For those interested in research on diet and cancer

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1181

i have posted elsewhere what a huge fan i am of Dr Susan Love. She explains very carefully the difference between all sorts of research, types of study, how to read risk statistics etc.

In here section on diet and cancer she says that follow up studies show that there is no correlation between low fat diets, those rich in fruit and vegetables and cancer. She does say that way of eating could reduce wieght and there is a deffinate link between wieght and cancer, especially in post menopausal women.

" that is her opinion and she could be wrong" :wink:

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They are the 3 books I think are the top 3 too Elinda

also on the veg & fruit a good idea to try & get as much different varieties in withing a week span around 27 different types/ colours which is easy during the summer months also seasonal & locally produced where possible

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Yes, I agree with Elinda - those 3 books got me started and let to diet changes that I’m happy with.

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Hi mummysmith

I can only echo what Elinda has said. I also started with the Jane Plant and Servan-Schreiber books, and a follow-on recipe book by Prof Plant that has some very easy recipes - sorry the title escapes me at the moment but you’ll find it easily on Amazon. I haven’t read many other cancer diet books, although from what I understand the Rainbow book is good. I’ve based most of my diet choices on the above books, the advice at the Penny Brohn centre, the great discussions we have here, and from just reading loads and loads of research - so I’m constantly refining as I learn new things.

The Penny Brohn Centre has a diet sheet on their website, so that is a good place to start.

I would say the general advice that most of us would probably agree on, and that you will see in most diet books, is:

Cook from scratch as much as possible, using organic products if you can

Eat lots of vegetables, and some fruit - with plenty of variety - as Elinda says getting lots of different colours is a good check that you are having enough variety

Try to reduce/eliminate simple white carbs (bread, pasta, rice), and replace with complex, whole-grain carbs

Try to reduce/eliminate alcohol and coffee

If you eat a lots of dairy and meat, try to reduce the amount and be careful of the quality of the produce. Oily fish and pulses are good replacements.

Reduce sugar intake

Be careful of cooking oils, try to avoid those high in Omega 6

I would add, all these changes are good for general health as well as any potential benefit of reducing cancer risk.

You’ve certainly got your hands full with 4 young children - so I don’t underestimate the task. But good luck!

finty xx

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oal I haven’t read the Susan Love book - but I have seen your comments about it on other threads. Another book that is useful(and funny)with a primer on research studies is Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science - but don’t read it if you are into homeopathy!

I’m wondering if the Susan Love book was written some time ago - maybe before some of the research we discuss here was available?

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Forgot to say - mummysmith and AnneG - welcome to the thread - great to have you here :slight_smile:

Lemongrove - yes, that’s exactly my impression, that the fat itself is the storage tank for oestrogen, and the number of fat cells is not that relevant. It is of course relevant to keeping the weight off, but that’s a different issue - if you can manage to do it I think you will reduce oestrogen levels. I’ll check the NEJM article - thanks for that.

I gather there is something in the Sunday Times about the issue today - but as a long time Murdoch boycotter I can’t buy it, and the website is behind a pay wall.

Re the trial - it is fascinating and I’m leaning towards going for it. It’s stage 2, the results of Stage 1 are here:

jco.ascopubs.org/content/27/35/5911.full?sid=04d41fa4-d08e-4f90-8556-682096a87f98

I’ve talked to the woman running it, Dr Emens at John Hopkins, and she is keen to have me if we can get over the issue of protocols for overseas patients and get FDA approval. The trial has a lot of excitement about it and is apparently leading the way in vaccine therapy - there have been numerous previous vaccine trials. I’ll let you know if there are any developments.

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this is page 100 of this thread. Is this a first I wonder???

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no not quite!!

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the susan love book i have is september 2010 and she mentions quite often the difference between this edition and the last one and what reasearch has been published recently

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Finty the trial sounds really interesting, but it seems to be about immunotherapy rather than the effect of diet on the immune system - is that right ?.
I’m not sure if immunotherapy involves genetic engineering of the killer cells so that they recognise cancer, but I have read that is a promising area.

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Yes that’s right - immunotherapy - nothing to do with diet, so off topic for this thread - sorry for the confusion. As far as I know this one would not involve any genetic engineering of my cells - but the cancer cells in the vaccine are of course genetically engineered.

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Hi Leadie - well spotted. I can’t believe we’ve all posted that much already! Elinda x

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Finty, the trial sounds brilliant, and I just want to say you’re a woman after my own heart. Your approach/attitude to dealing with things mirrors my own in so many ways. We both rejected the palliative route originally mapped out for us, did our research, found out about oligometastases and insisted on the curative route. We both had cyberknife for bone mets (I was first in the Country to have it for bone mets, and I think you were second), and we have both been investigating things that can trigger the immune system (I’m still not sure about diet etc, but I have an open mind). Because of this I am so excited by the trial, because I can see myself following this route (maybe not the trial, but something similar).
Anyway just wanted to say that.

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And can I add that it’s the positive and proactive approach that those on this thread are taking that is inspiring me to push things with Oncs and to keep up my awareness of possibilities for myself.
Thanks to you all
Fran
x

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Thanks Lemongrove - that’s very kind of you to say so. I think how people react to cancer is pretty much determined by the personality type they were born with - I’m very lucky that I have never been the overly anxious doom and gloom type, I always favour a practical “let’s fix it” approach - you clearly do too with your amazing Cyberknife campaign. It’s not for everyone, and I know cancer can’t be “fixed” as such, but I think there’s an awful lot more we can do to help ourselves if we’re willing to explore the subject (and risk being upset by what we find). That’s really the shared ethos of the regulars on this thread - we all think it’s worth the effort to try and improve our outcomes. Also, I don’t waste any time worrying about blame and I wish others wouldn’t either - it’s an issue that comes up here a lot. I was very overweight at diagnosis but now I’m not, I fixed it (well not entirely fixed, still a little way to go).

Just one thing though - my interest in diet isn’t really concerned with the immune system - I don’t discount it, I just haven’t looked into that aspect in any depth yet. My approach is much more to do with avoiding hormones and growth factors, and moderating insulin levels. Then once that is sorted, eating as much as possible of the foods that have shown some anti-cancer affect.

Anyway, thanks again for your kind words.

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Finty - thanks for answering my question a few pages back! I always make a point of reading this thread - the discussions are very interesting. Not having a background in either science or statistics, I find understanding scientific research difficult and really appreciate the help I get on here.
Lilac x

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I would like to echo what Lilac just said. Thank you

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Thought some of you might like to see this report published in 2011 which found 20 pharmacologically active substances (PAS) in milk (looking at cow’s, goat’s and human - all from Spain and Morocco).

It’s a complex and very scientific report but have a look at the introduction and some of the charts. They found for example, two samples of human milk was contanimated by personal care products (the antiseptic triclosan).

What they do say is that in the cow’s milk is:
‘The half-skim and skim milk samples contained much lower levels of PAS than the whole milk samples; by exception, hormones were detected at similar levels in the three types of milk, which is consistent with the previous results of Courant et al’

They don’t seem to draw any particular conclusions from this, I think it’s more about getting accurate readings of these PAS so that the amount of these residues can be controlled.

cancersupportinternational.com/AZZOUZ%20et%20al.%20%282011%29%20-%20JAFC%20%28what%20milk%20contains%29.pdf

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Thanks Elinda

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Dear All
I havent posted here before as rarely post ( 4 kids from 1-14 and never have time )! I do read this thread though and thank Finty for all her help and all of you for keeping it going. Diet is very controversial and I know few Oncolosgists support its benefit but then for myself as triple negative metastatic cancer there is not a whole lot of research on successful conbentional treatment so I am just doing my best to fill my body with as much goodness as possible to support me through chemo as much as anything else.
I have bought a vitamix and juices and are fantastic as enable me to make soups, juices, etc within a reasonable time which for me is essential as have weekly chemo and a a busy family who do not share my new found passion for lots of vegetables.
I am interested in the comments about immuniotherapy as cannot find which trial you are talking about. I am not very good at using forum yet for finding things. I am seeing a Professor specialising in Immonotherapy as opposed to my type of cancer as I believe I need to attack as systemic disease and tried ablation but has returned very quickly. I am also interested in complementaty therapy and have determined a number of supplements I take but again varying opinions as apricot kernels demonstrate as the research is controversial. I am interested on Doctors specialising in supplementing the body to fight the cancer and in particular on the fungus candida theory. In the States it seems easy to find Doctors not relying on chemo but more natural products either instead or to support chemo. Have you discussed on here ?
Thank you
jo