An Oncologist's Perspective - Augmenting Cancer Therapy with Diet

tanstaafl said:

back to the future ?

We are going to have to re-engineer our food habits and supply.  One hundred years of marketing and industrial misdirection have severely compromised us and are transforming us in dangerous ways.   Step 1 is back to the future (paleo) ?

The main point is to limit the drivers of tumor growth.   What Dr Champ is doing is relaying the work of others which shows that excess IGF-1,  glucose, and insulin are likely drivers of tumor growth.    They happen to work through some of the same metabolic pathways for which targeted drugs are being developed, which strongly suggtests that by manipulating the signals through diet one can help limit tumor growth.  His other important point is that dietary advice is all over the place or non-exixtent in the world of oncology, which to me is a crime.   

One can lower  insulin and avoid large glucose spikes by moderate dietary changes without going on the so-called Paleo diet.     The use of a quality high fat diet, modest protein, and modest quality carbs (green leafy veg for example) during chemo treatment is one means to limit these natural growth signals.  Another way is to fast, but this is very diffilcut for most people, which is why researchers such as Dr Seyfried advocate the high fat, low carb diet.   Has nothing to do with jumping on the Paleo bandwagon.     At a minimum I would avoid all simple carbs and track insulin to make sure it is at the very low end of the normal range, which is very broad...

Yes, marketing and industrial farming aren't looking out for our best interests...

hippiechicks said:

I have asked my oncologist,

I have asked my oncologist, nutritionalist, Primary Care and lots of others throughout my journey (3 plus years), and all I get when I ask about restricting sugar is that it is impossible to do because if you starve your body of sugar it will just make it from something else.  Stressing these studies are in mice and not humans .. and how it is not in my better interest to limit my body of anything right now expecially during chemo treatments when calories are welcomed.  In fact .. the cancer center actually offers things to eat such as chips or cookies, soda and ice cream.  Encourages high protien through nutritionalist .. seems like a scary thing to me.  

It is just so confusing .... my doctors have all but begged me not to restrict myself from any foods I may want .. except for red meats .. that is a big no no. 

 

and you don't want to.  

The idea is to try to keep glucose at moderate or low levels (not non-existent) and avoid glucose spikes which in turn cause insulin to go higher than it would otherwise.   As Dr. Eugene Fine (and others who look at what drives growth) indicates in his research it's excess insulin that helps drive tumor growth pathways, so the thinking is that moderating insulin levels should be a positive for cancer patients.   There is also the issue of elevated levels of glucose providing a direct source of fuel for some (not all) cancers.   

There have been limited trials and clinical case studies with humans, so it has gone beyond the laboratory animal model, and to my knowledge there are additional trials underway or planned using various forms of dietary control from outright 100 % fasting to a versions of the ketogenic diet to augment the standrard of care. 

In any case, even for non-cancer patients, simple carbs are not healthy and are implicated in many health issues.   They can be elimninated without any form of starvation or deprivation, except for the psycological, and yield health benefits.  

All in all, though, I don't blame anyone for be discouraged and confused about the mixed messages they get and to just go with the flow.  Part of Dr Champ's message is that professionals in his own field (oncology) just don't know what the research literature says when it comes to diet as it relates to cancer and so are prone to offer uninformed advice.