There are approximately 40,000 new cases of colorectal cancer every year in France. How to reduce the risk of developing this disease? Researchers at Pennsylvania State University (United States) asked themselves the question. In an attempt to answer this, they looked at the vitelotte potato, a purple-colored potato containing phenolic acids and anthocyanins, known for their anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-cancer properties. Their works have been published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.
Vitelotte prevents inflammation
Previous research had shown a causal link between the high calorie diet and colon cancer. To conduct their study, they therefore started from this premise and divided pigs into three groups: the first was to follow a high-calorie diet, the second a high-calorie diet supplemented with potatoes. raw or cooked vitelottes and the last, a standard diet. This was a control group.
After 13 weeks, the researchers analyzed the colon tissue of these pigs and found that those on a high-calorie diet had higher levels of interleukin-6, a protein that promotes inflammation. But that’s not all: Pigs given a high-calorie diet supplemented with vitelotte potatoes had levels of interleukin-6 six times lower than in the control group. “We observed that dietary supplementation of vitelotte potatoes (…) prevented the inflammation induced by the high calorie diet. Ultimately, this work is important because a chronic inflammatory environment can lead to a multitude of diseases, including Type 2 diabetes and colon cancer, ”concludes Jairam KP Vanamala, co-author of the study.
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