Keto Diet and Cancer
By now, we have heard a lot about the Ketogenic diet and its effectiveness in achieving our weight loss goals, but the trending diet regime got much more in its kitty.
It’s been observed and studied by numerous medical experts that a ketogenic diet can be helpful in the treatment of diseases like Cancer.
If we look into the United States of America only, Cancer has come as the second leading cause of death in the country.
Numerous ground-based types of research have estimated the number to jump even higher in the coming times.
While it’s a given that the right combination can only treat a disease like cancer with chemotherapy, surgery and radiation, researchers could not find any role played by diets in the same context.
But now, it has been observed that a ketogenic diet can certainly help due to its low carb content. You must consult your doctor before bringing any dietary changes while undergoing cancer treatment.
What is a Ketogenic diet?
The ketogenic diet contains low carbs, moderate proteins and a high-fat content and is highly effective in weight loss. Some health experts have found it similar to the Atkins diet or other low-carb diets.
The diet process requires a person to minimize his/her carbs intake while increasing the protein and fat intake.
Eventually, the body starts burning fat content instead of carbs to fulfill the energy requirements, and this metabolic change is known as Ketosis. This further leads to an increase in the number of ketones in the blood.
Ketogenic diet and cancer treatment
We all are aware that a keto diet contains 60-75% of fat,15-30% of proteins, and 5-10% of carbs of the daily calorie intake.
However, when it comes to treating cancer, the fat content has to be increased up to 90% of the daily calories while limiting the proteins to around 6%.
This comes from a general notion that the cancer cells get multiplied while feeding on to the blood sugar or carbs present in the body.
Once you get onto a keto diet, the body’s metabolic process gets through a drastic change and the overall blood sugar levels in the body get low.
This would then starve the cancer cells of the carb they were required to feed themselves to grow. As a result, the cancer cells would start growing slowly and decrease in size.
It may also result in their death if the diet is being practiced for the long term.
This is where a keto diet is found highly effective as it lowers blood sugar levels and drastically limits the overall progression of the cancer cells in the human body.
Keto diet and cancer treatment
Other major benefits of a keto diet in cancer treatment
Apart from lowering blood sugar levels, a keto diet can help in several other ways to that cancer. While we understand that the limited carb intake would starve cancer or tumor cells in the body, there’s much more to the whole context.
Lowering insulin levels in the body
Insulin can be quoted as an anabolic hormone that facilitates cell growth ( even cancer cells) in the human body. Once the insulin levels get lowered by the keto diet, the overall growth of the cancer cells will get hampered.
Drastic increment in the number of ketones
Cancer cells largely rely on the carb content in the human body to feed their growth and thus, the increased number of ketones will eventually starve them to death. This would then slow down the growth of the tumor or cancer in the human body.
Effectiveness in Brain cancer
There have been few studies and observation which has taken place in the same regard in recent years. An Old lady suffering from Brain cancer tried a keto diet after the cancer treatment.
While she was on the keto diet, the tumor growth got hampered and triggered once she returned to a normal diet.
There was another study that came through with two little girls who were going through the advanced stages of brain cancer.
One of the girls was tried with a keto diet and doctors observed no significant growth in the tumor for the next 12 months.
Improvement in overall life quality
There was another study in the same regard where 5 patients with advanced stages of cancer were carried through the Keto diet.
They all experienced a better quality of life regarding emotions, feelings, and sleep. There weren’t any negative sides to the diet and its effectiveness on cancer patients was proven again.
Although it was hard to stick with for some of the patients for a long time, it derived some excellent results in their health.
The Big question: Can a Keto diet prevent cancer?
With prevention, we mean the symptoms of cancer in the human body and a keto diet can play a significant role in the whole process.
Reduced IGF-1 levels
Insulin-like growth factor 1 hormone (IGF-1) is quite significant for cell growth in the human body and also decreases cell death at the same time.
The same hormone plays a big role in the progression and growth of cancer in the human body.
While on a keto diet, the same IGF-1 levels get drastically reduced and eventually impact the overall growth of the tumor cells in the body.
Lowering blood sugars in the body
While we know that blood sugar acts as a food for the growth of cancer cells in the body, a keto diet is highly effective in the whole process.
Not only it prevents the emergence of high sugar levels to prevent cancer, but it also avoids the occurrence of diabetes in the process.
Obesity
Obesity is always quoted as one of the underlying reasons for cancer in humans and most of the time. A person on a high-calorie diet has majorly ignored it.
A Keto diet rightly comes to the rescue of the person while saving him/her from the eventual damage to their health.
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Damla Sengul, a seasoned Food Editor at Dietsmealplan.com, boasts a 5-year worth of expertise as a digital editor, with a specific focus on authentic recipe content. Her expertise extends to various crucial aspects of the cookery world, including in-depth research on renowned chefs worldwide and innovative recipe development. Additionally, Damla is an enthusiastic baker who dedicates part of her time crafting delightful celebration cakes for her friends.