Just ran across this info on fat/oils and skin cancer, interesting since a lot of us are in the sun a lot and a lot of us have had legions cut or burned off.
The combination of oil/fat and sun increases your incidence of skin cancer 10 times.
"Animal experiments reported as early as 1939 provided the first clues about the influence of our diet on the risk of skin damage from sunlight.9 Researchers discovered a diet high in fat increased the numbers of ultraviolet (UV) radiation-induced skin cancers in mice. In the 1980s, studies showed that switching from a high-fat to a low-fat diet immediately after the ultraviolet light exposure reversed the cancer-promoting effects of the high-fat diet.9 These findings suggested that changing a personç—´ diet, even after exposure to UV light, might prevent future skin cancers, and possibly reverse the effects of the sunç—´ damage.
This may surprise you, but even more than animal (saturated) fat, polyunsaturated oils derived from vegetables (like corn and safflower oils) are found to be the strongest promoters of skin cancers in people and experimental animals, of any foodstuffs that we eat.10 This danger only applies to free oils, like those found in a bottle. Please understand that when the oil is still in its natural state, as part of the components of the fruit or vegetable, it is perfectly safe, and as you know, health-promoting.
The most serious warning about the sun comes from the fear of developing the very deadly skin cancer, melanoma. This fear is unfounded. Research clearly shows that sun exposure has little to do with the cause of this kind of cancer in fact, there is good evidence that sunshine can help prevent this vicious cancer, and can even slow its growth doubling a patientç—´ chances of surviving.11,12 Melanoma is believed to be due to a diet high in fat, especially vegetable oils, and low in fruit and vegetables.13
Even if you have skin damage, it is not too late to change your eating habits. An experiment published in 1994 in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that people with actinic keratosis (precancerous, dry, scaly, rough-textured patches) were able to reduce the chances of development of new actinic (sun damage) lesions, 3 to 6-fold, by switching from a high fat (38% of calories) to a relatively low-fat (21% of calories) diet this diet was also more plentiful in plant foods.14 Furthermore, during the last 8 months of the study the incidence of skin cancers was 10 times less in the low-fat group than the high fat dieters.15
9) Black HS. Influence of dietary factors on actinically-induced skin cancer. Mutat Res. 1998 Nov 9;422(1):185-90.
10) Harris RB, Foote JA, Hakim IA, Bronson DL, Alberts DS. Fatty acid composition of red blood cell membranes and risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the skin. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2005 Apr;14(4):906-12.
11) Berwick M, Armstrong BK, Ben-Porat L, Fine J, Kricker A, Eberle C, Barnhill R. Sun exposure and mortality from melanoma. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2005 Feb 2;97(3):195-9.
12) Christophers AJ. Melanoma is not caused by sunlight. Mutat Res. 1998 Nov 9;422(1):113-7.
13) Millen AE, Tucker MA, Hartge P, Halpern A, Elder DE, Guerry D 4th, Holly EA, Sagebiel RW, Potischman N. Diet and melanoma in a case-control study. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2004 Jun;13(6):1042-51.
14) Black HS, Herd JA, Goldberg LH, Wolf JE Jr, Thornby JI, Rosen T, Bruce S, Tschen JA, Foreyt JP, Scott LW, et al. Effect of a low-fat diet on the incidence of actinic keratosis. N Engl J Med. 1994 May 5;330(18):1272-5.
15) Black HS. Influence of dietary factors on actinically-induced skin cancer. Mutat Res. 1998 Nov 9;422(1):185-90."
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