I worked with a vegan whose diet was appalling - basically packets of crisps. Her skin and general health were dreadful.
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I’ve met vegetarians who refused to eat anything but industrial vegetarian sausage rolls (with cheese inside instead of sausage) made with really bad factory pastry. They didn’t look well or happy. But they were English teenagers,
The vegetarians and vegans I worked with in Mumbai had completely marvellous food and all seemed very healthy. So did the carnivores. So it’s not about being vegan/vegetarian or meat-eating, it’s about preparing and eating a varied diet and enjoying it.
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Thank you @Earthdave, your comment on calcium prompted me to take a look in the books from Tim Spector as mentioned but he didn’t differentiate between supplemented calcium and dietary so I had wrongly assumed that too much calcium would have the same effect, a few Pubmed etc papers and it’s the supplemented form that’s the risk, especially when looking at the AdCal D3 where they recommend two tablets at 700mg per tablet, way above a dietary amount and it’s the bolus dose that is the danger.
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Absolutely.
A question I’ve often wondered about.
Cancer research, what is the incentive to cure cancer? You’re out of a job. CEOs, research scientists, charity managers etc. are all being paid hundreds of thousands per year in salaries, why would they want to give that up?
I hope that the actual researchers have a far better humanitarian outlook, I believe they are working hard to share information around the world to try and improve outcomes.
Although not a fan of the COVID jab, it has driven the mRNA method of drug delivery courtesy of most of the world taking part, for the use of targeted treatments for cancer where for many years it had failed according to what I had read. The established fact that the COVID jab components move through all parts of the body and organs means it could stop metastatic cancers we hope.
If we set aside that that’s drifting towards conspiracy theory territory, a generic “cure for cancer” is very unlikely because cancer isn’t one thing.
Anyway, if someone were to discover, say, a cancer “vaccine” then they would likely be made wealthy beyond imagination and similar applies to the discovery of a guaranteed cure for cancer. Then there’s simply the fact that many researchers, charity organisers are genuinely altruistic and do believe in helping humanity.
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That someone would not be made wealthy beyond imagination. Their employer would.
I do agree with the rest of your post
There’s plenty of other illnesses, syndromes etc. that need research and new things are appearing/ discovered all the time. I imagine research scientists would just switch focus.
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It pretty much is, uncontrolled growth of cells, however I understand your point that those cells are different depending on where the tumour is. I saw a talk on a new pancreatic cancer treatment which was so effective that it was allowed to fast track. They are now testing it for breast cancer but it might be another year or two yet.
@JohnH & @Nigel1
I would agree that the discovery of a “magic bullet cancer cure” would give the potential for someone, or some company (it’s shareholders) to make a fortune.
I would say that is not inevitable.
Alexander Fleming didn’t die a wealthy man. Tim Berners-Lee didn’t seek to make the www a money earner.
Some will see those as examples of people not seeing the potential of their ideas and work. I would suggest that they are many people who seek reward other than mere money. Nearly every medical Dr has chosen a path that is less financially rewarding, and harder than an alternative in merchant banking for example.
I think you are right: those involved would not just quit and go home because they had enough cash to retire. They do not work in such fields just to pay the bills.
Cancer is something that is almost impossible to be “cured”, it can be prevented to a certain extent and can often be treated successfully.
Having worked in cancer research for a significant part of my career I can assure you that outside of big pharma salaries are not in the hundreds of thousands .
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Possibly because they like just about everybody in europe/america has lost friends and family to cancer so a humanitarian motivation as well as the kudos.
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Exactly what I was going to say. While it is true that cancer is roughly all unregulated growth of cells, the causes (genetic, environmental) are diverse and the potential pathways are also diverse with some cancers at some point being self-regulating ( aka benign).
I don’t have your career behind me but I did move straight from a degree in molecular genetics to working as project supervisor for a dermatopathologist at a cancer agency, evaluating a predictive test for GVHD. Interesting times.
To those who feel a ‘cure’ would be suppressed: don’t underestimate both the profit motive and the desire of those doing the real work to do good. A cure would get out even if one firm or organization didn’t want to push it. But I can’t imagine that happening. Anyone have any actual documented cases of this suppression? Or just urban legends?
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Having been on the board of directors of a plant-based environmental organization for years, I can confirm. Not that they were all clear on the nutrition and science. Some swore by the ‘Eat Right for your Type’ diet, despite our resident biology researcher writing a clear article in the newsletter showing that the fundamental idea of blood types developing sequentially in our history is totally false.
Even the most common idea, that one has to eat all the different amino acids in one meal (putting rice and beans together), has been debunked by nutritionists 30+ years ago. As long as they are consumed relatively close time frame (days), you’ll be fine. Nearly no one in the ‘most developed countries’ has protein deficiency, certainly not for this reason.
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I believe the least informed would be the ultra processed food consumers,
What saddens me is the excessive processing of ingredients that are inherently healthy. Manufacturers tailor food to consumers, not the other way around. And that generates far too much packaging, too. Plus, it’s wrapped in plastic that leaches into the food. Etc. What a waste of farmland 
But getting back to the thread, long live pastel de nata—in moderation 
But less of the moderation.
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Indeed, but you still see that idea posted. It is difficult for someone starting out on an alternative diet to get accurate information, sorting out the myth from the fact. Made more difficult by people posting fad diets on social media. Because of my interest in nutrition I get bombarded with crap.
Actually, in that organization, often not the case at all. Some were fruitarians, raw food oats, etc. Their diet was super natural (unmodified as much as possible) but they wet often the kookiest, believing in all sorts of fringe ideas about energy auras and conspiracy theories. It really seemed to depend on whether people were grounded in the scientific process or just used ‘science facts’ to support whatever view they clung to, no matter what.