foods or essential fatty acids (EFAs) are an omega-3 fatty acid known as alpha-linoleic acid (ALA), and an omega-6 fatty acid, linoleic acid (LA).

Our diets, if we want to remain healthy, need a good ratio of these fatty acids of 1:2. You can find omega-3s in ocean fish, like salmon and tuna. Another source of omega- 3 fatty acids is some nuts and seeds (walnuts, flaxseed and others). Peanuts, on the other hand, contain Omega -6 fatty acid.

Budwig believed the lack of EFAs results in chronic disease. EFAs have many electrons, which bind to oxygen and proteins. And consequently, as they are absorbed into the cells, they pull oxygen into the cell. And cancer hates oxygen! Also, when EFA’s are bound to sulfur-based proteins, they become water-soluble.

This in essence, is the main theory behind the Budwig diet: the oxygen in the body is stimulated by lipoproteins (sulfur-rich proteins and linoleic acid).

The combination of the EFAs and sulfur-rich proteins, like are found in cottage cheese and yogurt, increases oxygen in the cells of the body.

Please read the book if you’d like specific examples of food choices!

Naturally, Dr. Budwig was prevented from completing her research and publishing her findings. All the producers of bad fats and oils didn’t appreciate her take on hydrogenated fats causing cancer!

As stated by Dr. Dan C.Roehm, M.D. (oncologist and former cardiologist), “This diet is far and away the most successful anti-cancer diet in the world.” (Townsend Letter for Doctors, July 1990).