My mom was a step ahead of scientists, hiding the cookie jar when I was a kid. Of course, she didn't have access to studies published in 2009, but her advice extends even now to my passion. Her argument focused on our teeth and our waistlines, but skipping that extra cookie may be a good idea for lung health as well.
It appears that limiting our intake of glucose (dietary sugar) might speed up the death of precancerous lung cells, and help normal lung cells remain, well, healthy.
To understand the results of a new study, it helps to talk about how our understanding of cancer has changed. The development of a cancer is much more complex than we once thought. Certainly, carcinogens, those cancer causing substances in our environment are important. But what our body does with cells that are abnormal - have become "precancerous" - is also important.
Most cells that are harmed by the environment don't develop into cancers. They undergo a process called apoptosis, also known as "cell suicide." This process allows the body to eliminate abnormal cells before they have the opportunity to grow and divide and ultimately become a cancer.
In this study, restricting sugar intake appeared to lengthen the lifespan of normal lung cells, but resulted in the precancerous, abnormal lung cells dying off faster.
How?
On a molecular level, the researchers looked at genes that coded for two proteins. One was an enzyme that helps cells divide indefinitely (kind of like an immortality substance), and the other, an anti-cancer protein.
In the precancerous lung cells that were given less sugar, there was a lower level of the enzyme (the immortality substance if you will), that helps cells to divide continuously, and a higher level of the anti-cancer protein.
In healthy lung cells, the reverse was true. There was an increase in the enzyme that allows cells to keep dividing, and a decrease in the anti-cancer protein.
So what does this mean?
It is important to avoid those cancer causing substances in our environment - tobacco smoke, radon, other environmental and occupational exposures that can lead to lung cancer. But feeding our bodies in a way that promotes health and allows our natural cancer fighting system to function is important as well.
One caveat I have to address when talking about lung cancer, relates to an argument I often hear. Quitting smoking can cause weight gain and make that extra cookie more enticing. Still, quitting smoking is the most important thing anyone can do to keep their lungs healthy - even if it means grabbing that extra cookie.
Photo: istockphoto.com
Source:
Li, Y. et al. Glucose restriction can extend normal lifespan and impair precancerous cell growth through epigenetic control of hTERT and p16 expression. The FASEB Journal. 2009. December 17. (Epub ahead of print).
