| No-Carb Diet May Curb Prostate Cancer
The researchers aren't making dietary recommendations for men. But they say the topic deserves further study. "This study showed that cutting carbohydrates may slow tumor growth, at least in mice," Duke University urologist Stephen Freedland, MD, says in a news release. "If this is ultimately confirmed in human clinical trials, it has huge implications for prostate cancer therapy through something that all of us can control -- our diets," says Freedland, who plans to start such trials next year. Freedland's team split 75 mice into three groups: Low-fat diet: 12% fat, 16% protein, 72% carbohydrate Western diet: 40% fat, 16% protein, 44% carbohydrate No-carb diet: 84% fat, 16% protein, 0% carbohydrate The no-carb diet was modeled on a special diet sometimes given to prevent seizures in children with epilepsy, Freedland's team notes.
Low-Carb Diet May Slow Prostate Tumor Growth
TUESDAY, Nov. 13 (HealthDay News) -- In mice, a low-carbohydrate diet slowed prostate tumor growth, possibly because fewer carbohydrates leads to a drop in insulin production, U.S. researchers say. "This study showed that cutting carbohydrates may slow tumor growth, at least in mice. If this is ultimately confirmed in human clinical trials, it has huge implications for prostate cancer therapy through something that all of us can controls, our diets," lead researcher Dr. Stephen Freedland, a urologist at Duke University Medical Center, said in a prepared statement. Previous studies linked insulin and a related substance called insulin-like growth factor (IGF) with the growth of prostate tumors in mice. Freedland and his colleagues theorized that reducing levels of these substances might slow prostate tumor growth.
Low-carb diet may stunt prostate tumors
DURHAM, N.C., Nov. 14 Tumor growth was stalled and survival rates lengthened in mice fed a low-carbohydrate diet, U.S. researchers found.
The study, published in the journal Prostate, found mice fed a low-fat but high-carbohydrate diets had larger tumors. The mice on a diet high in both fat and carbohydrates had the biggest tumors and the worst survival rates.
"This study showed that cutting carbohydrates may slow tumor growth, at least in mice," lead researcher Dr. Stephen Freedland, of Duke University Medical Center, in Durham, N.C., said in a statement. "If this is ultimately confirmed in human clinical trials, it has huge implications for prostate cancer therapy through something that all of us can control, our diets."
The researchers hypothesized carbohydrates in the diet affect the levels of serum insulin and a related substance known as insulin-like growth factor in the body.
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