Obesity is one of the biggest problems of our age. There are millions of people trying to cope with excess weight problems caused by unhealthy eating habits and irregular lifestyle. Learning to eat properly and living an active life from childhood will protect us from dozens of diseases that threaten our life, especially cancer. In many of our articles, we have shared tips on how to eat right and lead a healthy life by adopting what kind of life style with you, our dear friends, who follow us and tried to be a guide.
In the study published in the Journal of Science Translational Medicine, a newly discovered mechanism showing how obesity triggers cancer is presented. The subject of the study is how obesity affects the connective tissue called matrix that fills the intercellular space. In this study, it was seen that with obesity, the stiffness of the intercellular tissue increases and its skeleton changes.
In this study, the relationship between obesity and intercellular substance and cancer developing in the breast, which is one of our organs richest in adipose tissue content, was questioned. When the fat tissues of obese mice were examined, it was observed that obesity caused an increase in the amount of cells called myofibroblasts in the adipose tissue and the hardening of the structure called the matrix that fills the intercellular space. Myofibroblasts are cells that have the characteristics of both muscle cells and connective tissue cells and take an active role in wound healing.
The same hardening of the intercellular connective tissue was also detected in the adipose tissues of obese breast cancer patients. This suggested that intercellular hardening and structural changes triggered by obesity are one of the factors leading to tumor formation in the breast. In addition, it was observed that the adipose tissue skeleton returned to normal in obese mice weakened by calorie restriction. Structural changes in intercellular connective tissue, whose role in cancer formation was revealed in this study, has become a potential target of cancer treatments to be developed.
My dear friends, it is seen once again that obesity is a problem with features that can trigger cancer and many life-threatening diseases. However, developing medicine and research are now in a position to eliminate most of the obesity problems. So, if necessary, you should take the help of a specialist dietitian and eat properly and make sports a part of your life.
