Cancer as a metabolic disease

Summary

Seyfried and Shelton restate and develop the metabolic theory of cancer first proposed by Otto Warburg, arguing that the origin and progression of cancer is best understood as a mitochondrial-respiratory dysfunction that drives the cellular dependence on glycolysis — the Warburg effect — observed in the majority of tumors. The review compiles evidence from cancer cell biology, tumor metabolism, and animal models suggesting that interventions which restrict glucose availability (caloric restriction, ketogenic diets, multi-day fasting) or that pressure tumor cells through mitochondrial dysfunction may slow tumor growth or sensitize tumors to conventional therapy. The authors propose specific therapeutic implications and discuss the evidence base for ketogenic and caloric-restriction interventions as adjunctive cancer therapy. The review has been influential among researchers exploring metabolic approaches to cancer and is cited heavily in popular content connecting fasting and ketogenic eating to cancer outcomes — sometimes carefully, often less so.