Latest / Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson / When Green Tea Isn’t Chemotherapy

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When Green Tea Isn’t Chemotherapy · Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson

• 0:04
  >> Dr. Terry Simpson: M. This is episode five, the final episode of our
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  miniseries, Food Isn't a Prescription Pad. Today
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  we're going to make sense of the madness of diet
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  and cancer. You've probably heard it all. Green
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  tea, broccoli, soursop, apricot pits, and even
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  coffee enemas from Mexico, all sold as nature's
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  chemotherapy. Here's the truth. The Mediterranean
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  diet is associated with a lower risk of cancer.
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  >> Dr. Terry Simpson: And.
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  >> Dr. Terry Simpson: And if you already have cancer, following that
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  diet lowers the risk of recurrence. That's
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  powerful, but it's not medicine. Food lowers risk.
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  Medicine treats disease.
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  And that's where we begin today's episode. I am
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  your Chief Medical Explanationist, Dr. Terri
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  Simpson, and this is Fork U Fork University, where
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  we bust a few myths, make sense of the madness,
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  and teach you a little bit about food and
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  medicine. People love the idea that food is
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  medicine. It feels safe, it feels natural, it
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  feels empowering. But here's the truth. Food is
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  not chemotherapy. Food is powerful. It can lower
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  your risk of cancer. It can support healing. But
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  once cancer starts, food cannot replace treatment.
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  Broccoli won't shrink tumors. Green tea won't cure
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  the disease, and apricot pits are coffee. Enemas
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  will not save you. Let's dig into what food can
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  and cannot do. Let's start with broccoli or the
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  whole group of cruciferous vegetables. Broccoli,
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  cabbage, Brussels sprouts, they all contain a
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  compound like sulforaphane, and that, in the lab,
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  slows cancer cell growth. And yes, people who eat
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  more cruciferous vegetables often have lower rates
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  of colon, lung, and breast cancer. That's
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  prevention, but it is not cure. Don't mistake the
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  two. There's not an oncologist in the world that
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  will tell patients to skip chemotherapy and eat
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  broccoli. Cancer doesn't work that way. Now let's
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  talk about green tea. Green tea is loaded with
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  certain chemicals, one called egcg. In test tubes,
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  EGCG slows cancer growth. In some population
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  studies, people who drink green tea regularly have
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  lower rates of. Of certain cancers. That sounds
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  good, right? But here's the catch. The effect is
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  modest, and it's prevention only. Once cancer
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  begins, green tea won't treat it. And in the
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  supplement form green tea extracts it can actually
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  cause liver damage. Last thing you want to do if
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  you have cancer is they'll damage your liver. So
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  green tea is fine as a drink, but let's not
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  confuse it with medicine. And to be honest, I
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  prefer black tea. Green tea tastes like pond water
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  to me.
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  Let's talk about scam supplements and Gearson
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  therapy. This is where grifters step in. They will
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  sell you broccoli pills, green tea capsules, or
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  apricot pits. They call them nature's chemo.
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  They're not nature's chemo. First, let's start
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  with the Gearson therapy, which is still sold in
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  Mexico. It claims to cure cancer with organic
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  juices, supplements and multiple coffee enemas a
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  day. And people are told to avoid chemo. There is
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  zero credible evidence this works. Coffee enemas
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  can only cause infections, electrolyte problems,
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  and even death. And the biggest danger? Delaying
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  real treatment while chasing false hope. Yes,
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  coffee enemas. I remember when the old joke about
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  the person getting the coffee in them and saying,
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  oh my God, no, no. And the person said,
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  administering. And said, what? Too hot? Said, no,
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  too sweet. Anyway, scams don't end there. Soursop
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  called Graviola is pitched as a cancer killer in a
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  petri dish. Maybe in humans. No, worse. It has
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  been linked with neurologic disease that mimics
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  Parkinson's. Ivermectin, a drug for parasites, has
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  been sold as a cancer cure. It might be
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  interesting in lab studies, but it is useless in
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  human trials. Yes, human trials. It's useless.
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  Taking Ivermectin instead of proven therapy will
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  cost lives. And then there's those people who talk
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  about the Warburg effect. Otto Warburg was a Nobel
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  prize winning scientist. He noticed that cancer
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  cells often use sugar for fuel, even when oxygen
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  is present. It's a true observation, but modern
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  gurus twist it, saying that sugar feeds cancer. So
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  cut out carbs and cure it. Here's the reality.
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  Cancer is not a metabolic disorder. It is a DNA
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  disorder. It is a disease of mutation. And cancer
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  cells are not picky eaters. Not only will cancer
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  cells consume sugar, but they'll also consume
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  ketones and they will thrive on vitamins. You
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  cannot starve cancer with diet. Warburg gave us
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  some clues, but science has moved on. Cancer is
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  not cured with the keto diet. And multiple studies
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  have shown this. And here's the final tragedy of
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  this. I have seen people tell the parents that
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  they shouldn't have their child eat fast food
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  while they're undergoing chemotherapy. Do you know
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  what? When kids are undergoing chemotherapy, we
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  just want to get calories in them. We want the
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  kids to survive. So if you are not their parent or
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  their doctor, stop spreading misinformation.
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  People who are undergoing cancer chemotherapy
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  sometimes just need calories. And I don't care if
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  they're eating ice cream or pizza or anything.
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  It's their time. Leave them alone. Stop
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  moralizing. You're not a doctor. And people have
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  often asked me, if we've landed on the moon, why
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  can't we cure cancer? The truth is, we have cured
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  some and we have transformed others. Childhood
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  leukemia used to be almost universally fatal, and
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  now most kids survive Hodgkin's disease. My
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  brother Jimmy was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease
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  in 1969. It was universally fatal. At that time.
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  He was saved by an experimental protocol of
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  chemotherapy and radiation and lived 37 more
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  years. Sadly, my brother eventually died of lung
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  cancer in 2006. But the Hodgkins didn't kill him.
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  By the way, my son jj, named after my brother
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  Jimmy.
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  Let's talk about hairy cell leukemia. Once it was
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  untreatable, universally fatal. Today it is cured.
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  One of my biology professors when I was a student
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  at the University of Chicago, died of hairy cell
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  leukemia. I remember seeing him in the hospital
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  and visiting with him, and he told me, hey, Terry,
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  if you ever get something, I hope you don't get
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  something weird like I have. Get something that's
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  treatable, like pneumonia today, if he were to
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  have it, if he were to be alive and got hairy cell
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  leukemia, he would survive. I had pneumonia, by
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  the way, wasn't fun. But breast cancer caught
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  early is often cured. In the past, breast cancer
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  wasn't caught early, and often it became fatal.
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  Colon cancer. A colonoscopy can remove it before
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  it even spreads. Lung cancer now has targeted
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  therapies and immunotherapies that can save lives.
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  So, yes, cancer deaths are going down, recurrences
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  are going down, and that is progress. There is no
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  one single cancer that we cure. There are multiple
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  diseases. When my brother was treated,
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  chemotherapy was like carpet bombing. It was
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  brutal on him, but it was effective. Today, modern
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  therapy is far more precise. We now have immune
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  checkpoint inhibitors, medicines that let your
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  immune system recognize and fight cancer. We have
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  targeted therapies that hit the exact genetic
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  mutation driving a tumor. Our outcomes are better,
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  and side effects are often easier. And here's some
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  of the exciting part in vaccines, take the HPV
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  vaccine. That's been around for a while, like
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  Gardasil. My son JJ has been vaccinated with
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  Gardasil. Now, while he's not going to ever get
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  cervical cancer, it does prevent the spread of
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  human papillomavirus that has been linked to oral
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  cancers, anal cancers, and now studies suggest it
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  may even reduce melanoma risk because melanoma may
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  have ties to hpv. Human papillomavirus and the
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  pipeline is growing. Research are working on
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  vaccines against glioblastoma, the deadly brain
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  cancer that killed John McCain, that killed Edward
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  Kennedy, and even killed some friends of mine.
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  Here's the thing. They have now had patients with
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  glioblastoma that they have pulled out a biopsy
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  of, made a vaccine against, and they are saved.
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  Others have developed vaccine cancer strategies
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  against pancreatic cancers, one of the hardest
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  cancers to treat. So no, apricot pits didn't do
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  it. Peach pits didn't do it. No powder in a bottle
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  can do that. Only modern medicine.
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  Now back to food. The Mediterranean diet. It
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  doesn't just lower the risk of getting cancer, it
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  lowers the risk of cancer coming back. A, uh,
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  massive epic study in Europe found that patients
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  who followed this diet had fewer cancer
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  recurrences and they lived longer if they had
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  cancer. Yep. Fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole
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  grains, olive oil and fish. The pattern is clear.
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  But let's be very clear. The Mediterranean diet
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  empowers you, but it's not chemotherapy. It lowers
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  risk. It does not replace treatment. And another
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  food story. Colon cancer in young adults is
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  rising. Why? Diet is a likely reason. Low fiber
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  diets leave the colon vulnerable. Fiber feeds gut
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  microbiomes that help sweep out waste and provide
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  anticarcinogenic targets to prevent colon cancer
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  from even arising. For example, fiber feeds some
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  of the gut microbiome that releases a substance
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  called butyrate, which is a tonic to the colon,
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  which prevents colon cancer. At the same time,
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  ultra processed food, the sugary, starchy fatty
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  filled with additives, has crowded out real food
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  among younger people. And that shift may be
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  fueling the rise of cancer among younger adults.
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  So, yes, fiber matters. And so does cutting back
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  on ultra processed foods. The bottom line,
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  broccoli and green tea are healthy. The
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  Mediterranean diet is the best diet. Fiber
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  matters. But none of these are chemotherapy. Food
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  is food. Medicine is medicine. And together, they
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  protect us. But only medicine treats disease. This
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  has been our final episode in food isn't a
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  prescription pad. I hope you have enjoyed this.
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  I'm Dr. Terry Simpson, your chief medical
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  explanationist and fork you is researched and
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  written by me, Dr. Simpson and all things audio
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  and production by simpler media. For references
• 11:11
  and More, visit your doctor, simple disorders.com
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  and 4Q.com and check out my substack newsletter
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  for deeper dives. And remember, I am a board
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  certified physician, but I am not your physician.
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  This podcast is for education, not personal
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  medical advice by me. Always talk to your doctor.
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  A board certified doctor and a registered
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  dietitian. Before making changes to your health,
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  there are some diets that you should not be eating
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  certain things on. All right, everybody, have a
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  good week. Please don't drink the green tea if you
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  don't want to. I'm just having cold black tea.
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  Have a good day, everybody. Hey, Evo. I'm just not
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  gonna eat the broccoli, but I will drink my black
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  tea, because I'm gonna skip that pond water
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  tasting stuff. So if I get cancer, I'm calling an
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  oncologist, um, not some guy from Mexico. So tell
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  me, Ivo, broccoli, black tea, or green tea? What's
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  your pick?
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  >> Dr. Terry Simpson: Hey, I like broccoli. I like green tea, I like
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  black tea. Come on, man. Everything in moderation,
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  including moderation.