The molecular mechanism by which a low-calorie diet slows the growth of tumors has been discovered: not only does it starve them by cutting sugars, but it also slows down their proliferation by reducing the supply of lipids necessary for the construction of new cell membranes.
This is demonstrated by a study conducted on mice at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The findings, published in Nature, do not imply that cancer patients should follow one diet rather than another, but they help to understand how nutrition affects disease evolution, pointing to new molecular targets for drug development. that can mimic the same action.
Cancer cells consume large amounts of glucose and for this reason the MIT researchers tried to see if their growth can be slowed down through two low-sugar diets: a low-calorie diet and a ketogenic diet (low in sugar but high in fat and proteins).
The experimentation on mice with pancreatic cancer has shown that caloric restriction has a greater effect on the disease and this has led to the hypothesis that there was another factor to be taken into account in addition to sugar: lipids, crucial for the formation of new cell membranes. .
Both diets tested have been shown to reduce the production of monounsaturated fatty acids inside the cell, inhibiting the activity of the Stearoyl-CoA desaturase enzyme: with the ketogenic diet, however, the cell is able to counterbalance the loss by importing fatty acids from 'outside, while with the low-calorie diet can not refuel.