The importance of eating well and reducing your sugar intake cannot be overstated when it comes to lung cancer prevention, according to new research from the University of Florida.
A team from the institution has determined that glycogen, a form of glucose stored by the human body after consuming sugary foods, has been overlooked as a contributing factor for developing the disease.
A “giant lollipop for cancer’s sweet tooth” is how they have described it.
“Lung cancer has not traditionally been thought of as a dietary-related disease,” said Ramon Sun, Director of the school’s Center for Advanced Spatial Biomolecule Research. “Diseases like pancreatic cancer or liver cancer, yes. However, when it comes to lung cancer, the idea that diet could play a role is rarely discussed.”
The researchers say that their study, published in the prominent journal Nature Metabolism on Mar. 11, is the first to assess the link between eating habits and the lung disease at a cancer centre certified by the National Cancer Institute. In the investigation, they fed mice a sugary Western-style diet and observed increased rates of tumour growth.
So if you don’t want lung cancer don’t smoke, eat a balanced diet with minimal sugar, and exercise, essentially. Reducing alcohol consumption is important too.
“Our findings support the conclusion that glycogen accumulation drives lung adenocarcinoma cancer progression,” they wrote. This type of lung cancer accounts for about 40 per cent of cases throughout the globe.
A Postdoctoral Research Associate at Washington University in St. Louis, Abass Oduola, pointed out the importance of this study because it highlights glycogen as a potential target for new cancer therapies.
“Imagine a future where we could starve cancer cells by cutting off their glycogen supply,” he wrote on social media.
Read more: Breath Diagnostics onboards new president and closes critical financing
Read more: Breath Diagnostics pioneers novel lung cancer breath test
High glycogen levels make treatments less successful
As Oduola highlighted, It is worth noting that glycogen accumulation in the body is known to be linked to tumour resistance against radiation and chemotherapy treatments.
Several studies have shown that high levels of this stored form of glucose in a person’s liver and muscles can help provide tumours with a means of surviving these therapies.
“Numerous experimental studies have demonstrated that glucose deprivation and/or glycolysis inhibition arrest cancer cell growth and may increase the efficiency of cytotoxic drugs,” one 2017 study in the peer-reviewed journal Anticancer Research explained.
rowan@mugglehead.com
