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Cancer Reversal Through Diet?

Dr. Dean Ornish turns from reversing heart disease to trying to reverse prostate cancer.

February 18, 2011 |
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Cancer Reversal Through Diet?, 4.4 out of 5 based on 8 ratings

Sources Cited

Ornish D, Scherwitz LW, Billings JH, Brown SE, Gould KL, Merritt TA, Sparler S, Armstrong WT, Ports TA, Kirkeeide RL, Hogeboom C, Brand RJ. Intensive lifestyle changes for reversal of coronary heart disease. JAMA.16;280(23):2001-7, 1998.

Chugh SS, Reinier K, Teodorescu C, Evanado A, Kehr E, Al Samara M, Mariani R, Gunson K, Jui J. Epidemiology of sudden cardiac death: clinical and research implications. Prog Cardiovasc Dis. 51(3):213-28, 2008.

J. Frattaroli, G. Weidner, T. A. Merritt-Worden, S. Frenda, and D. Ornish. Angina pectoris and atherosclerotic risk factors in the multisite cardiac lifestyle intervention program. Am. J. Cardiol., 101(7):911-918, 2008.

Ornish D, Weidner G, Fair WR, Marlin R, Pettengill EB, Raisin CJ, Dunn-Emke S, Crutchfield L, Jacobs FN, Barnard RJ, Aronson WJ, McCormac P, McKnight DJ, Fein JD, Dnistrian AM, Weinstein J, Ngo TH, Mendell NR, Carroll PR. Intensive lifestyle changes may affect the progression of prostate cancer. J Urol., 174(3):1065-9; discussion 1069-70, 2005.

R. J. Barnard, N. Kobayashi, and W. J. Aronson. Effect of diet and exercise intervention on the growth of prostate epithelial cells. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis., 11(4):362-366, 2008.

Ornish D, Magbanua MJ, Weidner G, Weinberg V, Kemp C, Green C, Mattie MD, Marlin R, Simko J, Shinohara K, Haqq CM, Carroll PR. Changes in prostate gene expression in men undergoing an intensive nutrition and lifestyle intervention. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 17;105(24):8369-74, 2008.

J. Frattaroli, G. Weidner, A. M. Dnistrian, C. Kemp, J. J. Daubenmier, R. O. Marlin, L. Crutcheld, L. Yglecias, P. R. Carroll, and D. Ornish. Clinical events in prostate cancer lifestyle trial: Results from two years of follow-up. Urology, 72(6):1319-1323, 2008.

Acknowledgements

Transcript

Just like with diabetes, the same diet that prevents heart disease, can be used not just to treat it, but to reverse it. Next year is the 20 year anniversary of Dean Ornish’s landmark research showing that—without drugs—a near vegan diet could reverse atherosclerosis, dissolve the plaque, open up the arteries.
Well, if that’s the case, can’t we just eat whatever we want then just go vegan after our first heart attack to dissolve the plaque away? Unfortunately, there’s a little something called sudden cardiac death. Half of those that die of heart disease just drop dead, so our first heart attack may indeed our last, but not in the way we were hoping.
So what’s Ornish up to these days? Well, he’s still reversing heart disease. Nearly three quarters of patients angina-free without drugs or surgery. But now that he’s conquered the number one killer, he’s moved on to trying to reverse killer number 2, ,,, cancer.
PSA levels are typically what’s used to follow the progression of prostate cancer. In the standard diet group they got worse, in the vegan diet group they got better. No surgery, no chemotherapy, no radiation—they just started getting better. Here’s an MR spectrograph showing the drop in cancer activity on the plant-based diet.
To figure out what was going on, they took blood from each group and dripped their blood on prostate cancer cells in a petri dish to see what affect the dietary change had. The blood of the standard diet patients did reduce the cancer cell growth rates by about 10%. Their bodies, their immune systems were doing what they could to beat back the cancer. The blood of people on a vegan diet, though, knocked the cancer growth down 70%. Eating a plant based diet made their bloodstream eight times less hospitable to cancer.
Now this is after a year. Subsequent studies have shown that one can see a significant cancer-fighting effect after just two weeks on a plant-based diet with exercise.
What’s happening, it seems, is that the vegan diet reprogrammed gene expression within the prostate gland itself. Ornish took biopsies before and after the dietary change, and you can see the subtle shift in gene regulation from more red to more green—the green denotes genes that are being downregulated by the lifestyle changes. Before, and after.
Ornish’s two year followup was just published last year. A significant number of the standard diet group were forced to go into surgery for what’s called a radical prostatectomy, which often leads to urinary incontinence and impotence in 60% of men coming out of surgery. , But not a single one of the men on the plant-based diet had to go to surgery.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

To help out on the site please email volunteer@nutritionfacts.org

Dr. Michael Greger
  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/HeidiWoodruff/ Heidi Woodruff

    Wow! So why are they holding a world record longest BBQ in Australia to raise money for prostate cancer?

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mgreger/ Michael Greger M.D.

      Sounds like they’re going to need all the money they can get!

      • HemoDynamic, M.D.

        Just showed this video to a patient today in my office that came to me specifically for Dietary counseling and has a PSA of 11.8.
        Gotta tell ya thanks!!!!!!  As always, your work has many times been the cornerstone of my success.  Being able to show these videos in specific situations has profound impact on a patients future behaviors.  You should win an award because you make my job more ReWarding ;-}

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/rami/ Rami

    A friend of mine just started chemotherapy. Should I wait until after he is finished with the chemo to show him this? From what I understand a diet high in antioxidants might actually counteract the chemo, whose job it is t oxidize the cancer cells. Is that true?

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/toxins/ Toxins

    I love this

  • Michael Greger M.D.

    For some context, please check out my blog post Treating COPD with Diet!

  • Jenniferhopewebb

    It makes me mad that doctors don’t discuss diet with patients, outside of low salt, ADA, AHA or renal.    My Dad had prostate cancer a year and a half ago and nare a word about diet.   Well, except telling him to avoid certain foods when he was having diarrhea after radiation…It is almost criminal the way nutritional research is ignored.   If a doctor didn’t order a statin drug for a patient that had high cholesterol it would be near scandalous.   Yet, all this potentially life saving information and the patients have no idea.   I talked to an invasive cardiologist about it once and he said the reason he doesn’t “get into that’ with the patients is because they’d never do it, so it’s would be a waste of time due to lack of compliance.  Plenty of diabetics don’t check their blood sugar regularly but we still advise them to do so!…Why don’t we offer the information and let the patient decide?  At this point it seems like an ethical duty that’s being ignored.  I’m certainly not anti-doctor, but I don’t understand the kicking and screaming about something proven to work that’s EASY and affordable.  :(

    • Guest

      I’m having the same problem with my husband who has stomach cancer. He’s been losing weight and the doctor told him to eat whatever he wanted in order to gain it. I was so mad and frustrated on how little they care… I’m doing research on my own, trying to help him fight this disease.

  • Suannehiller

    Subject *: Sour Sop
    Message *: I would like your opinion on using Sour Sop for a cancer prevention/cure. This goes by other names but all are from the Gaviota Tree.

  • the_walrus

    Could it be that these people were getting better in spite of their diet, instead of because? You’re talking about a ‘near-vegan diet’ reversing atherosclerosis but the intervention was also stress management, aerobic exercise, and group support as clearly seen at 00:23 in your video.

    The study where Ornish was still reversing heart disease has a 1h/day stress management intervention – so he’s not exactly keeping all the other variables the same.

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