The science
Cancer as a metabolic disease
The scientific case for nutritional oncology begins not with supplements but with the biology of cancer metabolism.
Three metabolic axes
Why cancer-related malnutrition requires targeted intervention
Axis 1
Altered energy metabolism
The Warburg effect creates a futile metabolic cycle consuming glucose wastefully and increasing the host’s resting energy expenditure independent of dietary intake — why caloric supplementation alone is insufficient.
Axis 2
Cytokine-mediated catabolism
Tumour-derived cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IFN-γ) drive skeletal muscle protein breakdown via ubiquitin-proteasome and autophagy-lysosome pathways. This explains why cachexia is refractory to standard nutritional support.
Axis 3
Mitochondrial dysfunction
Cancer and its treatment impair mitochondrial function through oxidative damage, carnitine depletion, NAD+ depletion, and direct mitochondrial toxicity. Cancer-related fatigue is the clinical consequence.
Clinical significance: Malnutrition in cancer is a consequence of metabolic reprogramming that reduces nutrient utilisation efficiency and increases catabolism independent of intake. Nutritional intervention must be metabolically targeted — not just calorically sufficient — to produce meaningful clinical and quality of life outcomes.
How Nutrovene addresses each major treatment modality
Chemotherapy
Most nutritionally complex — affecting gut, muscle, nerves, immunity, energy simultaneously
Gut mucosal damage → probiotics, colostrum EGF, enzymes
B-vitamin depletion + MTHFR → active coenzyme forms
Magnesium wasting (platinum) → bisglycinate chelate
NAD+ depletion → niacinamide repletion
Cancer-related fatigue → ALCAR (ECOG RCT), MCT
CIPN → benfotiamine (B1), methylcobalamin
Radiotherapy
Localised oxidative damage — antioxidant protection without blunting therapeutic effect
ROS tissue damage → tocotrienols (no interference concern)
Mucositis (H&N) → probiotics, xylitol, guar gum
Gut damage (abdominal) → probiotics, colostrum, enzymes
Vitamin D insufficiency → D3 CWS across all contexts
CRF → ALCAR, niacinamide, magnesium malate
Surgery
Acute phase demands — tissue repair, gut restoration, post-op fatigue
Tissue healing → protein matrix + zinc + vitamin C
Gut mucosal repair → colostrum EGF, TGF-β
Fat malabsorption (upper GI) → D3 CWS + MCT
Post-operative fatigue → ALCAR (distinct from anaemia)
Immune recovery → beta-glucan, colostrum, D3
Hormone Therapy
Treatment-induced bone loss — often nutritionally underaddressed
Bone loss (CTIBL) → D3 CWS + K2 MK-7 (72h half-life)
Magnesium depletion → magnesium bisglycinate
Insulin resistance → myo-inositol, MCT
Fatigue + muscle weakness → ALCAR + protein matrix
Iodine/thyroid reserve → potassium iodide
Immunotherapy
Microbiome diversity predicts response — gut support directly relevant
Microbiome diversity → 10-strain probiotics + prebiotics
irAE colitis → probiotics, enzymes, colostrum
Thyroiditis risk → potassium iodide reserve
D3 immune regulation → primary across immunotherapy
CRF → ALCAR, niacinamide, magnesium
Survivorship
Recovery does not end at remission — quality of life support continues
Persistent gut dysbiosis → probiotics + prebiotics ongoing
Bone density recovery → D3 CWS + K2 MK-7 continues
Persistent CRF → ALCAR, niacinamide, magnesium
Sarcopenia recovery → protein matrix sustained
Immune surveillance → beta-glucan, colostrum, D3
Selected evidence
The evidence base that informs the formulation
Acetyl L-carnitine — ECOG phase III RCT
Cruciani et al., J Clin Oncol, 2012: statistically significant reduction in cancer-related fatigue in patients with advanced cancer. ALCAR crosses the blood-brain barrier — addressing CNS-mediated fatigue, not only peripheral muscle fatigue.
Probiotics and mucositis — multiple RCTs
RCT evidence for reduction in severity and duration of chemotherapy-induced mucositis. Mucositis affects up to 80% of patients receiving high-dose chemotherapy — a direct quality of life and nutritional intake issue.
Gut microbiome and immunotherapy response
Gopalakrishnan et al. and Routy et al. (Science, 2018): microbiome diversity at treatment initiation independently predicts response to PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Direct clinical rationale for nutritional microbiome support.
Tocotrienols and chemosensitisation
Preclinical and early clinical evidence: tocotrienols sensitise cancer cells to multiple chemotherapy agents through NF-κB and STAT3 inhibition — without the alpha-tocopherol concern about interfering with chemotherapy’s oxidative mechanism.
Nutrovene
Frequently Asked Questions
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Immune modulation and support
Anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor effects, potentially inhibiting cancer cell growth and boosting immune responses (Bovine Colustrum-Lactoferrin)
• Tumor Growth Inhibition: Bovine colostrum can induce reversible cell cycle arrest in cancer cells, slowing proliferation.
• Synergistic with cancer treatments and may enhance the effectiveness of conventional chemotherapy drugs (like 5-fluorouracil)
• Reduces treatment side effects and may help heal tissues and strengthen immunity, potentially alleviating mouth sores from chemotherapy.
Digestive Health
Digestive enzymes:
Primarily from the pancreas, are crucial for food breakdown, digestion, and absorption.
• Crucial role in cancer nutrition, to help break down foods, nutrient absorption, energy production and cellular repair.
• Crucial as part of chemotherapy
• Support overall health and well-being
Prevents incomplete digestion, malabsorption, weight loss, and digestive issues (bloating, cramping)
Gut microbiome
An adjunct therapy and modulation of gut microbiome.
Manage treatment side effects and potentially improve therapeutic efficacy.
Improves gut health, immunity, and digestion and plays a crucial role in immune function, inflammation, and metabolism.
Influence cancer through immune modulation, metabolic regulation, and inflammatory control
• Enhances treatment efficacy
• Modulates and improves the Gut Microbiome: Cancer therapies can disrupt the balance of the gut microbiota (dysbiosis). Synbiotics help restore a healthy microbial balance by encouraging the growth of beneficial bacteria and suppressing pathogens, which is crucial for immune function and metabolic regulation.
• Improve immune function
• Stimulate growth of beneficial gut bacteria
• Modulates Immune system
• Alleviating Treatment Side Effects: Synbiotics can significantly reduce the incidence and severity of common gastrointestinal side effects associated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, particularly diarrhoea, mucositis, nausea, and abdominal pain. This can improve patient tolerance and compliance with their cancer treatment regimens.
• Improving Surgical Outcomes: Synbiotic supplementation is associated with a lower incidence of overall postoperative infectious complications, wound infections, and a reduced length of hospital stay.
• Enhancing Immune Function: A healthy gut microbiome is essential for a robust immune system. Synbiotics may enhance immune surveillance by activating immune cells such as natural killer (NK) cells and dendritic cells, which helps the body identify and manage damaged or potentially cancerous cells.
Cancer malnutrition
Up to 50% of cancer patients experience weight loss at the time of diagnosis. Patients undergoing treatment for cancer are at an increased risk of becoming malnourished, either due to their condition or due to the side effects of treatment. Cancer malnutrition includes depletion of antioxidants, essential vitamins and minerals and protein stores (muscle mass). Weight loss management before and during treatment is crucial and radically worsen the outcome significantly.
Treatment with chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy and/or surgery affects the cancer cells, but it also affects other healthy cells in your body. Cancer therapy also affects your metabolism. Your body needs more nutrients than ever before due to extensive cell and immune damage, which your body needs to repair continuously.
Improved outcomes and Quality of life
• Adequate nutrition and maintaining your body weight during treatment could:
• Improve your tolerance of the treatment
• Improve the effectiveness of the treatment and the outcome
• Improved outcomes and Quality of life
• Adequate nutrition and maintaining your body weight during treatment could:
• Improve your tolerance of the treatment
• Improve the effectiveness of the treatment and the outcome
• Prevent or lessen complications of the treatment
• Minimize muscle wasting (less muscle weakens the entire body including organ function)
• Improve wound healing
Cancer Therapy Integration, improved efficacy and reduced side effects
Immune modulation and mitigate side effects (Beta-1,3/1,6 Glucan)
• Help mitigates side effects of chemo and radiation (nausea and fatigue)
• Immune system modulation, activation, enhancing body’s ability to identify and destroy tumour cells
• Part of an adjuvant therapy, enhances the effectiveness of conventional treatments including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and monoclonal antibody therapies
• Enhanced Immune response (Tocotrienols- plant-derived form of Vit E)
• Act as chemosensitizers, making cancer cells more responsive to chemotherapy, enhancing drug effectiveness
• Modulate signalling pathways
• Enhance immune response
• Target cancer stem cells to suppress self-renewal and growth
Metabolic dysfunction and Syndrome
Metabolic changes due to cancer treatments and cancer itself can include:
• A decreased uptake of glucose (energy) in the cells
• An increase in fat breakdown
• A decrease in protein production (building of muscle* tissue) and muscle degradation (breakdown of muscle tissue)
• ineffective digestion and absorption of food and nutrients
Preventative and Integrative
• Adequate nutritional status is essential to all anticancer treatment protocols
• All nutritional supplements by Nutrobio integrates with and complements most anti-cancer protocols including surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, hormone therapy, and targeted therapy. The products are formulated to support and enhance the cancer therapies.
• Nutrobio nutritional program complements anti-cancer treatments, increases chemotherapy tolerance, reduces toxicity, and enables the treatment regime resulting in reduced delays in threatment.
• Nutrobio Nutrovene as part of a nutrition program helps your body fight cancer through an innovative and integrative formula.
- Nutrovene nutritional supplement is recommended as maintenance after anticancer treatment is completed
- Nutrovene provides your body with the immune boost to fight cancer and enable the optimal response and outcomes to treatments
- Nutrovene targets malnutrition & cachexia resulting from cancer and its treatments (chemo, radiation) which can cause significant weight loss, muscle wasting (sarcopenia), and nutrient depletion, worsening outcomes.
About
Nutrovene
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Preventative and Integrative
Cancer Metabolism
Metabolic dysfunction and Syndrome
Immune modulation and support
Cancer Therapy Integration, improved efficacy and reduced side effects
Digestive Health and Gut Microbiome
Cancer malnutrition
Improved outcomes and Quality of life
Immune modulation and support
Anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor effects, potentially inhibiting cancer cell growth and boosting immune responses (Bovine Colustrum-Lactoferrin)
Tumor Growth Inhibition: Bovine colostrum can induce reversible cell cycle arrest in cancer cells, slowing proliferation.
Synergistic with cancer treatments and may enhance the effectiveness of conventional chemotherapy drugs (like 5-fluorouracil)
Reduces treatment side effects and may help heal tissues and strengthen immunity, potentially alleviating mouth sores from chemotherapy.
Digestive Health
Digestive enzymes:
Primarily from the pancreas, are crucial for food breakdown, digestion, and absorption.
Crucial role in cancer nutrition, to help break down foods, nutrient absorption, energy production and cellular repair.
Crucial as part of chemotherapy
Support overall health and well-being
Prevents incomplete digestion, malabsorption, weight loss, and digestive issues (bloating, cramping
Gut microbiome
An adjunct therapy and modulation of gut microbiome.
Manage treatment side effects and potentially improve therapeutic efficacy. Improves gut health, immunity, and digestion and plays a crucial role in immune function, inflammation, and metabolism. Influence cancer through immune modulation, metabolic regulation, and inflammatory control
Enhances treatment efficacy
Modulates and improves the Gut Microbiome: Cancer therapies can disrupt the balance of the gut microbiota (dysbiosis). Synbiotics help restore a healthy microbial balance by encouraging the growth of beneficial bacteria and suppressing pathogens, which is crucial for immune function and metabolic regulation.
Improve immune function
Stimulate growth of beneficial gut bacteria
Modulates Immune system
Alleviating Treatment Side Effects: Synbiotics can significantly reduce the incidence and severity of common gastrointestinal side effects associated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, particularly diarrhoea, mucositis, nausea, and abdominal pain. This can improve patient tolerance and compliance with their cancer treatment regimens.
Improving Surgical Outcomes: Synbiotic supplementation is associated with a lower incidence of overall postoperative infectious complications, wound infections, and a reduced length of hospital stay.
Enhancing Immune Function: A healthy gut microbiome is essential for a robust immune system. Synbiotics may enhance immune surveillance by activating immune cells such as natural killer (NK) cells and dendritic cells, which helps the body identify and manage damaged or potentially cancerous cells.
Gut microbiome
An adjunct therapy and modulation of gut microbiome.
Manage treatment side effects and potentially improve therapeutic efficacy. Improves gut health, immunity, and digestion and plays a crucial role in immune function, inflammation, and metabolism. Influence cancer through immune modulation, metabolic regulation, and inflammatory control
Enhances treatment efficacy
Modulates and improves the Gut Microbiome: Cancer therapies can disrupt the balance of the gut microbiota (dysbiosis). Synbiotics help restore a healthy microbial balance by encouraging the growth of beneficial bacteria and suppressing pathogens, which is crucial for immune function and metabolic regulation.
Improve immune function
Stimulate growth of beneficial gut bacteria
Modulates Immune system
Alleviating Treatment Side Effects: Synbiotics can significantly reduce the incidence and severity of common gastrointestinal side effects associated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, particularly diarrhoea, mucositis, nausea, and abdominal pain. This can improve patient tolerance and compliance with their cancer treatment regimens.
Improving Surgical Outcomes: Synbiotic supplementation is associated with a lower incidence of overall postoperative infectious complications, wound infections, and a reduced length of hospital stay.
Enhancing Immune Function: A healthy gut microbiome is essential for a robust immune system. Synbiotics may enhance immune surveillance by activating immune cells such as natural killer (NK) cells and dendritic cells, which helps the body identify and manage damaged or potentially cancerous cells.
Cancer malnutrition
Maintaining adequate nutrition while undergoing treatment for cancer is imperative because it can reduce treatment-related side effects, prevent delays in treatment, and help maintain quality of life. Up to 50% of cancer patients experience weight loss at the time of diagnosis. Patients undergoing treatment for cancer are at an increased risk of becoming malnourished, either due to their condition or due to the side effects of treatment. Cancer malnutrition includes depletion of antioxidants, essential vitamins and minerals and protein stores (muscle mass). Weight loss management before and during treatment is crucial and radically worsen the outcome significantly. Treatment with chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy and/or surgery affects the cancer cells, but it also affects other healthy cells in your body. Cancer therapy also affects your metabolism. Your body needs more nutrients than ever before due to extensive cell and immune damage, which your body needs to repair continuously.
Improved outcomes and Quality of life
Adequate nutrition and maintaining your body weight during treatment could:
Improve your tolerance of the treatment
Improve the effectiveness of the treatment and the outcome
Prevent or lessen complications of the treatment
Minimize muscle wasting (less muscle weakens the entire body including organ function
Improve wound healing
Cancer Therapy Integration, improved efficacy and reduced side effects
Immune modulation and mitigate side effects (Beta-1,3/1,6 Glucan)
Help mitigates side effects of chemo and radiation (nausea and fatigue)
Immune system modulation, activation, enhancing body’s ability to identify and destroy tumour cells
Part of an adjuvant therapy, enhances the effectiveness of conventional treatments including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and monoclonal antibody therapies
Enhanced Immune response (Tocotrienols- plant-derived form of Vit E)
Act as chemosensitizers, making cancer cells more responsive to chemotherapy, enhancing drug effectiveness
Modulate signalling pathways
Enhance immune response
Target cancer stem cells to suppress self-renewal and growth
Metabolic dysfunction and Syndrome
Metabolic changes due to cancer treatments and cancer itself can include:
A decreased uptake of glucose (energy) in the cells
An increase in fat breakdown
A decrease in protein production (building of muscle* tissue) and muscle degradation (breakdown of muscle tissue)
ineffective digestion and absorption of food and nutrients
Preventative and Integrative
Adequate nutritional status is essential to all anticancer treatment protocols