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The Best Diet For Triple Negative Breast Cancer

As a follow-up to last week’s article The Best Diet For Hormone Receptor Positive Breast Cancers, this one is all about the best food for someone who has or is healing from triple negative breast cancer.

Doctors often tell us that triple negative breast cancer is harder to overcome because the usual hormonal therapies don’t work for this form of breast cancer. Don’t let that worry you though – there are plenty of things you can eat and supplements you can take which will greatly help your return to wellness.

What Does Triple Negative Breast Cancer Mean?

If the term “triple negative” is unfamiliar to you, it refers to the fact that this type of breast cancer has no hormone receptors on the surface of the cells, meaning it is not fueled by hormones. It is estrogen receptor negative (ER-), progesterone receptor negative (PR-), and it does not overexpress HER2, three of the things your pathologist will be looking for when a tumor has been removed and is examined to see what therapies should be recommended. It is often referred to as “TNBC”.

Does Food Actually Make A Difference?

Yes it does.  A recent small study done on 354 women with TNBC found “that dietary modulations and/or micronutrient supplementations may prevent or reverse TNBC phenotype, so tumors can be treated with less toxic therapeutic strategies, particularly in genetically susceptible women.” ¹

In another study reported in 2013, scientists found that “omega-3 and its metabolites undermine proliferation in all cell lines. However, they were dramatically more effective in inhibiting proliferation in the triple-negative cell lines.” ²

Blueberries have specifically been researched for their effects on TNBC at the City of Hope cancer center in California, check out my article:  Interesting City of Hope Research On Blueberries And Triple Negative Breast Cancer .

Another article you might find interesting, written by Jennifer Griffin, sharing her story of how she beat TNBC:  How I Kicked Triple Negative Breast Cancer .

Food That You Should Include In Your Diet If You Have Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Wherever possible, try to ensure that the items from the list below are organic, because if you are trying to heal from cancer you need to stay away from conventionally grown produce and meats as much as possible due to the pesticide and herbicide residues. You really need to keep the toxin load at a minimum to give your body a better chance to heal.  If you are unable to obtain organically grown produce, just make sure to wash – wash – wash it extremely well.  Soak produce in a tub or pail of fresh water with a little white vinegar for a few minutes, then rinse well.

Here’s the list:

Apples, arugula, bell peppers, black pepper, blackberries, blueberries, bok choy, blackcurrants, boysenberries, broccoli, brown rice, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cherries (both sweet and sour), coconut oil, collard greens, cranberries (not the sugared dried ones), cucumbers, flaxseed (freshly ground is best), garlic, ginger, grapes (red and organic are best), green tea, hemp, honey (minimally processed), horseradish, hot peppers, kale, lake trout, leeks, lettuce – romaine, mangoes, mustard & mustard greens, omega-3 fats, onions, parsley, peas, pomegranate juice, pumpkin, raspberries, reishi mushrooms, saffron, spinach, squash, tomatoes, turmeric, turnips, turnip greens, walnuts, watercress, watermelon, zucchini.

There are also quite a number of essential oils that research has indicated are helpful as well, if you would like to know more about which ones to use, contact me.

For information on the food that should be avoided, as well as a list of supplements and nutrients that support a healthy body and should be included in your health regimen, see my page Diet and Cancer.

A big thank you for part of the food list goes out to http://foodforbreastcancer.com/ – written by Sarah Charles, herself a breast cancer survivor, and a woman of sharp intellect, Sarah has a mathematics degree from UCLA and is a Harvard graduate.

References:

1. Combined genetic and nutritional risk models of triple negative breast cancer:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25023197

2. Omega-3 Fatty Acids Slow Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cell Proliferation:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/259069.php

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