I thought that starting a list might be useful/helpful as it’s always good to try and help yourself as much as possible and I try and eat these foods wherever possible. If anybody can add to this list, that would be great.
Tumeric
Green tea
Walnuts
Omega 3
Cottage cheese with flaxseed oil
Berries
Broccoli and especially broccoli sprouts
Tomatoes (lycopene)
Be careful when taking some foods, especially if you are undergoing treatment. For example, some research suggests that those undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer should avoid tumeric, as it may interfere with chemotherapy’s ability to kill cancer cells through apoptosis.
Jenny
Grapefruit and grapefruit juice too - avoid like the plague.
Flaxseed is iffy too if you are taking Tamoxifen. I personally feel all high octane phyto-oestrogens are best avoided.
I am wary of blanket good and bad because there is such a difference in response between pre and post menopausal women. And of course there is zero evidence that anything makes a jot of difference anyway.
As my onc says - if food was the magic cure they’d have discovered the key ingredient and turned it into a pill by now.
Have to agree with you, msmolly.
After my first (Grade 1) and before my second (Grade 3) cancer I had given up smoking, taken loads more exercise, cut right back on alcohol, improved my diet.
I’m not knocking a healthy diet; I think it’s very important, but only one part of a very large, and still poorly understood, bc picture.
But I’ve continued to eat healthily, however not obsessively so. Happily for me (and a lot of others, too, I imagine), I like very much many of the foods that are supposed to be so good for us, which is nice. (I’m actually a bit of a dustbin in that I’ll eat almost anything).
Eating should be one of life’s pleasures! So I don’t think we should deny ourselves treats or home in on certain food groups to the total exclusion of others.
X
S
unfortunately there is very little hard evidence to link certain foods with bc. There are plently of ladies on here who have had a good diet, exercised etc and STILL got bc.Diet will not protect you from bc.
Rachael xx
Hi Ruby
I am at the moment taking a health food drink called blueberry punch by Dr. Red(it was recently featured on GMTV). It has been proven to help reduce tumour size in prostate cancer and further tests are now being done with many other types of cancer including breast.
It is not a cure but the longer I can keep my tumours at bay the better. Anyway the ingredients are
Blueberries
Elderberry
Raspberry
Green Tea
Grapes (including seed and skin extract)
Citrus skin extract
Tarragon
Turmeric
Ginger
Also at the hospital I attend they have a list of foods thought to help and I will copy it down for you, I am there on Friday.
I know seaweed is on the list. And i also know that according to Patrick Holford, a food nutritionist that Pomegranate has the highest level of antioxidants followed by blueberries.
Whilst taking capecitabine i was told to avoid grapefruit jucie so I think if there is a problem with foods interacting with your treatment your oncology team should tell you.
Liz
Hi
I have also bought two bottles of Blueberry Punch after Dr Chris Steele spoke about it on the This Morning programme. I intend to look at whether there is a positive change in my tumour markers (and to be honest I doubt there will be) If there isn’t I won’t buy anymore, but thought it was worth a punt.
Linda
I think I tend to look at this issue the other way round.
For me, it’s a case of a bad diet increasing risk rather than a good diet decreasing it…am I making any sense here?
X
S
Where can you buy Blueberry Punch?
Thanks Val
I have seen this stuff on the internet - it is phenomenally expensive - £30 a bottle. I noticed that it contains 1% alcohol and caffeine which seems a bit odd.
Does anyone have a link to any proper research that has been done on it? How do they know it shrinks prostate tumours?
(Yes Bahons you are making sense - and I agree.)
A quick google and have found out that there has been research conducted by Dr Jas Singh at Sydney University, funded by the manuafacturers of the juice Dr Red Neutarceuticals. The research was using genetically engineered mice…and mouse models are notoriously bad for predicting how humans will respond. One of the prostate cancer charities has suggested great caution on this: apparently there is a follow up using 150 men but research would be needed on a much much larger group of men before any conclusions about this juice can sensibly be made.
I sometimes want to put my head in my hands and just groan loudly when I read the hype about this and that food or drink preventing or curing cancer. I think in general that there is such a lack of understanding in this country (and elsewhere no doubt) about scientifc method and about evidence…everything gets simplified and misunderstood. Science teaching in schools has much to answer for.
I think its quite dangerous to start listing particular foods as being preventative or even cuurative of cancer. I think there is an awful lot of misguided moralism about these lists, and an unnecessary burden put on people with cancer to ‘help themselves.’ And yes and I agree with what you say bahons about avoiding a bad diet.
Jane
Thank you for that info Jane.
Bung some cabbage water in a posh bottle, make nefarious claims about it, get some tv pundit doctor to promote it and charge obscene amounts for it.
They’re just 21st century snake oil vendors.
Each of the ingredients listed on the bottle of juice (bar alcohol and caffeine) are excellent “superfoods” if eaten fresh. The problem is that when berries/fruit are juiced their sugar content increases the longer the juice is left unused. Juiced fruit should be drunk as fresh as possible - as soon as it is made. Many scientists/nutritionalists believe that cancer cells feed on sugar and it is best to limit sugar intake.
Jibby
Hi Jibby
Please could you suggest some links to evidence of what you say about scientists and sugar?
Thanks
Jane
Hi Ladies,
I was just wondering if any of you have heard of ip6. Its a form of natural treatment i was taking it when i was first dx but could only get hold of it in powder, i had to disslove it in water, it was very gritty so i stopped taking it. I have since found it in tablet form but its not as pure as the powder. Here’s one of the links to read if anyone is interested. It has all the info.
Take Care
Leslee x
The sugar feeding cancer thing is nonsense.
This woman does a spectacular job of explaining why it is nonsense.
junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/03/do-you-fear-sugar-might-cause-cancer.html
This is a great article msmolly.
I do wish we could have a bibliography on this forum, where we could file such articles for a wider audience to find.
Yes great article msmolly.
Jane
An interesting article msmolly. In keeping with the original question, any info I have is from mainstream books written about nutrition and cancer.
Jibby
Hi Jibby
Mainstream books on diet and nutrition don’t necessarily quote sound research. They are often nothing more than the author’s speculation.
best wishes
Jane