You may recall a study I posted earlier this year about the link between sugary, sweet soft drinks, often laced with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), and pancreatic cancer. Apparently, the connection between sugary substances and pancreatic cancer may be far deadlier than anyone imagined.

UCLA researchers made their alarming discovery after exposing separate sets of pancreatic tumor cells (extracted from patients, then cultured and grown in Petri dishes) to glucose and fructose, respectively, then used mass spectrometry to monitor how these sugars were used by cells.

Although fructose and glucose have a similar molecular structure, scientists learned both substances were metabolized by pancreatic cancer cells very differently. Fructose activates an important pathway that spurs cell division, thus speeding the growth of pancreatic cancer cells.

These results prompted researchers to suggest the federal government mandate a reduction of HFCS in American diets, while the near century-old Corn Refiners Association slammed the study for "several premature and potentially misleading conclusions."

Just a reminder, another recent study estimated the average American's daily intake of added sugars from eating processed foods alone amounts to 21 teaspoons of sugar and more than 350 calories. Hard to imagine all that extra sugar swimming around in our bodies not having some kind of harmful effect on our collective health.

Cancer Research, Vol. 70, No. 15, pp. 6368-6376, August 1, 2010

EurekAlert August 2, 2010

Yahoo News August 2, 2010