Long ago and far away a man named Otto Warburg hypothesized that cancer was a metabolic disease. In his view it was a defect in mitochondrial respiration. The politics of the world and of science eventually led to Warburg’s theories taking a back seat and a new theory of cancer took hold. The strongest voice […]
A Metabolic Interlude – The thinking behind the Ketogenic Diet Read More »
Drum roll and trumpets please! A new cancer causing pathway has been found. It involves telomeres of course. I bring it to your attention though, not for what it has shown us, but for how it its marketed. You see even scientists know they stand a better chance of getting recognition if they blow the
New Cancer Pathway Involves Telomeres Read More »
I am not sure how many times I’ve said that longer telomeres protect against cancer. Probably almost as many times as I’ve had to refute someone saying “telomerase causes cancer therefore TA-65 might cause cancer.” Back in December 2010 JAMA a very drug centric Big Pharma supported journal published a study that associated short telomere
TA-65, Telomeres and Cancer, Yet Again Read More »
I can’t tell you how many times I heard this from cancer doctors (oncologists): “Don’t give my patients antioxidants; you’ll blunt the effect of the chemo and help the cancer!” I always found it ironic that, before the cancer occurred and after they had done whatever they did, which in many cases did not save
The cancer doctors were wrong about telomerase activators and antioxidants! Read More »
At the end of 2010, one of my least favorite journals, JAMA, published a very important and surprisingly forward-thinking (for them) article on telomere length and cancer. The study was a large Meta-analysis of telomere length and the likelihood of getting cancer. People were divided into “quartiles” according to telomere length. Basically, this means there
Short telomeres are associated with decreased cancer survival Read More »
Over the past couple of days, I have dug pretty deep into the metabolic associations between obesity, diabetes, and short telomeres. The end result is of course, accelerated aging. But, more and more I have to tell you, I think aging is the real cause, or at least a major contributing factor to many of
Aging fat as a cause for diabetes – the role of short telomeres Read More »
Arguments continue among the best and brightest scientists concerning the question: Is aging unstoppable. If you think about it, that question has already been answered in a functional way. There are several mammalian cell lines that have been made “immortal” simply by turning on telomerase and expressing it at a higher level than normal. Most
Is Aging Unstoppable – Baby steps come first! Read More »
Ever since the emergence of the so-called Type A personality some 50 years ago, scientists have struggled to understand the relationship between stress, disease, and aging. We all kinda knew there had to be a relationship, but the data did not always bear it out. All kinds of statistical machinations were needed to make things
Stress Kills Right? Read More »
In my most recent blog, The Monster is Not Born Immortal, I discussed in real time the results of Dr Maria Blasco’s most recent paper using both telomerase over expression and Calorie Restriction. As usual, I got a bevy of comments, many of which were nasty grams and did not get published for that reason,
Telomere maintenance – We who are about to die Salute You Read More »
A recent German study has found an association between familial and non familial malignant melanoma and the telomerase gene. I think we should talk about this because it shows where the seemingly unending association with telomerase and cancer came/comes from. First concept: Cancer cells are not normal. They are the result not only of loss
The monster is not born immortal: When telomerase drives cancer Read More »