Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet and cancer risk

I've pointed to stuff like this in the past.  It seems that cancer cells in general have a metabolism that relies on sugar - it is anaerobic.  Starve them of sugar and you starve the cancer.

I spotted this report today:

Eating a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet may reduce the risk of cancer and slow the growth of tumors already present, according to a study published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

The study was conducted in mice, but the scientists involved agree that the strong biological findings are definitive enough that an effect in humans can be considered.

"This shows that something as simple as a change in diet can have an impact on cancer risk," said lead researcher Gerald Krystal, Ph.D., a distinguished scientist at the British Columbia Cancer Research Centre.

 Here is the proposed mechanism:

When asked to speculate on the biological mechanism, Krystal said that tumor cells, unlike normal cells, need significantly more glucose to grow and thrive. Restricting carbohydrate intake can significantly limit blood glucose and insulin, a hormone that has been shown in many independent studies to promote tumor growth in both humans and mice.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Re: "This shows that something as simple as a change in diet can have an impact on cancer risk"

Potential for understatement of the year?

FredT said...

Why high protein, as excess protein goes to glucose anyway. How about high fat, moderate protein, low carbs to no carbs.

Pete B said...

At some point, hopefully soon, people will understand this and ALL it's implications.

"Grass and Cancer"
"Hormones and Nitrites and Antibiotics, Oh My!!"