Cancer patients should avoid CHOCOLATE as it is found to make tumours spread

December 8, 2016

A key ingredient found in palm oil stimulates a protein called CD36 in humans
Experts believe this plays a vital role in tumours spreading around the body
It is hoped the ‘game-changing’ findings could lead to new treatments
Palm oil can be found in hundreds of foods and even some common toiletries

Stephen Matthews For Mailonline

Published:
13:00 EST, 7 December 2016

|
Updated:
16:18 EST, 7 December 2016

e-mail

115

View
comments

Eating chocolate, biscuits and bread while suffering from cancer makes the disease more deadly, new research suggests.

A key ingredient in palm oil – found in hundreds of foods and some toiletries – stimulates a protein called CD36 in humans.

Experts believe this plays a vital role in tumours upping their anchor and spreading around the body, known as metastasizing.

It is hoped the ‘game-changing’ findings could lead to new treatments to prevent cancer from reaching vital organs.

Scroll down for videos

Palm oil, which is found in chocolate, stimulates a protein called CD36 in humans. This is believed to play a vital role in cancer spreading across the body – making it more deadly

Spanish researchers found the protein in the membranes of tumour cells taken from patients with advanced mouth, skin, ovarian, bladder, lung and breast cancers.

They discovered standard dietary fats also stimulate CD36, allowing cancer cells to spread.

To confirm the link, mice were then injected with advanced human mouth cancer and fed either a low-fat or a high-fat diet.

All the animals whose cancer was exposed to CD36 went on to develop metastasis, according to the study published in Nature.

However, only half of those without ended up having their tumours spread, the team from the Institute for Research in Barcelona found.

Video courtesy of IRB Barcelona

Hallucinogenic drug ayahuasca ‘stimulates the brain to fight…

Taxi to the hospital? One of the UK’s biggest ambulance…

Ever wondered why you are bloated after eating? Revealed, 3…

Girl, 12, who was sent home from school with a ‘sick bug’…

Further research showed that blocking the protein with antibodies completely prevented metastasis in mice.

While in mice whose cancer had already spread, disease progress was halted by a fifth.

They are now working on developing antibody-based therapies that target CD36 that work specifically on humans.

Lead researcher Professor Salvador Benitah said: ‘In mice inoculated with human tumour cells, there appears to be a direct link between fat intake and an increase in metastatic potential through CD36.

It is hoped the ‘game-changing’ findings could lead to new treatments to prevent cancer from reaching vital organs

‘More studies are needed to unravel this intriguing relationship, above all because industrialised countries are registering an alarming increase in the consumption of saturated fats and sugar.

‘Fat is necessary for the function of the body, but uncontrolled intake can have an effect on health, as already shown for some tumours such as colon cancer, and in metastasis, as we demonstrate here.’

Dr Lara Bennett, science communications manager at Worldwide Cancer Research, which funded the study, said: ‘We have been supporting Professor Benitah’s work for a number of years and it is fantastic to now see these truly game-changing results.

‘If the team are able to go on to develop this antibody into a treatment for humans, it could save thousands of lives every year.’