Petition to support key screenings for prostate cancer

This week the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) published its draft recommendation to offer prostate cancer screening only to men who carry a BRCA1 or BRCA2 genetic variant. This is not good enough. As I've reported before on this blog this means key people are missed. Those at highest risk are not included in the recommendation, including Black men* and those with a family history of prostate, breast or ovarian cancer.

This is not the final decision. A 12-week public consultation now begins. Please add your name to teh Prostate Cancer Research petition calling on the Government to extend screening to Black men and men with a family history, not just BRCA carriers: https://act.prostate-cancer-research.org.uk/a/say-yes-to-screening ct.prostate-cancer-research.org.uk/a/say-yes-to-screening

* See previous posts re Black men by clicking on the BAME tag below.

Breathe

Sophie Trew at conference

This blog is just a quick plug for the work of Sophie Trew. At the recent Yes to Life conference (see last two blogs and more coming) we had a session from Sophie before starting the afternoon sessions. I can only say if you've not tried breathe work then do give it a go - the power of the breath is extraordinary.

See Sophie's instagram for tasters: https://www.instagram.com/sophietrewbreath/

Sophie does a session with Yes to Life once a month: https://yestolife.org.uk/breath-relax-and-reset/

See Sophie's website with some great surviving cancer info: https://www.sophietrew.com/

See my previous blog on breathe: https://myunexpectedguide.blogspot.com/2023/01/breath-and-cancer.html

See my film of Sophie's Trew Fields Festival 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJXShaDMMko

And 2018 Festival: https://myunexpectedguide.blogspot.com/2018/08/a-cancer-festival.html

Support Yes to Life's Camino walkers

The team at recent conference Sept 2025

Tomorrow my former colleagues who are leading Yes to Life are off on a 230km walk along the Camino de Invierno to Santiago de Compostela (a destination for pilgrims). There is still time to support them and ensure Yes to Life continues it's vital work.

Support here: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/holdmywalkingstickchallenge

Each member of the team brings their own reason for walking. Robin Daly MBE, who founded Yes to Life after losing his daughter Bryony to cancer, sees the Camino as a tribute to two decades of life-changing support for those facing cancer. CEO Miquel León-Canete walks to mark a bold new chapter in Yes to Life’s mission, while Sue de Cesare, former Executive Director, returns to the charity for this incredible challenge with deep gratitude for the community built over the years. Sara Spinks, coordinator of Wigwam cancer support groups, will walk for all those who’ve ever sat in a Wigwam Group seeking hope and understanding.

“This Camino marks more than a milestone—it’s a tribute to everyone who’s walked with us over the last 20 years. As we reach Santiago, we carry the stories, the courage, and the hope of the many lives we’ve touched.” Robin Daly MBE – Founder, Yes to Life

“This is about connection—between people, land, and purpose. The Camino is humbling. It’s the perfect way to honour our past while walking boldly into the future of integrative cancer support.” Miquel León-Canete – CEO, Yes to Life

“I joined this walk because Yes to Life has always been a journey of transformation—now we literally walk that path. Every step is a thank you to those who believed in this mission from the start.” Sue de Cesare – Former Executive Director, Yes to Life

“For me, the Camino represents the Wigwam spirit—togetherness, strength, and mutual support. I’ll be walking for every person who’s ever sat in a Wigwam group seeking light and support.” Sara Spinks – Wigwam Coordinator

Read Sara's blog about why she is doing this 'pilgrimage': https://yestolife.org.uk/our-camino-a-pilgrimage-of-purpose-hope-love-and-trust/

Support here: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/holdmywalkingstickchallenge

The best guide in cancer care?

Panel of doctors with Mark Taylor Sept 2025 conference 

This is so exciting - a new website portal, ‘Hacking Cancer 0.1’, that gives us all the info about research into integrative cancer care. Here’s how it is described: "This is more than just a book—it is the beginning of a movement to empower patients in making informed decisions about one of humanity's oldest and most daunting challenges. With medical knowledge doubling every three months, driven by advanced diagnostics, increased understanding of the immune system's role in cancer, a huge growth of new drugs coming to market, personalization of medicine to the tumor specifics and the increasing use of AI, we are on the brink of a potential for revolutionary changes in our understanding and treatment of cancer.”

Last Saturday I was fortunate to join the annual conference in London of the charity Yes to Life where there was a talk from Mark Taylor, Founder of Patient Led Oncology Group and the lead behind the guide. This year the title of the conference was: "What’s Really Working? Integrative strategies that are transforming health and wellbeing.” The conference was a wonderful mix of new connections, reconnecting with folks I’ve met previously, meeting a whole host of professionals and some great inspiring talks - and one of the talks introduced this guide - and wow, wow, wow do we need this.

https://conference.yestolife.org.uk/

The team behind the guide monitor publications and the guide is updated twice a week with as many as ten papers each week - there is also an option (for a fee) of counsel/support to be guided through the info. It is not written by medical professionals but rather mathematicians and business people by background, who became a patient and caregiver. They note: "This book is written more like an algorithm or a business strategy document than your normal cancer book. Complex problems need complex solutions, and the structure and content is laid out in a peculiar but deeply thought through way”. 

As the slides of Mark Taylor's talk here show in the UK we have a limited number of treatments - looking overseas we see many other treatment possibilities. However there is still lots we can do even if we can’t afford to travel and find those treatments overseas.

I welcome that this team are trying to encourage those of us with cancer to look at whether the treatment options have been studied with humans (and perhaps with animals where useful) - stuff just tested in Petri dishes doesn’t really hack it. 

There are some great examples of where research has been done and shown hugely positive results but very little is being done to encourage use - for one example see the slide below with Pubmed links on taking an oral bicarbonate showing significant impacts.

Mark talked about how too often we are encouraged by ’survivorship bias’  to try something like Fenben - this is a common name for fenbendazole, a medication used to treat various gastrointestinal parasites in animals, such as dogs and cats. It is having a real moment online with lots of suggestions re its use with cancer - yet as the guide shows there is not a single case report of someone curing cancer with Fenben. Joe Tippens who did lots to launch Fenben and cancer did it with immunotherapy - there is no research re Fenben alone yet - however it is being tested in combination with other drugs.

There is however lots of new exciting developments especially in immunology but also the benefits of mind, body and spirit work. Indeed, research is starting to show how this deep inner work can activate the body's innate healing and lead to improved outcomes, including durable remissions. 

It was interesting to hear that Mark is suspicious of diets sorting out cancer. Many of us have put a lot of faith in getting healthy diets right - however he says they can help but often their impact is over estimated. Of course that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t eat a healthy diet! I am looking forward to reading more on that in the guide.

The recordings of the conference will be for sale in a couple of weeks or so from Yes to Life - in my view definitely worth looking at! If you can’t wait that long for Mark then here is a link to him being interviewed re the new guide by the Cancer Patient Lab: https://youtu.be/RaidIt4Zs_0

See the guide at: https://www.hackingcancer.health/products/hacking-cancer-0-1

Speedier scans diagnose prostate cancer faster

Great to see this in Positive News yesterday:

Millions of men could benefit from faster scans to diagnose prostate cancer, scientists said this week. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and is typically diagnosed using a three-part MRI scan that involves injecting dye into patients. This is both costly and time consuming, and as a result only 62% of men in England and Wales who require a prostate MRI get one.

But that could be about to change after researchers at England’s University College London and the University of Birmingham found that a two-part MRI scan without dye was just as accurate at diagnosing the disease – and took a fraction of the time. 

Dr Matthew Hobbs, director of research at Prostate Cancer UK, described the research as “a hugely important step”. 

A second trial of the two-part scanning technique is currently underway in the UK. “The results of the two trials together should provide the complete evidence package we need to change practice across the country,” said Hobbs. 

A look at hydrogen

Some 6 years ago I met Jan Beute and he was very persuasive about how useful hydrogen can be in treatment of cancer. See my post then: https://myunexpectedguide.blogspot.com/2019/01/meeting-jan-beute-hydrogen-auto.html

Chris Woollams has just done a useful post on CancerActive about hydrogen. He writes: "Molecular hydrogen (H2) is a promising addition in cancer treatment, having the capability to induce anti-proliferative, anti-oxidative, pro-apoptotic and anti-tumoural effects; it also reduces the side-effects of conventional cancer treatment."

See article at: https://www.canceractive.com/article/hydrogen-as%20a%20cancer%20treatment

Six years ago I purshased a low cost prototype hydrogen machine that allowed me to inhale hydrogen and make hydrogen water. Sadly this prototype had a small flaw and so I got my money back. There are now many machines on the market although sadly not at the price I purchased for inhalation. There are however many reasonably priced bottles that produce hydrogen water.

Chris writes: "Drinking Hydrogen water does not find hydrogen detected in the blood stream, whereas inhaling it results in it remaining in the blood stream for over 2 hours. 100 times more hydrogen can be absorbed by inhalation." 

So are the water bottles worth it? Well I think there is a case for them to support health and I have now been using a bottle for the last five months. At the bottom of this blog there are some of the studies showing benefits but it does seem inhalation is the way to go if you can afford!

How did I decide which one? Well Abbey Mitchell from the Facebook Healing Cancer Study Support has done the research and I trust her. The Hydrogen Health Water Bottle is designed (in Australia) and will infuse your water with a very high amount of molecular hydrogen - it is portable and rechargeable.

How much each day is considered therapeutic? These leading-edge 550ml bottles, which creates much smaller hydrogen bubbles, to produce a super high 5.5 mg/L, a concentration above and beyond the average 550ml bottle's 1.6mg/L.

How to reach the dose that researchers are currently calling the therapeutic dose range? 1.5-2 L, of 1.6 mg/L concentration per day is considered therapeutic. This bottle provides a much higher concentration of 5.5 mg/L, so you only need to drink between 440 mL to 580 mL each day of the HRW it produces rather than 1-2L.

Where to buy? Here's the link to the bottle that I got and has sadly recently gone up in price - however I think Abbey's affiliate code still works for 20% off (MHC20) and also supports her work: https://www.hydrogenhealth.net.au/products/hydrogen-health-water-bottle

Abbey also writes in her Facebook pages about Hydrogen inhalation and suggests that if you are buying a machine to not consider anything less than 1000ml/min flow of Hydrogen. However you are talking about minimum of £1800 for a decent machine. I'm not in a position to consider that at the moment. 

You can see conversation threads about Hydrogen on Abbeys super-useful Facebook pages - including choosing a hydrogen machine at: https://myhealingcommunity.com/active-conversation-threads-a-z/

Here's some of the research Abbey looked at: 

Study: "Effects of drinking hydrogen-rich water on the quality of life of patients treated with radiotherapy for liver tumours"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3231938/

Hydrogen-rich water may alleviate chemo-induced neuropathy by affecting the diversity and structure of the gut microbiota, and then the LPS-TLR4 pathway, which provides a direction for further research.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7956896/

Decreased chemotherapy-induced liver injuries in colorectal cancer patients: Study: "Hydrogen-rich water exerts antitumor effects comparable to 5fluorouracil"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8790422/

Improved mood, anxiety, and autonomic nerve function in daily life:mStudy: "Hydrogen therapy: An emerging therapeutic strategy in cancer treatment"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5806445/

Reduced cholesterol levels and improved metabolic syndrome markers: Study: "Health Effects of Electrolyzed Hydrogen Water for the Metabolic Syndrome and PreMetabolic Syndrome: A 3-Month Randomized Controlled Trial and Subsequent Analyses"
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3921/13/2/145

Alleviated abdominal pain in inflammatory bowel disease: Study: "Efficacy and safety of molecular hydrogen in the management of chronic inflammatory bowel disease: A pilot study"
URL: https://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/full/v28/i28/3757.htm

Update 1.10.25: From the Yes to Life conference here is Patricia Peat's slide from her talk that mentioned hydrogen benefits (recordings of talk available in a couple of weeks from Yes to Life):

Chris Wark interview with Julie Mason

Some years ago now I worked alongside Julie Mason - she was a true inspiration in how she took a grasp of her healing journey. You can hear her story in this new interview with Chris Wark.

It was back in December 2016 that Julie was diagnosed with stage 3c endometrial cancer, a rare, high-grade tumor. Doctors told her there was no cure and offered palliative chemotherapy and radiation. She was sent home to prepare for hospice care. Julie had other plans. 

For a key part of her healing she credits Chris Warks' Square One Cancer Coaching Program. As Chris Wark writes: "Today (August 2025), Julie is over eight years cancer-free. She’s a cancer coach, speaker, and the founder of Cancer Soothe, where she helps others navigate cancer with tools to calm the mind and strengthen the body. She is a living reminder that cancer can be healed if given the proper nutrients and care".

Chris who healed himself many years ago now set up Chris Beat Cancer which is one of the front runners in integrative cancer care in the States - his podcast is now in the top 0.5% of podcasts worldwide. His book was voted in Yes to Life's best books for those to read about cancer in 2021. I also had the pleasure of a brief conversation with him in one of the Yes to Life Forums we set up - see that here: https://yestolife.org.uk/yestolife_forum/healing-cancer-holistically/ I personally have found many of Chris' interviews hugely useful - but as always do your own research and talk to your medical team.

Anyhow here are the topics in the interview with Julie:

-Julie's stage 3 endometrial cancer diagnosis
-Why me?
-What inspired me to start Chris Beat Cancer 
-You're not selfish, you're prioritizing
-Why creating a new healthy routine is key
-You have the power to change your whole life
-20 Questions for your oncologist
-Julie's purpose after cancer
-Don't be a passenger on the treatment train
-How to be prevention-minded
-Healing happens at home 
-The importance of the Square One Support Group 
-The fundamentals of healing
-Imagine a future where you are alive 
-And more

Go to interview at: https://www.chrisbeatcancer.com/from-hospice-to-healed-julie-masons-endometrial-cancer-journey/

Exercise is Medicine

I know I go on about exercise in this blog but it really does seem to be one of the areas that can support our health most and get some of the best outcomes. This podcast from the charity Yes to Life is a great overview of some of the latest research plus a look at best practice.

"Prof Rob Newton is a world leader in pioneering Exercise Oncology, destroying previous misconceptions about the need for rest in the face of physically challenging treatments like radiotherapy or chemotherapy, or when faced with common symptoms such as fatigue, low mood or the inability to sleep, with rigorous trial data demonstrating significant improvements in quality of life and substantial cost savings. More recently, the science is demonstrating that exercise really is great medicine for cancer, worthy of equal consideration alongside the best treatments that modern medicine has offer as a means of extending lives". 

Go to : https://yestolife.org.uk/podcast_episode/episode-2-17-exercise-is-medicine/

Supplement and Therapy database and info

I've mentioned this in the past but it is a growing very useful resource from Cancer Choices (formerly Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies) that looks at complimentary treatments and rates them. It is well worth checking them out to see if they have researched a particular treatment. Each month they seem to add more. Check it out at: https://cancerchoices.org/resources/reviews-of-complementary-therapies/

And if looking for a practitioner or more info on a therapy check out Yes to Life's Directory at: https://yestolife.org.uk/life-directory/ 

By clicking on the Yes to Life heading 'Resources' you can also find 10 years worth of weekly radio shows plus a number of podcasts looking at particular therapies.

In the past I've done blogs looking at websites, books and more....rereading now they could do with an update but this blog looking at 'Best websites for cancer support' here.

Campaign for oncology drugs for poorer countries

I've mentioned previously Inspire2Live and their call to improve access to oncology medicines. Today we launch a new campaign to improve access to essential drugs by poorer countries Below I attach the press release which includes the inspiring Barbara Moss sharing her own experiences in the UK - I was fortunate to meet her in Gloucester a couple of years ago.

Inspire2Live establishes an international initiative to provide access to essential cancer drugs for Lower Middle Income Countries (LMICs) Inspire2Live (I2L), the international patient advocacy organisation, is leading an initiative, together with five of the world’s top cancer scientists as advisers, to enable patients in poorer countries to receive essential and innovative cancer drugs that they cannot currently access. This movement is gaining the interest and help of several existing international organisations who know how to deliver this. Commonly, LMIC patients are diagnosed at a late stage of their disease when their cancer is most aggressive and with no pain relief available.

Professor Ifeoma Okoye, from Nigeria, said: “Every day, I watch patients walk into our cancer centres with more fear of the cost than of the disease. The burden of out-of-pocket expenses for chemotherapy, imaging, and pain relief crushes families and robs them of dignity. The effort by Inspire2Live to democratize access to essential oncology medicines is a necessary disruption to a broken system. We must move from global empathy to equitable action. Affordable cancer drugs are not charity—they are a human right.”

At I2L, we have the support of 30 members from LMIC countries1. We visit, meet, and witness the endless struggle of people with just a few hospitals trying to cover the needs of an entire country and no access to essential cancer medicines. I2L feels compelled to act to address this global inequality. Barbara Moss from Worcester UK, a member of I2L, reflects on her experience in 2006, diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer and given a prognosis of three months: “I was refused new treatments through the NHS because they were expensive. If my family had not
paid for the biological drug, I would certainly have died. The drug shrank my tumours sufficiently to allow surgical resection. Eighteen years on, I am so grateful to be here for my family. I want others to have the same chance that I had.”

The World Health Organisation (WHO) updates its essential medicines list biennially. There are 83 essential medicines for cancer, of which 13 are patented. Cancer drugs are generally not available in Africa, but could be made available, with no huge financial loss to the pharmaceutical industry, as was done before for HIV medicines. I2L believes that countries could be allowed to manufacture generics, even though drugs are still under patent, keeping within stringent safety regulations.

Pharmaceutical companies have to cover costs of research and failures. However, after distribution is complete in high-income countries, costs for excess production could be reduced by 90% for LMICs, following a similar process as for HIV treatment. Inspire2Live has consulted with itsinternational membership and found that this can be done. Not only will patients benefit, so will industry. Firstly, they are rewarded by scoring higher on the indexes of Corporate Social Responsibility without losing revenue, as they are currently not selling drugs to LMICs. Their 1additional expense is for registration, an insignificant cost. Of real significance, they would deliver the true value of their science: to drive innovation and save lives globally.

We believe that it is inhumane to allow people to suffer and die when there is a known way of
preventing this. We can save lives.

The I2L initiative has the powerful backing of:
• Prof. Mark Lawler, Professor of Digital Health, Queen’s University Belfast.
• Prof. Richard Sullivan, Director, Institute for Cancer Policy and Co-Director, Centre for Conflict
and Health Research, King’s College London, U.K.
• Prof. Carin Uyl-de-Groot, Professor of Health Technology Assessment, Erasmus University
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
• Dr. Wilbert Bannenberg, Founder and Chair, Pharmaceutical Accountability Foundation.
• Prof. Emeritus Ifeoma J. Okoye, Nigeria, Professor of Radiology at the College of Medicine,
University of Nigeria, Nsukka

Professor Carin Uyl-de-Groot said, ‘With cancer incidence rising rapidly in low- and middle-income countries, access to lifesaving and life-expanding medicines must be a global priority. We need a system that not only drives pharmaceutical innovation but also ensures that patients everywhere—regardless of income—can benefit from it.’

Professor Mark Lawler said, ‘How can we stand by and allow people to die needlessly, when a known cure is available? Patients in LMICs have no means of accessing vital treatment. Why do we accept that 80% of the world's population have access to only 20% of its medicine? With so much funding for health being withdrawn from LMICs right now, due to the inhumane actions of the new US administration, in contrast to President George Bush’s successful PEPFAR2, it is imperative that we act now, otherwise many more lives will be lost.’

Our Call to Action stems from evidence gained directly through I2L members in LMICs. A survey conducted by I2L details medicines that are most needed in the hospitals of our members. If these medicines were available, thousands of lives could be saved. We call on governments, industry, and our collective humanity to recognise that there is a way to provide cancer treatments and pain relief to LMICs and save lives.

Peter Kapitein, founder of Inspire2Live, said, ‘We have the assistance of international organizations, global expertise and our feet firmly on the ground in so many countries in every continent. We are human. By nature, we should also be humane. Why shouldn’t we save lives?’
2

Notes for Editor:
Inspire2Live (I2L) is the patient’s voice in cancer. The organisation creates more options for a life of
quality around cancer globally, faster. They connect patients, physicians, researchers, government,
insurance companies and the industry to initiate and develop projects for the benefit of the patient.
https://inspire2live.org

Reference Notes:

1. Argentina

Armenia

We have 30 LMIC country members:

Brazil

Bulgaria

Caribbean (consists of 16 countries)

Chile

Indonesia

Iran

Jordan

Kenya

Lebanon

Lithuania

Costa Rica

Croatia

Nigeria

Pakistan

Cuba

Philippines

Egypt

Gabon

Romania

Senegal

Ghana

South Africa

Guinea

Tanzania

Hungaria

India

Ukraine

Uzbekistan

2. PEPFAR President’s Emergency Plan for AIDA Relief

Among the organisations we consult:

3. The Pharmaceutical Accountability Foundation (PAF) serves the public interest by striving

to ensure that medicines and medical technologies are made available in a socially

responsible and sustainable manner. We attach a value to fair pricing and distribution in

accordance with European and international legal standards, and therefore take action to

combat unjustifiable price gouging by companies abusing market monopolies. We seek to

achieve our objectives through the provision of advice and information to governments,

stakeholders professionals and the general public. If that does not help, we achieve our

objectives through the possible legal action around excessively high priced medicines. Our

Articles of Association (in Dutch) can be found here.

Contact information for Media Enquiries:

Peter Kapitein, Founder of Inspire2Live

Email: peter.kapitein@inspire2live.org

Phone number: +31 6 52 49 60 99

4 

New prostate cancer tests

Less Grey Imaging

I'm signed up to Prostate Cancer Research and they produce a great magazine with the latest research often funded by donations to them. At the moment the PSA remains the best test despite it's unreliability, however a couple of things stood out in the recent issue:

'Less Grey Imaging'; as we know the PSA test is not reliable. MRI misses 20% of cancers and a whopping six in ten men undergo unnecessary procedures. This new technology offers us up to a 20-fold increase in resolution compared to mpMRI, which provides a grey, difficult-to-read image.

It works by injecting a commonly used contrast agent into a vein that contains millions of tiny and harmless microbubbles that travel through the patient’s bloodstream to the prostate. Super resolution ultrasound imaging is then used to track these microbubbles as they flow inside the prostate. Due to the altered blood flow in cancerous tissue, the image highlights previously unseen tumours, enabling earlier diagnosis. 94% of tumours are correctly identified and the technology is cheaper, faster and less claustrophobic than  an MRI scan. It is now going to a Phase II trial to take it forward. It cannot come soon enough! 

See more including a short video re Less Grey Imaging here. You can support research into this here.

New 'Spit test'; earlier this year researchers from The Institute of Cancer Research in London made headlines by announcing that their at-home spit test could spot which men are most at risk of prostate cancer. The test doesn't look for signs of prostate cancer in the body but rather looks at changes to a man's DNA that increase risks of prostate cancer.  The test is not commercially available yet but is now going to a large £42m trial to see if this genetic approach works at scale.

PSE test: a couple of years ago the University of East Anglia announced their PSE test was 92% accurate at detecting the disease. The test is a combination of the existing PSA blood test and another blood test they developed in collaboration with Oxford Biodynamics, called the EpiSwitch test. This looks at how DNA is folded in specific immune cells which might provide tell-tale signs of prostate cancer developing in the body. The combination, which they called the Prostate Screening EpiSwitch test (PSE test). It correctly identified men who didn't have prostate cancer 94% of the time.

Urine test; another recent development is a new urine test that measures 18 genes associated with prostate cancer. It provides higher accuracy for detecting clinically significant cancers than PSA and other existing biomarker tests, according to a study published last year in JAMA Oncology.  This means less unnecessary invasive biopsies.

There are various other tests being developed including one using AI to look at 100 biological markers in blood and urine samples, but as Prostate Cancer UK caution “many of these tests are still very early in their development and require robust testing”. 

Glucose monitors: useful or not?

A couple of months ago I had the opportunity to wear a Lingo glucose monitor for 2 weeks. I've often over the years had times when I've craved carbs for an energy boost that when eaten then create a spike then a crash and more craving.....the 'spike-crash cycle'. I also used to get "hangry" - that hunger and irritability/anger that stems from a drop in glucose and creates a perfect storm for our hormones. Since my diagnosis and changing my nutrition this has been much much less so...almost not occurring....but occasionally it has surprised me - hence the interest in the monitor.

Was it worth it? 

I did learn stuff - more of that in a mo....before then by coincidence the week after I finished I came across a new study that calls into question the usefulness of these blood-glucose plans for folks without diabetes.

In two controlled studies using 30 participants, researchers found only weak-to-moderate correlations between the same meals eaten a week apart. This means your body's response to your morning porridge might be completely different from meal to meal. Which if true, makes basing food choices on how you react to one meal pretty pointless (and even dangerous!). See more at: https://examine.com/research-feed/study/1jjKq1/?

Glucose spike dangers?

So glucose spikes are when you have more glucose in your bloodstream than your cells can take up. Some degree of rise is completely normal but it is the dips or crashes that can impact on long term health - research suggesting not least an increased risk for developing insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular issues.

Serious sugar spike material

Sugar warnings?

Sugar and carbohydrates are the quickest to be converted to glucose - any not being used gets stored in the body. It is when it is too concentrated in the blood that it is called a glucose spike or blood sugar spike. 

Many of us with cancer have heard the 'warnings' that sugar can impact cancer - but also hear the NHS and and others saying that it is all 'a myth' - see for example this piece by Cancer Research UK here. They write: "All of our healthy cells need glucose too, and there’s no way of telling our bodies to let healthy cells have the glucose they need without also giving it to cancer cells. And cancer cells also need lots of other nutrients too, like amino acids and fats; it’s not just sugar they crave. There’s no evidence that following a “sugar-free” diet lowers the risk of getting cancer, or that it boosts the chances of surviving if you are diagnosed." 

The article goes on to note the concerns about sugar and obesity and the links between being overweight and cancer. However I do not think this takes seriously the growing evidence around the negative impact of refined sugar.

Read this blog by Robin Daly looking at this issue and evidence - he notes the views of NHS oncologist Professor Thomas: "Prof Thomas makes the point that, given the sheer volume of good evidence pointing towards dietary refined sugars and carbohydrates as both a source and driver of cancer, along with the catastrophic way that the grim reaper, cancer, is scything its way through developed nations around the globe, a zero-cost, safe intervention such as reducing intake of refined foods should be seen as eminently worth trying. Making utterly confident pronouncements about the absence of a relationship between sugar and cancer depends entirely on a totally suspect system that seeks to portray evidence as a binary ‘evidence/no evidence’ scenario, rather than as a more nuanced sliding scale of ‘more evidence’, ‘better evidence’."

Also see a useful and totally sensible discussion of sugar on this video of a Yes to Life Forum I helped host in October 2020 with nutritionist Kirstin Chick here.

Other factors

Spikes can also be caused by other factors like poor sleep, dehydration, caffeine, certain medications or stress - also during intense exercise. However it is most often eating carbs/sugar. 

Mild, dark and black tahini on toast

Some learning

My own monitor showed how my blood sugar spiked particularly after carbs - even just two oatcakes as a snack in the afternoon had a surprisingly large spike. In contrast the gluten-free toast with tahini's as part of a breakfast with a walk afterwards had less of a spike. Reducing snacking helped - and ensuring I had protein with every meal.

You will see the chart from my first week that I was missing the target but learning about some of the impacts....one noticeable improvement was going for a short walk after my evening meal.

The monitor I used was Lingo - others available - their app recorded great info and some useful tips but you need to download it as it seems to disappear from the app after the 2 weeks. Anyhow this rather basic info was from one of their blogs: 

How to avoid a glucose spike 

There are many ways to avoid a glucose spike naturally, and the best method is to be thoughtful with your food choices. Limit foods that are common sources of spikes such as refined carbohydrates, sugars, and sugary beverages, and instead opt for more complex carbohydrates that have fibre such as vegetables, fresh fruit, brown rice, quinoa, and whole grain bread. Even better, pair your carbohydrates with a source of protein and/or fat for a macronutrient-balanced option. 

Other lifestyle habits that can help keep your glucose steady include getting quality sleep, staying physically active, drinking plenty of water, managing stress, and limiting alcohol.

A lot of this is pretty obvious but I guess for me it was still a useful exercise in helping me think about meals again - over the years since diagnosis some good habits slip a little - it was a good reminder even if the research noted above suggests they may not be so useful. Anyone with any questions re this should speak with their medical team - this blog was just my experience.

See blog on Ultra-processed foods being recommended by NHS (??!): https://myunexpectedguide.blogspot.com/2023/04/ultra-processed-foods-recommended-by.html

See blog on best nutrition/recipe books: https://myunexpectedguide.blogspot.com/2024/02/best-nutrition-on-recipe-books.html