Fructose promotes cancer growth

Widely used by the American food industry for its sweetening power and low cost, fructose promotes the growth of cancers by a new mechanism, reveals a study published in the journal Nature. American researchers from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, first found that a high-fructose diet increased the growth of various cancerous tumors implanted in mice, confirming epidemiological data showing that high fructose consumption worsens the prognosis in people with cancer. Their work is published in the journal Nature.

An action on the body different from that of glucose

However, adding fructose in vitro to cancer cells does not stimulate their growth. In addition, this sugar does not increase much in the blood with food unlike glucose and it cannot therefore act directly on tumors. In animals, a diet rich in fructose also induces a high production of lipids by the liver which are found in the blood. The researchers then studied the effect on cancer cells of the lipids most increased by the action of fructose on the liver, lysophosphatidyl choline, a major component of cell membranes.

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Fructose Could Explain Rise in Obesity in the United States

These lipids have proven to be a very good stimulant of tumor growth, both in vitro thatin vivo in mice. This effect of fructose adds to the list of harmful effects of this sugar linked to its stimulation of the production of lipids by the liver: storage of fats by the body, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes. Its excessive consumption, since the arrival of animal fats in the United States in the 1970s (and the introduction of high-fructose corn syrup on the market), could explain the enormous increase in the number of obese people in the country that followed and is peaking today.

An American poster dating from the First World War and extolling the virtues of cornstarch, corn oil and corn syrup. Credits: Photo12 via AFP / Ann Ronan Photo Library

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This study could also explain why obesity is a risk factor for several cancers, with fructose in the diet indirectly facilitating the growth of cancer cells.