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Keto for Cancer

The ketogenic diet (KD) is a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet that decreases blood glucose and elevates blood ketones and has been shown to slow cancer progression in animals and humans. The ketogenic diet forces a physiological shift in substrate utilization from glucose to fatty acids and ketone bodies for energy. When the body is deprived of dietary carbohydrates, the liver can make ketones either from fatty acids in the diet or from our body fat.  Ketones are then released into the bloodstream and taken up by cells in the brain and other organs to create energy.

But here is the kicker: healthy cells have the metabolic flexibility to switch from using glucose to using ketones for energy and we have been doing this for millions of years. The research shows that cancer cells may lack this metabolic flexibility. The elimination of glucose and being in a state of nutritional ketosis effectively cuts off cancer cells’ main fuel supply and puts them in a state of metabolic stress.

One of the potential benefits of the ketogenic diet for cancer therapy is the potential to enhance the effect of drugs, radiation, or other modalities. Studies showed that the combination of chemotherapeutic agents with a ketogenic diet at the same time, may provide more reliable outcomes and allow lower doses of anti-cancer chemo and radio-therapeutic modalities to reduce toxicity and side effects. The metabolic transition from glucose to ketone bodies reduces tumour angiogenesis (the growth of blood vessels around the tumour that can feed cancer) and inflammation while enhancing tumour cell apoptosis (the process of programmed cell death).

It has been shown that the presence or absence of sugar can make or break conventional cancer treatments. Most cancer types and their associated conventional treatments, see improved patient outcomes when glucose load is reduced, especially when ketones are present. Reducing the intake of sugar and high-glycaemic foods is the most important dietary step patients can take to prevent and manage their cancer. This is the ultimate key to exploiting the metabolic weakness of cancer. To be clear, this is not a cure for cancer, per se, but it is a powerful tool to have in your toolbox alongside the other approaches.