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A recent small study has shown that patients with advanced kidney cancer who ate a diet high in fibre lived longer when treated with certain cancer drugs called immunotherapies.
Over about a year and a half, patients who ate at least 15 grams of fibre a day had a much lower risk of their cancer getting worse or dying compared to those who ate less fibre. In fact, eating more fibre was linked to a 50% lower chance of dying during the study period. These results stayed the same even when researchers took into account other factors like the type of tumour, risk score, or treatment.
The researchers also found that dietary fibre might help by encouraging the growth of certain gut bacteria that produce a substance called butyrate, which is thought to help the immune system. By looking at stool samples from other kidney cancer patients, they saw that having more of the genes needed to make butyrate was linked to better responses to cancer treatment and longer periods without the cancer getting worse. This pattern was also seen in people with other types of cancer.
Overall, the study suggests that what we eat, especially foods high in fibre, may change the bacteria in our gut in a way that helps cancer treatments work better.
