Stage IV cancer survivor & bestselling author Jane McLelland ( How to Starve Cancer ) sat down with IMA Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Paul Marik
Cancer isn’t just “bad genes.” In this IMA Weekly Show, Dr. Paul Marik sits down with Jane McLelland—stage IV cancer survivor, patient-researcher, and author of How to Starve Cancer—to unpack a metabolic framework many patients find empowering: identify how a cancer is fueling itself, then strategically block those pathways.
Jane’s central argument is that cancers don’t stay still. They adapt, reroute, and compensate, which is one reason patients can hit resistance with chemo, radiation, immunotherapy, or targeted drugs.
Her model is meant to help patients and clinicians think in terms of metabolic routing—what’s dominant now, what gets upregulated when you block a pathway, and what a layered strategy should target next.
The most common questions I get from pts center around diets.
Keto?
Carnivore?
GL or GI (glucose index or glucose load) ratings?
A secondary set of questions: dealing with cancer pts with various comorbidities: liver disfunction, kidney, diabetes… these three bring up lots of complications.. Any thoughts around these issues would be helpful.
also: is there any experience/efficacy with poorly differentiated chordoma, with the ReDO - based protocols?
Just watched the livestream and found it very fascinating. Is there a way for you to have her back on again and lead people through a tutorial of a few different types of cancer to use the AI tools available. Like, pick perplexity, and go through the steps of how to ask it questions about your particular cancer as a practical visual exercise for the viewers to see for themselves??? I cannot make heads or tails of any scientific journal and would never know what acronym is related to which pathway.
An alternate idea is to have her use her AI tools to compile an AI-created Reference Book that can summarize all the obscure words and concepts.
Jane’s map is really powerful, and I’ve got a followup question on it. I might’ve missed this somewhere…
She mentions MBZ for downregulation of the Glutamine/Glucose legs of the triangle. She also mentioned briefly MBZ and FBZ together (in modulating proteasome, but better in adjunct with bortezomib), but I might’ve missed additional mention of FBZ.
The question: is FBZ similarly effective as MBZ at the various downregulation/inhibition mechanisms?
Are there readily available data supporting either (FBZ vs MBZ) in these (OXPHOS, Glycolysis, GLUT1, Glutaminolysis)?
Many pts are sourcing FBZ for various reasons, but I’m curious if there is evidence of higher efficacy either way, on those specific pathway mechanisms.
I have heard that taking Fenben and Meben at the same time can lead to some toxicity at some unknown dosage and timeframe. This needs to be quantified and published.
As far as pathways, I cannot understand much of the science but Jane’s map is a good start to specify which type of cancer uses which type of pathways in order to target treatment exactly. I wish a multi-multi-millionaire would create an AI-driven portal where anyone on planet earth can submit genome biopsy results, pay a small fee, and get a 2 page description of the cancer and an exact protocol for their cancer, including traditional drugs, repurposed drugs, super-nutrients, and diet (OK, maybe it has to be 3 or 4 pages long). Then bring it to a doc who can prescribe the needed prescriptions and some coaching how to afford the nutrients (MANY 3rd-party nutrients are of low quality!!!).
The biggest issue here is quality and safety of these drugs people are getting. I would recommend only getting them with an associated prescription rather than ordering it from an unverified source. Cost will be higher, however, you will be safer in the long run.
The side effects and toxicities are not well known to the community due to variations in how people are obtaining the medication. Impurities can add to potential side effects and potentially make them worse. Biggest issue with fenben would be pancytopenia and with mebenazole would be liver failure.
In terms of studies, these are old medications and big pharma does not want to put the money into researching them. If they ever do, expect the cost of the medication to skyrocket with the new indication.
Another very exciting cancer conversation:
An X spreader? Wonderful.
