grow without glucose and it is vulnerable to free radicals because is can’ t charge up glutathione. Now throw in some chemo and / or radiation, a little hyperbaric oxygen( another article), maybe even some metformin( not going there right now) and you are just demolishing the cancer cell, while the normal cell can shrug it off. It also turns out that ketones are antiangiogenic and anti-invasive( the latter possibly due to decreased IGF-1).
What about some data? Linda Nebeling tried the Ketogenic Diet( KD) on two little girls with terminal brain cancer( in 1995!) who are believed to still be alive. At the University of Wurzburg, five patients who were close to death lived through the three-month study KD study period. Dr. Valter Longo at USC tried a ketogenic / fasting diet on patients with breast, esophageal, prostate and lung cancer. The KD group had less subjective and objective side effects of chemo. Dr. Adrienne Scheck in Arizona is actively studying the synergistic effects of KD and radiation therapy. Many more clinical trials are ongoing.
Dr. Dominic“ Dom” D’ Agnostino( who can deadlift 500 pounds for 10 reps after a seven-day fast) is working with Dr. Seyfried to elucidate the best approach exploit these weaknesses in cancer cells. Their“ press-pulse” approach( evolutionary extinction term – cancer as ecosystem) uses fasting and the KD to“ press” the cancer cells, then“ pulse” them conventional chemo and radiation. Dom envisions cancer therapy as a rejuvenating, positive experience to kill weak cancer cells and make the rest of the body stronger.
Dom and many others propose widespread application of these anti-cancer practices. Theoretically we could all prevent the initial metabolic derangements by keeping our mitochondria happy: exercising intensely and entering nutritional ketosis from time to time. I am not suggesting 24 / 7 Atkins adherence, but the“ cyclic ketogenic diet” does make evolutionary sense. Every few days or weeks enter ketosis, kill off tiny populations of cancer cells, and then transition back.
REFERENCES
Branco AF1, Ferreira A1, Simões RF1, Magalhães-Novais S1, Zehowski C2, Cope E3, Silva AM1, Pereira D1, Sardão VA1, Cunha-Oliveira T1. Ketogenic diets: from cancer to mitochondrial diseases and beyond. Eur J Clin Invest. 2016 Mar; 46( 3): 285-98.
Christofferson, Travis. Tripping Over the Truth. Chelsea Green Publishing. 2017 http:// robbwolf. com / 2013 / 09 / 19 / origin-cancer /
http:// www. newyorker. com / magazine / 2016 / 05 / 02 / breakthroughs-in-epigenetics
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Klement RJ1. Calorie or carbohydrate restriction? The ketogenic diet as another option for supportive cancer treatment. Oncologist. 2013; 18( 9): 1056.
Lv M1, Zhu X2, Wang H3, Wang F3, Guan W3. Roles of caloric restriction, ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting during initiation, progression and metastasis of cancer in animal models: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2014 Dec 11; 9( 12): e115147.
Lee C1, Longo VD. Fasting vs dietary restriction in cellular protection and cancer treatment: from model organisms to patients. Oncogene. 2011 Jul 28; 30( 30): 3305-16.
Schmidt M1, Pfetzer N, Schwab M, Strauss I, Kämmerer U. Effects of a ketogenic diet on the quality of life in 16 patients with advanced cancer: A pilot trial. Nutr Metab( Lond). 2011 Jul 27; 8( 1): 54.
Simone BA1, Champ CE, Rosenberg AL, Berger AC, Monti DA, Dicker AP, Simone NL. Selectively starving cancer cells through dietary manipulation: methods and clinical implications. Future Oncol. 2013 Jul; 9( 7): 959-76.
Cosmologist Paul Davies has been enlisted by the National Cancer Institute to figure out why we haven’ t found a“ cure.” Davies doubts the Somatic Mutation Theory from a mathematical perspective: how probable is it that cancer is reinvented over and over in different people and even in the same person( remember the intratumoral heterogeneity)? Maybe the nuclear DNA mutations are the second step of malignancy. Maybe it all starts with epigenetics: deranged metabolism, excessive insulin and sick mitochondria. Maybe cancer is one big forest instead of hundreds of trees.
Martin Huecker, MD, is a full time faculty member at the University of Louisville who practices Emergency Medicine with the University of Louisville Physicians group.
MARCH 2017 19