Helen Tee
Scientific Officer
Public Health Institute
Kuala Lumpur
Dear Helen,
Alkali Kills Cancer Cells?
A Scientific Analysis
by
Lim Ju Boo
BSc, Postgrad Dip Nutr, MSc (Food Safety)
MD, PhD (Med), FRSM, FRSPH
Thank you for your letter requiring my comments about an article by Dr Lu.
First of all, there are too many things being said and claimed there by the writer of ‘cancer cure’ and it is
not possible for me to answer and comment on every one of them as this will take pages, after pages, after
pages over several months.
But since the main theme of that article is about whether or not it is true that taking alkaline foods can kill
cancer cells and cure cancer. I think that what’s what you want to know.
Let me tell you this straight away. This thing is not new to me. This piece of information we already knew
even during our student days at London and Cambridge Universities in the mid-1960’s which is already half
a century old for me during our postgraduate training. It is ironical that it is only now in the 21 st Centaury of
Internet Information after half a century, that I get this piece of information bounced back to me.
But wait. I have not mentioned yet that alkaline foods can cure cancer. In my student’s days we were
taught by our Professors in Nutrition and Medicine that in all disease conditions presumably includes
cancer as well, the blood pH is below its alkaline range. Loosely, lay people call this ‘in acidic state ’,
medically or physiologically called ‘acidosis (only in severe medical conditions). In healthy state the blood
and biological fluids are always found to be mildly alkaline, but cannot be said to be biochemical or
clinically in a state of alkalosis.
Szent-Gyorgyi-Krebs Cycle:
All properly qualified biochemists, nutritionists and medical doctors, must study clinical biochemistry, and
in biochemistry all these professionals must study a very, very important biochemical pathway called Krebs
Cycle, sometimes called Citric Acid Cycle or Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle (TCA cycle). It was named after a
German-British physician and biochemist at the University of Oxford who discovered this metabolic cycle
that won him the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology in 1953.
The Krebs cycle is the most important metabolic pathway in the body because it is the generator and
powerhouse for all metabolic activities in the body. In this cycle, very briefly and in a very simplified way, a
lot of acids – citric, succinic, fumaric, malic, etc are produced and destroyed by the help of various B groups
of vitamins, and enzymes such as nicotinic acid and nicotinamide, riboflavin (vitamin B2), adenine
dinucleotide (NAD+), etc. The energy is derived via oxidative phosphorylation to drive ATP synthesis
involving flaying adenine dinucleotide (FAD) whereby FAD is reduced by a redox cofactor into FADH 2 which
is an energy-carrying molecule. Later this is synthesized back to FAD. But all these biochemical reactions
can only be derived from all the food you eat – whether from sugars, fats or proteins. All must enter this
important Krebs cycle for ultimate destruction with the help of the B group of vitamins to give energy to
the body.
All Health Professionals MUST know unless they are…?
This is a very, very important metabolic cycle, and all qualified nutritionists, biochemists, and medical
doctors specializing in clinical nutrition and metabolic disease MUST know, and must be able to recite this
pathways backwards at the speed of lightning if his qualifications and profession is worth its salt.
Unfortunately, I seriously doubt if doctors or nutritionists trained in our local universities can explain Krebs
cycle when most of them cannot even speak a simple sentence in English, let alone express themselves in
technical scientific language or explain this simple but the most important metabolic pathway during their
undergraduate training.
You ask all these local science and medical graduates a simple question in simple English, but they can only
reply to you in Bahasa Melayu. This is the standard of doctors and scientists churned out through mass
scholarships from our local universities which are all placed in the 500 -600 places in the world university
standards.
Bogus Nutritionists to add to the Insult:
To add insult to accredited and properly qualified nutritionists who spent another 3-4 years after STPM or
GEC O levels to be trained in a properly accredited university to earn a properly recognized university
degree in medicine or nutrition, there are also a lot of LCE school leavers and school drop outs out there
who received 1-2 days training on ‘nutrition’ in a hotel or in someone house somewhere in town, to be
trained by equally blind MEC ‘nutrition trainers’ to graduate as ‘nutritionists’ and ‘health specialists’
After ‘graduation’ they start to print calling cards to call themselves ‘nutritionists’ representing a health
company. They work in a fast food restaurant but have never heard of Krebs cycle before in their ‘nutrition
and health training’, let along know what it is and its importance in the practice of applied nutrition and
clinical medicine.
It annoys me to know a lot of complaints from the public coming to me about these ‘expert nutritionists’
working around this country. I hear a lot of complaints from the public about them, and I have met some of
these very young female ‘nutritionists’ and ‘health experts’ at social gatherings and garden parties where
they gave me their calling cards where they describe their ‘profession’ there.
Easily Metabolized Body Acids:
But what I want to draw your attention right now is that you will note that in this Kreb Cycle a lot of various
types of acids are produced, and they all will ultimately be destroyed in this continuous metabolic cycle.
Just keep this Kreb Cycle in mind. We will come back to this as we go along to answer your question
whether or not eating acid-tasting foods can cause ‘acidosis’ and disease state, and foods that leaves
alkaline-base can induce ‘alkalosis’, and hence is good for health. We get back to this question later.
Respiratory Alkalemia:
Meantime, please do not confuse ‘nutritional alkalosis’ (‘nutritional alkalemia’) with another physiological
condition called respiratory alkalosis which is the result from increased alveolar respiration
(hyperventilation) leading to a decreased plasma carbon dioxide.
Actually the term ‘alkalosis’ is used only to describe a large increase in the pH (>7.45) of the blood, but
should not be used when the blood pH is only slightly elevated up to 7.45. The pH of blood in health is
tightly regulated between 7.35 and 7.45. Bear this in mind. That is why, I have put these term under
inverted comma. In fact there is no such condition called ‘nutritional alkalosis’ or ‘nutritional acidosis’
caused by eating any food – whether fruits or plant based foods, or animal proteins or meat. I have used
them just to cut-short to simplify a physiological description.
Similarly, the term ‘acidosis’ leading to a clinical condition called ‘acidemia’ is used only when the blood pH
is less than 7.35 due to increased production of H+ by the body or the inability of the body to form
bicarbonate (HCO3-) in the kidney.
Metabolic alkalosis - chloride-responsive and chloride-resistant alkalosis which is a medical disorder
requires another 10 pages to explain, and we shall not want to deal with this here as it has little or no
relation to mild alkalinity of blood in health. Metabolic alkalosis is a huge chapter in biochemical
respiratory physiology. A short note on their causes below will do.
Causes of Metabolic Alkalosis:
The causes of the alveolar hyperventilation and respiratory alkalosis are entirely different, and they
include:
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•
•
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anxiety, hysteria and stress
moving into high altitude areas, when the low atmospheric pressure of oxygen stimulates increased
ventilation
pyrexia in fever, which stimulates the respiratory centre in the brainstem
drugs, including doxapram and large doses of aspirin, which also stimulate the respiratory centre
CNS causes, including stroke, subarachnoid haemorrhage, meningitis
pregnancy
a hypoxic drive in lung disease, such as pneumonia
caffeine overdose and coffee abuse
sexual activity due to excitation
None of these types of respiratory alkalemia are good for health due to disease, drugs, and adverse
physiological changes. I am taking about mild alkalemia (alkaline blood and biological fluids) brought about
by consumption of alkaline-base fruits and vegetables
To make nutrition biochemistry short and simple, fruits and vegetables if consumed regularly do cause the
blood, biological fluids and tissues and cells to be slightly alkaline.
Again, please do not confuse this for metabolic alkalosis - chloride-responsive and chloride-resistant
alkalosis which is a medical disorder as this requires yet another 10 pages to explain. We shall not want
that.
For the sake of simplicity, we may use the term ‘alkalosis’ and ‘acidosis’ very loosely to describe a very
mild increase or decrease in the blood pH respectively above or lower their normal range (pH 7.35 –
7.45). The blood is normally alkaline in nature even in disease
Bear this in mind, albeit not clinically correct, we shall use these terms anyway only very loosely.
The Huge Buffer Capacity of the Body:
Unfortunately, a lot of people out there do not know that the body has a very huge capacity to buffer any
changes in the alkalinity or acidity. In short, this means it is not easy to change the pH (measure of
alkalinity and acidity) by simply adding alkali and acids into the body.
This can be illustrated by considering an old but famous experiment called the Swan & Pitt Experiment
where dilute hydrochloric acid was infused into a dog.
The Swan & Pitts Experiment:
In this experiment, dogs received an infusion of 14 mmols H+ per litre of body water. This caused a drop in
pH from 7.44 ([H+] = 36 nmoles / l) to a pH of 7.14 ([H+] = 72 nmoles/l) That is, a rise in [H+] of only 36
nmoles/l.
So, if you just looked at the change in [H +] then you would only notice an increase of 36 nmoles / litre and
you would have to wonder what had happened to the other 13,999,964 nmoles per litre that were
infused?
Where did the missing H+ go?
They were hidden on buffers and so these hydrogen ions were hidden from view. Let me explain a tiny
bit of biochemistry below:
An Analogy:
Before we proceed, let’s just make sure we appreciate what this experiment reveals The dogs were
infused with 14,000,000 nmoles / l of H+ but the plasma [H+] only changed by a bit over 0.002%. By any
analysis, this is a system which powerfully resists change in [H+]. An analogy on appreciating the
magnitude of this is to use the analogy of depositing Ringgit 14,000,000 in the bank, but then finding that
after 'bank charges' the account only went up by just RM 36.
Make no mistake: the body has:
•
•
A HUGE buffering capacity, and
This system is essentially IMMEDIATE in effect
For these 2 reasons, physicochemical buffering provides a powerful first defense against acid-base
perturbations.
Buffering hides from view the real change in H+ that occurs:
However, this huge buffer capacity has another not immediately obvious implication for how we think
about the severity of an acid-base disorder or the implication if eating alkaline or acidic foods has any
impact on health in general, let alone on cancer. You would think that the magnitude of an acid-base
disturbance could be quantified merely by looking at the change in [H+]. This is not so.
Because of the large buffering capacity, the actual change in [H +] is so small it can be ignored in any
quantitative assessment, and instead, the magnitude of a disorder has to be estimated indirectly from
the decrease in the total concentration of the anions involved in the buffering. The buffer anions,
represented as A-, decrease because they combine stoichiometrically with H+ to produce HA.
A decrease in A- by 1 mmol / litre represents a 1,000,000 nano-mol / litre amount of H+ that is hidden
from view and this is several orders of magnitude higher than the visible few nanomoles / l change in [H +]
that is visible.).
Hence in the Swan & Pitts experiment, 13,999,994 out of 14,000,000 nano-moles / litre of H + were hidden
on buffers and just to count the 36 that were on view would give a false impression of the magnitude of
the disorder.
Now back to the Krebs Cycle:
Despite little change in the body’s pH noticed in the Swan & Pitts experiment in the regulation of AcidBase Equilibrium, the Krebs Cycle do produce a lot of organic acids, are these harmful to health? Not at all
as the Swan & Pitts experiment showed. Only just that, the acid used in the Swan & Pitts experiment was
a very powerful and a very corrosive mineral acid called hydrochloric acid, whereas all the types of acids
produced in the Krebs Cycle were actually salts of very weak natural organic acids such as citrate from
acetic acid, fruit acid like malic (malate), succinic acid (succinate), fumaric acid (fumarate), etc which are
almost no acid at all to the body because, first of all, they are all produced by the body through its natural
Krebs Cycle for the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats and proteins, and secondly they are so weak
organic acids against the body’s powerful buffering acid-base balance.
These acids are easily handled and metabolized by the body, and they leave almost no acidic residue at all
to cause disease, unless we overeat to produce a huge quantity of these metabolic acids which the body’s
buffering mechanisms just cannot cope especially in vitamin B deficiencies, remember I said about the
role of the B group of vitamins in the previous paragraph in ensuring the TCA (Krebs) Cycles does go on
smoothly.
Education for the Half-Cooked ‘Nutritionists’ Out There:
Hence I like to drive home to all those half baked, half-cooked 1-2 days hotel-trained ‘nutritionists’ out
there, that eating fruits, no matter how acidic or sour they taste, or even drinking vinegar (acetic acid) do
not leave any acidic residue. They do not make the blood more acid. The consumption of fruits always
leaves an alkaline base no matter how sour or acidic the fruit may taste originally. Once the fruit acids
(citric, malic, oxalic, etc) are metabolized in the Krebs Cycle, they always leave behind the indestructible
alkaline base (potassium) behind for excretion through the kidneys.
They do NOT cause ‘acidosis’; in fact it is the opposite – causing the blood to be slightly more alkaline
than usual (not amounting to alkalosis). If only these half-past-six ‘nutritionists’, health freaks, health
faddists and health extremists only go for a properly recognized course in metabolic nutrition or food
science in a properly accredited and recognized university for 3-4 years training, and not for 1-2 days in a
hotel, or in some one’s house lodged somewhere, will realize that eating ‘acidic foods’ like ‘sour’ grapes,
sour oranges, sour lime, and lemons, unripe sour fruits with plenty of weak organic acids inside (once
again as a reminder), do NOT make the blood or body more acid, cause acidosis or are they bad for
health. I hope these ‘hotel-trained nutritionists’ can learn something from me here today.
By leaving a lot of indestructible alkaline-base elemental potassium, sodium, and calcium as metabolic
ashes in the body they promote normal physiological biochemistry in the body. However, if fruits and
vegetables are consumed regularly, they do make a difference in the regulation of the acid-base balance
by making the blood slightly more alkaline than usual. These elements, especially potassium which is very
rich in fruits and vegetables, unlike organic and even mineral acids, cannot be destroyed by ordinary
chemistry till kingdoms come.
Elements are Indestructible:
Elements are indestructible by ordinary chemical reactions found on Earth, and metabolic chemical
actions in the body. Elements like potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, iron which are all elements in
inorganic salts and electrolytes involve in chemical reactions and regulate heart rate, cardiac rhythm,
nervous electrical transmissions, muscular contraction, etc are all non-destructible elements in the body.
They are unlike carbon compounds and organic salts (esters) and metabolites and hundreds of other
organic compounds like lactic, citric, carbonic pyruvic acids, urea, uric acids, creatinine, and intermediary
alkaline ammonia of protein metabolism, etc, etc are all metabolic waste, and easily exerted from the
body. Organic compounds include drugs and food additives human consume.
But all elements cannot be destroyed by the liver or by metabolisms. Elements like potassium, sodium,
calcium or iron can only be retained or excreted out of the body through the kidneys, while heavy metals
like mercury and lead cannot even be excreted. They just accumulate in the body.
Only in Nuclear Reactions:
Only nuclear reactions as in the Sun and stars, or in a nuclear reactor where the temperature are to the
tune of a searing hundreds of million of degrees can elements be transmuted into another elements, but
cannot be changed by ordinary chemical reactions. It is for this reason that elements like potassium found
richly in fruits and vegetables if consumed regularly leave alkaline base. They leave the body in a healthy
state, mildly more alkaline than usual, but not amounting to ‘alkalosis.
Health Protective Fruits & Vegetables:
That is one of the reasons why dietary fruits and vegetables are very protective and superb for good
health. The fact that fruits and vegetable leave an alkaline base in the body is just one of the reasons why
‘a fruit a day keeps the doctor away’
The other reasons are, their abundance in thousands of phytochemicals and antioxidants of a huge
spectrum of molecular weights, most of them cannot be absorbed and utilized by the human body (not
bio-available) except the very low molecular weight compounds such as vitamin C, E, folic acid, carotenes,
etc. Those phytochemicals and antioxidants where the molecular weights are above 30,000 are only
available to the plants to protect them from free radicals produced by day-long exposure to light and
ultraviolet rays of the Sun for photosynthesis.
Endo & Exogenous Antioxidants:
They are not bio-available (cannot be absorbed through the intestines) to humans, unless they are they
are low molecular weights between 200 – 400 such as vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamins E, B2, carotene,
catechins, polyphenols, flavonoids. Anything where the molecular weights are higher than 400, cannot be
transported across the intestinal membrane even by active transport. They are only bio-available to the
plants themselves that manufacture them in their system just like endogenous (origin inside the body)
antioxidants like superoxide dismutase (SOD) catalase, and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) where the
molecular weights are extremely high (> 30,000) and can only be manufactured inside the human body,
and retained there for a few hours (retention time), but they cannot be taken orally.
Alkaline Metabolic Residues:
These elements found richly in fruits and vegetables all leave an alkaline base, and as I explained, do
cause the body to be in a state of very mild ‘alkalosis’ (loosely used). But that does not mean we must
now start drinking alkaline water and solutions like ammonia solution which is highly toxic to the body, or
drink a solution of the most alkaline substance known – the highly corrosive caustic soda (potassium
hydroxide), or eat or drink the next most powerful alkali - washing soda (sodium hydroxide), or consume
slate lime (calcium hydroxide). Any health freak or health extremists who do this ‘to cure cancer’ will die
on agonizing pain and suffer serve caustic chemical burns to the entire gastrointestinal tract within hours
of consumption of such alkali. This includes drinking ammonia solution. Don’t ever try that.
Mild Alkalinity of Blood:
What is important to know is that even in optimal health the blood is only very slightly alkaline, between
7.35 and 7.45 only (pH 7 is neutral, below 7 is acidic, and above pH 7 is acidic). There are a series of
buffers which help the plasma resist any change in pH. Some of them include: the hemoglobin in the red
blood cells, other plasma proteins, the bicarbonate buffer and the phosphate buffer. Because it is so
mildly alkaline in health it cannot be considered as ‘alkalosis.
Once again as a reminder, strictly speaking, the term ‘alkalosis’ actually refers to a condition where the
hydrogen ion concentration of arterial blood plasma greatly reduced to give rise to a clinical condition
known as alkalemia. Generally alkalosis is said to occur when pH of the blood exceeds 7.45. The opposite
condition is acidosis.
The pH of the blood (or any solution is: pH = -log (H+) a measure of how acidic or basic the blood is. Many
physiological processes influence the pH, but one of the largest contributors is the CO2 content of the
blood. CO2 + H2O = HCO3 (-1) + H (+1).
Strictly Incorrect:
But just for the sake of simplicity I have loosely used the term ‘alkalosis’ and ‘acidosis’ here in this article
to mean mild alkalinity and mild acidity of the blood in health and disease, but this is actually not strictly
correct if we were to be too technical about this. Just bear this in mind.
Nutritional Deficiencies and Accumulation of Acids:
On the other hand, nutritionists know that a deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B1) can cause the
accumulation of lactic acid and pyruvic acids to accumulate in the blood, brain stem and cerebrospinal
fluid. This compromises the heart function and the heart becomes enlarged (wet beriberi) due to the
accumulation of pyruvic acid. It also affects the brain particularly the gray matter of the cerebrum around
the third ventricle. The nerves are also affected and become irritable with weakness, anaemia, and the
loss of appetite.
There is atony (loss of muscle tone and strength) of the gastrointestinal tract, hypochlorhydria
((insufficient stomach acid). All these signs and symptoms are due to incomplete combustion of the
carbohydrate due to lack of vitamin B 1 needed for the working of the Krebs cycle. Here you can see the
relationship between a nutritional deficiency disease and the accumulation of acids in the blood and
other part of the body.
Pathological Accumulation of Ammonia:
Ammonia is highly alkaline in chemistry. It is also highly toxic to the body. The presence of ammonia in
the body does NOT mean the body is in good health. It is present in very small amounts. The normal
range is 15 - 45 micrograms per deciliter (mcg / dl). Ammonia (NH4 +) is produced by cells throughout the
body, especially the intestines, liver, and kidneys. Most of the ammonia produced in the body is used by
the liver in the production of urea. Urea is also a waste product but is much less toxic than ammonia.
Ammonia is especially toxic to the brain and can cause confusion, lethargy, and sometimes coma.
The presence of ammonia in the body is commonly tested to diagnose and monitor hepatic
encephalopathy, a severe liver disease.
Conditions that can increase ammonia levels include:
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Liver failure
Severe congestive heart failure
Erythroblastosis fetalis
Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding - usually in the upper GI tract
Genetic diseases of the urea cycle
Leukemia
Pericarditis
Reye syndrome
Certain drugs
None of the above disease conditions where ammonia, a very strong alkali, is present in the blood and
body means that the body is in good health, or that it can kill cancer cells in the body. In fact the presence
of alkali ammonia indicates the body is a very serious health condition.
Capitalization by Commercial People:
Having said all that, we may face the problem with all those unqualified half-cooked food and health
faddists, food extremists who call themselves ‘nutritionists’ and ‘health experts’ who begin to capitalize
on just the alkali side of the story to come out with a product.
They will quote that nutritionists, scientists and health experts tell us that alkaline-based foods like fruits
and vegetables leave alkaline base (ash) like potassium when metabolized, and are good for health, and
‘can kill cancer’ They will then start claiming that their ‘health products’ can do that, and are even better
than natural fruits and vegetables.
‘Alkaline Health Foods and Alkaline Water’:
So these health freaks will capitalize on this to make money from the ignorant lay public by producing all
sorts of ‘alkaline foods’, ‘alkaline water’ and ‘alkaline food supplements’ and all those rubbish stuffs,
maybe by adding soda into it. Then they will claim their products can make the blood more alkaline and
induce alkalosis. They will then claim their products are good for health. The blood is always alkaline
anyway, with or without eating any fruits. The buffering system in the body ensure that it always stay
slightly alkaline, except at what range of alkalinity. Consumption of fruits shifts the pH of the blood only a
bit higher towards the alkaline scale.
They don’t get qualified nutrition and health experts for professional opinion This is exactly what is
happening when we have these ‘commercial experts’ roaming around to promote their ‘alkaline
products’. That’s why I have to make this very strong comment and sarcastic remarks to get the right
educational message across.
Proper Scientific Evidence-Based Study Needed:
Let me put this further. I have already said that in all disease state, NOT just cancer alone, the blood is
slightly ‘acidic’, and in health state, the blood chemistry showed slight alkalinity. This is true for ALL
physiological and biochemical situations in health and disease. I repeat, it is not just in cancer cases that
the blood is acidic as claimed by Dr Lu in his report. Who is this chap in the first place?
I do not even have his research paper and the journal where he published his claims. We do not even know
who he is, his academic and professional credentials, and how he designed, carried out the study, and the
statistical treatment and analysis of his clinical data. Medical research is not as easy as that, especially in
clinical trials where tens of thousands of human subjects need to be involved in a cross-sectional or
longitudinal cohort study monitored over generations after generations. Such a study is not only technically
extremely difficult, but would involve dozens of researchers, and costing billions of US dollars like in the
famous Framingham Heart Study in the United States which started since 1948.
Unscientific:
Claims by any professor, nutritionist or medical doctor (these professionals make no difference to me),
whose claim involved just a few patients that eating alkaline foods can kill cancer cells or cure cancer is
completely NOT acceptable scientifically.
If only all these professional people understand how complex the pathogenesis of cancer is, involving an
understanding on the dynamics of molecular biology, DNA transcription and translation, cell signaling,
apoptosis, chains of highly complex phosphorylation, the molecular chemistry of angiogenesis, DNA
damage and repair, they will stop making a fool of themselves and a laughing stock of themselves like Dr
Lu to the scientific community.
Notwithstanding what I have just said, there maybe a glimmer of scientific truth if what was initially
observed even in just a few patients is extrapolated into large studies involving huge population of
several hundred patients with a control group running parallel where all factors are standardized, namely
sex, age, body weight, ethic group, occupation, health and nutrition status, lifestyles, etc, etc except the
factor under investigations. The data collected will be subject to a statistical meta-analysis, and the
results compared, and cautiously interpreted.
By this I mean, the initial observation, in this case as an example, to find out if an alkaline medium kills
cancer cells, serves only as a pilot initial observation to lead on to a much more massive study.
Sometimes the initial observation – in this case cancer patients were observed to have acidic blood,
compared to healthy patients showing alkalinity, maybe used as a test bed or a platform for further
investigation based on an initial suspicion. That way it is okay, but cannot be taken as some kind of
scientific truth or scientific law. It is just a hypothesis, and nothing more.
Scientific Truth vs. Traditional Truth
(Experimental Evidences vs. Empirical Evidences):
Additionally, there are certain traditional practices which always work with or without any need for
further scientific investigations. Many traditional practices in medicine, health and nutrition have been
shown to work always by all cultures and in every person for tens of thousands of years no matter where
they are. For instance, all scientists no matter how stringent their minds have to accept that drinking
water and eating rice (or any food) sustain life without which all living things must die.
This observation is absolutely valid and completely true to the last iota every since life was implanted on
this planet some 5 billion years ago. We don’t require any scientist to conduct any experiment or trial to
prove this – that food and water is absolutely essential for life. This is based entirely on traditional belief
backed up by tens of thousands of years of empirical evidence, and there is just no need for any scientific
evidence through unnecessary experimentation.
But not if someone like Dr Lu suddenly claimed that cancer cells cannot survive in an alkaline medium in
both vitro and vivo. He needs to show this to the scientific community through proper experimental
protocols and procedures. We as medical scientists will accept it if this can be demonstrated several times
in all models numerous times under very stringent scientific protocols.
Specificity in Disease Aetiology:
As I said earlier, and I am repeating it here, that in all disease conditions, including cancer, it was found
that the blood is only slightly acidic (NOT amounting to clinical acidosis). But that does not mean that the
acidic condition causes the disease.
Malaria for instance is caused by the bite of a female anopheline mosquito what injects a parasite of the
Plasmodium family into the body, and that tuberculosis is caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium
tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis, or diabetes mellitus is caused by either reduced insulin
production or poor insulin metabolism, depending on subtype.
They are neither caused by alkalinity or acidity in the body. At best we can observe is that when we get
these diseases, or any diseases, including cancer for that matter a mild ‘acidosis’ (mild increase The blood
is normally alkaline in nature even in disease The blood is normally alkaline in nature even in disease (pH
< 7.35). In short, acidosis is the outcome of a disease condition, but the reverse is not true.
Not Easy to Cure Cancer:
It is not as easy as that. First of all, we do not even know if the acid condition triggers off cancer, or was it
the other way round – the cancer causes the blood to become acid?
Even to the best of my trained knowledge in molecular medicine, I cannot think of any situation or
mechanism whereby acidity is the cause of cancer, and that the reverse alkalinity kills off cancer cells – at
least not to the best of my knowledge in chemistry, biology, physiology, medicine, biochemistry,
pharmacology, cellular dynamics, molecular medicine, and in areas I am trained, well-versed in, and
familiar with.
Current Cancer Therapies:
Currently cancer is treated by three major modalities: surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. None of
the three methods have been successful. Most of the cancer patients even with all the three methods of
therapy succumbed to the disease within weeks, months, and within a year after diagnosis. The five year
survival time used by oncologists to determine if the cancer is ‘cured’ after treatment is just a consolation
joke for the patient and theoretical dream for the doctor. It is a false hope given to almost all cancer
patients who underwent conventional therapy.
Current cytotoxic drugs include several generations of anti-neoplastic agents are (very briefly):
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Alkylating agents
Anti-metabolites
Plant alkaloids and terpenoids
Vinca alkaloids
Podophyllotoxin
Taxanes
Topoisomerase inhibitors
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Antitumour antibiotics
Monoclonal antibodies
Hormonal therapy
Without going into the details on the pharmaco-dynamics of all the above generations and classes of
anticancer agents, none of them are effective in the long run. The cancer cells DNA repair themselves,
and become even more aggressive after they suffer DNA damage or mitosis inhibition after become
exposed to these cytotoxic drugs, while all the DNA of all the normal cells in the rest of the body are also
all damaged, and unable to self repair. They will all turn cancerous after been unable to repair their DNA.
This is the reality with all these drugs. So it is not the case of metastasis of cancer cells from the primary
site to other parts of the body, but it is what once used to be normal cells in other parts of the body
becoming damaged (DNA damage) by all these anti-cancer drugs.
Radiotherapy is also the same. The radiation damages all the surrounding healthy cells and causes them
to become cancerous later. Surgery helps to spread the diseased cells into the blood stream by breaking
up the protective blood vessels through bleeding. It is like attempting to cut a membrane-protected fish
roe in a bowl of water (similar to blood and biological fluid in the body), and expecting not a single fish
egg (cancer cell) not to leach out into the bowl of water (dispersed and spread into the blood and travel
elsewhere through the blood stream). We are asking for the impossible.
None of these has anything to do with the acidity or alkalinity of the blood. The cells, damaged or healthy
ones will still spread to other parts of the body through the blood stream.
Only Health Freaks Do This:
Unfortunately, only health freaks and health extremists capitalize on the ignorant public. I am sorry and
very angry to mention this. If the cure for cancer is so simple as that, all that is needed is for cancer
patients to drink ammonia solution, or cut short their cancer death (commit suicide) by drinking caustic
soda to ‘kill off the cancer cells’ Sorry to be so sarcastic about all these people who circulate all these
unproven claims in the Internet until it came to me for comments.
Still…
Notwithstanding what I have critically and sarcastically commented, it is still very true that a daily diet
rich in fresh fruits is not only very cancer-protective, but cardio-protective at the same time. There are
tens of hundreds of various types of fruits and vegetables that contain tens of thousands phytochemicals
in them each working in various modes of actions and dynamics to protect us from cancer of various
types. Even curry leaves and curry powder mixtures that contain extremely high contents of salicylates
(aspirin) are highly cardio-protective and highly protective against colorectal cancer.
Acidic, yet…
Please note that salicylic acid from which salicylates is a derivative is acidic, and not alkaline, and yet it
protects us from heart and certain cancers. This may only seem contradictory from what I have explained
so far.
But back to what I said, all organic acids like salicylic acids are easily metabolized, and leave absolutely NO
acidic residue.
I only hope that Dr Lu will explain at length to his Internet visitors (like I do here) as to why he said that
alkaline foods or alkaline biological fluid can kill cancer cells? He did not even say even a simple sentence
in English (maybe he claimed it in Japanese to others who cannot understand Japanese like our local
universities science and medical graduates here do in Bahasa Melayu) to explain why he thinks alkali kills
cancer cells? Why not acids when the blood is normally alkaline in nature even in disease.
This is no different from when you ask a medical, nutrition or dietetics graduate from a local university a
question on a medical problem they will just smile shyly, give you a blank stare or stare into the ceiling up
there. They cannot explain anything at all. Either that, or they will just hesitantly answer you in just 1-2
sentences of absolute rubbish. I really pity those patients who go to consult them.
This Dr Lu also claims without quoting his published paper or a single reference of similar findings by
other researchers. This is typical of Internet stuff. Please tell him to suck ducks eggs.
Sorry for being so sarcastic about that article and claim by that unknown Japanese doctor. He might also
be selling ‘organic foods’ to claim all kinds of things I would not be surprised.
Lim Ju Boo
BSc, Postgrad Dip Nutr, MSc (Food Safety)
MD, PhD (Med), FRSM, FRSPH
Formerly,
British Academic and Scholastics Postgraduate Awards
Nuffield Fellow
Dept. of Expt. Medicine
University of Cambridge
England
Freedom from Hunger Campaign Scholar
University of Reading
England
Pre-Retirement Appointments

Research Medical / Nutrition Toxicologist
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
United States of America

Senior Research Officer & Researcher
(Divisions of Human Nutrition, Rural Health, Community Medicine,
Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Clinical Research, Behavioral Sciences
Institute for Medical Research
Kuala Lumpur
(Government Service: 1968-1994)
Post-Retirement Appointments

Vice-President for Planning (Health Resorts)
The Legend International SPA (Sdn Bhd)
(14th June 1998)

Chief Technical Adviser & Principal Medical Consultant
MegaSuccess Networking (M) Sdn Bhd
(15th September, 1999)

Head of Section and Chief Adviser & Shareholder
• Medical Specialists Panel (Malaysia)
• Chinese Physicians Group Practice (China):
Beijing University of Chinese Medicine
Niwatime Health Management & Marketing
Malaysia

Member of Panel of Experts
Member of Post-doctoral Technical Supervisory Committee
Guthrie Post-doctoral Scholar’s Foundation
Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd Kuala Lumpur

Currently,
Dr JB Lim is a Special Medical, Nutrition & Science Consultant & Head of the Technical Advisory
Board
Dynapharm Drug, Nutritionals, Nutraceutical, Cosmetic, and Fertilizers International Manufacturing
& Diamond Interest Group