Linoleic acid, the primary fat in corn oil, can fuel the growth of certain cancers in rats, but only in the absence of melatonin, a brain hormone produced at night.

Blask, D.E., L.A. Sauer, et al. 1999. Melatonin inhibition of cancer growth in vivo involves suppression of tumor fatty acid metabolism via melatonin receptor-mediated signal transduction events. Cancer Research 59(Sept. 15):4693.

Sauer, L.A. . . . D.E. Blask, et al. 1999. 13-Hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid is the mitogenic signal for linoleic acid-dependent growth in rat hepatoma 7288CTC in vivo. Cancer Research 59(Sept. 15):4688.

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______. 1998. EMF’s biological influences. Science News 153(Jan. 10):29.

______. 1995. Drug of darkness. Science News 147(May 13):300.

______. 1994. This fat may aid spread of breast cancer. Science News 146(Dec. 24&31):421.

______. 1993. Fat may spur spread of prostate cancer. Science News 144(Oct. 9):228.

______. 1989. Fish oil slows some developing cancers. Science News 135(June 24):390.

David E. Blask
Bassett Research Institute
Laboratory of Experimental Neuroendocrinology/Oncology
One Atwell Road
Cooperstown, NY 13326

Leonard A. Sauer
Bassett Research Institute
Laboratory of Experimental Neuroendocrinology/Oncology
One Atwell Road
Cooperstown, NY 13326

From Science News, Vol. 156, No. 14, October 2, 1999, p. 221. Copyright © 1999, Science Service.