Dec 7, 2016 (foodconsumer.org) -- An animal study released in FASEB journal indicates that ketone supplements may help slow the progression of metastatic cancer which is why cancer patients die from the disease in 90% cases.
Metabolic therapy, to be specific, ketogenic diet, is now used by some alternative oncologists to treat various cancers. In vitro studies indicate that ketones inhibit cancer cell proliferation and animal studies show that ketogenic diet can slow cancer progression.
In the current study, mice with metastatic cancer were fed a standard diet or ketogenic diet and in both cases, also supplemented with a ketone supplement called 1,3-butanediol or ketone ester. The purpose of the study is to test and see if ketone supplements slow the progression of cancer and increase the survival time.
As a result, the ketone supplement was found to slow tumor growth and increased survival time by 34 to 50% in mice fed standard diet or ketogenic diet.
It is not clear from the report abstract how the ketone supplement enhances the efficacy of the ketogenic diet. But it is known that the supplement helped mice with metastatic cancer to have a longer survival time.
The researchers suggest that ketone supplements may be used to help patients with advanced or metastatic cancer who are receiving standard cancer care. (David Liu)
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