A ketogenic diet consumed during radiotherapy improves several aspects of quality of life and metabolic health in women with breast cancer

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Ketogenic diets (KDs) have been proposed as complementary nutritional treatments for cancer patients. Because it is important to gain knowledge about the safety of KDs adopted during cancer therapy, we studied the effects of KDs on quality of life and blood parameters in women with early-stage breast cancer undergoing radiotherapy. METHODS: A total of 29 patients consuming a KD were compared to 30 patients consuming their standard diet (SD) with respect to EORTC-QLQ30 questionnaire scores and different metabolic and hormonal blood parameters that were obtained prior to, in the middle of and at the end of radiotherapy. Baseline-to-end differences were assessed using Wilcoxon tests, and longitudinal changes were analyzed using linear mixed effects models. RESULTS: Compared to the SD, women consuming a KD experienced significant improvements in emotional functioning, social functioning, sleep quality, future perspectives and systemic therapy side effects (all p-values