Targeting insulin inhibition as a metabolic therapy in advanced cancer

Does LC help cancer? (I'm still reading, but this jumped out at me)

Yes, it does. If you want to know how, just follow this link. You´ll find an easy explanation:

http://eating-paleo.blogspot.com.es...paleo-diet.html

Probably, but it's not a function of lowered blood glucose. If you read on, you'll see the charts that associate higher ketone levels with better outcomes (hence the title of the paper and the blog post -- the key seems to be insulin inhibition, rather than bg reduction).

I'm so glad Dr. Fine is guest blogging about his own research. He said he'll post more details next week, and I'm eager to read it. It really seems as if there's been a shift in the current in the last few months, with more studies taking LC and ketogenic diets seriously, and more researchers paying attention rather than just automatically dismissing any talk of macronutrients as "that Atkins fad diet."

ETA: Be sure to read the comments on this particular post, as well as comments on the prior posts leading up to it. Both Feinman and Fine have more interesting things to say about this work and related research.

I already commented on Fine's post. Basically, targeting insulin inhibition is like targeting cholesterol. Remember statins? It completely ignores the cause and allows it to continue. On the other hand if it's taken as a "let's see how the cause acts", then we're getting somewhere.

Also, it's inconsistent with conventional reasoning. Like so. When we cut total calories, we reduce overweight. Therefore, the cause of overweight is too many calories. But here, when they cut total carbohydrates, instead of concluding the cause was too many carbohydrates, they concluded that the culprit is somewhere else down the line, and come up with "targeting insulin inhibition can do something".

A more consistent conclusion is that since we already know caloric restriction has an effect on cancer growth, we now know that it's not total calories, but total carbohydrates, and not merely the nature of carbohydrates (glucose therefore blood glucose), but also its effects on insulin and ketosis.

I dunno, Martin. I think targeting ketone levels/insulin inhibition makes sense. Speaking as someone who's eaten zero-carb for three years (meat, butter & eggs, with very infrequent, and very minor, deviations), I was quite surprised to get an "undetectable" blood ketone reading on my BG meter ketone strips. Ketosis may turn out to hinge on more than simply LC compliance -- it'd be damn hard to find anyone more "compliant" than a ZCer like me.

There could be variations in gluconeogenesis, for instance, or, as I suspect, insulin hypersecretion that is NOT the simple result of diet-induced insulin resistance, but is perhaps familial. I suspect this because of my frightening family history of cancer (nearly everyone's had it, and those who've died, died with/of it).

So from my perspective, I'm glad Fine et al are targeting a biological mechanism. For some people, compliance with a general LC, or even VLC -- or even ZC, for crying out loud -- may not be enough to achieve a sufficient level of blood ketones, which seems to be the key variable corresponding to cancer growth inhibition.

Too much protein maybe? Phinney/Volek recommend no more than 1.5 - 2.5g of protein per kg of goal body weight. The upper end for athletes.

Also, that one meter is kind of lame in detecting ketones. I think it won't show anything lower than .4 and it tends to read low. That is according to Jimmy Moore's review.

Also, morning readings are the lowest in the day. If you want to see the highest then try testing before bed time.

I'd like to get my fasting insulin tested again. Last time it was quite a lot higher than I would have expected, but I've been in NK for a long time now.

Nancy, I'm hoping it's a combination of those two things. I've cut protein and upped fat. And I've ordered the other meter -- the name escapes me. My current one is the NovaMax.

It would be great to have a cheap, reliable, at home insulin test, wouldn't it?

Yeah, I think it was the NovaMax that had cheaper strips but the results seemed sketchier.

YES! I'd love a home insulin test.

Well, I think we agree here. There's several things going on from what I can see. First, relying on urine ketones to see how much fat you eat is like relying on urine glucose to see how much carbs you eat. But then again, if you can't detect some ketones then obviously something else is going because with ZC, we should detect a consistent amount of ketones in urine even when everything is working as it should. This expectation comes from the Bellevue all-meat trial results of course. It could just be that the detection tool is just not sensitive enough. Or, like you say and like I pointed out in my comments on Richard's blog, it could be something more serious and significant.

Like I said in one of my comments, if it is something else, then we must look at that. Sure, we can target insulin inhibition directly for the time being, but then what? What if the thing that is responsible for the disorder in insulin signaling is also responsible for cancer independently of insulin signaling? Even if it's not, then a targeted therapy will only be effective as long as we keep it up.

Richard and Eugine both said they're looking at a very specific thing - insulin inhibition and ketosis - and they acknowledge that it's not all that simple, even considering the conclusions they draw from that study.

Count me as one who would like to see a cheap insulin testing tool.

Just to clarify for the kids watching this at home: I didn't test my *urine* ketones -- I know better than to rely on that. I'm talking about *blood* ketones -- testing them with a special strip that you insert into a specially designed BG meter that also reads *blood* for ketone levels.

To the other points, yes, there's always a possibility that other things are going on. And as we wind on down the road ("we" being the industrial-food-eating population), I'm pretty certain we're going to see cascading generational effects, with each newly-issued child of an industrial-food-eater facing ever-mounting health challenges, only some of which will be resolved by changing their own diets as they mature.

Blood ketones. That's news to me. Didn't know you could do that.

Here's a comparison of two meters that do it: http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/...valuation/15918

I have a hard time lowering insulin too.

I just realized that a blood ketone meter could be used as proxy for insulin level. The higher the blood ketones, the lower insulin must be.