Diet linked to breast cancer spread

Aproteinbuildingblockfound in many foods plays a key role in the spread of deadly breast cancer, research has shown.

Foods that are rich in the amino acid asparagine include dairy products, beef, poultry, eggs, fish, asparagus, beans, nuts, seeds, soy and whole grains.

The discovery by British and US scientists could pave the way to new treatments based on suppressing the molecule.

Using a drug and special diet to cut levels of asparagine greatly reduced the spread of an especially deadly form of breast cancer in mice, scientists found.

The animals had triplenegative breast cancer, which grows and spreads faster than other types and is notoriously hard to treat.

Lead scientist Professor Greg Hannon, from the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, said: “When the availability of asparagine was reduced, we saw little impact on the primary tumour in the breast, but tumour cells had reduced capacity for metastases [spread] in other parts of the body.

“This finding adds vital information to our understanding of how we can stop cancer spreading - the main reason patients die from their disease.

“In the future, restricting this amino acid through a controlled diet plan or by other means could be an additional part of treatment for some patients with breast and other cancers.”