Munching on Western Foods May Increase the Risk for Breast Cancer

If you feel tempted to gulp down a bottle of coke after a hectic day or munch on sugary foods like biscuits, cereal bars then beware you may be at increased risk for breast cancer, revealed a new study.

People are getting attracted more to western diet which can actually put them at risk for breast cancer and it can even spread to the lungs.

‘Higher levels of sucrose and fructose in western foods trigger increased tumor growth and metastasis, especially in breast cancer.’

Researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Center conducted a study on mice based on different diets. One group was fed with starch-controlled diets while the other with non-starch-controlled diets.

They found that 30 percent of mice on a starch-control diet had measurable tumors, whereas 50 to 58 percent of the mice on sucrose-enriched diets had developed mammary tumors.

The study also showed that numbers of lung metastases were significantly higher in mice on a sucrose- or a fructose-enriched diet, versus mice on a starch-control diet. The study was published in the journal Cancer Research.

"We found that sucrose intake in mice comparable to levels of Western diets led to increased tumor growth and metastasis, when compared to a non-sugar starch diet," said Peiying Yang, assistant professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in US.

"This study suggests that dietary sucrose or fructose induced 12-LOX and 12-HETE production in breast tumor cells in vivo. This indicates a possible signaling pathway responsible for sugar-promoted tumor growth in mice. How dietary sucrose and fructose induces 12-HETE and whether it has a direct or indirect effect remains in question," said Professor Lorenzo Cohen.

Source: Medindia