just for the record, rats (mice) genetic, biological and behavior characteristics closely resemble those of humans, and many symptoms of human conditions can be replicated in mice and rats.

High levels of sugar found in fizzy drinks and junk foods like ketchup, cereal bars and biscuits could be driving breast cancer,scientists warned today.

US academics fed mice a sugar-rich Western diet and claim they found increased levels of tumour growth in the breast and more potential for that cancer to spread to the lungs.

The mice were mainly fed sucrose, a key ingredient of table sugar and often added to fizzy drinks and juices as well as foods like processed meats, ketchup and pasta sauces as well as some crisps and chocolate.

Mice given non-sugar diets richer in starch were less likely to develop cancer, the scientists involved say.

Scientists at the University of Texas gave groups of mice one of four different diets and found that at six months old more than half of mice fed a sucrose-enriched diet had developed breast cancer.

The study, published in the online edition of the Cancer Research journal, also showed that cancers in mice on a fructose diet - commonly found in fruit and drinks - were more likely to spread.

Co-author Dr Peiying Yang said that she believed this was the first study to investigate the direct effect of sugar consumption and effect on the development of breast cancer.

She added: 'We found that sucrose intake in mice comparable to levels of Western diets led to increased tumour growth and metastasis, when compared to a non-sugar starch diet.'

Both authors said that identifying the risk factors for breast cancer was a public health priority.

source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3381086/Sugar-fizzy-drinks-junk-food-increases-chances-breast-cancer-spread-organs-scientists-claim.html

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