10/21/2026
A sugary drink mix increased colon cancer spread in mice. Why?
These are real liver photos from a 2025 Nature Metabolism paper. Water, glucose, then glucose + fructose. All three groups are shown after five weeks, and both sugar solutions were 25%.
Here’s what the researchers think happened. An enzyme called SORD turns fructose into sorbitol and recycles NAD+, which cells need to break down glucose. The cells process glucose faster, and activity rises in the mevalonate pathway, which makes cholesterol and other molecules. In these experiments, cancer cells moved and spread more.
Deleting SORD or blocking that pathway with statins reduced spread in mice.
What about people? One study followed 1,011 people with stage III colon cancer. Two or more sugary drinks a day, versus fewer than two a month, was linked to a higher rate of cancer returning or death. People chose their drinks, so other habits or health differences could help explain it.
The wider human evidence is mixed. Other studies found weaker or no clear links. A 2026 review of 13 studies found a small link with developing colorectal cancer, but it is a preprint and did not test spread.
For people, this is hypothesis-generating: a possible explanation to test. We still need trials to learn whether cutting sugary drinks or targeting this pathway slows cancer spread.
BTW, NMN, an NAD+ booster, sped up pancreatic cancer progression in cancer-prone mice. Human risk is unclear. Keep routine cancer screening current.
Sources: Nacarelli, Nat Cell Biol 2019; NCI screening guidance; Bu, Cell Metab 2018; Goncalves, Science 2019; Fowle-Grider, Nature 2024; Fuchs, PLoS One 2014; Hur, Gut 2021; Zoltick, Br J Cancer 2021; Yuan, AJCN 2022; Hauan, BMC Cancer 2025; Jayedi, WCRF CUP 2026 (preprint); Zani & Blagih, Cancer Res 2026 (commentary).
Photos: Feng et al., Fig. 1f. CC BY 4.0. Cropped, labels restyled, fades added.
Paper: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-025-01368-w
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
