Nutrition research

How nutritional research might help me win.

I talked in a previous post about how I’d turned to one of the modern breed AI tools to help me unlock some science and fight this battle. In that, I talked about free things I’ve been doing at home to boost my immune system while going through chemo. Today I want to share something about nutrition. I’ve been using that same search tool, found some real interesting foods, but also in cross checking everything with my oncology team, learned to ask better questions too. It’s important to ask more than how a thing might benefit: ask specifically about adverse reaction risks and interactions with other meds you may be on, both in searches and with your medical team.

I’ve picked up a few supplements that help me. This newsletter remains free, but these supplements are on affiliate links - you won’t pay a penny more, but those firms will help subsidise my costs a little. They’ll be cleared marked (affiliate) in all cases so you know. I hope you don’t mind, since I’m doing this for free to help as many people as I can, but while going through treatment I’m missing a bunch of my usual earning opportunities and these supplements do come with some costs, so the links help cover those.

My nutrition research here started in the earlier days - right after brain surgery and before we’d even had the biopsy results. I was looking to heal fast from something that’s technically an “intentional traumatic brain injury”. I’d already set a high bar with a swift hospital discharge and I wasn’t about to stop there. Largely as expected, this lead me in the direction of foods high in vitamins, antioxidants and omega 3 fats and I do believe that approach helped.

Now I’m into another phase though. The last 6 weeks have been Radiation therapy and Temozolomide (TMZ) chemo. An oral variant and particularly well suited to brain issues, but also carries the typical chemo side effects of destroying your gut biome, dropping your platelet count, etc. I wanted to research what kind of nutrition might help combat these issues, but quickly learned so much more. The first discovery I made was that Vitamin C supplements can actually help relieve some of the side effects. However, they do this by going up against the Chemo itself, and some research suggest this actually make chemo less effective. No point putting myself though this punishment and not having it be as effective as possible. This was an early and useful lesson in considering not just how nutrition might help my case, but also a warning to question where it might go against. I’ve researched this one from a variety of angles, and my conclusion (validated by my oncology team) is to avoid Vitamin C supplements for the duration of Chemo but to ensure I’m eating plenty of fresh fruit and veg to cover the basic needs. I’ve certainly noticed myself craving fresh fruit especially - my body has also been good at communicating vitamin deficiencies to me through cravings. I think we all have that system, but maybe I’m more tuned into it than others I know.

This lead me down another path though - if some supplements can reduce the efficacy of my treatments chemo, might there be some that enhance it? My first discovery was Cruciferous vegetables (Cauliflower, Broccoli, Kale, etc).

Mum was right when she told me to eat my greens.

Many of these vegetables contain Glucoraphanin, which the body then metabolises into Sulforaphane. Highest bioavailability comes from raw young broccoli shoots which I started adding to salads, soups etc. My partner wonderfully starting a home grow - it grows lie regular garden cress! This compound makes cancer cells even more sensitive to chemo attack, increases cancer cell death and it can even help reverse the chemoresistance that is often acquired over a course of treatment. Not only that, it helps protect the body in a number of other ways: new cancer cell prevention, glucose management, cardio vascular protection, neuro plasticity protection and more besides. This sounds to me like the magic formula that EVERYONE should be talking about. Knowing my energy levels would likely drop and reduce my enthusiasm for cooking, my assistant did the research to find the highest quality supplement around (affiliate link - you won’t pay more, but they help with my costs).

My next discovery was Quercetin - which again can help inhibit cancer cell proliferation and induce apoptosis (cancer cell death). There are other benefits too, currently the focus of research. Even better for me, quercetin is highly available in onions, tomatoes and berries, some of the fresh produce I eat most of.

Of late, my platelet count has crashed a little - and my research lead me to papaya extract. Again, there are some risks here for some patients (e.g.. those on warfarin and similar) but some platelet benefits too. As with anything I share here, consult your medical team first. If your team are on board, these are the ones I’ve added in recently (affiliate link). They’re high in Vitamin C though - so I’ve been guided to avoid these for the days I’m on Chemo, but take supplements in the short breaks between. In doing so, I’ll boost platelet count between cycles but not reduce the efficacy of the chemo itself.

Those who know me well will know that I enjoy my food a great deal - I find cooking has therapeutic qualities! I now have a new mental distraction, which is accumulating meal ideas that will really help me and others on this journey!

Easy comfort food is what I’ve been craving most, so first up, sausage and mash! Protein and carbs to keep weight up during chemo, perfect comfort food, and served up with both steamed broccoli and red onion gravy, I’m getting the nutritional reinforcements I want too! Breakfast - how about a pancake with berries and yoghurt? Egg yolks for the brain, berries for the vitamins, and yoghurt to help protect the gut biome.

I might write more on those ideas in future. Meanwhile, I’m doing research and asking my oncology team about the things I’m trying; please take this as inspiration for you to do your on research and talk to your medics. I don’t know what other issues or medications you might be facing, but it’s certainly clear that many of these things can interact and not all of those interactions are safe.