Advisor - Dr. Jeff Volek, Professor, Kinesiology Program
KETOGENIC DIET AND CHEMOTHERAPY TO AFFECT RESPONSE TO BREAST CANCER TREATMENT (The KETO-CARE Study)
The main objective of this project is to determine the feasibility of implementing a ketogenic diet in women initiating chemotherapy with early stage metastatic breast cancer. Under dietician-monitored implementation of a of well-formulated ketogenic diet, we expect women will achieve nutritional ketosis, which will be associated with positive effects on the tumor response, as well as improvements in inflammatory/immune status compared to women following traditional standard of care dietary advice. To assess these outcomes, we are measuring tumor burden and tumor metabolic activity using FDG-PET imaging. Inflammatory status, T-cell and B-cell activation are being measured ex vivo throughout the study protocol as well as in-depth immunophenotyping analysis of peripheral blood leukocytes using flow assisted cell sorting (FACS) to track in vivo changes in immune cell populations during the intervention.