5 Research Reasons Cancer Risk is Lower with Keto

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Do you ever secretly fear a cancer diagnosis?

Do you wonder during the night if someone you love is next?

The Keto diet has been making the headlines as an effective and fast way to lose weight, but it is not just dieters who are interested in Keto! The Keto diet was initially developed in the 1920’s as a way to treat epilepsy. However now oncologists are looking at how the Ketogenic diet can support the treatment and prevention of cancer!

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. In 2012, there were 14.1 million new cancer cases diagnosed with 8.2 million cancer related deaths worldwide. These numbers are expected to rise rapidly, with over 23 million new cancer cases diagnosed every year by 2030.

Cancer cells thrive and multiply by gorging themselves on glucose, the energy source that our bodies get from burning carbohydrates.

The Keto diet starves the body of carbohydrates, forcing it to burn stored fat, producing ketones as an alternative energy source. While healthy cells can use ketones to fuel their activity, cancer cells cannot. Consequently, the Ketogenic diet can be used as a way to starve cancer cells!

Let’s take a closer look at the research to better understand the potential benefits of Keto when it comes to treating and preventing cancer.

5 Research Reasons Cancer Risk is Lower with Keto

Over the last 15 years the Keto diet has become increasingly popular, mainly as a way to lose weight, quickly. But recent research is now pointing to Keto as a useful tool in the process of preventing and treating cancer.

How exactly does cancer work and why is it affected by diet? Let’s take a closer look at how cancer cells form and grow, why they are affected by diet, and five ways that a Keto diet can reduce the risk of cancer.

What Exactly is Cancer?

There are over 100 documented forms of cancer. The most common cancers are lung, breast, colorectal, prostate and stomach cancer. The second list of most common cancers would include skin, brain, pancreas and ovarian/uterine cancer.

What the wide variety of cancers have in common is uncontrolled cell growth. When cancer cells form, they grow quickly, they adapt rapidly to new environments, and they are extremely resistant to cell death. Cancer cells invade local tissue, forming clusters known as tumours. They spread to other tissues and the blood. This abnormal cell process is generally triggered by cell damage, genetic cell alterations and toxins.

Tumors that do not spread to other parts of the body are known as benign, while tumours that invade other tissues and cells are the malignant cancer that is feared. In general, cancer cells start out as benign and gradually become malignant. This process can take years, or even decades, however at times it is extremely rapid. Again, what is feared. The medical profession, therefore, prefers to discover tumors early, which gives them the opportunity to treat cancer cells if they are discovered early enough.

What Causes Cancer?

There are many different factors that contribute to a person’s likelihood of developing cancer. This list includes radiation, such as from the sun or X-rays, viruses and bacteria, chemicals, like those found in cigarettes, toxins, like those found in the air, used on our skin and the food we eat.

These factors cause cancer by damaging our DNA. Usually the Mitochondria, which is the primary energy producer of a cell, is damaged in a way that can cause cancer provoking mutilations and unwanted transformations.

Obesity is also emerging in research as a leading cause of cancer. This is because an excessive amount of fat tissue can lead to chronic levels of inflammation that can also damage DNA.

How Does Cancer Spread?

Cancer grows, and therefore gains the ability to spread, by feeding on glucose, the energy our body gets primarily from eating carbohydrates.

The link between glucose and cancer was discovered in the 1920’s when scientists realized that cancerous cells relied primarily on converting high amounts of glucose into energy. This process is known as glycolysis.

In the process, a by-product is produced called lactic acid. Lactic acid then alters our metabolism. This effect is known as the Warburg Effect, after the leading scientist Otto Warburg.

All cells use glucose for energy, but healthy cells will not produce lactic acid at rest.  Cancerous cells burn glucose gratuitously to grow, rather than just when energy is needed.

Cancer cells have ten times more insulin receptors on their cellular surface than healthy cells, allowing them to in a sense “gorge themselves” at a high rate!