Health and Wellness

| home | launch pad | about the author |

Nutrition for Cancer Patients
by Romulo S. de Villa, MD, PhD, Cert. Biochem., FPSO, FMOSP, DPAAB

1. Can nutrition still help me now that I have cancer?
2. What should I eat?
3. What foods should I avoid?
4. What foods and manner of cooking can you recommend for cancer patients?
5. Can you recommend a general daily menu that follows the principles you teach?
6. Are there good fats and bad fats for cancer patients?
7. What is the value of supplements that boost the immune system in the treatment of cancer?
8. How do I choose supplements?
9. If I change my diet and take dietary supplements can I stop chemotherapy and radiotherapy?
10. Is it true that cancer cells are protected by some supplements we take?
11. Can food cause cancer?
12. Will virgin coconut oil, VCO (2-4 tbsp) help?

1. Can nutrition still help me now that I have cancer?

Yes, good nutrition will still be helpful. Nutrition is most valuable for prevention of cancer and but may not be effective alone as a cancer cure. However, with or without cancer, good nutrition will always support the health and strength of the human body. There is now a growing body of evidence that vitamins and herbal supplements play an important role in the prevention of cancer and enhancing the quality of life of cancer patients.

[top]

2. What should I eat?

Eat a “High 5 Diet” that consists of (1) organic Fruits and Vegetables, (2) organic whole grain Cereals, (3) Fish from the sea with scales and relatively small, (4) organic Beans, Nuts, & Legumes, (5) full cream powdered Milk from grass fed cows and soft boiled native Eggs.

Fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber and phytochemicals. The importance of fiber, vitamins, and minerals in the diet is well established. Numerous studies in the last 10-15 years have shown that phytochemicals have biologic functions and may be essential for optimum health of the human body. For example, they have been found to act as antioxidants and modulate the immune system.

Whole grain cereals contain vitamins, minerals, soluble fiber and phytochemicals. This does not mean that if we eat fruits and vegetables we don’t need whole grain cereals because they contain the same types of nutrients. The nutrients in whole grain cereals are of the same type but different. Each food is rich in particular nutrients found less in other foods. Thus, the key to health is eating a variety of foods from each of the 5 food groups in the “High 5 Diet”.

Fish especially from the sea and most especially from temperate waters are healthy because of the content of the polyunsaturated fatty acid, omega-3 which balances the omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acid is an anti-freeze agent that is why organisms that live in cold regions of the world have the highest omega-3 fatty acid content. The key to health is not just the amount but also balance and proportion of nutrients. The healthy balance of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids in the diet is from 1:1 to 1:4 by weight. A predominantly land animal diet has been estimated to have from 1:9 up to 1:40 proportion of omega-3 to omega-6. Excess of omega-6 fatty acids in the diet is not good for health because it promotes excessive inflammation which is a common factor in atherosclerosis, a process that leads to narrowing of the blood vessel lumen that causes heart attacks and strokes. Excessive inflammation can aggravate also arthritis and recently inflammation is being considered as one of the factors in worsening of the cancer (Chen et. al., 2005). However, fish should be steamed or boiled because studies show that the health benefits of fish is lost when fried.

Beans, nuts, and legumes also contain vitamins, minerals, fiber and phytochemicals. For example, soya beans contain the phytochemical isoflavones that have been shown to correlate positively with reduction of the risk of developing breast cancer. However, when taken in excess may be detrimental to patients already with breast cancer. Thus variety is still the key because with variety you will not be eating as much of a particular food from this group.

Full cream milk from cow, water buffalo (carabao), and goat are healthy. But milk becomes unhealthy when processed by high heat, separated and purified. Milk from grass fed animals is healthier than cultured animals given dioxane and lipid peroxide containing feeds made from corn meal, soya meal, and spent cooking oil.

Soft boiled eggs contains protein with the highest quality. The entire egg including the yolk is an optimum material source for making healthy cell membranes. Egg yolk contain lecithin and cholesterol. Lecithin is the major component that allows the formation of membranes. Cholesterol modulates the fluidity of the membrane. Without cholesterol the membrane will dissipate in high heat and will harden in cold temperatures. The proportion of lecithin to cholesterol is 5:2 in egg yolk and is the best proportion to make biological membranes lining the cells of the body.

[top]

3. What foods should I avoid?

1. Avoid highly toxic foods (pork, pork products, shrimps, crabs, and shell fish) and processing that produces toxins (fried and baked starchy foods) because chemicals and toxins that cause mutations feed cancer cells to make them more aggressive and destructive.
2. Avoid refined foods including white rice, white bread and white sugar. Control sugar swings after the meal by eating fiber foods first.
3. Avoid foods with excess inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids such as pork and vegetable cooking oil.
4. Avoid fried foods especially when fried with unsaturated cooking oil and avoid inhaling fumes of heated cooking oil.
5. Avoid baked starchy foods that have been found to contain the toxin, acrylamide.

[top]

4. What foods and manner of cooking can you recommend for cancer patients?

We have polluted our world so much that pesticides and herbicides can be found in areas where man cannot cultivate crops and use pesticides and herbicides such as the north pole and the south pole. Thus I recommend that we identify the foods that have concentrated amounts of man-made chemical pollutants and toxins and foods that have a lesser amount of these pollutants and toxins. Then, avoid the highly polluted foods and eat the least polluted food but shown to be rich in health promoting nutrients such as fiber, vitamins, minerals and plant nutrients.

Shown below is what I have called “Traffic Light of Nutrition” where the STOP category refers to foods and processing that are rich in man-made chemicals and toxins, the CAUTION category refers to foods that have moderate amount of man-made chemicals and toxins or that the chemicals and toxins can be avoided by choosing the animals fed with organically grown foods containing less chemicals and toxins and processing where the charred portion can be avoided or the use of plastic containers can be avoided, the GO category refers to foods with the least amount of man-made chemicals and toxins and processing that have been shown not to generate additional toxins.

TRAFFIC LIGHT OF FOODS

RED
Stop - Pork, Pork products (Hotdog, Tocino, Longanisa, Ham, Spam)
Stop - Crabs, Shells, Shrimps

YELLOW
Caution - Beef
Caution- Chicken

GREEN
Go - Fish (from the sea, relatively small, with scales)
Go - Full Cream Powdered
Go - Soft Boiled Egq
Go - Variety of Fresh Raw Fruits and Vegetables
Go - Variety of Whole Grain Cereals
Go - Variety of Beans, Nuts, Legumes

Pork and Beef:

A doctor friend of mine working at the Occupational Health and Safety Office showed me a complete list of man-made chemical pollutants with their solubility. When I estimated the proportion of chemicals soluble in fat and in water, I found that roughly 80% of the chemicals in the list go with the fat and 20% go with water. Man-made chemicals and toxins would accumulate more in animal foods due to the principle of biologic accumulation as you go higher in the food chain and animal foods are always higher in the food chain than plant foods. Thus, it would be reasonable to think that fat-soluble chemicals will be found in animal foods that contain the greatest amount of fat such as pork. These chemicals would increase the generation of free radicals in the body. Free radicals would add more damage to the genes in cancer cells which can make the cancer cells more aggressive such as acquiring the ability to move to other tissues and organs of the body such as the bones, lungs, liver, and the brain. Thus, continued chemical exposure would feed the cancer cells.

When we compare pork and beef, man’s usual preference is to eat pork instead of beef because when ‘sinigang na baboy (pork)’ or ‘sinigang na baka (beef)’ cools to room temperature, beef fat hardens while pork fat remains as oil. Hardened beef fat can easily be seen whereas oily pork fat is not easily noticed. You would have to pour the broth into a transparent glass and see from the side of the glass the level of oil relative to water. When this is done, you would realize that there is a greater amount of fat from pork than from beef even if you have separated the obvious fat and cooked just the meat.

Pork fat is liquid (oily) at room temperature because it has unsaturated fatty acids that has a lower melting temperature than saturated fatty acids. Since the common thought is that unsaturated fat are good and saturated fats are bad then pork fat is good and beef fat is bad. However, recent studies show that the proportion of fats is the key to health. Among the unsaturated fats there is a monounsaturated fat found mostly in olives and polyunsaturated fats found mostly in fish and vegetables. Among the polyunsaturated fats there is an omega-3 fatty acids and an omega-6 fatty acids. The healthy proportion of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids in the diet has been determined to be from 1:1 up to 1:4. If the proportion is such that there is greater than four times omega-6 than omega-3 then the body’s inflammatory response to damage will be excessive. Pork fat has a 1:9 proportion of omega-3 to omega-6 (Rudin and Felix, 1996).

Pork fat aside from being an animal fat that contains cholesterol also contains long chain saturated fat. Long chain saturated fats are bad because they are broken down in our body into plenty of materials for making cholesterol and lead to elevation of low density lipoprotein (LDL) or bad cholesterol that clogs blood vessel when they are deposited in the blood vessel walls.

Pork products are worse because they contain much more chemical toxins. Processed meat products such as hotdog, meatloaf, tocino, longanisa are preserved with non-cancer causing nitrates and nitrites. However, nitrates and nitrites are metabolized in our body into cancer causing nitrosoamines.

Crabs, Shells, and Shrimps:

Man-made chemical pollutants that go with the water will accumulate at the mouth of the river as it empties into the sea. In the world’s water cycle, water evaporates from the sea to form clouds in the air. Clouds are blown by the wind to the atmosphere above the land where it is cooler and the water condenses to form rain. The rain falls thru the atmosphere polluted by factory smoke, vehicle exhaust, cigarette smoke, and the practice of burning leaves and twigs. Water soluble pollutants go with the rain water which falls on the ground and goes to the river. The river water is joined by sewage that drains households, car repair shops, and other business establishments. The river water is also joined by water that has rained on agricultural lands that use pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals for flowering and fruiting. Factories locate themselves beside the river where they dump their chemical waste. All the pollutants in the river will eventually settle at the bottom of the mouth of the river where the river is so wide and the flow is so slow. The animal foods living at the bottom of the mouth of the river will receive these pollutants. These animals are the crabs, shellfish, and shrimps. Thus, these animal foods should be avoided.

Chicken:

The low toxicity healthier chicken is the native or free range chicken that is allowed to obtain its natural food. Caged chicken is given feeds based on corn and soya which are not its natural food. Some feeds are formulated from oil left over from frying which contain the toxin, lipid peroxides. These toxins may weaken the chicken’s body that will need antibiotics at about 48 days of culture to prevent the entire grow out batch of chicken from being wiped out by infection. These chickens should be grown another 10 days after antibiotics to ensure complete removal from the body of the chicken prior to being slaughtered for the market.

Fish:

Fish that may have the lowest toxicity is the small fish growing in deep waters of the sea. Shallow waters near the shore, fresh water and waters in the mouth of the river contain high toxin load that may accumulate in the body of the fish growing in these waters. Fish with the highest toxin content may probably be bottom feeders such as ‘hito’ and ‘dalag’.

Full Cream Powdered Milk:

The cream of the milk has been judged as bad because of the amount of cholesterol and saturated fats. The mere presence of cholesterol does not mean that the cholesterol is bad. What makes cholesterol bad is when it is carried by LDL. Cholesterol is good when it is carried by HDL. Cholesterol goes to HDL when it is accompanied by lecithin, a phospholipid that is found in the cream of the milk. When cholesterol is alone or when the accompanying lecithin that contains unsaturated fatty acid is damaged by high heat cooking such as frying and baking, cholesterol may elevate LDL or come together as a crystal in bile that may be the beginnings of gall stones.

Not all saturated fats are bad. There are three kinds of saturated fatty acids; long chain, medium chain, and short chain saturated fats. Long chain saturated fatty acids is bad because it can be converted in the liver into cholesterol. Medium chain saturated fatty acids are good because they are converted into monoglycerides that has been found in the laboratory to weaken the covering of certain viruses. Short chain saturated fatty acids are good because they have been found to support digestive health. The cream of the milk contains 20% short chain saturated fatty acids.

Powdered milk may give the best health benefit from milk proteins. Milk proteins are denatured when exposed to high heat. Denatured proteins are digested completely to their unit component, amino acids. When the milk proteins are in their natural form, they are digested into short chains of amino acid units called peptides. Milk derived peptides have been shown to perform numerous function for the milk drinker, such as maintaining a healthy blood pressure and activation of the cancer defense system (immune system) of the body.

Soft Boiled Egg:

The yolk of the egg has been judged as bad because of the amount of cholesterol. However, the yolk of the egg contains a lot more lecithin. For every 2 cholesterols there are 5 lecithins in the yolk of the egg. Thus, egg yolk cholesterol may accumulate in HDL (good cholesterol) especially when the egg is boiled. Recently, disease fighting antibodies (IgY) have been found in the yolk of the egg.

Fruits and Vegetables:

Fruits and vegetables are low calorie and high micronutrient foods. The micronutrients include multivitamins, multiminerals and multiphytonutrients.

Whole Grains/Cereals:

Whole grains and hot cereals are rich in fibers both soluble and insoluble. Fibers are non-digestible carbohydrates that balance the digestible carbohydrates (starch).

Beans/Nuts/Legumes:

These foods contain phytonutrients that have been shown to provide unique health benefits.

TRAFFIC LIGHT OF PROCESSING

RED
Stop – Frying (produces lipid peroxides)
Stop – Baking (produces acrylamides)

YELLOW
Caution - Broiling
Caution - Microwaving

GREEN
Go - Steaming
Go - Boiling
Go - Cook in Coconut Milk
Go - Cook in Curry

Frying:

When food is fried in unsaturated oils, lipid peroxides are produced from the reaction of oxygen from the atmosphere, unsaturated fatty acids in the oil and the high heat (~340-370 oC) of cooking in oil.

Baking:

Recent studies show that baking or high heat cooking of starchy foods (potato, cakes, cookies and pastries) lead to the formation of acrylamide, a nerve poison. Acrylamide is produced from the reaction of reducing-sugars and arginine in the presence of high heat. Foods that have been shown to have the highest acrylamide content are potato chips and french fries.

Broiling and Grilling:

When meat is charred by broiling or grilling, carcinogens are formed. Carcinogens in charred meat include benzopyrenes.

Microwaving:

Microwave heats the food without burning. However, the use of plastic containers even if they do not melt with the microwave may leach out chemicals trapped in the matrix of the plastic.

Steaming:

Steaming is healthy because it does not burn the food.

Boiling:

Boiling is healthy because it is low heat cooking. Acrylamide has not been found in boiled foods.

Cooking in Coconut Milk:

Coconut milk contains medium chain triglycerides (MCT) which is a kind of saturated fat that gives health benefits. MCT provides immediate source of energy that may inhibit the conversion of carbohydrates from the diet into fats.

Cooking in Curry:

Curry is derived from ‘luyang dilaw’ which contains curcumin, a cancer fighter.

[top]

5. Can you recommend a general daily menu that follows the principles you teach?

BREAKFAST
Muesli
Full Cream Powdered Milk from grass fed animals
Fresh Raw Fruits

MORNING SNACK
Whole wheat bread with butter and honey

LUNCH
Soft Boiled Egg
Vegetable (green or garden) Salad
Beans
Cooked Vegetables
Poultry (boiled, free range chicken)
Unpolished Rice

AFTERNOON SNACK
Fresh Raw Fruit

DINNER
Sliced Hard Boiled Egg
Vegetable Salad with nuts
Fish (steamed or Boiled)
Unpolished Rice

The amount will vary depending on your personal energy requirement.

[top]

6. Are there good fats and bad fats for cancer patients?

We have inappropriately lumped together all saturated fats as bad fats and all unsaturated fats as good fats. The classification of good and bad fats was developed from a population study where people from different places were compared. One place had increasing incidence of heart attacks and the other place had low incidence of heart attacks. When they looked at the diet of the people, the people living in a place where they had increasing incidence of heart attacks were having more saturated fats in their diet, whereas, the people living in a place where they had low incidence of heart attacks were having more unsaturated fats in their diet. The people with increasing incidence of heart attack were eating more saturated fats because they were eating more meat and animal products. The people with low incidence of heart attack were eating more unsaturated fats because they were eating more vegetables and plant foods. Since the cooking oil industry was producing oil from coconut that contains more of saturated than unsaturated fats, the industry shifted to corn and soya as a source of oil since they contain more of unsaturated fats and there are large plantations of these crops. Now, we realize that unsaturated fats in the raw vegetables are good for the body but they turn bad when heated above 100 oC which is the temperature of cooking in any oil. Heated unsaturated oils are converted into lipid peroxides that slowly damages the body by weakening the cells that incorporate these lipid peroxides as their membrane components. Lipid peroxides are also the result of free radical damage on the unsaturated fatty acids found in the membranes of cells.

If you have an excess omega-6 and long chain saturated fatty acids in your “human engine”, then you need an “oil change” with undamaged (not exposed to high heat) omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids from temperate fishes and flax seed, medium chain saturated fatty acids from coconut, and short chain saturated fatty acids from full cream milk and probiotics (good bacteria like Lactobacillus and Bifidus).

The Real Bad Fats
- long chain saturated fatty acids (pork and beef)
- excess omega-6 fatty acids relative to omega-3 fatty acids (pork)
- heated unsaturated oils

Good fats
- omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (temperate fish)
- monounsaturated fatty acids (olives)
- medium chain saturated fatty acids (coconut)
- short chain saturated fatty acids (full cream milk)

[top]

7. What is the value of supplements that boost the immune system in the treatment of cancer?

Cancer weakens the immune system. Cancer is able to hide itself from recognition by the dendritic (radar) cells of the immune system. Cancer is like a stealth bomber that cannot be detected by radar. The cells of the immune system that fights the cancer cells are natural killer (NK) cells. Many herbs and phytonutrients have been documented to increase the number as well as activity of NK cells.

[top]

8. How do I choose supplements?

I would suggest the following 6-point criteria:

1. Randomized controlled human studies have been performed
2. Scientific studies (laboratory, animal & human trials) have been performed on the product formulation being sold and not just on individual components.
3. The studies have been performed by third party institutions (preferably academic institutions) and not just the scientists of the company.
4. Results and findings on the product are published in a peer reviewed scientific journal
5. The extracts from natural sources have been standardized using either a known active component or a marker compound found in the extract.
6. Manufactured with pharmaceutical standards and utilizing good manufacturing practice standards.

Anecdotal/testimonials (personal account) stated by a lay person should simply encourage us to look into doing controlled studies. But should not be the basis for recommending the use of the product. Case reports by physicians (well documented with laboratory evidence) is a stronger evidence. However, these case reports still warrant the conduct of a formal controlled clinical study in order to determine that the effect is not just incidental but may be applicable to many cases of the same condition or disease.

Part of placebo effect is love and caring which can also be provided to animals. Many alternative practitioners have pleasing personalities and any modality may work simply because of the caring way it was given. Also, not all animal studies are born out in human clinical trials. However, the purpose of animal studies is to determine if there is indeed a biological effect on the whole animal.

[top]

9. If I change my diet and take dietary supplements can I stop chemotherapy and radiotherapy?

Diet and Nutritional supplements for cancer patients as an alternative to attain cure has no randomized controlled evidence. The best current use of nutrition for the management of cancer patient is as supportive. Do not stop chemotherapy and radiotherapy because they are our main armaments to effectively reduce the number of cancer cells in the body. With a markedly reduced population of cancer cells, the body can have the chance to control the cancer cells with a strong immune system. However, the immune system alone with its limited number of cells will be no match if the cancer cells are too numerous and increasing geometrically in numbers.

There are studies showing that good nutritional support can be combined with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Dietary supplements can help protect healthy cells from the damaging effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Numerous animal and in-vivo laboratory studies show that some nutritional supplements may actually help reduce the side effects of chemotherapy because some drugs are known to interfere with vitamin and mineral metabolism. For example, higher levels of dietary antioxidants (Dwivedi et. al., 2005), B-complex vitamins and coenzyme-Q appears to reduce the damaging effect of Adriamycin to the heart. Alpha-lipoic acid a phytonutrient from spinach (Gedlicka et. al., 2003), selenium and cysteine that promotes glutathione synthesis and antioxidant micronutrients (Weijl et. al., 2004) may counteract the toxic side effects of cisplatin. Consumption of up to 400 mcg of folate can reduce the effect of methotrexate on folic acid metabolism.

[top]

10. Is it true that cancer cells are protected by some supplements we take?

There is a fear that the protective properties of some supplements may reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiotherapy because cancer cells may be using components of supplements to protect themselves from the chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Cancer cells use up nutrients that are in excess of the bodies requirements. For example, glucose is used by all cells of the body including cancer cells. However, we cannot deny the body of any glucose just because we don’t want to feed the cancer cells because all the cells in the entire body will die without glucose. Since cancer cells are avid glucose feeders, the most sensible approach is to limit upsurge of glucose after the meal by having enough fiber in the diet. It is advisable to eat fiber foods (plant foods) first during a meal. The pattern during the meal should be the higher fiber foods (fruits, vegetables) first then the lesser fiber foods (potato, rice, noodles, and pasta) and end the meal with no fiber foods (meat). The eating pattern for a day should be the greatest amount of digestible carbohydrates in the breakfast meal, moderate amounts of carbohydrates in the lunch meal, and lowest amount of carbohydrates in the dinner meal. This will allow the morning and afternoon physical activity to use the glucose derived from carbohydrate foods eaten during breakfast and lunch.

[top]

11. Can food cause cancer?

Yes. Certain foods contain concentrated man-made chemicals and toxins that have polluted the environment, taken from the environment and concentrated thru the food chain. These chemicals and toxins are detoxified in the liver where oxidative enzymes convert them into water soluble substances that are eliminated by the kidneys. However, the liver generates oxygen free radicals in the process. Free radicals destroy other molecules they bump into and convert them into free radicals that propagates the process of destructive type of oxidation leading to oxidative damage of substances of our body. Free radicals can damage any molecule it bumps into and when the genes in normal cells of the body are damaged by free radicals, the normal cell can convert into cancer cells. Thus, cancer cells are normal cells that have accumulated damages in many genes. Conversion of normal cells to cancer cells can also occur when the normal cell with a damaged gene is pushed to reproduce by proliferative agents.

[top]

12. Will virgin coconut oil, VCO (2-4 tbsp) help?

Coconut oil contains medium chain triglycerides and medium chain fatty acids like lauric acid is an alternative source of energy for normal cells. On the other hand, cancer cells are dependent on glucose for its energy needs. Cancer cells need plenty of glucose because they can only get less than a third of the energy from glucose compared to normal cells because, unlike normal cells, cancer cells do not burn glucose completely with the use of oxygen. Cancer cells are anaerobic (do not use oxygen to burn glucose for energy). The use of oxygen allows the complete burning of glucose for energy. Thus when the body is fed with medium chain fatty acids instead of glucose, the cancer cells MAY be deprived of glucose, its source of energy.

Also, medium chain fatty acids like lauric acid has been shown to be converted in the body to monolaurin which disrupts the coating of the certain viruses allowing recognition and removal by the cells of the immune system.

[top]

Disclaimer: These statements are for educational purposes only and are not for specific medical advise. Please consult your physician for any medical conditon and your physician will advise you if any of the above information would be applicable to you.

References:

Rudin D, Felix C. Omega-3 Oils: A Practical Guide. c1996.

Chen JJ, Lin YC, Yao PL, Yuan A, Chen HY, Shun CT, Tsai MF, Chen CH, Yang PC. Tumor-associated macrophages: the double-edged sword in cancer progression. J Clin Oncol. 2005 Feb 10;23(5):953-64. Epub 2004 Dec 14.

Dwivedi C, Agrawal P, Natarajan K, Sharma H. Antioxidant and protective effects of Amrit Nectar tablets on adriamycin- and cisplatin-induced toxicities. J Altern Complement Med. 2005 Feb;11(1):143-8

Gedlicka C, Kornek GV, Schmid K, Scheithauer W. Amelioration of docetaxel/cisplatin induced polyneuropathy by alpha-lipoic acid. Ann Oncol. 2003 Feb;14(2):339-40.

Weijl NI, Elsendoorn TJ, Lentjes EG, Hopman GD, Wipkink-Bakker A, Zwinderman AH, Cleton FJ, Osanto S. Supplementation with antioxidant micronutrients and chemotherapy-induced toxicity in cancer patients treated with cisplatin-based chemotherapy: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Eur J Cancer. 2004 Jul;40(11):1713-23.