Diet study results

[Gee704]

Hello to all,

I posted back last spring about a study looking at two different diets and their effect on viral loads.
I heard back from the study doctor and he gave me my viral loads after each test.

I said I would post results so here they are:
When I was first dx'd with HCV my viral load was 1,440,000.
The base line at the start of this study (approx 10 months later) was 1,050,000.
After the high fat diet my viral load was 1,290,000.
After the high carbohydrate diet my viral load went down to 967,000.

[Gee704]

Thanks Bill! I am going to need it.

[Bill1954]

Hi Gee—

I didn’t find your trial listed in clinicaltrials.gov, but I was surprised to see so many studies either in progress or planned on the effects of diet and HCV. Here are a few of them:

http://tinyurl.com/y8nxov5

Best to you going forward,

Bill

[Gee704]

Hi Bill,

I still had the consent form. Here's the title:
"effects of high carbohydrate diet on fatty acid metabolism in hepatitis c virus"

I searched and was unsuccessful.
I didn't know this may be listed at Clinical Trials or Center Watch.
Remember I am new to this, but it appears I will be learning more soon.
If you find it please post as I would like to read more on it as well.

Thanks again Bill.
I always appreciate your posts as they are always very informative.

Gee

[Bill1954]

Hi Gee—

I’d like to thank you as well for checking back. I was more interested in the name of the trial than the results. Often, with just a name, we can find it in ‘clinicaltrials.gov’, or perhaps ‘centerwatch.com’. My interest was more about study design than results, although results would be interesting as well. Don’t break a sweat looking; but if something is readily available, I’d like to glance.

Good luck to you in your future endeavors,

Bill

[evangelin]

Thank you.  I do appreciate your answer.  Hot dogs are confusing unless maybe they were soy based...Joe loves those---NOT!  I have tried lots of things over the years in hopes of improving a bad situation and some aspects of Joe's labs seemed better on the low fat,high carb vegetarian diet.  His mood was gloomy because he dislikes the menu but ALT/AST looked better.  His thoughts and memory seemed clearer probably due to less ammonia.  His albumin goes down though, I think.  I could be wrong about that but that is what I thought I was seeing.  It could be coincidental or caused by something else.
When Joe was first diagnosed, his viral load was in the 100 millions. After starting a vegetarian diet, it stayed in the 1-3 million stage approx over a period of years, not counting his treatment months.  We also started some basic supplements at this time.(milk thistle etc.) so I can't know why it got better.  We didn't get to check viral load very often when not treating since there wasn't a point to justify the expense.  
Well, for the last couple of months, we have been compromising on the diet quite a bit because nothing tasted good while Joe treated for 15 months. (treatment failed) but afterwards, everything tastes good except anything that is made with soy or resembling a bean.  He still eats  a lot of fresh fruit so we can give him a point for that. :>)  He is just getting a bit rebellious about the restrictions.
Thanks again,
Ev

[Gee704]

The purpose of this study was to study the ability of the HCV virus to grow in those with Genotype 1 and insulin resistance with the development of fatty liver in those with hep c.

The three controls were healthy, HCV Genotype 1, and patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Wow Ev now I wish I would have keep copies of all the food they provided during the study. The dietician at the University hospital  designed the menus and it was all prepared right there. I would pick up huge bags of food twice a week all prepared and packaged according to frozen foods or refrigerator, etc.

The foods were pretty much what a typical well rounded diet would consist. They provided so much food that sometimes I had a hard time eating it all. Although, one of the guidelines was I had to maintain my baseline line weight within 2.5% up or down.

The first three weeks I was on the high fat diet.
They put safflower oil in everything. The food was much the same as a typical diet.I didn't feel cheated in either diet.
There was lots of meat; turkey, chicken, tuna, even meat based spaghetti.
Lot's of almonds during this phase too.
They even made safflower frozen treats.
I felt great on the high fat diet, lots of energy to burn.
This diet did raise my viral load.

The high carb diet did have at least two bean dishes per week. Yes there was at least two fruits per day, soups, carrots, chips, hot dogs, pretzels.
I started to get sluggish on the diet by the end of the third week but it did lower my viral loads.

Hope this helps Ev!
Bill I am still looking to see if the study results are posted.

[evangelin]

This was very interesting and I was wondering how the protein content differed between the two diets.  What did the high carb diet look like each day, approx.?  My husband has cirrhosis and I think he seems better when on the high carb/low fat diet (beans vegetables fruit and whole grains) but he sure starts missing meat and sugar/fatty foods like ice cream and cherry pie.  I feel torn between keeping him alive and keeping him happy.  
Thanks,
Ev

[Bill1954]

Yes, that’s exactly what I was curious about. Too cool; they cooked for you :o)? How did that work; did they send you out with brown bag every day? Hmm… sounds interesting.

I was wondering what the name of the study was so we could see what the study goals were; for instance, with drug interventions, they might list rapid viral response, or perhaps sustained viral response, etc.

It would also be interesting to see who sponsored this study; was it paid for directly by National Institute of Health, for instance? So often, HCV studies are sponsored by the drug companies.

I remember when you first mentioned this study; thanks for following up with results. Perhaps one day, we’ll know whether diet plays a significant, or even any role in viral dynamics.

Did the study doctors recommend any follow up for you? In terms of future drug regimens or anything like that? What are your own feelings about this?

Thanks again, and good luck—

Bill

[Gee704]

Hi Bill,

What do you mean by pharma interventions?
I'm kinda new to all of this : (

If you mean any drug interventions, No there was not. They fed me for six weeks which was awesome. No cooking, no grocery shopping and no dishes.

I'll see if I can find the study posted online.
However, it may not be complete yet.

Here's was the PI's response was to my individual results when I inquired:

"Your viral titers did not change significantly on any of the diets.

Baseline = 1,050,000; After fat = 1,290,000; After Carbohydrate = 967,000

This may be because you had fairly low levels at baseline.  Or, it may be that our hypothesis was wrong.  We are continuing to test others and we'll let  you know.

Thanks for participating, I know that it was somewhat tough to stay on the diets for that long.  Either way, we will certainly learn something.  "

I'll check the Universities' website to see if anything is up but I think it is still ongoing.

[Bill1954]

Thanks, Gee—

There were no active pharma interventions with this? Could you provide a link to the study so that others might be able to review it?

Unfortunately, the viral load results you’ve posted appear to be largely unaffected by diet; did the doctor you spoke to offer any insight to these results?

Thanks for letting us know,

Bill