Food products that contain sugar known as fructose rocket fuel cancer cells in the human body, new research revealed.
According to Health Day, a study published in the journal Nature suggested that fructose helps in the growth of cancer cells while lowering fructose intake helps the human body fight against the disease.
Fructose is a sugar also known as fruit sugar that has become a common nutrient nowadays due to its excessive use by the food industry.
A study senior author, Gary Patti, a professor of genetics and medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, said in a university press release, “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." Almost everything has it.”
He highlighted that not only candy or cakes have fructose, but also other foods like pasta sauce, salad dressing, and ketchup have it.
Moreover, researchers noted that fructose is different from other sugars like glucose as it aids cancer cells.
The lead author of the study, Ronald Fowle-Grider, explained, “Our initial expectation was that tumour cells metabolise fructose just like glucose, directly utilising its atoms to build new cellular components such as DNA. (Tumour cells are) unable to use fructose readily as a nutrient because they do not express the right biochemical machinery.”
The study funded by the National Institutes of Health found that once fructose reaches the liver, it starts converting sugar into lipids called lysophosphatidylcholines (LPCs), and cancer cells love “feasting” on LPCs.
Furthermore, researchers suggested avoiding fructose by actively looking at the food containers and your food choices to avoid nourishment of cancer cells.
