Posts

Showing posts from March 27, 2016

Long-term vegetarian diet could increase cancer, heart disease risk: Cornell University study

Long-term vegetarian diet can lead to a genetic mutation that may increase the risk of cancer and heart disease in Indians, a new study by Cornell University researchers has claimed. The gene identified by scientists helps those who eat plant-based diets to process omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids into compounds that help the development of the brain and control inflammation in the body. The gene could cause a spike in the production of arachidonic acid, which makes the body prone to inflammation and has been linked to heart disease and cancer. This can be harmful if a person with the gene has a diet high in certain vegetable oils, such as sunflower oil, as the body will metabolise the fatty acids into arachidonic acid more quickly . The discovery by researchers, including Kumar Kothapalli from Cornell University in US, provides the first evolutionary work that traces a higher frequency of a particular mutation to a primarily vegetarian population from Pune (about 70%), when compared t