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cancer
Is there a special diet for cancer patients? Is it sugar free?Is natural sugar allowed, such as coconut or stevia? Does carbs turn into sugar in this case?
Is there a protocol that treats this disease?
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2 Replies
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Hey @Sara Almansoori,
There is no protocol to treat cancer. That doesn’t mean you can help cancer patients. For example, you can support them when they are on chemotherapy or radiation therapy. In both forms of therapy, the body deals with a lot of free radicals. The damage done by these therapies can be partly reduced by helping patients to get enough antioxidants.
You might have learned that cancer cells use more sugar as an energy source. Cancer cells burn sugar mostly anaerobic even when there is oxygen present. This is also called the Warburg effect. Anaerobic glycolysis (burning sugar without oxygen) takes place in the cytoplasm of a cell, while aerobic glycolysis (burning sugar with oxygen) happens in the mitochondria.
It is thought that the reason why cancer cells use anaerobic glycolysis is that the cell can produce faster energy (ATP to be exact) since cancer cells need a lot of energy.
Mitochondrial dysfunction might also be at play. The mitochondria for example play an important role in regulating cell death (see for example this article). If a cell lacks working mitochondria, programmed cell death could be impaired. Since all aerobic burning happens in mitochondria, anaerobic glycolysis might become the only way to produce energy.
Now to your question: does a low carb, low sugar diet help? The answer is: it depends.
One of the potential reasons for this is that not all cancers have the same adaptive metabolism, and certain cancers are affected differently by ketosis. Some cancers can shift to using ketones, while others cannot. For example, the ketogenic diet has been shown to be helpful (not as a cure, but to inhibit cell growth) in the following cancers:
Glioma cancers (cancers that start in the brain or spinal cord, such as glioblastoma – see for example this study)
Pancreatic cancer (See for example this study)
Natural sugar in these cases, still is sugar and can be used as an energy source for cancer cells.
Because not all cancers have the same adaptive metabolism and since cancer isn’t completely understood, it is hard to give some advice.
We do see uncontrolled cell growth as a disease of the body. Toxins and free radicals could for example cause damage to the mitochondria. Some cancers are influenced by imbalances in hormones (Examples are estrogen in breast cancer, and dihydrotestosterone in prostate cancer)
When people are insulin resistant they are also more at risk for developing cancer. Reversing insulin resistance can reduce free radical production and since insulin is an anabolic hormone (this means that it promotes growth factors in the body) it could influence cancer cell growth as well.
If you have for example measured fasting insulin and the lab result shows fasting insulin is elevated, a low-carb diet might reduce cell growth. In cancer survivors, reversing insulin resistance reduces the risk of developing cancer again.
Another tip I could give you:
Make sure vitamin D levels are in the optimal zone (50 ng/ml). Vitamin D can help reduce the metastasis of cancer cells.
Melatonin plays an important role in cancer as well (see this article). Besides using a melatonin supplement, focus first on good quality sleep. Melatonin is also produced in the mitochondria under the influence of near-infrared radiation. Exposure to sunlight during the daytime can therefore be helpful for mitochondrial melatonin production as well.
I hope this answers a few of your questions!
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@Daniel Schepers hi there, how do fruits play into this, as they are full of sugar? You mentioned any type of added sugar is bad, does that include honey and syrup?
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