High-Fat Diet, Gut Bacteria, and Bowel Cancer
Scientists have found a connection between high-fat diet, gut bacteria, and bowel cancer. Until now, researchers thought that obesity caused by consumption of a high-fat diet was to blame for different types of bowel cancer, but a new study conducted on mice found that changes in intestinal bacteria is probably what causes these cancers. The study was published in the journal, Nature.
Scientists studied mice with a genetic predisposition to bowel cancer after feeding some of them with a high fat diet, and others a regular-fat diet. They also took fecal samples to study the intestinal bacteria in the two groups before and after the introduction of the diet. They found that the composition of the gut bacteria changed over time in mice that were on the high-fat diet, which reduced their immunity against bowel cancer. They also found an increase in the rates of bowel cancer in this group.
To test the evidence further, scientists killed the gut biota present in mice predisposed to bowel cancer, and found that this helped decrease the rates of bowel cancer. Transferring gut bacteria from the predisposed group to the normal group also backed up the results, as rates of bowel cancer increased in the normal group.
The study suggests that reestablishing normal gut bacteria in people who eat a high-fat diet might help reduce their risk for developing bowel cancer. More….
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