Malnutrition as a cancer risk factor

Dietary habits as a major risk factor for cancer?

04/02/2014

Unhealthy eating habits and being overweight are becoming one of the most important cancer risk factors in the opinion of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg. „We have more and more evidence that our Western lifestyle of overeating, obesity and metabolic disorders is leading to a significant increase in cancer“, quotes the news agency „dpa“ the DKFZ CEO Otmar Wiestler.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), worldwide cancer is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades. In the Western industrialized nations, according to the DFKZ, malnutrition plays a decisive role. According to Wiestler „the relationship is relatively clear for cancers in the gastrointestinal area. But for breast cancer, prostate and pancreatic cancer it seems to be so.“ Although smoking remains the biggest cancer risk factor to date, tobacco consumption in Germany has been falling for years. „It could well be that the factor malnutrition encounters this gap“, explained Wiestler.

Relationship between diet and cancer risk
While tobacco consumption in the population is decreasing, more and more people are simultaneously suffering from overweight and obesity (obesity). In the opinion of the experts, this has played a key role in ensuring that the number of cancer cases will continue to rise dramatically in the future. According to the DKFZ, there are clear indications from the available studies that there is a direct connection between the cancer diseases and the diet. The cancer researchers assume that an estimated 20 to 42 percent of cancers due to improper eating habits. So far, however, it remains unclear why such a relationship exists or which molecular mechanisms play a role and how individuals can influence their personal cancer risk via nutrition, the DKFZ reported at a press conference in the run-up to today's World Cancer Day. Also being discussed, „how the microbiome, ie the composition of the bacterial intestinal flora, is related to the cancer process and what role previously unrecognized viruses could play“, so continues the message from the Cancer Research Center.

Viruses in bovine blood as a risk factor?
The DKFZ virologist and Nobel laureate Harald zur Hausen is currently researching possible links between the consumption of red meat and the risk of colorectal cancer. It is known that consumption of red meat, for example, the risk of colon cancer increases significantly (up to 30 percent), and it is striking that in countries with low consumption of European-Asian beef intestinal cancer occurs much less frequently, the expert reports. According to the virologist, special viruses in the cattle could be the cause here. Maybe humans would absorb them if they consume the meat raw or poorly fried. However, the search for such viruses in the blood of cattle is somewhat similar to searching in a haystack. Although the researchers, according to Harald zur Hausen „indeed isolate a whole new set of viruses“, however, remains unclear, „whether they actually play a role in colon cancer.“ It should also be remembered that „no infection that leads to cancer that does it all on its own - damage still has to be added to the genome of the affected cells“, quotes the „dpa“ the Nobel Prize winner.

Minimize cancer risk with a healthy diet
The diet as a possible cancer risk factor should urgently be further explored according to the DKFZ CEO, because „If you understand the relationship between diet and cancer, you can also develop ways to intervene in a targeted manner.“ The previous findings show that this is about it, „To get people to feed on fiber and high in fiber, to eat a lot of fruit and vegetables - and as few sugared and high-fat foods as possible“, stressed Wiestler. Also, a healthy diet can counteract the development of obesity, so that it does not appear as a cancer risk factor. (Fp)