In this week's nugget, Plant-Based Health Professionals' founder, Dr Shireen Kassam takes us through two recently published papers exploring what oncologists may and may not know about diet and cancer, the reasons for this, and what they tell their patients.

Kassam S, Kassam Z, Nemirovsky D, et al. Oncologists Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Providing Dietary Guidance to Patients With Cancer. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. 2026;0(0). doi:10.1177/15598276251414349

Patel A, Kassam S, Shah UA. Food for Thought: Addressing a Research Gap for Dietary Trials in Hematologic Malignancies. Blood Cancer Discov. 2025 Sep 3;6(5):406-411. doi: 10.1158/2643-3230.BCD-25-0141. PMID: 40778663; PMCID: PMC12405862.

This week on the podcast we speak with nutritionist, author, and retired ITU nurse, Karen Lee. Karen shares her journey of following a whole-food plant-based diet to help manage her symptoms of the autoimmune disease, multiple sclerosis. We cover the research showing how whole-food, plant-based dietary patterns may help reduce systemic inflammation, improve gut microbiome diversity, and improve symptoms relevant to many autoimmune diseases.

To find out more and connect with Karen:https://thesensitivefoodiekitchen.com/

To buy Karen's latest book:https://www.hammersmithbooks.co.uk/product/healing-from-the-inside-out/

Published case study discussed:https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/15598276221141403

PBHP Fact Sheet on MS:https://plantbasedhealthprofessionals.com/wp-content/uploads/MS-factsheet-210519.pdf

To find out more on OMS:https://overcomingms.org/

Clare's vegan omelette recipe:

300g silken tofu

140g firm tofu

3tbsp gram flour

2 tbsp tapioca flour

1/2 tsp turmeric

Good pinch of Kala namak (if available)

Ground pepper

Dash of plant milk if the mixture is a bit stiff

Oil of your choice for frying (optional)

Filling of your choice e.g vegan cheese, mushrooms, spring onions, kimchi!

Blend together the silken tofu, gram flour, tapioca flour, turmeric, Kala namak and pepper. Crumble in the firm tofu and give it a final mix. Heat a small amount of oil in a frying pan. Add the mixture and give the pan a wobble to level it out. Adjust the hob heat so that you can see a bit of steam coming from the pan but it shouldn't be bubbling too vigorously. It will take up to about 20 minutes for the omelette to fully set. When it is starting to look set you can add the filling to the top to start heating through, or melting if it's vegan cheese. Just before serving, fold over the omelette in the pan, then you can slide it onto a plate and decorate with fresh herbs or chopped spring onions.

In this week's nugget, we explore some of the knowns and unknowns when it comes to eating farmed animals who may carry bacteria known to cause disease in humans. The spotlight is on helicobacter pylori, campylobacter jejuni, and e.coli. You might think twice about what you store in the freezer or throw on a barbeque.

The Ingest podcast:

https://www.pcsg.org.uk/podcast/h-pylori/

Almagro-Martínez, C., Alenda-Botella, A. & Botella-Juan, L. Systematic review on the zoonotic potential of Helicobacter pylori. Discov Public Health 22, 432 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12982-025-00834-w

Quaglia NC, Dambrosio A. Helicobacter pylori: A foodborne pathogen? World J Gastroenterol. 2018 Aug 21;24(31):3472-3487. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v24.i31.3472. PMID: 30131654; PMCID: PMC6102504.Aziz M, Park DE, Quinlivan V, Dimopoulos EA, Wang Y, Sung EH, Roberts ALS, Nyaboe A, Davis MF, Casey JA, Caballero JD, Nachman KE, Takhar HS, Aanensen DM, Parkhill J, Tartof SY, Liu CM, Price LB, .2025.Zoonotic Escherichia coli and urinary tract infections in Southern California. mBio16:e01428-25.https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.01428-25

https://www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/news/report-into-the-sources-of-human-campylobacter-infection-published-0

Harmful impacts of microplastic pollution on poultry and biodegradation techniques using microorganisms for consumer health protection: A review

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579124010344?via%3Dihub