By Abraham Safirstein
Lack of oxygen in the cells is called hypoxia.
One of the main laws in nature is the preservation of life. Every living organism has that basic instinct, including the individual cells within the organism. Cells are going to react and change in a self preservation mode if something makes them sense that they are in danger of death.
Dr. Otto Warburg received the Nobel Prize in medicine twice for his discovery of cellular respiration and the effect that chronic lack of oxygen may cause cancer. Cellular respiration is the creation of energy in a cell through oxidation (aerobic) or fermentation (anaerobic) of glucose.
Everybody knows what aerobic exercise means. Aerobic exercise is exerting yourself but not to the point where you run out of breath. When you start running you start using more oxygen, the faster you go the more oxygen you need; that creates an increased pumping of the heart to supply the increased demand. When you exert yourself beyond this point, your lungs cannot supply enough oxygen for the needs of the cells, so those cells that are lacking oxygen, in order to survive, start to create energy by fermenting glucose instead of oxidizing it. When this is temporary, the cells revert to aerobic respiration once the supply of oxygen resumes; however, when this becomes chronic, cells either die or become cancerous.
The main cause of cellular hypoxia, in particular when it causes cancer, is that the outer cellular membrane -which controls what comes in and out of the cell- does not have the proper fluidity because of a lack of omega 3 fatty acids. In order for the cell membrane to function efficiently, the ratio of essential fatty acids must be 50% omega 3 and 50% omega 6 and 9. Nowadays most people have a ratio of 5% omega 3 to 95% omega 6+9. One might say, so what? The problem is that omega 3 makes the membrane fluid; lack of omega 3 will block the passage of oxygen into the cell, causing hypoxia. When that happens the cell may change its respiration from aerobic to anaerobic and that is when it may degenerate into cancer. This is a very serious risk factor for cancer.
It is important to note that, contrary to all healthy cells and friendly bacteria, which are aerobic, cancer cells, viruses, fungi and infectious bacteria are mostly anaerobic.
As the cell becomes cancerous, it switches off the P53 gene, the tumor suppressing gene par excellence. This gene may be reactivated (switched on) with an adequate supply of vitamins D, C, and the mineral Selenium, among others. This is explained more in detail in the section of nutritional deficiencies.
