Lower-Carb Diet Slows Growth of Aggressive Brain Tumor

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — University of Florida Health researchers have slowed down a notoriously aggressive type of brain tumor in mouse models by using a low-carbohydrate diet.
A high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet that included a coconut oil derivative helped reduce the growth of glioblastoma tumor cells and extended lifespan in mouse models by 50 percent, researchers found. The results were published recently in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.
Glioblastoma is the most common brain tumor in adults. There is no effective long-term treatment and patients usually live for 12 to 15 months after diagnosis, according to the National Cancer Institute.
The findings are a new twist on an old idea: The so-called ketogenic diet has been used for nearly 90 years to help reduce epileptic seizures. Now, a high-fat, low-carbohydrate version of the ketogenic diet has been shown to slow glioblastoma tumors by cutting back the energy supply they need to thrive, said Brent Reynolds, Ph.D., a professor in the department of neurosurgery in the UF College of Medicine. A glioblastoma tumor requires large amounts of energy as it grows, and the the dietary intervention works by drastically limiting the tumor’s supply of glucose, Reynolds said.