Heather Bedard, C.H.E.
Diets that are high in animal foods are inherently high in protein, fat, and cholesterol. Each one of these elements can contribute to the development of cancer by increasing inflammation and deregulation in the body.
There are tiny clusters of cells called foci that collect after cancer has been initiated. In a study done by T Colin Campbell, he measured the foci growth that occurred after animals were given protein and observed that the foci began to grow. When protein levels were lowered, the foci clusters shrank. This study also showed that even when subjects lowered their protein intake from 20% to below 10% and then raised it again to 20%, the foci clusters began to grow again at the 20% mark showing that once the imprint of the foci had occurred this marker was always there.
Although many studies have shown there is not a correlation between dietary fat and cancer, these studies are poorly designed with such small differences between the lowered fat intake and the high fat intake that statistical evidence is impossible to see. Dietary fat leads to weight gain and weight gain contributes to diabetes which is a risk factor for cancer. As dietary fat is absorbed into cells, the fat makes the cells insulin resistant. As the fat in the form of lipids increases, the mitochondria in the cells are unable to burn the fat off fast enough and this causes deregulation in the cell.
In regard to cholesterol and cancer, this substance has been misunderstood for a long time. Doctors have observed that patients with cancer have lower cholesterol and they have associated low cholesterol with a risk of cancer. However, cancer feeds on plasma cholesterol and it is more likely that the cancer has been absorbing the cholesterol rather than low cholesterol causing the cancer. Therefore, higher cholesterol puts one more at risk for cancer than does low cholesterol. Cholesterol comes from animal foods, and cancer patients, as well as healthy people, would do well to avoid animal foods whenever possible.