Overcthe last six months my contribution to my tratment has been working to keep myself as healthy and fit as possible. Apart from when I was on a/bs ive done what i can to suppirt my gut health through diet, diet, Dr Ohirra’s capsules and, above all, my yoghurt, kefir and kombucha factory that takes over half the kitchen. I’m starting EC next week and have told all that has to go!!! Just checking that this is a general restriction and not just a local quirk?? I eont even tell them about my seaweed based multivitamin. What about magnesium/epsom salts?
My understanding is that you can’t have anything with live cultures in due to infection risk whilst on chemo as your immune system will be compromised. I believe certain vitamin supplements can interfere with the effectiveness of chemo too. I think all your hard work in keeping your gut healthy will probably help to put you in a good healthy position going into chemo and once it’s finished you can get back to your regime to help build yourself back up. Best of luck with your treatment x
@twink1 I used to eat Kefir every day….didn’t get told not to eat it and it was only from the monthly chemo chat on here that I learnt that I probably shouldn’t be! Checked with oncology and learnt that was correct! She then went through everything including no over the counter supplements
Hi. Ive looked for scientific evidence that foods with live cultures have been connected to infection while on chemotherapy. So far I’ve found none. Will keep looking. When I was on chemotherapy I ate as normal with no infection.
There is evidence that eating these foods before chemo is helpful. We know that your gut microbes do influence infection while on chemo but that research is ongoing.
This was the most helpful paper I found.
I worry that there’s a lack of decent research here.
That’s why I asked. It almost came in as an after thought from the nurse. ( will be reintroducing ’cripes’ to my vocabulary in lieu of a couple of other words I find myself using increasingly these days - thanks)
That article is fascinating. It’s clearly lack of evidence is why we are warned rather than evidence of problems. This confirmed what a medic relation told me last night. I got the impression more research had gone into yoghurt than the others. Interesting about fish oil and glutamine, too.
My yoghurt doesnt have the bacteria in the most promising list in the article… more homework needed
I often feel so confused about what i hear and read that something i feel like i am actually going insane. I remember in one of my early appointments my 70 year old father saying to the oncologist he didn’t understand given that he had done & breathed in all sorts over the years!
I went for a lymphatic drainage massage yesterday & feel quite good. X
I think this is an interesting one. The advice to avoid anything with live bacteria is about infection risk, because chemo destroys white blood cells. The advice doesn’t differentiate between ‘bad’ bacteria and ‘good’ bacteria. I took one look at the advice and it removed pretty well everything I enjoy. Not just the live yogurt, kefir and kombucha, but rare steak, seafood, sushi and sashimi, blue cheeses and cheeses made from unpasteurised milk. I also know from past experience that my bowels work better when I have a daily live yogurt. I started to wonder whether patients in Japan were told to avoid sushi and sashimi, whether patients in Korea were told to avoid kimchi, whether patients in France were told to avoid cheese and bleeding steaks. I suspect not.
I am not medically trained and I am absolutely not giving advice, but my own decision was to reduce the risk of bad bacteria and not worry about good bacteria. I avoided buffets and street food. I avoided seafood, sushi and sashimi and took care that the outside bits of steak were cooked. I continued to eat live yogurt, kefir and kombucha and eat whatever cheeses I wanted provided they had not previously been unwrapped. I didn’t have any problems.
Hmmm, I ate kefir and yoghurt all the way through 4xAC and 12xTaxol. I wasn’t warned not to; in fact when I told them in the chemo unit I was encouraged to continue. I guess advice varies. I figured my Tesco-bought kefir and Greek yoghurt had to be safe, or else they wouldn’t be on the supermarket shelves. My bloods were ok throughout (apart from platelets), so perhaps had I become neutropenic the advice may have changed.
I did avoid buffets and any food that could have had many hands dipping in (shared crisps bowls etc) and also avoided having reheated leftover food. This was as per advice from my team.
The acidopholus and bifidophilis mentioned in the article shared ar available as supplements. Maybe my homemade products are more likely than major brands to present problems. Still thinking about the latter… coming around to your viewpoint, though. Thanks
Looks like there’s research in Korea about kimchi, i saw a few papers on this. More to come i think.
Personally I ate as usual during chemotherapy, whole foods, mainly plant based, but did have blue cheese and kimchi and kefir. I figured that a healthy gut meant my immune system was in better condition than it would have been otherwise neutrophils not withstanding.
Ive been intrigued as to chemo effects on the non white cell parts of the immune system. We know bits but I think there are gaps.
Really interesting reading this thread. I was taking Symprove supplement prior to my chemotherapy (4xEC & currently number 7 of 12 Taxol) but told I shouldn’t take anything with live bacteria. Given that it keeps gut healthy and chemo is currently trashing my digestive systems from top to bottom, I was really disheartened. I am hoping that my prior healthy gut was a good basis to helping the side effects. Chemo has definitely affected my immune system though, so cautious about reintroducing pre and probiotics until I am finished. I agree it is just lack of research that we get given a blanket no live bacteria during chemo.
It’s tough. It is true , though that the Zoe pro-biotic (equivalent to symprove and my dr Ohirra) was withdrawn just over a year ago with a recall etc. It’s only back relatively recently. I’m definitely stopping my own fermenting activities but have bought acidopholus/bifidopholus tablets which might help - and see how I go.
I had 4 cycles of EC and 10 of Paclitaxel still on the trastuzumab last one next week with PICC line out …. I ate Greek live yogurt throughout and I learnt that home made veg soup the night before treatment and homemade chicken noodle soup after treatment stopped the nasty sick feeling and I never needed to take the anti sickness tablets my chemo lasted 6 months with three additional months of MCA plus 2 weeks of radio therapy…. I was also told that I should not take over the counter multi vitamins or anything that has not been run by the team as it can effect treatment .
Sorry to disagree but I ate kefir and Turkish yoghurt all the way through my chemo. I follow and still do follow the Zoe way of eating. You need good bacteria in the gut to overcome the damage done by the chemo. I also drank kombucha a few times, but just kept away from any with grapefruit in. I actually trust my knowledge about the gut micro biome more than my cancer docs and nurses!
