The NORI Protocol Simplified

By Mark Simon, Director, Nutritional Oncology Research Institute

July 2024

Introduction

     The Nutritional Oncology Research Institute (NORI), since 2011, has been providing cancer patients an advanced home-based nutritional support program. Today, in 2024, NORI offers a much more powerful nutritional support program that can serve as a standalone treatment for most cancers. Through continuing translational research and clinical experience, NORI has become the leader in the development of a natural, nontoxic and drug free approach to cancer treatment. NORI is literally harnessing the power of nutrition to beat cancer in a very unique manner.

Presented here is the simplest form of a powerful method for the treatment of cancer. This method is universal for all forms and stages of cancer. Twenty years of translational research has resulted in the development of a natural, nontoxic, inexpensive, safe and highly effective treatment protocol. Explained here in layman’s terms is a practical overview of the protocol. It is recommended that one work with a practitioner who is trained in the implementation of this protocol or work directly with NORI.

     By targeting the primary weakness or vulnerability of cancer, a simple combination of diet and nutraceuticals forms a potent system to selectively kill cancer cells. At the same time, this system also enables the immune system to seek and destroy cancer cells by silencing signals that cancer cells express to evade immune attack.

Targeting Antioxidant Defense Systems

     At the core of the NORI approach is a method that is highly targeted at disabling cancer cell’s antioxidant defense systems. Targeting these systems is the ideal way to exploit the primary weakness and vulnerability of cancer cells so as not to cause any harm to normal cells. A simple combination of diet and nutraceuticals has been carefully engineered to accomplish the objective of targeting and killing cancer cells without any adverse side effects or risks.

     Cancer cells are far more sensitive to oxidative stress than normal cells. Disabling cancer cells antioxidant defense systems causes cell death from oxidative stress overload. There is a very high preexisting level of oxidative stress inside cancer cells and without antioxidant defense, oxidative stress reaches a critical limit and the cancer cell dies.

Diet

     Leveraging diet is essential and can be as simple as adopting a plant-based diet. Why is plant-based so critical? Cancer cells have unique requirements for specific amino acids. A plant-based diet is naturally low in these specific amino acids, namely methionine and cysteine. Deprivation of cysteine has the greatest impact on cancer compared to any other nutrient.

     Without getting into great detail, the simplest dietary recommendation is to limit daily protein intake to less that 0.3 grams per kg of body weight. Fat intake should be less than 10% of total calories. The diet should consist of mostly fruit and vegetables with very limited intake of nuts, seeds, grains and beans.

     A plant-based diet offers many benefits for overall health and for cancer treatment. Included in the benefits are lowered inflammation, improved glucose regulation, lowered IGF-1, reduced angiogenesis, higher alkalinity and lots of fiber. A plant-based diet creates a healthy gut microbiome which supports the immune system.

Vitamin B6 (P5P) + Iron

     Vitamin B6 (P5P) is known to trigger cancer cell death at a dosage easily achievable with oral administration. 

     Vitamin B6 (P5P) plus iron breaks down the amino acid, cysteine, which is necessary for the synthesis of the antioxidant system, glutathione. Iron is incorporated to support the chemical reaction between vitamin B6 (P5P) and cysteine. Also, vitamin B6 (P5P) degrades PD-L1 which enables immune cells to kill cancer cells.

Sodium Selenite

     Sodium selenite is one of the inorganic forms of selenium which has been studied for over 40 years for its ability to selectively kill cancer cells. An important property of sodium selenite is that there is a high uptake into tumor tissue. Another important property of sodium selenite is that it is highly bioavailable allowing oral administration.

     Sodium selenite disables the thioredoxin antioxidant defense system. With both the glutathione and thioredoxin antioxidant defense systems disabled, cancer cells can not survive. They essentially oxidize themselves to death.

Conclusion

     Presented here is an overview of the NORI protocol in the most simplest of terms. If you would like to learn more, please attend our free online Zoom workshops which occur every Saturday morning. The Zoom link can be found www.nutritionaloncology.net on the homepage.

NORI offers a home-based program so that cancer patients almost anywhere in the world can apply the NORI protocol at very little expense.

There are two core elements of the NORI protocol which are a methionine/cysteine restricted diet and the creation of oxidative stress by interfering with cellular antioxidant systems. A methionine/cysteine restricted diet is intended to slow cancer progression and weaken cancer cells. Both methionine and cysteine are necessary for the synthesis of glutathione. Cancer cells can not regulate oxidative stress without sufficient glutathione. Oxidative stress is a powerful mechanism to trigger apoptosis selectively in cancer cells. This idea is contrary to the belief that antioxidants are beneficial for cancer treatment. Current studies show that antioxidants support the survival of cancer cells. Our nutraceutical cocktail is designed to increase oxidative stress by interfering with antioxidant systems and also by directly generating oxidative stress.

Diet is a powerful tool but diet alone is not sufficient in treating cancer. This is because there are many uncontrolled tumor growth factors and diet alone can not overcome these powerful tumor growth signals. One example is estrogen which must be appropriately addressed in ER+ breast cancers. Another example is testosterone which drives prostate cancer progression.

The NORI protocol is not based on building or boosting the immune system. It is not based on correcting nutritional deficiencies so it utilizes very minimal nutritional supplementation. Certain nutritional supplements are known to promote tumor growth so these are excluded from the protocol. The NORI protocol is not a shotgun approach. It is a scientifically supported highly targeted approach that offers enormous benefit by itself or combined within an overall treatment plan.

One way to look at the NORI protocol is as a system of layers composed of diet, nutraceuticals, stress reduction, anti-inflammation, alkalinity and suppression of growth factors. This perspective is a little different than a multi-targeted approach. It is more like building a firm and powerful structure layer by layer. The foundational layer is diet since nutritional factors have the greatest influence on tumor progression.

     Methionine/cysteine restriction is a powerful dietary approach that attempts to starve cancer cells of two essential amino acids.  Methionine/cysteine restriction has other applications in extending lifespan, improving metabolic health and lowering inflammation. Of all the different dietary approaches to cancer, methionine/cysteine restriction stands out as the approach most supported by scientific research. Methionine/cysteine restriction not only limits the availability of  amino acid necessary for cancer cell growth and survival, but also limits other critical amino acids that cancer cells require for growth and division. Normal cells are unharmed through these intermittent nutritional interventions. NORI has developed a specific methionine/cysteine restriction protocol that has been utilized for many years with proven success. It is recommended that one consults with NORI in applying a methionine/cysteine restricted diet for best results. We offer low-cost programs to support you.

     NORI has compiled many scientific papers on methionine restriction as a therapeutic tool in cancer therapy. Click here to download these studies that we have carefully reviewed and utilized in designing our methionine restriction protocol.

     Over 40 years of research has demonstrated that sodium selenite is a powerful selective chemotherapeutic agent. Click here to review the scientific studies on sodium selenite as an anti-tumor agent. Because sodium selenite is a non-patentable molecule, an insignificant amount of investment into clinical research has been available. Sodium selenite is very inexpensive readily available as a nutritional supplement. For cancer prevention, supplementation with sodium selenite at 200-400 micrograms per day is appropriate. For therapeutic purposes, the dose for sodium selenite ranges from 6,000-30,000 micrograms per day. Sodium selenite is a  small water soluble molecule so it has excellent bioavailability. It also has a sufficiently long plasma half-life to allow an excellent therapeutic response. Sodium selenite can be administered by IV injection or administered as a sublingual tablet. Do not self-administer sodium selenite as it can be toxic at excessive dosages and will cause severe nausea if if not taken properly. NORI can assist you with proper IV administration by working with your physician or through our support program. 

     Selenium is possibly one of the most studied nutritional factors associated with cancer prevention. Because of the data collected on the importance of adequate selenium for cancer prevention, numerous studies have looked at various forms of selenium for cancer treatment. Sodium selenite appears to be one of the most effective forms of selenium for cancer therapy.  There is some concern regarding the toxic nature of selenium compounds but at the dosages required for cancer treatment, there is no potential toxicity. Excessive selenium intake can cause reversible hair loss and changes to the nails. There are ongoing clinical trials at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of sodium selenite as a chemotherapeutic agent. When sodium selenite is combined with other pro-oxidants such as vitamin K3 and genipin, the response is enhanced through a synergistic mechanism creating a higher level of oxidative stress.

     Very promising studies demonstrate selective chemotherapeutic activity of molecular iodine across a variety of cancer cell lines. Breast cancer cell lines are especially sensitive to molecular iodine at very low concentration (< 4 micromoles). The iodide form of iodine does not induce apoptosis. The mechanism by which molecular iodine triggers apoptosis is nearly identical to sodium selenite and one would expect synergy form a molecular iodine and sodium selenite combination. Iodine supplements which are predominantly molecular iodine are available but there are stability issues that must me resolved. This ia an area deserving of further research. A phase II clinical trial found clear survival benefit from molecular iodine supplementation  at 5 mg per day combined with standard chemotherapy treatment.