Fructose and tumour growth in animal models of cancer
What it found
In mice and zebrafish, fructose made tumours grow faster by raising certain blood fats that cancer cells used to build membranes.
The cancer cells could not use fructose directly as fuel.
What they found
Animal and lab studies
Tumour growth in animals
Tumours grew faster in zebrafish and mice given fructose or high-fructose corn syrup compared with control diets. This happened across melanoma, breast and cervical cancer models. The animals did not gain extra weight or show signs of insulin resistance after 6 weeks.
Cancer cells cannot use fructose
In lab dishes, cancer cells from many tissues barely broke down fructose at all. They lacked the main enzyme needed to process it efficiently. Even when given very high amounts of fructose, the cells divided much more slowly than when given glucose.
Liver makes fats from fructose
Mouse liver cells readily turned fructose into several types of fats, including lysophosphatidylcholines (LPCs). When cancer cells were grown alongside these liver cells, they used the LPCs to multiply faster. Blocking the liver enzyme that processes fructose stopped this effect in the dish.
Blood fats rise with fructose
Mice drinking 20% high-fructose corn syrup had more than sevenfold higher levels of certain LPCs in their blood compared with controls. Giving mice extra LPC 18:1 alone was enough to speed up tumour growth. Cancer cells converted these LPCs into phosphatidylcholines, which are the main building blocks of cell membranes.
Blocking fructose processing slowed tumours
A drug called PF-06835919 blocked the enzyme that breaks down fructose in the liver. In lab dishes, the drug did not slow cancer cell division on its own. But in mice on high-fructose diets, daily doses of the drug lowered blood LPC levels and prevented the extra tumour growth caused by fructose.
What the authors conclude
- They conclude that fructose speeds up tumour growth indirectly by raising circulating fats like LPCs, rather than by feeding cancer cells directly.
- They suggest that future research should look at whether blocking tumour use of LPCs could be a useful treatment approach.
How it was done
Fructose intake has risen sharply over the past five decades, mainly because high-fructose corn syrup is widely used as a sweetener. Some scientists have suggested that fructose might feed tumours directly, so the authors wanted to test how it actually affects cancer growth.
The researchers studied zebrafish with melanoma and female mice implanted with melanoma, breast or cervical cancer cells. They gave the animals drinking water containing 10% fructose, 10% glucose or 20% high-fructose corn syrup for up to 6 weeks. They also grew human and mouse cancer cells in lab dishes to track how the cells handled sugars and fats.
What it can’t tell you
- All experiments were done in animals and lab dishes, so they cannot show what happens in people who eat fructose.
- The study tested specific implanted cancers and cannot rule out that other tumour types might handle fructose differently.
- It also does not measure whether normal dietary amounts of fructose affect cancer risk in humans.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by NCI NIH HHS; NCATS NIH HHS; NIDDK NIH HHS; NIEHS NIH HHS (from the PubMed record).
- Conflicts
- Competing interests: B.N.F. is a stockholder and member of the scientific advisory board of Cirius Therapeutics. G.J.P. is a scientific advisory board member for Cambridge Isotope Laboratories and has a collaborative research agreement with Agilent Technologies. G.J.P. is the Chief Scientific Officer of Panome Bio.
- Authors work at
- Washington University, USA; Washington University School of Medicine, USA; Saint Louis University School of Medicine, USA
The paper
- Title
- Dietary fructose enhances tumour growth indirectly via interorgan lipid transfer
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Animals and lab studies
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Fowle-Grider R, Rowles JL, Shen I, et al (2024). Dietary fructose enhances tumour growth indirectly via interorgan lipid transfer. Nature. doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08258-3Free full textPubMed 39633044DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error