From the ArcaMax Publishing, Health & Fitness Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/healthtips/s-565448-480664
PHILADELPHIA (UPI) -- Low-fat diet helps genetically predisposed
animals avoid liver cancer, U.S. researchers found.
In a study comparing two strains of mice -- one susceptible to
developing cancer and the other not -- researchers found that a
high-fat diet predisposed the cancer-susceptible strain to liver
cancer.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and
Case Western Reserve University found that by switching to a low-fat
diet early in the experiment, the same high-risk mice avoided the
cancer malignancy.
The switched mice were lean rather than obese and had healthy livers
at the end of the study.
The investigators studied hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver
cancer that is one of the leading causes of cancer death worldwide.
Thirty percent of cases of this type of liver cancer are associated
with obesity, type 2 diabetes and related metabolic diseases, although
a direct link between these and liver cell cancer has not been
completely established, the researchers said.
Senior co-author John Lambris of the University of Pennsylvania School
of Medicine said the researchers hope the results will lead to the
development of blood tests that can detect precancerous conditions
related to diet.
The findings appear online this month in Human Molecular Genetics.