Will a balanced diet limit the spread of cancer cells?

There is currently not enough evidence-based medical evidence to prove that a balanced diet can directly inhibit and limit the spread of cancer cells, but it is definitely the most easily overlooked and most easily pitted key link in the full-cycle management of cancer patients. It can reduce the potential risk of cancer cell spread from multiple dimensions, and can also help the body survive the treatment processes of radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy.

Don’t listen to the lies of those health-preserving accounts, saying that controlling sugar and eating cruciferous vegetables can directly curb the spread of cancer cells. In early years, mouse experiments did find that high-sugar diets will accelerate the invasion and metastasis of certain cancer cells. However, the metabolic environment of the human body is countless times more complex than that of experimental mice. Currently, there are no large-sample clinical trials on people that can confirm the conclusion that "a balanced diet directly limits the spread of cancer cells." It would be too natural to apply the results of animal experiments directly to humans.

When I was rotating in the clinical nutrition department, I met a 62-year-old aunt who had undergone surgery for lung adenocarcinoma. When she was discharged from the hospital, she went to two extremes. One moment she believed that she would "starve cancer cells to death" and even dared not touch staple food. The next moment, she heard from relatives that she needed to take a lot of supplements such as sea cucumbers. However, less than two months later, the checkup showed that the albumin was only 28g/L. Her immunity was so poor that even the rash caused by taking targeted drugs was infected, and even subsequent auxiliary treatments had to be suspended. Later, she adjusted her diet plan, which included three ounces of whole grains, two eggs, lean meat or fish as large as the palm of her hand, and two pounds of vegetables of different colors every day. She was allowed to eat two small pieces of her favorite sauced pork ribs every week. When she came back for a review in three months, all the indicators were back to the normal range, and the side effects of the targeted drugs were also much lighter. Now, Nearly three years after the operation, there was no sign of recurrence or metastasis in the follow-up examination. She always joked that "eating right is like building a ladder for treatment." But if you ask her whether she relies on eating to hold down the cancer cells, she is very clear. She knows that diet helps her build up the foundation of her body, so that the role of targeted drugs can be stable.

There are also many patients who think that the cancer will spread anyway and that nothing they eat will help. This idea is too biased. Take chemotherapy as an example. If the food you eat cannot even provide basic protein, the bone marrow suppression will be much more severe than others. If the white blood cells cannot rise, the chemotherapy will have to be postponed. Will the cancer cells that can be suppressed by the course of treatment be left open to proliferate and spread?

In fact, to put it bluntly, a balanced diet is more like providing enough food and grass for the immune team in your body. The spread of cancer cells is a complex process affected by more than a dozen factors such as tumor genotyping, treatment standards, and autoimmunity. Eating alone will definitely not be able to directly block those running cancer cells. But if you provide enough food and grass, immune cells will have the strength to join the battle with treatment methods. It can also reduce the risk of treatment interruption, which indirectly reduces the possibility of cancer cell spread.

Of course, there are also many cutting-edge studies exploring the synergistic effect of ketogenic diet, calorie-restricted diet and immunotherapy. Maybe in the future, a clear way to inhibit the spread of cancer cells through diet can be found. However, these studies are still in the small-scale trial stage. Don’t try it blindly at home. In case of malnutrition, it will hinder the treatment. If you are really unsure about what to eat, go to the clinical nutrition department of the hospital and ask a doctor to come up with a recipe. It is much more reliable than the anti-cancer diet recipes found online. To put it bluntly, don’t take supplements blindly, don’t go hungry blindly, use a variety of ingredients, less oil, salt, and sugar, and enough high-quality protein, it’s better than anything else.