Thoughts on This Critique of Thomas Seyfried

#1

I have a friend who is starting Chemo soon and wanted to send her articles on the benefits of fasting and keto as an adjunct to it. Already sent her to the Fasting Cure on Amazon Prime

This article came up in the search. Thoughts? Responses?

Mentions that Seyfried is guilty by association since he aligns himself with Mercola and other organizations that the author considers questionable

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/ketogenic-diets-for-cancer-hype-versus-science/

Any more information on the trials mentioned

(Stacy Blanchard) #2

I remember a few years back I was watching the voice auditions. I can’t remembert all the details but I thought it was interesting when I started hearing more about cancer and Keto it reminded me about this guy. The man was born in USA but his family moved back to his parents homeland which was somewhere European. He said she had terminal cancer and went back to be with family. He went too but was back in the USA trying to make it in music. He said his mother had made a full recovery without doing anything. I remember at the time thinking it sounded crazy. Now I know she just stopped eating our crappy government suggested diet. I believe diet plays a huge role in cancer but we all have to find our own path. It is interesting to see how angry the experts get when beliefs are challenged. The only problem is the patient is the one hurt in the long run.

(Bunny) #3

Rabbit hole goes even deeper with another huckster trying to make a buck!

Start here:

(Ron) #4

End of the article -

“I also created a coaching program for cancer patients, caregivers and anyone who is serious about prevention called SQUARE ONE. It contains the step-by-step strategies used by myself and everyone I know who has healed cancer.”

Just another ad trying to sell something.

(Michael) #5

So much for Gonzalez and his coffee enemas, he dropped dead two years ago seemingly of a heart related issue.

#6

It appears that David Gorski, the article author, had a strong opinion about the Gonzalez protocol. The quote is from the article referenced in the post at the top of the thread.

#7

Dr. Gorski, the author of the article/editorial (and editor of the web site), is an advocate for scepticism of treatments that appear to be quackery. He does not dismiss the ketogenic diet as a cancer treatment tool. But he does apply some suitably harsh critique. It is an important health topic, life and death for some people, so it deserves a thorough investigation. He seems well credentialed. But that does not immunise him against bias.

Then he uses the ‘argument from ignorance’ fallacy in informal logic by asserting that the proposition being presented by Dr. Seyfried, of cancer being a metabolic disease, does not have enough evidence from double blinded clinical trials. This is despite scientific literature quoted by Dr. Seyfried that shows promising observations in animal studies (acknowledged by the author), and strong indications of positive outcomes from human case reports. Dr. Gorski may be right that the ketogenic diet may not be as effective as hoped in treating cancer, but the absence of evidence, also allows the possibility that Dr. Seyfried and co-workers may also be right about the effectiveness of the ketogenic diet in a cancer treatment protocol. So this paragraph is no help at all. It’s mainly an observation on the contemplation that an absence of evidence can be one of hope.

This article is from 2014. From listening to the recent 2 Keto Dudes podcast with Dr. Seyfried it sounds like there is more up to date information to explore. So it is good to ask to examine the veracity of any recent studies.

From my limited knowledge on the benefits of the ketogenic diet in the treatment of cancer, the initial simple answer of cutting off a cancer’s glucose fuel supply and starving it, seems to have cases in which it works quite well (the brain tumours mentioned in the article), and rare cases in which ketones may be the preferred fuel for some cancer cells. Sorry I don’t have a reference to hand. There may be more on Google Scholar. Dr Seyfried’s work shows up on a search.

I think it is important that an oncologist and cancer patient consider, at least be aware of and up to date with, the Warbourg effect and the use of ketogenic diets for the treatment of some cancers. But also be aware of the cancer types where the ketogenic diet may not be helpful.

It seems Dr. Gorski and I might agree. Cherry picked from the article (it was a good read):

(Janet) #8

There is a sub-forum on cancer here. https://www.ketogenicforums.com/c/health/cancer
Read back through some threads for resources, my favorite book now for someone in treatment is Keto for Cancer. It addresses various adjustments to the Diet that may be needed while in chemo.