"Divide and conquer" - does it work in cancer care

Fotogeniss -

Philip-ii-of-macedon

"Divide and conquer" may have worked for Philip II of Macedon; however, is it an effective strategy in understanding cancer development and providing cancer care?    

Have you seen the talk by Dr. Gary Fettke, "Nutrition and Cancer - Time to Rethink"? The talk leads to the conclusion that cancer is a disease of our metabolism. The chromosomal changes, including any gene mutations, seem to be bystanders in the unfolding madness of cancer development.

However, recent research indicates that all cancer cell changes (mutations and metabolic changes), the immediate environment of the cancer cells (influenced by external environmental and internal factors), and the metabolism at the organism level are interconnected, and contribute to the neoplastic growth.

It is not any single element, it is rather the congregation of factors that allows for the abnormality of cancer to emerge, persist, and eventually kill.

We should be mindful of the perils of reductionism in science and cancer prevention/treatment, and try to adopt a holistic view on cancer. Here are the precise definitions of the two approaches:

Reductionism,
the practice of analyzing and describing a complex phenomenon in terms of simpler, more fundamental phenomena...

versus...

Holism,
the theory that parts of a whole are in intimate interconnection, such that they cannot exist independently of the whole, or cannot be understood without reference to the whole...

For more examples on misleading reductionism see here.



ACTIONABLES:
Yes, we should be aware of not only what we eat but how we eat it.

Yes, we should stop drinking to death, and I am not even referring to drinking alcohol.

Yes, we should learn how to cook for ourselves, since the food industry is force-feeding us with loads of sugar.

Yes, you should educate yourself, and not rely on your doctors and mainstream media to do so.

Yes, all of us should be aware that it is easier to deal with a just-born, immature troublemaker than a fully established, mature enemy; in other words, cancer prevention is more effective than cancer treatment.

Yes, we should try to integrate mainstream and alternative approaches to cancer care.

And yes, for all of you cancer researchers and enthusiasts: analyzing a phenomenon by breaking it down to its elements/building blocks and addressing only a single element is not going to bring a success. Cancer prevention and treatment need to address all aspects of the cancer development.