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Omega-6 fatty acids, commonly found in corn oil, appears to increase the growth of prostate cancer tumors, according to research from the San Francisco VA Medical Center.
The researchers found that human prostate tumors exposed to omega-6 fats grew twice as fast as tumors not exposed.
They also found that one specific omega-6 fat, arachidonic acid, turns on a gene that leads directly to tumor growth.
"Some of the fat people eat can actually trigger growth of tumors," said lead researcher Millie Hughes-Fulford, director of the VA's Laboratory of Cell Growth.
"It's more like a promoter for a latent tumor to be able to grow," she added.
The study involved treating prostate cancer tumor cells with omega-6 fatty acid. The researchers found these cells grew twice as fast as those not exposed to omega-6.
In addition, the researchers found when they added a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, or a PI3K inhibitor, such as what's found in painkillers, the gene did not get switched on and tumor cell growth did not occur.
Since the early 1960s, Americans have been consuming more and more corn oil, Hughes-Fulford noted. "Corn oil is very high in omega-6 fatty acid," she said. "We are eating about 25-fold more of this than we were eating at the turn of the century."
Hughes-Fulford said this added consumption of corn oil is not increasing the risk of all cancers in all people.
"But we have seen it in colorectal cancer, now we have seen it in prostate, and some people have seen the same type of thing in breast cancer," she said.
Hughes-Fulford advises cutting down on the amount of omega-6 fatty acids in the diet.
"What I have done, and all the people that know my work have done, is we have mainly switched over to olive oil and canola oil," she said.
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