SOURCE:
Nutritionnews.com
Sugars
are needed to provide us with energy and in moderate amounts contribute to our
well-being. Sustained high levels of sugars, as is found in diabetics, damages
our cells and now is shown that can also increase our chance to get cancer: The dose makes the poison as Paracelsus said.
It
is well known that obesity is a leading cause of diabetes, a disease where the
body fails to control blood sugar levels.
High blood sugar levels are
characteristic in obesity and diabetes.
What
is less well known is that diabetes and obesity are also linked to an increase
in cancer risk. That is, the diabetic population has up to double chances to
suffer pancreatic or colon cancer among others, according to well sustained
epidemiological studies. With obesity in British and Spanish children reaching
16%, the highest in Europe, this epidemic has major health implications. How
obesity or diabetes increase cancer risk has been a major health issue.
Scientists
led by Dr. Custodia Garcia-Jimenez at the University Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid
have uncovered a key mechanism that links obesity and diabetes with cancer:
high sugar levels, which increase activity of a gene widely implicated in
cancer progression.
Dr.
Garcia Jimenez’s laboratory was studying how cells in the intestine respond to
sugars and signal to the pancreas to release insulin, the key hormone that
controls blood sugar levels. Sugars in the intestine trigger cells to release a
hormone called GIP that enhances insulin release by the pancreas.
In
a study published in Molecular Cell, Dr. Garcia Jimenez’s team showed that the
ability of the intestinal cells to secrete GIP is controlled by a protein
called β-catenin, and that the activity of β-catenin is strictly dependent on
sugar levels.
Increased
activity of β-catenin is known to be a major factor in the development of many
cancers and can make normal cells immortal, a key step in early stages of
cancer progression. The study demonstrates that high (but not normal) sugar
levels induce nuclear accumulation of β-catenin and leads to cell
proliferation. The changes induced on β-catenin, the molecules involved and the
diversity of cancer cells susceptible to these changes are identified.
Dr.
Custodia García said “We were surprised to realize that changes in our
metabolism caused by dietary sugar impact on our cancer risk. We are now
investigating what other dietary components may influence our cancer risk.
Changing diet is one of easiest prevention strategies that can potentially save
a lot of suffering and money”.
Colin
Goding, Professor of Oncology at the University of Oxford, UK said ‘Previously
we were unsure about how increased blood sugar found in diabetes and obesity
could increase cancer risk. This study identifies a key molecular mechanism
through which high blood glucose would predispose to cancer. It opens the way
for potential novel therapies aimed at reducing cancer risk in the obese and
diabetic populations.’
Estimations
published by the World Health Organization (WHO): Obesity predisposes to
diabetes and its prevalence is doubling every 20 years worldwide. More than 1
in 10 adults worldwide (12%) are obese (BMI>30). 1 in 6 children in UK and
Spain suffer obesity.
Diabetes
caused 4.6 million deaths in 2011, more than 2 deaths per hour in Spain, more
in USA. Worldwide, 1 in 10 adults (10%) suffered from diabetes in 2010 and more
than one-third of individuals with diabetes are unaware they suffer from the
disease. The national cost of diabetes or cancer is in the order of billions of
pounds or euros in Spain or England.
More
than half (63%) of premature deaths worldwide are due to non-communicable
diseases (NCD) of which cancer and diabetes are among the 4 causes more
frequent.
At
least 1 in 3 of the main cancers (27–39%) can be prevented by improving diet,
physical activity and body composition.
