Study: High Fructose Corn Syrup Feeds Cancer Cells

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Pancreatic tumor cells like fructose – a lot. Fructose (high fructose corn syrup) is what sweetens most everything in American products – sodas, for instance.

A new study shows that cancer cells metabolize fructose with ease, which leads to cancer-cell reproduction. The study, published in the journal Cancer Research, may explain why other studies allude to fructose consumption and pancreatic cancer.  University of California researchers fed tumor cells either glucose or fructose. The pancreatic cells used both types of sugars, but they proliferated at a rapid rate when fructose was introduced.

“These findings show that cancer cells can readily metabolize fructose to increase proliferation,” Dr. Anthony Heaney of UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer Center and colleagues wrote. “They have major significance for cancer patients given dietary refined fructose consumption, and indicate that efforts to reduce refined fructose intake or inhibit fructose-mediated actions may disrupt cancer growth.”

The Corn Refiners Association (CRA), the trade group that represents the high fructose corn syrup refining industry, says the study conclusions are premature. Cancer cells are well known for having multiple mechanisms to escape the body’s normal controls, which makes controlled laboratory studies poor models for generating meaningful results,” according to a CRA statement.

Although rare, pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly, only five percent of people diagnosed are alive five years later. According to the journal Cancer Research, pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of death among both men and women. As many as six percent of all cancer-related deaths are pancreatic cancer, and the incidence is slowly rising, especially for women. Oncologists say the disease is notoriously difficult to diagnose in its early stages. The one-year survival rate is only 24 percent and the overall five-year survival rate for this disease is less than five percent. Oncologists say the difficulty in early diagnosis makes it all the more important to find the cause.

Evidence mounting against high fructose corn syrup

This recent research may provide supporting evidence found in earlier studies about the role of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and pancreatic cancer. A February 2010 study at the School of Public Health at University of Minnesota showed that high fructose corn syrup-sweetened soft drinks may double one’s risk of pancreatic cancer. The study involved more than 60 thousand participants over a 14-year period. Participants who consumed five HFCS sodas per week had nearly double the risk for developing pancreatic cancer. “The high levels of sugar in soft drinks may be increasing the level of insulin in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth,” said Mark Pereira, Ph.D., senior author on the study and associate professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota.

Other studies show that HFCS also damages the liver. Increased consumption of high fructose corn syrup may be associated with liver lesions and fibrosis, among patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The research found only 19 percent of adults with NAFLD reported no intake of fructose-containing beverages, while 52 percent consumed between one and six servings a week and 29 percent consumed fructose-containing beverages on a daily basis. There was no association between fruit-juice consumption and pancreatic cancer. Cancer experts who commented on the study were quick to say that this study is not absolutely conclusive. Though it found a risk, many of the study participants also smoke and eat read meat, as well as frequently consume soft drinks, so it is difficult to discern which lifestyle factors lead to higher pancreatic cancer risk.

All of these recent studies may pop the bubble over the debate about whether all sugar is sugar or whether certain types affect health differently. The CRA believes that HFCS is being unfairly maligned. “The study's authors inaccurately state that high fructose corn syrup is the most significant source of fructose in the diet, whereas in the United States more fructose is still consumed from sugar than from high fructose corn syrup. Indeed, worldwide, humans consume nine times as much sucrose as they do high fructose corn syrup. Fructose is a natural, simple sugar also commonly found in fruits, vegetables, table sugar, maple syrup, and honey. The causes of pancreatic cancer are poorly understood. To blame one component of the diet is highly speculative based on one, small study done in a Petri dish,” CRA said.

While it is true that fructose is found in perfectly healthy fruits and vegetables. Soft drinks are sweetened with HFCS-55, which has the highest concentration of fructose of all the HFCS.

Research is limited, but there is concern that sweeteners like HFCS-55 interfere with normal carbohydrate and fat metabolism and cause major metabolic changes that throw off the body’s normal reaction to blood sugars. This new research may shed light as to how and why HFCS send cells into such a frenzy and thus leading to blood sugar problems, liver disease and even pancreatic cancer. 

Kimberly Stewart can be reached at eatingbetweenthelines@gmail.com

Read all of Kimberly Stewart's blogs here.

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