Saturday, October 6, 2012

Sick in ketosis, part 2

So I'm still sick.  I still have a swollen stuffy nose and I'm still a mouth breather.  I'm still extremely tired, and I still want my mama.  The love of my life made me some homemade chicken noodle soup that was probably less than 4 carbs for the entire delicious umami rich bowl and sated my desire for noodley goodness.

However, I'm still stuck here on a Saturday without the energy to do much except browse the 'net, watch some tv and talk.

And I was a bit bothered by how I left off my last post.  Yeah, I had a fever so I'm cutting myself some slack, but I do want to know will being in ketosis help me get over my illness faster?

Apparently little research has been done on this subject.

Much research has been done on the ability of ketosis to improve serious medical problems like cancer, diabetes, epilepsy and alzheimer's...but will ketosis help me kick the common cold, or a sinus infection?

I guess the jury is still out.  Luckily I have access to Rice University's library services and I commenced an article search.  I found some interesting stuff:

Ketosis helps to treat malignant gliomas: Animals fed KC had elevated levels of β-hydroxybutyrate (p = 0.0173) and an increased median survival of approximately 5 days relative to animals maintained on SD. KC plus radiation treatment were more than additive, and in 9 of 11 irradiated animals maintained on KC the bioluminescent signal from the tumor cells diminished below the level of detection (p<0.0001). Animals were switched to SD 101 days after implantation and no signs of tumor recurrence were seen for over 200 days. Conclusions: KC significantly enhances the anti-tumor effect of radiation. This suggests that cellular metabolic alterations induced through KC may be useful as an adjuvant to the current standard of care for the treatment of human malignant gliomas.

Abdelwahab, M. G., Fenton, K. E., Preul, M. C., Rho, J. M., Lynch, A., Stafford, P., & Scheck, A. C. (2012). The Ketogenic Diet Is an Effective Adjuvant to Radiation Therapy for the Treatment of Malignant Glioma. Plos ONE, 7(5), 1-7. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0036197


Ketosis is helpful to those with multiple sclerosis: The KD improved motor disability in the EAE model, as well as CA1 hippocampal synaptic plasticity (long-term potentiation) and spatial learning and memory (assessed with the Morris Water Maze). Moreover, hippocampal atrophy and periventricular lesions in EAE mice were reversed in KD-treated EAE mice. Finally, we found that the increased expression of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, as well as the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), in our EAE model were both suppressed by the KD. Collectively, our findings indicate that brain inflammation in EAE mice is associated with impaired spatial learning and memory function, and that KD treatment can exert protective effects, likely via attenuation of the robust immune response and increased oxidative stress seen in these animals.

Kim, D., Hao, J., Liu, R., Turner, G., Shi, F., & Rho, J. M. (2012). Inflammation-Mediated Memory Dysfunction and Effects of a Ketogenic Diet in a Murine Model of Multiple Sclerosis. Plos ONE, 7(5), 1-8. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0035476

So Ketogenic diets (like mine) are neuroprotective, and that's great.  That's why I'm on one.  But will it help me get over my cold faster?  I can say that I'm better today than I should be.  But I think that's because I got crazy with the Flonase and Advair, not because of the Ketosis.

What do you think?  Has ketosis helped, or hindered you in getting over a mild sickness?

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