Low-Carb Diet May Slow Prostate Tumor Growth

Low-Carb Diet May Slow Prostate Tumor Growth
TUESDAY, Nov. 13 (HealthDay News) -- In mice, a low-carbohydrate dietslowed prostate tumor growth, possibly because fewer carbohydrates leadsto a drop in insulin production, U.S. researchers say.
"This study showed that cutting carbohydrates may slow tumor growth, atleast in mice. If this is ultimately confirmed in human clinical trials,it has huge implications for prostate cancer therapy through somethingthat all of us can controls, our diets," lead researcher Dr. StephenFreedland, a urologist at Duke University Medical Center, said in aprepared statement.
Previous studies linked insulin and a related substance calledinsulin-like growth factor (IGF) with the growth of prostate tumors inmice. Freedland and his colleagues theorized that reducing levels of thesesubstances might slow prostate tumor growth.
They compared tumor growth in mice eating either a low-carbohydratediet; a low-fat but high-carbohydrate diet; or a Western diet high in fatand carbohydrates.
Mice fed the low-carbohydrate diet had the smallest tumor size andlongest survival, the team found.
""Low-fat mice had shorter survival and large tumors , while mice onthe Western diet had the worst survival and biggest tumors. 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 ofstimulating tumor growth," Freedland said.
The study is published in the Nov. 13 online edition of the journalProstate.
Freedland is currently organizing a clinical trial to examine theimpact of a low-carbohydrate diet on prostate tumor growth in men.
More information
The American Cancer Society has more about prostate cancer.