There is good news in the “war on cancer”. Optimal nutrition coupled with appropriate medical treatment can dramatically improve the quality of life and chances for a complete remission for most cancer patients.
In a recent interview, Dr. Patrick Quillin, PhD, RD, CNS, author of Beating Cancer with Nutrition discusses the 5 main reasons why cancer patients must use nutrition in their comprehensive cancer treatment. Although Dr. Quillin notes that nutrition alone is not sufficient to treat cancer, its irreplaceable.
- Malnutrition is a significant cause of death among cancer patients: 40% of cancer patients die of malnutrition, not of cancer. Cancer is a wasting disease. Appetite is adversely affected when patients spend time in hospitals with food they’re unfamiliar with. The only therapy for this issue is proper nutrition.
- Nutrition can help to make chemo, radiation and surgery a more selectively therapy: Nutrition can make chemo, radiation, and surgery more selectively toxic to the tumor and less toxic to the patient. Chemo and radiation are non-selective toxins. They kill everything in their pathway. But nutrition makes chemo more of a rifle rather than a hand grenade, says Quillin.
- Cancer is a sugar feeder: Cancer is what’s called an obligate glucose metabolizer. Meaning that there’s a dramatic uptake of glucose in the cells of tumor cells. If you can lower gut and blood glucose you can help to slow down cancer. There’s a number of therapies now that target this whole unique Achilles heel of the cancer cells.
- Strong immune systems are essential: The immune system is supposed to recognize and destroy cancer cells. In cancer patients, the immune system has failed its duties. There has to be some ways of upregulating the immune systems. One of the ways that this is achieved is through healthy nutrition and lifestyle.
- Nutrients can become biological response modifiers: Today 40% of men can expect to develop cancer; in 1900 the number was 3% of men; we have a problem. We know from cancer and nutrition research is that nutrients can become biological response modifiers, changing how the body works.
Leading physicians like Dr. William Sears, who has personally battled cancer, point to healthy nutrition (consumption of whole foods) and a balanced lifestyle as an essential to winning the battle against cancer. Additionally, Peggy Rockey, RN and Wellness Coach notes, “Many people believe that you get cancer and then in-turn, get sick. The truth is that you first get sick and then, you develop cancer. Cancer cells proliferate in the body because the immune system is not working like it is supposed to. The phytonutrients that are in fruits and vegetables help your immune system to function at its best, so that it can fight disease.”