A team of researchers led by Hiroshi Ohno at the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences in Japan has uncovered a surprising benefit of certain food proteins: they may help prevent the growth of tumors in the small intestines.
Their findings, published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Immunology on September 17, shed new light on the complex relationship between our diet and our body’s ability to fight cancer.
Food antigens, such as those found in milk and other common foods, are often associated with negative effects, particularly in the context of food allergies. These substances can trigger allergic reactions to foods like peanuts, shellfish, bread, eggs, and milk.
Even in people who don’t have allergies, food antigens are still seen by the immune system as foreign invaders, prompting a response that can sometimes be misunderstood as harmful.
However, Ohno’s research reveals a more positive role for these food antigens, specifically in the small intestines. His team had previously discovered that food antigens can activate immune cells in the small intestine, but not in the large intestine.
This activation seemed to be a protective mechanism. Given that other immune responses triggered by gut bacteria are known to suppress tumor growth in the intestines, the researchers wondered if food antigens might have a similar effect.
To explore this idea, the team conducted experiments using a special strain of mice that had a mutation in a tumor-suppressing gene.
This mutation causes the mice to develop tumors throughout their small and large intestines, similar to a condition in humans known as familial adenomatous polyposis, which greatly increases the risk of intestinal cancer.
In their first experiment, the researchers fed the mice either normal food or food that was free of antigens.
The results were telling: mice that ate normal food developed fewer tumors in their small intestines compared to those that ate the antigen-free diet. However, the number of tumors in the large intestines remained the same regardless of diet.
To dig deeper, the researchers added a specific food antigen, albumin—a protein commonly found in meat but not in the normal diet of these mice—to the antigen-free diet.
When the mice consumed this modified diet, the suppression of tumors in the small intestine was just as effective as it was with the normal diet. This showed that it wasn’t the nutritional content of the food that mattered for tumor suppression, but the presence of the antigen itself.
The researchers also noticed that the type of diet had a significant impact on the immune cells in the small intestine, particularly T cells, which play a crucial role in immune responses.
Mice on the antigen-free diet had far fewer T cells compared to those that ate either the normal diet or the antigen-free diet supplemented with milk protein. This difference in immune cell activity appears to be the key to understanding how food antigens help prevent tumors.
These findings have important implications for medical treatments and dietary practices. For example, elemental diets, which are designed to be easy on the digestive system by including only simple amino acids and no proteins, are often used to treat severe gastrointestinal conditions like Crohn’s disease or irritable bowel syndrome.
However, Ohno cautions that these diets might need to be carefully reconsidered, especially for individuals with a higher risk of developing small intestinal tumors, such as those with familial adenomatous polyposis.
Without the presence of food antigens, these patients might lose a crucial natural defense against tumor formation in their intestines.
Additionally, elemental diets are sometimes used by people without severe digestive issues as a way to lose weight or reduce bloating.
The new findings suggest that doing so could unintentionally increase the risk of tumors in the small intestine, emphasizing the need for medical guidance before adopting such diets.
In conclusion, while food antigens have often been viewed with suspicion due to their association with allergies, this research highlights a potentially protective role they play in preventing tumor growth in the small intestines.
As we learn more about how our diet influences our health, it becomes clear that the foods we eat can have powerful effects on our body’s ability to fight disease—sometimes in unexpected ways.
If you care about cancer, please read studies about supplement that may increase cancer risk, and can vitamin D help prevent or treat cancer?
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The research findings can be found in Frontiers in Immunology.
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