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CAM & Life Style > Can Diet or Supplements Prevent or Delay Relapse?

Last update: 07/13/2009

Question: Once you get clean from lymphoma how do you stay clean? Any good suggestions on things to avoid? Detoxifying foods, teas, vitamins to take? Any advice is appreciated. 

Understandably many have and will try different life style strategies for this purpose. Unfortunately, there's no evidence to show that any dietary practices can prevent a relapse or control the growth of existing disease.  While testimonials will be found to make such claims, unfortunately, testimonials cannot be considered evidence for many reasons: see The Problem with Testimonials  

Regarding diet as treatment or prevention of relapse:  Relapse occurs from cancer cells that survive treatment, not from the development of a new lymphoma.  Thus, reducing your risk factors for cancers by eating well is unlikely to effect the risk of relapse.  Consider that cancer cells will do well - as well as normal cells - when removed from the body and cultured in assays.  While poor diet can increase your lifetime risk of developing some cancers, changing one's diet is unlikely to have any effect on residual cancer cells - if any still exist following treatment.

See also Complementary and alternative (CAM) dietary therapies for cancer. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2008 Feb;50(2 Suppl):494-7; discussion 498. Review. PMID:18064662  Related articles 

However, it makes very good sense to eat well and exercise, because adopting a health-promoting  life style will improve your quality of life and  may help to offset the damage to normal cells from the toxicities of treatments. 

See General Diet Guidance  And who knows, doing so might have additional undeterminable benefits as well, but again, this can't be known and there is so far no plausible scientific evidence to make such claims. 


Regarding herbs and supplements, be aware that herbal products have not been regulated by FDA, and that herbs sometimes contain contaminants or the wrong ingredients when examined. 

See FDA proposed rule to promote (not ensure) 
that dietary supplements do NOT have:

  • the wrong ingredients

  • too much or too little of a dietary ingredient

  • improper packaging or labeling

  • contamination due to natural toxins, bacteria, pesticides, glass, lead, or other substances

Importantly, there is no evidence that taking herbs can influence the course of a lymphoma, or prevent a relapse.  Please see also the many caveats of supplement use .

Regarding detoxification strategies, it's seems best to leave this to natural processes, but it can be health promoting to include whole foods (containing fiber) in your diet and maintaining your hydration (good fluid intake). 

... Importantly, so called detoxifying programs may lead to electrolyte imbalance, which can make you less well.  While chronic exposure to toxins is associated with increased life-time risk of developing some cancers, there is no evidence to show that detoxifying can reverse an existing cancer.  See Detoxifying as Cancer Treatment?  See Enemas - Wikipedia.org 

However, avoiding sources of environmental toxins (cigarette smoke, etc.) will help you to maintain your health and reduce the risk of secondary diseases, even if it cannot delay a relapse, or reverse an existing lymphoma. 

If you are reading this you know that It's very difficult to wait and worry about relapse. One alternative to unproductive worry is to try to concentrate on becoming the person you were meant to be.  It may help to come to terms with your mortality (from some cause eventually), and to focus on living a full life. By all means, eat well and stay active to improve your general health and performance, and to enhance also your quality of life.   

~ KarlS

 
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