The Link between Gut Health and Cancer

From being a factor in cancer developing, to treatment response, to quality of life as a cancer patient, our gut microbiome has a connection to cancer

The Human Gut Microbiome and Dysbiosis

The human gut microbiota is made up of 100 trillion microorganisms including bacteria, viruses, yeast, protozoa, fungi and archaea. 

⚖️ We want these things to be in balance.

When they’ve gotten out of balance, when something unhelpful is over populated within the gut microbiome, then we have dysbiosis.

Dysbiosis opens the door for the immune system to be impaired and potentially struggle to deal with cancer cells appropriately.

Gut Health in Oncology Research and Care

➡️ Gut health is becoming an important factor in oncology research and care.

Enough notice has been taken of the link between gut health and cancer that in 2017 the International Cancer Microbiome Consortium (ICMC) was created “to promote microbiome research within the field of oncology, establish expert consensus and deliver education for academics and clinicians”.

One major consensus from the ICMC is that gut health along with environmental and epigenetic factors play a role in the development of cancer. 

Let’s go over that last statement again. There’s three main factors that play together in the development of cancer:

➕ gut microbiome ➕ environmental factors➕ ”genetically vulnerable host”

There’s no 🚫 one-size-fits-all case nor cure 🚫 because we all have different gut populations, have lived in different places with different levels of toxic burden in our lifestyles, have different diets, and have supported the on/off and slow/fast switches on our genes in a variety of ways.

Good News for Gut Health and Cancer

The good news is 
✅ there are things we can do to support better gut health

✅ we can be intentional with our lifestyles to support better detoxification

✅ our genes aren’t our destinies.

We’ll go over some ways to support a healthy gut microbiome later in this article, but first let’s look at how the link between gut health and cancer impacts the patient after diagnosis.

How Gut Health Impacts the Cancer Patient after Diagnosis

Here are three of the many gut microbiome + cancer connections that can impact the cancer patient: 

Gut health may inform the cancer response to various cancer therapies including immunotherapy and chemotherapies. One’s gut microbiome map play a role in the effectiveness of treatments.

Gut health can impact the severity of side effects like diarrhea and neuropathy of chemotherapies. Some groups are looking at ways to alter the gut microbiome in order to reduce toxic side effects of some treatments.

Gut health is a key factor in processing estrogen, an important note for those with estrogen receptor positive cancer. The estrobolome is the set of microbes in the gut that metabolize estrogen. Proper metabolizing effectively processes the estrogen and excretes it instead of recirculating it.

These are just a few snippets connecting the gut microbiome to cancer at the individual patient level. The research is fairly young and needs to become more robust, but the link to the importance of gut health for those of us diagnosed with cancer can clearly be made.

Supporting our Gut Health

Remember that good news from earlier? You can support a healthier gut microbiome with your diet and lifestyle. 

Here are a few key ways to support gut health:

Reduce Stress

I know, I know, it’s not exactly the easiest time in the world especially with a serious disease like cancer to reduce stress, but there are studies to show that stress does impact our nervous system, immunity, cancer growth, and you guessed it — gut health!

• When you notice yourself feeling those fight, flight, fawn, or freeze moments, take a moment to breathe and ground yourself.

• Grab my Top 5 Tips for More Peace and Less Overwhelm here to help you have tools you can use when you feel the stress approaching.

Get Good Sleep

• Take care to get good sleep. You might think you can handle living on fumes, but research indicated how critical quality sleep is for our gut health, immune system, and longevity.

• Darker, colder rooms can contribute to better sleeping conditions.

• Morning sunlight into your eyeballs helps your body create melatonin, the sleep hormone, at the appropriate time that day to help your sleep be in a better circadian rhythm sync.

Avoid overuse of Antibiotics

• Only use antibiotics when they are truly neccessary for your specific care.

• There are many prescriptions that are used in cancer care, including in integrative and functional medicine oncology. One popular modality that has shown much interest is the use of off-label drugs to target the various pathways that fuel cancer. Having an on-going dialogue with your practitioner about if it is time to cycle on or off a particular Rx as it pertains to your specific case and your particular gut microbiome can be helpful to creating a more customizable plan for your needs.

Nourish Your Body Well

• Focus on incorporating more whole food and less processed food into your diet everyday.

• Many plant foods provide a plethora of benefits for the body, including contributing prebiotics to the gut. Prebiotics are the “food” for the probiotics that help feed the “good gut bugs”.

• Onions, garlic, leeks, bananas, oats, flaxseeds, and apples are some of the more commonly eaten foods with prebiotic properties.

• If you can tolerate fermented foods without a histamine response, incorporate fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, yogurt, and kombucha sensibly into your diet. These foods help provide probiotics into the gut.

• Avoid foods with artificial sweeteners, flavors, and colors as these all can damage gut health.

• Grab my Anticancer Meals workshop here that will demonstrate how to make gluten free, plant based meals.

Reduce Your Toxic Burden

• Avoid use of chemical household cleaners and use safer less toxic options.

• Read about the ingredients in your personal care products: deodorant, hair care, shave cream, shower products, makeup etc. and learn what you need to steer clear of in order to help a dysbiosis in your microbiome and leaky gut that contributes to cellular inflammation and disease.

You are probably familiar with the idea that supplements such as probiotics can help inform the gut. I rotate through a few different probiotic supplements throughout the seasons depending on my personal case at the time. But probiotic supplements by themselves probably aren’t going to be “the one thing” that creates a healthy gut.

On-Going Intentional Care of Your Gut Health

It is an on-going need to take intentional care of your gut microbiome through nutrition, appropriate-to-you supplementation, and truly caring for yourself through the actions mentioned above. It was never a one-and-done scenario. We’ve been conditioned to believe that simply taking one round of something will fix our problems. Tending to our gut microbiome will be on-going as our lifestyle, environment, medications, and various other conditions change throughout the seasons of our life but it’s imperative to tend to the link between gut health and cancer for those of us dealing with a cancer diagnosis.

Having a licensed practitioner that can help guide you through the right choices for your case is a big key in feeling confident in your healing journey. Finding a practitioner who understands and believes in the link between gut health and cancer can be a great support to your on-going care.

References

PMID: 31092590, PMID: 30110974, PMID: 27107051, PMID: 24336217

Cheng WY, Wu C, Yu JThe role of gut microbiota in cancer treatment: friend or foe?Gut 2020;69:1867-1876.

Disclaimers

Medical Disclaimer: This website and resources are intended for informational purposes. This is not medical advice. No part of this website is meant to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any illness, disease, or condition. Please consult your healthcare practitioner for direct and personalized medical advice. By reading this page, you acknowledge that each person is responsible for his/her own health decisions. Do not take anything from any website or resource, including this one, and try it without proper research and medical supervision. Any statements or claims about the possible health benefits conferred by any foods or supplements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). Information in this website is the perspective of this author based on personal experience and education unless otherwise noted.