Does anyone know anything about nutrients and cancer?

[BiscuitStuffer]

I have heard that specific nutrients can be really beneficial to those with cancer (broadly speaking). I have had omega 3 and 6, kiki superfood and citricidal mentioned to me - has anyone heard of these and have any knowledge in the area, either professionally or personally?

My mum had breast cancer in 2006 and has just heard that it's in her bone

[mrsmerryweather]

Really sorry to hear about your mum.

Have you googled?

All the brassicas- broccoli etc etc are good, but many of these things are preventative rather than curative.

I knew someone who saw an expert on this and she ate every damn thing under the sun all blended together.

If your mum had the money and could get to London, the guy is Dr Etinee Callibout. He is aleadng pioneer on foods etc and cancer.

[mrsmerryweather]

make that Etienne!

[puffylovett]

Sorry to hear about your mum
There are lots of nutrients that can be beneficial, but you need a high dose of a lot of them. There's a lot of info in my texts about the benefits of Omega 3 in cancer - specifically it helps cells to replicate normally rather than as cancerous cells.
Vitamin D at 2000IU is also recommended as it apparently helps increase cancer cell apoptosis (suicide).

however, some nutrients are contra indicated with some cancer drugs (ie methotrexate and B9 folic acid) so you do need to be careful.

go to www.canhelp.au.org (I think that's right) for further info, they recommend a very low GI diet amongst other things.

Theres loads of other things she can do, but it depends how much she wants to do with regards to diet, supplementation and exercise, she really ought to seek professional advice and have a treatment protocol put together for her that will help increase the benefits of any conventional meds she's on and reduce the side effects. Vit C for example is thought to do that for Tamoxifen.
Hope that helps...

[mrsmerryweather]

where do you live and can you afford private treatment? There is a cancer centre in Bristol that focuses on alternative/dietary appraoch to cancer and has good results- don't know the cost, or website but you can google.

[Buda]

I am very sorry to hear about your Mum. Very scary.

This book is about an Irish lady who beat cancer. There is a lot of information in it about diet and lifestyle changes.

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

BiscuitStuffer

Am very sorry to read about your Mother but I would be very cautious re nutrients. Quackery comes in many forms and this can cause harm to cancer patients (as such a patient she is doubtless emotionally vulnerable and open to suggestion). There are many charlatans out there who will try and sell your Mother foodstuffs and eating plans that are neither needed or even desireable. This will leave her out of pocket and with nothing to show for it.

Have you talked to Breastcancercare, they are a recognised charity who could assist. Cancerbackup are another reputable organisation. Her consultant is also a person I would be talking to at length as well about her overall wellbeing, diet and palative care.

[BiscuitStuffer]

Thank you so much for your replies - i am looking in to them all and now getting overfaced with all the various. What a minefield!

[FiveGoMadInDorset]

My parents have a friend who has bone cancer, he eats no red meat, or dairy or red wine, he was also given 5 years 7 years ago and apart from being slightly jaundiced and redoing his 50 things to do before I die (as he keeps doing them) he is in great form, my mother knows his more detailed diet if you would like me to ask.

[FiveGoMadInDorset]

Just spoken to her, no red meat and no dairy and this is the diet that was given to him by the Houston Cancer Centre which is one of the leading if not the best treatment centre in the world.

[BiscuitStuffer]

Thank you fivegomad - that is the same as a book I was pointed to on my other thread. I would be very interested in as many details as you can get hold of without going to too much trouble. Thank you so much for finding out what you have done already. I really appreciate it.

[BiscuitStuffer]

puffylovett - thank you so much for such a detailed reply. How do we go about finding someone for her to see - I absolutely agree that this needs to be done properly.

[puffylovett]

Hi - I would contact BANT or the GCRN direct to find a Naturopath or Nutritional Therapist who specialises in cancer care.

I was trained by Australian Naturopaths, and there are a few of them dotted around the south of england in practice - they have a really high level of science based training in nutrition and naturopathy & I think that is really important. What you don't want is someone who will just give you lots of supplements for the sake of throwing lots 'goodness' at her. there needs to be a structure and reason to her program.

The last lady I helped insisted on refusing all chemo and radiotherapy, she wanted to do it all naturally herself with a bit of guidance. (complementary therapists are not allowed to treat cancer - you should be aware of steering clear of anyone who claims to do so naturally). She pared her diet right down to as low carb as possible, really following a minimum of fruits and lots of protein and essential fats to starve cancer cells of the glucose they need to survive (supposedly they cannot use protein or fat as a fuel source) and then we tailor made a supplement regime for her. There were about 8 different ones ! We used a combination of Henry Osiecki and the canhelp foundation reccomendations as thats what made the most sense to us. However, there are so many different recommendations out there ! Gerson for example recommends flooding the body with about 10 fresh organic juices per day. That wasn't realistic for her & I should think it's hard work for anybody - not to mention costing a fortune in organic fruit

However, it worked - her lymphatic cancer had disappeared within 2 mths of CT diagnosis. But she was incredibly strict, worked really hard and is just one of the most amazing women I have met - and who is to say that is not just down to positive thinking and the placebo effect.

I personally think that anything your mum can do through diet, lifestyle and supplementation - as long as it is done properly - should support and enhance any treatment she chooses and give her a better quality of life.

I hope that helps and answers your question

[BiscuitStuffer]

Wow that is very useful advice and you have got amazing results. Very impressive. Someone also mentioned excluding red meat and dairy.

I will look up the two registers you have mentioned.

Thank you so much again, you are very kind

[nikki1978]

Another good book regarding breast cancer and nutrition which is written by a scientist who suffered from this disease and was diagnosed as terminal.

www.amazon.co.uk/Your-Life-Hands-Understand-Overcome/dp/0753512041/ref=sr_1_1?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21 =UTF8&s=books&qid=1246298414&sr=8-1

[nightcat]

there is fairly recent research how digestive enzyme therapy can help:

enzymes