Ketogenic Diet and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
I am sure that I am like many with cancer in looking into alternative therapies as maybe having a better solution with fewer side effects than conventional therapy. It is quite possible for an effective therapy to exist prior to being fully evaluated and becoming mainstream. Prior to that, any success is purely anecdotal and needs to be viewed with caution. Caution is also required because there are always con artists ready to take advantage of the desperate, as many cancer patients are.
I have reviewed several therapies which I shall deal with separately, starting with the combination of a Ketogenic Diet with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) as expounded by Dr Thomas Seyfried in his work and theory of cancer as a metabolic disease.
The theory of this therapy is quite simple and persuasive and is based on 2 things: 1. That tumours thrive on blood glucose and that a ketogenic diet reduces blood glucose, and 2. That tumours grow without oxygen (the Warburg effect) and that flooding the blood with oxygen will reverse growth.
Ketogenic Diet
This has become a popular diet for weight loss and weight loss is almost invariably what comes up when you do an Internet search on it. The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet with adequate amounts of protein. If anybody is contemplating it, I would suggest they do their own research because it is far too complex with too many implication for me to summarise here. One argument against it as a cancer treatment is its similarity to the Atkins Diet which has been tried unsuccessfully as a cancer treatment.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)
This involves breathing oxygen in a high pressure (hyperbaric) chamber. It is a proven treatment for accelerating wound healing, for recovery from radiation therapy and for ‘long Covid’. It is not yet proven for the treatment of cancer.
Experimental and Trial Results
The most easily found experimental results on the Internet used mice as the subjects and are impressive. However there are some caveats, including of course, that mice aren’t people. Clinical trials on people aren’t conclusive but do indicate that this regimen may be beneficial in conjunction with other therapies. Here is one link that may be of interest: The Ketogenic Diet and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Prolong Survival in Mice with Systemic Metastatic Cancer | PLOS ONE
My Conclusion
I did seriously consider adopting this treatment in addition to the drugs I am taking (Everolimus and Lenvatinib). We have a hyperbaric facility locally, so the only issue there would have been the expense. I did start on a ketogenic diet, which suits me reasonably well because it contains many things that I like to eat. What put me off was that in 4 weeks I lost 10kg, which I couldn’t really afford to lose and which I am having a hard time gaining back. I decided not to proceed with this regimen for three reasons: 1. The medication I am taking appears effective and tolerable; 2. I would like to see more positive human trial results before committing, and 3. The expense of HBOT.
I would not discount the possibility of this treatment in future if the drugs become ineffective and if there are more positive human trial results.