Food and Agricultural Immunology · Published 2026-05-05 · DOI 10.1080/09540105.2026.2668199
Obesity has tripled worldwide since the 1970s, reaching a prevalence of 18.5% in women and 14.0% in men in 2022. It is associated with higher cancer incidence, recurrence, and mortality. This association is due to the presence of chronic low-grade inflammation and cellular alterations, including reactive oxygen species accumulation, impaired autophagy, microRNA dysregulation, epigenetic changes, decreased adiponectin, macrophage infiltration with a pro-inflammatory M1 phenotype, and hyperinsulinemia activating pathways that promote tumour growth. The Mediterranean diet appears to be an alternative that helps in the treatment of this condition, which may counteract these mechanisms by reducing body mass index, waist circumference, and inflammatory markers while improving microbiota composition and modulating gene expression. The main aim of this paper is to synthesize and evaluate molecular, epidemiological, and therapeutic evidence on the Mediterranean diet's role in modulating inflammation, oxidative stress, and metabolic dysfunction in obesity-related cancer.
Abstract from DOAJ. Public domain (CC0 1.0).
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