http://www.medscape....warticle/778613
For the first time ever, a randomized controlled trial that uses calorie restriction as a treatment for cancer — and measures a cancer-related outcome — was approved by the institutional review board at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and is on its way to the clinic.
"In the entire field of cancer research, there have only been a handful of studies of calorie restriction as a cancer treatment," Stephen Freedland, MD, from Duke, told Medscape Medical News. But none of them were randomized clinical trials.
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The hypothesis that suppressing carbohydrates could suppress or slow cancer growth is supported by a lot of laboratory science. The pair explain that complex carbohydrates are ultimately digested as glucose, which can cause tumor cells to proliferate.
"First, contrary to normal cells, most malignant cells depend on steady glucose availability in the blood for their energy and biomass-generating demands, and are not able to metabolize significant amounts of fatty acids or ketone bodies due to mitochondrial dysfunction," they write. In other words, cancer cells thrive on glucose and starve on fats and ketones, which are food-derived energy units that are plentiful in low-carbohydrate diets.
The commonplace advice to avoid dietary fat is not a good recommendation to give cancer patients. "They should eat a lot of fat and avoid sugar," Dr. Freedland noted.
The Duke study will involve calorie restriction in men with prostate cancer — specifically, cutting down on carbohydrates. The participants will have "failed" primary therapy for prostate cancer, as evidenced by a rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) score after surgery, and will have experienced disease progression.
