Recovering China cancer woman almost dies of weight loss after trying to ‘starve’ her tumours
- Mother has successful cancer surgery, daughter visits, shocked at weight loss
- Believes myth that eating well nourishes cancer, doctors tell her to ‘believe in science’
The story of a woman in China who was recovering from cancer and tried to “starve” her tumours to death so that the disease would not recur has shocked mainland social media.
The woman, surnamed Xu, lost 22kg in six months and saw her weight slump to just 43kg with a body mass index (BMI) of just 16.3.
She was sent to hospital in eastern China’s Zhejiang province by her daughter who was shocked to find her mother looking so thin. She had not seen her for some time because she worked in another city.
Xu told doctors she had successful surgery for stomach cancer six months ago.
Then, in a strange bid to sustain her health and prevent the cancer from recurring, she began starving herself.
She believed that eating too well would nourish the cancer cells and help the tumours grow.