New research suggests it may never be too late to make meaningful diet changes, even after weight gain and early precancerous changes have begun.
In a mouse study from UC Davis published in the Journal of Nutrition, researchers found that switching from a high-fat diet to a low-fat diet slowed the development of precancerous changes in the pancreas. Mice that made the switch also lost excess weight and showed improvements in gut microbiome balance, gene expression and cell signaling — factors known to influence cancer risk.
“Our findings suggest that it may never be too late to make a dietary change and still have a meaningful impact on cancer progression,” said study author Gerardo Mackenzie, PhD, chair of the UC Davis Department of Nutrition.
The study focused specifically on fat, not sugar, to isolate its role in obesity and cancer risk. Mice were fed either a high-fat diet, a low-fat diet or switched from high-fat to low-fat partway through. Only those that stayed on the high-fat diet developed accelerated precancerous markers in the pancreas.
“I think there is a huge potential for lifestyle changes, like changing one’s diet, to really change what’s happening on the cellular level,” said lead author Joanna Wirkus, a registered dietitian and doctoral candidate.
While this was a preclinical study in mice — not a dietary prescription for people — it offers new insight into how dietary fat may affect cancer risk and how some damage might still be reversible with the right nutrition strategy.
This research was supported by the University of California, Davis, and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.