Case Study: Ketogenic Diet and Tumors

I don't have time to write a detailed post but I still wanted to share....

Metabolic management of glioblastoma multiforme using standard therapy together with a restricted ketogenic diet: Case Report

Background
Management of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) has been difficult using standard therapy (radiation with temozolomide chemotherapy). The ketogenic diet is used commonly to treat refractory epilepsy in children and, when administered in restricted amounts, can also target energy metabolism in brain tumors. We report the case of a 65-year-old woman who presented with progressive memory loss, chronic headaches, nausea, and a right hemisphere multi-centric tumor seen with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Following incomplete surgical resection, the patient was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme expressing hypermethylation of the MGMT gene promoter.

Methods
Prior to initiation of the standard therapy, the patient conducted water-only therapeutic fasting and a restricted 4:1 (fat: carbohydrate + protein) ketogenic diet that delivered about 600 kcal/day. The patient also received the restricted ketogenic diet concomitantly during the standard treatment period. The diet was supplemented with vitamins and minerals. Steroid medication (dexamethasone) was removed during the course of the treatment. The patient was followed using MRI and positron emission tomography with fluoro-deoxy-glucose (FDG-PET).

Results
After two months treatment, the patient's body weight was reduced by about 20% and no discernable brain tumor tissue was detected using either FDG-PET or MRI imaging. Biomarker changes showed reduced levels of blood glucose and elevated levels of urinary ketones. MRI evidence of tumor recurrence was found 10 weeks after suspension of strict diet therapy.

Conclusion
This is the first report of confirmed GBM treated with standard therapy together with a restricted ketogenic diet. As rapid regression of GBM is rare in older patients following incomplete surgical resection and standard therapy alone, the response observed in this case could result in part from the action of the calorie restricted ketogenic diet. Further studies are needed to evaluate the efficacy of restricted ketogenic diets, administered alone or together with standard treatment, as a therapy for GBM and possibly other malignant brain tumors.

This is the second case study I've read in the past couple of months demonstrating the effectiveness of ketogenic diets on cancer treatment.

Ketogenic diets are essentially High-Fat/No-Carb. The most effective effective against tumors are ketogenic restricted diets, which are no-carb and calorie restricted. These types of diets have been used to treat epilepsy for years and are now, finally, being recognized for their efficacy in brain cancer treatment.

*It's worth noting that these types of results are not obesrved in such frequency with other cancers. It's believed that this diet works by keeping insulin and blood glucose low/stable, thereby starving the tumors in the brain. Other tumors, when restricted of glucose, can use glutamine.....which is found in abundancy in, say, the torso, no so much in the brain.

-Dev

After two months treatment, the patient's body weight was reduced by about 20% and no discernable brain tumor tissue was detected

There....just in case nobody's reading it cause it's too long or there's too much technical jargon.

Interesting, I am actually on the Keto diet currently just to drop a few pounds and I love it. I use to get heart burn and have anxiety but since I have been on the diet both have went away. I really enjoy the diet and think its great.

Really cool find. S + F !!

I have only a personal anecdotal story that's about a possible cancer I had on a testicle a couple years ago. I had recently switched to a vegetarian diet and was consuming a lot of fruit and fruit juices. I started getting swelling and pain down there, and it didn't go away for a long time. Decided to switch my diet, and I haven't a clue why, but went to an all turkey/chicken diet with a little bit of whole wheat bread for a solid year. I also stopped consuming alcohol, juices or any other form of sugar. Well, I had a bit of hypoglycemia through this period of time, but also the testicle went back to it's regular size and the pain stopped!

I don't have insurance, so never went to a doctor. It was also a very restricted diet I was on. Went from 165 to 132 in the course of the year. The last bit I'll add is that I also started taking various vitamins, minerals, and herbs, so it's really not a controlled personal account at all, but take it as you will. Whatever it was, I'm glad that the pain went away, and they're both doing fine now.

reply to post by unityemissions


Thanks for that!

I've honestly been reading of these types of case studies for a few years now, since about 2006. It's by no means uncommon. And it's certainly legit.

reply to post by anthbes


Pretty awesome, huh? Hope all is well. ANd good luck on the weight loss.

It also said the tumor grew back after 10 weeks of being off the diet.

reply to post by unityemissions


Gosh hope all is well in your recovery and it is refreshing to hear of proactive people who take ownership and control of their illness.
I am happy you found it as many people are not so attentive. best wishes..

will you try and get it checked out by a doc anyway..=]

[edit on 12-8-2010 by BANANAMONTANA]

reply to post by DevolutionEvolvd


Thanks for the thread and very interesting. The whole insulin and blood glucose angle has been neglected for years by Western Med. I have used a low carb diet for health for years and feel much more energetic and healthy. Great thanks

reply to post by Nofoolishness


....it's more than likely the patient was placed on the standard american diet immediately after the treatment, which would undoubtedly raise blood glucose and insulin which, according to The Warburg Effect, would incite tumor growth.

If you study health, you learn that really glucose has a negative impact on all body systems. I think it's sort of interesting. Glucose has no "health" benefit. But since it raises insulin, it has a lot of negative effects on the body. HGH decreases when insulin rises.

So I'm not surprised that low blood sugar would help tumors. The immune system works better when blood sugar is low as well.

[edit on 12-8-2010 by ghaleon12]

reply to post by ghaleon12


Sort of....

The brain still needs about 150g of glucose a day. That does not, however, have to be provided exogenously. In other words, dietary carbohydrates are not essential nutrients. The body is able to produce glucose (gluconeogenesis) endogenously.

Insulin's role in brain tumor growth isn't quite as clear as glucose. It's been hypothesized that it's through insulin's effects on Insulin-like Growth Factor (IgF), a growth hormone, or more specifically IgF receptors on cells.

Because Insulin and IgF are so structurally similar, it's believed that chronic over secretion of insulin causes IgF receptors to become resistant, which leads to more production of the growth hormone...which likely incites tumor growth.

nature life style is needed ,but not modern style.