Shocking study: the sweet killer in your diet that's actually feeding cancer cells!
- Replies 1
New research has uncovered surprising links between diet and cancer growth, challenging our understanding of how certain foods impact tumour development. This study shines a light on the body's complex metabolic processes and their role in disease progression.
Read on to explore the potential implications for cancer treatment and prevention.
Over the past five decades, the consumption of fructose has surged, driven largely by the widespread use of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in beverages and ultra-processed foods.
Recent research from Washington University in St. Louis has uncovered a surprising connection between dietary fructose and cancer progression, shedding new light on how this common sugar impacts tumour growth.
The study, published on 4 December in Nature, demonstrated that while fructose does not directly fuel tumours, it is metabolised in the liver to produce nutrients that cancer cells utilise, potentially opening doors to new treatment approaches.
Gary Patti, the Michael and Tana Powell Professor of Chemistry in Arts & Sciences and a professor of genetics and medicine at the School of Medicine at WashU, spoke about the importance of this discovery.
According to him: ‘The idea that you can tackle cancer with diet is intriguing. When we think about tumours, we tend to focus on what dietary components they consume directly. You put something in your body, and then you imagine that the tumour takes it up.’
‘But humans are complex. What you put in your body can be consumed by healthy tissue and then converted into something else that tumours use,’ he added.
The research team, led by postdoctoral fellow Ronald Fowle-Grider, discovered that while cancer cells were unable to metabolise fructose as efficiently as glucose, the liver could convert it into valuable nutrients.
‘Our initial expectation was that tumour cells metabolise fructose just like glucose, directly utilising its atoms to build new cellular components such as DNA. We were surprised that fructose was barely metabolised in the tumour types we tested,’ Fowle-Grider explained.
‘We quickly learned that the tumour cells alone don’t tell the whole story. Equally important is the liver, which transforms fructose into nutrients that the tumours can use,’ Fowle-Grider explained.
The researchers used a method called metabolomics to see how small molecules move in the body. They found that eating a lot of fructose led to more lipids in the blood, which are needed for building the outer layers of cancer cells and helping them grow.
Patti noted: ‘We looked at numerous different cancers in various tissues throughout the body, and they all followed the same mechanism.’
Both glucose and fructose share the same chemical formula, but the body processes them differently.
Glucose is distributed and metabolised throughout the body, while fructose is predominantly processed in the small intestine and liver.
While both sugars naturally occur in fruits, vegetables, dairy, and grains, fructose has become increasingly prevalent in the modern diet, particularly due to its use in processed foods.
It is sweeter than glucose and has found its way into everything from pasta sauce to salad dressing.
The increase in fructose consumption has been substantial. A century ago, the average person consumed only 5–10 pounds of fructose annually—equivalent to roughly a gallon of milk.
By the 21st century, this figure had risen dramatically to around 15 gallons of milk per year.
‘If you go through your pantry and look for the items that contain high-fructose corn syrup, which is the most common form of fructose, it is pretty astonishing,’ Patti said
Patti continued: ‘Almost everything has it. It’s not just candy and cake, but also foods such as pasta sauce, salad dressing and ketchup. Unless you actively seek to avoid it, it’s probably part of your diet.’
Patti and Fowle-Grider tested their hypothesis by feeding animals with tumour growth a fructose-rich diet. They found that this diet significantly accelerated tumour growth without altering body weight, fasting glucose, or insulin levels.
‘We were surprised to see that it had a rather dramatic impact. In some cases, the growth rate of the tumours accelerated by two-fold or even higher,’ Patti said. ‘Eating a lot of fructose was clearly very bad for the progression of these tumours.’
However, when Fowle-Grider tried to replicate the experiment with cancer cells in a dish, he found that the cells did not respond the same way
‘In most cases they grew almost as slowly as if we gave them no sugar at all,’ Patti said.
The researchers then shifted their focus to blood samples from the fructose-fed animals, discovering elevated levels of lipids, specifically lysophosphatidylcholines (LPCs).
Further testing showed that liver cells fed with fructose released these LPCs, which cancer cells then utilised.
‘Interestingly, the cancer cells themselves were unable to use fructose readily as a nutrient because they do not express the right biochemical machinery,’ Patti said. ‘Liver cells do. This allows them to convert fructose into LPCs, which they can secrete to feed tumours.’
Cancer cells need a lot of lipids to grow quickly. While they can make their own, it’s easier for them to use lipids from their surroundings. LPCs, which dissolve in blood, are especially good for supporting tumour growth.
Given the correlation between increased fructose consumption and rising cancer rates among those under 50, researchers are eager to understand whether these trends are connected.
While it remains to be seen, Patti highlighted an important takeaway: ‘If you are unfortunate enough to have cancer, then you probably want to think about avoiding fructose. Sadly, that is easier said than done.’
The findings may also point towards new therapeutic strategies. ‘An implication of these findings is that we do not have to limit ourselves to therapeutics that only target disease cells,’ Patti said.
Patti and his team are working with clinical partners at WashU Medicine to explore a potential clinical trial focusing on dietary fructose.
This study hints at an intriguing possibility for future treatments that could disrupt the process by which the liver supplies tumours with essential nutrients, ultimately improving cancer patient outcomes.
This new research highlights the surprising ways our diet can impact cancer growth, opening up possibilities for future treatments. After reading this, will you consider avoiding fructose in your diet? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Read on to explore the potential implications for cancer treatment and prevention.
Over the past five decades, the consumption of fructose has surged, driven largely by the widespread use of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in beverages and ultra-processed foods.
Recent research from Washington University in St. Louis has uncovered a surprising connection between dietary fructose and cancer progression, shedding new light on how this common sugar impacts tumour growth.
The study, published on 4 December in Nature, demonstrated that while fructose does not directly fuel tumours, it is metabolised in the liver to produce nutrients that cancer cells utilise, potentially opening doors to new treatment approaches.
Gary Patti, the Michael and Tana Powell Professor of Chemistry in Arts & Sciences and a professor of genetics and medicine at the School of Medicine at WashU, spoke about the importance of this discovery.
According to him: ‘The idea that you can tackle cancer with diet is intriguing. When we think about tumours, we tend to focus on what dietary components they consume directly. You put something in your body, and then you imagine that the tumour takes it up.’
‘But humans are complex. What you put in your body can be consumed by healthy tissue and then converted into something else that tumours use,’ he added.
The research team, led by postdoctoral fellow Ronald Fowle-Grider, discovered that while cancer cells were unable to metabolise fructose as efficiently as glucose, the liver could convert it into valuable nutrients.
‘Our initial expectation was that tumour cells metabolise fructose just like glucose, directly utilising its atoms to build new cellular components such as DNA. We were surprised that fructose was barely metabolised in the tumour types we tested,’ Fowle-Grider explained.
‘We quickly learned that the tumour cells alone don’t tell the whole story. Equally important is the liver, which transforms fructose into nutrients that the tumours can use,’ Fowle-Grider explained.
The researchers used a method called metabolomics to see how small molecules move in the body. They found that eating a lot of fructose led to more lipids in the blood, which are needed for building the outer layers of cancer cells and helping them grow.
Patti noted: ‘We looked at numerous different cancers in various tissues throughout the body, and they all followed the same mechanism.’
Both glucose and fructose share the same chemical formula, but the body processes them differently.
Glucose is distributed and metabolised throughout the body, while fructose is predominantly processed in the small intestine and liver.
While both sugars naturally occur in fruits, vegetables, dairy, and grains, fructose has become increasingly prevalent in the modern diet, particularly due to its use in processed foods.
It is sweeter than glucose and has found its way into everything from pasta sauce to salad dressing.
The increase in fructose consumption has been substantial. A century ago, the average person consumed only 5–10 pounds of fructose annually—equivalent to roughly a gallon of milk.
By the 21st century, this figure had risen dramatically to around 15 gallons of milk per year.
‘If you go through your pantry and look for the items that contain high-fructose corn syrup, which is the most common form of fructose, it is pretty astonishing,’ Patti said
Patti continued: ‘Almost everything has it. It’s not just candy and cake, but also foods such as pasta sauce, salad dressing and ketchup. Unless you actively seek to avoid it, it’s probably part of your diet.’
Patti and Fowle-Grider tested their hypothesis by feeding animals with tumour growth a fructose-rich diet. They found that this diet significantly accelerated tumour growth without altering body weight, fasting glucose, or insulin levels.
‘We were surprised to see that it had a rather dramatic impact. In some cases, the growth rate of the tumours accelerated by two-fold or even higher,’ Patti said. ‘Eating a lot of fructose was clearly very bad for the progression of these tumours.’
However, when Fowle-Grider tried to replicate the experiment with cancer cells in a dish, he found that the cells did not respond the same way
‘In most cases they grew almost as slowly as if we gave them no sugar at all,’ Patti said.
The researchers then shifted their focus to blood samples from the fructose-fed animals, discovering elevated levels of lipids, specifically lysophosphatidylcholines (LPCs).
Further testing showed that liver cells fed with fructose released these LPCs, which cancer cells then utilised.
‘Interestingly, the cancer cells themselves were unable to use fructose readily as a nutrient because they do not express the right biochemical machinery,’ Patti said. ‘Liver cells do. This allows them to convert fructose into LPCs, which they can secrete to feed tumours.’
Cancer cells need a lot of lipids to grow quickly. While they can make their own, it’s easier for them to use lipids from their surroundings. LPCs, which dissolve in blood, are especially good for supporting tumour growth.
Given the correlation between increased fructose consumption and rising cancer rates among those under 50, researchers are eager to understand whether these trends are connected.
While it remains to be seen, Patti highlighted an important takeaway: ‘If you are unfortunate enough to have cancer, then you probably want to think about avoiding fructose. Sadly, that is easier said than done.’
The findings may also point towards new therapeutic strategies. ‘An implication of these findings is that we do not have to limit ourselves to therapeutics that only target disease cells,’ Patti said.
Patti and his team are working with clinical partners at WashU Medicine to explore a potential clinical trial focusing on dietary fructose.
This study hints at an intriguing possibility for future treatments that could disrupt the process by which the liver supplies tumours with essential nutrients, ultimately improving cancer patient outcomes.
This new research highlights the surprising ways our diet can impact cancer growth, opening up possibilities for future treatments. After reading this, will you consider avoiding fructose in your diet? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
.png){kind=icon}
