Overview
This lecture explores the links between diet, metabolic health, and cancer risk, with a focus on how ketogenic and low-carbohydrate diets may impact chronic diseases, including cancer.
The Role of Diet in Chronic Disease
- Diet is the most significant lifestyle factor influencing chronic disease risk, surpassing exercise, smoking, and alcohol.
- Chronic diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes are strongly linked to diet and metabolic health.
- Traditional diets high in animal products and low in carbohydrates, such as those of Inuit and First Nations peoples, correlate with low chronic disease incidence.
Ketogenic Diet and Cancer
- Ketogenic diets are high in fat, moderate in protein, and very low in carbohydrates, leading to ketosis (fat-derived ketone production).
- There is strong evidence supporting ketogenic diets as therapeutic for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, epilepsy, PCOS, and as adjunct therapy in cancer treatment.
- Cancer cells consume significantly more glucose than healthy cells (the Warburg effect), making carbohydrate restriction potentially beneficial.
- Ketogenic diets lower glucose and insulin levels, both of which fuel cancer cell growth.
Mechanisms of Ketogenic Diet Benefits
- Ketone body beta-hydroxybutyrate reduces inflammation, boosts immune function, increases fat oxidation, and downregulates cell growth pathways (e.g., mTOR).
- Lowering carbohydrate intake reduces advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which contribute to inflammation and chronic disease.
- Obesity, insulin resistance, and inflammation form an "axis of illness" that fuels metabolic disorders and can be mitigated with diet.
Critique of Mainstream Dietary Guidelines
- Current guidelines promoting high-carb, low-fat diets lack strong mechanistic or clinical support for preventing chronic disease.
- Processed foods, added sugars, grains, and vegetable seed oils are linked to increased metabolic dysfunction and should be minimized.
- Saturated fats and cholesterol from whole foods (e.g., eggs, meat, butter) do not have direct molecular links to heart disease or cancer.
Medical Practice and Nutrition Education
- Most physicians receive minimal nutrition education and may not be aware of the benefits of ketogenic diets.
- Changing medical practice is slow; patients often lead the way in informing their healthcare providers.
Practical Dietary Recommendations
- Avoid sugars, processed foods, grains, and seed oils.
- Eat foods rich in natural fats and proteins (meat, fish, eggs, butter).
- Consider intermittent fasting for additional metabolic benefits.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Ketogenic Diet — A high-fat, low-carb diet inducing ketosis.
- Ketosis — A metabolic state where the body burns fat for fuel, producing ketones.
- Warburg Effect — Phenomenon where cancer cells consume excessive glucose.
- Beta-hydroxybutyrate — Main ketone body with multiple health-promoting effects.
- Insulin resistance — Reduced response to insulin, leading to high blood sugar.
- Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) — Harmful compounds from sugar-protein reactions.
- Axis of Illness — The triad of insulin resistance, obesity, and inflammation fueling disease.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Consider adopting a ketogenic or low-carb diet to reduce chronic disease risk.
- Discuss major dietary changes with your healthcare provider, especially if on medication.
- Read “Bio Diet” by Dr. David Harper for more information.
- Avoid processed foods, added sugars, grains, and seed oils as a daily practice.