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Obesity has now been shown to cause inflammation throughout the body. This prolonged, low-grade inflammatory state may underlie the development of diabetes and several types of cancer, but the causal links are not yet fully understood. In order to better understand these processes, researchers at HUN-REN Biological Research Center, Szeged (southern Hungary) conducted experiments on mice and published their results in the International Journal of Obesity.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 39 percent of adults were overweight in 2016 and 13 percent of the world’s adult population was obese. Numerous epidemiological data support the fact that obesity as a risk factor contributes significantly to the development of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and various cancers, noted Erzsébet Melinda Tóth, researcher at the HUN-REN Biological Research Center, Szeged, one of the authors of the study. She stressed that
obesity is often associated with poor nutrition and sedentary lifestyle, which are other important risk factors in the development of many diseases.
Most recently, obesity was identified as a major risk factor during the COVID pandemic.
Adipose tissue (connective tissue consisting mainly of fat cells) not only functions as an energy store, but also as a site for the production of many hormone-like factors (proteins), cytokines and adipokines.
Too much body fat can cause an increase in the levels of these proteins, causing cells to divide more frequently.
This increases the chance of cancer cells forming and promotes tumor growth. In addition, obesity is associated with systemic (body-wide) inflammation, and the immune cells that promote inflammation accumulate in fatty tissues. Chronic, long-lasting inflammation is also associated with, among other things, the excessive production of free radicals that can damage the hereditary material of cells, which in turn increases the risk of cancer, explained Gábor Szebeni, senior research fellow and co-author of the study.
Obesity has been linked to at least thirteen types of cancer, including breast, colorectal, esophageal, kidney, gallbladder, uterine, pancreatic and liver cancers. It also increases the risk of dying from cancer and may affect treatment options. About 4-8 percent of all cancers are attributable to obesity. There has been little research on how weight loss can reduce the risk of cancer, but there is growing evidence of a positive association, i.e. that weight loss can reduce the risk of certain cancers, such as breast cancer (after menopause), endometrial cancer and colorectal cancer.
In their experiments, the Hungarian researchers used two types of “diet”: one group of mice was fed a high-fat diet, which is a commonly used experimental model to study diet-induced obesity, particularly some related symptoms such as hyperlipidaemia (elevated concentrations of lipids or fats within the blood).
The experiment in question examined the effects of fructose, as our daily intake of fructose has increased significantly in recent decades, due to excessive consumption of, for example, sugary soft drinks and sweets.
Therefore, to model a Western pattern diet, mice in the other group were given drinking water containing fructose in addition to a high-fat diet.
“In our experiment, some lesions, such as high serum cholesterol or signs of systemic inflammation, were characteristic of mice on both diets. However, other symptoms were significantly exacerbated by the combination of high-fat and high-fructose diets. Examples included weight gain, fatty liver or the degree of insulin resistance. Besides the extra calorie intake, this may also be related to the specificity of fructose. (…) Overall, a balanced diet, reduced calorie intake and refined carbohydrate intake (combined with regular exercise) can reduce the risk of developing many chronic diseases,” pointed out Melinda Erzsébet Tóth, summarizing the results.
Via Hun-Ren; Featured image via Pixabay
