Clare Collins, University of Newcastle





Read more: What is a balanced diet anyway?

1. Vitamin A





2. B vitamins




Fish is a good source of vitamin B6. Shutterstock




3. Vitamins C and E


Vitamin C and vitamin E help protect cells from oxidative stress.

Read more: Coronavirus: it's time to debunk claims that vitamin C could cure it





4. Vitamin D



Most people need just a few minutes outdoors most days.


5. Iron, zinc, selenium



Whole grain foods contain a variety of important nutrients. Shutterstock





Read more: Health Check: should I take vitamin C or other supplements for my cold?

Putting it all together




Read more: Social distancing: What it is and why it's the best tool we have to fight the coronavirus


Stop smoking to improve your lung’s ability to fight infection, perform moderate intensity exercise like brisk walking, get enough sleep, practise social distancing and wash your hands with soap regularly.The Conversation

Clare Collins, Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle


The trillions of bacteria living in our gut (called the gut microbiota) can help determine our risk of cancer, as well as how we might respond to cancer treatment.

Each person’s unique gut microbiota is in constant communication with their immune system. This ensures good bacteria can thrive in the body, while bad bacteria and foreign material are eradicated.

The gut microbiota is therefore critical to making sure the immune system is in the best possible state to fight diseases – from the flu, to serious ones like cancer.

Researchers are now exploring how your unique gut bacteria determine your cancer risk, and whether modifying its composition can control cancer progression and predict response to treatment.

He wants to sell you a $300 ‘fasting diet' to prolong your life. It might not be as crazy as it sounds

LOS ANGELES - He knows he sounds like a snake-oil salesman. It's not every day, after all, that a tenured professor at a prestigious university starts peddling a mail-order diet to melt away belly fat, rejuvenate worn-out cells, prevent diseases ranging from diabetes to cancer - and, for good measure, turn back the clock on aging.…


Michael Thomsen is very familiar with the concepts discussed in this article and is working on bringing the Fasting Mimicking Diet to Australia.

Fasting may improve cancer treatment, but needs further exploration

Veronique Chachay, The University of Queensland

The gold standard treatment for cancer in the last few decades has been a combination of surgery – to remove tumours – and chemotherapy and radiotherapy – to kill cancer cells. With the progress of personalised medicine, where identifying specific mutations in the tumour guides treatment selection, there has been increasing success in survival rates.

But there has been little improvement in reducing side effects on healthy cells caused by chemotherapy, which also limit the dosage that can be administered.

Over the last two decades, research in animals has shown restricting calories - with alternating periods of fasting and feeding – promotes protection mechanisms for healthy cells, while increasing white blood cells that kill cancer cells.

A 2008 study showed mice with neuroblastoma, a common childhood cancer, that had only water for two days before receiving a large dose of chemotherapy, experienced less or no side effects compared to mice fed normally. In another study, tumour cells were killed more efficiently in mice who weren’t fed than in those that were.

Since then, further animal studies and early trials in humans confirmed short-term fasting prior to, and after, chemotherapy treatment reduced side effects. It also protected healthy cells from the toxicity of the drug, while killing cancerous ones.

So does this mean we can use fasting to help with cancer treatment?

Glucose and cancer

Cancerous cells are known to rely on glucose, a type of sugar, for their energy metabolism, rapid growth, and resistance to chemotherapy.

That cancer cells thrive on glucose was first shown by German physiologist Otto Warburg in the 1950s. He also showed they were unable to use fatty acids as efficiently for energy, or at all. This idea of cancer being a disease reliant on rapid glucose metabolism, has reemerged recently.

Under total fasting conditions, where someone only has water, the body initially uses carbohydrate stores, called glycogen, to maintain blood glucose levels, and for cellular energy production. When these stores are depleted, protein from muscle is used to produce new glucose, and fat stores start to be used for energy production.

Cancer cells rely on glucose, a type of sugar, for energy metabolism and growth. from

Body cells that would normally use glucose as their main energy source have the ability to gradually switch to a different fuel: a product of fat metabolism called ketone bodies. This is to spare muscle mass so it is not used too much to make new glucose.

Cancer cells are unable to use ketone bodies efficiently, because the mechanism that would convert ketone bodies to energy does not function well in cancer cells. So under low blood glucose conditions, cancer cells are in effect being starved, becoming more vulnerable to chemotherapy.

Healthy cells on the other hand, can use ketone bodies for energy. They are also protected from chemotherapy side effects because fasting stimulates the expression of genes that promote cellular clean-up and defence systems, called autophagy. This means larger doses of the drug can be administered to better kill cancer cells.

In a case report of ten patients, those who fasted between two and six days prior to, and between five hours and two and a half days after, chemotherapy reported greater tolerance to treatment and less fatigue and weakness. They also reported less gastrointestinal symptoms, such as vomiting and diarrhoea. Fasting didn’t impair the impact of treatment.

But fasting to aid cancer treatment is a difficult balancing act, because malnutrition is a significant problem for many with specific cancers such as head and neck, pancreatic, colon and lung cancers.

Balancing nutrition

Malnutrition in cancer patients is estimated to be as high as 88% depending on the stage of the cancer. This is due to a number of factors, including appetite loss as the disease progresses, side effects of treatment, and cancer’s increased demands on metabolism.

Malnutrition and related weight loss are associated with lower survival rates. Further, the side effects of chemotherapy, which may include severe nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea increase the risk of malnutrition and related weight loss.

So practice guidelines recommend patients receive enough energy and protein to counter weight loss. For head and neck cancer patients, for instance, the aim is to have 1.2 to 1.4 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, which is higher than what’s recommended for an average healthy adult male.

But clinical trials are underway that investigate various fasting protocols, including something called the fasting mimicking diet. This protocol addresses the difficulty of hunger discomfort experienced by patients who fast with water only.

The fasting mimicking diet is a seven-day fasting protocol tailored around chemotherapy treatment. It ensures the provision of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), while significantly reducing the energy intake, in particular from carbohydrates (which become glucose once absorbed) and protein. Patients return to a normal diet after the seven days, thus limiting the impact on weight loss and malnutrition over time.

Less may be more when it comes to dealing with certain cancer cells. Suppressing the specific energy supply that uses an inborn protective mechanism in human physiology to prevent cancer development deserves close investigation.

The Conversation

Veronique Chachay, Research & Teaching Academic, The University of Queensland


Lindsay Wu, UNSW Australia

“A glass of red wine a day could keep polycystic ovaries at bay,” said a news headline this week. This and similar reports were based on research from a team in Poland and California that showed high daily doses – 1,500 mg – of a natural compound found in red wine, called resveratrol, could lower steroid hormone levels in women suffering from polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). This, in effect, should lower symptoms of PCOS including weight gain, excess hair, infertility and abnormal menstrual cycles.



Resveratrol is naturally found in the skin of red grapes. Harsha K R/Flickr, CC BY




But at doses where it can have an effect, resveratrol can cause gut problems such as diarrhoea. Despite this, small clinical trials using resveratrol in humans have shown some benefits to their metabolism, markers of inflammation, and Alzheimer’s disease.




Products containing resveratrol range from being highly pure, to pills containing mashed up grape skins with very little resveratrol. Jason Tester Guerrilla Futures/Flickr, CC BY







Stay tuned though: efforts to formulate resveratrol so greater proportions actually reach the rest of the body are underway.

The Conversation



Natural therapies are likely to actually save the government more money than what they will save. Many of our patients are light users of the public health care system because of the care we provide.

This is just so wrong. Speak up if you think this is wrong!



Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen announced on Friday that from July 1, 2017, taxpayer-funded private health insurance rebates would no longer be available for natural therapies.

The measure would save $180 million over four years, and $704 million over the decade.

Mr Bowen was quick to insist there was nothing wrong with seeking natural therapies like aromatherapy, herbalism or iridology.

“I myself use them from time to time — my personal favourite is the Bowen treatment, I can recommend it to you,” he said.

“But in times of difficult budgetary situations, it is not appropriate for taxpayers to have to fund and subsidise private health insurance cover for these treatments.”

Mr Bowen also announced Labor would continue the threshold freeze for private health insurance rebates for another decade to 2026, saving $2.3 billion.

Well it’s over a month now, since we returned from our fantastic 10 days in Japan!


The Japanese are renowned for their longevity and good health; including so far avoiding the obesity crisis that is the scourge of so many other cultures today.
So we’ve decided to recap some likely contributing factors to this phenomenon.

Firstly, the Japanese have a diet high in fermented foods. Miso soup, pickled vegetables and fermented soy products are a daily consumable for Japanese on a traditional diet. The research into fermented foods, GIT health and the link to helping prevent overweight and obesity is very promising.

The Japanese diet is fairly low in fat. Fried foods exist but are not regularly consumed apart from specialty dishes such as tempura and some street foods.
The diet is also high in seaweeds which are high in iodine; a nutrient important for thyroid health.

The diet is also high in soy products. Good for hormonal health, bone density, anti-cancer properties and a great low-fat protein.

Portion sizes tend to be quite small. A lot of meals consist of simply small “tastes” of a variety of dishes. And the Japanese practice Hara Hachi Bu: Eat Until You Are 80% Full.

Most of us have no idea what 80 percent full feels like. We do know that if we eat until we are full, in 20 minutes we are likely to feel too full, as it takes about that long for the stomach to communicate with the brain just how full it is. But how do you tell when you are “80 percent full”?

DSC03889It takes sometimes 15-20 meals to reset the muscle memory of the stomach to get used to less food and people need to trust that will happen. Most are used to eating until full, which is past satiation and which keeps weight on. We suggest eating just half of what you normally eat and then checking in to see how you feel. Once we begin to feel any stomach pressure we are at the “80 percent full” stage.

The Japanese are also quite physically active. In the cities, the majority of people seem to cycle, walk and use public transport. We saw septuagenarians still cycling and gardening frequently.

So it’s probably not a bad idea to introduce some Japanese “ways” into our daily routines.


common coldOn another note, as always with winter coming it’s always good to consider looking out for your immune health.

Coughs and colds are around again, but a healthy immune system will either help you avoid them altogether or seriously limit their longevity and severity.

Herbs such as Andrographis, Echinacea, Holy Basil, Astragalus and Baical Skullcap among others are renowned for their ability to support the immune system.

These are available for convenience in several good tablet formulations as well as our trusty liquid formulas.

Adequate vitamin D is also important for immune function, especially in Tasmania where it is simply not possibly to get enough winter sunlight to produce sufficient vitamin D.

supplementsThe episode broadcast on Four Corners was a wholly-US program that examined the use of dietary supplements from a US perspective, but with limited relevance to the situation in Australia.

The fact is that there are significant differences between the way the US and Australia regulate these products.

In Australia, complementary medicines are regulated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). This is considered one of the most rigorous systems for regulating supplements in the world, and companies marketing complementary medicines must comply with a range of TGA requirements.

Features of the Australian regulation of complementary medicines include:

  • Complementary medicines (e.g. fish oil, vitamins and mineral supplements) are regulated as medicines in Australia and must be manufactured to medicinal standards in TGA approved sites
  • The TGA conducts a safety assessment on ingredients in Listed (displaying an AUST L number) complementary medicines
  • Complementary medicines must contain the ingredients listed on the label and no other active ingredients, and they must only be produced from ingredients approved as low-risk by the TGA
  • The TGA routinely conducts manufacturing site inspections, sampling and testing of products in the market to monitor compliance
  • Companies marketing complementary medicines can only make limited claims regarding their effectiveness and are required to hold evidence supporting those claims
  • All complementary medicines legally available for sale in Australia must be included on the TGA's publicly accessible database, the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG)
  • The TGA maintains a rigorous system for recording, monitoring and responding to adverse events for all medicines, including complementary medicines.
  • The features of the Australian regulatory environment are very different to those in the US that were featured in the Four Corners program, and they should give Australian consumers a high level of confidence in the safety and efficacy of their medicines.

Fish oils

The Four Corners program also raised issues in relation to omega-3 fish oil supplements.

The majority of Australian do not eat enough fish, and omega-3 supplements play an important role in helping people to consume adequate marine-sourced omega-3s.

Companies that market fish oil products in Australia must comply with TGA requirements including strict manufacturing standards that maximise the purity of these products.

Australian consumers can be confident that fish oil products available in Australia are of the highest quality as they are required to comply with medicinal manufacturing standards.

As with all medicines, fish oil products must be labelled with an expiry date, and products are required to comply with content standards for the duration of their shelf life.
Source: Australian Self-medication Association

Prescribed herbal and nutritional medicines

We consider the safety of our patients the highest priority. We only prescribe medicines from reputable sources, and only in very limited situations do we recommend medicines produced overseas.

The majority of the herbal and nutritional medicines we prescribe are known as practitioner-only medicines. They are not available directly to the public and need to be prescribed by a qualified health practitioner. These products are often of a higher quality and strength compared to retail products.

As health professionals, we prescribe these medicines in a much more targeted and focused way. We check against potential drug interactions with any pharmaceutical medicine a patient may be taking and we monitor and adjust the combinations and dosages carefully.

We constantly review the prescription ensuring a patient is taking the appropriate medicines and only for as long as necessary.

You are in safe hands when using practitioner-prescribed herbal and nutritional medicines.

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