June 16, 2010
How Diet Affects Cancer
Diet and cancer
According to a recent article by Dr. Keith I Block, diet and nutrition affect cancer both directly and indirectly.
Directly, in the way that the nutrients impact the mechanisms by which cancer cells grow and spread.
Indirectly, by helping to control the cancer by altering the biochemical conditions of the malignant disease.
What we eat can make the difference between controlling cancer for a long period of time; or losing control of the disease and having it spread with greater speed.
According to Dr. Block, “Here are some examples of findings from recent studies that support the importance of diet in fighting cancer:
- Diets high in fat and refined carbohydrates make you more likely to become overweight, which in turn increases your risk of tumor recurrences. Obese men are at significantly greater risk of developing more aggressive prostate cancer.
- Dietary fats can impair the body’s anti-cancer defenses by depressing the activity of natural killer (NK) cells, while a low-fat diet markedly increases NK activity. Natural killer cells play a key role in preventing metastasis.
- Obese breast cancer patients are two to four times more likely to experience a recurrence than women of normal weight.”
Source: Keith I. Block, M.D., Internationally recognized expert in integrative oncology.
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