If you enter “cancer cures that work” into Google – it will pull more than 48 million results. But as we all know, the number of Google hits does not necessarily give credibility to a topic.
While some cancers are successfully cured, many others have poor long-term survival rates. When you are a patient with cancer, sometimes you are willing to try anything to reach that elusive cure. So how do you sort out the real treatments from the snake oils?
The truth is, it’s not easy. Your doctor is going to be a good source of information on the different medical treatments available for your type of cancer.
But what if you want to use other therapies, along with your conventional treatment? Research suggests that up to 70% of patients with cancer have used at least one complementary therapy as part of their cancer treatment.
If you are going to try complementary medicine, it is crucial that you work with a qualified health professional, with training in the natural health field. There are many natural products that can support your health and nutrition, during cancer. There are studies that show that certain supplemental nutrients can improve quality of life, help to maintain weight, increase survival times or are protective during chemotherapy. But none of these offer a cure. You have to be very cautious and careful when dealing with someone who is offering you a cure with basic nutrition.
When considering complementary therapies, here are some questions patients should ask their health care professional:
• What benefits can be expected from this therapy?
• What are the risks associated with this therapy?
• Do the known benefits outweigh the risks?
• What side effects can be expected?
• Will the therapy interfere with conventional treatment?
• Will the therapy be covered by health insurance?
If you do try complementary therapies, it is important that you let your doctor(s) know what treatments you are on. While most vitamins are safe during chemotherapy, there are exceptions to this, and many herbal products do have significant side effects.
Kent MacLeod.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Malnutrition and Cancer Survival
If you have cancer, one of the best things you can do for yourself is to maintain your nutritional health. It is well established that patients who are well-nourished have an improved quality of life, are better able to tolerate treatment and have shorter hospital stays. Malnourished patients do far worse: suffering with more severe and frequent treatment-related side effects, have a poorer quality of life, are more susceptible to infection and illness, and have decreased survival times.
According to the National Cancer Institute in the U.S., for every hundred people that die of cancer, twenty to forty of them literally starve to death.
Before a patient is even diagnosed, appetite may be affected, weight loss may occur and nutritional deficiencies may be present. Unfortunately, significant weight loss at the time of diagnosis is associated with decreased survival and reduced response to surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy.
Then to make matters worse, treatment-related side effects can sap vital nutrients from the body and/or leave the patient with little appetite or desire to eat. These side effects include: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, altered taste and smell, mouth sores, dry mouth, difficulty swallowing, constipation, pain and depression.
Eventually many malnourished patients advance to a condition known as cachexia. This is a progressive wasting syndrome where the patient loses significant body weight, fat and muscle, and becomes weaker and weaker. Successful treatment of cachexia is difficult, so preventing it in the first place through nutritional monitoring and intervention is critical.
Since nutritional well-being is so critical to treatment, early screening of nutritional issues and implementation of nutritional therapies are essential to the health of the individual with cancer.
Unfortunately, nutritional therapies are often initiated as part of palliative care, rather than as supportive care during treatment. In patients with advanced cancer, nutritional therapy is modest, with a focus on reducing the risk of infection, improving quality of life, and providing symptom relief.
In patients who have been recently diagnosed, are undergoing active treatment or are recovering from cancer treatment, the goals of nutritional therapy include: to maintain or improve nutritional status, to restore deficient nutrients, to fight the inflammation in the body, to maintain or increase weight, to boost the immune system, to help fight fatigue, to reduce nutrition-related side effects and complications, and to maximize quality of life.
It is imperative that people understand the importance of nutritional health and its impact on cancer.
• Eat as healthy as you can during treatment. If you can’t eat or are having trouble with certain foods, find substitutes to ensure your protein and caloric needs are being met. Eggs are an easy source of protein and are easy to digest. Protein shakes are also an excellent choice for those with cancer. A high quality whey protein, mixed with some yogurt or antioxidant-rich fruit, will provide a good nutrition boost.
• Monitor your weight and energy levels. If you are losing weight during cancer, it is not a good thing.
• Get professional help if necessary– don’t accept your fatigue and weight loss as just part of the disease. Find out if everything is being done to maintain and support your nutritional needs. The earlier that problems are identified and nutritional therapies implemented, the greater the chance of improving outcomes.
According to the National Cancer Institute in the U.S., for every hundred people that die of cancer, twenty to forty of them literally starve to death.
Before a patient is even diagnosed, appetite may be affected, weight loss may occur and nutritional deficiencies may be present. Unfortunately, significant weight loss at the time of diagnosis is associated with decreased survival and reduced response to surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy.
Then to make matters worse, treatment-related side effects can sap vital nutrients from the body and/or leave the patient with little appetite or desire to eat. These side effects include: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, altered taste and smell, mouth sores, dry mouth, difficulty swallowing, constipation, pain and depression.
Eventually many malnourished patients advance to a condition known as cachexia. This is a progressive wasting syndrome where the patient loses significant body weight, fat and muscle, and becomes weaker and weaker. Successful treatment of cachexia is difficult, so preventing it in the first place through nutritional monitoring and intervention is critical.
Since nutritional well-being is so critical to treatment, early screening of nutritional issues and implementation of nutritional therapies are essential to the health of the individual with cancer.
Unfortunately, nutritional therapies are often initiated as part of palliative care, rather than as supportive care during treatment. In patients with advanced cancer, nutritional therapy is modest, with a focus on reducing the risk of infection, improving quality of life, and providing symptom relief.
In patients who have been recently diagnosed, are undergoing active treatment or are recovering from cancer treatment, the goals of nutritional therapy include: to maintain or improve nutritional status, to restore deficient nutrients, to fight the inflammation in the body, to maintain or increase weight, to boost the immune system, to help fight fatigue, to reduce nutrition-related side effects and complications, and to maximize quality of life.
It is imperative that people understand the importance of nutritional health and its impact on cancer.
• Eat as healthy as you can during treatment. If you can’t eat or are having trouble with certain foods, find substitutes to ensure your protein and caloric needs are being met. Eggs are an easy source of protein and are easy to digest. Protein shakes are also an excellent choice for those with cancer. A high quality whey protein, mixed with some yogurt or antioxidant-rich fruit, will provide a good nutrition boost.
• Monitor your weight and energy levels. If you are losing weight during cancer, it is not a good thing.
• Get professional help if necessary– don’t accept your fatigue and weight loss as just part of the disease. Find out if everything is being done to maintain and support your nutritional needs. The earlier that problems are identified and nutritional therapies implemented, the greater the chance of improving outcomes.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.”
“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” - Hippocrates
Food does matter! What we put in our bodies everyday makes a difference. Thirty percent of all cancers are believed to result from poor dietary habits. Another five percent result from obesity and lack of exercise.
How to Eat Healthier Everyday:
•Eat nutrient dense foods to make every bite count. Don’t eat foods with refined sugars, refined carbohydrates and unhealthy oils- read the labels carefully if you are buying packaged food.
•Eat high quality lean protein at every meal. The less legs it has, the better. If possible, pick free range, local or organic fish, chicken, turkey, eggs, bison, elk or beef. Vegetarian protein choices would include nuts, seeds, legumes (beans, lentils) and vegetarian protein powders.
•Eat plenty of high fiber fruits and vegetables. There is a clear link between fruit and vegetable consumption and a decreased risk of developing cancer. Choose pesticide-free whenever you can. Focus on eating many different coloured fruits and vegetables (lots of deep green, purple, red, orange, and yellow). Variety is also important – you want to get as many different health promoting nutrients as possible. Certain anti-cancer agents, such as those found in cabbage, broccoli and garlic, have natural chemicals that block the development of cancerous cells while the antioxidants found in green tea, soybeans, and tomatoes, for instance, block the promotion and progession of cancer cells.
•Eat healthy oils and fats. Focus on Omega 3 fatty acids: avocados, dark leafy vegetables, fatty fish such as wild salmon, flaxseeds and flax oil.
•Drink water and herbal teas. Green tea is an excellent source of powerful antioxidants.
•Eat local, fresh, clean, seasonal and organic foods whenever possible.
Food does matter! What we put in our bodies everyday makes a difference. Thirty percent of all cancers are believed to result from poor dietary habits. Another five percent result from obesity and lack of exercise.
How to Eat Healthier Everyday:
•Eat nutrient dense foods to make every bite count. Don’t eat foods with refined sugars, refined carbohydrates and unhealthy oils- read the labels carefully if you are buying packaged food.
•Eat high quality lean protein at every meal. The less legs it has, the better. If possible, pick free range, local or organic fish, chicken, turkey, eggs, bison, elk or beef. Vegetarian protein choices would include nuts, seeds, legumes (beans, lentils) and vegetarian protein powders.
•Eat plenty of high fiber fruits and vegetables. There is a clear link between fruit and vegetable consumption and a decreased risk of developing cancer. Choose pesticide-free whenever you can. Focus on eating many different coloured fruits and vegetables (lots of deep green, purple, red, orange, and yellow). Variety is also important – you want to get as many different health promoting nutrients as possible. Certain anti-cancer agents, such as those found in cabbage, broccoli and garlic, have natural chemicals that block the development of cancerous cells while the antioxidants found in green tea, soybeans, and tomatoes, for instance, block the promotion and progession of cancer cells.
•Eat healthy oils and fats. Focus on Omega 3 fatty acids: avocados, dark leafy vegetables, fatty fish such as wild salmon, flaxseeds and flax oil.
•Drink water and herbal teas. Green tea is an excellent source of powerful antioxidants.
•Eat local, fresh, clean, seasonal and organic foods whenever possible.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Vitamin D and Cancer Prevention
Most people are aware that Vitamin D is the ‘sunshine vitamin’, and we make this critical vitamin after exposure to the sun. However, even in the summer, 66-68% of Canadians do not have sufficient levels of Vitamin D.
Common sense would tell us that our levels drop in the fall, when our exposure to the sun is limited. And drop they do, quite dramatically. Several studies suggest that approximately 95% of Canadians lack adequate vitamin D in the fall. That’s an astounding number and should make everyone realize how important it is to be taking their daily vitamin D supplement, particularly when several forms of cancer, including breast, ovarian and colon, are linked to vitamin D deficiency, as well as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and stroke.
So how much vitamin D should you be taking to maximize the health benefits from this key nutrient? Currently, most organizations, including the Canadian Cancer Society, recommend only 1000 IU.
However, a charitable organization called GrassrootsHealth (http://www.grassrootshealth.net/) has gathered the opinions of sixteen prominent vitamin D researchers and physicians in the United States and Canada – and they recommend an intake of 2000 IU of vitamin D3 per day (Vitamin D3, also called ‘cholecalciferol’, is the type of vitamin D you should be looking for in a supplement). These scientists firmly believe, as do I, that this amount is safe, and is absolutely necessary to achieve ‘sufficient’ levels for the majority of the population. Two-thousand IU is also the upper limit that the United States’ National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine regards as having no adverse health effects.
A review article published last year in Annals of Epidemiology, suggests that by raising oral intake of vitamin D3 to 2000 IU per day that approximately 58,000 new cases of breast cancer and 49,000 new cases of colorectal cancer would be prevented in Canada and the United States each year.
The importance of adequate levels of vitamin D is further demonstrated by a study of five hundred and twelve women living in Toronto, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. These women had their vitamin D levels measured and then were followed up to determine outcomes. The results, published in 2009 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, showed that women with deficient vitamin D levels were more likely to experience a distant recurrence or die compared to those with sufficient levels of the vitamin.
Did you take your vitamin D today?
Common sense would tell us that our levels drop in the fall, when our exposure to the sun is limited. And drop they do, quite dramatically. Several studies suggest that approximately 95% of Canadians lack adequate vitamin D in the fall. That’s an astounding number and should make everyone realize how important it is to be taking their daily vitamin D supplement, particularly when several forms of cancer, including breast, ovarian and colon, are linked to vitamin D deficiency, as well as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and stroke.
So how much vitamin D should you be taking to maximize the health benefits from this key nutrient? Currently, most organizations, including the Canadian Cancer Society, recommend only 1000 IU.
However, a charitable organization called GrassrootsHealth (http://www.grassrootshealth.net/) has gathered the opinions of sixteen prominent vitamin D researchers and physicians in the United States and Canada – and they recommend an intake of 2000 IU of vitamin D3 per day (Vitamin D3, also called ‘cholecalciferol’, is the type of vitamin D you should be looking for in a supplement). These scientists firmly believe, as do I, that this amount is safe, and is absolutely necessary to achieve ‘sufficient’ levels for the majority of the population. Two-thousand IU is also the upper limit that the United States’ National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine regards as having no adverse health effects.
A review article published last year in Annals of Epidemiology, suggests that by raising oral intake of vitamin D3 to 2000 IU per day that approximately 58,000 new cases of breast cancer and 49,000 new cases of colorectal cancer would be prevented in Canada and the United States each year.
The importance of adequate levels of vitamin D is further demonstrated by a study of five hundred and twelve women living in Toronto, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. These women had their vitamin D levels measured and then were followed up to determine outcomes. The results, published in 2009 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, showed that women with deficient vitamin D levels were more likely to experience a distant recurrence or die compared to those with sufficient levels of the vitamin.
Did you take your vitamin D today?
Monday, January 25, 2010
The Power of Nutrition
My first real experience of the devastating effects of cancer came during my third year of university, when I was a pharmacy student at the University of Toronto. My grandmother was dying of pancreatic cancer, cared for at home by family in Timmins, my hometown in Northern Ontario.
As her cancer progressed, my grandmother became unable to swallow oral medications and relied on visits from her physician for morphine injections to relieve her pain. These weren’t working, though, and my family turned to me – a pharmacy student and the first in my family to attend university – for help.
I’ll never forget the call from my mother pleading for something to ease my grandmother’s pain. Morphine suppositories would have been the answer, but at the time, no drug company made them since the market wasn’t profitable enough. I remember the feeling of impotence I had as I told my mother that nothing could be done.
After I graduated two years later and set up my pharmaceutical practice in Ottawa, I made morphine suppositories available in Canada. This was the start of my journey and my commitment to serving the needs of people who had been abandoned or ignored by conventional medicine or drug corporations. My approach was, and still is, a simple one: “Solve the Problem.”
As a pharmacist, I am very much aware of the power of pharmaceutical drugs. But as a professional who has spent over 25 years studying and using evidence-based natural therapies, I am a strong proponent of the importance of nutrition and the impact it has on overall health. Nowhere is this more evident, than in the fight against cancer. Whether it be the power of foods, such as fruits and vegetables, to help prevent cancer, or the vital role nutrition plays to help people tolerate treatments, nutrition IS crucial to quality of life and well-being.
I am honoured to be ‘blogging’ this week on the Cancer Foundation’s website, about this important topic.
As her cancer progressed, my grandmother became unable to swallow oral medications and relied on visits from her physician for morphine injections to relieve her pain. These weren’t working, though, and my family turned to me – a pharmacy student and the first in my family to attend university – for help.
I’ll never forget the call from my mother pleading for something to ease my grandmother’s pain. Morphine suppositories would have been the answer, but at the time, no drug company made them since the market wasn’t profitable enough. I remember the feeling of impotence I had as I told my mother that nothing could be done.
After I graduated two years later and set up my pharmaceutical practice in Ottawa, I made morphine suppositories available in Canada. This was the start of my journey and my commitment to serving the needs of people who had been abandoned or ignored by conventional medicine or drug corporations. My approach was, and still is, a simple one: “Solve the Problem.”
As a pharmacist, I am very much aware of the power of pharmaceutical drugs. But as a professional who has spent over 25 years studying and using evidence-based natural therapies, I am a strong proponent of the importance of nutrition and the impact it has on overall health. Nowhere is this more evident, than in the fight against cancer. Whether it be the power of foods, such as fruits and vegetables, to help prevent cancer, or the vital role nutrition plays to help people tolerate treatments, nutrition IS crucial to quality of life and well-being.
I am honoured to be ‘blogging’ this week on the Cancer Foundation’s website, about this important topic.
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