A low-carb diet may stunt prostate tumor growth

A diet low in carbohydrates may help stunt the growth of prostate tumors, according to a new study led by Duke Prostate Center researchers. The study, in mice, suggests that a reduction in insulin production possibly caused by fewer carbohydrates may stall tumor growth.

“This study showed that cutting carbohydrates may slow tumor growth, at least in mice,” said Stephen Freedland, M.D., a urologist at Duke University Medical Center and lead researcher on the study. “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.”

Freedland conducted most of the research for this study while doing a fellowship in urology at Johns Hopkins’ Brady Urological Institute under the tutelage of William Isaacs, Ph.D., a molecular geneticist there.

The researchers published their results on November 13, 2007 in the online edition of the journal Prostate. The study was funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Surgery and the Division of Urology at Duke University Medical Center, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, and the Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program.

The researchers hypothesized that since serum insulin and a related substance known as insulin-like growth factor (IGF) had been linked with the growth of prostate tumors in earlier research in mice, a reduction in the body’s levels of these substances might slow tumor growth, Freedland said.

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.”

The low-carbohydrate diet definitely had the most significant effect on tumor growth and survival, he said.

The next step will be to test the findings of this study in humans, and further examine the potential positive effects that a low-carbohydrate diet may have on tumor growth, Freedland said.

“We are planning to start clinical trials sometime next year,” he said. “The results of this study are very promising, but of course much more work needs to be done.”

Source: Duke University Medical Center

Related stories:

Calorie restriction and exercise show breast cancer prevention differences in postmenopausal women
Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin have identified pathways by which a reduced-calorie diet and exercise can modify a postmenopausal woman's risk of breast cancer.
Researchers present new theory that may lead to effective heart failure treatments
Do the biological underpinnings of heart failure share more in common with cancerous tumors than other cardiovascular diseases? Research presented at American Heart Association meeting may show why heart failure treatments fail.
Purple tomatoes: The richness of antioxidants against tumors
Researchers from the John Innes Centre in Norwich, Great Britain, in collaboration with other European centres participating to the FLORA project, have obtained genetically modified tomatoes rich in anthocyanins, a category of antioxidants belonging to the class of flavonoids. These tomatoes, added to the diet of cancer-prone mice, showed a significant protective effect by extending the mice lifespan. The research has been published in the 26 October issue of Nature Biotechnology.
Experimental agent blocks prostate cancer in animal study
An experimental drug has blocked the progression of prostate cancer in an animal model with an aggressive form of the disease, new research shows. The agent, OSU-HDAC42, belongs to a new class of drugs called histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors, compounds designed to reactivate genes that normally protect against cancer but are turned off by the cancer process.
Calorie restricted diet prevents pancreatic inflammation and cancer
Prevention of weight gain with a restricted calorie diet sharply reduced the development of pancreatic lesions that lead to cancer in preclinical research reported today by researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting.
Calorie restriction limits and obesity fuels development of epithelial cancers
A restricted-calorie diet inhibited the development of precancerous growths in a two-step model of skin cancer, reducing the activation of two signaling pathways known to contribute to cancer growth and development, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report today at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting.
Exercise may lead to faster prostate tumor growth
Prostate tumors grew more quickly in mice who exercised than in those who did not, leading to speculation that exercise may increase blood flow to tumors, according to a new study by researchers in the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center (DCCC) and the Duke Prostate Center.
Evidence now suggests eating soy foods in puberty protects against breast cancer
Evidence is growing from animal and human studies that genistein, a potent chemical found in soy, protects against development of breast cancer - but only if consumed during puberty, says a Georgetown University Medical Center researcher in the British Journal of Cancer published online today. The challenge now, she says, is for scientists to understand precisely why soy appears to provide a shield against the most common cancer in women.

News discussion:

Medicine & Health news