Ultra-processed foods like ice cream, chips and soda fuel the risk of colorectal cancer — and prevent the body from combatting the cancer, new research finds.
“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,” said Dr. Timothy Yeatman, professor of surgery in the University of South Florida (USF) Morsani College of Medicine.
Yeatman blames UPFs for causing harmful inflammation and suppressing the immune system, allowing cancer to flourish. In their study published Tuesday, Yeatman and his colleagues suggest using resolution medicine to reverse inflammation and restore the body’s healing mechanisms to pave the way for more effective colorectal cancer treatment.
Inflammation is the body’s natural response to illness or injury. Chronic inflammation is when the response remains active even after the threat has passed. It can be caused by poor diet, physical inactivity, disrupted sleep, stress and obesity — and it can damage DNA over time.
Yeatman’s team analyzed 162 tumor samples from colorectal cancer patients at Tampa General Hospital (TGH). Inside the tumors, they discovered an excess number of molecules that promote inflammation and a shortage of molecules that help resolve it.
Ganesh Halade, an associate professor in the USF Health Heart Institute, said our bodies are designed to resolve inflammation via very small molecules derived from healthy fats, like avocados.
“If the molecules are coming from processed food products, they directly imbalance the immune system and drive chronic inflammation,” added Halade, a member of the Cancer Biology Program at TGH Cancer Institute.
The USF team says the Western diet, with its added sugars, saturated fats, UPFs, chemicals and seed oils, powers chronic inflammation. Seed oils have earned a bad rap online, though some experts say they’re not actually toxic or unhealthy.
Yeatman told The Post that a moderate amount of soybean, cottonseed, sunflower and canola oils is “probably OK,” but these seed oils are “probably inflammatory” when consumed in excess.
“Soybean oil is in an amazing number of foods today such as bread, cereal, doughnuts, pies, cakes, cookies, salad dressings, mayonnaise and even hummus,” Yeatman said.
To reverse inflammation, Yeatman proposes eating healthy, unprocessed foods rich with omega-3 fatty acids and derivatives of fish oil — an approach called resolution medicine.
“The body is resilient,” Yeatman said. “If diets are truly changed to avoid inflammatory oils [and] high sugar levels (which can induce inflammation), results could happen in months.”
Healthy, unprocessed foods include crab, salmon, halibut, spinach, brussels sprouts, seaweed, algae and grass-fed, pasture-raised meats.
Many fish contain omega-3s, which boast antioxidant and anticarcinogenic properties that may inhibit cancer cell growth as they regulate inflammation.
Yeatman suggests that “second generation” omega-3 fatty acid supplements can also aid in healing. These supplements are believed to be more readily absorbed by the body than standard fish oil. Good sleep and exercise would also be part of the plan.
“This has the potential to revolutionize cancer treatment, moving beyond drugs to harness natural healing processes,” Yeatman said. “It’s a vital step toward addressing chronic inflammation and preventing diseases before they start.”
Early trials are underway at TGH Cancer Institute to evaluate the effectiveness of specialized derivatives of fish oil on inflammation.
The USF team’s findings were published Tuesday in Gut, an international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology. The researchers were awarded a five-year, $3.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to better understand colorectal cancer.
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the US. Rates have been rising among adults under 50.
Next, the USF team will try to learn why the vast majority of colorectal tumors are inflamed and why some tumors have higher inflammatory levels than others.
