This presentation sums up the evidence regarding Low Carbohydrate Diet and incidence of cancer

1. Low carb diet and cancer. What do
current prospective cohort trials and
randomized risk marker studies show?
21/12/20141 http://twitter.com/pronutritionist
Reijo Laatikainen, Authorized Nutritionist, MBA
http://twitter.com/pronutritionist
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2. Low carb diet likely to increase the risk
of colorectal cancer if it’s animal based
Low Carb
cohorts
• Risk of colorectal cancer 
• Data restricted to men and animal based Low Carb
Diet
Low Carb
RCTs
(surrogate)
• Risk markers of colorectal cancer 
• (low production of short chain fatty acids, decreased
colonisation of healthy bacteria)
Other data
• High intake of red and processed meat is linked to
colorectal in many prospective cohorts
• Low intake of fiber increases the risk of colon cancer
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3. Evidence on colorectal cancer
Low Carb
cohorts
• Fung et al. 2010
Low Carb
RCTs
(surrogate)
• Brinkworth et al. 2010
• Russel et al. 2011
Indirect
data
• Larsson & Volk 2006 (red meat increases risk, meta-analysis),
Gonzales et al. 2010 (red meat increases risk, EPIC study)
• Park et el. 2005 (fiber protects, meta-analysis)
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4. Data on other cancer types (effect and
evidence)
Low Carb cohorts High fat intake High intake of
protein/red meat
Lung cancer Increases
(Fung et al.2010*)
No effect (Gonzales
et al. 2009, Epic
study
No effect (Gonzales
et al. 2009, Epic
study
Breast cancer No effect
(Fung et al.2010*)
No effect*
(Martin et al. 2011,
Prentice 2006#)
No effect (Alexander
et al.2010, meta-
analysis)
Prostate cancer No effect (Fung et
al. 2010?)
Increases?
(Ma&Chapman
2009, meta-
analysis)
No effect (Gonzales
et al. 2009, Epic
study)
*) Only Low Carb cohort to look cancer sub-types
#) Two North American large RCTs breast cancer incidence as end point. Previous meta-analyses of cohort studies
yielded conflicting results
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5. Summary
• Low carb diet is likely to increase the risk of colorectal cancer
at least among men if it is based on animal products,
especially red and processed meat
• Low carb diet is NOT likely to increase breast cancer even if
it’s high in fat
• There is limited evidence to suggest that high fat content of
low carb diet might induce prostate cancer
• In two large cohorts low carb diet is also linked to overall
cancer mortality (Trichopoulou et al. 2007, Fung et al 2010)
• Risk marker studies results are in line with cohort outcomes.
Production of short chain fatty acids is reduced and amount of
healthy bacteria in gut are reduced during a low carb diet
21.12.20145 http://twitter.com/pronutritionist

6. Palaeolithic diet improves satiety and
can improve many metabolic
parameters. However, the changes in
the composition of diets used in
clinical studies are smaller than
commonly proposed in ancestral diets.
21/12/20146
http://twitter.com/pronutritionist
Reijo Laatikainen, Authorized Nutritionist, MBA
http://twitter.com/pronutritionist
http://www.facebook.com/pronutritionist