Outperform Cancer

04/20/2026

01/21/2026

You may want to check out my interview on the Radical Remission Podcast. We talk about several anti-cancer strategies and I share my personal story from Stage 0 to Stage 4 and the things I do to help myself remain cancer-free.

Marybeth was diagnosed with stage 0 ER+, HER2+ breast cancer in 2007 at age 39, and 13 years later learned her cancer had metastasized to her bones and lymph system. At her therapist’s suggestion, she read Radical Remission, which gave her hope, shifted her mindset, and showed her that healing bey...

12/06/2025

I was fortunate enough to attend the DART Cancer Symposium with MD Anderson Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, and Siteman Cancer Center. Here is the blog post about my experience:
https://www.mbcalliance.org/guestblogposts/from-data-to-discovery-insights-from-the-first-mbc-dart-symposium/

This guest post is one of a series of reports back from patient advocates who attended cancer conferences in 2025 with the help of a travel scholarship from the MBC […]

11/24/2025

If you're a patient, please consider taking this survey to help the Patient-Centered Dosing initiative:

The most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account today.

11/19/2025

🚨 Cancer patients on immunotherapy need to hear this—and the rest of us need to share this critical information.

New research from Dr. Abby Overacre at UPMC shows that sucralose—the sweetener in Splenda and many foods including energy drinks, protein bars, cereals, breads, diet soda, and more —can block the effectiveness of immunotherapy by eliminating an essential amino acid called arginine.

Even small amounts (just 3 packets a day) were linked to faster tumor growth and poorer treatment response. "Patients deserve to know this.” — Abby Overacre-Delgoffe PhD

In my newest episode of the Outperform Cancer podcast, Dr. Overacre breaks down exactly how sucralose affects the immune system, which sweeteners are safer, and what patients can do right now to protect their treatment outcomes.
Clinicians, researchers, and patients will find this highly relevant.

🎧 Full interview:
SPOTIFY:https://open.spotify.com/episode/5bvjwdenvpaEe9STITf9XT?si=payaX3uuRqid2pRcXKLr8w
APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../dr-abby.../id1710291164...
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqfkEd57kmo&t=1s

Visit www.outperformcancer.com for more information and other anti-cancer strategies.

10/13/2025

💚💗💙 TONIGHT: Join Us for Live! 💚💗💙

Tonight, our community shines together for Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) Awareness Day. Over 270 landmarks around the world will light up in teal, green, and pink — the MBC awareness
colors that represent hope, healing, and spirituality — as part of the campaign to raise awareness and funds for Stage 4 breast cancer research benefiting METAvivor Research and Support Inc.

Tune-in and help drive sponsorships which fund important research for metastatic breast cancer.

📅 When: Tonight, October 13 | 8:00 PM ET
📺 Where to Watch:
👉 METAvivor YouTube Channel
👉 METAvivor Facebook Live for an interactive experience

And visit my site at www.outperformcancer.com to sign up for our newsletter and discover important anti-cancer strategies.

09/23/2025

Even low alcohol consumption can fuel breast cancer, according to an article published in Am. Association of Cancer Research, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
📊 A recent study found breast cancer had the largest increase in alcohol-related cancer rates among women: from 6.6 → 8.1 cases per 100,000.

Out of 297,790 new U.S. breast cancer cases, an estimated 18,463 are caused by alcohol.

Shockingly, nearly 5,000 of those cases come from women who drink at low levels.

👉 There is no truly “safe” level of alcohol when it comes to breast cancer risk.

💡 Knowledge is power. The more we understand the risks, the more informed our choices can be.

Read the research: https://doi.org/10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-25-0243

Visit www.outperformcancer.com to learn more anti-cancer strategies.

09/15/2025

Flu Infections Can Wake Up Dormant Cancer Cells - Protect Yourself

A new Nature study has uncovered something important: respiratory infections like influenza and COVID-19 can reawaken dormant cancer cells in the lungs, raising the risk of relapse after remission. Here’s how it works: infection triggers inflammation, especially the cytokine IL-6, which creates a “wake-up call” for sleeping cancer cells to start dividing again.

So where do vaccines fit in?
✅ Vaccines prevent infection (the trigger for relapse).
✅ Vaccines reduce severity if you do get sick, meaning less inflammation.
✅ Vaccines don’t generate the same prolonged inflammatory storm that infections do.

The bottom line: flu and COVID vaccines aren’t just about preventing severe illness — they may also help lower the risk of dormant cancer cells being reactivated.

💡 For cancer patients and survivors, avoiding infections is a powerful way to protect health on multiple fronts.

Read the research: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09332-0

Visit www.outperformcancer.com for more anti-cancer strategies.

09/10/2025

🧪 New research from the University of Pittsburgh:
Sucralose, the artificial sweetener in many diet sodas, may reduce the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy.

In mice, scientists were able to restore treatment benefits with arginine supplementation. Now they’re seeking funding to launch a clinical trial — essentially to test whether adding supplements can counteract the negative effects of drinking diet soda during cancer treatment.

💡 Which raises an important dilemma:
Should cancer research dollars go toward making diet soda “safe” for patients on immunotherapy?
Or should they go toward improving immunotherapy itself — with the expectation that patients simply avoid diet soda while on treatment?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.
If you were deciding how research dollars get spent, what would you prioritize — and why?

Visit www.outperformcancer.com to learn how to strengthen your gut microbiome to help cancer treatment response and look for the Outperform Cancer podcast on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.

Sucralose, the sugar substitute in many diet products, may weaken cancer immunotherapy by altering gut bacteria and reducing arginine levels needed for immune cells. But supplementation with arginine or citrulline could counteract this effect, pointing to new clinical trial possibilities.

08/01/2025

🧬 Can a cold or COVID infection “wake up” sleeping cancer cells?

A new Nature article reports an important discovery: in mouse studies, common respiratory infections like COVID‑19 or the flu reactivated dormant breast cancer cells in the lungs, causing them to start growing again.

The culprit isn’t the virus itself—it’s the inflammation triggered by the infection, especially a molecule called interleukin‑6 (IL‑6). Even more surprising? Some immune cells that normally protect us actually shielded these reawakened cancer cells instead of destroying them.

This isn’t just theory. Human data (including the UK Biobank) showed nearly a two‑fold increase in cancer‑related deaths in the months after COVID infection, mirroring what scientists saw in mice.

Why this matters:
If you’re living with or beyond cancer, this is a reminder that infections—even “routine” ones—can create the perfect environment for dormant cancer cells to grow.

What can you do?
While we can’t avoid every virus, we can make our bodies more resilient:

Stay up to date on vaccines (flu, COVID, etc.)

Exercise regularly (shown to lower inflammation and cut recurrence risk by up to 50%)

Eat an anti‑inflammatory diet (think whole foods, plenty of plants, healthy fats)

Get good sleep and manage stress (meditation can help lower inflammation)

Wash your hands often—it’s simple but highly effective at reducing infection risk

We can’t control everything, but these habits can help strengthen our defenses and make it harder for cancer to come back.

Read the full article here: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02420-1

Inflammation from the respiratory infections seems to be the culprit, study in mice finds.