an antioxidantrich diet is extremely important for our overall wellbeing they are the compounds that reduce the freeradical activity in the body which in turn helps in keeping diseases away including some deadly ones like cancer antioxidants help in the proper functioning of the body and help in losing weight in short antioxidants have always been looked at in a positive light however a new study may change this perception the studyaccording to a new study conducted by the hebrew university eating antioxidantrich foods like black tea cocoa and blueberries can increase the risk of a certain type of cancers the team of researchers found that cancer mutations are not always bad in certain microenvironment like in the gut these cancer mutations can help the body fight cancer and not spread it but if the gut microbiome leads to too much production of metabolites just like the ones found in antioxidantrich foods it can provide a favourable environment to mutate genes and can increase the growth of cancers cells in the bowel the researchers also found that only 2 per cent of gastrointestinal cancers originate in the small intestine while 98 per cent originate in the colon gut bacteria this happens because the small intestine contains very few gut bacteria while the colon has a lot of them the researchers further explained how tp53 a gene found in every cell produces a protein called p53 that acts as a cells barrier and helps suppresses any genetic mutations in the cell but when the protein is damaged the barrier gets destroyed which starts spreads cancer further further the researchers introduced mutated p53 proteins in the gut the results were that small intestine reacted by converting the mutated p53 into normal p53 and suppressed cancer growth while in the colon where the gut bacteria is more the mutated p53 protein stayed true to its properties spreading cancer even more what you can do about your dietthe results of the study are convincing but this doesnt mean that antioxidants only cause harm these findings are important for the people who have a family history of colorectal cancer as they are at risk you must consult your doctor before adding any diet in your routine a healthy and balanced diet is the key to stay healthy and prevent diseases