Argumentative Essay: Starving Cancer With Nutrition

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Starving Cancer With Nutrition

“My grandfather was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer at the end of October in 2007 and passed away March 7, 2008. As soon as he was diagnosed, at the recommendation of a close family friend who is an MD but believes in a holistic approach, he met with Dr. Marc Schwartz, who is a nutritionist. He told my grandfather fifty percent of people fail their battle with cancer because of nutrition, so just by being at that meeting my grandfather was already in the top half of that category. The cancer was taking my grandfather, a lifelong athlete, down quickly and by December he’d lost the ability to walk. Once the juicing and supplements had had the chance to take hold in his body, we saw his energy
and strength return in an almost miraculous way which bought him two more beautiful, engaged, quality months. He had a quality of life you don’t get with chemotherapy, he was not suffering. He got to spend those precious fleeting moments with his family. Nutrition is way more powerful than we can imagine, and even if it could only save one life, I think it’d still be worth it for doctors to know it’s unbelievable strength and power,” (Eastburn). “Cancer remains the second most common cause of death in the US, accounting for nearly 1 of every 4 deaths”(American Cancer Society). “According to the National Cancer Institute, as much as 80 percent of all cancers are due to identified factors, and thus are potentially preventable. Thirty percent are due to tobacco use, and as much as 35 percent to 50 percent are due to foods,” (PhysiciansCommittee). People who get cancer go through treatment such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, hormone therapy, radiation therapy, and surgery. Treatment is aimed at killing cancer cells but it also kills healthy cells. Cancer increases the body’s nutritional needs for vitamins and minerals, protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Nutritional requirements are high during cancer treatment (Virtual Medical Centre). Malnutrition can be prevented by eating foods that are filled with nutrients and supplements. “A poor diet can increase the risk for lung, esophageal, stomach, colorectal, and prostate cancers,” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Nutrient supplies assist in rebuilding damaged cells and antioxidants may directly fight the cancer (Virtual Medical Centre). Even though some people believe that nutrition is not an important part of cancer treatment, nutrition should be a required part of the healing process because cancer patients need to consume more nutrients than usual; doing physical activity has many benefits during cancer treatment; and nutrition helps the body heal, fight infections, and helps to maintain overall health.
People with cancer need to consume more nutrients than usual because malnutrition is a common problem in cancer patients. Good nutrition helps cancer patients maintain their weight, offers relief from nutrition impact symptoms, and makes living with cancer easy. The American Cancer Society says, “We need extra protein for growth, to repair body tissue, and to keep our immune systems healthy.” During chemotherapy, it weakens the immune system and not only that, it does great damage to our white blood cells that help us fight infections. Protein keeps our immune system strong and healthy so that we don’t become very weak, and we can keep on producing healthier cells to fight off infections. Carbohydrates are as important as protein: “carbohydrates give the body the energy it needs for physical activity and organ function” (American Cancer Society).
“When consuming carbohydrates, it releases energy to fuel cells such as those of the brain and muscles” (Dr. Atkins). Carbohydrates serve as the body’s main source of energy, which helps us and our organs function. When a person consumes carbohydrates, the carbohydrates break down into sugars called glucose that get released into his or her bloodstream. From there, the glucose enters the body's cells with the help of insulin and is used by the body for energy. Without carbohydrates, the body can become very weak and everyday tasks will be difficult for us to do, so carbohydrates are vital to a person’s health because it is one of the body’s main
supporters. Fats are also surprisingly important for maintaining good health.
The body breaks down fats, stores them for energy, and transports vitamins in the blood. Fats serve as long term energy and are essential to a person’s health because it supports a number of the body's functions. Some vitamins, for instance, must have fat to dissolve and nourish the body (Mayo Clinic Staff, Aug. 07 2014). An article from the American Cancer Society states, “The body breaks down fats and uses them to store energy, insulate body tissues, and transport some types of vitamins through the blood.” Fats are used for long-term energy that could help you and support good cell growth. They are also meant for protecting your organs and absorbing nutrients to keep you healthy. In order for cancer patients to be healthy they must heavily rely on nutrients such as fats. Since chemotherapy kills not only bad cells but good cells as well, fats serve as a natural easy access nutrient to produce good cell and protect organs from these kinds of therapies. Cancer patients have to go through fighting cancerous cells and finding ways to replace the good cells that were killed by
treatment. Along with consuming more nutrients, cancer patients need to stay physically active during their cancer treatment. Physical activity has many benefits during cancer treatment and is a huge part of it. It reduces depression, stress, fatigue, nausea, and constipation that cancer patients deal with on a regular basis. “Physical activity can improve self-esteem, lower risk of being anxious and depressed, and lessen nausea,” (American Cancer Society). By exercising, you will live a much better life during cancer treatment. It is important to take care of yourself and exercising is one of the best way to do so. Exercising reduces the tired feeling, as well as the depressed feeling, and strengthens a person’s immune system. Overall, physical activity improves physical functioning and many aspects of quality of life. Physical activity also strengthens your muscle and bones which may have been impaired through surgery or treatments. “Engaging in regular exercise increases muscle strength, joint flexibility and general conditioning, all of which may be impaired by surgery and some therapies,” (National Comprehensive Cancer Network). After surgeries and therapies, cancer patients are still in pain and feel awful, so exercising helps with the pain all over the body and brings the body back to it’s normal state quickly. Patients will start to do easy everyday tasks with no trouble. During cancer treatment, patients will either gain or lose a lot of weight and in most cases it is not healthy for them. Gaining weight increases the risk of getting cancer so exercising controls weight. “Gaining weight during and after treatment raises the risk of a cancer recurrence, particularly for breast, colon and prostate cancers” (National Comprehensive Cancer Network). Gaining weight is not good for the patient and can cause more cancer cells to grow and produce. It is recommended that the patient should do some kind of physical activity so that he/she maintains the weight and increases general conditioning that may have been affected by therapies. Physical activity helps cancer patients maintain their weight. Nutrition plays a vital role to one’s health because it benefits the body when dealing with diseases, especially diseases such as cancer. Nutrition helps the body heal, fights infections, and helps to maintain overall health. Earlier I talked about patients needing extra protein, and that also applies to this reason. Therapies such as chemotherapy, destroy white blood cells that are important for fighting infections. Extra protein forms tissues, red blood cells, enzymes, and hormones that chemotherapy might affect. “However, during cancer treatment (such as surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy) your protein requirements may increase,” (Katrina VB. Claghorn, M.S.). Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy kill healthy cells and extra protein is needed to replace those healthy cells such as red blood cells that carry oxygen to tissues. When your body does not produce enough red blood cells you feel extremely fatigued.