Why Does A High Fat Diet Help Pancreatic Cancer?

A high-fat diet that does not result in weight gain will naturally contain fewer proteins and carbohydrates than a typical diet. Carbohydrates and proteins are the only food components that can convert into any significant amount of glucose. So, when the body cannot convert significant amounts of carbohydrates and protein into glucose, the body will primarily use fat and ketone bodies, a by-product of fat metabolism, as energy sources. Unlike most other cells, however, cancer cells, including cancer cells in the pancreas, do not thrive well on fat and ketone bodies. So, a high-fat diet can create a hostile environment for cancer cells, possibly causing them to grow at a slower pace or cease to grow altogether.

The Ketogenic Diet

The Ketogenic Diet is the only high-fat diet that has been used in clinical settings for the treatment of cancer. Mayo Clinic's Dr. R. M. Wilders originally developed the diet as a way of treating epileptic seizures in pediatric patients in the 1920s. At the time, few anti-seizure medications were available, and though doctors sometimes used fasting as a way to control seizures, this treatment form was less suitable for children. The Epilepsy Center at Johns Hopkins Hospital still prescribes the Ketogenic Diet as a treatment of epilepsy when other treatment forms fail to be successful.

Mechanism of Action

The Ketogenic Diet restricts the carbohydrate intake to 10 g to 15 g a day and the protein intake to 1 g per kilogram of body mass a day. The rest of the diet consists of fat. This food composition causes the body to use nearly all of the carbohydrates and protein for body maintenance rather than as an energy source. The body's cells are therefore forced to use fat or ketone bodies. Most cells in the body thrive on fat but the brain needs glucose or ketone bodies to function. When glucose is limited, the brain switches to ketone body metabolism. Ketone bodies are a compact energy source. To metabolize them, brain cells need more cell engines, or mitochondria. The increase in the number of mitochondria stabilizes the brain, which prevents over-excitement that can lead to a seizure.

The Metabolism of Cancer Cells

Cancer cells are have a mutated genetic material that continues their growth even after they reach a certain size. Because they keep growing, they destroy surrounding tissue and prevent it from performing its regular functions. Cancer cells cannot perform these functions. So, as they infiltrate parts of the body, such as the pancreas, the body tissue's regular functions cease. Because of their mutated genetic material, cancer cells do not have the same internal components as regular cells. They normally do not have the resources for metabolizing fat or ketone bodies. So, in theory at least, a nutritional environment that restricts available glucose is toxic to cancer cells. If glucose is severely limited, the cancer cells may grow at a slower pace or cease to grow.

Studies of the Ketogenic Diet in Cancer Treatment

Studies of the effects of Ketogenic Diet on cancer, including pancreatic cancer, are limited. The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Würzburg Hospital conducted clinical studies of the diet's effects on cancer in 2007. The results of the studies were inconclusive. Some patients died and others dropped out before the end of the trials. But five patients who completed the diet had very positive results. The growth of their cancer tumors had slowed down or ceased. In some cases, the tumors shrank in size. Based on the positive, though limited, results, the hospital continues to prescribe the diet when other treatment forms are disadvantageous, due to the advanced stage of the cancer or the location of the tumor.