Can Keto Help Fight Cancer?
By: Krista Brown
Tags: Health, Keto, Diet, Wellness, Nutrition

Can Keto Help Fight Cancer?

Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash

While most of us know of Keto as a “quick weight loss” promise (that scientific studies show could be harmful long-term), it actually started out in the 1920’s as a way to help children struggling with epilepsy manage their seizures. There is new research emerging that it may help fight cancer, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's.

Ketogenic diets encourage participants to focus on eating very few carbs. While an average American diet is composed of roughly 50% carbohydrates, Keto participants aim to eat closer to 5% carbs.

With this small of an amount of carbohydrates, the body goes into a state called “Ketosis.” In Ketosis, your liver produces ketones that break fat molecules into energy your body can use.

The body prefers running off of carbohydrates, so by restricting carbohydrate intake, the body is forced to fuel itself with ketones from broken down fat molecules.

History of keto and children suffering from epilepsy

Interestingly enough, although they have become popularized for weight loss in the past fifty years or so (starting with Dr. Atkins in the 1970s), low-carb diets are not new.

Ketogenic diets date back to the 1920’s, when they were found to benefit children dealing with epileptic seizures whose bodies were not responding to medication.

Medically speaking, this is still the primary group that research has been able to prove benefit from a ketogenic diet.

Studies have shown that in children whose seizures were not able to be cured through medication, over half see a reduced number of seizures while on a keto diet, and 10–15% become seizure free.

There are even baby formulas that have been developed to help manage epilepsy for little ones!

How keto may benefit those with type 2 Diabetes

There is also research being done on the benefits of keto for those with type 2 Diabetes. While further research and testing still needs to take place before making conclusive observations, so far, scientists see promise of this being a helpful tool.

Scientists have already found that those suffering from Type 2 Diabetes are benefited by exercise and the monitoring of diet. More research needs to be conducted before we know if Keto helps more than other diets, of if the overall monitoring of diet is what benefits these patients.

There may never be a single “conclusive” diet or plan that helps all of the millions of patients diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes, rather a range of options that benefit individuals differently.

One woman, Lele, does speak of the freedom she gained through a keto diet. While previously she was taking 4 insulin shots a day, through keto, she was able to reduce that gradually until she no longer needed to take insulin.

“I’m no longer on insulin, and I have cut down my medications due to keto. I no longer have to deal with trying to find a spot to inject or having to deal with bruises on my belly”

You can read Lele’s full story here.

Can keto help fight cancer? Alzheimers? Parkinsons?

There are studies indicating that keto may benefit all of these illnesses, though none of them are yet conclusive.

Sugar is a fuel source that cancer “feeds” on. Scientists are hopeful that by cutting down glucose (aka sugar) intake dramatically, it may slow down the metastasizing of malignant cancer. While in theory researchers hope cancer cells will not be able to adjust to using ketones in place of sugar as easily, this has not yet been proven.

When a person begins to develop alzheimers, essentially parts of the brain stop responding to sugar as a fuel source. The research in this field centers around learning if the brain would be able to continue using ketones even after it looses the ability to utilize sugar.

In a small study involving only seven patients with Parkinson’s disease, there was a mean 43% decrease in symptoms following a 28 day period on a keto diet. While these results seem very promising, the study involved so few patients, further research would need to take place before this outcome was accepted as conclusive.

Although the research on how a ketogenic diet could benefit cancer, Alzheimers, and Parkinsons patients is still inconclusive, there are preliminary signs that seem hopeful. I guess we just have to wait for a few more clinical trials before we know for sure.

Maybe I judged keto too quickly

In all honesty, I sat down intending to write a piece about how bad keto is. And I will still shout from the rooftops that limiting natural fruits and vegetables for an extended amount of time is not ideal for “most” bodies.

However, researching this topic has made me take a step back in humility. I am blessed to have a (relatively) healthy body. Therefore, my body is able to use fruits and vegetables — even the ones that are high in carbohydrates — to keep me moving and thriving.

This is a privilege that not everyone has.

Some people have to monitor their diet much more carefully that I do in order to live a healthy, thriving life.