William Li Deploys Anti-Angiogenic Foods to Starve Early-Stage Cancer

TED-Ed

Microscopic tumors remain harmless without dedicated blood vessels, enabling everyday anti-angiogenic foods to cut off vascular supplies and halt malignant growth before clinical detection.

AI-assisted summary of Can we eat to starve cancer? - William Li — original source. Check the original for full context.

Source published: 2014-04-08

Key ideas

Angiogenesis governs whether microscopic, harmless cell clusters turn into lethal, invasive tumors by providing them with dedicated blood vessel networks. (3:49)
Everyday foods like red grapes, strawberries, soybeans, garlic, and parsley show anti-angiogenic potency in laboratory assays that rivals or outperforms standard medications and cancer drugs. (13:06)
A 20-year prospective study of 79,000 men revealed that consuming cooked tomatoes 2–3 times weekly reduced prostate cancer risk by up to 50%, with biopsies verifying markedly reduced microvessel density inside tumor margins. (14:48)
Adipose tissue expansion requires new capillary sprouting; treating genetically obese mice with anti-angiogenic agents caused them to shed fat down to normal baseline weight without slipping below healthy parameters. (16:34)

Detailed notes

## Background This TED-Ed presentation features Dr. William Li and was published on the TED-Ed YouTube channel on April 8, 2014. The video explores the medical concept of anti-angiogenesis, focusing on how individuals can potentially starve cancer and manage health by incorporating specific cancer-fighting foods into their daily diet.

## TL;DR Dr. William Li introduces the concept of angiogenesis, the process by which the body grows blood vessels, and explains how tumors hijack this system to survive and spread. While standard medical treatments focus on killing cancer after it has already established a blood supply, Li argues for a preventative approach using dietary angiogenesis inhibitors. By identifying and consuming foods like grapes, strawberries, and cooked tomatoes, individuals may be able to cut off the nutrient supply lines to microscopic tumors before they ever become dangerous. This strategy, supported by observational studies and laboratory assays, suggests that daily food choices can function as a powerful, accessible form of preventive self-treatment.

## Atmosphere & style The presentation carries an optimistic, revolutionary tone, framing complex oncology and vascular biology as a solvable puzzle rather than an insurmountable tragedy. Dr. Li speaks with the calm, authoritative confidence of a pioneer, using vivid metaphors—such as the human body’s 60,000 miles of vessels—to bridge the gap between abstract science and human health. The atmosphere is intellectually empowering, shifting the viewer from a passive observer of disease to an active participant in their own well-being. It feels like a moment of discovery, where the mundane act of eating is suddenly imbued with life-saving significance.

## Bulletin - [03:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=229s) Angiogenesis governs whether microscopic, harmless cell clusters turn into lethal, invasive tumors by providing them with dedicated blood vessel networks. - [13:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=786s) Everyday foods like red grapes, strawberries, soybeans, garlic, and parsley show anti-angiogenic potency in laboratory assays that rivals or outperforms standard medications and cancer drugs. - [14:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=888s) A 20-year prospective study of 79,000 men revealed that consuming cooked tomatoes 2–3 times weekly reduced prostate cancer risk by up to 50%, with biopsies verifying markedly reduced microvessel density inside tumor margins. - [16:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=994s) Adipose tissue expansion requires new capillary sprouting; treating genetically obese mice with anti-angiogenic agents caused them to shed fat down to normal baseline weight without slipping below healthy parameters.

## Key takeaways - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=0s) The human body contains roughly 60,000 miles of blood vessels and maintains an intricate balance between angiogenic stimulators and inhibitors to prevent disease. - [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=0s) Abnormal angiogenesis is the common underlying denominator across more than 70 major clinical conditions affecting over one billion individuals globally. - [03:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=229s) Microscopic, dormant tumors are pervasive across asymptomatic populations, but without angiogenesis, they cannot grow beyond half a cubic millimeter. - [06:23](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=383s) Tumor blood vessels are structurally porous and defective, rendering them selectively vulnerable to targeted anti-angiogenic pharmacological and dietary interventions. - [06:23](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=383s) Veterinary clinical trials in dogs, dolphins, and horses demonstrate that anti-angiogenic cocktails can achieve high remission and survival rates across species. - [09:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=573s) Late-stage oncological intervention remains a primary bottleneck in human cancer therapy, underscoring the urgent imperative to prevent vascularization much earlier. - [10:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=648s) Diet accounts for an estimated 30% to 35% of all environmentally induced cancers, offering an opportunity to proactively add anti-angiogenic foods to daily meals. - [10:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=648s) Extracts from red grapes, strawberries, and soybeans effectively inhibit endothelial vessel sprouting in controlled laboratory ring assays. - [13:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=786s) Blending different teas, such as Chinese Jasmine and Sencha, produces synergistic anti-angiogenic effects greater than either tea variety brewed individually. - [14:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=888s) Epidemiological data demonstrates that bioavailable lycopene in cooked tomatoes physically restricts microvessel development in human prostate tumors. - [16:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=994s) Targeting blood vessel growth controls adiposity in obese animal models, cycling body weight predictably while respecting natural lean set points. - [18:19](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=1099s) Dietary choices act as an accessible, cost-effective form of preventive medicine that individuals can actively manage three times a day.

## Detailed walkthrough ### [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=0s) The Architecture of Angiogenesis and the Balance of Vessels

Dr. William Li introduces an emerging medical revolution centered on angiogenesis—the physiological process the human body uses to grow blood vessels. This biological mechanism holds the key to tackling some of society's most formidable conditions, notably cancer. The human vascular network is staggeringly vast: an average adult houses roughly 60,000 miles of blood vessels, enough to wrap around the Earth twice if laid end to end. Within this vast network reside approximately 19 billion capillaries, the smallest vessels in the body. While these capillaries serve as the indispensable conduits of life, delivering oxygen and vital nutrients, Dr. Li warns that under aberrant conditions, they can swiftly transform into the vessels of death.

```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: Angiogenic Balance and Disease States accDescr: A diagram illustrating how angiogenic balance maintains health while imbalance leads to disease.

subgraph Regulation["Vascular Regulation"] Stim["Angiogenic Stimulators (Growth Factors / Fertilizers)"] Inhib["Angiogenic Inhibitors (Natural Pruning Signals)"] Stim <-->|"Homeostatic Set Point"| Inhib end

subgraph States["Clinical Consequences"] Deficit["Insufficient Angiogenesis • Non-healing wounds • Heart attacks & stroke • Poor circulation & nerve damage"] Excess["Excessive Angiogenesis • Cancer growth & metastasis • Blindness & arthritis • Obesity & Alzheimer's"] end

Stim -.->|"Loss of Inhibitors / Excess Stimulators"| Excess Inhib -.->|"Failure to Sprout / Vessel Loss"| Deficit ```

Blood vessels exhibit an extraordinary capacity to morph and adapt to the specialized requirements of their resident tissue. In the liver, they construct permeable channels designed to detoxify circulating blood; in the lungs, they wrap tightly around air sacs for gas exchange; in skeletal muscle, they adopt a corkscrew architecture so that muscle contraction does not pinch off blood flow; and along nerves, they run parallel like protective power lines to maintain nerve viability. The overwhelming majority of these conduits form while a human is still in the womb. Consequently, healthy adult blood vessel growth occurs only under tightly constrained circumstances: in women, to rebuild the uterine lining each month; during pregnancy, to construct the placenta bridging mother and fetus; and following injury, where hundreds of newly sprouted vessels traverse under a scab toward the wound's center to facilitate repair.

To control this dynamic architecture, the body operates an elegant system of checks and balances using biochemical stimulators and inhibitors. When a transient burst of vessel formation is required, tissues release angiogenic factors—proteins that function like natural fertilizer—spurring endothelial cells to sprout. Once healing completes or the tissue need recedes, naturally occurring inhibitors prune back the excess vasculature to an exact baseline set point. However, when defects impair this equilibrium, catastrophic health outcomes follow: - **Insufficient angiogenesis** (failure to sprout or regenerate) underpins chronic non-healing wounds, peripheral artery disease, heart attacks, fatal strokes, and ischemic nerve damage. - **Excessive angiogenesis** (failure to prune or suppress unwanted vessels) drives cancer, inflammatory arthritis, blinding eye diseases, obesity, and Alzheimer’s disease. - Across the globe, more than 70 major diseases affecting over one billion individuals share abnormal angiogenesis as their common underlying denominator.

---

[03:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=229s) Cancer Without Disease and the Angiogenic Switch

Focusing on oncology, Dr. Li emphasizes that angiogenesis represents an absolute hallmark across every form of cancer. When inspecting a malignant brain tumor such as an ominous glioblastoma, histological examination reveals hundreds of brown-stained capillaries relentlessly feeding the tumor mass with oxygen and fuel. Yet cancers never originate in this hyper-vascular state. Instead, they begin as tiny, microscopic clusters of cells that are physically incapable of exceeding half a cubic millimeter in size—an expanse roughly equivalent to the tip of a ballpoint pen. Deprived of dedicated blood vessels, these microscopic lesions stall because simple diffusion fails to deliver adequate oxygen and metabolites.

Autopsy investigations performed on victims of fatal car accidents confirm that microscopic tumors are shockingly common, silently populating seemingly healthy bodies without causing clinical illness. Approximately 40 percent of women between 40 and 50 years old possess microscopic breast cancers; roughly 50 percent of men in their 50s and 60s harbor microscopic prostate cancers; and nearly 100 percent of adults reaching their 70s develop microscopic thyroid carcinomas. Despite their prevalence, these cellular clusters remain completely harmless so long as the body prevents them from acquiring an independent blood supply. As Dr. Li recalls, “Dr. Judah Folkman, who was my mentor and who is the pioneer of the angiogenesis field, once called this 'cancer without disease.'”

The body's physiological capacity to hold angiogenesis in check acts as one of our most decisive defense systems against lethal malignancy. A tumor turns deadly only when its malignant cells undergo genetic mutations that allow them to hijack the vascular machinery, secreting vast floods of angiogenic growth factors that overcome natural inhibitors. Once new blood vessels penetrate the tumor core, the cancer transitions from dormant to explosive, growing exponentially, infiltrating nearby organs, and using these newly minted vascular gateways to shed circulating metastases throughout the body. Regrettably, it is precisely at this advanced, vascularized stage—when angiogenesis is already running unchecked—that most cancers are first diagnosed.

---

[06:23](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=383s) Starving Tumors: Anti-Angiogenic Therapy Across Species

Because angiogenesis serves as the critical tipping point dividing a harmless cellular cluster from an invasive killer, targeting this mechanism provides a novel paradigm: anti-angiogenic therapy. Unlike traditional chemotherapy, which indiscriminately attacks rapidly dividing cells throughout the body, anti-angiogenic agents selectively attack and cut off the blood supply feeding the malignancy. This targeted intervention is possible because the vessels constructed by tumors are structurally malformed, porous, and inherently defective, rendering them exquisitely vulnerable to targeted pharmacological disruption. In human clinical trials, brain tumors such as gliomas show marked vascular regression under experimental anti-angiogenic regimens, and breast cancer patients treated with the FDA-approved monoclonal antibody Avastin demonstrate a swift collapse and disappearance of the vascular halo surrounding the tumor.

```mermaid flowchart LR accTitle: Therapeutic Starvation of Tumors accDescr: Comparison between standard chemotherapeutic approach and anti-angiogenic targeted vessel starvation.

subgraph Conventional["Chemotherapy"] direction TB C1["Non-specific Cytotoxins"] --> C2["Attacks Rapidly Dividing Cells"] C2 --> C3["Systemic Toxicity & Side Effects"] end

subgraph AntiAngiogenic["Anti-Angiogenic Therapy"] direction TB A1["Target Malformed Vessels"] --> A2["Cut Off Supply Lines"] A2 --> A3["Tumor Starvation & Remission"] end ```

Observing these dramatic vascular responses in human trials prompted Dr. Li and his colleagues to explore whether anti-angiogenic strategies could be applied across species to rescue companion animals suffering from terminal malignancies: - **Milo the Boxer**: A nine-year-old dog diagnosed with an aggressive, lung-metastasized malignant neurofibroma on his shoulder was given only three months to live. By formulating an anti-angiogenic drug cocktail blended directly into his daily food alongside a topical anti-angiogenic cream applied directly to the lesion, researchers halted tumor expansion. Milo lived six times longer than his terminal veterinary prognosis, maintaining a high quality of life. - **Canine Clinical Outcomes**: Following Milo's protocol, over 600 dogs facing euthanasia have been treated with anti-angiogenic regimens, achieving an overall clinical response rate of approximately 60 percent. - **Dolphin in Florida**: A 20-year-old dolphin developed chronic oral mucosal lesions over three years that transformed into invasive squamous cell carcinomas. Applying a specially engineered anti-angiogenic paste to the lesions three times per week over seven months achieved complete eradication of the tumors, with post-treatment biopsies confirming completely normal histology. - **Guinness the Quarter Horse**: Presenting with a lethal, aggressive angiosarcoma on his lip that had already spread to regional lymph nodes, Guinness was treated using a dual strategy—topical anti-angiogenic cream externally and an oral cocktail internally. Over six months of treatment, the horse achieved complete clinical remission and remained cancer-free and vigorous more than six years later.

---

[09:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=573s) Human Clinical Realities and the Fatal Flaw of Late Intervention

The translation of anti-angiogenic principles into human clinical practice has yielded notable milestones. Twelve distinct anti-angiogenic therapies have secured approval across eleven different human cancer indications. When examining patient survival data spanning eight separate oncological conditions, the timeline following the 2004 introduction of targeted anti-angiogenic therapies demonstrates significant therapeutic gains compared to the prior baseline era of surgery, radiation, and cytotoxic chemotherapy alone.

For specific malignancies—namely kidney cancer (renal cell carcinoma), multiple myeloma, colorectal cancer, and gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST)—anti-angiogenic interventions have yielded a striking 70 to 100 percent improvement in patient survival duration. However, across various other tumor types, survival gains have proven frustratingly modest. Analyzing the structural limitations of modern cancer outcomes, Dr. Li identifies a glaring therapeutic bottleneck: “And the answer to me is obvious: we're treating cancer too late in the game, when it's already established, and oftentimes it's already spread or metastasized.” Attempting to halt an advanced, widespread disease after it has already hijacked the systemic circulation presents an uphill medical struggle, underscoring the urgent imperative to intervene far earlier in the disease process.

[10:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=648s) Starving Cancer by Diet and Anti-Angiogenesis Testing

William Li explains that once cancer reaches advanced clinical stages, achieving a cure becomes exceptionally difficult, if not impossible. Reflecting on the basic biology of angiogenesis, he began to question whether the ultimate answer to cancer might lie in preventing blood vessel growth altogether—beating cancer at its own game before microscopic tumors ever have the opportunity to turn dangerous. Such an approach offers promise not only for healthy individuals aiming to avoid the disease entirely, but also for cancer survivors seeking reliable strategies to prevent recurrence. Examining environmental drivers of malignancy, Li was struck by the realization that diet accounts for roughly 30 to 35 percent of all environmentally caused cancers. While conventional thinking typically revolves around what harmful items to eliminate or strip away from the plate, Li inverted the inquiry to ask what natural, anti-angiogenic foods could be added to bolster the body's vascular defense systems and selectively starve incipient tumors.

To investigate whether everyday foods can actively cut off tumor blood supplies, Li and his team took their search directly to markets, farms, and spice cabinets, discovering that nature has infused a wide array of foods, beverages, and herbs with potent angiogenesis inhibitors. In the laboratory, they established a specialized testing system consisting of a central tissue ring from which hundreds of blood vessels sprout in a starburst pattern. By exposing this assay to dietary extracts at concentrations genuinely achievable through normal eating, they quantified their biological potency. Adding an extract from red grapes—rich in resveratrol, which is also present in red wine—inhibited abnormal angiogenesis by 60 percent. Similar tests demonstrated that extracts of strawberries and soybeans also exerted potent inhibitory effects on vessel sprouting, laying the groundwork for a systematic catalog of cancer-fighting dietary ingredients.

```mermaid flowchart TD accTitle: Dietary Inhibition of Angiogenesis accDescr: Diagram showing how dietary intake of anti-angiogenic foods halts tumor vessel growth and microscopic cancer expansion. subgraph Intake["Dietary Sources"] F1["Red Grapes & Wine (Resveratrol)"] F2["Berries & Soybeans"] F3["Cooked Tomatoes (Lycopene)"] end subgraph Vascular["Vascular Target"] V1["Vascular Endothelial Growth"] V2["Vessel Starburst Sprouting"] end subgraph Outcome["Clinical Impact"] T1["Vessel Sprouting Inhibited (up to 60%)"] T2["Microscopic Tumors Starved (Prevented from Growth)"] end Intake -->|"Bioactive concentrations"| Vascular V1 --> V2 V2 -->|"Inhibition"| T1 T1 --> T2 ```

- Diet accounts for an estimated 30% to 35% of environmentally induced cancers. - Resveratrol extract derived from red grapes inhibits abnormal blood vessel sprouting by 60%. - Laboratory ring assays measure capillary growth in starburst formations under realistic dietary concentrations.

---

[13:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=786s) Tea Blends, Food Synergy, and Foods vs. Drugs

Li notes that potency is not uniform across generic categories; individual strains, cultivars, and varietals of fruits and teas exhibit distinct biological activities. When Li's team tested four common teas—Chinese Jasmine, Japanese Sencha, Earl Grey, and an experimental house blend—they observed marked differences in how effectively each inhibited angiogenesis. Most remarkably, when they combined two of the individually less potent teas, the resulting blend demonstrated greater anti-angiogenic potency than either variety exhibited on its own, demonstrating clear food synergy. Li stresses that understanding these variations allows consumers to deliberately select the most potent options when brewing tea or purchasing produce.

To benchmark these findings, the team pit dietary compounds head-to-head against conventional pharmaceutical agents. In laboratory assays where tumor angiogenesis is tracked against a control, researchers evaluated both established cancer drugs and everyday medications known to correlate epidemiologically with reduced cancer risk, such as statins and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). When tested under identical conditions, everyday foods like soy, parsley, garlic, grapes, and berries matched or even exceeded the inhibitory potency of prescription pharmaceuticals. Reflecting on this parity, Li notes that one could prepare a gourmet dinner composed of ingredients that actively match the potency of commercial anti-angiogenic medications.

> “Imagine if we could create the world's first rating system in which we could score foods according to their anti-angiogenic cancer preventative properties and that's what we're doing right now.” — William Li

- Four tested tea varieties (Chinese Jasmine, Japanese Sencha, Earl Grey, and an experimental blend) showed distinct, measurable variations in anti-angiogenic strength. - Combining two weaker teas produced an amplified synergistic effect exceeding both individual components. - Whole-food extracts from parsley, garlic, soy, and berries held their own against and in certain instances outperformed statins, NSAIDs, and traditional cancer therapies.

---

[14:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=888s) Human Evidence, Tomato Sauce, and Systemic Impact

Moving beyond laboratory cell dishes, Li presents epidemiological evidence confirming that dietary anti-angiogenesis functions directly in human populations. A landmark observational study tracked 79,000 men over a 20-year span, finding that individuals who consumed cooked tomatoes two to three times per week experienced up to a 50 percent reduction in their risk of developing prostate cancer. Tomatoes supply rich concentrations of lycopene, a known anti-angiogenic compound that becomes more bioavailable when cooked. Crucially, among the subset of participants who nevertheless developed prostate tumors, those with higher intakes of tomato sauce exhibited noticeably fewer blood vessels feeding their malignancies upon biopsy, providing physical proof that dietary compounds restrict real tumor vasculature in human patients.

Li highlights ongoing collaborative studies with Dean Ornish at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Tufts University to analyze how comprehensive healthy diets alter circulating angiogenesis biomarkers in human bloodstreams. The ramifications extend beyond clinical oncology into grocery retail, food supply chains, public health initiatives, and health insurance models. Li references early insurance adoption, highlighting an educational campaign by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota promoting dietary lifestyle awareness. For developing economies and marginalized populations, nutritional prevention offers an accessible, affordable alternative to costly late-stage pharmaceutical regimens.

> “Not everybody can afford expensive end-stage cancer treatments but everybody could benefit from a healthy diet based on local sustainable anti-angiogenic crops.” — William Li

- A 20-year prospective study of 79,000 men associated eating cooked tomatoes 2–3 times weekly with a 50% decrease in prostate cancer incidence. - Biopsies from tomato consumers who developed cancer verified significantly reduced microvessel density inside tumor margins. - Clinical collaborations with Dean Ornish (UCSF) and Tufts University evaluate real-time changes in bloodstream vascular biomarkers following dietary interventions.

---

[16:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=994s) Angiogenesis in Obesity and Healthy Set Points

Li shifts focus to adipose tissue, revealing that body fat is fundamentally angiogenesis-dependent. Just as a solid tumor cannot enlarge beyond microscopic dimensions without recruiting an dedicated capillary network, adipose tissue requires continuous vascular expansion to store additional mass. To explore whether adipose expansion could be arrested by pruning its blood supply, researchers studied genetically obese mice that feed incessantly, ballooning until they resemble what Li jokingly describes as "furry tennis balls." When administered an angiogenesis inhibitor, these obese mice shed body fat rapidly; when the drug was halted, their weight climbed back up. Researchers were able to cycle mouse body weight up and down simply by turning vascular inhibition on and off.

Crucially, administering angiogenesis inhibitors never caused the mice to waste away below the natural baseline weight of a normal, lean mouse. The therapies did not drive the animals into an emaciated state; as Li puts it with a smile, the researchers discovered that “we can't create supermodel mice.” This ceiling effect illustrates that vascular control mechanisms respect homeostatic biological set points rather than causing unmitigated tissue destruction. Citing Nobel laureate Albert Szent-Györgyi, Li underscores that transformative discoveries arise from looking at familiar phenomena through an entirely unconsidered lens, arguing that attacking angiogenesis offers a unified paradigm for managing both cancer and obesity.

> “Albert Szent-Györgyi once said that discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.” — William Li

- Adipose tissue expansion requires co-occurring capillary vessel generation, rendering body fat vulnerable to vascular deprivation. - Obese mice treated with anti-angiogenic agents shed weight down to normal mouse parameters, but vascular inhibition never dropped them below healthy baseline body mass. - Halting and restarting anti-angiogenic therapy predictably cycled rodent weights up and down, validating vascular supply as a regulator of adiposity.

---

[18:19](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=1099s) Q&A: Patient Action, Clinical Trials, and Food as Daily Medicine

Following the presentation, the host steps forward to ask practical questions about current clinical adoption, noting that while anti-angiogenic treatments are gaining ground, they are not universally applied across standard oncology practices. When asked whether active cancer patients should pursue these therapies, Li clarifies that multiple anti-angiogenic drugs are already approved by the FDA for specific malignancies. He encourages patients, family members, and patient advocates to inquire about approved drugs and research ongoing clinical trials. Li notes that the Angiogenesis Foundation tracks approximately 300 companies actively working in the space, with roughly 100 new candidate drugs advancing through the investigational pipeline.

Beyond prescription medicines, Li insists that the most critical frontier rests in patient empowerment through lifestyle and nutritional literacy. When the host asks whether people with known hereditary or environmental risk factors should seek prophylactic drug treatments or simply adjust their lifestyle with foods like tomato sauce, Li highlights the accessibility of peer-reviewed epidemiological research. In the modern information era, patients can verify dietary risk-reduction data independently through platforms like PubMed and the National Library of Medicine. Li emphasizes that what patients put on their plates empowers them to engage in health management multiple times every single day.

> “And between what the doctor can do for you we need to start asking what can we do for ourselves and this is one of the themes that I'm talking about is we can empower ourselves to do the things that doctors can't do for us which is to use knowledge and take action and if Mother Nature has given us some clues we think that there might be some a new future in the value of how we eat and what we eat is really our chemotherapy three times a day.” — William Li

- Multiple anti-angiogenic medications currently hold full regulatory approval from the FDA, with roughly 100 additional candidates under commercial evaluation across 300 tracked biotechnology firms. - Public medical databases, including the National Library of Medicine's PubMed service, allow patients to directly evaluate epidemiological literature on cancer risk reduction and dietary interventions. - Li characterizes daily dietary selections as an accessible form of preventive self-treatment that individuals administer three times a day.

## Notable quotes > [14:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=888s) Not everybody can afford expensive end-stage cancer treatments but everybody could benefit from a healthy diet based on local sustainable anti-angiogenic crops. — William Li

> [09:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o&t=573s) We're treating cancer too late in the game, when it's already established, and oftentimes it's already spread or metastasized. — William Li

## Mentioned William Li, Judah Folkman, Avastin, Dean Ornish, University of California, San Francisco, Tufts University, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, Albert Szent-Györgyi, FDA, The Angiogenesis Foundation, PubMed, National Library of Medicine

## Video description View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/can-we-eat-to-starve-cancer-william-li

William Li presents a new way to think about treating cancer and other diseases: anti-angiogenesis, preventing the growth of blood vessels that feed a tumor. The crucial first (and best) step: Eating cancer-fighting foods that cut off the supply lines and beat cancer at its own game.

Talk by WIlliam Li.

[Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjkzfeJz66o)

中文简报

William Li倡导利用抗血管生成食物“饿死”早期癌症微小肿瘤在没有专属血管的情况下仍是无害的，这使得日常的抗血管生成食物能够在临床发现前切断血管供应并遏制恶性生长。 William Li博士介绍了血管生成（即人体生长血管的过程）的概念，并解释了肿瘤如何劫持该系统以求生存和扩散。常规医疗手段侧重于在癌症已经建立血液供应后将其杀死，而Li博士则主张采用饮食性血管生成抑制剂进行预防。通过识别并食用葡萄、草莓和熟西红柿等食物，人们或许能够在微小肿瘤发展为危险病变之前切断其营养供应线。在观察性研究和实验室测定的支持下，这一策略表明日常饮食选择可以作为一种强大且易于实施的预防性自我调理方式。血管生成通过为微小且无害的细胞簇提供专属血管网络，决定了其是否会转变为致命的侵袭性肿瘤。 (3:49) 在实验室测定中，红葡萄、草莓、大豆、大蒜和欧芹等日常食物展现出的抗血管生成效力，可媲美甚至超越标准药物及抗癌药物。 (13:06) 一项针对7.9万名男性、历时20年的前瞻性研究显示，每周食用2至3次熟西红柿可使前列腺癌风险降低多达50%，活检证实肿瘤边缘内的微血管密度显著降低。 (14:48) 脂肪组织的扩张需要新生毛细血管的萌生；使用抗血管生成药物治疗基因肥胖小鼠，可促使其减重至正常基准体重，且不会低于健康指标。 (16:34)

Source quotes

[14:48] William Li: Not everybody can afford expensive end-stage cancer treatments but everybody could benefit from a healthy diet based on local sustainable anti-angiogenic crops. [9:33] William Li: We're treating cancer too late in the game, when it's already established, and oftentimes it's already spread or metastasized.

Original transcript

[0:00] [Music] [0:07] [Music] [0:12] [Applause] [0:17] good [0:18] afternoon there's a medical Revolution [0:20] happening all around us and it's one [0:22] that's going to help us conquer some of [0:24] society's most dreaded conditions [0:26] including cancer and the revolution is [0:29] called [0:31] angiogenesis and it's based on the [0:33] process that our bodies use to grow [0:34] blood vessels so why should we care [0:37] about blood vessels well the human body [0:39] is literally packed with them 60,000 [0:42] miles worth in a typical adult end to [0:45] end that would form a line that would [0:46] circle the Earth [0:48] twice the smallest blood vessels are [0:50] called capillaries we've got 19 billion [0:53] of them in our bodies and these are the [0:56] vessels of life and as I'll show you [0:59] they can also be the vessels of [1:02] death now the remarkable thing about [1:04] blood vessels is that they have this [1:06] ability to adapt to whatever environment [1:08] they're growing in for example in the [1:10] liver they form channels to detoxify the [1:12] blood in the lung they line air sacks [1:15] for gas exchange in muscle they cork [1:17] screw so that muscles can contract [1:19] without cutting off circulation and in [1:21] nerves they course along like power [1:23] lines keeping those nerves alive and we [1:25] get most of these blood vessels when [1:27] we're actually still in the womb and [1:30] what that means is that as adults blood [1:32] vessels don't normally grow except in a [1:35] few special [1:37] circumstances in women blood vessels [1:39] grow every month to build the lining of [1:40] the uterus during pregnancy they form [1:43] the placenta which connects mom and baby [1:47] and after injury blood vessels actually [1:49] have to grow under the scab in order to [1:51] heal a wound and this is actually what [1:53] it looks like hundreds of blood vessels [1:56] all growing towards the center of the [1:58] wound so the body has the ability to [2:01] regulate the amount of blood vessels [2:02] that are present at any given time and [2:05] it does this through an elaborate and [2:07] elegant system of checks and balances [2:09] stimulators and Inhibitors of [2:11] angiogenesis such that when we need a [2:13] brief burst of blood vessels the body [2:15] can do this by releasing stimulators [2:18] proteins called androgenic factors that [2:20] act as natural fertilizer and stimulate [2:22] New Blood vels to sprout and when those [2:25] excess vessels are no longer needed the [2:26] body prunes them back to Baseline using [2:29] naturally occurring Inhibitors of [2:32] angiogenesis now there are other [2:33] situations where we start beneath the [2:35] Baseline and we need to grow more blood [2:36] vessels just to get back to normal [2:38] levels for example after an injury and a [2:40] body can do that too but only to that [2:43] normal level that set point but what we [2:46] now know is that for a number of [2:48] diseases there are defects in the system [2:51] where the body can't prune back extra [2:53] blood vessels or can't grow enough new [2:55] ones in the right place at the right [2:56] time and in these situations Ang [2:59] androgenesis is out of balance and when [3:02] androgenesis is out of balance a myriad [3:04] of diseases result for example [3:07] insufficient androgenesis not enough [3:09] blood vessels leads to wounds that don't [3:11] heal heart attacks legs without [3:13] circulation death from stroke nerve [3:16] damage and on the other hand excessive [3:19] androgenesis too many blood vessels [3:21] drives disease and we see this in cancer [3:23] blindness arthritis obesity Alzheimer's [3:27] disease in total there are more than 70 [3:30] major diseases affecting more than a [3:32] billion people worldwide that all look [3:34] on the surface to be different from one [3:35] another but all actually share abnormal [3:38] androgenesis as their common [3:41] denominator and this realization is [3:43] allowing us to reconceptualize the way [3:45] that we actually approach these diseases [3:47] by controlling [3:49] androgenesis now I'm going to focus on [3:51] cancer because androgenesis is a [3:54] Hallmark of cancer every type of cancer [3:58] so here we go this is a tumor dark gray [4:01] ominous Mass growing inside a brain and [4:03] under the microscope you can see [4:05] hundreds of these brown staining blood [4:07] vessels capillaries that are feeding [4:09] cancer cells bringing oxygen and [4:12] nutrients but cancers don't start out [4:14] like this and in fact cancers don't [4:16] start out with a blood supply they start [4:19] out as small microscopic nests of cells [4:22] that can only grow to one half a cubic [4:24] millimeter in size that's the tip of a [4:27] ballpoint pen then they can't get any [4:29] larger because they don't have a blood [4:31] supply so they don't have enough oxygen [4:32] or [4:33] nutrients and in fact we're probably [4:35] forming these microscopic cancers all [4:37] the time in our body autopsy studies uh [4:41] from people who died in car accidents [4:43] have shown that about 40% of women [4:46] between the ages of 40 and 50 actually [4:48] have microscopic cancers in their [4:51] breasts about 50% of men in their 50s [4:53] and 60s have microscopic prostate [4:56] Cancers and all virtually 100% of us by [4:59] the time we reach our 70s will have [5:01] microscopic cancers growing in our [5:03] thyroid yet without a blood supply most [5:06] of these cancers will never become [5:09] dangerous Dr Judah folman who was my [5:11] mentor and who is the Pioneer of the [5:13] androgenesis field once called this [5:16] cancer without [5:18] disease so the body's ability to balance [5:21] angiogenesis when it's working properly [5:24] prevents blood vessels from feeding [5:25] Cancers and this turns out to be one of [5:28] our most important defens mechanisms [5:30] against [5:32] cancer in fact if you actually block [5:34] androgenesis and prevent blood vessels [5:36] from ever reaching cancer cells tumors [5:38] simply can't grow up but once [5:40] angiogenesis occurs cancers can grow [5:43] exponentially and this is actually how a [5:45] cancer goes from being harmless to [5:49] deadly cancer cells mutate and they gain [5:52] the ability to release lots of those [5:54] angiogenic factors natural fertilizer [5:56] that tip the balance in favor of blood [5:57] vessels invading the cancer and once [6:00] those vessels invade the cancer it can [6:02] expand it can invade local tissues and [6:04] the same vessels that are feeding tumors [6:07] allow cancer cells to exit into the [6:09] circulation as [6:11] metastases and unfortunately this late [6:14] stage of cancer is the one at which it's [6:16] most likely to be diagnosed when [6:19] androgenesis is already turned on and [6:21] cancer cells are growing like [6:23] wild so if androgenesis is a Tipping [6:28] Point between a harmless Cancer and a [6:30] harmful one then one major part of the [6:33] angiogenesis revolution is a new [6:35] approach to treating cancer by cutting [6:37] off the blood [6:38] supply we call this anti-androgenic [6:42] therapy and it's completely different [6:44] from chemotherapy because it selectively [6:46] aims at the blood vessels that are [6:48] feeding the Cancers and we can do this [6:51] because tumor blood vessels are unlike [6:53] normal healthy vessels we see in other [6:54] places of the body they're abnormal [6:57] they're very poorly constructed and [6:59] because of that they're highly [7:01] vulnerable to treatments that Target [7:04] them in in fact when we give cancer [7:07] patients anti-angiogenic therapy here an [7:10] experimental drug for a Goma which is a [7:12] type of a brain tumor you can see that [7:14] there are dramatic changes that occur [7:16] when the tumor is being [7:18] starved here's a woman with a breast [7:20] cancer being treated with the [7:22] anti-androgenic drug called avastin [7:24] which is FDA approved and you can see [7:27] that the Halo of blood flow disappears [7:29] appears after [7:31] treatment now I've just shown you two [7:33] very different types of cancer that both [7:36] responded to antiandrogenic therapy so a [7:39] few years ago I asked myself can we take [7:41] this one step further and treat other [7:44] cancers even in other [7:47] species so here is a 99-year-old boxer [7:50] named Milo who had a very aggressive [7:52] tumor called a malignant neurofibroma [7:54] growing on his shoulder it invaded to [7:56] his lungs his veterinarian only gave him [7:58] three months to live so we created a [8:00] cocktail of anti-angiogenic drugs that [8:02] could be mixed into his dog food as well [8:05] as an anti-angiogenic cream that could [8:07] be applied on the surface of the tumor [8:10] and within a few weeks of treatment we [8:12] were able to slow down that Cancer's [8:13] growth such that we were ultimately able [8:15] to extend Milo's survival to six times [8:19] what the veterinarian had initially [8:20] predicted all with a very good quality [8:22] of life and we've subsequently treated [8:25] more than 600 dogs we have about a 60% [8:28] response rate and prove survival for [8:30] these pets that were about to be [8:33] euthanized so let me show you a couple [8:35] of even more interesting [8:36] examples this is a 20-year-old dolphin [8:39] living in Florida and she had these [8:41] lesions in her mouth that over the [8:42] course of three years developed into [8:44] invasive squa cell cancers so we created [8:48] an anti-androgenic paste we had it [8:50] painted on top of the cancer three times [8:53] a week and over the course of 7 months [8:56] the cancers completely disappeared and [8:58] the biopsies came back as [9:01] normal here's a cancer growing on a lip [9:03] of a quarter horse named Guinness it's a [9:06] very very deadly type of cancer called [9:07] an angro saroma had already spread to [9:10] his lymph nodes so we used the [9:11] anti-androgenic skin cream for the lip [9:14] and the oral cocktail so we could treat [9:16] from the inside as well as the outside [9:18] and over the course of six months he [9:21] experienced a complete [9:23] remission and here he is six years later [9:27] Guinness with his very the [9:31] owner now obviously antiandrogenic [9:34] therapy could be used for a wide range [9:36] of cancers and in fact the first [9:38] pioneering treatments for people as well [9:41] as dogs are already becoming available [9:43] there's 12 different drugs 11 different [9:46] cancer types but the real question is [9:48] how well do these work in practice so [9:51] here is actually the patient survival [9:53] data from eight different types of [9:55] cancer and the bars represent survival [9:57] time taken from the era in which there [10:00] was only chemotherapy or surgery or [10:02] radiation available but starting in [10:06] 2004 when anti-androgenic therapies [10:08] first became available you can see that [10:10] there has been a 70 to 100% Improvement [10:13] in survival for people with kidney [10:15] cancer multiple Myoma colorectal cancer [10:19] and gastrointestinal stromal tumors [10:21] that's [10:22] impressive but for other tumors and [10:25] cancer types the improvements have only [10:27] been modest [10:29] so I started asking myself why haven't [10:31] we been able to do [10:33] better and the answer to me is obvious [10:36] we're treating cancer too late in the [10:38] game when it's already established and [10:41] often times it's already spread or [10:43] metastasized and as a doctor I know that [10:45] once a disease progresses to an advanced [10:48] stage achieving a cure can be difficult [10:51] if not [10:53] impossible so I went back to the biology [10:56] of Andrew Genesis and started thinking [11:00] could the answer to cancer be preventing [11:04] androgenesis beating cancer at its own [11:06] game so that cancers could never become [11:10] dangerous this could help healthy people [11:12] as well as people who have already [11:14] beaten cancer once or twice and want to [11:16] find a way to keep it from coming back [11:19] so to look for a way to prevent [11:21] androgenesis and cancer I went back to [11:23] look at Cancer's causes and what really [11:25] intrigued me was when I saw that diet [11:28] accounts for 30 to 35% of [11:31] environmentally caused [11:32] cancers now the obvious thing is to [11:35] think about what we could remove from [11:36] our diet what to strip out take away but [11:40] I actually took a completely opposite [11:42] approach and began asking what could we [11:44] be adding to our diet that's naturally [11:47] anti-angiogenic that could boost the [11:49] body's defense system and beat back [11:51] those blood vessels that are feeding [11:53] cancers in other words can we eat to [11:56] starve [11:57] cancer well the the answer is yes and [12:00] I'm going to show you how and our search [12:02] for this has taken us to the market the [12:05] farm and to the spice cabinet because [12:07] what we've discovered is that Mother [12:08] Nature has laced a large number of foods [12:11] and Beverages and herbs with naturally [12:13] occurring Inhibitors of anog [12:15] Genesis so here's a TI system we [12:18] developed uh at the center of a ring [12:19] from which hundreds of blood vessels are [12:21] growing out in a starburst fashion and [12:23] we can use this system to test dietary [12:25] factors at concentrations that are [12:27] attainable by eating [12:30] so let me show you what happens when we [12:31] put in an extract from red grapes the [12:34] active ingredients Resveratrol it's also [12:36] found in red wine this inhibits abnormal [12:40] androgenesis by [12:42] 60% here's what happens when we add an [12:44] extract from [12:46] strawberries it potently inhibits [12:49] androgenesis an extract from [12:52] soybeans and here is a growing list of [12:55] our anti-androgenic foods and beverages [12:57] that we're interested in studying [12:59] and for each food type we believe that [13:02] there's different potencies within [13:04] different strains and varietals and we [13:06] want to measure this because well while [13:09] you're eating a strawberry or drinking [13:11] tea why not select the one that's most [13:13] potent for preventing cancer so here are [13:17] four different tees that we've tested [13:19] they're all common ones Chinese Jasmine [13:22] Japanese CA Earl Gray and a special [13:24] blend that we prepared and you can see [13:26] clearly that the teas vary in their [13:29] potency from less potent to more potent [13:33] but what's very cool is when we actually [13:35] combine the two less potent together the [13:38] combination the blend is more potent [13:41] than either one [13:42] alone this means there's food [13:47] Synergy here's some more data from our [13:49] testing now in the lab we can simulate [13:52] tumor angiogenesis represented here in a [13:54] black bar and using this system we can [13:56] test the potency of cancer drugs so the [13:59] shorter the bar less androgenesis that's [14:02] good and here are some common drugs that [14:05] have been associated with reducing the [14:07] risk of cancer in people statins [14:10] non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [14:12] and a few others they inhibit [14:14] androgenesis too and here are the [14:17] dietary factors going head-to-head [14:19] against these drugs you can see they [14:21] clearly hold their own and in some cases [14:24] they're more potent than the actual [14:26] drugs soy parsley garlic grapes berries [14:31] I could go home and cook a tasty meal [14:33] using these [14:35] ingredients so imagine if we could [14:37] create the world's first rating system [14:40] in which we could score Foods according [14:42] to their anti-androgenic cancer [14:44] preventative properties and that's what [14:46] we're doing right [14:47] now now I've shown you a bunch of lab [14:49] data and so the real question is what is [14:52] the evidence in people that eating [14:55] certain foods can reduce androgenesis in [14:57] cancer [14:59] well the best example I know is this [15:01] study of 79,000 Men followed over 20 [15:04] years in which it was found that men who [15:06] consumed cooked Tomatoes two to three [15:08] times a week had up to a 50% reduction [15:12] in their risk of developing prostate [15:14] cancer now we know that tomatoes are a [15:17] good source of lycopene and lycopene is [15:20] anti-androgenic but what's even more [15:22] interesting from the study is that in [15:23] those men who did develop prostate [15:25] cancer those who ate more servings of [15:28] tomato sauce [15:29] actually had fewer blood vessels feeding [15:31] their cancer so this human study is a [15:34] prime example of how anti-androgenic [15:37] substances present in food and consumed [15:39] in Practical levels can impact on cancer [15:43] and we're now studying the role of a [15:45] healthy diet with Dean ornish at UCSF [15:48] and tus University on the role of this [15:50] healthy diet on markers of angiogenesis [15:52] that we can find in the [15:54] bloodstream now obviously uh what I've [15:56] shared with you has some Far ranging [15:57] implications even Beyond cancer research [16:00] because if we're right it could impact [16:01] on consumer education Food Services [16:04] Public Health and even the insurance [16:06] industry and in fact some insurance [16:08] companies are already beginning to think [16:10] along these lines check out this ad from [16:12] Blue Cross Blue Shield of [16:14] Minnesota and for many people around the [16:16] world dietary cancer prevention may be [16:19] the only practical solution because not [16:21] everybody can afford expensive endstage [16:23] Cancer Treatments but everybody could [16:25] benefit from a healthy diet based on [16:27] local sustainable anti-androgenic [16:31] crops now finally I've talked to you [16:35] about food and I've talked you about [16:37] cancer so there's just one more disease [16:40] that I have to tell you about and that's [16:42] obesity because turns out that adapost [16:46] tissue fat is highly angiogenesis [16:48] dependent and like a tumor fat grows [16:51] when blood vessels grow so the question [16:53] is can we shrink fat by cutting off its [16:55] blood [16:56] supply so the top curve shows the body [16:59] weight of a genetically obese mouse that [17:03] eats non-stop until it turns fat like [17:05] this furry tennis [17:07] ball and the bottom curve is the weight [17:10] of a normal Mouse if you take the obese [17:12] Mouse and give it an androgenesis [17:13] inhibitor it loses weight stop the [17:15] treatment gains the weight back restart [17:17] the treatment loses the weight again [17:19] stop the treatment gains the weight back [17:20] and in fact you can cycle the weight up [17:22] and down simply by inhibiting [17:25] androgenesis so this approach that we're [17:27] taking for cancer prevention May also [17:29] have an application for [17:31] obesity the really truly interesting [17:33] thing about this is that we can't take [17:35] these obese mice and make them lose more [17:37] weight than what the normal Mouse's [17:39] weight is supposed to be in other words [17:42] we can't create super model [17:44] mice and this speaks to the role of [17:46] Andre Genesis in regulating healthy set [17:49] points Alberton Georgie once said that [17:52] Discovery consists of seeing what [17:54] everybody has seen and thinking what [17:55] nobody has thought I hope I've convinced [17:58] you that for diseases like cancer [18:00] obesity and other conditions that there [18:02] may be a great power in attacking their [18:04] common denominator Andre Genesis and [18:07] that's what I think the world needs now [18:09] thank [18:19] you I haven't few questions for you so [18:22] um these drugs aren't exactly they're [18:24] not exactly in mainstream cancer [18:26] treatments right now for anyone out here [18:28] who has cancer what would you recommend [18:30] do you recommend pursuing these [18:32] treatments now for most cancer patients [18:34] so there are anti-androgenic treatments [18:36] that are FDA approved and U if you're a [18:40] cancer patient or working with Advocate [18:42] anyone you should ask and there are many [18:45] clinical trials um the angiogenesis [18:47] foundation has followed almost 300 [18:49] companies and there's about 100 more uh [18:52] drugs every the pipeline so consider the [18:55] approved ones look for clinical trials [18:57] but then between what the doctor can do [18:59] for you we need to start asking what can [19:01] we do for ourselves and this is one of [19:03] the themes that I'm talking about is we [19:04] can Empower ourselves to do the things [19:06] that doctors can't do for us which is to [19:08] use knowledge and take action and if [19:10] Mother Nature has given us some Clues we [19:13] think that there might be some a new [19:15] future in the value of how we eat and [19:17] what we eat is really our chemotherapy [19:19] three times a day right and um along [19:21] those lines for people who might have [19:23] risk factors for a cancer would you [19:25] recommend pursuing any treatment sort of [19:27] prophylactically or simply pursuing the [19:29] right diet with lots of tomato sauce [19:32] well you know there's abundant [19:34] epidemiological evidence and I think an [19:36] Information Age it doesn't take long to [19:37] go to a credible Source like pmid the [19:40] National Library of Medicine to look for [19:42] epidemiological studies for cancer risk [19:44] reduction based on diet and based on [19:46] common medications and that's certainly [19:48] something that uh anybody can look into [19:50] okay well thank you so much