by Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D.
Eating fructose boosts the growth of cancerous tumors — by two-fold or greater in some cases — without changing body weight, fasting glucose or fasting insulin levels, according to a peer-reviewed study published Dec. 4 in Nature.
The authors of the study showed that dietary fructose promotes cancer tumor growth in mice that have melanoma, breast cancer and cervical cancer.
Fructose is a naturally occurring sugar found in some fruits, vegetables, honey and table sugar, according to the Mayo Clinic. The consumption of fructose has greatly increased in recent decades since food and beverage companies started routinely using high-fructose corn syrup as a sweetener, the authors said in their report.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), high-fructose corn syrup is derived from corn starch. Corn starch is naturally made of glucose, but added enzymes convert some of the glucose to fructose — which tastes sweeter.
Gary Patti, Ph.D. — a professor of genetics and medicine at Washington University, the senior director for the university’s Center for Metabolomics and Isotope Tracing, and the study’s corresponding author — told The Defender:
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