Several of medicine’s most cutting-edge therapies are focused on treating cancer. With proton treatment, tumors are targeted for treatment with streams of highly charged protons. Artificial white blood cells called tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes enter tumors and kill cancerous cells there. Reprogrammed T cells are sent to seek out uncontrollable cells as part of CAR T-cell therapy.
Interestingly, doctors frequently ignore food, which is a more natural strategy to possibly fight cancer and can be utilized in addition to other treatments.
A new review paper in the journal Trends in Molecular Medicine focused on nutritional therapies for cancer. Scientists at Spain’s National Cancer Research Center, Carlos Martnez-Garay and Nabil Djouder, wrote the article in which they discussed how “precision food” could increase the efficacy of cancer treatments while minimizing side effects.
Experts have long observed that cancer cells require high quantities of glucose (sugar) and specific amino acids to fuel their rapid growth, as Martnez-Garay and Djouder noted, suggesting the possibility that diets that restrict these substances might prevent the growth of cancer.