Today, hospitals and clinics around the world,
including the Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins, use the ketogenic diet
to control epilepsy.
Here is how it works.
The ketogenic diet is very high in fat and very
low in carbohydrates. The ration of fat to carb/protein is 4:1.
Neurons (in the brain) are normally fueled by glucose. When we cut
off glucose to the brain but feed the neurons through fat
metabolism, the neurons become stabilized and epilepsy is
controlled.
By-products of this extreme fat metabolism
routine are betahydroxybutric acid and acetoacetic acid, or
ketones.
Like many discoveries in science (discoveries by
accident) it was accidentally discovered that this diet also played
a significant role in fighting cancer.
Cancer loves sugar.
Cancer’s metabolic process is fermentation and fermentation requires
sugar. Cancer’s metabolism is, approximately, eight times greater
than normal cells. Thus cancer requires a lot of sugar to keep
growing. In China, the first therapy a cancer patient does when
admitted to a hospital is a water fast. Cancer stops growing when
the patient fasts. Fasting also puts the body into a ketogenic state
very quickly, within 48 to 70 hours.
However, when a cancer is starved, a process of
glycogenesis can start up; a process by which proteins in the body
are turned into glucose to feed the cancer. The ketogenic diet feeds
the body by fat metabolism and keeps the body from turning its
protein into sugar (through glycogenesis).
Normal cells can use ketones, but not cancer
cells.
All in all, the ketogenic diet starves cancer to
death. Additionally, the ketogenic diet does not supply enough
energy for the tumor to grow more blood vessels to feed upon
(angiogenesis), which would also stop metastases since metastases
require new blood vessels to establish themselves.
This diet, you would assume, is anti-inflammatory.
IT IS NOT. See below.
Now For the Downside
DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS DIET ON YOUR OWN. It is very,
very dangerous.
You need to find an expert, a professional who
can monitor your progress. Additionally, you must monitor your blood
sugar and ketone levels (in the urine) several times a day as if you
were a type one diabetic.
Additionally, research has shown that a low carb,
high fat diet increases your C-Reactive Protein, which will create
inflammation, so
anti-inflammatories are called for while on this diet. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17536128#]
You must work with a nutritionist
knowledgeable in this area who can help you plan meals and recipes.
Once you get started and are being monitored by a professional, you
can go use the