A COMMON sugar found in food and drink including Coke, ketchup, cereal bars and biscuits could be driving breast cancer, scientists warn.
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| Scientists believe diets high in sucrose, or sugar, could increase the chances of breast cancer |
The high-sugar Western diet may increase the risk of disease and its spread to the lungs.
Researchers discovered when mice were given a sucrose-rich diet, similar to our own diet in the West, the mice showed increased levels of tumour growth and metastasis, when the cancer spreads.
They also found fructose in table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup could be increasing cases of the disease.
Scientists at the University of Texas MD Anderson Centre gave groups of mice one of four different diets.
Their research showed at six months old, 30 per cent of those raised on starch-controlled diets had measurable tumours.
Of those mice which had been raised on a sucrose-enriched diet, 50 to 58 per cent had developed breast cancer.
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| Lab rats were given a high-sugar diet similar to the modern Western diets during the experiment |
The study released in the online edition of the Cancer Research journal, also showed cancers in mice on high sucrose or fructose diet were more likely to spread than those on starch-controlled diets.
We found that sucrose intake in mice comparable to levels of Western diets led to increased tumour growth and metastasis
Professor Lorenzo Cohen, who was one of the authors to head up the report, said: "We determined that it was specifically fructose, in table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, ubiquitous within our food system, which was responsible for facilitating lung metastasis and 12-HETE production in breast tumours."
Co-author Dr Peiying Yang said that she believed it was the first study to investigate the direct effect of sugar consumption and effect on the development of breast cancer. She added: "We found that sucrose intake in mice comparable to levels of Western diets led to increased tumour growth and metastasis, when compared to a non-sugar starch diet."
Both authors said that identifying the risk factors for breast cancer was a public health priority.
Sugar consumption on average in the UK is now 35 kilos.
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| Sucrose is a common type of sugar found in lots of food and drink, including Coke and ketchup |
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| The rise in obesity, heart disease and cancer worldwide has been blamed on high-sugar diets |
The rise in obesity, heart disease and cancer worldwide has been blamed on the rising amount of sugar rich drinks people are consuming.
Professor Cohen added: "This study suggests that dietary sucrose or fructose induced 12-LOX and 12-HETE production in breast tumour cells in vivo.
"This indicates a possible signalling pathway responsible for sugar-promoted tumour growth in mice.
"How dietary sucrose and fructose induces 12-HETE and whether it has a direct or indirect effect remains in question."
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