Is the Keto diet a viable treatment for cancer Pts and how does the Keto diet accomplish tumor shrinkage?

So i once heard about the Keto Diet being a viable treatment option when i was taking a nutrition class. I wanted to know what science backs this idea and how does it work at the cellular level. The idea came from a german physiologist called Otto Warburg. He discovered that tumor cells have an interesting metabolic favor of aerobic glycolysis rather than oxidative phosphorylation. Thus this revelation became known as the Warburg effect. It was then theorized that if we shift our diet we could essentially starve the tumor cells. This works because the keto diet lowers blood glucose levels and also lowers insulin and IGF-1 (insulin like growth factor). Normal cells are able to adapt and use ketone bodies which cancer cells can not effectively use. So, the science is there to back this so what about the results? Studies are still on going into this field of research and there are a lot of mixed reviews. Some studies suggest that the Keto diet can improve cancers such as breast cancer and brain cancer. Most suggest that there are better results when combined with standard treatments like chemo and radiation. There are also models that show this is the case in animal models. However, almost all researchers suggest that more comprehensive studies need to be conducted into this theory in order to prove that it can be a viable treatment option.

sources

• New Study Links the Keto Diet to Cancer Metastasis

  Website | , 2024 | https://www.cancer.columbia.edu/news/study-finds-k... (opens in a new tab)

• The latest weapon against cancer is ... a keto diet?

  Website | Nick Wurm, 2023 | https://www.cshl.edu/the-latest-weapon-against-can... (opens in a new tab)

• https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6375425/

  Academic Journal | DOI https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6375425/