Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer worldwide and the second leading cause of cancer deaths.

Chronic inflammation increases cancer risk. But in the case of colorectal cancer, something else is happening that is both astounding and terrifying.

Researchers have uncovered some disturbing facts about how ultra-processed foods help to “feed” colon cancer…

“A wound that won’t heal”

Previous research from Tufts and Harvard Universities had already proven that men who live on ultra-processed foods are increasing their risk of colorectal cancer by nearly 30 percent.

And now we have a big clue how it works…

A new study suggests that ultra-processed foods and inflammatory seed oils used in packaged food products may contribute to chronic inflammation, fueling colorectal cancer.

“It is well known that patients with unhealthy diets have increased inflammation in their bodies,” said Dr. Timothy Yeatman, a renowned physician-scientist and professor of surgery in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and associate center director for Translational Research and Innovation at the TGH Cancer Institute.

“We now see this inflammation in the colon tumors themselves, and cancer is like a chronic wound that won’t heal — if your body is living off of daily ultra-processed foods, its ability to heal that wound decreases due to the inflammation and suppression of the immune system that ultimately allows the cancer to grow.”

When the researchers used advanced techniques to identify trace amounts of lipids in 162 tumor samples, they saw an excess number of molecules that promote inflammation and a shortage of those that promote healing.

Dr. Yeatman added, “A human’s immune system can be extremely powerful and drastically impact the tumor microenvironment, which is great if harnessed correctly for health and wellness,” he says, “but not if it’s suppressed by inflammatory lipids from processed foods.”

Eating to prevent colon cancer

The colon is the “last stop” in your digestive system, so it stands to reason that what you put in your mouth will affect the health of your colon.

“Our bodies are designed to actively resolve inflammation through bioactive lipid compounds derived from the healthy fats, like avocados, that we consume,” said Ganesh Halade, associate professor in the USF Health Heart Institute and a member of the Cancer Biology Program at TGH Cancer Institute.

“Bioactive lipids are very small molecules derived from the foods that we eat and, if the molecules are coming from processed food products, they directly imbalance the immune system and drive chronic inflammation.”

So, the first place to start is to eat more of those healthy fats and ditch the bad ones when you eat fewer processed foods. Healthier fats also include omega-3s from fatty fish.

In fact, Dr. Yeatman’s team saw promise in early trials using specialized derivatives of fish oil to address inflammation at its root cause.

The next step is removing bad oils from your diet…

Seed oils were particularly mentioned for fueling cancer — so that’s the ingredient you to avoid. Seed oils include a group known as the “hateful eight”:

• Canola oil (aka rapeseed oil).
• Corn oil.
• Cottonseed.
• Grapeseed oil.
• Soybean oil.
• Sunflower oil.
• Safflower oil.
• Rice bran oil
• Peanut oil.

According to nutrition experts at the Cleveland Clinic, seed oils have high levels of omega-6 fats, which can lead to inflammation. Everything that’s unhealthy about seed oils is compounded when they are used in processed foods.

Sources:

Ultra-processed foods may drive colorectal cancer risk, study finds — Science Daily

Integration of lipidomics with targeted, single cell, and spatial transcriptomics defines an unresolved pro-inflammatory state in colon cancer — BMJ

Seed Oils: Are They Actually Toxic? — Cleveland Clinic