Ketogenic Diet - Powerful Dietary Strategy for Certain Conditions

[nicklebleu]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

Hi Piotr,

Very sorry to hear from Joanna's problem.

KD has been shown to improve epilepsy in almost all patients. However it takes some time for the body to adapt, I would say at least a month or so - and Joanna will not feel well during the transition phase. My advice would be to lower carbs as quickly as possible. We don't generally recommend to do this fast, however in Joana's case time is more of the essence. And also make sure she doesn't consume any of the EVIL 4: gluten, dairy, corn, soy.

Another thing that I would try if I was in Joanna's situation is high dose liposomal vitamin C. You can google "liposomal vitamin C" on the net to see how it is manufactured (it's relatively easy) - there is also a thread here that discusses pros and cons and how to do it.

Let me explain why I think so: Tumor cells are different than normal cells in as much as they can only use glucose for energy. They lack the biochemistry to live on ketone bodies. Hence a KD will probably slow down tumor progression. The body will always produce some glucose but it will slow down the process.

On top of that vitamin C uses the same transport mechanism into cells as glucose does. So if you feed your body high amounts of vitamin C, the tumor cells will ingest it in large amounts. Again here the difference between them and normal cells is that they cannot metabolise vitamin C and build up toxic levels inside their cells and die - it's like some kind of natural chemotherapy.

The problem is to get high enough levels of vitamin C into your body. There are two ways: intravenous or liposomal. Intravenous requires a doctor to apply, which might be difficult to find. Liposomal is nearly as efficient and can be done at home (you need an ultrasonic cleaner for that which can be bought for around 100 euro or less on the net). Just to ingest normal oral vitamin C doesn't work because you will develop diarrhoea long before you have sufficiently high levels in your blood as there is a natural limit as to how much vitamin C can be absorbed by the gut.

If i was Joanna, I personally would manufacture liposomal vitamin C and ingest a few grams every 2 hours for as long as it takes. I would try to get at least 50 grams of vitamin C into my body per day, possibly more.

Another avenue (especially if you go down the route of ingesting high levels of vitamin C) is to check your iron stores. Have a doctor measure her iron panel, she might be high in iron too and might benefit from some blood letting.

The other thing is to ingest high doses of selenium - I would take 150 - 200 mcg per day for the next few months. It's a dose that you shouldn't take forever, but in this situation I would do it for a while. Also magnesium would be advisable in as high a dose as possible, maybe even transdermal (spraying magnesium chloride - so called magnesium oil - onto skin a few times per day) and i would also try to up my vitamin D levels (in conjunction with vitamin K levels).

Anyway, just my thoughts, interested to hear what others think.

 

[LQB]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

As I said, I didn't get through all pages of this treat, but I feel like time is running out. I'm sure you know more than I, so if you have any suggestions, tips, links, I am open to all.
If you need more details I can provide them.

Hi Piotr - I'm very sorry to hear about Joanna's suffering.

I'm familiar with the great benefits of the KD for epileptics (particularly children). These cases are not usually associated with glioma or surgical damage, but since the KD is neuroprotective, it should yield good benefit in terms of reduced seizures. A month on KD may not be near enough to gain this benefit. I do know that the KD for epileptics is severely carb-restricted. The questions I have are:

Exactly what is she eating?
Have gluten and dairy been eliminated from her diet? (It may take months for benefits to show)
Is the glioma possibly associated with cell phone use?
Does she take care to maintain a low-level electromagnetic environment?
Is she still taking seizure pills/meds?

From what you have said, it sounds like she needs to keep her spirits up by getting proactive with her diet and environment - and not expect immediate improvement with the KD. In the meantime, it would be helpful if you can read the entire thread as well as the book, Primal Body Primal Mind.

I am also aware of numerous anecdotal cases where brain tumors have been quickly and successfully treated with cesium carbonate which destroys tumor cells through the action of the cesium ions (non-radioactive).

 

[Gaby]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

Hello Piotr,

I'm sorry to hear about your girlfriend's problem. Seizures due to these tumors might be somewhat rebellious to treatment, but I would definitely persist on the ketogenic diet because it works better than any prescription pill she might be taking for seizures.

I checked the orthomolecular organization for practitioners in Germany, and there is this neurologist who can give IV vitamin C in high doses or any other nutrient. If he is a neurologist, he certainly has experience with the course evolution of this type of tumor cell and its clinical symptoms:

_http://orthomolecular.org/resources/pract.shtml#ger

Germany

Name: Dr.Wenzel
Academic Degrees/Certifications: MD
Clinic: Dr.Wenzel
Address: Diezerstr.14
City: Limburg
State:
Zip: 65549
Country: Germany
Phone: 06431-8015
Email: Dr.Wenzel@Dr-Wenzel.com
WebSite : www.Dr-Wenzel-Limburg.de
Summary : I am practising orthomolecular medicine since about 20 years and wrote a book on trace-elements and their theoretical and practical significance first in german language and according to american friens in english - first issued on the ISOM-conference 2005. I attend this anual conference since many years and lectured there already twice - especially to the field of my daily work as a neurologist and psychiatrist.

Might be worth checking out, perhaps it is cover by her social insurance? As an orthomolecular practitioner, he will likely respect any choice of not receiving radiotherapy and the like.

Hugs!

 

[SeekinTruth]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

Sorry to hear about Joanna's health problems, Piotr.

I agree with having to give longer time to see the benefits of the ketogenic diet. Also, it is very important to eliminate gluten (all grains, really) and dairy, and soy. One other thing to consider looking into is to take the amino acid Taurine as a supplement because it has strong anti-convulsive effect. I'm not sure if it will be helpful for tumor caused seizures, but thought I'd mention it.

Also agree with high dose Vitamin C (liposomal and/or intravenous) and can also try eating 15 to 20 apricot kernels per day for the vitamin B17 which is know to have a strong anti-tumor/anti-cancer effect. Hope this helps with some more ideas.

 

[Piotr]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

Hi,

Thank you for the reply guys. I forgot to mention one thing which might be important, on 18 of September Joanna had another MRT and it turned out the tumor came back and grew 10% from the last MRT. Since the doctor said, there is nothing significant to consider as tumor it looks like he was wrong in part, and there had to be a very small one. And he grow by 10%. On the last visit with doctor he said the tumor is one of the unpredictable, he can stop growing, can grow slowly or even grew very fast.

I will pass your answers and suggestions to Joanna and give you a replay for your questions as soon as possible.

Peter

 

[Vic]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

Mainstream media are latching on to the truth about diet -

 

[Laura]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

Piotr, I've collected together a selection of articles that we have archived on sott about ketogenic diet and health issues. They are on my FB wall as comments to the recent article about Sweden changing its mind about low fat diets.

Alternatively, you could just go to sott.net, use the search box and type in "ketogenic" and then read the whole selection there and print them out for your girlfriend and her doctor.

 

[Lindenlea]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

Mainstream media are latching on to the truth about diet -

There was also a similar article in The Sun today (my brother in law's must have daily newspaper ). I'm paraphrasing my sister as she read it out to me, she knows my diet requirements and uses butter herself all of the time. Apparently a heart surgeon of 40 years is convinced saturated fat is good for you and not the low fat foods.

Slowly but surely as more health specialists speak out and main stream media is prepared to print their findings, people will start to listen. Or will they??

 

[dugdeep]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

Here's the original editorial by cardiologist Aseem Malhotra that all these different MSM articles are reporting on.

http://www.bmj.com/content/347/bmj.f6340

[quote author= BMJ 2013;347:f6340]

Scientists universally accept that trans fats—found in many fast foods, bakery products, and margarines—increase the risk of cardiovascular disease through inflammatory processes.1 But “saturated fat” is another story. The mantra that saturated fat must be removed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease has dominated dietary advice and guidelines for almost four decades.

Yet scientific evidence shows that this advice has, paradoxically, increased our cardiovascular risks. Furthermore, the government’s obsession with levels of total cholesterol, which has led to the overmedication of millions of people with statins, has diverted our attention from the more egregious risk factor of atherogenic dyslipidaemia.

Saturated fat has been demonised ever since Ancel Keys’s landmark “seven countries” study in 1970.2 This concluded that a correlation existed between the incidence of coronary heart disease and total cholesterol concentrations, which then correlated with the proportion of energy provided by saturated fat. But correlation is not causation. Nevertheless, we were advised to cut fat intake to 30% of total energy and saturated fat to 10%.”3 The aspect of dietary saturated fat that is believed to have the greatest influence on cardiovascular risk is elevated concentrations of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. Yet the reduction in LDL cholesterol from reducing saturated fat intake seems to be specific to large, buoyant (type A) LDL particles, when in fact it is the small, dense (type B) particles (responsive to carbohydrate intake) that are implicated in cardiovascular disease.4

Indeed, recent prospective cohort studies have not supported any significant association between saturated fat intake and cardiovascular risk.5 Instead, saturated fat has been found to be protective. The source of the saturated fat may be important. Dairy foods are exemplary providers of vitamins A and D. As well as a link between vitamin D deficiency and a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular mortality, calcium and phosphorus found commonly in dairy foods may have antihypertensive effects that may contribute to inverse associations with cardiovascular risk.6 7 8 One study showed that higher concentrations of plasma trans-palmitoleic acid, a fatty acid mainly found in dairy foods, was associated with higher concentrations of high density lipoprotein, lower concentrations of triglycerides and C reactive protein, reduced insulin resistance, and a lower incidence of diabetes in adults.9 Red meat is another major source of saturated fat. Consumption of processed meats, but not red meat, has been associated with coronary heart disease and diabetes mellitus, which may be explained by nitrates and sodium as preservatives.10

The notoriety of fat is based on its higher energy content per gram in comparison with protein and carbohydrate. However, work by the biochemist Richard Feinman and nuclear physicist Eugene Fine on thermodynamics and the metabolic advantage of different diet compositions showed that the body did not metabolise different macronutrients in the same way.11 Kekwick and Pawan carried out one of the earliest obesity experiments, published in the Lancet in 1956.12 They compared groups consuming diets of 90% fat, 90% protein, and 90% carbohydrate and showed that the greatest weight loss was in the fat consuming group. The authors concluded that the “composition of the diet appeared to outweigh in importance the intake of calories.”

The “calorie is not a calorie” theory has been further substantiated by a recent JAMA study showing that a “low fat” diet resulted in the greatest decrease in energy expenditure, an unhealthy lipid pattern, and increased insulin resistance in comparison with a low carbohydrate and low glycaemic index diet.13 In the past 30 years in the United States the proportion of energy from consumed fat has fallen from 40% to 30% (although absolute fat consumption has remained the same), yet obesity has rocketed.

One reason: when you take the fat out, the food tastes worse. The food industry compensated by replacing saturated fat with added sugar. The scientific evidence is mounting that sugar is a possible independent risk factor for the metabolic syndrome (the cluster of hypertension, dysglycaemia, raised triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, and increased waist circumference).

In previous generations cardiovascular disease existed largely in isolation. Now two thirds of people admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction really have metabolic syndrome—but 75% of these patients have completely normal total cholesterol concentrations.14 Maybe this is because total cholesterol isn’t really the problem?

The Framingham heart study sanctified total cholesterol as a risk factor for coronary artery disease, making statins the second most prescribed drug in the US and driving a multibillion dollar global industry. In the United Kingdom eight million people take statins regularly, up from five million 10 years ago. With 60 million statin prescriptions a year, it is difficult to demonstrate any additional effect of statins on reduced cardiovascular mortality over the effects of the decline in smoking prevalence and primary angioplasty.15

Despite the common belief that high cholesterol is a significant risk factor for coronary artery disease, several independent population studies in healthy adults have shown that low total cholesterol is associated with cardiovascular and non-cardiac mortality, indicating that high total cholesterol is not a risk factor in a healthy population.16 17 18

A recent “real world” study of 150 000 patients who were taking statins showed “unacceptable” side effects—including myalgia, gastrointestinal upset, sleep and memory disturbance, and erectile dysfunction—in 20% of participants, resulting in discontinuation of the drug.19 This is massively at odds with the major statin trials that report significant side effects of myopathy or muscle pain in only one in 10 000.

A meta-analysis of predominantly industry sponsored data reported that in a low risk group of people aged 60-70 years taking statins the number needed to treat (NNT) to prevent one cardiovascular event in one year was 345.20 The strongest evidence base for statins is in secondary prevention, where all patients after a myocardial infarction are prescribed maximum dose treatment irrespective of total cholesterol, because of statins’ anti-inflammatory or pleiotropic (coronary plaque stabilising) effects. In this group the NNT is 83 for mortality over five years. This doesn’t mean that each patient benefits a little but rather that 82 will receive no prognostic benefit.21 The fact that no other cholesterol lowering drug has shown a benefit in terms of mortality supports the hypothesis that the benefits of statins are independent of their effects on cholesterol.

Adopting a Mediterranean diet after a heart attack is almost three times as powerful in reducing mortality as taking a statin. The recently published PREDIMED randomised controlled trial was stopped early after it showed that in high risk people the Mediterranean diet achieved a 30% improvement over a “low fat” diet in terms of cardiovascular events.22

Pharmacotherapy can assuage the symptoms but can’t alter the pathophysiology. Doctors need to embrace prevention as well as treatment. The greatest improvements in morbidity and mortality have been due not to personal responsibility but rather to public health. It is time to bust the myth of the role of saturated fat in heart disease and wind back the harms of dietary advice that has contributed to obesity. [/quote]

 

[nicklebleu]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

Brilliant documentary (part 1) on Catalyst, ABC Australia about the cholesterol myth.
Well researched with some of our well known researchers coming to word.
Apparently it was one of the most watched TV pieces that day ...

Watch the documentary online at http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/3876219.htm.

Next week will be part 2: Statins - can't wait!

 

[Piotr]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

Hi
I passed your informations to Joanna. Here is here feedback:
Last time J. eat gluten was on spring this ear. Dairy on the summer, the day before epilepsy attack (June). She don't eat any chemical artificial supplements. Basically we were restricting gluten and dairy for about 2 years, but it wasn't free of gluten and dairy all the time.
On the morning J. eats one clove of garlic. Drinks juice mad of: leafs of parsley, celery, ginger, half of lemon, wheat grass and linseed oil. Its squeezed out by using hand machine special for that kind of thing.
On the evening, juice made of: carrot, ginger, half of lemon and linseed oil.
In the mean time, during the day she also takes few spoons of linseed oil.
On the afternoon also additional one clove of garlic
Garlic she added not so long time ago. She says, she eats mostly green vegetables, and one onion per day (small one in the salad).
Meal are mostly made of those products:
Cucumber, green paprika, lettuce(green salad), eggs, pork, chicken wings, fishes: salmon and hake (rarely), all fried on lard. Also sometimes she eats half of an apple and sometimes kiwi fruit. Also drinks 2-3 cups of green tea, eats cashew nuts, almonds, pine seeds and sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds (small amounts). Rarely she tries smoke weed.
She said, she feels like there hormone levels are regulating. She have regular period (didn't have that for a long time).
For epilepsy attacks she takes Levetiracetam. 2500mg per day.
Also after or during meal she eats Boswellia from India (not sure if that's correct English equivalent)
spices: all natural
She also added that she is afraid of going outside, all the time sits at home.
Cell phone is used rarely (texting mostly). In the past she used it much more often. Wi-Fi web is pretty huge around, many neighbors use it. She lives in the multifamily house. She alone use Wi-Fi connection to internet.
Basically She feels weak, eats less lastly.
Liposomal Vitamin C sounds good, but I don't want to force Joana. As she feels like she lost hope, she doesn't feel to have much more strength to do more than she did already. Beside physical well being she goes deeper into depression.

Thank you guys for informations and your suggestions! Thank you Laura, found it.
If you want to, I can give you more info after a while, if there will an progression. If you need more details, I'll be glad to give them.
Best regards and see you around!
Peter

 

[monotonic]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

The menstruation cycle can change on a low-carb diet. Periods are less often. As I recall it is 4 per year instead of 12; this is observed in societies still eating a low-carb ancestral diet.

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,25482.0.html

I'm sure others will have advice on diet changes.

 

[dugdeep]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

Hi
I passed your informations to Joanna. Here is here feedback:

{snip}

Thank you guys for informations and your suggestions! Thank you Laura, found it.
If you want to, I can give you more info after a while, if there will an progression. If you need more details, I'll be glad to give them.
Best regards and see you around!
Peter

I might be sounding a bit like a broken record here since I keep reiterating it, but it sounds like J. is not eating enough fat. Remember that as you lower carbohydrates, you need to replace that energy source with something. That something is fat.

Here's what I wrote to Eboard in another thread recently (slightly modified here). I think you should follow the same advice to make sure you guys are eating the right amount of fat:
[quote author=dugdeep]
The cultural programming on fat consumption affects us all at a very deep level so that, at least at first until you can break the programming, you often have to force yourself to consume enough. And yes, if your body isn't getting enough calories, it will start to cannibalize lean tissue.

I know people are resistant to the idea, but it's worthwhile to measure out what you're eating a couple of times to get an idea of where you stand. A lot of times, once things are weighed out, we realize that we weren't doing near the proper amount when relying on just eye-balling it.

What I would do is calculate what your ideal daily caloric intake is. This is really just a rough estimate because a lot of things need to come into account, but it's usually around 2000 calories. Then I'd take what percentage of that will be taken up by the protein you're eating (sounds like it's around 60 grams for you, which would be 240 calories). The remainder should be filled in with fat (around 1760 calories from fat in this example; close to 200 grams of fat) and a perhaps a small amount of carb. Note that this example yields a need of about 200 grams of fat. As an example so you can visualize it, that's about half a pound of butter per day!

I don't know for sure if this is what's going on with you, but I find that quite often people simply aren't doing enough fat on this diet, so I thought it would be worth mentioning :) I hope it helps.[/quote]

 

[Chu]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

I might be sounding a bit like a broken record here since I keep reiterating it, but it sounds like J. is not eating enough fat. Remember that as you lower carbohydrates, you need to replace that energy source with something. That something is fat.

And there are a few things in her diet, as you listed it, that could be causing her a lot of damage. Tumors feed on sugar, and she is eating fruit and lots of carbohydrates. It would be so good if she was willing to read more about the ketogenic diet and apply some changes accordingly. Remember that actually, this diet was started being studied and implemented because it worked, as early as in the 20s, against epileptic seizures.

Fingers crossed, Piotr!

 

[SeekinTruth]

Re: Ketogenic Diet - Path To Transformation?

I might be sounding a bit like a broken record here since I keep reiterating it, but it sounds like J. is not eating enough fat. Remember that as you lower carbohydrates, you need to replace that energy source with something. That something is fat.

And there are a few things in her diet, as you listed it, that could be causing her a lot of damage. Tumors feed on sugar, and she is eating fruit and lots of carbohydrates. It would be so good if she was willing to read more about the ketogenic diet and apply some changes accordingly. Remember that actually, this diet was started being studied and implemented because it worked, as early as in the 20s, against epileptic seizures.

Fingers crossed, Piotr!

I would have to agree. If it's at all possible to keep net carbohydrates (not including fiber) at around 50 grams or lower and increase grass fed animal fat to around 70% to 80% of daily calories, she might see very big improvements all around within a couple of months - for the seizures and the tumor. Hoping all works out for you and Joanna.