Can dieting and losing weight "starve" tumors to death? Some people really do this, and the result is...

"You can 'starve tumors' by dieting"

Some people say that cancer cells need nutrition to grow, and patients can achieve an anti-cancer effect by reducing their nutrient intake and cutting off the nutrient supply to cancer cells. What is worrying is that some cancer patients have actually tried this approach.

Rumor Analysis

This practice is wrong.

If you really do this, it may not necessarily "starve the tumor to death", but if you are not careful, it may kill the patient.

Recently, the news that "a woman dieted and lost 44 kilograms in the hope of starving the tumor to death" has become a hot topic. The patient had gastric cancer surgery and chemotherapy six months ago. Later, she heard that cancer cells need nutrition to grow. If she eats too well, it will accelerate the growth of the tumor and even cause recurrence. So she dared not eat too much and wanted to "starve" the tumor to death. Her weight dropped from 65 kilograms to 43 kilograms. Can dieting and losing weight really "starve the tumor to death"? Are tumors really hereditary? Let's take a look at these three rumors about tumors...

Can dieting and losing weight rapidly “starve the tumor to death”?

analyze:

Generally speaking, "cancer" refers to all malignant tumors. Cancer has biological characteristics such as abnormal cell differentiation and proliferation, uncontrolled growth, invasiveness and metastasis.

Because tumors are consumptive diseases, tumor cells proliferate rapidly and consume human nutrients rapidly, so they cannot be starved to death. Blindly insisting on "starvation therapy" will cause malnutrition in the body, affect the growth and protection of normal cells in the body, lead to a decrease in self-immunity, and increase the risk of infection.

Radiotherapy and chemotherapy, as the main anti-tumor means, require patients to have good physical strength to support them. If diet is often controlled, resulting in the nutritional status of the patient being unable to support anti-tumor treatment, tumor cells will further develop and spread.

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In the field of oncology, there is indeed a "starvation therapy", but "starving the tumor to death" does not mean simply starving the patient.

Cancer cells need blood vessels to grow and develop. Cancer cells absorb nutrients from the blood through blood vessels and continue to proliferate and divide. If these blood vessels are removed or blocked, the cancer cells will lose nutrients and slowly "starve to death." "Starvation" here means cutting off the blood vessels that provide nutrients to the tumor, "starving" the tumor locally and precisely, rather than reducing the normal nutritional intake of the human body as a whole, which results in starving the patient.

The right way to "starve" a tumor

1. Use anti-angiogenic drugs to inhibit angiogenesis and growth, block tumor growth channels, and inhibit cancer cell proliferation. Currently, it has been used in the treatment of liver cancer, intestinal cancer, lung cancer, etc.

2. Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) is often used to treat liver cancer. TACE means that when the hepatic artery angiography shows the tumor nutrition vessels, the catheter is super-selectively inserted into the liver tumor blood supply artery through the femoral artery, and the embolic agent and (or) chemotherapy drugs are injected, so that the chemotherapy drugs directly reach the lesion, and then the blood supply of the tumor lesion is interrupted. The chemotherapy drugs act on the tumor cells at the maximum drug concentration, causing the tumor cells to be hypoxic, ischemic and necrotized.

The truth: "Starving" tumors to death ≠ dieting

Maintaining a good nutritional status is the basis of cancer treatment. The idea of ​​reducing food intake and starving the tumor to death is unscientific!

The real "starvation therapy" for treating tumors refers to starving the tumor to death through drugs or other methods, not simply starving the patient without eating nutritious food. The idea of ​​"starving the tumor to death" by reducing food intake has no scientific basis.

Whether it is the normal population or the diagnosed cancer patients, they should develop good eating habits and achieve a balanced diet, with cereals as the staple food and a combination of meat and vegetables. The food should be fresh, diverse, light, easy to digest and nutritious.

If you have a family history of cancer, will you definitely suffer from hereditary cancer?

Analysis: About 5% to 10% of patients have hereditary tumors, which often show familial clustering. They are a type of tumor caused by specific pathogenic gene mutations and have familial clustering. When a family has clustered tumor patients, professional genetic tumor consultation is required to use genetic testing and other means to determine whether it is a hereditary tumor.

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Common tumors with high genetic risk in clinical practice include breast tumors, gastrointestinal tumors, ovarian tumors, prostate tumors, etc. The vast majority of tumors are caused by the interaction of environmental and genetic factors. Even if genetic testing finds that a germline pathogenic mutation gene is carried, it only means that the carrier has a higher risk of disease than the average person.

The following groups of people need cancer genetic counseling:

The same or related tumors occur in 2 or more close relatives;

One or more relatives have cancer onset at an earlier age than the usual age;

Bilateral tumors of paired organs, such as bilateral breast cancer;

Some benign changes, such as skin or bone abnormalities, gastrointestinal polyps, and mucosal melanoma, are associated with known hereditary tumor syndromes;

Rare tumors, such as breast cancer in a male relative.

The truth: Having a family history of cancer does not mean that you will have hereditary cancer, nor does it mean that you will definitely get cancer. However, you should receive genetic counseling for cancer. In addition, there is a situation where the whole family has common high-risk factors in life and diet, which may result in a concentrated incidence of certain cancers. This also requires family members to be checked, but this is not caused by genetic factors.

Some people have normal physical examinations every year.

But was diagnosed with advanced cancer?

analyze:

Cancer grows fast, is invasive, spreads, and metastasizes, causing serious harm to the human body. The latest World Cancer Report released by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) shows that cancer ranks among the top two causes of death among residents aged 30-69 in most countries.

According to the latest cancer statistics report, lung cancer is still the malignant tumor with the highest incidence and mortality in my country. The most common types of cancers for men and women are different. For men, they are mainly lung cancer, stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, liver cancer, esophageal cancer, prostate cancer, etc., while for women, they are mainly breast cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, thyroid cancer, stomach cancer, cervical cancer, etc.

The World Health Organization states:

One third of cancers are completely preventable;

One third of cancers can be cured if detected early;

One-third of cancers can be treated with existing medical treatments to prolong life, reduce pain and improve quality of life.

The factors that cause cancer are very complex, including external factors such as chemical, physical and chronic infection, as well as internal factors such as genetics, immunity, age, lifestyle, etc. Among all the carcinogenic factors, it has been confirmed that 80% of cancers are caused by environmental factors, including smoking, poor eating habits, etc.

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Everyone's family history, eating habits, living and working environment are different. In other words, everyone's high-risk factors are different, and the risk of cancer is also different. Therefore, the more expensive the cancer prevention physical examination is, the better. The key is to be targeted and choose the cancer prevention physical examination items and examination methods that are suitable for you.

How to choose cancer prevention physical examination scientifically?

for example:

Lung cancer: Low-dose spiral CT scan of the chest

Liver cancer: Abdominal B-ultrasound + serum alpha-fetoprotein

Breast cancer: breast B-ultrasound + mammography

Thyroid Cancer: Neck Ultrasound

Colorectal cancer: colonoscopy, fecal occult blood test

Gastric cancer: gastroscopy, Helicobacter pylori detection

Esophageal cancer: Endoscopy

Prostate cancer: PSA+color Doppler ultrasound

Cervical cancer: HPV+TCT

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The truth: "Annual physical examinations were all normal, but cancer was diagnosed in the late stage" is because the previous examination methods were not targeted, so the cancer might not have been discovered early, and by the time it was confirmed, it was already in the late stage.

In fact, many people do not get cancer suddenly, but are suddenly diagnosed with cancer. Cancer is definitely not contracted "suddenly", but has been there for a long time, but is suddenly detected one day.

The most important thing to improve cancer survival rates is not new drugs, but prevention and screening. If you are at high risk of cancer, you must have a targeted physical examination to achieve early detection, early diagnosis, and early treatment.

Warm reminder: It is recommended that people take the initiative to learn about cancer prevention and treatment, improve their own awareness of prevention, develop a healthy lifestyle, go to a regular hospital for a physical examination regularly, and conduct cancer prevention screening for people at high risk of cancer.

Looking in the mirror of rumors

The diagnosis and treatment of cancer is highly professional, and we must not listen to rumors or try random remedies or experiences. Otherwise, we may miss the opportunity for treatment and even cause the disease to worsen.

Author: Hu Zhongdong, Healthy China Action Spokesperson, Associate Chief Physician, Registered Nutritionist, Health Manager

Reviewer: Tang Qin, Director and Researcher of the Science Popularization Department of the Chinese Medical Association