The Negative Influences of Certain Dietary Components On The Immune System Of A Cancer Patient

Immune Cancer is a disease that has poised lots of challenges to the world population that it has continued to depopulate greatly. The disease is not only expensive to treat but also causes lots of pain to its victims. In fact the word cancer is synonymous to pain. The changes in our environment are a major cause of cancer plus nutrition plays a great role in fighting cancer. Whatever you eat can either help you stay cancer free or will put you at a greater risk of getting this disease. Nutritionists have been involved in cancer treatments and very many researchers have done lots of work in the past to come up with those dietary components that should be avoided at all cost and those that should be used by cancer patients as well as any other healthy person who is interested in keeping away from the disease. Today there are cancer treatments that are solely based on diet. An example of this is the Gerson’s therapy which is being used even today as an alternative cancer treatment method. It involves the use of fruits and vegetables soups that are very effective in strengthening the immune system of the cancer patient as well as fighting the free radicals that are a major culprit in cancer cell formation. Generally, nutritionists have encouraged the consumption of whole foods as opposed to refined foods. This is because whole foods are rich in fiber that is vital in clearing all the toxic compounds out of the body. The whole foods are also rich in nutrients and do not contain harmful chemicals as the case with commercially produced foods which are full of toxic chemicals in the name of stabilizers and preservatives. It is therefore safer to eat those foods that help in building your body and keeping you safe from all the toxins that may enhance your cancer risk.

Some of the dietary components that may have negative influence on the immune system of the cancer patient include; sugar, omega-6 fatty acids, iron and copper. These dietary components therefore should be avoided by the cancer patient.

Sugar and the immune system

Sugar is the simple name that refers to all the glucose, sucrose and other forms of sugars present in our bodies. Cancer cell as well as the healthy body cells relies on glucose for energy to be able to live and multiply. However the healthy body cells are flexible enough to adapt to other sources of energy like the ketone bodies in absence of glucose. The cancer cells on the other hand suffer defects that cannot allow them to adapt to other sources of energy other than the sugar source. The cancer cells are also more responsive to the sugar in the bloodstream and are faster than the healthy cells in scrambling for the sugar, therefore too much sugar in the body feeds the cancer cells giving them ability to multiply and spread to the rest of the body parts. Sugar also hurts the immune system and so makes it hard for your body to fight cancer effectively.

According to Health Services at Columbia University, when you eat 100 grams of sugar, about as much sugar as you find in a 1 liter bottle of soda, your white blood cells are 40 percent less effective at killing germs. This can cripple your immune system for up to 5 hours after eating sugar.

The immune system of the cancer patient is weakened by sugar. This is because sugar competes for space with vitamin C in the white blood cells. Vitamin C is a very potent killer of viruses and bacteria and so the more it is in the white blood cells the more effective the white blood cells become in fighting diseases. However vitamin C and sugar are the same in chemical structure and so they compete for space in the white blood cells and so the more the sugar in the body the lesser the Vitamin C and this maims the cancer patient immune system to fight against the disease.

Omega-6 fatty acids and cancer

In the past omega-6 fatty acids had been linked to heart diseases. However very many research findings are suggesting that too much omega 6 fatty acids may escalate a person’s risk to cancer. This is because the omega-6 fatty acids contain linolic acid which is known to promote inflammations. Any inflammation agent is a threat to a cancer patient’s immune system and so should be avoided.

Copper and cancer

Immune Copper is necessary for cancer cell growth. A study that was done on mice discovered that copper which is normally present in public water increased the growth of cancer cells in mice. In a study led by Douglas Hanahan, researcher at EPFL and holder of the Merck Serono Chair in Oncology, scientists sought to examine the role of copper in cancer, to conduct this experiment they used genetically engineered mice with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. And they found that copper increased tumor growth in mice. “The biggest surprise was that a small amount of copper added to drinking water accelerated the growth of tumors, indicating that copper is an essential nutrient for them”, said Ishida. This therefore calls for reduction of copper in a cancer patient diet.

Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) has been committed to availing information on cancer treatment. She is an experienced integrative oncologist who can help you get better cancer treatment. Check this website frequently for updates. You can also call her for consultations.