PALEOLITHIC KETOGENIC DIET (PKD) AS A STAND-ALONE THERAPY IN CANCER: CASE STUDIES

Abstract

Outlook for cancer patients remains poor despite ”best available treatment” which includes surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy in most solid cancers. Genetic profiling, attempts to use matched chemotherapy and the use of high-cost biological therapies, so far, did result in no major breakthrough (1). Metabolic therapies have been suggested as a promising alternative option. Yet, clinical group studies that have been published, provide next to no evidence for a benefit in hard clinical endpoints of cancer. Previously, we put forward (2) that the apparent ineffectivity of the ketogenic diet in cancer is likely due to two factors. First, all published studies included cancer patients that also used chemo- and/or radiation therapy. Second, all group studies used the classical version of the ketogenic diet which is based on vegetable oils and dairy, an evolutionary maladapted, erroneous version of the ketogenic diet.

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Zsófia Clemens, Andrea Dabóczi, Csaba Tóth
PALEOLITHIC KETOGENIC DIET (PKD) AS A STAND-ALONE THERAPY
IN CANCER: CASE STUDIES
ICMNI –Paleomedicina Hungary
INTRODUCTION: Outlook for cancer patients remains poor despite
”best available treatment” which includes surgery, chemotherapy and
radiotherapy in most solid cancers. Genetic profiling, attempts to use
matched chemotherapy and the use of high-cost biological therapies,
so far, did result in no major breakthrough (1). Metabolic therapies
have been suggested as a promising alternative option. Yet, clinical
group studies that have been published, provide next to no evidence
for a benefit in hard clinical endpoints of cancer. Previously, we put
forward (2) that the apparent ineffectivity of the ketogenic diet in
cancer is likely due to two factors. First, all published studies included
cancer patients that also used chemo- and/or radiation therapy.
Second, all group studies used the classical version of the ketogenic
diet which is based on vegetable oils and dairy, an evolutionary
maladapted, erroneous version of the ketogenic diet.
METHOD: Since 2011 we have been using the paleolithic ketogenic
diet (PKD) in the treatment of chronic diseases including cancer. The
PKD is an animal meat-fat based diet similar to that originally proposed
by Voegtlin in 1975 (3). In our database there are 70 cancer patients
who meet the criteria of following the PKD for at least two months. Out
of these patients, we present two cases where disease first recurred after
the standard oncological treatment. Later on, both patients stopped
standard oncotherapy, and decided to use PKD as a stand-alone therapy.
The two patients were in a close follow-up and experienced stable
disease and regression, respectively. In addition, out of our database we
have selected the best-perfoming patients (having a follow-up of and
being progression-free for 2< years, and being alive at the time of the
current analysis). It was our aim to find out what they have in common.
CONCLUSIONS: Pat#1 with recurrent glioblastoma showed stable
tumor size for the last 30 months. Pat#2 with recurrent metastasis
showed a significant decrease in the size and the metabolic activity of
the metastasis in five months. Both patients used the PKD as a stand-
alone therapy. Retrospective analysis showed that our best performing
cancer patients strictly adhered to the diet and received no chemotherapy
or radiotherapy. These patients were also not taking supplements or
medicines. By contrast, out of the 70 patients in our database, no patient
receiving chemotherapy or radiotherapy was progression-free at two
years (even with strict PKD adherence). Chemo- and/or radiation
therapy possibly decreasing efficacy of metabolic therapies was
previously also suggested by Seyfried et al (4).
Pat#1
Pat#2
Cancer type: Recurrent glioblastoma (grade 4 brain cancer)
Age: 53 years old (at diagnosis)
Medical history: bladder cancer, high blood pressure
Therapy 1 (Jan –May 2016: 4 months):
Surgery+chemotherapy+radiotherapy → Aug 2016 recurrence
Therapy 2 (Sep 2016 –currently: 30 months):
PKD alone → progression-free, symptom-free, medicine-free
Pat#3,4,5,6,7
PET-CT
Ultrasound of the liver
REFERENCES
1. Aggarwal A, Fojo T, Chamberlain C, et al. Do patient access schemes for high-cost cancer drugs deliver value to society?-lessons from the NHS Cancer Drugs Fund. Ann Oncol. 2017 Apr 27.
2. Csaba Tóth, Andrea Dabóczi, Madhvi Chanrai, et al. Comment on “Systematic Review: Isocaloric Ketogenic Dietary Regimes for Cancer Patients” by Erickson et al. Journal of Cancer Research and Treatment. Vol. 5, No. 3, 2017, pp 86-88.
3. Voegtlin WL. The stone age diet: based on in-depth studies of human ecology and the diet of man. New York: Vantage Press, 1975.
4. Seyfried TN, Shelton LM, Mukherjee P. Does the existing standard of care increase glioblastoma energy metabolism? Lancet Oncol. 2010;11:811–3.
Follow-up
MRI scans
Intestinal permeability measurement
(PEG400): normal at at 17 months
on the PKD.
Kaplan-Meier curve for glioblastoma survival
for 10,743 patients from the National Cancer
Registration Service (UK) vs. Pat#1 survival
Cancer type: recurrent cancer (metastasis of breast cancer in new locations:
in the liver and in the hip bone)
Age: 46 year old (at recurrence)
Medical history: invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast (2013)
Therapy 1: surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, hormone therapy (2013 –
2018) → metastasis (liver, hip bone)
Therapy 2: PKD alone (Oct 2018 –currently: 5 months) → regression in
the size and metabolic activity of the metastases
Blood work
* Stable for 25 months, then slight progression with decreasing adherence (see graphs for blood glucose,
urinary ketones, ESR and CRP)
* Pat#5