Biol Open 7, bio030726 (2018)

Zebrafish with p53/BRAF mutations are used to model melanoma, but it can take several weeks for tumors to develop. Prior research in other animals (including people) has suggested that diet can impact how quickly and aggressively melanomas form, so Charles Kaufman and his lab at Washington University in St. Louis decided to conduct a simple experiment to test for such a link in their zebrafish models.

They sorted melanoma-prone adult zebrafish into three testing groups that received the same amount of food at each feeding event, but were fed either once, twice, or four times daily over the course of the study. Increased feeding increased the rate at which the team was able to detect tumor formation; the 4x-fed fish also had longer tumors at two snapshot points. In fish too, it seems diet makes a difference.