Fighting cancer with medicine and vegetables

By Mary Romaniec
Grafton News Reporter –

Grafton’s Community Harvest Project is kicking off a fresh produce program geared toward cancer patients.

Beginning this week, they will partner with The Virginia Thurston Healing Garden Cancer Support Center, a nonprofit cancer patient group in the Town of Harvard. With the mantra “food is medicine,” both organizations have begun a 12-week study — funded by a grant from Harvard Pilgrim Health Care awarded to Community Harvest — to determine if access to fresh produce and nutrition education has any bearing on the outcome of patient health.

Speaking on the value of nutrition in cancer treatment, Executive Director Margaret Koch explained, “It is one of the cornerstones for cancer treatment and recovery.” She said nutrition as medicine is making inroads in some hospitals, as physicians and nutritionists anecdotally report a better outcome.

But anecdotes aside, the goal of the study is to gather data on patient mood and mindset, as well as their overall health once they begin and observe any changes in nutritional behavior.

Healing Garden identifies the mind, body and spirit connection as crucial to how patients perceive their role in their own healing process. “There is a huge loss of control in their lives,” said Koch. “We are empowering them to move the dial to improve their state of well-being.”

Koch said their effort at The Healing Garden is to focus on all of the needs of individuals who come to the center for support. The goal then is to bridge all of the resources for a better health outcome. And in the process, Koch wondered what other improvements can be made to improve the quality of their lives.

Community Harvest will provide enough produce to feed the whole family. After the initial drop off food on Monday, study participants will spend the next hour with a local nutritionist who specializes in educating cancer patients on foods with a high nutritional content, especially if the patient experiences side effects during treatment. There will be a variety of topics covered, including food preparation. For some patients, eating is difficult or they might need to boost their calorie intake. There is also a focus on choosing organic produce or those minimally treated with pesticides.

By bringing in the nutritionist, Koch hopes participants will look at fresh produce differently than they may otherwise. “We want to give them concrete, simple ideas to use the vegetables,” Koch said. “We’re pretty excited to see how they are after the 12 weeks. Does this improve their quality of life?” While the study is geared to those identified as “food insecure,” The Healing Garden also focuses on a health disparity which provides support and services to cancer patients in 165 cities and towns offering therapeutic services and educational programs as well as promoting cancer prevention to the general community.

Community Harvest Program Manager Alicia Cianciola said they were approached by The Healing Garden to provide the produce and participate in the study. She said the program fell in line with their overall mission and that even though Community Harvest has worked with area hospitals for outpatient care, she was unaware of the special challenges cancer patients face.

“I didn’t realize that even the textures of food change, making it difficult to eat,” she said. And often, she said, food is not as big of a priority to some low-income patients who must juggle the cost of food alongside other medical costs.

“[The Healing Garden] know the day-to-day issues the people with cancer are facing,” Cianciola said. “They are also well-versed on cancer diet.” Cianciola said the survey data will be shared with her group. Once determined, Cianciola said Community Harvest could look at the pilot model as something to expand on in other communities.

With the continued focus on food as medicine alongside the shift in patient care, Community Harvest identifies its role as an extension of the paradigm shift in health care.

Currently, the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester is partnering with them to provide produce for programs that are geared to improving the health of certain identified health populations, with a focus in prenatal care, diabetes and youth. Cianciola said they first identify the barriers to fresh produce, and then provide a consistent supply. Currently, physicians are reporting overall better health in many of their patients, an impetus to look at further opportunities to study, she said.

Koch acknowledged the current health care model needs to change including standard of care. As a former oncology researcher, she pointed out how patients are looking into integrated medicine that includes meditation, mindfulness and other spiritual pursuits as a part of the process.

The need for better patient morale through a holistic approach has led the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston to dedicate an entire floor to integrated medicine, in conjunction with traditional cancer treatments. Likewise, Dana-Farber is continuing studies on the effectiveness of the “whole patient care” model that may lead to treating cancer patients with more than standard medicine. “Health care reform has not come that far yet,” said Koch. “However, health care will change … Integrated medicine is the next big thing in science.”

For more information on The Virginia Thurston Healing Garden, go to healinggarden.net. For more information on Community Harvest, go to community-harvest.org.

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