Would the ketogenic diet be a “brake” to colorectal cancer?

These conclusions were drawn by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania. They found in mice that following a low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet gave them a particular resistance to the development and growth of colorectal tumors.

Six different diets

To achieve these results, the scientists subjected the mice to six different types of diet, with varying fat/carbohydrate ratios. They then artificially generated, using a standard chemical technique, colorectal tumors in these guinea pigs.

Results: The two most ketogenic diets, with a fat/carbohydrate ratio of 90%, based on pork fat and soybean oil, prevented the development of colorectal tumors in most animals fed these diets.

A real therapeutic effect

In contrast, all animals on the other diets, including low-fat and high-carb diets, developed tumors. And most surprisingly, when researchers began feeding these diets to mice after colorectal tumors began to grow, the diets showed a “therapeutic effect” by significantly slowing the growth and proliferation of disease.

For Maayan Levy, assistant professor of microbiology at Penn Medicine and co-lead author of the study, “our results suggest that this naturally occurring molecule, BHB, may one day become a standard part of colorectal cancer care and prevention.”.

BHB, future treatment for colorectal cancer?

Asked about the question, Dr. Laurent Schwartz, oncologist at the AP-HP, is not surprised by the results. “We know that cancer is a disease whose metabolism works with sugars. The BHB can correct this, it has been known for a very long time” explains the oncologist, who recommends some of his patients to follow a ketogenic diet, which “does them a lot of good and is less toxic than sugar”.

Colorectal cancer is the 3^and most common type of cancer in France, with approximately 28,000 new cases each year. Its contributing factors are alcohol consumption, obesity, red meat and diets low in fiber and high in sugar.