https://www.dpa-international.com/trends-and-features/urn:newsml:dpa.com:20090101:261009-99-905576/
https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/fatty-foods-could-help-against-060335295.html
In the latest signal that some dietary fats have been incorrectly maligned, a team of Canada-based researchers has found indications that eating food often typecast as unhealthy can lead to better responses to cancer treatment.
Published in the science journal Nature, the McGill University findings suggest that some meals considered “fattening” could affect the gut microbiome in ways that in turn boost immunotherapy.
“Our findings were surprising because they highlighted a benefit of some obesogenic diets,” said Daniela Quail, associate professor at McGill’s Department of Physiology.
McGill pointed out that while obesity “is generally associated with higher cancer incidence and mortality,” there are indications that cancer patients who have a high body mass index (BMI) “often respond better to immune checkpoint inhibitors.”
“The relationship between diet and cancer treatment is more complex than a simple message to eat healthy and exercise,” explained Quail, who is also principal investigator at the Rosalind & Morris Goodman Cancer Institute.
“There is renewed interest in tailoring diet to reduce cancer risk and improve treatment outcomes as part of personalized medicine,” the team said in their paper.
The presence of an apparent “obesity paradox” does not mean people should assume that a high-fat diet is healthy, however, according to Quail and colleagues, who called for follow-up research to figure out the “synergistic relationship” between fats, gut and illness and to see how treatments can be improved.
In 2025, a team of Lund University researchers published findings suggesting that high-fat cheese could reduce the likelihood of dementia. Earlier this year, University of Reading scientists pointed out the difference between naturally occurring trans fats in dairy and far less healthy processed variants. Other research has found that plant-based alternatives struggle to come close to the nutritional value of whole dairy.
