Western diets that could spike a person's sugar level can promote, spread and add to the risk of Breast and Lung Cancer, according to a study which was published on the Cancer Research journal.
The role of high levels of sugar have already been considered and studied by numerous researches before, however, according to the team of researchers from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, their study is actually the first to look specifically at the direct effect of sugar consumption on the development of the said cancer, which is considered the deadliest type of cancer killing hundreds of thousands per year. The Breast Cancer Org also reported that in 2015, About 40,290 women in the U.S. are expected to die.
The study, which was funded by the National Institute of Health, used mice which were genetically modified for Breast Cancer research as animal models. The mice were divided in four different groups, in which each group was fed with different diets with varying sugar levels, until the mice reach their sixth year of age.
After the time period, the results displayed unexpected outcome. A diet with a level of sugar intake similar to the food eaten on a typical Western diet led to an increase in the growth of tumors and the spread of cancer to the lungs.
The researchers believed that sugar directly increases the enzyme called "12-LOX" and the fatty acid called "12-HETE" in Breast Cancer cells, which are factors that lead to the cancer development.
Commonly eaten foods in the US also contains fructose-found in table sugar and corn syrup, was a particular increasing factor contributing to the rapid and added production of 12-HETE in the body, resulting to the transfer of Breast Cancer cells to the lungs.
One of the team's objective is making the public realize that identifying risk factors of diseases should be everyone's priority. They have also advised the public to lessen their intake of high sugar foods and monitor their sugar levels regularly. Added to the perils of such high sugar diet are other deadly diseases such as the heart disease and obesity, which numbers continue to rise across the country.
