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Nutrition and Cancer
The overall result of these experiments (described in the
research paper from the journal Mechanisms of Ageing and
Development reproduced in pdf format below) on squamous
cell carcinoma in mice is that healthful diets increase
the growth rate of cancer. Poor diets decrease its growth
rate. This is probably a general effect that applies
equally well to humans. ...if diet restriction were
practiced by all cancer patients in the United States, the
resulting life-extension might equal or surpass that
resulting from the combined efforts of the entire current
medical oncology effort.
While it is likely (although not proved) that excellent
nutrition strengthens the immune system and other defense
mechanisms in such a way as to lower the probability of
contracting cancer, it is clear that, once cancer has
established itself, excellent nutrition leads to its
accelerated growth. This may not be true of all cancers, but
it is likely to be true of a large fraction of them. The
attempts to develop drugs that decrease the vascularization
of hard tumors have been well publicized. These are
essentially efforts to reduce the nutrients supplied to the
cancer tissue itself, while not affecting the rest of the
body. While a promising area of research, these drugs are
not now available. We discovered, however, that starving the
whole organism is very effective in mice. (There are many
anecdotal accounts of this in humans, also, but no
controlled trials.) The growth rate of cancer in these mice
was varied over a 20-fold range by diet alone. Super
nutrition (lots of vitamins, etc.) increased the growth rate
two-fold, while diet restriction reduced the growth rate ten-
fold. Although this was done with one organism (mice) and
with one cancer (squamous cell carcinoma), the effect is so
large that it is very likely that it will be seen in humans
and with other types of cancer. Also, the rationale for its
effect is simple and sensible, and many individual humans
have experienced this effect. There are numerous ways to
reduce one's nutritional intake. Perhaps the safest and most
enjoyable (and highest quality for the nutrients that are
ingested) is the raw fruits and vegetable diet originally
developed by Ann Wigmore (now deceased) and her co-workers.
This was popularized by Arn and Edie Mae Hunsberger in their
book, "How I Conquered Cancer Naturally." (The book is still
available by contacting Arn Hunsberger at telephone (619)
468-3561. These developers and writers did not understand
why their diet helped cancer victims and tended to give
explanations based on improved nutrition. It is a fact,
however, that one cannot obtain sufficient nutrients (over a
prolonged period) from raw fruits and vegetables alone
because the bulk fiber and water in these diets prevents
eating enough. The proponents advocated juicing (to get
more) and supplements of staples after a month or two. They
also, in later years, added staples to the diets initially.
Note that, in the mouse experiments on raw fruits and
vegetables, the cancer slowing effect was completely lost
when soy protein or other dietary improvements were added.
Cancer is a scourge that afflicts hundreds of millions of
people. Hopefully, someday there will be a completely
effective ordinary therapy. In the meantime, however, if I
or some other member of my family contracted cancer, we
would make the best guess possible as to the proper
response. In that case, we would definitely choose diet
restriction by raw fruits and vegetables in accordance with
the research shown here. One final note, describing one of
many human stories that I have heard over the years: A
surgeon telephoned me to ask some questions about this diet.
During the conversation, he told me why he had become
interested in it (to the great displeasure of his
colleagues). A patient had come to him in whose throat was
growing a completely inoperable and soon-to-be-fatal cancer.
He told the patient that there was nothing he could do for
him and that he would soon die. The patient, however, went
to Ann Wigmore's establishment and started eating their
initial diet of strictly raw fruits and vegetables. He
pursued this fanatically, however, and never switched to
Wigmore and Hunsberger's phase-two diet including additional
staples. Many months later, the patient returned to the
surgeon. The surgeon told me that there were three things
that were unusual about this patient.
1. He was back. He should already have been long dead.
2. There was not a trace of cancer in his throat.
3. He looked like he had just stepped out of a Nazi or
Communist concentration camp. The patient was almost dead
of malnutrition. He was a walking skeleton. The surgeon
nursed him back to good nutritional health - but the
cancer never returned. All of our experiments on diet
restriction involved slowing the growth rate of cancer
(although slowing by 20-fold is equivalent to a cure in
people of advanced age). We did not observe cures or
remissions of the cancer. It is possible that this
occurred with some mice, but we were not specifically
studying it. Therefore, I am not willing to say that diet
restriction will cause the remission of tumors. I know,
however, that diet restriction can slow the growth of
cancer markedly. This effect is so large that, in my
opinion, if diet restriction were practiced by all cancer
patients in the United States, the resulting life-
extension might equal or surpass that resulting from the
combined efforts of the entire current medical oncology
effort. The research paper reproduced in pdf format below
summarizes work carried out by my coworkers and me when I
was President and Research Director of the Linus Pauling
Institute of Science and Medicine. The results of these
experiments caused an argument between Linus and me,
which ended our 16-year period of work together. He was
not willing to accept the experimentally proved fact that
vitamin C in ordinary doses accelerated the growth rate
of squamous cell carcinoma in these mice. At the time,
Linus was promoting his claim that "75% of all cancer can
be prevented and cured by vitamin C alone." This claim
proved to be without experimental foundation and not
true, although the possibility that modest doses of
vitamin C somewhat improve resistance to cancer has never
been adequately tested. The dose response curve of
vitamin C vs. mouse squamous cell carcinoma is shown in
the paper below. Vitamin C increased the rate of growth
of cancer at human equivalents of 1 to 5 grams per day,
but suppressed the cancer growth rate at doses on the
order of 100 grams per day (near the lethal dose), as do
other measures of malnutrition.
Arthur B. Robinson Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine
December 1999