People sign on to diets for all types of reasons, whether it’s part of a weight loss journey or trying to reduce their risk of heart disease. However, not all dietary changes lead to positive outcomes. Case in point: A new study highlights how popular low-carb diets could increase the risk of developing colorectal cancer.
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What’s the connection between low-carb diets and colorectal cancer?
The latest insight comes from a study published this month in the journal Nature Microbiology conducted by scientists at the University of Toronto. The research team set out to better understand the connection between the gut microbiome, diet, and colorectal cancer. Specifically, they examined how three different strains of potentially harmful bacteria were affected by different diets.
“Colorectal cancer has always been thought of as being caused by a number of different factors including diet, gut microbiome, environment, and genetics,” Alberto Martin, PhD, a professor of immunology at the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the study’s senior author, said in a press release.
To test their hypothesis, the scientists used three groups of mice with the bacterial strains in question. One group was fed a normal diet, while the others were fed either a low-carb diet or a “Western-style” diet high in fats and sugars.
Of all the groups, mice on the low-carb diet developed more colon polyps and were the only ones to develop colorectal cancer during the trial. The research team explained that the low-carb diet coincided with a drop in fiber, which drove up inflammation in the gut and created optimal conditions for the harmful E. coli strain NC101 to grow. This particular strain produces a DNA-damaging toxin known as colibactin.
On a deeper level, mice on the low-carb diet were found to have thinner protective mucus membranes that typically separate microbes in the gut from the colon.
Scientists also noted that mice infected with a mutated strain of NC101 that didn’t create colibactin saw the increased cancer risk drop.
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What do the findings mean?
In light of the findings, the scientists want to expand their research to cover Lynch syndrome—a genetic mutation that greatly increases the risk of colorectal and other cancers—and how such microbes affect people with the condition. This includes investigating probiotics that contain other colibactin-producing bacteria that could be particularly problematic for such patients.
The next steps likely involve exploring how addressing the fiber issue could help offset the increased cancer risk.
“We supplemented fiber and saw that it reduced the effects of the low-carb diet,” Bhupesh Thakur, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto and lead researcher on the study, said in a press release. “Now we are trying to find out which fiber sources are more beneficial and which are less beneficial.”
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The takeaway:
A new study established a link between low-carb diets and an increased risk of colorectal cancer in mice. Specifically, researchers found that mice who were fed a low-carb diet developed cancerous polyps more than mice fed normal diets.
A lack in fiber that accompanied the low-carb diet potentially contributed to increased inflammation and created ideal conditions for a damaging strain of E. coli, as well as decreased thickness of a protective mucus membrane on the colon.
The research team is now planning on expanding on their findings with additional studies.
“Our study highlights the potential dangers associated with long-term use of a low-carb, low-fiber diet, which is a common weight-reducing diet,” Martin said in the press release. “More work is needed, but we hope that it at least raises awareness.”
Content shared from bestlifeonline.com.