EurekAlert sent this one across the news wire today: A low-carb diet may stunt prostate tumor growth.

The researchers compared tumor growth in 75 mice that were eating either a low-carbohydrate diet, a low-fat but high-carbohydrate diet, or a Western diet, high in fat and carbohydrates.

The mice that ate a low-carbohydrate diet had the longest survival and smallest tumor size, Freedland said.

“Low-fat mice had shorter survival and larger tumors while mice on the Western diet had the worst survival and biggest tumors,” he said. “In addition, though both the low-carb and low-fat mice had lower levels of insulin, only the low-carb mice had lower levels of the form of IGF capable of stimulating tumor growth.”

We’ve seen before that low-carb diets can be effective at treating some types of cancer. From what I understand, and I may be wrong, so someone please correct me if so, some types of cancer thrive on glucose and die without it. A low-carb diet supplies little in the way of glucose, forcing the body to rely more heavily on fat for energy. Without glucose, the cancer cells die of oxidative stress.

Notice above that there were actually three diets tested: low-carb, low-fat (high-carb), and high-fat/high-carb (Western-style). And which one faired the worst? The Western Diet. It is really amazing that eating a diet that aligns with our evolutionary history results in improved health. Ok, so it’s not really amazing. What’s amazing is that there are people out there that refuse to change their tune despite evidence that their low-fat, high-carb diet isn’t optimal for health. Clinical trials in humans are supposed to start next year.


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