The number of unburned calories you store as fat may raise your risk of cancer more than the calories you consume, according to university nutrition experts after a study with lab mice.

The finding could have strong implications for preventing and treating the disease, said Dr. Tim R. Nagy, a nutrition scientist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

"This study suggests that body composition, being lean as opposed to being obese, has a greater protective effect against cancer," said Nagy, who led the research project. "Excess calorie retention, rather than consumption, confers cancer risk."

For years, nutritionists and other health experts have argued that limiting calories can prevent, or at least slow, cancer's progression. They added it all has to do with calorie intake.

However, Nagy's study introduces a new wrinkle by showing the progression of prostate cancer in lab mice had nothing to do with the amount of calories they ate, but rather with the fat they carted around.

Rotund rodents

Nagy's project involved two groups of mice, each living in environments nine degrees apart in temperature. Both groups were fed equal amounts of food.

The cooler mice needed more energy to stay warm, thus burned more calories. As a result, they lost weight and were leaner than the balmier - and plumper - mice.

The rotund rodents also showed higher levels of leptin, a hormone linked to obesity and cancer promotion. The unlucky critters also had lower levels of adiponectin, a hormone that apparently protects against cancer.

As a result, prostate cancer in the fatter mice progressed much quicker than in the svelte rats.

The project also involved two other groups of mice that lived in environments with the same temperature difference. Only this time, they could eat as much food as they wanted.

The cooler rodents needed additional calories to keep warm after wolfing down 30 percent more food than the warmer mice.

However, both groups of mice had the same body composition - and the same level of cancer progression. Nagy said this means the boost in calorie intake played no role in cancer protection.

Nagy said you shouldn't interpret his study's findings as a reason to make yourself bone-chilling cold. Rather, he added, you could get the same benefits by burning calories through exercise.

He said further research is needed to see the results from his project with mice could be replicated in humans. The federal government's National Cancer Institute paid for the project.

For more information:

•  Common Questions about Diet and Cancer

•  Diet and Cancer Risk

•  Cancer Experts Renew Call for Fundamental Shift in American Meals

•  Which of These Foods Will Stop Cancer? (Not So Fast)

Source: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Reference: Cancer Research, Jan. 1.

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