A seminal latest study has found that a ketogenic food regimen can combat chemotherapy-induced low-platelet count.
The study, published within the journal Science Translational Medicine, advertised the ketogenic food regimen as a nontoxic and cheap a part of cancer therapy. A ketogenic food regimen is a high-fat, high-protein, and low-carbohydrate eating plan.
Platelets are blood cells that assist in forming blood clots. Thrombocytopenia is a condition characterised by low platelet levels within the body.
Chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia is a side effect that may raise complications in cancer patients and in addition prove life-threatening. Attributable to the complication, there may be an increased risk of bleeding, which regularly dissuades doctors from continuing chemotherapy.
“Therapeutic options for chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia are limited by severe opposed effects and high economic burdens,” the lead creator of the study, Dr. Sisi Xie, was quoted as saying by MedicalXpress.
In line with the researchers, currently, 1 in 10 patients undergoing chemotherapy develops thrombocytopenia.
“We show that ketogenic diets alleviate chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia in each animals and humans without causing thrombocytosis,” Xie noted. thrombocytosis, unlike thrombocytopenia, is a condition through which there may be a surplus of platelets within the body.
In other words, the ketogenic food regimen hits the sweet spot of platelet levels within the body.
The high-fat food regimen led to a change within the bone marrow, boosting circulating platelets, the study found.
“A ketogenesis-promoting food regimen alleviated chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia in mouse models. Furthermore, a ketogenic food regimen modestly increased platelet counts without causing thrombocytosis in healthy [human] volunteers.” Xie added.
A ketogenic food regimen for per week raised platelet counts inside secure levels in five healthy volunteers, the study found. Moreover, the researchers analyzed retrospective data from 28 cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and located that 17 patients on a keto food regimen had comparatively higher platelet counts and lower occurrences of chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia.
Currently, medical treatment for thrombocytopenia, including platelet transfusions and recombinant therapies, are either expensive or have a high risk of unwanted effects.
The research team cautioned that further large-scale clinical studies are needed to validate their results.
One other study on a specific chemotherapy drug, ifosfamide, found the drug’s toxic effects will be passed on to the third generation of offspring.
“The findings suggest that if a patient receives chemotherapy, after which later has children, that their grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren, can have an increased disease susceptibility resulting from their ancestors’ chemotherapy exposure,” Michael Skinner, a WSU biologist and corresponding creator on the study, said. Nonetheless, the researchers don’t need people to avoid chemotherapy as a consequence of the outcomes of the study, because it is kind of an efficient treatment for cancer.