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Posted by Master, Doctor Mai Vien Phuong - Department of Examination & Internal Medicine - Vinmec Central Park International General Hospital.The ketogenic diet is a very low carb, high fat diet. The ketogenic diet can lower blood sugar. This can help reduce tumor growth and even starve cancer cells.
1. Learn about the Ketogenic Diet
Keto diet (Ketogenic) is a diet low in carbohydrates (carbs) and high in good fats. The Keto menu helps the body burn more energy without the need for strict diets. To learn more about this diet, refer to the article below.
MORE: How to follow the ketogenic diet
2. The role of blood sugar in cancer
When you eat a ketogenic diet, some standard metabolic processes are about to change and your blood sugar drops
Basically this is said to "starve" the cells for fuel cancer.
Like all living cells, the long-term effects of this "starvation" can be that the cancer cells grow more slowly, decrease in size, or may even die.
Ketogenic diet can lower blood sugar. This can help reduce tumor growth and even starve cancer cells.
Chế độ ăn ketogenic giúp lượng đường trong máu của bạn giảm xuống
3. Other Benefits of the Ketogenic Diet for Cancer Treatment
The ketogenic diet can aid in cancer treatment, it eliminates carbs, quickly reduces calorie intake, reduces the energy available to the cells in your body. In turn, this can slow tumor growth and cancer progression.
In addition, the ketogenic diet can provide other benefits:
Lowering insulin Insulin is an anabolic hormone. This means that when it does appear, it causes cells to grow, including cancerous ones. Therefore lower insulin may slow tumor growth.
Increased ketones Cancer cells cannot use ketones for fuel. Research shows that ketones can reduce the size and growth of tumors.
In addition to lowering blood sugar, the ketogenic diet may also help treat cancer through other mechanisms. These include reduced calorie intake, decreased insulin, and increased ketones.
4. Ketogenic diet and cancer treatment
Currently, limited research seems to indicate that the ketogenic diet may reduce tumor size and progression rate of some cancers.
Brain Cancer One of the few documented case studies was performed in a 65-year-old woman with brain cancer.
After the surgery, she was on a ketogenic diet. During this time, tumor progression slows down.
However, 10 weeks after returning to her normal diet, she saw a significant increase in tumor growth. Similar case reports examined responses to a ketogenic diet in two girls being treated for advanced brain cancer.
The researchers found that glucose uptake was reduced in the tumors of both patients.
One of the girls reported improved quality of life and remained on the diet for 12 months. During that time, her disease did not progress any further.
Quality of life A quality of life study investigated the effects of a ketogenic diet in 16 terminal cancer patients.
Some people dropped out of the study because they didn't like the diet or for personal reasons, and two patients died prematurely. Of the 16 people, 5 remained on the ketogenic diet throughout the 3 months of the study. They reported improved emotional well-being and reduced insomnia, without any of the negative side effects caused by the diet.
Although the ketogenic diet shows benefits on quality of life, the relatively low adherence rates suggest that it can be difficult to get people to continue with the diet.
Other cancers One study monitored tumor growth in response to a high-carb versus a ketogenic diet in 27 patients with gastrointestinal cancer.
Tumor growth was increased by 32.2% in patients on the high-carb diet but actually decreased by 24.3% in patients on the ketogenic diet. However, the difference was not statistically significant
In another study, three out of five patients following a ketogenic diet combined with radiotherapy or chemotherapy achieved complete remission. Interestingly, two other participants noticed disease progression after they stopped the ketogenic diet.
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5. Can the Ketogenic Diet Help Prevent Cancer?
There are also several mechanisms by which the ketogenic diet may help prevent cancer development in the first place. Essentially, it can reduce some of the major risk factors for cancer.
Ketogenic diet can reduce levels of IGF-1 Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) is a hormone important for cell growth. It also reduces programmed cell death.
This hormone may play a role in the development and progression of cancer.
The ketogenic diet is thought to lower IGF-1 levels, thereby reducing the direct effects of insulin on cell growth. This may reduce tumor growth and cancer risk in the long run.
Lowers blood sugar and diabetes risk Other evidence shows that people with high blood sugar and diabetes have a higher risk of developing cancer.
Research shows that the ketogenic diet can be very effective in reducing blood sugar and controlling diabetes.
Reduce obesity Obesity is also a risk factor for cancer.
Since the ketogenic diet is a powerful weight loss tool, it may also help reduce cancer risk by fighting obesity.
Ketogenic diet reduces IGF-1 levels, blood sugar, diabetes and obesity. These factors may lead to a reduced risk of developing cancer in the first place.
6. Conclusion
Ketogenic diet offers many health benefits. According to animal studies and some early human research, it may also help treat or prevent cancer. However, it's important to keep in mind that current research is still weak.
You should never avoid conventional cancer treatment but instead opt for an alternative treatment such as the ketogenic diet. It's still best to follow the advice of your doctor and oncologist. Mainstream medical treatments are very effective in treating many common types of cancer.
The ketogenic diet does not appear to produce significant side effects when combined with conventional cancer treatments. So there's probably nothing to lose by trying it out if you're interested. Just make sure to consult your doctor first.
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