In 1931, Dr. Otto Warburg discovered the main property of cancer cells was low oxygen. His primary hypothesis was cancer is a mitochondrial dysfunction; and the consequence of replacement of respiration in normal cells, with fermentation of sugar. He believed cancer had one prime cause, replacement of oxygen in normal cells with fermentation and sugar.

We now know cancer cells consume and thrive on sugar, and abnormal sugar metabolism in the cells changes the micro-environment in the cell, and fosters the spread of the tumor. Dr. Warburg’s discoveries predicted intracellular bacteria that cause mitochondrial dysfunction, impair oxygen transport into the cell, consume ATP in the cell, and consume sugar to cause fermentation, are a cause of cancer.

See Mathupala S, et al. 2010. The Pivotal Roles of Mitochondria in Cancer: Warburg and Beyond and Encouraging Prospects for Effective therapies. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 1797. 2010. 1225-1230. Doi: 10.1016/j.bbabio.2010.03.025.