Cancer Food additive may promote growth of lung cancer
By David Liu Ph.D.
Dec 29, 2008 - 10:43:13 AM
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Monday Dec 29, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study suggests that high intake of inorganic phosphates
found in a variety of processed foods including meats, cheeses, beverages and
bakery products may promote growth of lung cancer and even increase the risk of
developing the disease in individuals predisposed to the disease.
The animal study led by Myung-Haing Cho, D.V.M., Ph.D.,
and his colleagues at Seoul National University showed using a diet with the
levels of inorganic phosphates commonly found in human diets lung cancer-model
mice developed tumors with a larger size and had faster growth of the tumors.
In the study, the researchers fed mice for as short as
four weeks a diet with 0.5 to 1.0 percent of inorganic phosphates, the levels
similarly found in common human diets and found that the animals grew lung
cancer faster than controls.
The study appears in the first issue for January of the
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Phosphates are commonly used in processed foods and
beverages including bakes goods, soft drinks, cereals, cheese, imitation dairy
products, frozen desserts, egg products, ice cream, meat products, dairy
products and seafood among others.
"In the 1990s, phosphorous-containing food additives
contributed an estimated 470 mg per day to the average daily adult diet,"
Dr Cho said. "Phosphorous intake (now) could be increased by as much as
1000 mg per day."
"Although the 0.5 percent was defined as close to
'normal,' the average diet today is actually closer to the one percent diet and
may actually exceed it," Dr. Cho noted. "Therefore, the 0.5 percent
intake level is actually a reduced phosphate diet by today's scale."
John Heffner, M.D., past president of the American
Thoracic Society said "We know that only some patients who smoke develop
lung cancer but the reasons for this varying risk are unknown. This study now
provides a rationale for funding case-control studies in humans to determine
the potential role of dietary phosphates in promoting cancer."
Lung cancer is the number one cause of cancer death and
is also the most frequently diagnosed solid cancer.
In the United States, 215,020 men and women
are expected to be diagnosed with the disease and 161,840 are expected to die
from the disease in 2008, according to the National Cancer institute.
Some other side effects of phosphates have been
reported.
Higher levels of phosphorus in
the blood may increase calcification of the major arteries and heart valves and
raise the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with moderate chronic
kidney disease (CKD), a study in the Journal of the American Society of
Nephrology (JASN) suggests.
Another study also published in the JASN showed that
high-normal phosphorus levels are linked to increased coronary artery calcium
even in healthy adults without kidney disease.