Eating More Meat and Milk Can Help Prevent Intestinal Cancer

Researchers have uncovered a link between the food we consume and the prevention of tumors in the small intestine that may surprise you. Scientists at the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences found in their study that milk and meat hold the key to suppressing tumors. Two groups of mice were used for the study: one received an antigen-poor diet, while the other received a normal diet. The mice fed with an antigen-free diet developed more tumors in their small intestine than those fed a normal diet. However, when the group on the antigen-free diet was additionally fed with a dietary protein called albumin, they suppressed tumor growth to a similar level as the mice on a normal diet. Although the research was conducted on mice, the results suggest that a diet rich in food antigens could help prevent small intestinal tumors in humans. One should also be cautious of trendy antigen-free or elemental diets as they could do more harm than good.