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Abstract
Recently, Ketogenic diets have been investigated as an adjunct cancer treatment. This study aimed to summarize the effect of a ketogenic diet on weight in adults with cancer. Literature search was performed in PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science (ISI), Scopus, and Google Scholar up to August 2020. The overall estimates were calculated through a random-effects model. A total of eight trials were eligible to be included in the current study. Meta-analysis revealed that a ketogenic diet significantly reduces body weight in cancer patients [weighted mean difference (WMD) = −3.992 kg, 95% confidence interval (CI): −7.417 to 0.566, P = 0.022, n = 7]. The subgroup analysis revealed that the decreasing effect remained significant in trials done in patients with breast cancer (WMD = −3.332 kg, 95%CI: −4.169 to −2.495, P < 0.001, n = 3) and in studies with >10 (WMD = −2.795, 95%CI: −4.053 to −1.537, P < 0.001, n = 3) and ≤10 weeks of duration (WMD = −7.257, 95%CI: −13.034 to −1.481, P = 0.014, n = 4). However, our findings did not support significant effect of ketogenic diets on body mass index (BMI) (WMD = −1.808 kg/m2, 95%CI: −3.945 to 0.33, P = 0.097, n = 4). In conclusion, ketogenic diets might result to a weight loss in adults with cancer. Future well-designed randomized controlled clinical trials might warrant current findings.
Acknowledgments
Authors would like to thank the research council of Nutrition and Food Security Research Center of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences for their great cooperation.
Authors’ Contributions
SB conceived the study. ASA and SB designed the search strategy. MT and VA conducted the search, study selection and data extraction. ASA and SB conducted the statistical analyses. SB and MT wrote the first draft of the manuscript. ASA critically revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Disclosure Statement
Authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Funding
The current systematic review and meta-analysis was funded by Nutrition and Food Security research center, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.