Pancreatic Cancer

You’ve been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Never give up hope.

Even though fewer than 3% of pancreatic cancer patients survive for five years, you could be in that 3%.

Hopelessness only compounds your suffering. Many times, even with advanced cancer, there is sometimes recovery, called “spontaneous regression.”

Dr. T. Colin Campbell described his experiments in the laboratory and concluded in studies of various cancers, including pancreatic cancer, that a consistent pattern emerged. Nutrients from animal-based foods increased tumor development while nutrients from plant-based foods decreased tumor development.

The only approved drugs for pancreatic cancer are gemcitabine and erlotinib and they help fewer than 10% of patients and cause severe side effects, according to Michael Greger, M.D.

One treatment that is in Phase I of drug trials (meaning that it is safe) is the spice curcumin. It is safe in quantities of up to 8 grams/day with no side effects.

In Phase II trials it actually helped reduce the size of the tumor in two of twenty patients with the advanced cancer.

A 2009 study published in the National Journal of Cancer concluded that dietary fat of animal origin was associated with an increased pancreatic cancer risk.

Another study published in the International Journal of Cancer in 2013 found that “poultry consumption tended to be associated with an increased pancreatic cancer risk.” The white meat was found to be even worse than the dark meat, possibly because of the way it is often cooked – smoked, grilled, barbecued, fried, or baked.

A large population-based study in the San Francisco Bay Area published in the Nutrition and Cancer Journal found that a “Western dietary pattern, characterized by higher intake of red and processed meats, potato chips, sugary beverages, sweets, high fat dairy, eggs, and refined grains, was associated with a 2.4-fold increased risk of pancreatic cancer among men.”

A study out of Italy published in the Annals of Epidemiology concluded, “A diet characterized by a high consumption of meat and other animal products, as well as of (refined) cereals and sugars, is positively associated with pancreatic cancer risk, whereas a diet rich in fruit and vegetables is inversely associated.”

In a study of Seventh Day Adventists published in the journal Cancer it was found that those who ate veggie burgers, lentils and dried fruit rather than meat, poultry or fish, 3 or more times a week had a 40% lower risk of pancreatic cancer.

A study of 30,000 poultry workers published in October 2011 found that those workers who had an occupational exposure to poultry had a 9% higher rate of death from liver cancer and pancreatic cancer. Twenty-year smokers double their risk of pancreatic cancer, but poultry workers had 9 times the odds of pancreatic cancer.

Factors that cause cancer are also believed to encourage its growth. By changing from the rich Western diet that promotes cancer to a diet that supports good health, further growth of cancer could be slowed and a patient’s life could be prolonged.

Cancer does not suddenly appear. It grows at a steady rate. Early growth is invisible because the cancer is microscopic in size. The cancer remains undetectable for about 6 years until it reaches a size of 1 mm (period-size). After 10 years of growth, the tumor is 1 cm in diameter (eraser-size) and contains one billion cells. Most cancer is undetectable by the patient and his physician for the first two-thirds of its natural history.

Most animal studies show that fats and oils promote the growth of tumors and that animals receiving diets higher in cholesterol show more frequent tumors and metastases. A cholesterol-free, fat-free diet retards the growth of tumors in animals and prolongs their survival time. There is a dose relationship here also: the lower the fat in the animals’ diets the slower the growth of the cancer (J Natl Ca Inst 87:1456, 1993).

Even though it is much easier to prevent cancer than to reverse it, you can still help your immune system fight like crazy. That can buy you some time – maybe just a few more weeks of feeling good to a complete reversal.

Eat starches, like beans, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and rice with some green and yellow vegetables and fruits. No vegetable oils. No supplements. Drink 3 cups of green tea a day and take up to 8 gm of curcumin supplements.

Best of luck as you help your immune system fight off this disease.