Obesity, Iron Regulation and Colorectal Cancer Risk

Obesity Clinical Trial

Official title: Obesity, Iron Regulation and Colorectal Cancer Risk

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

Obesity is an independent risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC) although the underlying mechanisms have not been elucidated. Dietary nutrients play a key role in both the prevention and promotion of CRC. While iron is an essential nutrient, excess iron is associated with carcinogenesis. Unlike the systemic compartment, the intestinal lumen lacks an efficient system to regulate iron. In conditions when dietary iron malabsorption and intestinal inflammation co-exist, greater luminal iron is associated with increased intestinal inflammation and a shift in the gut microbiota to more pro-inflammatory strains. However, treatments designed to reduce luminal, including diet restriction and chelation, are associated with lower intestinal inflammation and the colonization of protective gut microbes. Obesity is associated with inflammation-induced, hepcidin-mediated, iron metabolism dysfunction characterized by iron deficiency and dietary iron malabsorption. Obesity is also linked to intestinal inflammation. Currently, there is a fundamental gap in understanding how altered iron metabolism impacts CRC risk in obesity.

The investigator's objective is to conduct a crossover controlled feeding trial of: 1) a "Typical American" diet with "high" heme/non-heme iron", 2) a "Typical American" diet with "low" iron, and 3) a Mediterranean diet with "high" non heme iron and examine effects on colonic and systemic inflammation and the gut microbiome.

Clinical Trial Description

n/a

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Colon Inflammation
• Diet Modification
• Inflammation
• Iron Malabsorption
• Malabsorption Syndromes
• Obesity

• NCT number: NCT03548948
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: University of Illinois at Chicago
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: July 15, 2015
• Completion date: June 30, 2019