The board recommended balance in food selection tempered with moderation in consumption. Many people today have unrealistic notions about what nutrition can accomplish. Certain enthusiasts even claim nutrition can cure cancer. Nutrition does play an important role in the prevention and treatment of cancer, but it is not a cure-all. This view is supported by Dr. Richard Rivlin, chief of nutrition services at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
Nutrition is essential while a patient receives drug and radiation therapy.
One technique, called hyper-alimentation, involves intravenous feeding with a concentrated solution of nutrients that enable the patient to maintain weight without eating. This keeps a patient strong enough to fight the disease. As a matter of fact, megadoses of certain vitamins such as A, D, E and K can be damaging. Laetrile, in particular, is harmful because its cyanide content can be quite toxic. While vitamin C has been demonstrated in controlled tests to have no benefit in fighting cancer, many people ask about it.