Kill Cancer By Restricting Methionine-Rich Foods

dlb823

Although not research per se, I thought this article was worth sharing.  Granted, my oncologist has often said about other petrie dish findings that how something reacts in a test tube or petrie dish may not be how it will work in our much more complex bodies.  But I still think there may be some merit to this, at least for some of us...

http://www.integrativeoncology-essentials.com/2014...

lightandwind

DLB, this is interesting. Thanks!

Lily55

worrying now, while i eat mostly vegan, never meat or fish, and eggs rarely I CRAVE brazil nuts......which are high in methionine when I thought the selenium would do me good

dlb823

No need to worry, Lily, but maybe cut down on the Brazil nuts, which I was also eating/craving, along with lentils, egg whites, and a few other things on the list.  By the way, I contacted Brian Lawenda to ask what he recommended for protein if you eat a plant based diet and want to stay away from foods on the methionine-rich list.  He graciously gave me a 13-page list of foods that are rich in protein and low in methionine.  If you're interested, you can PM me and I'll tell you where to find it.     

And, Robo ~ good catch on "beast!"  Looks like he already found and fixed it today.   Deanna

luv_gardening

Thanks DLB,  Foods that are low in Methionine are also low in IGF-1 (Insulin Growth Factor) which also needs to be low to stop cancer growing.  

I found a rather challenging article with links to most research on the subject. My head would be spinning if I tried to read all those studies!  Maybe one now and then will be easier.

http://www.herbalzym.com/2013/01/methionine-dependency-of-cancer-cells-and-dietary-methionine-restriction/

dlb823

Thanks for the information, Joy.  That looks like a really comprehensive article, which I am anxious to read in its entirety.

I have actually been much more conscious of my food choices over the last few days, and feel so much better knowing I am avoiding foods that contain the most methionine.  Hopefully, it will make a difference!    

Also, after reviewing several lists re. methionine in foods, I figured out that the foods at the bottom of the list in the article in the OP are actually good for us (e.g. lentils and brown rice), and are on that list to show the range of methionine in various foods.  The article's title at first made it look like they were all bad.        Deanna

peacestrength

Interesting article...I'm mostly vegan but do have wild caught salmon 1-2x per week.  Before bc dx, I was a dairy, egg and tofu junkie - I eat none of those now.

lightandwind

I found this related article/video interesting. 

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/starving-cancer-wi...

Also found these related studies in which the findings regarding breast cancer and methionine are inconsistent.....

http://aminoacidinformation.com/amino-acid-methion...

http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/173/10/1171....

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23686442

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.137...

and this was helpful I thought..

http://mathforum.org/~josh/longevity_page/vegan.ht...

Lily55

DLB yes please! I eat no soy, but do have lentils with veggies as other regimens recommend them, maybe its the overall package.......i also have one small cold beer a day, as its 35c here all day every day......i need some treats! 

peacestrength

Thanks, Light for the additional info.

Lily - you gave me a good smile about beer

Deanna - I'm going share this info with my nautropathics.  Thanks!

painterly

Interesting reading. Not sure that I understand this comment though:

 Whole-food vegan diets that moderate bean and soy intake, while including ample amounts of fruit and wine or beer, can be quite low in methionine, while supplying abundant nutrition for health (assuming concurrent B12 supplementation).

(The link posted by Joy): http://www.herbalzym.com/2013/01/methionine-dependency-of-cancer-cells-and-dietary-methionine-restriction/

luv_gardening

Painterly, I pondered that too, then I looked at their web site and they are selling fermented supplements which they claim makes the supplements more easily absorbed and more potent.  Some fruit and alcoholic beverages would be fermented, so I assume that's their logic.  I have yet to work through their many links so don't know what their evidence is for this belief and, as always, keep a skeptical outlook on product claims.

dlb823

Here are a couple more articles on methionine and cancer.  

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/starving-cancer-with-methionine-restriction.html

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305737212000059

I am still following this eating plan -- basically eliminating animal protein with very few exceptions, such as using a tad bit of feta or parmesan on a salad, or a couple of tsps. of half & half in my green tea (for the calories, b'cuz I'd lost quite a bit of weight earlier in the year when I was first re-dx'd).  Anyway, I had a CT on Friday, and although it may be way too soon to expect results, I'm obviously hoping for some positive news.   Deanna

peacestrength

Deanna - I'm thinking of you and hope for positive news with you.  I just read the above articles...thanks for them.

vlnrph

I also thank Deanna for sharing, especially from the funny doctor - while I appreciate the basic science, those reports are always so dry & humorless. I didn't realize there was a stage IV situation going on: hopefully things are stable and they let you know good results soon.

Romansma

Wow, lots of information.  I look forward to reading this.  Headed to a Halloween party tonight and thinking about how I need to stay away from the snack table!  

I will weigh in as soon as I have a chance to read all the links here.  Thank you for sharing!

dlb823

I was doing a little more research on methionine tonight and came across these videos that I thought I would share here.

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/starving-cancer-wi...

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/methionine-restric...

Just thought some of you might be interested. I've been doing a methionine-restricted diet since I started this thread in July, simply eating mostly vegan. Deanna

new_direction

I have no problem with having to cut out red meat, or even meat in general. But eggs...

I was reading some of the articles that Joy linked to and found this interesting:

"The blood vessels in tumors are not normal. They are in fact quite unstable. Therefore, we need both a reduction in methionine and an increase in homocysteine in order for this type of cancer diet to be effective."
"Several studies have indicated that coffee consumption appears to cause a dose-related increase in homocysteine. A large study (4,754 participants) found that the more coffee one consumes the higher ones’ homocysteine levels"
"Metformin (Glucophage), a drug widely used to treat type2 diabetes, has been shown in several studies to cause an increase in homocysteine"

new_direction

About conversion of homocysteine to methionine. The three possible ways are either dependent on cobalamin, zink or B6.
http://www.altmedrev.com/publications/8/1/7.pdf

Homocysteine must then either be: (1) recycled to methionine by taking on a methyl group provided by methylcobalamin, which is catalyzed by the enzyme methionine synthase; (2) recycled to methionine via the addition of a methyl group supplied by trimethylglycine (betaine), catalyzed by the zinc-dependent enzyme betaine-homocysteine methyltransferase; or (3) converted to the amino acids cysteine and taurine, which is catalyzed by the enzyme cystathione betasynthase, and with the help of the amino acid serine and pyridoxal 5’-phosphate (active vitamin B6).

 

dlb823

new_direction, thank you for the additional information, which brings up several interesting points, but most importantly the interaction between methionine, homocysteine and methylcobalamin, which both of the latter two my ND is keen on increasing with the right kind of B supplements -- I thought to ensure the right balance of estrogens. I have to reread the article you linked because some of it is a bit technical for me to fully comprehend on first or even second read. But I wanted to throw out a few random thoughts your posts provoked.

The thing about the unstable blood vessels makes sense if you think in terms of cancer tumors growing new vessels to survive and thrive. As you probably know, Dr. William Li is a huge proponent of the importance of stopping the process of angiogenesis (growing new blood vessels) as an anti-cancer strategy, and he strongly advocates eating antiangiogenisis foods, which as it turns out, are primarily fruits and vegetables. http://monamifood.wordpress.com/2010/10/03/note-to... and http://www.angio.org/ . Also, I have heard it said that new cancer cells are a bit like teenagers -- not well defined or very smart yet. So it makes sense to me that blood vessels that are newly formed as the result of a tumor might also be unstable.

About cutting out meat... last night, in anticipation of some upcoming social commitments, I had actually been trying to figure out which animal protein has the least methionine, and surprisingly, if you are going to eat any animal protein, it looks like beef is the better choice over chicken or fish in terms of methionine content, although it may not be the healthiest for other reason.

And about the coffee... you know, since my re-dx, I have had no taste for coffee. I'm formerly a decafe latte drinker, but now I don't even like the smell of it, in favor of matcha green tea, to which I've become addicted. I've been assuming my body didn't want coffee because it wasn't good for me -- sort of like during early pregnancy. But now I'm wondering if it could be my cancer cells are turning my body off on it, because it wouldn't be good for them? That's a bit scary to contemplate! But for whatever reason, my body is absolutely not wanting coffee these days. Deanna

new_direction

thank you for the links. Don't forget aspirin http://www.fasebj.org/content/20/12/2009.full very easy and cheap to add to a daily routine.

I had no problem doing without coffee in the beginning of my diagnosis. It's funny you say it feels like your body tells you not to drink coffee. I did this assumption when I was diagnosed and didn't drink coffee for about a year. Then I started finding studies indicating there might be some benefit to coffee. I'm still not completely convinced what's good. I just allow myself a few cups but would not overdo it until we know more.

Maybe coffee is good if you have a 'meat-slip'? (= methionine raise) 

new_direction

just found this regarding dietary antiangiogenesis;
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3702614/
In recent years, a great emphasis has been focused on the development of dietary botanicals that can be consumed in daily life as chemopreventive or chemotherapeutic agents. Flavonoids, as common compounds widely found in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and flowers, have been reported possessing substantial anti-carcinogenic and anti-mutagenic activities due to their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties [47], [48]. However, little is known about the key molecular targets underlying their chemopreventive or therapeutic activities against various cancers. Our findings indicated that the dietary compound ISL might be considered as a potent VEGFR-2 inhibitor and be chronically used as supplementary agents for angiogenesis inhibition in breast cancer therapy.

dlb823

Thank you so much! That article and a few other I quickly pulled up are fascinating! Until now, I'd read nothing about ISL. Will continue to research it as time permits and share any links that offer additional information or insight. Interesting that licorice is actually on William Li's list of antiangeogenic foods, as are green tea, pineapple, pomegranate, and several other foods I've craved and frequently eat since my re-dx.

I know, like wine, the research on the benefits vs. risks of coffee are all over the place. Too bad it's so confusing.

Thanks again for the great links! I may actually look into a licorice root supplement today. I doubt it can hurt. Deanna

dlb823

After re-reading some of the above about angiogenesis, I purchased and have been using a licorice root tincture for a couple of days now. And this morning, I was very relieved to read that its most common SE are headaches, which I've had for two days now, and which are especially scary with metastatic bc if you haven't i.d.'d a probable cause for them.

I'm going to continue with it, but will cut in half what I started out doing. On the positive side, I'm happy to report it tastes really good -- not at all like anise or ouzo, which I was fearing. Deanna

new_direction

dlb very interesting, I hope it has great effects for you. Never nice with unexplained headaches so good you found the cause.

I would fear ouzo as well

I wonder if all these things we do are best done at night given the other thread about cancer cell activity at night?
Instead of licorice I bought an infrared sauna. Then when I cleaned up in my kitchen I found a pound of Pau Darco tea I haven't really begun drinking. Think I bought it a year ago. I try to "rotate" all the stuff I do. At the moment it's broccoli sprouting and various supplements, including artemisinin.

This is not Scientific at all but I just I've come across many studies where it seems a combination of different anti-cancer stuff often shows far better results.

dlb823

Yes, good idea to take at night -- although I haven't seen the other thread you referenced.

And I think also a good idea to rotate alternative and/or complimentary therapies, since there are so many of them, and I think our bodies would be very confused and maybe on autoimmune overload if we continually did them all.

I've heard of Pau Darco tea. In fact, I think I may also have some hidden in the pantry that I bought and forgot about. Haven't heard about artemisinin, but will read up on it when I have some time.

Here's another interesting bit of research that supports the idea of taking a break, in this case, a fast from food. Perhaps the same thing happens when we rotate supplements, etc., to give our immune systems a chance to reboot.

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/06/22/sci...

Happy Thanksgiving! Back to getting ready for company. Deanna

First_Wild_Signs

Hi,

My name is Jayda and I was diagnosed with ILC in my left breast in October. I just received the results on my Bone and CT scans yesterday which were clear but showed a bit of arthritis. I've had a persistent cough for the past few months that I hoped were due to allergies so I was especially happy to hear that scans showed that my lungs were clear. I am currently taking a number of functional medicines as well as Chinese medicine and acupuncture to get myself as healthy as possible while waiting to see the plastic surgeon and have surgery for a mastectomy. Not sure if I am doing bilateral but I feel more inclined to. I am overweight so I don't think I will be a candidate for reconstruction, however my breast surgeon suggested that I ask about reduction and lift as an option to mastectomy so I'll go to the plastic surgeon to determine if that is an opinion.

I was intrigued by this thread and since one of the supplements I take is Nigella Sativa I googled to see if ithad any effect on Methionine. While reading the newer posts that mentioned homocysteine I became intrigued again and googled Nigella Sativa, Methionine and Homocysteine which populated the article below as well as a few others. I truly believe in the benefits of Nigella Sativa and its healing abilities so most everything I "research" includes Nigella Sativa or Black Seed.

Also, I want to ask if it is possible to get your medical doc to monitor Methionine as well as Homocysteine levels? I asked my husbands PCP if he could order a homocysteine level on my husband and he became agitated saying that would treat him if necessary statins which of course I was trying to avoid...weird.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14729430

Int J Cardiol. 2004 Jan;93(1):19-23.

Thymoquinone and Nigella sativa oil protection against methionine-induced hyperhomocysteinemia in rats.

El-Saleh SC1, Al-Sagair OA, Al-Khalaf MI.

Author information

Abstract

Although the state of hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy) appears to be associated with higher risks of coronary, cerebral and peripheral vascular disease as well as with a number of other clinical conditions, the underlying molecular mechanisms are not fully elucidated. There is strong evidence, however, that HHcy could induce a pathogenic state of oxidative stress. The interest in modulating the elevated levels of total homocysteine in HHcy and/or their negative impacts through preventive strategies, particularly through the supplementation with vitamins that may be linked to the homeostasis of homocysteine (folate, vitamin B(12), and vitamin B(6)), has increased in recent years. Here we show that active antioxidant components of the traditionally used black seeds of Nigella sativa plant protect against the development of methionine-induced HHcy and its associated state of oxidative stress. Pretreatment of rats with an oral dose of 100 mg/kg of thymoquinone, the main active constituent of the black seed, for 30 min and for 1 week almost completely protected against induced HHcy measured 5 h after methionine load (100 mg/kg). Under similar conditions pretreatment with commercial black seed oil (100 microl/kg) for 30 min and for 1 week produced significant and strong protection levels of 74.2 and 94.5%, respectively. Under the state of induced HHcy there were significant increases in the plasma levels of triglycerides, lipid peroxidation, cholesterol and in the activities of glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase. Catalase activity was not affected. The total antioxidant status, however, was significantly depressed. All of these effects were almost totally blocked by prior treatment with thymoquinone or black seed oil. These findings may contribute towards a protective measure utilizing the black seed against the negative impacts of HHcy.

leggo

Interesting about the Nigella seeds. I use them a lot. Good to know there might be a benefit I wasn't aware of.

leggo

If I'm reading this right, are they more beneficial crushed?

First_Wild_Signs

Leggo, I'm not sure if they are better crushed because I use the oil. You are referring to Nigella Sativa and not Chia Seeds, correct? There is an abundance of information available that is of particular benefit to cancer patients which is why I take it however, I am finding out that they are beneficial for many health ailments. My son had an allergic reaction to Ampicillin and broke out in hives yesterday so I told him to take a teaspoon of the oil orally and rub some on the hives and they disappeared. It worked on my daughter also who broke out in hives a couple of weeks ago. Not sure what caused hers.I don't want to hijack this thread so I'll probably start another one because I would really appreciate input.

Here is a blurb from Sloan-Kettering regarding Nigella Sativa. I will post the link also.

http://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/herb/nigella-sativa

"Evidence also suggests that Nigella sativa has anticancer properties. The constituents of the seeds, including thymoquinone, reduced the growth and size of tumors in rats ^{(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)} ; thymoquinone also enhanced the anticancer effects of doxorubicin in certain cancer cell lines ⁽²⁵⁾. Nigella sativa oil, when injected, demonstrated a protective effect against tissue damage caused by radiation in rats ⁽¹⁵⁾. Human studies are lacking."

leggo

Thank you for the info. I had to google and make sure and yes, they are Nigella Sativa. I didn't know there was a ready-made oil. I'll check around next time. Sounds like the oil is a good thing to have on hand.