Should you take the ketogenic diet for cancer treatment? This is one of the hottest controversial topics in cancer metabolic treatment. The cancer metabolic theory (based on Warburg’s Effect, further developed by Dr. Thomas Seyfried) posits that cancer cells can’t effectively use fat as fuel, hence ketogenic diet would significantly reduce energy supply to cancer cells and thus limit the cancer growth. Others believe cancer cells can burn fat as fuel. For clinicians and consumers, here are a few about cancer:
1. PET/CT has been a standard diagnostic tool for cancer. The principle is that cancer cells use a lot more (50-200 times) more glucose than surrounding normal tissue.
2. Ketogenic diet is relatively safe and tolerable.
A PET/CT positive cancer likes (needs) sugar, a lot of sugar (for whatever reason). A ketogenic diet is against the requirement of cancer. The logic conclusion is ketogenic diet will only likely hurt cancer cells, while relatively safe for the patient’s normal tissues.
One of the problems in current western medicine is that medicine is all about RCT (clinical trials), logic has no place anymore.