The Cancer Code: A Revolutionary New Understanding of a Medical Mystery

by Dr. Jason Fung

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Can intermittent fasting offer a strategy to prevent cancer from attacking the body? Dr. Jason Fung, a proponent of fasting, offers solutions that are paradigm-shifting in keeping cancer at bay. He views diet and insulin resistance as keys to understanding how and why the body attacks itself. A provocative look at cancer as we strive towards a cure.

Author of the international bestsellers The Diabetes Code and The Obesity Code Dr. Jason Fung returns with an eye-opening biography of cancer in which he offers a radical new paradigm for understanding cancer—and issues a call to action for reducing risk moving forward.

Our understanding of cancer is slowly undergoing a revolution, allowing for the development of more effective treatments. For the first time ever, the death rate from cancer is showing a steady decline . . . but the “War on Cancer” has hardly been won.

In The Cancer Code, Dr. Jason Fung offers a revolutionary new understanding of this invasive, often fatal disease—what it is, how it manifests, and why it is so challenging to treat. In this rousing narrative, Dr. Fung identifies the medical community’s many missteps in cancer research—in particular, its focus on genetics, or what he terms the “seed” of cancer, at the expense of examining the “soil,” or the conditions under which cancer flourishes. Dr. Fung—whose groundbreaking work in the treatment of obesity and diabetes has won him international acclaim—suggests that the primary disease pathway of cancer is caused by the dysregulation of insulin. In fact, obesity and type 2 diabetes significantly increase an individual’s risk of cancer.

In this accessible read, Dr. Fung provides a new paradigm for dealing with cancer, with recommendations for what we can do to create a hostile soil for this dangerous seed. One such strategy is intermittent fasting, which reduces blood glucose, lowering insulin levels. Another, eliminating intake of insulin-stimulating foods, such as sugar and refined carbohydrates.

For hundreds of years, cancer has been portrayed as a foreign invader we’ve been powerless to stop. By reshaping our view of cancer as an internal uprising of our own healthy cells, we can begin to take back control. The seed of cancer may exist in all of us, but the power to change the soil is in our hands. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062894021
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/10/2020
Series:	The Wellness Code , #3
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	163,774
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Dr. Jason Fung is a physician, author, and researcher. His groundbreaking science-based books, The Diabetes Code, The Obesity Code, and The Complete Guide to Fasting have sold over one million copies and challenged the conventional wisdom about type 2 diabetes, weight loss, and fasting. Dr. Fung is also the co-founder of The Fasting Method (www.TheFastingMethod.com), a program to help people lose weight and reverse Type 2 Diabetes naturally with fasting. His work on fasting has been cited by CNN, The New York Times, Time, The Atlantic, Forbes, The Toronto Star, and many other media outlets. 

Table of Contents

Part I Cancer as Excessive Growth (Cancer Paradigm 1.0)

Chapter 1 Trench Warfare 3

Chapter 2 The History of Cancer 15

Chapter 3 What Is Cancer? 27

Chapter 4 Carcinogens 41

Chapter 5 Cancer Goes Viral 53

Part II Cancer as a Genetic Disease (Cancer Paradigm 2.0)

Chapter 6 The Somatic Mutation Theory 69

Chapter 7 Cancer's Procrustean Bed 83

Chapter 8 The Denominator Problem 99

Chapter 9 A False Dawn 109

Part III Transformation (Cancer Paradigm 3.0)

Chapter 10 The Seed and the Soil 121

Chapter 11 The Origins of Life and the Origins of Cancer 133

Chapter 12 Tumoral Evolution 151

Chapter 13 Cancerous Transformation 169

Part IV Progression (Cancer Paradigm 3.0)

Chapter 14 Nutrition and Cancer 185

Chapter 15 Hyperinsulinemia 203

Chapter 16 Growth Factors 209

Chapter 17 Nutrient Sensors 217

Part V Metastasis (Cancer Paradigm 3.0)

Chapter 18 The Warburg Revival 229

Chapter 19 Invasion and Metastasis 239

Chapter 20 The Strange Story of Cancer 251

Part VI Treatment Implications

Chapter 21 Cancer Prevention and Screening 263

Chapter 22 Dietary Determinants of Cancer 285

Chapter 23 Immunotherapy 293

Epilogue 311

Notes 313

Index 343

Editorial Reviews

09/14/2020

Nephrologist Fung (The Diabetes Code) takes a sweeping look at theories of and treatments for cancer, concentrating on three historical paradigms for explaining the disease’s cause. The first paradigm was “unregulated growth of cells,” which, in Fung’s view, didn’t help explain how growth starts, and necessitated physically traumatic methods like chemo or surgery to treat already cancerous patients. The second, more recent paradigm, somatic mutation theory, holds “accumulated genetic mutations” responsible. As Fung explains, this led to the discovery of a “disorienting number of genetic mutations” associated with each type of cancer, and not to meaningful treatments. He holds out more hope for the third, newly developed paradigm: that under conditions of stress, genes that “enhance competition and survival” are activated within individual cells and thus trigger cancer, reflecting the evolutionary origins of all life as unicellular organisms. One day he believes that immunotherapy might be used to track down circulating cancer cells, but in the meantime, he recommends methods to manage risk that include changes to diet, intermittent fasting, and tightly regulating insulin production. While Fung certainly hasn’t closed the book on cancer’s causes or treatment, his explanations are accessible and his work as a whole is intriguingly provocative. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

09/01/2020

In this latest work, physician Fung leads readers on an enticing path through the history of cancer research and explains the biological processes of the cancer cell's backward evolution to ensure its survival. With the patience and methodology of a well-versed professor, Fung intertwines medical terminology with everyday examples, widening his audience scope and educating all interested parties. His desire to inform and answer complex questions in an accessible manner comes through in his method and prose. Through descriptive examples of seeds in soil (genetics and environment), Fung developmentally explores the three phases of cancer: transformation, progression, and mutation. He also answers questions as to the root causes of cancer; why the approach to treatment is so complex; and, more important, why after billions has been invested in cancer research, it is still a fatal disease. True to his specialty in dietary management, Fung also addresses the nutritional aspects related to cancer prevention and treatment. Illustrations and charts throughout help explain medical terms in accessible language. VERDICT As Fung's previous books, The Obesity Code and The Diabetes Code, have been popular with a variety of patrons, this recent exploration of an important subject has the same potential.—Laura Lipke, Towson Univ., MD

Library Journal