Fighting Cancer with Fats

Researcher Adrienne C. Scheck, PhD, and her team at the Barrow Neuro-Oncology Research Laboratory in Phoenix Arizona, have uncovered some interesting qualities of the ketogenic diet.

  In an article titled, “Fighting Cancer with Fats,” Scheck explains how the production of reactive oxygen species (free radicals) is reduced in tumor tissue when ketone bodies are present, altering the metabolism of the tumor, potentially enhancing the effectiveness of other treatments.

Dr. Scheck explains her team’s findings.

“Reactive oxygen species are created during normal cellular metabolism and are important in the control of many aspects of cell growth—too many or too few are bad for the cell,” says Dr. Scheck. “The metabolism of tumors is higher than that of normal tissue—a feature that may allow them to adapt to increases in reactive oxygen species and contribute to their resistance against chemotherapy.

The results of Dr. Scheck’s latest study also suggest that the diet affects gene expression in tumor cells. “We are seeing that the genetic profile of the tumor cells exposed to ketone bodies is shoved more toward the gene expression of normal cells,” says Dr. Scheck. How the above mechanisms work together to slow cancer growth is not yet clearly defined, but the results of their combined action are reason to take notice. Dr. Scheck’s team reports that a ketogenic diet, combined with traditional therapies such as radiation and chemotherapy, has the potential to slow the growth of living cancer cells and significantly increase survival time.

Go to the original article here.