Recently, the Inspectorate of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health and local authorities inspected a house in Phu Nhuan District and discovered that Mr. Ha Duy Tho and his wife had committed violations in medical examination and treatment activities, selling products of unknown origin without a business license.
Mr. Tho (famous as "Professor, Doctor Ha Duy Tho") later admitted that he did not have a medical degree and had not been granted a certificate to practice medicine.
Is it easy to cause cancer from eating habits?
Before the incident, the statements about diet and nutrition of "Doctor Ha Duy Tho" had caused many conflicting opinions on a series of Facebook forums, TikTok and the medical community. Especially the comments related to cancer.
Mr. Ha Duy Tho in a sharing about cancer knowledge (Screenshot).
For example, Mr. Tho advises people to drink "alkaline ionized water" (high pH) to alkalize the blood, treat chronic diseases, cardiovascular diseases and even cancer.
The man also believes that eating brown rice with salt and sesame according to the Ohsawa macrobiotic method can cure cancer, even late-stage cancer.
Most recently, when sharing his knowledge about food, Mr. Ha Duy Tho affirmed that fish sauce poured out and not consumed within 4 hours will produce carcinogens. This information has caused public confusion, because fish sauce is an indispensable condiment in Vietnamese meals.
The question is: What eating habits cause cancer, and what is the proper nutrition for cancer patients?
Talking to Dan Tri reporter, specialist doctor 2 Tran Thi Anh Tuong, Head of the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital said that some foods and products are considered to have carcinogenic factors, but that does not mean that consuming them will definitely cause cancer.
For example, meat or fish that is salted for a long time will produce nitrosamine compounds that cause cancer, especially digestive tract cancer, but not all people who eat salted fish will definitely get cancer.
Smoking increases the risk of lung cancer, but not all smokers get lung cancer, nor do all lung cancer patients smoke.
Smoking will cause a high risk of lung cancer (Illustration: Hoang Le).
Doctor Tuong stated that when exposed to risk factors or carcinogens, depending on the number of exposures, the intensity of exposure, and whether there is simultaneous exposure to many carcinogens, the risk will be more or less.
Carcinogens can be chemical (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, aromatic amines, nitrosamines, aflatoxins, arsenic, pesticides) or radiation, biological.
Genetics (genes) are also a favorable or unfavorable factor for mutations to occur, after exposure to carcinogens. But DNA damage does not necessarily lead to cancer, but the body can repair itself thanks to a good immune system.
"The question of why patients get cancer is very difficult for doctors to answer, because the cause of cancer is still unknown. We can only talk about carcinogens or risk factors for cancer," the doctor shared.
Nutrition for cancer patients
According to the guidelines of the European Society of Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) as well as the American Cancer Society, cancer patients need a complete nutritional regimen with a requirement of 30kcal/kg/day and protein from 1.2-1.5 grams/kg/day (nearly twice as high as normal people).
Cancer patients' fat needs are also greater (especially fats from Omega 3), and their micronutrient needs are similar to those of normal people.
During treatment, the need may increase or decrease, depending on the individual's metabolic changes, disease progression, ability to cure, age and physical condition before treatment of the patient.
Cancer patients receiving treatment in Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: Hoang Le).
Cancer patients cannot eat enough to meet their needs, which happens in over 100% of patients who come to the Nutrition Department. Oral Nutrition Supplement (ONS) can help patients add 400-600kcal/day, 20-40g protein (50% of needs) through just 2 glasses per day.
However, ONS needs to be prescribed like medicine, do not use it arbitrarily if the normal food diet has met the needs.
In terms of osteoporosis, when foods are difficult to provide enough calcium, milk and dairy products are recommended. However, adequate calcium is only a necessary condition, not sufficient to treat osteoporosis.
According to Dr. Tuong, for cancer patients or people with a Western diet considered "unhealthy", when analyzing their blood pH, it shows a low tendency (towards acid). On the contrary, people who eat a healthy diet or mainly eat plants have an alkaline pH.
Mr. Ha Duy Tho once shared about drinking alkaline water to "alkalize the blood" and treat cancer in viral clips on Facebook (Screenshot).
From that, some authors infer that drinking water should be "alkalized" to help alkalize the blood, avoiding the risk of cancer. But the body is always in balance when something exceeds the allowable threshold, so if you want to alkalize the blood, drinking alkaline water is not enough.
"If you want to prove that a way of eating or a drink has the effect of preventing cancer, you have to study a very large sample size, for a very long time, and control for confounding factors before you can draw a conclusion.
Therefore, it is impossible to hastily conclude that fish sauce causes cancer based on simple interpretations, and it is necessary to consider whether the additives and preservatives added to fish sauce are safe for health or not...", Dr. Tuong analyzed.
Nutrition experts say that living a healthy life, exercising regularly, maintaining a standard weight, eating a balanced, nutritious diet, focusing on plants and whole grains, and limiting baking, high-temperature frying, and excessive sugar and salt intake are what is needed to prevent cancer.
In addition, when having cancer, patients need to be instructed by a doctor or a nutrition specialist on specific diets for each case to achieve optimal results.
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