Popular Diet Linked to Increased Risk of One Cancer, Study Finds

Key Points:

• A new MIT-led study published in Nature found that a ketogenic diet, high in fat and low in carbohydrates, promoted tumor growth in the small intestines of mice genetically predisposed to intestinal cancer.
• The study revealed that the increase in tumors was driven by dietary fats activating the PPAR-delta signaling pathway, which stimulates intestinal stem cells that can initiate tumors when mutated.
• These findings contrast with earlier research suggesting ketogenic diets might protect against colon cancer, highlighting that dietary effects on cancer risk may vary across different parts of the digestive system.
• The research was conducted on mice with a genetic susceptibility to intestinal cancer, and scientists caution that further studies are needed to determine if similar effects occur in humans or specific populations.
• The study underscores the complexity of the diet-cancer relationship and suggests that while ketogenic diets may offer metabolic benefits, they are not universally beneficial and may carry risks depending on diet composition and individual susceptibility.