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7 Carbohydrates
In contrast to lipids and protein, which are the other two macro-
nutrients in the diet, very little attention has been directed toward the
study of carbohydrate intake and the occurrence of cancer. The principal
carbohydrates in foods are sugars, starches, and cellulose. Evidence per-
taining to sugars and starches is evaluated in this chapter. The data on
cellulose are discussed under dietary fiber (Chapter 8~.
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
There is little epidemiological evidence to support a role for
carbohydrates per se in the etiology of cancer. Fiber as a separate
dietary component is discussed in Chapter 8.
Armstrong and Doll (1975) correlated per capita intake of foods and
specific nutrients with cancer incidence and mortality in 23 and 32
countries, respectively. They found a significant direct correlation
between sugar intake and pancreatic cancer mortality (but not incidence)
in women only. They also reported a weak association between liver
cancer incidence and the intake of potatoes--a starch-rich vegetable.
There are no reports of case-control studies that support either of these
findings.
Hems (1978) reported a study concerning the relationship of diet and
breast cancer among women in 41 countries. He found that a high intake
of refined sugar was one of the dietary components associated with
increased incidence of breast cancer. This finding is consistent with
findings in laboratory experiments. However, in an earlier study, Hems
and Stuart (1975) found an inverse relationship between breast cancer
incidence and another dietary carbohydrate--starch.
Hakama and Saxen (1967) analyzed age- and sex-adjusted mortality
rates for stomach cancer in 16 countries. They found a strong corre-
lation (r = 0.75) with the per capita intake of cereal used as flour
from 1934 to 1938. In a study of per capita food intake and cancer risk
in 37 countries, Drasar and Irving (1973) observed a direct correlation
between breast cancer and the intake of simple sugars.
In a case-control study of gastric cancer, Modan et al. (1974)
observed that high starch foods were consumed more frequently by cases
than by controls. This finding has not been reported in other studies of
gastric cancer. De Jong et al. (1974) studied cases of esophageal cancer
and hospital controls in Singapore. Among their findings was a direct
association between consumption of bread and potatoes (major sources of
123
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124 DIET, NUTRITION, AND CANCER
dietary carbohydrates) and risk of esophageal cancer. Once again, other
investigators who have studied cancer at this site have not observed a
similar association.
EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE
There have also been only a few laboratory experiments to study the
relationship between carbohydrates and cancer. These studies have gen-
erally been conducted by varying the concentration of the test substance,
e.g., starch, sucrose, dextrin, or glucose, in a basal diet. Often,
little attention has been given to the differences in the caloric content
of the control and experimental diets. Furthermore, the variation in
carbohydrate content, resulting from attempts to "balance" diets on a
weight basis, has generally been disregarded. A few recent studies have
focused on the effects of long-term carbohydrate feeding on tumorigenesis.
Sucrose
The effects of long-term (more than 1 year) feeding or systemic
administration of sucrose on spontaneously occurring tumors have been
studied in both mice and rats. Roe et al. (1970) fed sucrose to mice at
10% by weight of the diet (~15 g/kg body weight [bw]), and Friedman et
al. (1972) fed rats sucrose at 77% by weight of the diet (~40 g/kg bw).
In neither study was there an increase in the incidence of tumors.
Intraperitoneal or subcutaneous injections of sucrose given over vari-
ous lengths of time (Nonaka, 1938; Takizawa, 1939; Zarattini, 1940) or
systemic administration of 20% sucrose twice weekly for 2 years produced
no evidence of carcinogenesis in either rats or mice (Hueper, 1965~.
Hunter et al. (1978a) fed CFLP mice 20% sucrose in the diet for 2
years. The females, but not the males, exhibited a higher incidence of
hepatocellular tumors. Parallel feeding studies by the same investiga-
tors in which 20% sucrose diets were fed to male and female Sprague-
Dawley (CD) rats for up to 1 year and to male and female beagle dogs for
up to 2 years did not provide any evidence that sucrose contributed to
tumorigenesis. This study has not been repeated.
Hoehn and Carroll (1978) evaluated the effect of dietary carbohy-
drates on chemically induced tumors in rats. After breast tumors were
induced with 7,12-dimethylbenz~aJanthracene, rats were fed diets con-
taining either refined sugar or complex starches. Significantly more
breast tumors were observed in rats fed refined sugar than in those fed
starch.
Much more experimental work is required before a conclusion can be
drawn about the relationship between sucrose and carcinogenesis.
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Carbohydrates 125
Lactose
Gershoff and McGandy (1981) studied the interaction of dietary lactose
(49%) or sucrose (43%-55% total weight) with vitamin A deficiency in the
production of primary urinary bladder calculi in male Charles River
rats. A small percentage of rats fed lactose in a diet with sufficient
vitamin A developed vesicle stones. Approximately 60% of the rats fed
lactose in vitamin-A-deficient diets developed bladder calculi. The
bladder walls in most of the affected rats were grossly hypertrophic and
had focal areas of transitional cell hyperplasia. Histological changes
consistent with grade I to II transitional cell carcinomas were observed
in approximately 30% of the stone-containing bladders. It was not possi
ble to discern whether the deficiency of vitamin A contributed directly
to bladder tumors or indirectly via stone formation and subsequent physi
Cal irritation of the bladder. Sucrose-fed rats with or without super-
imposed vitamin A deficiency did not exhibit calculi or histological
changes of the bladder. The authors remarked that this was the first
study to demonstrate the production of tumors by diet without an exog-
enous source of a carcinogen in animals not genetically predisposed to
tumor formation.
Glucose
.
A preliminary report by Ingram and Castleden (1981) implicated
dietary glucose in the development of carcinogen-induced tumors in the
large bowel. In this study, male Wistar rats were fed Milne's Standard
Laboratory Diet and given drinking water ad libitum either with or
without 1.6% glucose. Both groups were injected subcutaneously with
1,2-dimethylhydrazine to induce bowel tumors. There were no differences
in the number of small bowel tumors observed in the two groups; however,
the rats given the glucose solution developed approximately twice the
number of large bowel tumors observed in those given the drinking water
alone. These results are difficult to interpret because approximately
35% of the Milne Standard Laboratory Diet is composed of carbohydrates,
and this diet was fed to both groups of animals. The contribution of
this diet to blood glucose levels is considerably greater than that
supplied by the 1.6% glucose-water drinking solution. Thus, there is a
possibility that the observed results were an indirect effect of the
glucose-water solution rather than a direct effect of glucose.
Xylitol
Xylitol is present in many natural foods (Washuttl et al., 1973~.
Its sweetness is approximately equal to that of sucrose.
In a 2-year feeding study, CFLP male and female mice were fed 0, 2%,
10%, or 20% xylitol in the diet for as long as 106 weeks (Hunter et al.,
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126 DIET, NUTRITION, AND CANCER
1978b). In the mice fed the 10% or 20% xylitol diets, there was a re-
duction in spontaneous hepatocellular tumors in the males, but not in the
females. However, the males in these dietary groups had more crystalline
bladder calculi and an associated increase in hyperplasia, metaplasia,
and neoplasia of the transitional epithelium of the bladder than did the
females fed similar diets, the control mice, or the mice fed 2% xylitol.
Sprague-Dawley CD male and female rats were fed 2%, 5%, 10%, or 20%
xylitol in the diet for 26 weeks without evidence of increased renal
calculi or hepatocellular abnormalities at autopsy. However, the inci-
dence of adrenal medullary hyperplasia was greater in rats fed 5%, 10%,
or 20% xylitol than in the controls (Hunter et al., 1978b). In male and
female beagle dogs fed 10% or 20% xylitol in their diets for 52 weeks,
the single remarkable pathologic change was an increased liver weight at
autopsy. This slight hepatomegaly was associated with hepatocyte en-
largement and altered hepatocyte appearance in the periportal areas of
the animals.
The quantity of xylitol in the 20% diet approaches the LDso for
xylitol in mice (Kieckebuch et al., 1961~. In rats, ingestion of 20%
xylitol may exceed the maximum metabolic turnover rate as calculated
from rates observed in humans (Bicker and Halmagyi, 1976~.
SUMMARY
Epidemiological Evidence
The evidence concerning the role of carbohydrates in the development
of cancer in humans is extremely limited. In one study, the intake of
sugar was correlated with increased mortality from pancreatic cancer in
women only, and the intake of potatoes was correlated with increased
mortality from liver cancer in both sexes. In other studies, a high
intake of refined sugar and a low intake of starch have been associated
with an increased incidence of breast cancer. Frequent consumption of
starch has been associated with a high incidence of gastric cancer in one
case-control study and with esophageal cancer in another. However, the
evidence is insufficient to permit any firm conclusions to be drawn.
Experimental Evidence
The data from the few laboratory experiments designed to study the
role of carbohydrates in carcinogenesis are difficult to interpret
because of generally poor experimental designs and because there is
uncertainty about the actual carbohydrate content of the foods used in
the test diets.
A few recent studies suggest that dietary lactose combined with
vitamin A deprivation and long-term feeding of high levels of sucrose and
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C~6aD ^ ~~ 127
xylitol may contribute to carcinogenesis.
further study.
CONCLUSION
These observations require
Thus, the evidence from both epidemiological and laboratory studies
18 too sparse to suggest a direct role for carbohydrates (possibly
exclusive of fiber) in carcinogenesis. However, excessive carbohydrate
consumption contributes to caloric excess, which 1u turn has been 1m-
plicated as a modifier of carcinogenesis
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128 DIET, NUTRITION, AND CANCER
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Bickel, H., and M. Halmagyi. 1976. Requirement and utilization of
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7 - 7
Representative terms from entire chapter:
gastric cancer
