Insulin Treatment for Cancer

Insulin is a vital and natural human hormone in our bodies that turns our food into energy. But those who are diabetic among us realize that human insulin production is not always adequate---or operating properly in the body---necessitating insulin injections to aid in a vital human process. In the cancer medical community, it is now believed that injecting insulin may also help cancer patients (by delivering small amounts of chemo immediately following the insulin injected). Proponents for this insulin type of treatment believe the combining of insulin with chemo substantially reduces the amount of chemo actually needed to treat the cancer.

History of Insulin Potentiation Therapy (IPT)

• Dr. Donato Perez Garcia, Sr. developed Insulin Potentiation Therapy (IPT) in Mexico City in 1932 and used it in cancer treatment for decades thereafter. Dr. Garcia's son and grandson, both M.D.s as well, continued the elder Garcia's work and participated in studies and research with Dr. Steven G. Ayre of Burr Ridge, Illinois. Their collaborative efforts eventually resulted in a September 2000 presentation by Dr. Ayre (and others) to the Cancer Advisory Panel of the National Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine located in Bethesda, Maryland, at the National Institute for Health.

IPT defined

• IPT, basically intravenously-injected insulin, is an alternative treatment for cancer that has not been fully embraced in the traditional medical community yet. Although the precept behind IPT is logically based (that cancer cells are known to be drawn to insulin in the blood stream; thus, insulin administration of chemo might reduce percentage of chemo needed (and its side effects) as well as the unnecessary destruction of healthy cells, this just hasn't been proven clinically yet, limiting support from the medical community until those precepts can be proven.

Controversy About Insulin and Cancer

• Although the prospect of eradicating cancer without the negative side effects of chemotherapy (nausea, vomiting, hair loss, fever and chills) is welcomed by all, at present there actually exists some controversy regarding the use of insulin in the treatment of cancer, as not everyone is embracing this alternative medical approach and some, such as Dr. Baratz (President of the National Council Against Health Fraud), are adamantly opposed to it (see References).

Insulin and cancerous cells

• Since cancer cells have almost 16 times more insulin receptors than normal healthy cells (20 times more, according to Dr. Baratz), these cancerous cells are able to reach out and retrieve all the vital nutrients (including insulin) that flow past them in our blood stream before our healthy cells can, enabling cancer cells to outgrow healthy ones. Since cancer cells are highly attracted to insulin and willingly draw it into the cell (and they attempt to fight chemo drug entrance into their cells), it makes sense to use insulin as the method of delivery for chemotherapy drugs, tricking the cancer cells into accepting it---and accepting it quickly.

Chemotherapy vs. Insulin therapy

• Traditional chemotherapy treatments for cancer require the use of large amounts of chemo, which generally result in healthy cells being targeted as much as the cancerous cells. This is due to the chemo not being able to penetrate the cancerous cells easily and the need to bombard the body with enough chemo to kill the cancerous cells in spite of the cells resistance to the treatment. Unfortunately, in the attempt to get enough chemo in the body to kill cancer cells, healthy cells suffer, too.

Considerations

• While anyone suffering from cancer would welcome the possible elimination or reduction of chemotherapy side effects, it is prudent to thoroughly investigate all options (conferring with others who have had success with chemotherapy or insulin therapy...or failure) before making such an important medical decision.