Brits have been warned by a top doctor of the dangers of an everyday cooking ingredient which has been found to be linked to cancer.
Experts believe a common fat found in seed oils known as linoleic acid can react and cause cancer cells to grow larger and even multiply. As a result, the oils used by millions every day could possibly increase the risk of breast cancer in people, according to a team of experts looking into the issue. Oncologist Professor Justin Stebbing has suggested people should use them in moderation to avoid any future risk, according to the report published by Weill Cornell Medicine.
Dr John Blenis, the study’s senior author and a cancer researcher at Weill Cornell Medicine, said: “We now know linoleic acid feeds cancer cell growth in a very specific way.
“This discovery sheds light on how to define which patients might benefit from specific nutritional recommendations.”
A report reads: “[This is] the most abundant unsaturated fat in Western-style diets and is derived from animal products and processed foods containing vegetable oils, such as safflower oil.
“Many case-controlled retrospective and prospective studies have been conducted that explore associations between LA intake and breast cancer incidence, but the conclusions are often contradictory.
“Accumulating evidence suggests that dietary patterns may influence cancer outcomes, and there is substantial clinical interest in understanding the molecular mechanisms behind these associations to better inform nutritional recommendations.
“Our findings not only provide a mechanistic explanation for the heterogeneous responses of distinct breast cancer subtypes to dietary fats but also reveal an important perspective on how interactions between it and breast cancer need to be studied.
“Future nutritional studies might consider stratifying patients on the basis of FABP5 expression and triple-negative status.”
Last year a US government-funded study suggested commonly used cooking oils might be leading to a surge in colon cancer in young people.
A study analysed 80 patients with colon cancer and found that they had high levels of bioactive lipids which are created by breaking down seed oils.
Nick Mole, from Pan UK, said: “Given the growing body of evidence linking PFAS to serious diseases such as cancer, it is deeply worrying that UK consumers are being left with no choice but to ingest these chemicals, some of which may remain in their bodies long into the future.”
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