Reducing Insulin, Growth Hormones, and Tumors

The objective of this project is to compare the effect of two widely implemented cancer diets, differing drastically in macronutrient content, on biomarkers of inflammation, compared to a control diet. Diet A will be a low-carbohydrate, high-fat ketogenic-type diet with an emphasis on whole foods. By limiting carbohydrate, the diet will have an extremely low glycemic load, thereby minimizing diurnal glucose and insulin excursions. Diet B will be a low-fat, high-carbohydrate whole foods plant-based diet. It will include only fiber-rich, low-glycemic index sources of carbohydrates and largely eliminate animal protein, which will minimize rapid spikes in blood glucose and insulin and the production of IGF-1. This diet is also hypothesized to improve glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity, which should further help minimize diurnal glycemic and insulinemic excursions. Both diets will be compared to a control diet based on the 2015 USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans (Diet C) in patients suffering from advanced lung cancer as they are completing medical therapy. The overarching hypothesis motivating this work is that a nutrient dense diet that minimizes known factors involved in tumor growth and progression may improve the effectiveness of therapy. Our specific hypothesis is that participants following either of the experimental diets, A or B, will experience a reduction in biomarkers of insulin resistance and chronic inflammation, both of which are known risk factors for progression in lung cancer, and a greater median time to progression compared to those on the control diet (Diet C).