Cancer Patients do not Benefit from Dietary Change

Dietary changes or supplement intake do not actively influence the course of cancer, recent studies show. Namely, if a patient suffering from a cancerous or pre-cancerous condition will not extensively benefit from having a healthy diet based on higher intake of beneficial vitamins (A, C, D etc) and other nutritious elements such as betacarotene, antioxidants, anti-cancer natural plant pigments etc. Nutritious supplements regularly taken do not help to reduce the symptoms, either.

However, medical experts still advise people to lead a healthy life and diet because this will lessen their chances of premature death and will prevent them from getting to suffer from other kinds of disorders, too. That is why Dr. Steven Thomas who led the study at the University of Bristol in the UK stated:

"We should not maintain the notion that nutritional interventions can be promoted because at least they will do no harm. But encouraging a healthy diet is certainly important because many patients with cancer and preinvasive lesions will live a long time and may die of other diseases related to diet."

The medical team investigated 59 studies on cancer and preinvasive lesions. 25 of these studies were focused only on cancer sufferers, while 34 involved patients with pre-cancerous conditions. The experts analyzed how dietary modifications and supplements based on fiber, calcium, folate betacarotene and vitamins A, C and B6 worked on the sick individuals.

These diets have also been associated with exercising, weight loss and decreasing the number of calories in foods. However, the study failed to investigate studies that presented whether synthetic retinoids, vitamin analogues, polysaccharide K or herbal supplements as being beneficial for cancer sufferers.

Dr. Thomas stated that the research was not based on sufficient data so as to clearly claim that diets or supplements are harmful or do not help in any way the patients, further studies should be developed. Nevertheless, physicians should not tell the patient that dietary change "is a priority in management of cancer itself."