Kerri WaldronA cancer diagnosis often sparks a lifestyle overhaul. It’s a phenomenon known as “post-traumatic growth”, whereby an extremely difficult experience can lead to positive change. I know this firsthand.
Before being diagnosed with stage 3 triple negative breast cancer in 2021, aged 40, I would read articles about lifestyle choices that increase cancer risk and think: “Ah, poor them. Luckily that will never happen to me.”
You don’t think it will, until it does. Three years on, I’m happy to say that my treatment was successful and I am – touch wood – cancer free.
Does that mean I’ve gone back to exactly what my life was like before? Hell, no. As the saying goes: insanity is doing the same thing, over and over, and expecting different results.
So I wasn’t surprised to read this week that King Charles is reportedly changing his diet after his own cancer diagnosis and treatment. Tom Parker Bowles, Camilla’s son, revealed in an interview that the King and Queen have both cut back on red meat such as lamb, beef and pork as a direct result. But are they right to do so?
The World Health Organisation classifies red meat as a “probable carcinogen” based on studies showing associations between eating it and developing colorectal cancer, but other causes cannot be ruled out. This is always the problem when we talk about “causes” of cancer. The disease is so multifactorial that we can only talk about what might increase or reduce the risk, rather than claiming that anything either causes or prevents cancer.
That’s not to say that we shouldn’t be doing everything we can to reduce our risk, but it can be hard to know where to access trustworthy information. After my own diagnosis, I was inundated with advice from well-meaning friends and acquaintances: “don’t have dairy”, “avoid soya”, “eat entirely raw food”. You could tie yourself up in knots trying to get it right.
So I contacted Kelly McCabe, a former cancer dietician who is now co-founder & CEO of Perci Health (percihealth.com), an online clinic where cancer patients can access support on demand, from physiotherapy to psychosexual counselling.
She has been through all of the evidence, and has a team at Perci Health that keeps on top of the latest developments in cancer nutrition. She tells me that, while there is certainly a link between processed meat (meats that have been preserved by smoking or salting, curing or adding chemical preservatives, such as ham and bacon) and several types of cancer, there is no evidence that moderate amounts of unprocessed meat increase your risk.
If you eat meat, you’re getting iron and protein for strength and energy, but she recommends focusing on organic white meat. “Keep processed meats such as bacon, sausages and charcuterie to a minimum,” she advises. “Red meat is fine once or twice a week, but aim to get your protein and iron from fish, poultry and plant-based protein sources such as beans, legumes, nuts and seeds.”
I personally don’t eat meat, and I’m sure the meat eaten by the King is organic and minimally processed. That aside, there are plenty of other ways that nutrition can not only reduce our risk of recurrence, but also support us post-treatment by improving energy, psychological wellbeing and bone health (all of which take a hit after cancer treatment).
Optimise vitamin D to support your immunity. Food sources include oily fish and egg yolks, but the best source is the sun so get outside every day (and supplement in the winter).
Focus on plant foods – not only veg, but also nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, chickpeas and grains. Packed with nutrients and fibre, they improve immunity, reduce inflammation, boost your energy and even your mood.
Improve your gut health. Again, this means more plant foods, but also fermented foods such as sauerkraut, and reduce ultra-processed, high-sugar foods that have a negative impact on your microbiome.
Soya products contain phytoestrogens, which often concern those with oestrogen-sensitive breast or prostate cancer. “But the consensus from the scientific literature is that soy is safe,” says McCabe. “There’s this belief that phytoestrogens might have the same effect as our own natural oestrogen, but there’s never been any evidence to suggest that. In fact, the science shows it can be beneficial.”
Similarly, with dairy, there is a lot of misinformation out there, but McCabe says the evidence shows that cancer is not linked with dairy. In fact, fermented dairy such as kefir is now thought to reduce your risk. Also, cancer treatment can impact bone density. “We don’t want people to exclude dairy and end up with osteoporosis,” she adds.
Of course, nutrition doesn’t work in a vacuum. I now make an effort to consider if I’m getting enough sleep, finding ways to manage stress, and moving my body every day. Exercise helps with everything from immunity and bone density to brain health and mood. It’s often said that being overweight is a big risk factor, but McCabe says the evidence is more around body composition, ie. fat vs muscle. Exercise can keep that ratio more in favour of muscle than fat, whatever your shape, size or weight.
For the same reason, minimise ultra-processed, high-sugar foods, since they’re not doing your body composition any favours. “This will also support appetite regulation,” explains McCabe, “because eating them creates this cycle of constantly needing to snack.”
Alcohol is strongly linked to cancer, particularly breast cancer, where the evidence is overwhelming. This has been the biggest change for me. After binge drinking regularly in my twenties and early thirties, I cut back significantly after my kids were born and, post-cancer, I can count the number of times I’ve drunk alcohol this year on my fingers.
So King Charles is right to be looking at his lifestyle, and any of us who have been through treatment ought to be doing the same. After gruelling chemotherapy, radiotherapy and mastectomy surgery, I’m certainly determined to do everything I can to reduce my risk of ever going through that again. So I ask McCabe outright: can our diet reduce our cancer risk?
“Yes, but your definition of ‘diet’ has to be broad,” she says. “You can’t just look at what you eat. If the question was: is there a lifestyle that can reduce your risk of cancer? The answer is yes.”
Source: bing.com
