Hepatocellular Carcinoma - Since 1980, it has been noted as the most common type of liver cancer which has been nearly tripled brought by the prevalence of obesity, which has been considered as the primary cause of the increase of the said type of cancer. A new research from the Baylor College of Medicine is now found to be on the process of analyzing how other lifestyle related factors may affect one's health.
How The Study Was Conducted
In conducting their study using mice, Medical News Today has revealed that the scientists aims to prove that repeated jet lag episodes can lead to an increase in both obesity related liver disease and the risk of liver cancer. It was found that the study appears in the journal Cancer Cell. Study lead author David Moore, a professor of molecular and cellular biology, together with Associate Professor Loning Fu, both at Baylor, has claimed that liver cancer is on the rise worldwide, and in human studies, it has been found that patients can progress from fatty liver disease to liver cancer without any middle steps such as cirrhosis.
Research Gate has also reported that jet-lagged mice were also found to lose control of their liver metabolism, increasing their production of bile acids. The researchers explained that these acids act as a kind of detergent to absorb foods that are rich in fats, however previous studies have found that high bile levels are linked to an increased risk of liver cancer in humans.
Furthermore, the researchers of the study explains that when we are constantly exposed to light, travel through different time zones, work night shifts, or push ourselves to stay awake at the regular sleep time, our bodies' central circadian clock in the brain resets and is being chronically disrupted in return. Thus, Moore believes that the study findings are consistent with what we already knew about these receptors, but they definitely show that chronic circadian disruption alone leads to malfunction of these receptors.
