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Comment by garyclarke27 | Hacker News Reader

A low carb diet has been proven to inhibit the development of most cancers, because of their huge requirement for glucose. The obvious conclusion from this research is that low carb AND low protein diet is the best option to inhibit cancer. Kind of also supports leading bio hackers such as Dave Asprey creator of Bulletproof coffee. His podcasts are brilliant, they have made a big impression on me - as a result I've switched to a higher fat less protein less carbs diet and feel much better for it and i have far more energy.

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This does not explain how people in rural China that eat mostly carbs with very little fat and consume 25% calories more per body mass than westerners have noticeably less rates of most cancers. Only their rate for stomach cancer is significantly elevated compared with Western levels.

What are their exposures to toxins? Are they genetically more or less prone to certain cancers?

Do you have a citation for this?

See http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/food-in-china-vari...

- it discuss results of studies in China from 1980-1990 that showed that regions in China where people consumed pretty much all calories from rice or vegetables or those where people do eat a lot of meat have similar cancer rates making highly problematic any claim that excessive carbo is associated with increased cancer risk.

The China Study by T. Colin Campbell PhD.

Lots of other factors that are different between urban and rural living. Better air quality, getting more sun, more sleep, less stress, more exercise.

And as for the stomach cancer, there is some research about this; I read an article ( can't find the link now, sorry ), but lack of glucose means the stomach is starved for mucous and thus leads to higher incidences of stomach cancers.

This guy advocates for keto by cutting sugar http://quantifiedself.com/2015/12/effects-year-ketosis-jim-m...

He measures a lot of molecules in his blood streams and noticed reduced inflammation amongts other benefits.

I find his short talk nice and detailed although I'm a total newcomer.

I would be very careful in making such judgment. If you have a cancer which is stealing the available protein from other cells, reducing the total amount of protein might reduce the cancer growth or it might just reduce the already declining supply for the healthy cells.

Bulletproof coffee is a scam.

Better described as Bulletbroof buttery strange drink that bears little resemblance to coffee.

It's a modern take on Tibetan butter tea. Sure, the Bulletproof-branded stuff is high-priced snake oil, but there does seem to be a historically recognized synergy with the primary constituents of the beverage.

>historically recognized synergy with the primary constituents

hot coffee or tea with bagel with thick layer of good quality, ie. high fat, butter on it. In poor student times - replace bagel with black rye bread and butter with piece of salted pork fat. The same synergy hits the same spot :)

And yet in this week's nature is an article linking high dietary fat to intestinal and colorectal cancers. Don't base your diet on someone's podcast, especially if they're trying to sell you something.

Exactly this. Check out http://nutritionfacts.org/ on this topic - there is a load of peer reviewed research for your purveying pleasure.

>The obvious conclusion from this research is that low carb AND low protein diet is the best option to inhibit cancer.

another obvious related conclusion is to couple it with good oxygenation (ie. physical workout, etc..) as low carb/glucose with good oxygenation would provide enough energy for healthy cells where is cancer cells would be starving.

There are at least two reasons that cancer prefer energy from fermenting glucose and using glutamine. First, both molecules provide readily available energy that is easy to import quickly. Second, fermentation avoids using the mitochondria, which, in addition to being the cell's powerhouse, is also its executioner by way of apoptosis.

"A low carb diet has been proven to inhibit the development of most cancers"

I am curious. Do you have a link to this proof?

to all the people wasting comments' space and people's attention with pointless [even more so when they are trying to make a point by making such a request] requests for links - there is Google for that.

For example : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21673053 and NIH has a lot of other similar stuff if you're really curious.

"Although our work strongly suggests that cancer can be treated and/or prevented by limiting BG, some caution must be exercised in extrapolating our results to humans."

"potential of being both a novel cancer prophylactic and treatment, warranting further investigation of its applicability"

This is solid work, but the authors are shying away from claiming a proof. Indeed, simple Xenograft experiments in genetically modified mouse models, as the researchers conducted, do not always prove a concept.

Citation, please. Not from someone who sells products, either. A low-carb diet makes no sense, because cancer-fighting fruits and vegetables, for example, are mostly carbs, whereas foods typically associated with high-fat eating (namely: meat, dairy) are proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to be a major catalyst of various cancers.

Bottom line: the healthiest diets are those that revolve around whole plant foods.

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