Overview

• Boston University researchers report that high-protein or tryptophan-heavy diets increased the severity of venous thrombosis in colon cancer models compared with standard diets.
• The peer-reviewed findings appear in Blood Advances and are based on animal experiments rather than human clinical data.
• Blocking indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) reduced vascular injury, and the tryptophan metabolite kynurenine affected procoagulant factors.
• Authors note that cancer survivors already have a four- to seven-fold higher risk of venous thromboembolism, which proves fatal in about one in seven patients.
• The team cautions that common nutrition practices that raise protein intake or deliver five- to eight-fold more tryptophan via parenteral feeding should be assessed further in human studies.