Just Finished Reading The Cancer Code by Dr. Jason Fung

I recently discussed the book Life in the Fasting Lane, with Dr. Jason Fung, a nephrologist (kidney specialist), as a co-author.  I just finished reading another book, a 2020 solo work of his, titled The Cancer Code. It explains the dynamic processes involved in this devastating and complex disease as well as the history of how medical science and physicians have evolved its definition and treatment.  Dr. Fung elucidates three major stages of how cancer has been viewed: first, it was seen as an uncontrollable growth and reproduction of the body’s cells in a particular place.  Second, it was seen as mutations on the gene that made cells cancerous.  And now, the growing consensus is that, while the first two views are correct, they are relatively limited in usefulness, and that cancer is an atavism, that is, reversion to the cell’s more primitive unicellular organism form through a shedding of the genetic material within it that hitherto put it in cooperative relationships with other body cells, making it a competitor cell instead of a cooperative cell. One of the factors leading to this transformation is a chronic period of stress on the affected cell, not killing it but rather forcing it into fending for itself. Also, the author discusses different types of cancers and the process involved in metastasis, which is the spread of the cancer cells to other parts of the body. Fung stresses that cancerous cells mutate much more readily than normal cells, and that there is a strong statistical correlation between diabetes, obesity, and some cancers…the hormone insulin seems to be a strong contributing factor as the sugar it causes to be released in the body serves as fuel for the cancer cells and their reproduction.  I don’t want to make it sound as if Dr. Jason Fung is making simplistic points…he goes into a lot more detail about this scourge than I’ve been able to stumble through with this review.  I recommend this book…you’re bound to come out of it more enlightened about cancer, its nature, causes and possible ways to combat it…