Metabolic Wars: How Nutrients Shape the Cancer Battlefield

Dietary Interventions In Cancer (Part 1 of a 2 part series)

One of the first questions many people ask their oncologist following a cancer diagnosis is deceptively simple: “What should I eat?”

And all too often, the answer they hear is: “It doesn’t matter. Eat whatever you like—cake, ice cream, chocolate if it makes you happy.”

Yet that response reflects a deep misunderstanding. Food isn’t just comfort or calories, it’s chemistry, information, and energy. Every bite sends molecular messages that can fuel disease or fight it. In truth, dietary choices are not secondary to cancer therapy; they are foundational.

Cancer does not exist in isolation. It thrives within the biological environment it’s given, and that environment is shaped daily by what we eat, how we move, and the rhythms we keep. The right nutrition can shift that terrain—undermining cancer’s metabolic advantages while strengthening healthy cells and immune defenses. This isn’t fringe thinking or “alternative” care; it’s physiology, long overlooked in standard oncology.

When we speak of dietary interventions, we’re referring not merely to “healthy eating,” but to targeted nutritional strategies that modify cancer metabolism itself. Low-glycemic and ketogenic diets reduce glucose availability and calm insulin signaling—pathways central to many tumors’ growth advantage. Fasting and fasting-mimicking regimens, meanwhile, activate protective stress responses that sensitize cancer cells to treatment while shielding normal tissue.

These strategies are increasingly supported by evidence, highlighting a profound truth: the body’s metabolism is not just a passive background for disease, but an active system that can be guided, redirected, and optimized. Harnessing that system through intentional nutrition may be one of the most important shifts in how we approach cancer in the modern era. - Paul.

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Numerous studies show that dietary energy restriction is a general metabolic therapy that naturally lowers circulating glucose and insulin levels and significantly reduces the growth and progression of numerous tumor types, including cancers of the breast, brain, colon, pancreas, lung, and prostate. (1-7) An impressive body of evidence indicates that dietary energy restriction can retard the growth rate of many tumors regardless of the specific genetic defects expressed within the tumor. (1-7) Hyperglycemia with high insulin levels is associated with tumor recurrence. (8, 9) Sugar sweetened beverages are associated with an increased risk of cancer. (10-12) Both experimental and clinical data suggest that fructose, particularly fructose-corn syrup, to be more carcinogenic than glucose. (13-16)

As demonstrated by Dr. Otto Warburg, almost all cancer cells are dependent on glucose as a metabolic fuel via aerobic glycolysis, (17, 18) with hyperglycemia being a potent promotor of tumor cell proliferation and associated with poor survival. (19) Although the mechanisms responsible for the caloric-restriction-mediated reduction in tumorigenesis have not been unequivocally identified, they may involve caloric-restriction-induced epigenetic changes as well as changes in growth signals and in the sirtuin pathway. (20)

Insulin resistance plays a major role in the initiation and propagation of cancer. (21) Reversing insulin resistance is therefore a major goal in patients with cancer. Dietary energy restriction specifically targets the IGF-1/PI3K/Akt/HIF-1α signaling pathway, which underlies several cancer hallmarks including cell proliferation, evasion of apoptosis, and angiogenesis. IGF-1 production is stimulated by growth hormone (GH) and can be inhibited by calorie restriction, suggesting it could play a central role in the protective effect of calorie restriction. In this regard, humans with mutations in the GH receptor (known as Laron syndrome) have low serum IGF-1 levels, and have a remarkably low risk of developing cancer. (20) Glucose reduction not only reduces insulin but also reduces circulating levels of IGF-1, which is necessary for driving tumor cell metabolism and growth. In diabetics, those on insulin or insulin secretagogues were demonstrated to be more likely to develop solid cancers than those on metformin. (22)

Dietary energy restriction targets inflammation and the signaling pathways involved with driving tumor angiogenesis. Indeed, calorie restriction is considered a simple and effective therapy for targeting tumor angiogenesis and inflammation. Calorie restriction results in the downregulation of multiple genes and metabolic pathways regulating glycolysis. Besides lowering circulating glucose levels, dietary energy restriction elevates circulating levels of fatty acids and ketone bodies (β-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate). Fats, and especially ketones, can replace glucose as a primary metabolic fuel under calorie restriction. This is a conserved physiological adaptation that evolved to spare protein during periods of starvation. Many tumors, however, have abnormalities in the genes and enzymes needed to metabolize ketone bodies for energy. Elevation in ketone bodies is well known to be able to suppress blood glucose levels and glycolysis, which are major drivers of tumor growth. A transition from carbohydrates to ketones for energy is a simple way to target energy metabolism in glycolysis-dependent tumor cells while enhancing the metabolic efficiency of normal cells. Metabolism of ketone bodies and fatty acids for energy requires inner mitochondrial membrane integrity and efficient respiration, which tumor cells largely lack. Under fasting conditions, ketone bodies are produced in the liver from fatty acids as the main source of brain energy. Ketone bodies bypass the glycolytic pathway in the cytoplasm and are metabolized directly to acetyl CoA in the mitochondria.

The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet with adequate protein and calories originally developed in the 1920s as a treatment for intractable epilepsy.(23) The traditional ketogenic diet is a 4:1 formulation of fat content to carbohydrate plus protein. (23) A classic 4:1 ketogenic diet delivers 90% of its calories from fat, 8% from protein and only 2% from carbohydrate. Ketogenic diets of the 1920s and 1930s were extremely bland and restrictive diets and, therefore, prone to noncompliance. In recent years, alternative keto-genic protocols have emerged, making adherence to the diet much easier.(24) Alternatives to the traditional keto-genic diet include a medium-chain triglyceride (MCT)-based ketogenic diet and the Akins diet. Compared to long-chain triglycerides, MCTs are more rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream and oxidized for energy because of their ability to passively diffuse through membranes. Another characteristic of MCTs is their unique ability to promote ketone body synthesis in the liver. Thus, adding MCTs to a ketogenic diet would allow significantly more carbohydrates to be included. (24)

Figure 1. Effect of a ketogenic diet and normal and cancer cells.

A ketogenic diet has tumor growth-limiting effects, protects healthy cells from damage by chemotherapy or radiation, accelerates chemotherapeutic toxicity toward cancer cells, and lowers inflammation. (24) Altered availability of glucose and induction of ketosis influence all the classically defined hallmarks of cancer.(25) Weber et al demonstrated that ketogenic diets slow melanoma growth in vivo regardless of tumor genetics and metabolic plasticity. (26) Moreover, ketogenic diets simultaneously affected multiple metabolic pathways to create an unfavorable environment for melanoma cell proliferation. In glioma cancer models a ketogenic diet has been shown to reduce angiogenesis, inflammation, peri-tumoral edema, migration and invasion. (27) Similarly, a ketogenic diet altered the hypoxic response and affects expression of proteins associated with angiogenesis, invasive potential and vascular permeability in a mouse glioma model. (28) The ketogenic diet may work in part as an immune adjuvant, boosting tumor-reactive immune responses in the microenvironment by alleviating immune suppression.(29) A meta-analysis on the use of ketogenic diet in animal models demonstrated significantly prolonged survival time and reduced tumor weight and tumor volume. (30) The ketogenic diet was effective across a broad range of cancers. The ketogenic diet is an effective adjuvant to radiation therapy for the treatment of malignant glioma.(31)

Ketone bodies have been shown to inhibit histone deacetylases and may decrease tumor growth. In addition, the ketone bodyβ-hydroxybutyrate acts as an endogenous histone deacetylase inhibitor, resulting in downstream signaling that protects against oxidative stress. (32-35) Calorie restriction, which lowers blood glucose and elevates blood beta-hydroxybutyrate, reduces nuclear expression of phosphorylated NF-kB (p65), cytosolic expression of phosphorylated IkB, total IkB, and DNA promoter binding activity of activated NF-kB. (36) NF-kB is a major driver of inflammation in the tumor microenvironment.

The randomized controlled trial by Chi et al describes how adhering to a caloric-restricted diet for 6 months can have therapeutic benefits in slowing the growth of prostate cancer. (37) The men in the control group were instructed to avoid any dietary changes, whereas the men in the calorie-restricted group were coached by a dietician to restrict dietary carbohydrates to <20 grams/day. The authors found that elevated levels of serum ketone bodies (3- hydroxy-2- methylbutyric acid) at both 3 and 6 months were associated with significantly longer prostate cancer antigen doubling time (p < 0.0001), which is a marker of prostate cancer growth rate.

Similarly, in a post hoc exploratory analysis of the CAPS2 randomized study the PSA doubling time was significantly longer in the low carbohydrate diet versus control diet (28 vs. 13 months, P = 0.021) arms.(38) These findings support the concept that elevations in ketone bodies are associated with reduced tumor growth. In a randomized trial in women with endometrial or ovarian a ketogenic diet was associated with a significant improvement in physical function scores with less fatigue.(39) In this study the ketogenic diet resulted in the selective loss of fat mass, retention of lean mass with lower fasting serum insulin levels. (40) In a randomized controlled trial Khodabakshi et al determined the feasibility, safety, and beneficial effects of an MCT-based Ketogenic diet in patients with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer and planned chemotherapy. (41) Compared to the control group, fasting blood glucose, BMI, body weight, and fat% were significantly decreased in intervention group (P < 0.001). Overall survival in neoadjuvant patients was higher in the ketogenic group compared to the control (P = 0.04).

A ketogenic diet following completed courses of chemotherapy and radiotherapy was further reported to be associated with long-term survival in a patient with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. (42) “Long-term” survival has been reported in patients with glioblastoma on a ketogenic diet. (42, 43) Furthermore, evidence shows that therapeutic ketosis can act synergistically with conventional chemotherapeutic drugs, irradiation, and surgery to enhance cancer management, thus improving both progression-free and overall survival. (43) In addition, it is highly likely that therapeutic ketosis acts synergistically with the repurposed anticancer drugs reviewed in this document. Therapeutic ketosis requires a blood glucose < 90 mg/dl and a blood ketone > 2 mmol/l, aiming for a Glucose-Ketone Index < 2. (44) There are no known drugs that can simultaneously target as many tumor-associated signaling pathways as can calorie restriction. Hence, energy restriction can be a cost-effective adjuvant therapy to traditional chemo- or radiation therapies, which are more toxic, costly, and generally less focused in their therapeutic action than dietary energy restriction. It should be noted that the medium-chain fatty acids that are present during the consumption of a ketogenic diet directly inhibit glutamate receptors. (45) Shukla et al observed reduced glycolytic flux in tumor cells upon treatment with ketone bodies. Ketone bodies also diminished glutamine uptake, overall ATP content, and survival in multiple pancreatic cancer cell lines, while inducing apoptosis. (46)

According to Dr. Seyfried: “Most human metastatic cancers have multiple characteristics of macrophages. We found that neoplastic cells with macrophage characteristics are heavily dependent on glutamine for growth. We have not yet found any tumor cell that can survive for very long under prolonged restriction of glucose and glutamine. Furthermore, we have not yet found any fatty acid or ketone body that can replace either glucose or glutamine as a growth metabolite. It, therefore, becomes essential to simultaneously restrict both glucose and glutamine while placing the person in nutritional ketosis for successful cancer management.”

Although dietary energy restriction and anti-glycolytic cancer drugs will have therapeutic efficacy against many tumors that depend largely on glycolysis and glucose for growth, these therapeutic approaches could be less effective against those tumor cells that depend more heavily on glutamine than on glucose for energy. Glutamine is a major energy metabolite for many tumor cells and especially for cells of hematopoietic or myeloid lineage. Green tea polyphenol (EGCG) targets glutamine metabolism by inhibiting glutamate dehydrogenase activity under low glucose conditions (see section below). (47-52) In addition, mebendazole, curcumin and resveratrol inhibit glutaminolysis. (53, 54) Glioblastoma, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, and lymphoma may depend on glutamine as a source of energy. (53)

REAL FOOD: THE BANTING DIET

Patients are strongly recommended to eat “real food” and not processed food. If it looks like food, it is likely food. If it comes in a box or carton, has a food label, and/or a long list of chemicals and additives with long and complex names it is not food. A high proportion of the population (60-80%) eating a Western diet are addicted to processed food. (55) Processed food addiction is a recognized “substance use disorder” (SUD) and should be treated as such.(55) Animal experiments demonstrate that sugar and fructose are more addictive than cocaine and heroin and that carbohydrate addicts demonstrated many of the behaviors of those with an SUD. (55) Results from the NutriNet-Santé prospective cohort study demonstrated that a 10% increase in the proportion of ultra-processed foods in the diet was associated with a significant increase of greater than 10% in risks of overall and breast cancer.(56) The EPIC Cohort study investigated the association between dietary intake according to amount of food processing and risk of cancer at 25 anatomical sites using data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. (57) In this study, in a multivariate model, substitution of 10% of processed foods with an equal amount of minimally processed foods was associated with reduced risk of overall cancer (hazard ratio 0·96, 95% CI 0·95-0·97), head and neck cancers (0·80, 0·75-0·85), oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (0·57, 0·51-0·64), colon cancer (0·88, 0·85-0·92), rectal cancer (0·90, 0·85-0·94), hepatocellular carcinoma (0·77, 0·68-0·87), and postmenopausal breast cancer (0·93, 0·90-0·97).

Figure 2. Real Food as per the Update Dietary Guidelines for Americans

The Banting Diet comes close to meeting the criteria of the ideal real-food diet. (58-60) William Banting (1796-1878), a Victorian undertaker, is regarded as the father of the low-carbohydrate diet. In 1863, Banting wrote a booklet called Letter on Corpulence, Address to the Public, which contained the particular plan for the diet he followed. (58, 60) It was written as an open letter in the form of a personal testimonial. Banting accounted for all his unsuccessful fasts, diets, spas, and exercise regimens in his past. His previously unsuccessful attempts had been on the advice of various medical experts. He then described the dietary change that finally had worked for him, following the advice of another medical expert. “My kind and valued medical adviser is not a doctor for obesity, but stands on the pinnacle of fame in the treatment of another malady, which, as he well knows, is frequently induced by [corpulence].” His own diet consisted of meat, greens, fruits, and dry wine. The emphasis was on avoiding sugar, saccharine matter, starch, beer, and milk. Banting’s pamphlet was popular for years to come and would be used as a model for modern diets.

Figure 3. What real food look like!

The Banting diet consists mainly of animal protein (including poultry, eggs, and fish), saturated animal fats (including lard, duck fat, and butter), coconut oil, olive oil, and macadamia oil, some cheeses and dairy products, some nuts and seeds, fresh vegetables grown mainly above the ground and a few berries. (59) The Banting diet excludes all processed “food”, pre-packed, boxed, and “food” in wrappers as well as “fast food”. It excludes all foods with sugar, fructose, and maltose as well as grain products (wheat, barley, oats, rye) and soy products. (59) Soy products are genetically modified, toxic non-foods. (59) Replace all seed oils (canola, sunflower, safflower, cottonseed, soy) with healthy saturated fats; extra virgin olive oil and virgin coconut oil are freely encouraged. High-fat dairy products are suggested and not skimmed or fat-free dairy.

A continuous glucose monitor (CGM) is essential for tracking blood glucose levels. Patients should keep detailed records to identify and avoid foods that spike glucose. The target fasting range is 60-80 mg/dL (3.3-4.4 mmol/L), with postprandial (after a meal) glucose remaining under 120 mg/dL (6.6 mmol/L). Ideally, glucose levels should remain flat, with post-meal increases limited to 20 mg/dL.

A blood ketone meter is also recommended to confirm entry into ketosis by measuring β-hydroxybutyrate. Levels below 0.5 mmol/L indicate nonketotic status under normal dietary conditions. Therapeutic ketosis typically requires a blood ketone level above 2 mmol/L, with an optimal range of 3-5 mmol/L. Monitoring changes in both blood glucose and ketones during fasting and physical activity is essential. Therapeutic ketosis is formally defined as a blood glucose level of less than 90 mg/dL, a blood ketone level greater than 2 mmol/L, and a target GKI of less than 2. (44)

The GKI can be calculated at: https://keto-mojo.com/glucose-ketone-index-gki/ and https://perfectketo.com/glucose-ketone-index-calculator/

Insulin Resistance as a Driver of Cancer Progression

Insulin resistance (IR) is not merely a metabolic disorder; it is a biologically active driver of cancer progression. Through hyperinsulinemia, activation of the insulin/IGF-1 axis, chronic inflammation, altered adipokine signaling, and metabolic reprogramming, IR creates a systemic and microenvironmental milieu that promotes tumor growth, invasion, therapeutic resistance, and recurrence.

1. Biological Basis

1.1 Hyperinsulinemia as a Growth Signal

In insulin resistance, peripheral tissues (muscle, liver, adipose) become less responsive to insulin. The pancreas compensates by increasing insulin secretion, resulting in chronic hyperinsulinemia.

Insulin is a potent mitogen. It activates:

• Insulin receptor (IR-A isoform, frequently overexpressed in cancers)

• Insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R)

These receptors stimulate:

• PI3K → AKT → mTOR pathway

• RAS → RAF → MAPK pathway

Both are central oncogenic signaling cascades that drive:

• Cell proliferation

• Inhibition of apoptosis

• Angiogenesis

• Protein synthesis

• Cell survival

Hyperinsulinemia also reduces hepatic production of IGF-binding proteins, increasing bioavailable IGF-1, further amplifying proliferative signaling.

2. Metabolic Reprogramming

Cancer cells exhibit the Warburg effect (aerobic glycolysis). Insulin resistance contributes by:

• Increasing circulating glucose

• Increasing circulating insulin

• Increasing lipid flux (free fatty acids)

• Enhancing hepatic gluconeogenesis

This metabolic environment:

• Provides abundant fuel for tumor metabolism

• Promotes mitochondrial remodeling

• Supports cancer stem cell survival

High insulin levels also enhance glucose transporter (GLUT) expression, facilitating tumor glucose uptake.

3. Inflammation and the Tumor Microenvironment

Insulin resistance is tightly linked to chronic low-grade inflammation.

Key mediators include:

• TNF-α

• IL-6

• NF-κB activation

• CRP elevation

Adipose tissue in IR becomes infiltrated with pro-inflammatory macrophages, producing cytokines that:

• Promote epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT)

• Enhance invasion and metastasis

• Suppress anti-tumor immune responses

Systemic inflammation also contributes to elevated neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), which correlates with worse oncologic outcomes.

4. Adipokines and Hormonal Effects

Table 1. Insulin resistance alters adipokine signaling:

In hormone-sensitive cancers (e.g., breast, endometrial), hyperinsulinemia also:

• Increases aromatase activity

• Decreases sex hormone-binding globulin

• Raises bioavailable estrogen

5. Clinical Evidence Linking IR to Cancer Progression

Insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia are associated with:

• Increased risk of breast, colorectal, pancreatic, endometrial, liver cancers

• Higher recurrence rates

• Increased cancer-specific mortality

• Reduced response to chemotherapy and immunotherapy

Particularly strong associations exist in:

• Triple-negative breast cancer

• Colorectal cancer

• Hepatocellular carcinoma

Elevated fasting insulin and HOMA-IR correlate with worse survival across multiple malignancies.

6. Therapeutic Implications

Addressing insulin resistance may:

• Reduce proliferative signaling

• Improve immune surveillance

• Enhance response to chemotherapy

• Potentially improve response to immune checkpoint inhibitors

Strategies include:

• Carbohydrate restriction

• Intermittent fasting

• Weight reduction

• Exercise (improves insulin sensitivity independent of weight loss)

• Metformin (AMPK activation, mTOR inhibition)

• GLP-1 receptor agonists (emerging data)

Figure 4. Consequences of insulin resistance

In part 2 of this series I will review what foods you should eat and what foods to avoid. I will also review time restricted eating and fasting.

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