Is sugar carcinogenic?!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Your diet MAY affect more than just your waistline! We’re talking LUNG cancer!
Enter Harrison Clarke and team at the University of Kentucky, Lexington.
They measured glycogen, the storage form of sugar, in lung cancer samples from patients. Lung tumors had nearly FORTY TIMES more glycogen compared to healthy tissue!
They also studied how diet impacts cancer progression. Eating high fructose corn syrup made lung cancer tumors FOUR TIMES larger and more abundant.
This research shows how your diet could make lung cancer harder to treat. Understanding this connection between sugar and cancer growth could lead to better treatments.
Up to a pack a day of CANDY cigarettes? Drop ‘em. The real ones too!
Reference: Clarke, H.A., Hawkinson, T.R., Shedlock, C.J. et al. Glycogen drives tumour initiation and progression in lung adenocarcinoma. Nat Metab (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-025-01243-8