Expert panel reviews strategies for nutrition and cancer care

December 6, 2009

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Mark Hagland
Antioxidants, mushrooms, and diet have turned in positive results in concert with standard Rx but still require additional research.

CHICAGO—Biology and biography were the buzzwords at a panel convened on cancer nutrition at the 2009 Nutrition and Health Conference: State of the Science and Clinical Applications. Panel members offered a primer on the various nutrition strategies that are available to cancer patients.

“The traditional sphere of inquiry is pathology, focusing on disease and prescription,” said Keith Block, MD. “It’s equally important to look at diet and lifestyle factors,” which Dr. Block called biography, and also what he termed “biology,” or an individual’s biochemical terrain.

The interplay of cancer treatment and nutrition can then be approached in an integrated and meaningful way. In addition, “the use of integrative therapies, including the use of tailored antioxidant treatments, can reduce toxicity, leading to completed chemotherapy treatments,” Dr. Block said.

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Highlights:

Tailored antioxidants – ”Antioxidant treatments can mitigate oxidative damage and improve life quality…”

Medicinal mushrooms, a staple in Asia. Their core medicinal value is found in the beta-glucans, resembling molecules that mobilize the immune response. (turkey-tail mushroom – Trametes versicolor, Ganoderma lucidum, also known as reishi or Ling Zhi)

Dr. Thomson’s best recommendations are for daily exercise and a significant vegetable intake. “I’m a proponent of total cruciferous vegetables. One study indicated that a lower-fat diet helped protect women from estrogen-related tumors. In addition, even a modest amount of weight loss can make a huge difference in terms of metabolic syndrome and cancer recurrence risk” (J Clin Oncol 25:2345-2351, 2007).

NOTABLE RESEARCH

Antioxidants
• “Impact of antioxidant supplementation on chemotherapeutic toxicity: A systematic review of the evidence from randomized controlled trials,” Int J Cancer 123:1227-1239, 2008

• “Protection of multiple antioxidants Chinese herbal medicine on the oxidative stress induced by adriamycin chemotherapy,” J Appl Toxicol 28:271-282, 2008

• “Impact of antioxidant supplementation on chemotherapeutic efficacy: A systematic review of the evidence from randomized controlled trials,” Cancer Treat Rev, 33:407-418, 2007

Mushrooms
• “Dietary intakes of mushrooms and green tea combine to reduce the risk of breast cancer in Chinese women,” Int J Cancer 124:1404-1408, 2009

• “Trametes versicolor mushroom immune therapy in breast cancer,” J Soc Integr Oncol 6: 122-128, 2008

• “Medicinal mushrooms and cancer therapy:  Translating a traditional practice into Western medicine,” Perspect Biol Med 49:159-170, 2006

Diet
• “Influence of a diet very high in vegetables, fruit, and fiber and low in fat on prognosis following treatment for breast cancer: The Women’s Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) Randomized Trial,” JAMA 298:289-298, 2007

• “Increases in plasma carotenoid concentrations in response to a major dietary change in the women’s healthy eating and living study,” Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 15:1886-1892, 2006

• “Dietary fat reduction and breast cancer outcome: Interim efficacy results from the Women’s Intervention Nutrition Study,” J Natl Cancer Inst 98:1767-1776, 2006

The panel members included:
• Donald Abrams, MD, chief, hematology-oncology, San Francisco General Hospital and director of clinical programs at University of California, San Francisco Osher Center for Integrative Medicine.
• Dr. Block, medical director of the Block Medical Center and Institute for Integrative Cancer Care in Evanston, Ill.
• Cynthia Thomson, PhD, RD, associate professor, nutrition science, medicine, and public health, at the Arizona Cancer Center, University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson.

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