The theory is strongly linked to the idea that diet can be used to prevent or treat many or most types of cancer.
[1] It is widely accepted that changes in cellular metabolism—specifically, an increased reliance on glucose for energy, and up-regulation of anabolic processes—do occur in many types of cancer cells.
[2] However, the idea that cancer can be controlled mostly or entirely by diet does not have broad acceptance in the medical field.
The metabolic theory of cancer is built upon several well-known biochemical differences between normal and rapidly-proliferating cells, including: Dietary approaches: Low-carbohydrate or ketogenic diets are suggested as potentially helpful because they limit glucose availability to cancer cells, thereby "starving" them.
These diets force the body to produce ketones, which cancer cells cannot use.