Certain foods may disrupt your body’s fight against cancer cells, study says – CTV
Dec. 12, 2024
The food you eat may be affecting your body’s ability to fight cancer cells in the colon, according to a new study.
The potential culprit: an overabundance of certain omega-6 fatty acids — perhaps from ultraprocessed foods in your diet — that may hinder the anti-inflammatory and tumor-fighting properties of another essential fatty acid, omega-3.
“There are mutations every day in the GI (gastrointestinal) tract, and normally they’re quashed right away by the immune system with the help of molecules or mediators from omega-3s,” said Dr. Timothy Yeatman, senior coauthor of the study published Tuesday in Gut,the journal of the British Society of Gastroenterology .
“But if you have a body subjected to years of a chronic inflammatory milieu created by an imbalance of omega-6s, the type commonly found in ultraprocessed and junk foods, I believe it’s easier for a mutation to take hold and harder for the body to fight it,” said Yeatman, a surgical oncologist and professor at the University of South Florida and the Tampa General Hospital Cancer Institute.
