One of the Most Popular Supplements Linked to Colon Cancer

He colon cancer This is one of the biggest threats to human health in terms of morbidity. Let’s start with the fact that this is the most common tumor in Spain. And to continue, it is the second most deadly cancer. In addition, it is increasingly being detected in young people. Doctors and researchers around the world are warning about this phenomenon; The most relevant case was through publication in a magazine The sciencecollected by this newspaper.

In it, two Harvard experts warned that the incidence of this tumor in people under 50 years of age is increasing at an alarming rate of 2 to 4% annually in many countries, with an even greater increase in people under 30 years of age. Now the question is why there is such an increase in the incidence of colorectal cancer in young people. Possible answers include a sedentary lifestyle or current dietary trends as the main culprits.

However, the extent to which “environmental factors” contribute to cancer risk remains unresolved. While epidemiological studies suggest that factors such as diet can certainly contribute, especially in the case of colon cancer, it is unknown how exactly dietary factors may tip the balance in cancer’s favor.

In a new study published in Cancer Research Communicationsjournal, peer-reviewed by the American Association for Cancer Research, a team led by researchers from Baylor and Princeton College of Medicine (USA), reveals the mechanism by which Dietary folate increases risk of colon cancer in an animal model.

He folate is a B vitamin It is naturally present in many foods, such as vegetables, although it is also found in “fortified or fortified folates,” which means the vitamin is added to foods such as breads or cereals. In the right amount, folic acid is really important for our bodies to function properly and stay healthy. The body needs it to produce DNA and red blood cells, as well as other cells vital to us.

Folate Fortified Foods

“In this study, we show the mechanical pathway between diet and colon cancer in an animal model,” said Dr. Lanlan Shen, professor of pediatrics and nutrition at Baylor and member of the Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center. “We investigated whether this pathway is involved in epigenetics, a DNA marking system that determines which genes will be expressed. .or not in the cell.”

Cells mark genes by adding small chemical modifications to DNA. Methyl groups are one such chemical modification. For their part, folate and other related nutrients are directly involved in the metabolic pathway that leads to DNA methylation. “Understanding this connection between what we eat and how our genes work is very important. find the missing puzzle piece that we are getting closer to understanding how to keep our bodies healthy,” explains Shen.

In the current study, researchers tested the effect Dietary folate in colon cancer development in its animal model. The team found that animals fed a diet supplemented with folic acid had significantly lower overall survival and more tumors

and larger tumors compared to animals on the unsupplemented diet.

Closer examination of the tumors revealed the presence of tumor-associated macrophages, a type of immune cell infiltration that is clinically associated with immunosuppression and poor prognosis in patients with colorectal cancer. In addition, the tumors were highly proliferative.

“It is important to note that we observed a significant increase in epigenetic methylation of the p16 gene (a gene involved in colon cancer) in animals fed the supplemented diet compared to the control group,” Shen said. “These results shed light on direct link between dietary folate and accelerated tumor development in the colon.”

Does this mean we need to stop taking folic acid? No. Although the results, according to the study, highlight “the need to monitor long-term safety folate fortification and subsequent cancer-promoting effects, especially in at-risk patients.” Especially, he notes, given the rise in early-onset colon cancer in the United States over the past two decades.

Contrasting Research on Folic Acid and Cancer

Previous studies in animal models also suggest that insufficient (high) folic acid intake may increase the risk of cancer. However, Other studies show the opposite.: Folic acid may reduce the risk and recurrence of colon cancer, especially in people who are deficient in this vitamin. Meanwhile, an international study published in Lancetin 2013 showed that people who consume folic acid do not have an increased risk of developing cancer.

“Concerns that excessive folic acid intake increases the risk of cancer arose primarily from animal studies,” explains Dr. Young-In Kim of the University of Toronto, who was not involved in the new study but conducted it himself in 2011. . the results of which showed that fortifying grains (such as oats) with folic acid does not cause an increase in the incidence of colorectal cancer

.

In any case, Kim adds, “the idea that it would be harmful to consume very high levels of folic acid (in additions).” His research partner, researcher Todd Gibson, agrees that his research does not close the door to this opportunitybecause some cancers take years to develop and their study did not take such a long-term perspective. However, both advise healthy people not to take extra folic acid. “There is no need to change current intake” of folic acid, despite what their study says, since “the majority of the population consumes amounts considered adequate.”

In any case, the new work provides valuable information about how Dietary factors may influence cancer riskopening up new possibilities for treating or preventing colon cancer, one of the most common and second leading causes of cancer death in both the United States and our country.