What science says about Alkaline Diet For Cancer

Alkaline diet to treat cancer patients is a highly debatable topic.

Many doctors confirm using the alkaline diet to cure many cancer patients. According to them, cancer is a simple and normal condition that can be treated by regulating the blood pH, and making it more alkaline.

This is supposed to allow the body to function normally, and hence eliminate the cancerous cells because cancer is believed to become complicated and very dangerous when the blood pH is acidic.

On the other hand, many medical doctors don’t believe that alkaline diet can cure cancer, and they think this diet is a scam. They argue that this diet is not scientifically correct because the blood pH is regulated through a buffering system in the body, and food can barely have any influence on this.

Views in favor of Alkaline Diet for Cancer

Supporters of the alkaline diet treatment for cancer suggest that the alkaline diet can reset the blood pH to its normal level of alkalinity, and hence can be an effective treatment for cancer. 

This is based on the belief that cancer cells can’t develop and survive in an alkaline blood pH, however they do thrive and develop in an acidic blood pH environment. These claims have been supported by several researches and medical studies that showed that chronic diseases and illnesses are promoted by the acidic blood environment.

Accordingly, a normal blood pH, being slightly alkaline with a pH between 7.3 and 7.45, is believed to be a hostile environment for cancer cells. Hence, it prevents cancer cells from multiplying, and eventually kills them. 

However, due to several changes in the modern diet, such as increased consumption of sodium containing foods, GMO (genetically modified organism), and processed foods among many other things, the pH of the body is changing from being alkaline, and is becoming more and more acidic. 

Other factors do also influence the blood pH such as anxiety, fever, or any complication from trauma or illness. This contributes further in making the blood pH more and more acidic. 

Subsequently, this is believed to be the main reason behind the development of several medical diseases and illnesses. This also allows simple health issues that are supposed to be easily curable, to become a serious medical challenge.

The role of pharma industry:

Supporters of the alkaline diet claim that cancer is just like any other medical condition, and can be treated quite easily. But the problem is that the big pharma industry, backed by influential people in governments, don’t want to promote a simple and cheap cure for cancer. Instead, they want to generate profits and sell high priced chemo drugs that do nothing but kill the cancer patients. 

Success stories:

Dr. Leonard Coldwell, one of the most famous and recognized doctors known for treating cancer, claims to have cured more than 35,000 cases of patients in Europe using this technique, along with a special protocol that he has developed. Dr. Coldwell claims to have achieved a success rate of 92.3% in curing cancer patients. 

He even stated in one of his interviews that he can cure any cancer condition in just 16 days. This is based on using the alkaline diet as a crucial part of a complete healing protocol that Dr. Coldwell claims to have perfected.

However, upon accessing Dr. Coldwell website, we couldn’t find testimonials or solid evidence proving that he treated all these cancer patients. There was also no case studies available to check and prove how this method was successful.

Skeptical Views on the benefit of Alkaline Diet for Cancer

On the other hand, opponents of alkaline diet for cancer, reject the claim that cancer cells do not grow in an alkaline medium and tend to thrive in an acidic medium.

According to them, cancer cells can thrive in any pH environment, even in an alkaline one. This is supported by the fact that the normal blood pH is slightly alkaline, between 7.3 and 7.45, yet people still get all kinds of diseases in this environment.  

This was also proven by several experiments where cancer cells were grown in an alkaline medium such as in the research study by Martínez-Zaguilán et al. (1996). The concept of cancerous cells only growing in an acidic medium was only applied in research to cancer cells that were isolated in an acidic medium in the lab.

Maria Pretzel, a senior clinical dietitian at The University of Texas MD Anderson Center, says:
“It should be noted that these are studies of cancer cells in a dish and do not represent the complex nature of how tumors behave in the human body. And food cannot change the pH of your blood.”

Even more, there has been a preliminary research using computational modelling to suggest that cancer cells can actually thrive in an alkaline pH environment. The study suggests also that cancer cells are weaker when their internal pH is lowered to become more acidic. 

Food does not influence blood pH

Opponents of the alkaline diet also state that food does not influence the blood pH. They argue that there are physiological facts that show that the human body is capable of maintaining a normal pH level due to the kidneys and respiratory system, which regulate this process. 

Any slight change in this pH will cause major problems. Therefore, they do believe that no matter what food is consumed, the blood pH is going to stay the same. Hence, the alkaline diet is of no use for treating cancer or any other condition.