Sugar diet may be a risk of cancer : study

New York, May 29: Love to eat a sugar rich diet? Caution can be fueled by various types of cancers by giving them the power to multiply them. A type of cancerous squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) found in the lungs, head and neck, esophageal and the uterus - is based on sugar. "It has been suspected that many cancer cells are heavily dependent on sugar as their energy supply, but it turns out that one specific type -- squamous cell carcinoma -- is remarkably more dependent," said Jung-whan Kim, assistant professor at the University of Texas.
Further, SqCC was also found to have highly active levels of a protein called glucose transporter 1, or GLUT1, responsible for transporting glucose into cells where the sugar provides a fundamental energy source and fuels cell metabolism. "As a culture, we are very addicted to sugar. Excessive sugar consumption is not only a problem that can lead to complications like diabetes, but also, the evidence is mounting that some cancers are also highly dependent on sugar," Kim rued. 
For the study, published in the journal Nature Communications, the team investigated differences in metabolism between two major subtypes of non-small cell lung cancer -- adenocarcinoma (ADC) and SqCC. The researchers investigated the effect of a GLUT1 inhibitor in human lung tissue, isolated lung cancer cells and mice with both types of non-small cell lung cancer. When GLUT1 suppresses are given to rats with lung cancer, squamous cancer is reduced, but not adenocarcinoma. "There is no complete elimination, but the tumor growth has slowed," Kim said. "Overall, our findings suggest that GLUT1 may be a potential target for new lines of drug therapy, especially for the SQCC," he noted.