PULLMAN, WA. A fatty compound found in hamburgers and
cheddar cheese appears to have anti-cancer effects, report researchers from
Washington State University.
The compound in question is conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a fatty acid
found in many meat and dairy products. When nutritional biochemist Terry
Shultz and colleagues added CLA to flasks of cancer cells, they found the
compound to be a more powerful inhibitor of human malignant melanoma, colorectal
and breast cancer cells than beta carotene.
Shultz also added CLA to flasks of human breast, skin, colon and rectal
cancer cells. The compound appeared to inhibit growth of each of these cancers.
"We found that CLA reduced cancer cell growth significantly in vitro,"
he said. "Within one week we saw growth of the cancer cells reduced
by as much as one-half." to identify precisely how CLA inhibits cancer
cell growth
In a clinical study conducted at WSU, nine healthy men increased CLA
levels in their blood by as much as 27 percent by eating cheddar cheese.
No increase in serum cholesterol was observed in the men.
The findings appear to contradict the common wisdom that dietary fat
is completely bad. The point is not that fat is health food, emphasizes
Schultz. Rather, the study may emphasize another bit of received wisdom,
that it's best to eat a wide variety of whole foods, he said. Indeed, efforts
to use CLA as an additive might mean that other anti-cancer compounds in
the cheese are missed, he added.
"It would seem more precise to refer to dietary fat as a modulator
of carcinogenesis, capable of enhancing or inhibiting the process depending
on experimental design," noted Michael Pariza of the University of
Wisconsin in the "Annual Review of Nutrition".
