Even amateur home cooks probably have a few different types of cooking oils in the pantry—good-quality olive oil for drizzling over salads, avocado oil for sautéing veggies at high temperatures, and canola oil for cooking everyday dishes. But regardless of your culinary creations, you may want to steer clear of certain cooking oils, as new research shows they could increase cancer risk.
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Ultra-processed foods and unhealthy oils could increase the risk of colon cancer.
Researchers at the University of South Florida (USF) and Tampa General Hospital (TGH) Cancer Institute recently uncovered a possible link between ultra-processed foods and unhealthy oils (which make up a lot of a typical Western diet) and colorectal cancer.
"It is well known that patients with unhealthy diets have increased inflammation in their bodies," said Timothy Yeatman, MD, FACS, a physician-scientist and professor of surgery in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and associate center director for Translational Research and Innovation at the TGH Cancer Institute, in a press release.
Yeatman continued, "We now see this inflammation in the colon tumors themselves, and cancer is like a chronic wound that won’t heal—if your body is living off of daily ultra-processed foods, its ability to heal that wound decreases due to the inflammation and suppression of the immune system that ultimately allows the cancer to grow."
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Seed oils are problematic.
It's well known that the components of ultra-processed foods—added sugars, saturated fats, chemicals, and dyes—are bad for our bodies in many ways. However, research also shows that seed oils such as sunflower, canola, corn, and grapeseed oils also increase cancer risk. According to the data, these oils have inflammatory properties that drive tumor growth.
"Our bodies are designed to actively resolve inflammation through bioactive lipid compounds derived from the healthy fats, like avocados, that we consume," said Ganesh Halade, associate professor in the USF Health Heart Institute and a member of the Cancer Biology Program at TGH Cancer Institute. "Bioactive lipids are very small molecules derived from the foods that we eat and, if the molecules are coming from processed food products, they directly imbalance the immune system and drive chronic inflammation."
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The research underscores the rise of colorectal cancer in the U.S.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), colorectal cancer is the fourth most common cancer among men and women in the U.S. and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths.
However, what's truly alarming is the rise of colon cancer in young people. The American Cancer Society (ACS) notes that "in people younger than 55 years of age, rates have been increasing by 1% to 2% a year since the mid-1990s." In this same age group, the rate of death from colon cancer has been increasing by one percent each year since the mid-2000s.
Previous research has also tied ultra-processed foods to such cancers. A 2022 study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that ultra-processed food consumption increased the risk of the two main colorectal cancer precursors. Likewise, a 2023 meta-analysis published in Frontiers in Nutrition concluded that a high intake of ultra-processed foods drove up the risk of colorectal cancer and breast cancer.
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But it also offers a promising treatment plan.
Despite the troubling associations found in the latest research, scientists believe it could lead them to treatment options.
To arrive at their findings, the USF researchers analyzed 162 tumor samples from patients with colorectal cancer. "The team observed an excess number of molecules that promote inflammation and a shortage of those that help resolve it and promote healing," the press release explains.
To reverse this inflammation, the researchers suggest using "healthy, unprocessed foods rich with omega-3 fatty acids and derivatives of fish oil...to restore the body’s healing mechanisms along with balanced sleep and exercise."
"This has the potential to revolutionize cancer treatment, moving beyond drugs to harness natural healing processes," Yeatman said. "It’s a vital step toward addressing chronic inflammation and preventing diseases before they start."
Currently, the research team is conducting early-stage trials of this treatment using "specialized derivatives of fish oil."
If you have concerns about your colorectal cancer risk or dietary habits, speak to your healthcare provider.
