Keto diet may help starve cancer tumors. Mice fed with keto diet had their tumors shrank and lived longer.
Ketogenic diet promotes tumor ferroptosis but induces relative corticosterone deficiency that accelerates cachexia
Go to source). Similarly, the diet may also help fight a variety of cancers by starving tumors of the //glucose they need to grow, said researchers in the study published in the journal Cell Metabolism.
Keto Diet: The Latest Weapon in Fight Against Cancer
In the study conducted in mice with pancreatic and colorectal cancer, keto was found to accumulate toxic lipid byproducts and kill cancer cells by a process called ferroptosis.
Health Benefits of Ketogenic Diet
Ketogenic diet is a diet where you load up on protein and fat and drop your carbohydrate intake. Here’s how you get started on a ketogenic diet.
Ketogenic diet is a diet where you load up on protein and fat and drop your carbohydrate intake. Here’s how you get started on a ketogenic diet.
‘Keto diet combined with corticosteroids inhibited cachexia (wasting syndrome) in mice with cancer. ’
While this slows tumour growth it also causes early-onset cachexia -- a lethal wasting disease called cachexia. Patients and mice with cachexia experience loss of appetite, extreme weight loss, fatigue, and immune suppression. The disease has no effective treatment and contributes to about 2 million deaths per year.
"Cachexia results from a wound that doesn't heal," said Professor Tobias Janowitz from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in New York, US.
Test Your Knowledge on Blood Cancer
Blood Cancer Overview
Blood cancer or hematological cancer is cancer affecting the normal production and function of the various blood cells. Take this quiz and learn about the various types of blood cancer.
Blood Cancer Overview
Blood cancer or hematological cancer is cancer affecting the normal production and function of the various blood cells. Take this quiz and learn about the various types of blood cancer.
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Foods that Fight Cancer
A plateful of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and legumes is the best diet to fight most types of cancer. Avoid meat and saturated fats.
A plateful of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and legumes is the best diet to fight most types of cancer. Avoid meat and saturated fats.
"Healthy mice also lose weight on keto, but their metabolism adapts and they plateau," Janowitz said.
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Keto Diets Dangerous for Pregnant Women and Kidney Patients
Keto diets are not only risky for kidney patients and pregnant women but also for others, too, as the diet increases LDL cholesterol levels and may also increase overall chronic disease risk.
Keto diets are not only risky for kidney patients and pregnant women but also for others, too, as the diet increases LDL cholesterol levels and may also increase overall chronic disease risk.
When researchers replaced the depleted hormone with a corticosteroid, keto still shrank tumors but didn't kickstart cachexia.
"Cancer is a whole-body disease. It reprogrammes normal biological processes to help it grow," said CSHL Postdoc Miriam Ferrer.
"Because of this reprogramming, mice can't use the nutrients from a keto diet, and waste away. But with the steroid, they did much better. They lived longer than with any other treatment we tried," she added.
The team is now working to fine-tune corticosteroid timing and dosage to widen the window for effective cancer therapies in combination with keto.
"We want to push back against cancer even harder, so it grows slower still," Janowitz said.
"If we can broaden this effect, make the treatment more efficient, we can ultimately benefit patients and improve cancer therapeutics."
Reference:
- Ketogenic diet promotes tumor ferroptosis but induces relative corticosterone deficiency that accelerates cachexia - (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1550413123001857?)
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