Elsie Campbell Claims Lettuce Craving Led Her To Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Six years ago, U.K. resident Elsie Campbell started craving lettuce intensely -- eating up to four heads of lettuce a day. Her husband Jim, a research scientist, sensed that something was wrong.

After doing some research, her husband told her about his hunch that her body was craving nutrients in lettuce that are deficient in people with breast cancer. Lettuce, like other leafy greens, contains sulforaphane, an anti-cancer chemical.

Soon after her husband's revelation, Elsie found a dimple on her breast and went to her doctor -- to receive a diagnosis of breast cancer, the Daily Mail reported.

"It’s only now that I realise my body was making me eat lettuce to combat the cancer," Elsie, now 59, told the Daily Mail. "It was like my body was trying to cure itself."

Elsie underwent a lumpectomy after her cancer diagnosis in 2005, and since then, hasn't had any lettuce cravings, according to the Daily Mail.

But is this for real? Can your appetite really be a clue to what ails you?

In short, probably not, experts told ABC News.

"I have never heard of cravings as a signal for cancer and cannot think of a reason that they would be, outside of old-fashioned things like iron deficiency from chronic blood loss, most often seen with colorectal cancer," Dr. Lisa Carey, medical director at the University of North Carolina Breast Center, told ABC News.

Sometimes people who have an iron deficiency crave ice cubes or non-food items (signs of a condition called pica), and other times cravings can signal mental illness or malnourishment, ABC News reported. They can also be associated with pregnancy.

However, extreme cravings that are out-of-the-ordinary should be discussed with a medical professional, Dr. David Katz, Yale Prevention Center founder and HuffPost contributor, told ABC News.

According to WebMD, carb cravings are also amped for many people during the winter time, and are especially increased for people with the "winter blues."

Judith Wurtman, author of The Serotonin PowerDiet and a former scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told WebMD that these "carbohydrate cravers" unconsciously look to carbs to boost their mood, and can eat 800 more calories a day than people without winter depression.

Comments

[Parkite]

10:32 AM on 08/08/2011

Our bodies do crave foods/nutrients that our bodies require. Most people don't pay attention to our bodies. It has long been my belief that one, just one of the many, of the reasons for our obesity epidemic is that our food has lost so much of its nutrient context that we eat more in an unconscious effort to get the nutrients are bodies need to function properly.

[SimonBao]

08:16 AM on 08/05/2011

Rather than being "scientific evidence," this is simply unconfirmed anecdote.

An unconfirmed anecdote with an "N" of one.

[investthyself]

12:13 PM on 08/04/2011

I've read reports that say that since our meat supply is contaminated with growth hormones and such, they've had a direct link to actually giving us cancer. Chicken feed is laced with arsenic to fatten them up faster, too. But who wants growth hormones & arsenic in their meat?! So, you might consider going vegetarian/vegan, or eat small farm-raised meat. I know it costs more than the normal cuts out there, but I figure, you pay for it now, or you will pay for it later. Prevention is key!

[Parkite]

10:38 AM on 08/08/2011

Good points on both the meat comments and Vit. D3. I only buy locally raised/pastured meet, chicken, & eggs. I also take 2,000 - 4,000 units of Vit. D3 everyday. Yes the locally raised meat, etc. costs so I have cut down on the quantity, but upped the quality. As they say, "Garbage in, gargbage out."

[investthyself]

11:47 AM on 08/08/2011

Good for you for being responsible for your good own health, Parkite. Wish we all were! Then cancer would not have the hold on us that it now does!

[investthyself]

12:08 PM on 08/04/2011

It's been well documented that a lack of Vit. D from good ole sunshine 20 minutes a day on bare UN-sunscreened skin can both prevent AND heal breast cancer. This form of cancer, along with skin melanomas, have been on the rise since we've started pushing sun screen. Now don't get me wrong, too much of anything can hurt you, so, put the sunscreen on if you stay out longer than that. And make sure it doesn't contain so many chemicals in it that you get skin cancer anyway, you know?! Natural is always best, but one with zinc in it should do!

[ie]

01:02 AM on 08/05/2011

Confused--a lack of Vitamin D prevents cancer? Should we avoid vitamin D?

[investthyself]

11:57 AM on 08/05/2011

Ooops, sorry, lol...my thought changed mid-stream there.YES, we should be getting Vit. D, not avoiding it. Look up what Mike Adams, the "Health Ranger" says about all that. We can prevent cancers if we know what to do. Question is, why don't we?!

[crom14]

11:42 AM on 08/04/2011

I crave extra hot spice, Thai, Habeneros, curry or ANY hot spice..... I hope I'm ok!!!!!

[Indy609]

07:37 AM on 08/04/2011

Hope this doesn't explain why I've had a strange craving for nuts.

[Parkite]

10:06 AM on 08/08/2011

Omega 3s, maybe?

[lovelybunchofcoconuts]

04:20 AM on 08/04/2011

Hasn't it been established for years that pregnant woman crave things their bodies need? Why should the rest of us be any different? I think those experts are just worried that people will start listening to their bodies instead of ...the experts.

[burtongrl]

11:48 PM on 08/03/2011

I have a chocolate craving, does that mean I am a diabetic?

[libluv235]

12:54 AM on 08/04/2011

you missed the point completely. if you were craving chocolate because of it's antioxidant components because you had an illness then your analogy would make sense.

[landskroon]

03:30 AM on 08/04/2011

you wrote a dumb comment, does it mean you are dumb

[clearthinker2008]

09:31 AM on 08/04/2011

Good one. lol

[Iagree]

10:37 AM on 08/04/2011

really good!

[plaidsportcoat]

11:12 PM on 08/03/2011

I can't believe the people who think they are so smart that they dismiss this kind of thing out of hand. Every person is different, haven't they learned that yet? And also, all those years of "scientific method" studies have been undone recently as they discover that the received wisdom of double blind studies is failing as a predictor. Look up the New Yorker article about the "scientific method" from 2011 if you wish to read all about it.

[mistlesuede]

10:32 PM on 08/03/2011

I don't doubt this couple's story at all. I believe the human body is capable of trying to heal itself naturally. She may have had an uber sensitive system that made it more noticeable than some people, but it is lucky she did.
It's like how some women never have a lick of morning sickness or cravings while pregnant. Others of us are nauseous for three months, like I was, or longer. The final month of my pregnancy I was hospitalized and I craved fruit salads every day. I was not a fruit eater for the most part before that. There had to be a reason for that.
I know you can't equate pregnancy to cancer, but it is all stress on the body.

[memchee]

11:21 PM on 08/03/2011

I don't doubt her story either.

[demisfine]

09:33 PM on 08/03/2011

I craved peaches (8 or 9 daily) during one pregnancy, orange essence prunes during another, and oreos for the last.
My body needed them, no reasoning involved.

[toxicbrainpoison]

09:04 PM on 08/03/2011

ABC managed to find the stupidest experts ever. Your body does crave what it needs nutritionally. Haven't they ever heard of the kids who eat dirt because of a mineral deficiency? There are too many examples of this happening and I am glad to see that even in the case of cancer, your body can muster up a response. Our bodies can help heal us if we only listen to it.

[plaidsportcoat]

11:12 PM on 08/03/2011

really. the experts are too dumb to be embarrassed by themselves.

[lovelybunchofcoconuts]

04:30 AM on 08/04/2011

They don't want you thinking your body might be the best expert on your body.

[yolosetodo]

08:45 PM on 08/03/2011

I always crave pizza and dark chocolate, I crave a nice glass of Pinot Noir as well

[toxicbrainpoison]

09:04 PM on 08/03/2011

craving salt and fat might not be the same thing but dark chocolate is really good for you.

[demisfine]

09:31 PM on 08/03/2011

and I bet it makes you happier and more pleasant to be around.

[Cathy Tucker]

07:59 PM on 08/03/2011

Yes, cravings can be a sign of of what ails you. I'm anemic and I definitely eat ice and crave ice all day and night. I can't get it out of my head. I new I had low iron and decided to see a hematologist/oncologist because my primary care doctors weren't helping. He new exactly what to do, so now, I have iron transfusions and when it's severe, blood transfusions until I decide on the proper procedure I want to undertake to take care of the situation. After treatment, I don't even think about ice. It's totally weird, but now that I've found a doctor who actually understands my symptoms, I can take better care of myself. Unfortunately, most doctor's didn't have a clue, they just told me to take iron pills, which wasn't working.

[mazaza]

08:30 PM on 08/03/2011

I am curious: I have had low iron. How come the usual supplements were not effective in your case?

[Im2Left4U]

09:55 PM on 08/03/2011

Because when you have pica, your iron level is so low the supplements don't work. I had heavy and continual bleeding as I reached menopause. I had shortness of breath so bad i could barely walk and went through several bags of ice each week. I was sent to a cardiologist who insisted I needed an angioplasty. I showed him my research pointing to low iron. He scoffed and said I would have an iron level too low to function to have those symptoms. A few weeks later as I was being wheeled in for my angioplasty, the cardiologist came running over to me to tell me that my iron count was so low he didn't know how I was able to go to work each day. I reminded him of my research and he laughed sheepishly. I had the angioplasty anyway to rule out heart trouble and everything was fine. A D&C to end the heavy periods and several weeks of IV iron therapy cured my iron deficiency and the pica.

Listen to your body and sometimes you ARE smarter than the doctor.

[SeeTheFnords]

10:02 PM on 08/04/2011

After battling "pernicious anemia" (aka nobody knew why it was happening) for years, I finally got my doctor to send me to a specialist. They did some tests and discovered that I am incapable of absorbing oral iron supplements. This explained why I felt ill after taking them, as well as if I ate iron-rich foods like liver. Now I'm stuck with occasional IV iron infusions to keep my energy up.

[Bare Bones]

07:42 PM on 08/03/2011

I've craved things like orange juice, milk, lemons, and dark green vegies many many times in my life and I believe it *is* the body trying to replenish certain nutrients it happens to be short of. It's definately worthy of more research.