Ketogenic diet: a powerful cancer therapy

The goal of the ketogenic diet as anticancer therapy it is to feed healthy cells and weaken or starve diseased ones.

This is possible because the healthy cells they can get most of the energy they need from “ketones,” “ketone bodies,” or “ketone acids,” molecules that the liver makes from fat.

Instead, most of tumor cells they are not capable of doing so, since the preferred food of tumor cells is glucose, followed by proteins.

Ketogenic diet: what is it and what are its benefits

For produce ketones It is necessary to replace almost all the foods with carbohydrates (cereals, legumes and fruits) in the standard diet with fats.

The little glucose What some cells need (red blood cells, for example) is satisfied with the small amount provided by the allowed foods and by the glucose manufactured by the body itself.

If there is no rare metabolic or genetic abnormality, the ketogenic diet is healthy and it has no side effects (except for a feeling of low energy at first, which is over in a few days). Not only that: by following a ketogenic diet, many variables that may be altered improve. Thus, sugar, insulin and triglyceride levels drop, and good HDL cholesterol rises.

And, despite the bad reputation of fats, this type of diet does not usually gain weightbecause it is satiating.

cancer and inflammation

The ketogenic diet doesn’t just weaken cancer cells. ketones reduce inflammationinhibit pro-cancer hormonal factors and reinforce the benefits of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

According to biologists Ulrike Kammerer and Christina Schlatterer, the ketonic diet produces the benefits of fasting without its drawbacks, especially if associated with moderate and regular physical activity.

The ketogenic diet is used by integrative doctorsbut there are still not enough studies to make it part of the protocol treatment against cancer (it is for another disease: childhood epilepsy that does not respond to drugs).

Dr. Natalia Eres considers it effective, but not a panacea, since some tumors are capable of feeding on fats.

Also, it’s a difficult diet to follow at home without good advice, warns Eres. It’s easy to go overboard with carbs or protein, which prevents ketone production and ruins your diet.

To make sure it is done right it is necessary to perform ketone, glucose and cortisol tests.

The Ketogenic Pyramid

For the liver to produce ketones carbohydrates they are limited to 20-50 grams daily. On the ketogenic diet, most of the energy (more than 60%) comes from fats. consumption of proteins is moderate (20%).

In the base of the pyramid there are fats with 8-10 daily servings. Some examples are: 100 g avocados, 30 g tahini, 30 g olives, and 30 g coconut oil. vegetables with 5-7 servings a day. These can be 120 g of vegetables such as cabbage or lettuce. Another option is to take 60 g of sweeter vegetables: carrots, peppers… Then there are 3-4 servings of proteins. For example, 100 g of tofu or seitan, 30 g of nuts or seeds. And at the top we find the fruit with 2-3 daily servings. 30 g of apples or 50 g of strawberries or other berries.