Researchers have found that a chemical, methylglyoxal or MGO, which is produced in the body from the breakdown of sugar, temporarily blocks BRCA2, a gene that repairs DNA, and restricts cancer growth and metastases.
A BRCA2 gene mutation is well known to women with breast or ovarian cancers, but 3-5% of the population at large appear to carry it. Having an inherited BRCA2 mutation puts the carrier at a higher risk of almost any cancer. Now researchers have shown that consuming sugar or having poor sugar control (as in people with diabetes) can turn off this cancer defender gene.
Furthermore they found that people with a mutation in the BRCA2 gene are especially susceptible to DNA damage from MGO.
Researchers from the National University of Singapore, Cancer Science Institute of Singapore led by professor Ashok Venkitaraman and Li Ren Kong, a senior research fellow at the University of Singapore, found that MGO, known to be released when the body breaks down sugar, also suppresses gene expression and encourages the formation of tumours.
It has long been known that people with diabetes had an elevated risk of cancer. And that people with the inherited mutation BRCA2 also did. Until this research, no one knew exactly why. Li Ten Kong a senior researcher talked of a compounded risk over time -"repeated episodes of poor diet or uncontrolled diabetes can ‘add up’ to increase cancer risk". “In patients with prediabetes/diabetes, high methylglyoxal levels can usually be controlled with diet, exercise and/or medicines."
We are aiming to propose the same for families with high risk of cancers, such as those with BRCA2 mutation.”
Chris Woollams, a founder of CANCERactive and Oxford University Biochemist asked, "How much more evidence do the sugar-feeds-cancer deniers need? We see absolutely no 'evidence' from that there's no link; meanwhile people die of cancer. We must be approaching 50 studies now over the years. They cannot all be dismissed".
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