Palm Oil Study Raises Major Concerns Over Role In Metastatic Cancer

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Controversial palm oil due to its role in deforestation, but this oil is also a subject of a number of studies that increase potential health problems. The latest among the studies is a new study from IRB Barcelona, where scientists find the relationship between palm oil and cancer metastasis, at least when it comes to tumor cells that are transplanted to laboratory mice.

This study specifically focuses on palmitic acid, saturated long chain acids found in palm oil. For parts, palm oil is a type of vegetable oil used in various products, including cosmetics and some foods. Although this oil is high in antioxidants, several studies have raised the possibility of health problems, especially when oil is oxidized by heating and then reheated.

New studies from IRB Barcelona see the potential impact of palm oil on cancer, especially the spread of cancer tumors to other parts of the body. This change in cancer status, known as metastasis, makes this disease far more difficult to treat and often cause death.

A high diet of palmitic acid can make primary cancer tumor cells more “aggressive,” research found, increasing the risk of metastasis. That is based on the results of tumor cell transplants from melanoma and oral cancer to mice. Cells are harvested from patients who have high palmitic acid levels in their food.

Even short -term diet rich in palmitic acid is found to increase cell capacity to metastasize to other parts of the body from the main site. The researchers said oil palm fatty acids sparked changes in permanent epigenetic in cells called “stable memory” which gave them more aggressive abilities.

Although the researchers had previously observed the relationship between metastasis risk and palmitic acid, this new study explained how fatty acids could contribute to this problem. Epigenetic is identified as a potential driving factor behind this observation, because similar links are not made between olive oil olive oil or linoleic acid of flax seed oil.By identifying the mechanism behind this change, the researchers said it could help develop ways to reverse aggressiveness and block cancer metastasis.