Nutrition and Diet Therapy for Cancer
The relationship between food and cancer has two different aspects. On the one hand, considering the diet as factor promoting cancer, on the other, the role diet has in the treatment of cancer patients.
Until recent years, it was not easy to establish a clear and direct relationship between food and cancer. Different studies did not individually demonstrate clearly, neither the degree of relationship, nor the moment of cancer development in which some foods or certain eating habits are involved. However, there are so many studies carried out and so wide the information collected in them, that when studying the problem from a global and inclusive perspective the results are more than convincing.
Diets rich in meats and fats and some vitamins and micronutrients have obtained, after many studies, qualifications of cancer promoters or cancer protectors, respectively.
Adjusting the diet for the treatment of cancer patients has given very positive results in recent years, allowing a better quality of life for patients undergoing curative or palliative therapies.
In recent years, scientific studies on the metabolism of cancer cells have shown many differences in how a cancer cell feeds according with the type of cancer. Some tumors, such as prostate, feed primarily on fats, others primarily on glucose and others, such as pancreatic cancer, combine a high intake of glucose and proteins. Knowing the metabolic pathways most used for each cancer type, we can design personalized diets helping to reduce cancer growth.
