Low Carbohydrate Diets in Cancer Therapeutics: Current Evidence

Christopher Haskins; Justin Cohen; Rupesh Kotecha; Adeel Kaiser

doi:10.3389/fnut.2021.662952

Low Carbohydrate Diets in Cancer Therapeutics: Current Evidence

Front Nutr. 2021 Nov 25:8:662952. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2021.662952. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Christopher Haskins¹, Justin Cohen¹, Rupesh Kotecha^{2

3}, Adeel Kaiser^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, United States.
² Miami Cancer Institute, Baptist Health, Miami, FL, United States.
³ Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University, Miami, FL, United States.

Abstract

Low carbohydrate diets have a promising mechanistic rationale in the treatment of cancer with favorable preclinical data. The strongest data suggest synergistic effects of dietary interventions with traditional cancer therapies. Recent prospective clinical trials suggest that low carbohydrate diets are safely and feasibly added within a busy oncology clinic, with hopeful additive effects in treatment enhancement.

Keywords: cancer; carbohydrate restriction; chemotherapy; immunotherapy; ketogenic diet (KD); metabolism; radiation.

Publication types

Review