Eating red meat and dairy could help to fight cancer, suggests a new study

Eating meat and dairy is currently not as popular as it has been in previous decades, for both ethical and health reasons.

As an example, certain research has suggested that eating too much red meat could be a risk factor for certain diseases, such as bowel cancer.

However, a new study has found that an acid found in some red meats and dairy products could actually help protect the body against cancer.

Scientists have discovered that trans-vaccenic acid (TVA) – a fatty acid found in beef, lamb, and dairy products – improves the ability of immune cells to fight tumours.

The study also found that patients with higher levels of TVA in their blood responded better to immunotherapy, which suggests it could work as a nutritional supplement to complement clinical cancer treatments.

Professor Jing Chen, of the University of Chicago in the US, said: “There are many studies trying to decipher the link between diet and human health, and it’s very difficult to understand the underlying mechanisms because of the wide variety of foods people eat.

“But if we focus on just the nutrients and metabolites derived from food, we begin to see how they influence physiology and pathology.

“By focusing on nutrients that can activate T-cell responses, we found one that actually enhances anti-tumour immunity by activating an important immune pathway.”

As part of the study, which was published in the journal Nature, the team started with a database of around 700 known molecules that come from food, and assembled a “blood nutrient” library consisting of 235 bioactive molecules derived from nutrients.

They then screened the compounds in this new library for their ability to influence anti-tumour immunity.

After the scientists evaluated the top six candidates in both human and mouse cells, they saw that TVA performed the best.

“After millions of years of evolution, there are only a couple hundred metabolites derived from food that end up circulating in the blood, so that means they could have some importance in our biology,” Prof Chen said.

“To see that a single nutrient like TVA has a very targeted mechanism on a targeted immune cell type, with a very profound physiological response at the whole organism level—I find that really amazing and intriguing.”

It was found that feeding mice a diet enriched with TVA significantly reduced the tumour growth potential of melanoma and colon cancer cells as well as enhancing the body’s ability to infiltrate tumours.

Researchers then analysed blood samples from hospital patients undergoing immunotherapy treatment for lymphoma discovering that patients with higher levels of TVA tended to respond to treatment better than those with lower levels.

Finally, the study discovered that TVA enhanced the ability of an immunotherapy drug to kill leukaemia cells in patients.

However, the scientists do not believe eating excessive red meat is the solution and hope to find similar results in plants.

Prof Chen added: “There is a growing body of evidence about the detrimental health effects of consuming too much red meat and dairy, so this study shouldn’t be taken as an excuse to eat more cheeseburgers and pizza.

“There is early data showing that other fatty acids from plants signal through a similar receptor, so we believe there is a high possibility that nutrients from plants can do the same thing by activating the CREB pathway as well.”

According to Cancer Research UK, ways to prevent cancer include:

• Not smoking
• Maintaining a healthy weight
• Eating a healthy balanced diet
• Wearing sun cream or covering up while in the sun
• Cutting back on alcohol
• Getting the HPV vaccine if offered.

Regarding diet, the organisation said: “Aim to have plenty of fruit and vegetables, wholegrain foods high in fibre and healthy proteins. Cut down on processed and red meat, alcohol and high calorie foods and drinks.”