Diet

Hi All,

I think that your post is worth a response if only because we will have seen mention in columns offered by nutritionists of the keto diet and in particular how through diet one might be able to drive down blood sugar levels and prevent the onset of diabetes and perhaps reverse it.On this forum also  there has been mention of possibly a slightly related theme of whether fasting will assist with minimisation of spread of cancer cells and tumors

Apparently the Keto diet is one which is low in carbs but high in fat such that say for every 3/4 grams of fat there is only 1 gram of protein and carbs.By way of contrast a low carb diet involves increasing protein intake.The so called Mediterranean keto diet depends on healthy fats from olive oil and tends to involve trans fats that lead to higher cholesterol and leads to inflammation in the body.Vegan based approaches would add in coconut oil,almond oil and flaxseed oil amongst others.I have tracked down some references to the use of a keto diet in assisting in decreasing cancer cell growth activity but these usually relate to animal studies as opposed to humans

I would like to flag up the issue of how through diet we may try to minimise the consumption of harmful proteins that feed the growth of cancer cells and tumours.I have a urologist that is watching  my PSA score and following an mri scan of the prostate advised that we continue to monitor but also advised me to modify diet and to limit or cease the consumption of red meat.I would like to refer back to the post still on Forum made by LabNoir on BCAAs and the development of new mutations in CML;it was suggested that three Branched chain animo acids present in foods and taken to excess or otherwise not limited might lead to specific mutations; Leucine-V299L mutation,Iso leucine-F317i,T315i,Valine-E255v.Mutation T315i prior to the development of Ponatinib was quite deadly. I asked my oncologist who has a very impressive research record about BCAAs and gave him a copy of the posting-we are going to discuss next month when we meet.

The challenge as I see it this-would diet assist with

1Prevention or the slowing down of the emergence of new mutations in CML

2Lead to a deeper response from tki s and /or lead to better possibilities for reducing/ceasing dose towards TFR

3Modify the side effect profile from tki s

4Prevent or slow down the development of co-malignancies

We have a dilemma in that the body needs proteins and one of the most ready source is from animals  and athletes in particular increase intake of certain proteins and animo acids so as to promote muscular efficiency.

I am going down the road towards more of a plant based diet and am try to avoid foods high in BCAA and also avoiding inflammatory foods.Some studies have indicated that diet may assist to slow down or even stop the development of early stage prostate cancer.

I would not want to influence any ones choice of foods but I will be avoiding processed foods,most meats,dairies, sugars, bad oils etc ;in that way I also avoid consuming meats that use hormones and antbiotics in farming.In China pork farmers are licensed to use colistin which is the last stage antibiotic in fighting resistant infections-hitherto it has not been licensed for humans in that country!

The conclusion is that CML being treated with tkis will never go away completely and even with a string of undetectable PCRs there will always be residual leukaemic cells in the bone marrow and many millions of them but we might give ourselves a better chance by avoiding some contents of food that promote growth of cancer cells-some science is developing here I believe.In the past those who challenged cancer through diet and exercise might have been thought to be engaging in quackery but thinking might be changing in that healthy responses for food and lifestyle affect ones ability to treat the condition;it will do little to stop aggressive progressions or reverse a blast crisis though.

What do you think?

John

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