#71 The Cancer Series (1 of 3). What to eat for Cancer with Professor Robert Thomas
30th Sep 2020
In today’s podcast we talk about everything to do with the “emperor of all maladies”, the big C.
Myself and Professor Robert have met on a couple of occasions at conferences geared toward healthy lifestyle and cancer, and I could not think of a more educated and enthusiastic person to have on the podcast who is up to date with the evidence and continues to wave the flag for lifestyle medicine and oncology.
Professor Robert Thomas is a Consultant Oncologist at Bedford and Addenbrooke’s Hospitals, a clinical teacher at Cambridge University and visiting Professor of Sports and nutritional science at the University of Bedfordshire. He is lead of a Lifestyle and Cancer Research Unit conducting designing and conducting government backed studies evaluating the impact of exercise, diet and natural therapies.
More recently, he led the analysis of the 155,000 patient data set (PLCO) which has linked sugar with an increased cancer and tea and broccoli with cancer prevention. In 2019, he wrote the book “Keep Healthy after Cancer”, and remains medical advisor for the lifestyle and cancer website Cancernet.co.uk.
We frame our conversation into 3 distinct areas to avoid confusion. What to eat to prevent cancer, during cancer and post cancer with the aim of reducing risk and improving outcomes. As cancer is an extremely broad field and confusing for even medical professionals to understand it’s biology, I want to remind listeners and viewers that this is general information and not to be taken as medical advice.
In today’s pod we talk about
- What Cancer is
- The balance of genetic vs acquired cancer and the influence of lifestyle on risk
- The general principles of how to avoid cancer
- What foods to eat
- How food exerts a positive impact on cancer risk
- How we investigate the anti-cancer impact of food
- Gut health and cancer
- The Warburg effect
- The implication of excess sugar on cancer risk
- What to eat during cancer
- The potential for ‘prehab’ initiatives
- Vitamin D, Polyphenol and Probiotic supplements, Vitamin Supplements
- Post Cancer lifestyle regimens to reduce the risk of recurrence
- What an anti-cancer diet looks like
- The Future of Oncology: Individualised medicine, Immunotherapy and Metabolic Oncology
Episode guests
Professor Robert Thomas is a Consultant Oncologist at Bedford and Addenbrookes Hospitals, a clinical teacher at Cambridge University and visiting Professor of Sports and nutritional science at the University of Bedfordshire. He is lead of a Lifestyle and Cancer Research Unit conducting designing and conducting government backed studies evaluating the impact of exercise, diet and natural therapies. In collaboration with The Universities of Bedfordshire, Southern California, Cambridge and Glasgow, this unit has published over 100 peer reviewed scientific papers (see list). This has included the worlds largest randomised controlled trial of a polyphenol rich nutritional supplement in patient with cancer (the Pomi-T trial) and the randomised evaluation of a topical therapy to prevent chemotherapy induced nail damage (The polybalm study). More recently, he led the analysis of the 155,000 patient data set (PLCO) which has linked sugar with an increased cancer and tea and broccoli with cancer prevention. In 2010, he designed and lead the implementation of the UK's cancer exercise rehabilitation course and Qualification with Macmillan and Skills Active. In 2019, he wrote book “Keep Healthy after Cancer”, and remains medical advisor for the lifestyle and cancer website Cancernet.co.uk, the general lifetsyle site keep-healthy.com and writes a popular health blog in partnership with exercise professionals and nutritionists. For these contributions he has been awarded The British Oncology Association’s “Oncologist of the Year” and The Royal College of Radiologist medal.
- Access over 800 research backed recipes
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- Bone health
- Brain health
- Cancer
- Children's health
- Cooking skills
- Exercise
- Farming and food production
- Foods & nutrients
- Gut health
- Health basics
- Healthy ageing
- Heart health
- Hormonal health
- Hot topics
- Immune health
- Inflammation
- Kidney & bladder health
- Life purpose & motivation
- Menopause
- Mental health
- Oral health
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- Sleep health
- Type 2 diabetes
- Weight management
- What to eat for
- #159 Reclaim Your Anti-Cancer Lifestyle with Dr Catherine Zollman
- #104, HOW TO LIVE with Professor Robert Thomas
- #73 The Cancer Series (3 of 3). My Cancer Journey with Dr Lauren Macdonald
- #72 The Cancer Series (2 of 3). Integrative Oncology with Dr Catherine Zollman
- #56: Food as Medicine with Dr William Li
- #9: Eat To Beat Cancer with Dr Ailsa Lumsden
Relevant recipes
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New!Tofu and Tempeh 5.0
One Pan Black Bean, Tofu and Rainbow Rice Bake
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New!Stir Fries
Chicken Teriyaki Stir-fry
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Catalan-style Cod
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Tofu and Black Bean Taco Salad
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Cottage Cheese Fritters
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Chickpea Pancakes
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Chicken Salad with Orange Ginger Dressing
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Chickpea, Buckwheat and Hemp Bread
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Bulghur, Chickpea, Spinach, Feta, Walnut and Blueberry Salad
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Gochujang, Orange and Peanut Stir-fry