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I'm interested in studies that address the 800 lbs. gorilla in the room: widespread over-nutrition with the post-WW2 "Western diet" is likely the primary suspec

I'm interested in studies that address the 800 lbs. gorilla in the room: widespread over-nutrition with the post-WW2 "Western diet" is likely the primary suspected cause of a subset of cancers not seen in holdout individuals adhering to traditional diets and portion sizes that avoid too many calories and processed foods. My hypothesis is our immune system and cellular machinery can only effectively kill emergent cell lines under the assumption of sufficient cellular stress and restricted caloric intake. Chemotherapy are late substitute nuclear options, i.e., pausing cell division and/or clamping down on nutrient uptake pathways. I'd be curious to know if people who have endured famines, controlled for age, have lower (and/or higher) rates of some cancers in certain phases of their lives.

namuol 3y ago
I’m new to this idea and NOT educated in biology let alone oncology, but here’s a meta study that suggests early exposure to famine is associated with increased cancer risks, if tenuously: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1279770723002579#:~:text=A%20remarkably%20elevated%20risk%20for,CI%3A%201.13–1.42 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S127977072...). Of course looking at the effect of famine on an adult populations would do more to investigate your hypothesis than the effect on developing children. But famine seems a bit extreme, no? Aren’t there also regional studies that show regional dietary/nutritional factors that correlate with lower cancer rates?
jart 3y ago
Life was not good for people who ate traditional diets. https://jacobin.com/2015/05/slow-food-artisanal-natural-preservatives/ https://jacobin.com/2015/05/slow-food-artisanal-natural-pres...