The Nutrition Sherpa is your enlightened guide to the healthy world of nutrition. As always the Sherpa is objective and unaffiliated.


Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Macrobiotic Anti-Cancer Diet

The Macrobiotic diet is claimed to be a good anti–cancer diet. General associations of macrobiotic diets as similar to Japanese (a low incidence of cancer in the population) dietary habits because of the whole grains and vegetable focus. Though there is no definitive evidence of macrobiotic anti-cancer diets working, it is a good solution for improving quality of life for the patience and can be beneficial. The following information from the National Institute of Health provides further information on antic-cancer diets including macrobiotic diets. Increasing attention is being paid to the role of nutrition in cancer. Dietary measures, such as decreased consumption of calories, fat, alcohol and smoked or pickled foods have been shown to reduce the incidence of specific "adult" cancers, while increased dietary fiber appears to have a protective role. However, no clear scientific evidence exists that dietary manipulation is a successful primary therapy for established cancer. A significant percentage of adult and child cancer patients take unproven therapies during their illness. Alternative nutritional therapies, of which there is a wide variety, are the commonest of these reflecting current public interest in "natural" remedies.

Commonly utilized anti-cancer diets include the macrobiotic philosophy, the Gerson diet, the Livingstone diet, and the use of vitamin and mineral therapy. While details may differ, most alternative approaches involve fresh whole foods, with strong emphasis on low-fat vegetarian diet. Most are nutritionally adequate, at least for adults. No anti-cancer diet has been shown to cure established cancers, even those whose incidence is decreased by dietary changes. Careful dietary manipulation may at least improve quality of life for adult cancer patients, and, together with conventional therapy, may prolong survival in selected cancer patients. Assessment by carefully controlled prospective clinical trials is essential; those in pediatric patients must be controlled very strictly, since tumors in children have not been shown to be influenced by diet, and the diets described may be inadequate for children with malignant disease.

Click for more information on macrobiotic anti-cancer diets. The macrobiotic anti-cancer diet is not necessarily a panacea but it is certainly healthy and good for your body.