Research

Mixed

Calorie restriction (15-30% reduction) inhibits tumor growth and enhances antitumor immunity by reducing IGF-1 signaling, lowering glucose levels, and remodeling the tumor microenvironment to increase CD8+ T cells while decreasing immunosuppressive MDSCs and Tregs.

If you have cancer, discuss with your oncologist whether a supervised calorie restriction of 15-30% might be appropriate as an adjunct to standard therapy. It is not a cure, but it may help improve the effectiveness of your treatment by altering your body's metabolism and immune response.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Effective CR is a dietary intervention that reduces energy intake by approximately 15–30% while maintaining a balanced proportion of macronutrients... The IGF-1 signaling pathway is frequently activated in cancer cells... Therefore, the reduction in IGF-1 levels in response to CR leads to attenuated tumor growth and progression... CR has been shown to shape the TME in several ways, including through the specific reduction in the number of TAMs, increase in the formation of CD8+ cytotoxic T cells and memory T cells, and negative modulation of immunosuppressive Treg cell activity... significant reduction in the total number of MDSCs was detected.
Yu-Ling Xiao et al. · Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy · 2024

Why this rating

The paper is a review summarizing preclinical and some clinical evidence; specific quantitative effect sizes are not provided in the text.

Source

Effects of dietary intervention on human diseases: molecular mechanisms and therapeutic potential

Yu-Ling Xiao et al. · Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy · 2024

DOI 10.1038/s41392-024-01771-x

narrative_reviewCited 184×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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