A new study that contradicts the results of a previous research has found that high fat intake does not increase the risk of certain types of skin cancer, and that it might even play a protective role in the development of non-melanoma skin cancer.
The study was conducted by Robert Granger and colleagues from the Menzies Research Institute in Hobart, Australia and colleagues from Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne.
As a part of the research, the team compared a group 652 people who had been diagnosed with skin melanoma ? the aggressive skin cancer that spreads to other tissues ? or non-melanoma skin cancers ? skin cancers that are less likely to spread to other tissues ? to 471 individuals who did not have skin cancer between 1998 and 1999.
During the study, both patients and control subjects were asked to fill in a questionnaire about their fat intake, history of sun exposure and other factors of interest.
An analysis of the data at that point showed that the control group reported marginally higher levels of fat consumption.
All subjects were subsequently followed for about 5 years to see if they developed any non-melanoma skin cancers.
The researchers not only found no evidence that high fat intake increases the risk of developing melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers, but also that patients who had previously been diagnosed with a skin cancer other than melanoma even had a lower risk of getting a further non-melanoma skin cancer if they reported consuming more fat.
This contradicts previous studies that suggested that high fat intake may enhance the cancer-promoting effects of ultraviolet radiation ? the main cause of skin cancer.
The study is published in the open access journal BMC Cancer.