The missing link in the fight against cancer
The Boston Marathon is a great example of competitors in the best shape of their life, which most assuredly includes precisely timed meals and fluids.
I’m also confident no competitive runner or athlete would ever undergo rigorous training and competition without a solid nutrition plan. Why then do cancer patients undergo toxic treatments that are even more taxing and harmful to their bodies than running a race without a nutrition plan?
As a 20-year survivor of stage 4 uterine cancer, I can assure you certain aspects of cancer treatment and survivorship feel like training for a marathon, and without my dramatic shift in diet early in my treatment I probably would not be alive today.
Fortunately, I was a registered dietitian and knew what I needed to do with my diet. Since then, I have earned a PH.D. in molecular carcinogenesis and a master’s degree in public health, and I am on the faculty of Baylor University, where I conduct research examining the link between cancer and diet.
Today, more than 50 percent of all cancer patients suffer from malnutrition at their initial diagnosis. This is easily treatable in most cases, if diagnosed early. Why does this matter? Malnutrition increases the length of hospital stays and hospital readmissions, may delay necessary treatments, and reduces treatment dose, effectiveness and overall survival.
Yet only a handful of cancer treatment centers, including Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, MD Anderson Cancer Center and UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center, provide nutrition services to all their cancer patients regardless of insurance status.
Currently, a study is underway at Fred Hutchinson to determine how effective malnutrition services are in reducing health care costs and saving lives. Most patients do not know or understand the importance of nutrition in not only their fight against cancer but in preventing cancer recurrence and for their overall quality of life.
During my initial treatments, like most patients, I was depressed and turned to comfort food, which was not helpful. Thankfully, with my strong background in nutrition science, I soon flipped the script. I started eating a mostly plant-based diet, with lots of vegetables, fruits, fish and whole grains, which data show is associated with improved survival in multiple cancers and recommended by the American Institute for Cancer Research.
Within a few weeks, I had my energy back and could take long walks. While a lot of other factors might have accounted for this, I can assure you diet was a very large component.
There are a large number of studies showing that a healthy diet before, during and after cancer diagnosis results in the best treatment outcomes in increasing survival and decreasing recurrence.
My hope for the future of cancer treatment is this: When patients are first diagnosed with cancer and they start training, just like athletes, for the cancer marathon, they are provided with a solid nutrition plan to help them win, or least give them a fighting chance to stay in the race.