I have to say that I have no direct experience with this doctor, so I can not vouch for him personally.  That said, I have no reason to doubt him either. 

Dr Sass has provided me with a couple of articles which he agreed to let me reproduce on my blog.  I therefore would like to thank Dr Sass for sharing this information with me and my readers.  One article is from the British Journal of Cancer and the other one is in German.  Although I can’t read (or speak) German, I have included it anyway, in case any of my readers can.

Dr Sass has given me permission to print his contact details which are:
          By phone (Germany) 1 646 696 8449
          By email: somina-usa@hotmail.de

To read the articles, follow the links below:
              british-journal-of-cancer-article
             beispiele-article-in-german

Rather than me reproducing a large amount of data, I have uploaded these English brochures to my blog and you will find links to these brochures below. 

Anybody who has studied alternative therapies approach to cancer may be surprised by some aspects of Dr Coy’s diet.  For example, it includes dairy and meat but very little fruit.  If I can give an analogy here; you can kill the human body by different mechanisms.  You can starve or suffocate and the person will end up just as dead.  So it is with cancer cells.  The Coy diet attacks the cancer cells using a different mechanism to other diets.  Basically it starves them of all their food (glucose) and dissipates the lactic acid that the cancer cells produce. 

The Gerson diet on the other hand (as I understand it), uses a lot fruit (especially in juices) which provides the body with a lot of enzymes that attack the cancer cells.  So although Gerson and Coy have completely different dietary rules, they are using a different attack mechanism.  Any patient should use one or the other, but they cannot be mixed together.

I sincerely hope that the information included in these brochures will be useful to anybody suffering this nasty and frightening disease. 

As mentioned in my earlier posting, the Coy Diet is very new and is not well known in the English speaking world yet.  Tavarlin primarily trade in the Germany, but do have some English speaking staff.  Please follow the links below for further infomation.

 coy-diet-principle :  This gives a brief outline of the basic principle that the Coy Diet is based on.

coy-diet-patient-brochure :  This is a more detailed brochure listing approved foods, occasional foods and food to be avoided altogether.

coy-diet-product :  This lists the products that are available from Tavarlin to support the Coy Diet.

Breakthrough German research headed by Dr Johannes Coy has isolated the mechanism by which some cancer cells develop this resistance.  This means that not only can the mechanism of resistance be understood, but weaknesses of these cells can also be identified.

Sadly, an internet search for Dr Coy will reveal that his research is not well known in the English speaking world.  I believe that it is necessary to rectify this.

Cancer cells (like normal cells), require energy.  Normal cells and some cancer cells “burn” glucose (a simple form of sugar) in a part of the cell called the mitochondria (the cells power plant).  Back in 1924, another German scientist, Nobel Prize winner Prof. Dr. Otto Warburg discovered that some cancer cells adapt and deactivate the mitochondria.  These adapted cancer cells “ferment” rather than “burn” glucose.  Fermentation of glucose gives the cancer cells the following advantages over cancer cells that burn glucose:

·         The fermentation of glucose produces lactic acid (known as lactate), which destroys the surrounding tissue.  This allows the cancerous tumour to easily grow (metastasise) into the surrounding area. 
Note: The lactic acid also causes pain.

·         Deactivating the mitochondria causes these cancer cells to become resistant to a large range of chemotherapies.

·         Without “burning” the glucose, much less oxygen is required; therefore these cells can survive in areas of inadequate oxygen supply (hypoxia).

·         In areas of low oxygen (hypoxic region) these cells become more resistant to radiation.

·         Lactic acid also forms a coating around the cancer cell which protects it from the bodies defence cells.

Cancer cell absorbs blood sugar

Cancer cell produces lactic acid

Lactic acid protects cancer cells

Defence cells cannot attack

Cancer cells multiply without resistance

As chemotherapy and radiation therapy proceed, the glucose burning cancer cells are killed off comparatively easily, giving a relatively good early result.  However, the more resistant glucose fermenting cells are left behind which is why it is believed that these therapies may become less effective over time.

Although Warburg discovered this glucose fermenting process many years ago, he could not explain why it happened.  Dr Coy’s research however has identified a specific enzyme which is responsible for allowing this fermentation process to occur.  This is the TKTL1 (transketolase-like 1) enzyme.  It is the TKTL1 enzyme which allows the fermentation of glucose without the use of the mitochondria, when there is insufficient oxygen for the usual burning process.

However, having discovered this process, Dr Coy was also able to identify the weakness of these super resistant TKTL1 positive cancer cells:

• These cells are dependant on glucose for their energy.  Other sugars such as fructose cannot be used directly for producing energy.
• Fat burning is also interrupted in these cells, therefore oils and fats cannot be used for producing energy either.
• The fermentation process with the TKTL1 enzyme requires about 20 to 30 times as much glucose as do glucose burning cells.

To sum up, these super resistant cancer cells are entirely dependant on glucose and need a lot of it.  That is their absolute weakness which is exploited by Dr Coy’s TKTL1 diet.  The diet provides the body’s healthy cells with energy whilst starving the TKTL1 positive cancer cells of glucose.

Firstly, practically all sugars and carbohydrates must be removed from the diet (a portion of carbohydrate turns to sugar after consumption).  It is however quite difficult to eat without any carbohydrates.  Imagine no rice, pasta, bread or potatoes.  In addition, the restriction on glucose means hardly any fruit can be consumed and even ordinary milk is banned (due to lactose: milk sugar).

Dr Coy has therefore developed a range of special products to help overcome this problem and keep the diet a little bit more normal.  This includes special bread, pasta and a lactose drink, all of which contain almost no carbohydrate or glucose.

The Coy diet products are basically in 3 categories:

1.                   Special oils which inhibit the TKTL1 positive cancer cells ability to produce lactic acid.

2.                   Lactate drink which removes the lactic acid from around the cancer cells.

3.                   Special proteins which work synergistically with the low carbohydrate products and oils to feed the healthy cells within the body.

Coy nutrients arrive at cancer cells

Coy oils block TKTL1 enzyme (no more fermentation)

Coy lactate drink breaks down lactic acid

The body’s defence cells can attack again

Multiplication of cancer cells can be inhibited

German cuisine does not normally cause much excitement, but for those in the know this German diet is certainly causing some.  For those of you who are educated in dietary requirements, there may be some concern at the idea of drastically cutting carbohydrates and glucose.  I therefore feel that a bit further explanation is required.

The blood sugar level is maintained within safe limits by the body.  When the blood sugar level is too high, the hormone insulin is released by the pancreas, which puts the excess glucose into storage within the cells.  When blood sugar level is low, the hormone glucagone releases the glucose from this storage.  However, even when all the glucose has been released from all the cells (which will happen with the Coy diet), the body is able to make glucose from amino acids, which are a components of protein (you will note that protein is an important constituent of the Coy Diet). 

This means that if you consume enough protein, you can go without any glucose or carbohydrate and your blood sugar level will remain within safe limits.  The human body is well adapted to this.  Today, most of us in the developed countries are used to a vast variety of available foods from which to meet our needs.  This is however, a fairly recent achievement in the history of mankind.  Furthermore, many people today in the poorer countries do not have the full range of foods that we in the developed countries take for granted, but they still live on.  This is because our bodies are designed to adapt to many situations including shortages and starvation, so the principles of this diet are quite safe.

When the amount of glucose and glucose releasing carbohydrates consumed falls below a certain level, most cells will naturally change over to another source of energy.  The body’s fat reserves are rich in energy and start to decompose in the absence of glucose.  The decomposition products from the fat, namely ketone bodies, will then become the main source of energy for other healthy cells.  As the TKTL1 positive cancer cells are only able to use glucose for energy and not ketone bodies, they effectively starve.  Incidentally, the heart always uses ketone bodies rather than glucose for its energy, even when glucose is readily available.  That is why you hardly ever hear about cancer of the heart.

The Coy products are available from Tavarlin and they can be contacted at info@tavarlin.de.  Although this is a German company and their website is in German, they do have English speaking staff and English brochures.  Presently they only directly supply customers in Germany.  However, if the word is spread about this diet and demand throughout the world is sufficient, then maybe this can be changed for the good of us all.

See other cancer related posting