Lymphatic leukaemia
My 13-year-old son has recovered from lymphatic leukaemia, which he had a year ago. He is doing fine now but I wondered if he should be on a special diet to build up his immune system?
Nobody knows what causes your son’s condition, but a key theory is that it is the result of an overloaded immune system. It usually manifests itself out of the blue with no genetic or even psychological explanation and is therefore probably caused by environmental pollutants and toxins says Dr Peter Mansfield, a GP and founder of The Good HealthKeeping organisation.
The diet he recommends is one that is rich in the cancer-eating carotenes, which he says can destroy cancer cells directly. All long-term survivors of cancer say betacarotene is their secret weapon in keeping the disease at bay and natural sources of carotenes are the brightly-coloured red, yellow and dark-green vegetables and fruits that most 13-year-olds don’t want to eat - but which you need to introduce into your son’s diet now.
Vitamin C is also crucial. It is used by the immune system’s cancer-fighting white blood cells to destroy both cancer cells and other debris they have ingested. Vitamin C cannot be stored in the body but must be taken from the diet each day. Dr Mansfield recommends your son takes 3 x 750mg of vitamin C each day, plus 6-12 x 4.5mg betacarotene tablets until his skin has a faint yellow tinge. This is completely safe (toxic levels of betacarotene, if there are any, would be many times higher than this daily dose) and is not a sign of jaundice, which is nut brown not yellow.
Include a supplement of 200mcg of the potent antioxidant selenium each day and use the Natural Food State supplements which have been formulated to mimic the vitamin in as close a fashion to the natural source as possible and which Mansfield believes can help deter cancer.
*You can join Good HealthKeeping for £52 a year. This will give you access to phonelines manned from 9am-6pm, Mon-Fri and 9am-12 noon on Saturdays, plus discounts on supplements and newsletters. Call 01507-601655 for details. For a catalogue of Natural Food State supplements call 01684-310022.