newsinsider.com
March 9, 2006

 

Does the standard medical approach that encourages cancer patients to eat whatever they want, especially diets rich in meat and dairy products, actually cause many cancer patients to feel worse? Could certain foods often recommended to cancer patients actually feed their malignancies?

 

The answer to these important questions is a resounding yes, according to cancer expert and researcher Keith I. Block, MD, Scientific/Medical Director of the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Care and Optimal Health in Evanston, Illinois. Numerous studies published in peer reviewed medical journals over the past decade, including the Journal of Nutrition, the British Medical Journal and the Journal of Surgical Research have associated the saturated fats found in animal products, partially hydrogenated fats and omega-6 fatty acids with chronic inflammation, says Dr. Block. This can potentially contribute to cancer growth as well as the wasting syndrome known as cachexia. Cachexia affects 8 out of 10 advanced cancer patients and can cause a massive (up to 80%) loss of both fatty tissue and skeletal muscle. In fact, it is often not a malignancy but cachexia that takes the lives of cancer patients. According to the National Cancer Institute cachexia is estimated to be the immediate cause of death in 20% to 40% of cancer patients. In addition to decreasing survival, cachexia also increases complications from all conventional treatments. Typical symptoms include weakness, fatigue, accelerated weight loss, anorexia and chronic nausea, as well as emotional distress and depression.

 

Cachexia is not a case of cancer patients simply not eating enough or not feeling like taking nourishment, says Dr. Block. The current scientific consensus is that cancer cachexia results primarily from an underlying metabolic imbalance induced by the cancer which causes the bodys metabolism to speed up. This generates a chronic, low-grade inflammation and the breakdown of muscle and other lean tissues, as well as immune suppression. Unfortunately, general recommendations coming out of some cancer organizations encourage eating all you want of the typical American diet. The heavy consumption of fats, refined flours and sugars, can increase inflammation and contribute to more anorexia and debilitating weight loss. The fallacy in this approach can be likened to trying to keep a leaky container full of liquid by adding more water to it. Solely adding water wont keep the container full unless the underlying cause the leak is rectified. So when it comes to nutritional recommendations, simply consuming more food and calories with high calorie drinks and shakes is not a meaningful solution. More importantly addressing the underlying problem, inflammation, with inflammatory-fighting foods will better correct the underlying metabolic disorder. Then, improving caloric intake with healthy choices will provide a better potential for overcoming this common condition.

 

So what sort of diet can fight both cachexia as well as other causes of weight loss such as chemotherapy induced loss of appetite? Dr. Block recommends a diet replete with inflammation and cancer fighting phytochemicals, complex carbohydrates and specific, healthy fats and proteins, and individually tailored nutritional supplements; while simultaneously eliminating/reducing inflammatory foods, which may spur the growth of cancer, fuel cachexia and reduce treatment tolerance. Lets look at these major offenders:

 

                Bad dietary fats such omega 6, saturated, and trans fats

                Bad carbohydrates such as high-glycemic foods
                Bad cooking methods such as open flame or high-heat preparation techniques like charcoal-grilling and deep frying.

 

To take charge of bad fats, one should first, keep total fat consumption under 20% of daily calories. Second, reduce or eliminate saturated fat found in milk, cheese, butter, red meat, pork, coconut, and poultry. Third, eliminate unnatural fat, called trans fat, found abundantly in margarine, hydrogenated oils, as well as many baked goods and convenience foods. And finally, strive for an optimal dietary balance of polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) known as Omega-6s and omega-3s. Omega-6 fats (found in certain vegetable oils including corn oil, safflower and sunflower oil) are better reduced, while Omega-3 fats, commonly found in fish oil, as well as the monosaturated fats in olive oil, should be increased.

 

After taking charge of your fat consumption, one needs to look at the main source of caloric energycarbohydrates. It turns out that high-glycemcic foods, ones that cause a sudden rise in blood sugar (even in non-diabetics) accelerate the formation of arachadonic acid, a product of omega-6 fatty acid metabolism. This is the main fuel supporting the inflammatory pathway and foods increasing this should be reduced or avoided. These foods include sugar, honey, high-fructose corn syrup, concentrated sweeteners, sugary beverages, cookies, cakes, pastries; white bread, crackers, and sugar-laden or white-flour baked goods.

This is a scientifically sensible strategy that provides cancer patients with the calories they need from dietary sources that actually support, rather than thwart, their recovery, says Dr. Block, who, for a quarter of a century, has lived by the unrelenting conviction that no cancer patient should be given up on ... there is always something more to try. Even during chemotherapy, my clinical experience has shown that a grain, legume, fish and vegetable, fruit, nuts and seeds based diet with targeted superfood supplementation is the optimal approach to combating cancer related anorexia and weight loss, and even cachexia.

 

It is time for those who treat cancer to put away the unhealthy eat all you want myth and incorporate science-based nutrition strategies into their treatment plans for helping patients successfully fight cancer and improve their quality of life.