# Treating cancer via diet **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 28, 2022, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692 "2022-11-28T16:35:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692/21 "2022-11-29T01:44:31Z")
[An entry by Orac](https://www.respectfulinsolence.com/2015/06/08/the-exaggeration-that-is-food-as-medicine/). (Found while looking for [an old article about cancer being cured by liquified vegetables and squirting coffee up your ass](https://www.respectfulinsolence.com/2015/02/27/the-wellness-warrior-jess-ainscough-has-passed-away/).) ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692/22 "2022-11-29T02:26:01Z")
Keep in mind cancer is a very broad term. Some cancers are all but guaranteed to kill you in 3 months, some are very slow growing and will never cause problems. Metastatic lung cancer that has spread to multiple organs is not the same as stage 1 prostate cancer. A lot of people diagnosed with cancer will survive (some without treatment) and theyll attribute whatever medical or alternative medical care they got to it. Also even if someone does die of cancer people can always say “they wouldve died even earlier if not for treatment xyz”. So no matter what happens, people can pretend diet saved or extended lifespan. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692/23 "2022-11-29T02:37:29Z")
Cancer includes many very different disorders. They have many similarities, but big differences. Genetic mutations and errors in the body are common and inevitable, but most have no clinical significance. The body copies huge amounts of genetic material and does a great job, just not a perfect one. Staying out of the sun does reduce skin cancer. Eating well absolutely helps some anti-cancer mechanisms. It is probably wise to eat pigmented foods high in chemicals likely to do this - especially things like coffee, fruits and vegetables. And avoid bad habits such as smoking. But you also have to live your life. I have reduced processed and barbecued foods, both which increase risk, but still enjoy and eat them. Small increases in relative risk are often pretty insignificant compared to other things. Exercise likely helps a lot. Having a healthy gut biome likely helps a lot too. But we don’t know that much about the microbiome, nor the specifics of how a good diet may specifically reduce the risk. Or what diet is best for you personally. And diet does not eliminate risk. If diagnosed with one of the types, it is already significantly developed. Depending on specifics, there is a good chance one has progressed beyond the avoidance and risk reduction paradigms. And it is far less likely diet is helpful at these stages. I’m not going to say it isn’t, it depends on what we are actually talking about and there is much we don’t know. But as a substitute for other treatments, diet has a lot of limitations. It’s almost certainly better at prevention. I would go with more traditional treatments. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692/24 "2022-11-29T03:08:52Z")
I have to watch my sugar and carbs as a Type 2 diabetic, but other than that my oncologist is all “eat whatever you like”. If I weren’t a Type 2, I doubt I would have any restrictions. I admit I’m lucky: stage 4 and no significant nausea to limit my diet. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692/25 "2022-11-29T04:25:12Z")
IANA medical anybody. But I did work daily with my now-deceased first wife as she spent 25 years battling the slowly growing and slowly spreading cancer that eventually killed her. The way we saw it, as educated by a lot of experience and many, many, many more encounters with the experts than anyone should have to deal with … Out of 1000 people, 950 of them can eat anything, be exposed to anything, and they won’t get any cancer of any kind. Another 40 of them are going to get cancer no matter how careful they are to avoid sun, known carcinogens, obvious toxins, and every other bogeyman of conventional medicine or woos-ville. Finally, there are 10 folks in the middle who can actively affect whether they get or don’t get cancer by how they eat and how they live. But there’s no way to know _a priori_ which group you’re in. Eating well, not smoking, etc., may or may not matter and eating badly, smoking, etc., may or may not matter. As a simple matter of odds, the odds strongly favor that your habits have no (or at least negligible) influence on your getting or not getting cancer. Overall, if you don’t have cancer, eating smart is in the “can’t hurt, might help” area. Ditto exercise, low stress, plenty of sleep, etc. The whole woo-free wellness recipe. It’s “can’t hurt, might help.” Wacko woo-filled diets or habits or enemas get away from “can’t hurt, might help” and are much more likely to be “can hurt, won’t help.” Don’t do that. Once you have cancer, a totally different set of logic takes hold. Like being pregnant, you now have a growing uncontrolled metabolically inefficient parasite living in you. You need to feed you well. There’s no way to avoid feeding your parasite at the same time. So eat well, and eat the amount that keeps your strength, your immune system, and your stamina up as well as possible for as long as possible. The idea of “starving a tumor” without starving you first is nuts. Whether we’re talking starve it of gross calories or of some particular magic component of food. That whole idea is wacko. Eat, eat well, eat balanced, eat plenty. Or die trying. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692/26 "2022-11-29T04:43:13Z")
I’m thinking of Steve Jobs, who died one of the most unnecessary deaths in medical history. His cancer was perfectly treatable but he insisted on following a woo health-diet-based anti-cancer plan instead of the recommended surgery. By the time he realized his error, it was too late. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692/27 "2022-11-29T05:08:40Z")
When my doctor told me that chemo would not be advisable for me, for positive reasons, I replied, “Great! Now I can go raw vegan after all.” We both laughed, because he knew I was kidding, and I added, “Ugh, I’d rather have chemo than eat like that.” A dietitian is often part of the treatment team, to deal with issues like nausea and mouth sores, but yeah, I’m not aware of any dietary therapy being used for cancer, besides eating as nutritious a diet as possible. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692/28 "2022-11-29T05:11:46Z")
Yeah, you’re talking about the Gerson therapy, which was devised in the 1920s and worked about as well as almost any other cancer treatment available at the time. They have full-fledged clinics operating in places like Tijuana, and several centers in California (that I know of) that are licensed as spas and do juicing “therapy” only. p.s. ISTR that Coretta Scott King died in one of those facilities. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692/29 "2022-11-29T05:29:07Z")
Jobs’ cancer was well understood and treatable. If he followed the standard treatment regimen he’d likely be alive today, and living with cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692/30 "2022-11-29T05:39:45Z")
Much of cancer is well understood. Eating a healthy diet puts one in better condition to battle disease. Sometimes, odd approaches can be effective in countering cancer. But I wouldn’t bet my life on it. IANAD. IANA medical expert. I’m a software engineer who worked in oncology software and cancer treatment robotics systems for 27 years. In the US, cancer is a reportable disease. Hospitals report to the state, and states report to national. All of this data is compiled in cancer registry databases, including the specific diagnosis, the regimen that patients are treated with, how the patient fared, and their survival status after treatment. This data determines statistical likelihoods for treatment successes for any given diagnosis code. If it were me with cancer, I’d follow the data for my treatments. Which basically means I’d listen to my oncologists, usually both a radonc and a medonc. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692/31 "2022-11-29T05:54:32Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I know someone who swears he cured his colon cancer with red clover tea, peppermint tea and something else tea-ish, Polyps are like skin tags but in the lining of the colon. They are linked to colon cancer as the constant injury to the polyp (blocking the flow… ) rolls the cancer dice faster … They are removed by putting a rubber band or clip on them … so it falls off later… So that description sounds like it was just a polyp. Why should there be a food that kills cancer ? Cancer cells are ordinary host cells with the same chemistry and so on as the host cells, so a chemotherapy has to be at just the right dose to kill the fast growing cancer cells, due to the higher uptake of that substance into the cancer cells , without doing too much damage to healthy cells… So even if a substance in the food would act as a chemotherapy how would it be dosed just right ? The wrong dose would have to kill healthy cells. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692/32 "2022-11-29T06:38:20Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > This supports my position, which is basically that eating a healthy diet helps people deal with disease generally, and certainly doesn’t do any harm, but the main benefit is promoting a sound psychological outlook that keeps patients focussed on things that are actually helpful, like keeping their chemotherapy appointments, warding off additional medical problems that have dietary bases (i.e. obesity, muscular atrophy, etc.). It’s only a matter of degree with which I disagree with nutjobs like Woody Harrelson (and apparently my friend) who thinks that dietary changes play a major part in combatting cancer when it has already manifested itself. That’s the way I see it. A healthy diet, exercise, prayer, yoga, crystals, acupuncture, etc. may all have some benefit for a cancer patient if they use them _in addition to_ receiving mainstream medical treatments. But if they use a healthy diet, exercise, prayer, yoga, crystals, acupuncture, etc. _instead of_ mainstream medical treatments, they’re going to die of cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692/33 "2022-11-29T07:26:01Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > “Obesity can increase the risk of getting cancer.” True. > > “Following a highly restrictive low-sugar diet is effective in treating cancer.” False. To reiterate this at a molecular level… some aspects of diet can be preventative - diet and a healthy lifestyle can reduce the overall DNA mutation rate and perhaps improve immune surveillance. But once the required set of mutations to cause cancer have already taken place, reducing the ongoing rate of mutation is irrelevant, and a slight boost to your general health and your immune system isn’t going to make any difference. Once a cancer is established, more radical action is required to excise or destroy the already-mutated cells. Using diet to attempt to cure cancer is like treating melanoma with sunblock. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692/34 "2022-11-29T11:58:07Z")
But don’t cancer cells take their calories where they can get them? You can’t “starve” away cancer by cutting calories. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692/35 "2022-11-29T12:08:23Z")
You put a lot of effort into a wonderful post! Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692/36 "2022-11-29T13:48:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > he’s using the argument “lots of websites say it, so it must be true”? Because, I mean, lots of websites also tell me that I absolutely must watch this bad cheerleading routine, because what happens to the cheerleader’s panties will shock me. Yeah, I know, it’s sad. And disturbing because I’ve known this guy for over 67 years (!) and love him like a brother, so it’s troublesome that he resorts to the “look at a million websites, and then I’ll discuss this subject with you” gambit. I’ve even used my stock response to such a gambit, which is “No, you tell me which of these million websites makes the strongest case for your position, and I’ll read that one and respond to it,” to which he texted me just “See my previous response.” He’s a smart guy, usually in agreement with me on most things, but he seems to have a bug up his ass about this one subject (maybe he’s bought into one of his cancer-ridden friends’ “positive thinking” BS about diet?). Or maybe he’s putting me on? I prefer to believe that. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692/37 "2022-11-29T14:31:39Z")
At least he isn’t insisting that you watch hour-long YouTube videos. ---
**Author:** ![a6ka97](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@a6ka97](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a6ka97)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692/38 "2022-11-29T16:50:03Z")
The only diet that I have heard about (and may have some merit) that may cure some diseases is the type that changes your body’s pH, like consuming a large amount of vinegar to make your body’s pH more acidic. The theory is the change in pH will no longer be the ideal condition for the disease to thrive and will no longer multiply. Does it work? No personal experience, just a friend of a friend type statements that it does. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692/39 "2022-11-29T16:57:02Z")
That’s pretty thoroughly debunked. Your body will maintain its own internal pH where it belongs with little regard to whether you’re eating supposedly alkaline or acidic foods. One of our resident MDs mentioned in passing upthread about the bunk of alkaline diets. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692/40 "2022-11-29T17:39:07Z")
No, that doesn’t work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/treating-cancer-via-diet/975692.md?page=3)