Tag Archives: nutrition

a blueberry a day keeps the oncologist away

March 22, 2012 By in musings on nutrition, prevention Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

Okay, I’m exaggerating. But they are good for you, and incorporating blueberries into your diet may contribute to cancer prevention.

While research on cancer prevention and diet is ongoing, there is no doubt that blueberries contain plenty of dietary fiber, lots of antioxidants, and are high in vitamins C and K.

In my local market right now, I can only find blueberries imported from Chile, and they’re pretty pricey. I don’t have anything against Chilean blueberries, but I’d prefer to buy them locally, when the berries are in season. The good news is that we’ll soon be coming into blueberry season — the end of April around these parts — and it will be much easier to find local blueberries in the neighborhood grocery store.

Some easy ways to add blueberries into your diet? Toss a handful into your bowl of whole-grain cereal in the morning or into your container of yogurt. Add a bunch to a smoothie for breakfast or a mid-day snack. Sprinkle them into your pancake batter or right on top of the finished pancakes.

At my house, I set a bowl of washed blueberries between my children at dinner time, and we snack on the berries while we eat our meal. I freeze a big bag of the blueberries we pick at a local u-pick farm, and my kids eat them right out of the freezer, one frozen berry at a time.

Of course, if you feel like turning on your oven, here are three recipes making good use of blueberries:

on cancer and its causes

January 2, 2012 By in causes of cancer, musings on nutrition Tags: , , , , 10 Comments

On Christmas day, I had my family over for the annual holiday dinner. I sat near my 15-year old niece, and we talked of roller coasters and her experiences driving since now that she has her learner’s permit. Then she asked me to explain how cancer forms. Her high-school biology teacher had tried explaining it to her, but it wasn’t done in a way that was understandable to my niece and her friends. So I gave it a shot, in the way I usually explain to patients.

Essentially, I told her that cancer forms when the genetic material (DNA) in one cell goes awry, causing the cell to divide without stopping or without the cell undergoing its natural cell death (apoptosis). The one cell turns into 2 cells, then those 2 cells turn into 4 cells, then the 4 cells multiply into 16 cells, and so on. Eventually the group of cells is big enough to form a cancerous tumor. If the body’s immune system is not strong enough to detect those cells-gone-wrong – or even if it is strong enough, but maybe another mechanism is in place – the cancerous growth will continue and eventually cause problems for whatever organ or tissue it is growing in.

Then my niece asked me the tough question. “So why does cancer form in the first place?”

And that is the million dollar question. Or trillion dollar question, really.

We know that some cancers are caused by infections — such as cervical cancer which is caused by strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV) or liver cancer caused by the hepatitis B or hepatitis C virus. Smoking clearly causes some types of cancer – lung cancer and some types of head and neck cancers, for example. Radiation exposure can lead to cancer, since radiation inherently damages the genetic material – the DNA – in healthy cells.

But what about diet? What about the things we eat and drink on a daily basis?

This is a much harder question to answer. I’ve delved into the medical literature on the role of diet and cancer, and the the information there is about as clear as brackish swamp water.

This morning, I read this blog post and I think it is a nice guideline to follow for healthful eating. While there are no hard and fast rules of thumb listed, the post makes some general recommendations based on what research currently exists.

I think a nice approach to viewing cancer-causing substances is this: Some things are definitely “high risk” and should be avoided — smoking definitely falls into this category. Other things fall into the “moderate risk” group, and perhaps these are the ones that cause us the most angst — red meat, processed meats (such as cured or smoked meats), and alcohol are the first few that come to mind. The items in the “moderate risk” group are those that we want to be able to enjoy – and we can – but we shouldn’t have them too often. Of course, “too often” is often a debatable amount of time.

Very unsatisfying, right? I completely agree.

And in the end, I’m not sure I cleared up anything for my niece, but hopefully she’ll at least pass the cancer section of her next biology test.

i’m on chemo and can’t keep my weight up…what can I do?

November 28, 2011 By in chemotherapy, during treatment Tags: , , , , 1 Comment

I have joked sometimes that I wish I had this problem, but truthfully, losing too much weight can be problematic for someone undergoing cancer therapy. Weight loss during chemotherapy is not a guaranteed phenomenon. In fact, most women undergoing breast cancer and ovarian cancer chemotherapy actually put on some weight during their treatment and in the period of time following treatment. When too much weight loss does happen, though, we oncologists typically don’t like to see it.

Losing too much weight can lead to undernutrition – or even frank malnutrition. In addition to loss of body fat, patients often lose lean muscle mass. Too much involuntary weight loss (or voluntary, for that matter) can increase health risks and lead to an increased risk of mortality.

That’s not a good thing.

The reasons for weight loss can be multiple, and your physician should ensure that any treatable causes are identified. Some of the more common – treatable – reasons for weight loss are diabetes, hyperthyroidism, some infections, and even certain medications. Nausea and vomiting from treatment, or from the cancer itself, are also a potential cause of weight loss, and these symptoms can hopefully be treated — and prevented next time around.

If weight loss is because of poor appetite, and if nothing else is working to keep the weight up, there are prescription medications that can be prescribed to stimulate the appetite. These can be helpful in the right situation, especially if forcing yourself to eat just isn’t working.

Before I try a prescription appetite stimulant, I usually recommend other interventions first. To put on weight, I usually recommend relaxing any diet restrictions that a patient may have put on himself or herself in order to eat “healthier” during chemotherapy. Eating a healthier diet — with whole grains, lean proteins, plenty of vegetables and fruits – is a wonderful thing, whether you have cancer or not. But, if one’s diet modifications have restricted calories too much, I’m not a happy doc. The cancer treatment time is generally not a time for dieting, and it is possible to make lifestyle changes in one’s diet while still maintaining an appropriate weight.

Here are some other tips for keeping weight loss to a minimum:

  • Eat more eggs. One large egg contains 6 grams of high quality protein that is easily digestible and inexpensive, especially when compared to the much pricier protein supplements. Not only are eggs a conveniently self-packaged protein source, but they contain 10 to 20% or more of choline (important for cell metabolism), selenium (an antioxidant), riboflavin, vitamin B12, and phosphorus.
  • If nut allergies are not a problem, incorporate more nuts into your diet. Just one ounce of pistachios or almonds contains 6 grams of protein.
  • Protein shakes (such as Ensure or Boost) are an easy solution, but these supplements can be financially taxing if you’re on a limited income. Finding a flavor that you like is important, and if you really want to increase calories as well as protein, blend a scoop of ice cream into the supplement and make a milkshake out of it.

Since eggs are the cheapest way to up protein in the diet, I’m a big fan of eggs. These easy-to-prepare recipes won’t steer you wrong:

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