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When you accidentally bang your thumb with a hammer, your immune system sends white blood cells and other, hormone-like substances to help start the healing process. Your thumb swells. That’s one kind of inflammation, and it’s a good sign. Another invisible kind of inflammation in your cells and tissue is not. It may affect your risk of chronic diseases, like cancer.
Normally, the proteins and hormone-like substances that cause this inflammation are churned out by your immune system with no ill effects. Under certain conditions, however, researchers believe that these substances help cancer cells multiply and spread.
Because an enzyme, COX-2, can increase production of these substances, anti-inflammatory drugs, collectively called COX-2 inhibitors, are under study. These drugs may help prevent or treat cancers of the colon, uterus, breast, prostate and other tissues.
Healthy Diets May Quiet COX-2
But diet may also be able to lower chronic inflammation linked to cancer risk. For instance, our bodies seem to increase COX-2 levels when omega-6 fats greatly exceed omega-3 fats in the foods we eat. Omega-3 fats are found mainly in fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel and albacore (white) tuna, but are also found in flaxseeds and flaxseed oil, walnuts and canola oil. Omega-6 fats are found in many common vegetable oils (corn, safflower, sunflower). Eating more foods with omega-3 fats and lowering consumption of omega-6 fats might make COX-2 less active.
A plant-based diet may also check inflammation. Evidence suggests that antioxidants and phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables may lower production of inflammation-promoting hormones. A wide variety of natural phytochemicals found in fruits and vegetables is under investigation for possible COX-2 lowering effects.
Exercise Also Effective
Obesity may be linked to higher cancer risk in part because of inflammation. Research suggests that the body’s fat cells produce cytokines (proteins that raise low-grade inflammation). As the size of fat cells increase, so does the inflammation. In one study, one measure of inflammation increased by more than 50 percent in obese women whose fat was mainly in their hips and thighs (“pear-shaped”). In obese women with significant waistline fat (“apple-shaped”) the increase was more than 400 percent.
Regular exercise seems to have the exact opposite effect on the immune system, reducing levels of inflammatory proteins. This may be one of the reasons why regular physical activity correlates with lower cancer risk.
Evidence about chronic inflammation and cancer is still preliminary, but it wouldn’t be premature to increase your exercise level and reduce your weight. A mostly plant-based diet, healthy weight and regular exercise are already estimated to lower cancer risk by 30 to 40 percent. We know that these eating and lifestyle habits work. The accumulating research about inflammation will help us better understand why.
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AICR offers a Nutrition Hotline (1-800-843-8114) 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday-Friday. This free service allows you to ask a registered dietitian questions about diet, nutrition and cancer. AICR is the only major cancer charity focused exclusively on the link between diet, nutrition and cancer. It provides a range of education programs that help Americans learn to make changes for lower cancer risk. AICR also supports innovative research in cancer prevention and treatment at universities, hospitals and research centers across the U.S. It has provided more than $65 million for research in diet, nutrition and cancer. AICR’s Web address is www.aicr.org. AICR is a member of the World Cancer Research Fund International.
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