If you or someone dear to you are interested in exploring a safe and effective alternative cancer treatment, insulin potentiation therapy (IPT) might be for you. So, what is IPT? In essence, the targeted therapy treatment makes it easier for certain chemotherapy drugs to target various types of cancer while minimizing some of standard chemotherapy’s most common side effects.

IPT cancer treatment has two main benefits for cancer patients. First, IPT reduces a person’s potential to experience long-lasting adverse chemotherapy side effects because it calls for lower doses of chemotherapy drugs. Second, IPT therapy naturally increases the effectiveness of conventional chemo. Ultimately, insulin potentiation therapy for cancer allows patients to retain all the benefits of standard cancer treatment while reducing the most uncomfortable effects.

Read on to learn how IPT works, who can benefit from it, what to expect, and what the current science tells us about its effectiveness.

How Does IPT for Cancer Work?

IPT uses insulin (a hormone produced naturally by the pancreas to regulate blood sugar) to improve the effectiveness of conventional therapy like chemo or radiation therapy. The treatment calls on the natural properties of insulin to help chemotherapy medicines enter cancer cells more efficiently.

Insulin potentiation therapy highlights cancer cells with insulin, which tricks them into accepting chemotherapy. This process creates a higher intracellular concentration of chemotherapy medicine, increasing drug effectiveness.

One of the major appeals of IPT is that it requires a much lower dose of chemotherapy drugs than standard cancer treatment plans. A typical course of treatment requires only up to 25% of the usual amount, and often even lower.

This results in fewer and less severe negative than conventional chemotherapy side effects. Ultimately, patients report more excellent quality of life with IPT cancer treatment than with standard chemotherapy treatments.

How Does Insulin Potentiation Therapy Kill Cancer Cells?

Insulin potentiation therapy works because cancerous cells use more blood glucose than healthy cells. For this reason, sugar-hungry cancer cells are much more receptive to insulin than normal cells, which allows doctors to target and kill them more effectively.

The insulin administered to the patient primes, pumps, and prepares cancer cells by making them more permeable for the upcoming dose of chemotherapy drugs. This increased permeability makes cancerous cells more likely to accept the chemotherapy drugs. The final piece of the puzzle is a dose of glucose, which the sugar-starved cancer cells readily consume, thereby giving the chemotherapy medicine a final push inside.

What to Expect from Insulin Potentiation Therapy

Insulin potentiation therapy begins with a consultation and medical evaluation to determine the dose of chemotherapy drugs and insulin that will work best for the patient. IPT is administered in a safe and controlled environment by experienced nurses and doctors.

Like the traditional chemotherapy treatment, IPT is administered through an IV while the patient relaxes in a comfortable setting. Patients are first administered a small insulin dose near their tumor sites, followed by low-dose chemotherapy medicine. Lastly, the patient is given a dose of glucose (sugar).

Once the insulin highlights the cancerous cells, the glucose helps push the chemotherapy drugs into the cells. After all three doses are administered, the treatment is complete for the day. Each treatment session is roughly one to two hours long. Patients can expect to feel nauseous for a few hours following treatment, but many experience few other side effects.

Remember that while IPT treatment uses a lower dose of chemotherapy drugs, it’s usually repeated more frequently than traditional chemotherapy. In the early stages of treatment, IPT might be administered as often as twice per week. However, schedules are determined at the patient’s initial evaluation and adjusted later on if needed.

Is IPT Effective for Treating Cancer?

Medical studies have shown IPT treatment to be effective in treating certain types of cancers, including colon, prostate, and breast cancer. In one promising case, a breast cancer patient’s tumor was no longer visible on a mammogram after 90 days of insulin potentiation therapy.

IPT is administered over several weeks and in multiple rounds. The treatment schedule, insulin dosages, and chemotherapy drugs will vary based on the patient’s unique health and wellness needs.

Who Can Benefit from Insulin Potentiation Therapy?

Every patient is unique, and no chronic illness is the same. Insulin potentiation therapy can be an excellent option in cases where effective traditional chemotherapy treatment options exist. However, certain cancers may only be reliably treated with conventional therapies.

Additionally, some patients with metastatic, colon, and prostate cancer choose insulin potentiation therapy when other treatments have proven ineffective. IPT can also be an effective option for end-stage cancer patients who wish to prolong their lives without experiencing the severe side effects of traditional chemo.

Why Choose Insulin Potentiation Therapy?

For many patients, the effects of chemotherapy can feel much worse than cancer symptoms. IPT treatment retains the benefits of chemotherapy while reducing the adverse side effects.

Chemotherapy is well-established to be effective at treating cancers of all types. And yet, adverse side effects can be widespread since the systemic treatment affects a patient’s entire body.

Some of the most common side effects of chemotherapy include (but aren’t limited to):

  • Hair loss
  • Fatigue
  • Frequent bruising and bleeding
  • Anemia
  • Infections
  • Vomiting and general nausea
  • Appetite and weight changes
  • Constipation and diarrhea
  • Mood changes

The otherwise healthy cells most likely to be damaged by chemotherapy include blood-forming cells in bone marrow and cells found in a person’s hair follicles, mouth, digestive tract, and reproductive system. Some chemotherapy medicines can also affect heart, kidney, bladder, lungs, and nervous system cells.

Drugs help protect your body’s normal cells, and many treatments are available to help relieve the side effects. That being said, the best way to minimize the adverse effects of chemotherapy is to reduce the amount administered to the patient.

Is IPT Treatment Safe?

IPT treatment is considered safe. At Immunity Therapy Center, cancer patients are in the hands of experienced and compassionate medical experts dedicated to their wellness and better treatment outcomes.

The most common side effect of insulin potentiation therapy is hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). This temporary condition can be relieved by closely monitoring a patient’s blood sugar levels and administering more glucose as needed.

IPT patients may still experience some adverse side effects of chemotherapeutic drugs. However, those who undergo insulin potentiation therapy report fewer symptoms than those who receive traditional chemo.

Cancer Types and Stages

Patients with metastatic breast cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer may find the most benefits in exploring insulin potentiation therapy. With that said, any cancer patient facing chemotherapy can benefit from the improved quality of life offered by IPT treatment.

Medical Studies on IPT Therapy

Insulin potentiation therapy is still early in medical discovery and exploration. Numerous small-scale studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of IPT for colon, prostate, and breast cancer. That said, large-scale trials have yet to be completed on the treatment.

Some traditional medical providers criticize insulin potentiation therapy for using low-dose chemotherapy medicine. These practitioners are concerned that a low-dose chemotreatment may not be as effective at killing cancerous cells as a standard chemotherapy dose.

But even though a single IPT session may only involve 10% of a typical chemo dose, the drugs are administered more frequently.

Additionally, critics of IPT don’t account for the increased effectiveness of chemotherapy when used in conjunction with insulin. The simple truth is that traditional cancer treatment is designed with overkill in mind, which means that damaging a patient’s body is a necessary price to pay. Medical practitioners who provide IPT know it’s possible to destroy serious cancers in a more targeted, accurate manner.

While large-scale medical studies of insulin potentiation therapy have yet to confirm its effectiveness, small-scale studies have shown promising results regarding both patient survival and quality of life.

Learn More About IPT Therapy for Cancer

Immunity Therapy Center aims to provide cancer patients with an alternative to traditional chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Our non-invasive therapies have given individuals suffering from even the most advanced stages of cancer hope in healing.

We’re here to help you or your loved one through this trying time. Chemotherapy treatments can be destructive and painful, but an alternative cancer treatment like IPT allows patients to retain the benefits without the side effects.

Contact Immunity Therapy Center to learn more about insulin potentiation therapy and other alternative cancer care treatments that may be right for you.

Sources:

https://www.healthline.com/health/type-2-diabetes/insulin

https://cam-cancer.org/en/insulin-potentiation-therapy

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22649741/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20148468/

https://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatments-and-side-effects/treatment-types/chemotherapy/chemotherapy-side-effects.html

https://www.healthline.com/health/type-2-diabetes/insulin

https://cam-cancer.org/en/insulin-potentiation-therapy

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22649741/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20148468/

https://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatments-and-side-effects/treatment-types/chemotherapy/chemotherapy-side-effects.html 

September 4, 2023

Dr. Carlos Bautista is a Board Certified Medical Doctor. He received his Medical Degree from Universidad Autónoma de Baja California and has more than 20 years of experience working with Alternative Medicine to treat cancer, autoimmune diseases, chronic degenerative diseases, and infectious diseases. He opened Immunity Therapy Center in 2007 with the goal of providing the highest quality medical care for more than 5,000 patients.

At Immunity Therapy Center, our goal is to provide objective, updated, and research-based information on all health-related topics. This article is based on scientific research and/or other scientific articles. All information has been fact-checked and reviewed by Dr. Carlos Bautista, a Board Certified Medical Doctor at Immunity Therapy Center. All information published on the site must undergo an extensive review process to ensure accuracy. This article contains trusted sources with all references hyperlinked for the reader's visibility.