TURNING OFF CANCER 51went about our experimental studies meticulously and in depth in order
to obtain results that would withstand the harshest of scrutiny.PROTEIN AND INITIATION
How does protein intake affect cancer initiation? Our first test was to
see whether protein intake affected the enzyme principally responsible
for aflatoxin metabolism, the mixed function oxidase (MFa). This en-
zyme is very complex because it also metabolizes pharmaceuticals and
other chemicals, friend or foe to the body. Paradoxically, this enzyme
both detoxifies and activates aflatoxin. It is an extraordinary transfor-
mation substance.
THE ENZYME uFACTORY"(1) Aflatoxin (AF)
enters the cell.
(2) AF is metabolized
by an enzyme.In a simplistic way, the MFO enzyme system can be thought of as a factory
within the industrious workings of the cell. Various chemical "raw materi-
als" are fed into the factory, where all the complex reactions are performed.
The raw materials may be disassembled or assembled. After a transforming
process, the "raw material" chemicals are ready to be shipped out of the
factory as mostly normal, safe products. But there also may be byproducts
of these complex processes that are exceptionally dangerous. Think of the
smokestack at a real-life factory. If someone told you to stick your face down
a smokestack and breathe deeply for a couple hours, you'd refuse. Within
the cell, the dangerous byproducts, if not held in check, are the highly reac-
tive aflatoxin metabolites that go on to attack the cell's DNA and damage its
genetic blueprint.