Cancer is among the leading causes of death worldwide. In 2018, there were 18.1 million new cases and 9.5 million cancer-related deaths around the globe.
By 2040, the number of new cancer cases per year is expected to rise to 29.5 million and the number of cancer-related deaths to 16.4 million.
Tobacco, alcohol, obesity, a sedentary lifestyle and environmental factors are all some of the contributing factors responsible for the increase.
When a person does have cancer, how the cancer spreads can also be a major contributing factor to whether it may be life-threatening or not.
Now a popular oil has been found to have a possible link.
Palm oil link to cancer spread
The 2021 study was published in the journal Nature and found a possible link to palm oil and the spread of cancer in mice.
Certain foods can have a major impact on cancer, with fatty acids being the building blocks of fat in the body.
Worldwide Cancer Research’s scientists in Spain uncovered how a fat molecule found in palm oil, called palmitic acid, alters the cancer genome and increases the likelihood of cancer spreading.
The study on mice found palmitic acid promoted cancer spread in mouth and skin cancers.
The researchers have started developing therapies that interrupt this process and say a clinical trial could start in the next couple of years.
The scientists found that when palmitic acid was supplemented into the diet of mice, it not only contributed to metastasis, but also impacted long-term effects on the genome.
Metastasis means that cancer spreads to a different body part from where it started.
Cancer cells that had only been exposed to palmitic acid in the diet for a short period of time remained highly metastatic - even when the palmitic acid had been removed from the diet.
“There is something very special about palmitic acid that makes it an extremely potent promoter of metastasis,” said Professor Salvador Aznar-Benitah, of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) in Barcelona.
“I think it is too early to determine which type of diet could be consumed by patients with metastatic cancer that would slow down the metastatic process.”
Cancer spreading
The place where a cancer starts in the body is called the primary cancer or primary site.
Cells from the primary site may break away and spread to other parts of the body.
These cells can then grow and form other tumours. These are called secondary cancers or metastases.
“In order to spread, some cells from the primary cancer must break away, travel to another part of the body and start growing there,” explains Cancer Research UK.
The site added: “Cancer cells don't stick together as well as normal cells do.
“They may also produce substances that stimulate them to move.”
Palm oil is used in the production of foods such as cake, chocolate, biscuits, margarine and frying fats.
It is also found in cosmetics, soap, shampoo, cleaning products and can be used as a biofuel.
Up to 50% of products in an average UK supermarket now contain palm oil.
Metastasis of cancer remains the main cause of death in cancer patients and the vast majority of people with metastatic cancer can only be treated, but not cured.
