Grant: Project Grant

Patients with cancer often ask, "What kinds of food should I eat during my treatment that will help me fight my cancer?" Diets such as Mediterranean, intermittent fasting (IF), and ketogenic approaches are widely promoted as cancer-fighting strategies, yet scientists don't fully understand which diets really help or why. What we do know is that some diets can help the bacteria in your gut. These bacteria make small substances called metabolites. These metabolites enter your bloodstream, and, in many cases, help support your immune system. Figuring out the right diet for each person is complicated, and many patients are left navigating conflicting information and no clear answers. My laboratory is working to change that. Over the past two years, we ran a real-world intermittent fasting (IF) study in people with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Almost half of the patients who tried IF saw their cancer stabilize, shrink, or slow down. Even better, their blood showed positive changes in those helpful metabolites, and many said they felt better overall. We're building on those results with a larger study. We want to better understand how IF affects the immune system's response to cancer. Our goal is to find out if dietary strategies like IF can be used alongside treatments like immunotherapy to improve outcomes. Because the exciting part is that, food, compared to drugs, is affordable, accessible, and can be personalized. If we can figure out how to use food as part of cancer care, we could offer millions of patients' better support.