Quote from Josh on October 4, 2020, 6:45 am

I found a connection between retinoid consumption and intestinal cancer:

Here is a paper showing how that a protein called ISX helps limit the amount of beta carotene in the intestines is transformed into retinaldehyde and retinol (@ggenereux2014 The paper also shows how beta carotene consumption can cause diabetes and is worth reading just for that alone):

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5664558/

And here is a paper linking increased levels of ISX to colon cancer or gastric carcinogenesis. They found that Helicobacter pylori infection upregulates cellular production of ISX, and this is what promotes gastric carcinogenesis (and makes H. pylori carcinogenic). It also promotes intestinal hyperplasia, which is associated with IBD, Colitis, Crohn's etc.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26872890/

And finally here is a paper showing that retinoic acid upregulates ISX expression:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2874479/

So increased BC consumption --> increased retinoic acid in the gut --> more ISX --> gastric carcinogenesis.

By the way, the mainstream thinking on this will tell them that H. pylori causes cancer by decreasing conversion of BC to retinoids (via increase of ISX). Therefore, to counteract this, we need to increase conversion of BC to retinoids. Bad idea!

Actually, a little bit of searching shows that they have identified high ISX expression is a sign of aggressive pancreatic cancer and are already thinking of targeting it as a therapy for pancreatic cancer: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6556561/