Cancer & Blood Disease: Cut risk of cancer recurrence

Mr. Smith is a 55-year-old gentleman who was hit with extremely bad news almost nine months ago. He had been healthy all of his life. Suddenly, his doctor told him that he had stage 3 colon cancer. He underwent surgery and then he needed six months of chemotherapy to eradicate microscopic cancer cells.

He has about 3 out of 10 chances of his cancer coming back. If his cancer comes back, it may become incurable.

At the end of chemotherapy, he asked me a simple question: "How can I help myself in my fight against cancer?" In other words, what could he do to cut down the chance of his cancer coming back?

Recently, in the "Journal of Clinical Oncology," an excellent article was published. The finding is that eating nuts makes people live longer.

The finding comes from an observational study of patients with stage 3 colon cancer who were treated with surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy. Those patients who recalled eating two servings of nuts per week lived longer compared to those who had not consumed any nuts.

Interestingly, the association was significant only for eating tree nuts, which include almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, cashews and pecans.

Nutrients in nuts, such as unsaturated fatty acids, fiber, vitamins and minerals, may provide anti-carcinogenic and anti-inflammatory properties that could favorably affect outcomes in patients with colon cancer.

Other studies have suggested beneficial effects of interventions to achieve energy balance (i.e., maintaining a healthy body weight, higher levels of physical activity), intake of aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as Advil, vitamin D status and coffee consumption.

We must realize that these findings are from observational studies and are not proven beyond doubt. At the same time, a healthy diet, exercise, moderate coffee intake, etc., are good, healthy habits. These are helpful not only for cancer patients, but also help every individual by improving heart health.

An association between higher vitamin D levels and prognosis in early stage CRC has been suggested. Whether higher levels of vitamin D supplementation can improve prognosis in conjunction with adjuvant chemotherapy is not yet known.

Nevertheless, given the benefits of vitamin D repletion in terms of skeletal health and the possibility of better cancer-related outcomes, it seems reasonable to test serum vitamin D levels in patients with newly diagnosed CRC and to replete those with low levels.

In short, I advised my patient to eat healthy food, exercise regularly, eat plant nuts regularly, drink some coffee and check his vitamin D levels. At the same time, I suggested that not smoking and avoiding regular alcohol intake can help.

Dr. Sunil Gandhi is a hematologist and oncologist. He is thevolunteer medical adviser of the Citrus Unit of the American Cancer Society. Write to 521 N. Lecanto Highway, Lecanto, FL 34461, email sgandhi@tampabay.rr.com or call 352-746-0707.