More sugar intake leads to cancer: study

Higher sugar intake not only increases the risks of diabetes and obesity but can also cause breast and lung cancer, according to a new study.
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center researchers found that a sugary diet is more likely to lead to breast cancer development with inflammation of the mammary gland as the cause.
According to a study, high amounts of dietary sugar in the typical Western diet may increase the risk of breast cancer and metastasis to the lungs.
The study investigated the impact of sugar on mammary gland tumor development on mice.
Researchers conducted four different studies in which mice were randomised to different groups and fed one of four diets.

According to the study, at six months old, 30 per cent of mice on a starch-control diet had measurable tumors, whereas 50 to 58 per cent of the mice on sucrose-enriched diets had developed mammary tumors.

Researchers say that numbers of lung metastases were significantly higher in mice on the sucrose- or a fructose-enriched diet, versus mice on the starch-control diet.
"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, PhD, assistant professor of Palliative, Rehabilitation, and Integrative Medicine.

"This was due, in part, to increased expression of 12-LOX and a related fatty acid called 12-HETE. We determined that it was specifically fructose, in table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, ubiquitous within our food system, which was responsible for facilitating lung metastasis and 12-HETE production in breast tumors," said co-author Lorenzo Cohen.
Researchers said previous studies have also shown that dietary sugar intake has an impact on breast cancer development.
In Karnataka, sugar production is estimated to fall at
around 3.22 MT during 2016-17 from 4.07 MT in the current marketing year.
"Similar to Maharashtra, due to lesser rainfall and drought like situation, sugarcane area in Karnataka has also declined in 2016-17. Area under sugarcane in 2016-17 season is expected to be about 4.15 lakh hectares as against 5.10 lakh hectares in 2015-16," ISMA said.

In Tamil Nadu, sugar production is estimated to rise to 1.56 MT in 2016-17 as against 1.39 MT in the current year.
"Sugarcane area in Tamil Nadu in 2016-17 season has increased to 2.65 lakh hectares against 2.50 lakh hectares in 2015-16 season. Due to better rainfall and expected improvement in yield, cane production will also increase," the statement said.
In the sugar marketing year 2017-18, ISMA said that the opening balance would be about 4.3 MT as on October 1, 2017, sufficient to meet the country's domestic requirement for the two months of October-November 2017. By that time new season's sugar production would come into the market.