Carbohydrate Restriction May Slow Prostate Tumor Growth

There are many benefits to lowering carbohydrates by means of limiting refined processed high carbohydrate packaged foods. However, there has been an on-going debate about the safety and efficacy of low carbohydrate diets.
Low fat, high carbohydrate diets get a lot of press when research studies are complete. This is not necessarily true when low carbohydrate diet research is completed. So I would like to be a source that will post low carb research information in an attempt to help balance information that is disseminated about diet research. This way you can read the research, weigh the evidence for both low carb and low fat diets and make your own judgement.
The title of the study is the title of Today’s blog, “Carbohydrate Restriction May Slow Prostate Tumor Growth.” The findings appear in the May 26, 2009 online edition of the Journal Cancer Prevention Research and it just hit the news!
Dr. Freedland believes that high insulin levels in the blood contributes to the growth of prostate cancer, and that a diet devoid of carbohydrates lowers blood insulin levels and in turn will slow tumor growth.
In this study, mice were fed one of three diets:
1. A very high fat, no carbohydrate diet
2. A low-fat, high carbohydrate diet
3. A high fat, moderate carbohydrate diet (closely resembles the “Western” diet).
“The mice that were fed a no-carbohydrate diet experienced a 40 to 50 percent prolonged survival over the other mice,” Freedland said.
“We found that carbohydrate restriction without energy restriction – or weight loss – does indeed result in tumor growth delay. It’s very exciting – this is a potential new mechanism to fight prostate cancer growth and help patients live longer with their disease,” explained Freedland.
Here’s the study in USA TODAY:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-05-28-cuttingcarb-prostatecancer_N.htm
With that said, remember this study was conducted on mice not humans. For humans, I do not believe carbohydrates from vegetables, nuts/seeds should be avoided completely.
In good health,
Valerie