What does science say about the clinical use of ketogenic diets for epilepsy and cancer?
Blood sugar, too acquaintance Like blood glucose, it is the universal fuel for cells throughout our body. Our brain burns a quarter-pound of sugar a day because “glucose is the preferred metabolic fuel.” We can break down protein and make glucose from scratch, but most of it comes from our diet in the form of sugars and starches. If we stop eating carbohydrates (or stop eating them altogether), most of our cells switch to burning fat. However, fat has difficulty crossing the blood-brain barrier and our brain. has a constant and massive need for fuel. That organ alone represents up to half of our energy needs. Without it, the lights go out…permanently.
TO do If we had that amount of sugar from scratch, our bodies would need to break down about half a pound of protein a day. That means we would cannibalize ourselves to death in two weeks, but people can fast for months. What is happening? The answer to the riddle was discovered in 1967. Harvard researchers inserted catheters into the brains of obese subjects who had fasted for more than a month and found that ketones had replaced glucose as the brain’s preferred fuel. Our liver can convert fat into ketones, which can then cross the blood-brain barrier and sustain our brain if we don’t consume enough carbohydrates. Switching fuel has such an effect on brain activity that it has been used to treat epilepsy since ancient times.
In fact, the prescription of fast for the treatment of epileptic seizures dates Let’s go back to Hippocrates. In the Bible, even Jesus seems to have agreed. To this day, it is not clear why transposed from blood sugar to ketones as the main fuel source has a dampening effect on brain hyperactivity. How long can you fast? To prolong fasting therapy, in 1921, a distinguished physician-scientist at the Mayo Clinic He suggested testing what he called “ketogenic diets,“High-fat diets are designed to be so carbohydrate-deficient that they could effectively mimic the fasting state. “Notable improvement” was noted the first time it was tested, effectiveness that was later seen confirmed in randomized controlled trials. Ketogenic diets began to fall They lost popularity in 1938 with the discovery of the anti-seizure drug that would become known as Dilantin, but are still being used. used today as a third or fourth line treatment for drug-refractory epilepsy in children.
Interestingly, the success of ketogenic diets against pediatric epilepsy seems to be confused with “ketogenic diet” proponents in suggestion A ketogenic diet is beneficial for everyone. You know what else sometimes? plays for intractable epilepsy? Brain surgery, but I don’t hear people clamoring to have their skulls opened. Since when do medical therapies translate into healthy lifestyle choices? Fight Brain activity with electroshock therapy can be helpful in some cases of major depression, so should we take out the electrodes? Ketogenic diets are also being tried to see if they can slow the growth of certain brain tumors. Even if they work, do you know what else can help slow cancer growth? Chemotherapy. So why go on a keto diet when you can just do chemo?
Promoters of ketogenic diets for cancer are paid by so-called ketone technology companies that offer to send you powdered salted caramel bone broth for a hundred dollars a pound or companies that market ketogenic meals and report “Extraordinary” anecdotal responses in some cancer patients. But the most concrete evidence is simply lacking, and even the theoretical foundations may be questionable. A common refrain is that “cancer feeds on sugar.” But all The cells feed on sugar. Defending ketogenic diets for cancer is like saying Hitler breathed air then we should boycott oxygen.
Cancer can feed also in ketones. Ketones have been found to boost human breast cancer growth and drive metastasis in an experimental model, more than doubling tumor growth. Some have even speculated This may be why breast cancer often metastasizes to the liver, the main site of ketone production. As you can see below and at minute 4:59 of my video. Is Keto an effective diet to fight cancer??, if you drip ketones directly into breast cancer cells in a Petri dish, the genes that are turned on and off generate a much more aggressive cancer, associated with significantly lower five-year survival in breast cancer patients, as can be seen in the following graph and at 5:05 in my video. Researchers are even considering design ketone-blocking medicines to prevent further cancer growth by stopping the production of ketones.
Let’s also think about what following a ketogenic diet could entail. High consumption of animal fat can increase Mortality risk among breast cancer survivors potentially plays a role in the development of breast cancer in the first place through oxidative stress, hormonal disruption, or inflammation. This apply to men too. “A strong partnership” has been found “between saturated fat intake and prostate cancer progression and survival.” Those in the top third of consuming these types of high-fat animal foods appeared to triple their risk of dying from prostate cancer. This is also not necessarily fat in general. northoh difference has been found in breast cancer mortality rates according to total fat intake. However crowded Fat intake specifically can negatively affect breast cancer survival, increasing the risk of dying from it by 50 percent. There’s a reason why the Official Breast Cancer Survivorship Care Guide from the American Cancer Society and the American Society of Clinical Oncology recommend a dietary pattern for breast cancer patients that is essentially the opposite of a ketogenic diet. It requires a diet “rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes.” [beans, split peas, chickpeas, and lentils]; low in saturated fat; and limited in alcohol consumption.”
“To date, not a single clinical study has shown a measurable benefit of a ketogenic diet on any human cancer.” There are currently at least a dozen trials on goingHowever, the hope is that at least some cancers will disappear. reply. Still, even then, that wouldn’t serve as a basis for recommending ketogenic diets for the general population, any more than I would recommend everyone get radiation, surgery, and chemotherapy just for fun.
“Keto” has been the most searched keyword on NutritionFacts.org for months and didn’t have much specific to offer… until now. Check out my other videos on the topic in related videos below.
For an overview of my cancer work, watch How not to die from cancer.
