Ultraprocessed Foods High in Seed Oils Could Be Fueling Colon Cancer Risk

image via New Scientist

December 13, 2024, 7:00 PM

• •A new study suggests certain lipids, particularly omega-6 fatty acids, which are commonly found in seed oils used to make ultraprocessed junk food, may promote inflammation in colon cancer tumors.
• •Climbing rates of colon and rectal cancer among people under 50 years old is a striking recent trend that has alarmed and puzzled clinicians racing to figure out why.
• •Inflammation is a normal defensive response that the immune system switches on to heal wounds or fight off infection. But researchers in the 1800s found that colon tumors under a microscope looked like “poorly healed wounds,” says Timothy Yeatman, a co-author of the study and a professor of surgery at the University of South Florida.

A new study suggests that certain lipids, particularly omega-6 fatty acids, which are commonly found in seed oils used to make ultraprocessed junk food, may promote inflammation in colon cancer tumors.

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