Low-carb diets like the Atkin's Diet may actually increase the risk of bowel cancer, according to scientists. The link between a specific kind of fatty acid production in the gut and consuming carbohydrates may be the cause, as a lack of those fatty acids (called butyrates) protect against colorectal cancer.Low-carbohydrates diets, which were made famous by the Atkin's Diet, cause a four-fold reduction in the butyrate cancer-fighting bacteria, and therefore reduce the body's capability to fight off bowel cancer by itself.
This is quite an interesting development, since low-carb diets are still popular today and are followed by millions of people in the U.S. It makes sense, however, that major diet changes can spark up the risk of certain cancers, so oddly enough, maybe this should not be a total surprise.
1. Far be it from me to suggest this but did you really read the article? The study was based on 19 men. 19 is hardly a large enough test group. I think it's pretty foolish to start making suggestions that low carb diets are potential cancer risk off of a small 19 person study.
Posted at 3:54PM on Jun 19th 2007 by T_R_J