Lung cancer is not traditionally not thought of as a dietary disease, said by experts from the University of Florida, US. A group of scientists concluded that the diet has a huge effect on the respiratory organ, such as cancer related to other organs such as liver and kidney.

“Diseases such as pancreatic cancer or liver cancer, yes. However, when it comes to lung cancer, the idea that the diet can play a role, rarely discussed,” said the lead researcher Ramon Sun, who is the director of an Associate Professor and UF Center for Advanced Spatial Biomolecular Research.

A researcher included in the study, Dr. According to Matthew Gentry, published in the Peer-review Nature Metabolism, a major cancer center can be the first study, which may be the first study in a major cancer center to detect the link between poor diet and lung cancer.

The research team used a special technique developed in 2020, which was to study diseases at a deep level. This device helped them see small molecular changes in the body which were not visible earlier. By using this method, they found a connection between lung cancer and glycogen, which is a form of sugar stored in the body for energy.

A type of lung cancer called lung adenocarcinoma is responsible for 40% of lung cancer cases worldwide. Researchers compared its behavior to a rare disease called Lafora disease, which affects the brain.

In Lafora disease, the manufacture of glycogen causes severe damage. Scientists thought whether something similar was happening in lung cancer.

Their findings showed that glycogen fuels cancer cells of the lungs, helping them grow and spread. One of the leading researchers, Dr. Sun described it as a “huge lollipop for the sweet tooth of cancer”, meaning that cancer cells love glycogen and use it as fuel.

Dietary role in cancer development

Researchers tested this idea by feeding mice a specific western diet – high, especially fructose in fat and sugar, which is found in processed foods. They found that this diet increased the level of glycogen in the body, causing lung tumors to grow rapidly. When the level of glycogen decreased, the growth of the tumor slowed down.

This study suggests that eating high-sugar, high-fat diets can increase the risk of lung cancer or it may worsen it. While it is one of the first studies to add lung cancer and diet, scientists have long known that nutrition plays an important role in preventing many types of cancer.

Dr. Sun believes that we should take a similar approach to diet and cancer prevention as we did with anti -smoking campaigns. Public awareness and policies that promote healthy food can help prevent cancer in future.

The good news is that there are already present medicines that can reduce glycogen levels, some of which were originally created to treat Lafora disease. Dr. Gentry, another researcher, highlights changes in simple lifestyle that can help in the risk of low cancer: eat nutritious foods, stay active and limit alcohol consumption.

These habits can lead a long way to protect overall health and reduce the possibility of developing lung cancer.