It has long been known that dietary restrictions can lead to smaller, slower growing tumors, but MIT scientists have recently discovered why that is not always the case.

Researchers at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, have described a cellular pathway that, if activated through a mutation, causes tumors to grow and proliferate independent of food consumption, according to the Institute’s website.

This would explain why some cancer patients do not respond to a decrease in food intake as well as others.

According to David Sabatini, professor of biology at MIT and a member of the Whitehead Lab, these results could lead to cancer treatments tailored to the characteristics of an individual patient’s tumor cells.

He also suggests that the next step for the lab will be to look at the relationship between too much food and an increase in tumors.

“We already know that the U.S. has an epidemic of obesity and that obesity is probably the biggest contributor to cancer, even more so than smoking,” he says.

The findings were published in the online version of the journal Nature.

Those who are concerned about their food intake may turn to different diet regimes to lose weight.

The alkaline diet – rich in citrus fruits, vegetables, tubers, nuts and legumes – is one option, and it has the added benefit of boosting bone health into old age.