Thanks xwelcomex xx
xwelcomex - yes, please do butt in !
Oh dear.As I said in my simple mind it works.
RE…Contradict.My post was not aimed at any one particular post but research posts in general
Also my post was not aimed at those that believe in cancer and diet or to those that don’t,just about research posts in general.
And I did not mean annoyed as in annoyed that people are interested in diet and cancer but annoyed as in when a post or piece of research is challenged (on both sides of the fence)people sometimes get angry.
Will go crawl back under my rock now lol
Melxx
This is a free country and we have freedom of speech - that anyone would suggest that internet research should be banned is quite disturbing. That anyone would blindly follow one piece of research without questioning it is sad (but probably quite typical of most Daily Mail readers, it is not just on the internet). I would like to think that there are many women on this site who are intelligent enough to form their own opinion based on a variety of sources. I do not think that women on this site need ‘protecting’ from controversial research, and it is patronising to think so.
There is a BC Diet - I follow it, it is my BC Diet, but it is still a BC DIet. I invented it and no one else has to follow it, but there is is, it exists. I do not think it will cure cancer, nor do I think that is will save me from ever getting secondaires, but it may just improve my overall risk by a few percentage points.
The other benefits of my BC diet is that I have not put on any weight, my tamox se’s are minimal, I am not on anti-depressants, I continue to run my business, my skin is glowing and apart from tamox reducing my energy levels, I feel better than I did pre-dx.
My current position is the same as xwelcomex, and I greatly appreciate the women on here who take the time to post links to current information.
Just to say - that I love the spirit of this thread in sharing ideas in this confusing world created by a diagnosis of breast cancer and possible connections with diet… I love hearing about research that others have found that I’ve not found myself and having my personal decisions challenged and clarified. Thanks to those who seem to have to “bravely” venture forth into this discussion. There’s so much that is not definitive and we are all individuals in how our bodies work - so good luck to everyone in finding what helps them the most and let’s hope more research is done published to help us in our quest.
Fran
x
Just a minor comment (which is diet related, sort of). I have just read on another thread that someone has been on Arimidex for years, but has been told by her ‘team’ that it wasn’t working as she has been taking it with a cup of tea (which ws inhibiting the ingredient) instead of water. I think this is a horrific thing for her to have discovered and I can’t imagine how she must feel, but just thought I’d pass this on as it can be so easily done.
Annie
Hi,I have been following the various threads on diet and cancer for sometime now with great interest. I read the “Anticancer” book by David Servan-Schreiber which empowered me to try to fight this cancer myself. I was also made aware of “Eat right for your type” by Peter D’Adamo. So far I have heard no other mention of this book on this Forum. It is very interesting because this doctor has been researching for many years the link between blood type and diet.
He states that your blood type is the key to your body’s immune system. In a nutshell, certain protein lectins in foods are incompatible with certain blood types and can have a powerful agglutinating effect on cells causing inflammmation, allergies etc.
Before I was diagnosed, I suffered quite severely with IBS which became worse with all the cancer treatment. I was recommended this diet by the manager of a health food shop who believed that it would help my digestion by eliminating those foods that were “toxic” to my blood group, thus also improving my immunity in my fight against cancer. I have been following this diet for over a year now and my IBS barely causes me problems and I have a lot more energy and feel much healthier in general!
I would be very interested to hear if anyone else has heard of this diet and their opinions of it.
Rawlie xx
Deleted
Rawlie
Thanks for the prompt - I have the book “Cook Right for your Type” but have not really looked at it for ages so will now get it out; I’m blood type AB which is quite unusual so this might give me some ideas on diet - plus have had chronic fatigue for years pre breast cancer so there might be some underlying issue that I should be looking at. Glad you know you’ve found an approach that’s useful and is making you feel better; yes, Servan-Schreiber that has influenced me alot as well.
Fran
Hi Rawlie
I like the Servan-Schreiber book too, but I’m afraid I don’t know anything about blood type diets. Does the book link to any credible research? It’s great that your IBS has cleared up and you feel better - what changes did you make to your diet?
finty xx
Hi Finty,I would suggest you take a look at Doctor D’Adamo’s website dadamo.com/science_ABO_cancer.htm In this particular section, he talks about the link between blood group and cancer.
I am blood group B and learnt that certain foods that I believed to be particularly good when following an anti-cancer diet like tomatoes are particularly bad for my blood group. Even chicken has an agluttinating lectin which attacks the bloodstream and can lead to immune disorders. It is very enlightening. I still manage to eat many of the superfoods described in the Servan-Schreiber books. It’s just that some of them are actually not good for me. So I believe if I eat those which produce toxins in my body, I am negating the effects of all the other superfoods I eat.
As far as I’m concerned, this diet makes sense and I have certainly felt better on it!!
xx
Dear all, I find research fascinating, without research we would never find anything new. This is as true for diet as it is for medicine; chemotherapy drugs and regimes, herceptin etc all came from research and from trying things out. The discovery that trans fats are deadly also came from medical reasearch. I’m in the process of researching my illness in any way I can, and that includes the surgery, diagnostics and medication that has been suggested to me. I think diet is equally important, and so I am researching that too. So I want research on this thread, and I want to discuss what I discover with other like-minded people. If I find something that contradicts some other research I’ll say so and it will be discussed. There is no black and white, so as an adult I’ll make my own mind up based on what I’ve discovered. Please bear in mind that we all deal with our illnesses in different ways - this thread suits the way I deal with mine, and obviously suits many other people similarly.
Extremely well put bubbletrouble!!!
I couldn’t agree more.
^
Deleted
This is an interesting snippet to add to the phytoestrogen debate:
Enterolactone is a phytoestrogen metabolite (the main sources in the diet are rye, bran and berries) and this abstract suggests a protective effect against both primary bc and mortality for post- menopausal women. Unfortunately it’s only the summary findings, I can’t find the full report to see how the study was conducted, and which confounding variables were studied - so it’s very hard to know how much weight to give the results. So for what it’s worth …
finty xx
Rawlie - I don’t know much about the blood group diet but funnily enough heard about it the other week as it had been suggested to my neighbour for her stomach problems.
Having had a quick look I would say that this is quite a contested field. There are scientific studies being carried out looking at different blood groups and likelihood of different illnesses. I’m not sure that there is strong evidence to support claims that different foods for different blood groups mean better health.
I’ll reserve judgement. If it works for you that’s fantastic and I’m glad it’s helped so much with your IBS.
Annie - haven’t heard that about arimidex. If that’s correct it woul be worrying as so many people in this country drink tea and probably take tablets with it. I don’t know what thread it was on but I would suggest that person speaks directly to her oncologist for clarification including why it would interact in that way.
Elinda x
Finty - have just read the research you posted on plasma carotenoids and recurrance free survival from BC. This is encouraging and definitely makes me want to continue with juicing.
I am interested though in how fruit and veg were only shown to have a minimal effect in relation to cancer in the EPIC study. Looking at the detail it does seem that the EPIC relied on self reporting of dietary intake whereas the American study looked at blood levels.
Also the American study was looking specifically at carotenoids which I believe are found in more colourful fruit and veg like carrots and peppers and in dark green leafy veg.
Anyone have any further info on this?
Elinda x
Hi Elinda
I would expect there to be several reasons for the discrepancy. One thing that I noticed is that the study on plasma carotenoids found a significant difference only between the top and bottom quartiles for the fruit and veg biomarkers, but little difference between the two middle quartiles. So it suggests that you have to eat a lot of fruit and veg to get the benefit, eating an average amount (whatever that is) didn’t show much benefit in this study. It would be interesting to know what the average consumption in the UK is, but given that there has been a huge public health campaign to get people to just eat 5 a day, I suspect most people don’t even manage that. So it may be that average consumption in EPIC participants was just too low to register a benefit. I will try and find some figures on UK fruit and veg consumption.
EPIC was also largely self reporting - only 19,000 had blood taken at outset in the UK arm, and only 1,000 at follow up. It isn’t known whether they tested for carotenoids or not, so comparisons are difficult.
The other thing that I suspect had an impact on the carotenoid study is that all the women in this study had already had primary breast cancer. When they enrolled in the study they were in the non-intervention arm, so were asked to continue their normal diet and lifestyle at the time they enrolled - which may not have been the same as their pre-cancer dx diet and lifestyle. I think it is quite likely that a number had already made changes as a result of their dx, so it’s possible they were eating a super healthy diet including a higher than usual plant content. They may have already made other diet and lifestyle changes that weren’t measured in this study - if they contributed to their lowered risk, that would artificially inflate the figures for fruit and veg.
This is in contrast to the EPIC study, where none of the cohort had cancer before enrolment - I think other serious illnesses were also excluded, but I would have to check that. So we are not comparing like with like.
I suspect it is also significant that the carotenoid study was of American women. I come from an Anglo-American family, and have a quite a lot of friends and family in the States. Three of my US friends have been treated recently for cancer (mouth, lung and breast)at top US hospitals (Sloan-Kettering, John Hopkins and one in CA) - two of them have been given diet advice similar (but not identical) to that we are both following. The third is still on liquids after very unpleasant mouth rads, so I don’t yet know whether she will be or not. I know anecdote is not the singular of data, but it does seem more common for US cancer patients to be given diet advice. And if you ever read US cancer forums, you will find much more discussion and acceptance of diet issues. So that’s a very long way of saying I think the carotenoid study is likely to have included a percentage of well-informed and motivated cancer patients that were already following some form of diet advice, and that may be one reason why the results showed a greater risk reduction than the EPIC study.
finty xx