What The Ketogenic Diet Does For Inflammation

…and other items from this week’s health science news:

Keto turns up the heat

Researchers (Dr. Alia Nazarullah et al.) found that ketogenic diets high in long-chain saturated fatty acids (translation = the fats come from meat and dairy) increase inflammation in various parts of the body, largely by increasing the production of macrophages—the big immune cells that are useful for tidying up detritus, but are also well-known for being able to go on a rampage if left unchecked.

As for how this happens: the inflammatory response involved mitochondrial stress signaling, activation of the rather onomatopeic cGAS-STING pathway, and increased activity of inflammatory pathways, including inflammasomes.

In short, ketogenic diets don’t have to have this problem, because the fats for energy could come from non-animal sources, but: a) for most people doing keto, the fats are mostly coming from animal sources, and b) keto still has a long list of other problems, so you might want to skip it anyway.

Read in full: Ketogenic diets found to cause mitochondrial stress and lead to inflammation

Related: Ketogenic Diet: Burning Fat Or Burning Out?

Can you run away from cancer?

Without wanting to tie ourselves to making claims that lawyers could get over-excited about, the general consensus seems to be yes, at least insofar as for many people, exercising more has been found to be a beneficial part of cancer treatment.

For a good while this was a lot more contentious, with the idea that it might exacerbate things, and that a cancer patient should conserve their energy. While logical, it’s not what we see when we look at the data.

For example, the CHALLENGE randomized clinical trial found that patients with cancer who exercised after treatment had better survival and a lower risk of cancer recurrence. Observational studies have also found survival benefits associated with exercise in breast and prostate cancer, specifically (as in that was what was specifically tested; it’s not a commentary on other kinds of cancer, for which it quite likely is also beneficial, but the breast cancer trials and the prostate cancer trials cannot tell us categorically about, say, skin cancer outcomes, of course).

Thus, for the most part, exercise is considered generally safe and, yes, beneficial even during active cancer treatment, rather than waiting until treatment ends. That said, of course activity should be adapted to individual capabilities, treatment effects, medical advice, and restrictions following surgery.

Read in full: Why exercise has become a key part of cancer treatment

Related: The Exercises That Help Keep Breast Cancer At Bay

The most natural prescription there is

Good news for those who enjoy being outside: a study of almost 20,000 adults in England found that people spending at least two hours in nature each week were more likely to report good health and well-being than those spending no time outdoors.

And in terms of “what does what”,

• Physical health benefits: a review of 22 studies found that forest-based activities improved blood pressure, heart rate variability, and cortisol levels.
• Mental health benefits: a review of 47 trials involving almost 3,800 participants found that nature-based activities, including walking, outdoor exercise, and gardening, improved mental health in 17 trials, particularly for depression, anxiety, and stress.

You may be wondering whether this is just a matter of “people in better health tend to go out more” (and good for you if you did wonder that, because it’s a correct thing to wonder), and/but no, not in this case, because a review of 92 studies found that nature prescriptions delivered by health or social professionals improved blood pressure and mental health and increased daily step counts.

So, it probably really is benefits conferred by spending time outdoors!

Read in full: GPs are now ‘prescribing’ time in nature. Is it likely to improve your health?

Related: How Nature Provides Us With A Surprisingly Powerful Painkiller

Take care!