Malnutrition, liver damage, and cancer
1981
Grasso, P.
There is no clear evidence that malnutrition is a major cause of liver cancer in man. In controlled animal studies, however, deficiencies of a number of dietary components have caused severe liver lesions which are thought to develop into cancer. Rats fed purified diets deficient in both vitamin E and selenium developed massive hepatic necrosis. Liver damage and cancer have been induced in rats by diets consisting of peanut meal and proteins deficient in some essential amino acids. Since liver damage, but not cancer, was produced when similar diets were fed without the peanut meal, it is suggested that aflatoxin in the peanut meal may have served as a carcinogen in the earlier experiment. Rats given a diet high in fat and protein or allowed to feed ad libitum also developed liver cancer; correction of overfeeding reduced tumor incidence. These findings support the current hypothesis that diet is a factor in cancer development in man. (ds)
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