Ganesh Halade in his lab using a highly sensitive analytical technique to detect trace amounts of lipids in 162 tumor samples from T

How ultra-processed foods may drive colorectal cancer risk

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2024-12-12 12:00:06

Ganesh Halade in his lab using a highly sensitive analytical technique to detect trace amounts of lipids in 162 tumor samples from TGH Cancer Institute | Photo by: Ryan Rossy

Colorectal cancer, the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, may be fueled by the food on our plates. Researchers at USF Health and Tampa General Hospital Cancer Institute have uncovered a potential link between the Western diet – dominated by ultra-processed foods and unhealthy oils –and the chronic inflammation that drives tumor growth.

The researchers, recently funded by the National Institutes of Health with a five-year, $3.1 million grant, have already made major advancements in the understanding of colorectal cancer. Published in Gut, a leading international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, the project’s first study examines how processed foods are likely hindering the body’s natural healing processes.

“It is well known that patients with unhealthy diets have increased inflammation in their bodies,” said Dr. Timothy Yeatman, professor of surgery in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and associate center director for Translational Research and Innovation at the TGH Cancer Institute. “We now see this inflammation in the colon tumors themselves, and 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 due to the inflammation and suppression of the immune system that ultimately allows the cancer to grow.”