Breast cancer sufferer used `curry spices` to combat disease

London -  A breast cancer sufferer, who turned down a powerful drug and used a special low fat diet including curry spices to combat the disease, is at the centre of a research project to study how lifestyle can be used to help other victims of the disease.

Vicky Sewart from Plymouth, Devon, said she was worried about the side-effects of the medicine offered to her and so opted to treat her condition with a health regime involving exercise and special foods.

She used a range of ‘superfoods’ including the spice Turmeric used in curries that she claims “makes cancer cells commit suicide”.

She said she used the spice in dishes including curries, stir-fry and a range of other food.

Now, four years on after she was first diagnosed with the cancer, Sewart has no sign of the cancer coming back.

“I believe absolutely enormously that my diet has assisted my recovery,” the Telegraph quoted Sewart as saying.

Sewart, who runs the Victoria Sewart Contemporary Jewellery Gallery on the Barbican, in Plymouth, revealed how she had an operation to remove a breast and lymph node in June 2008.

After she was diagnosed with a fast-growing tumour she underwent chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery.

But then she shocked doctors and her family when she refused to take Tamoxifen during remission, saying she would be using her diet as her anti-cancer ‘drug’.

She researched foods, which according to anecdotal evidence might have helped the recovery of breast cancer patients.

At first, she adhered to a very strict diet. She became a vegan for a while and cut out all dairy produce. She also added ‘super-foods’ to her diet and ate almost entirely organic.

“Fresh fruit, vegetables and juices are great, and frozen berries are fantastic as a superfood. Turmeric kind of makes cancer cells commit suicide and ginger and garlic are great to cook with,” Sewart said.

She prepares all her food from scratch, makes her own body lotions from natural ingredients and only uses chemical-free cleaners and detergents.

Apart from chancing her diet, Sewart started doing moderate exercise, which she believes was helpful in her recovery from cancer.

Now, she is the helping the national research study that is looking at how lifestyle can help prevent the recurrence of breast cancer after surgery. It is the largest of its kind in the world, involving 56 hospitals around the UK and 3,400 patients who have had the disease.

For the past four years, Sewart has provided blood and urine samples and filled in regular questionnaires about her well-being, diet and lifestyle as part of the national research.

Sewart is now getting ready to marry her fiance Michael in September.