This is an important new trial providing for the use of ketogenic diets in certain cancers, coauthored by our valued colleagues Dr. Thomas Seyfried and Miriam Kalamian. This randomized, controlled trial of 60 patients with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer and planned chemotherapy found that those receiving the 12-week ketogenic diet intervention experienced a statistically significant greater reduction in tumor size compared with controls and reduction of cancer stage. Subgroup analysis showed that the overall effects seen were driven by those without metastatic disease (no significant differences in response rate were observed for patients with metastatic disease). The ketogenic diet intervention also appeared to decrease TNF-alpha, insulin, and increased IL-10.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32703721/
For more resources on using ketogenic diet therapies for cancer, see the following links:
https://www.drkarafitzgerald.com/2016/06/27/cancer-low-carb-diets-tumor-keto-adaptation
https://www.drkarafitzgerald.com/2017/10/17/calorie-restricted-ketogenic-diet-for-cancer-miriam-kalamian
https://www.drkarafitzgerald.com/2016/08/02/episode-16-cancer-mitochondrial-metabolic-disease-calorie-restricted-ketogenic-diet
Author: Kara Fitzgerald, ND
https://www.drkarafitzgerald.com/ Kara Fitzgerald, ND, received her doctor of naturopathic medicine degree from the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. She completed the first Counsel on Naturopathic Medicine-accredited post-doctorate position in nutritional biochemistry and laboratory science at Metametrix Clinical Laboratory under the direction of Richard Lord, PhD. Her residency was completed at Progressive Medical Center, a large, integrative medical practice in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dr. Fitzgerald is the lead author and editor of Case Studies in Integrative and Functional Medicine and is a contributing author to Laboratory Evaluations for Integrative and Functional Medicine and the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM)’s Textbook for Functional Medicine. With the Helfgott Research Institute, Dr. Fitzgerald is actively engaged in clinical research on the DNA methylome using a diet and lifestyle intervention developed in her practice. The first publication from the study focuses on reversal of biological aging and was published 04-12-2021 in the journal Aging. She has published a consumer book titled Younger You as well as a companion cookbook, Better Broths and Healing Tonics and has an application-based Younger You Program, based on the study.
Dr. Fitzgerald is on the faculty at IFM, is an IFM Certified Practitioner and lectures globally on functional medicine. She runs a Functional Nutrition Residency program, and maintains a podcast series, New Frontiers in Functional Medicine and an active blog on her website, www.drkarafitzgerald.com. Her clinical practice is in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.
Additional publications