Studies have found that frequent consumption of peanuts by cancer patients may increase the risk of cancer spreading

The study published in the journal Carcinogenesis showed that peanut agglutinin (PNA), a carbohydrate-binding protein, quickly enters the blood circulation after eating peanuts and interacts with blood vessel wall (endothelial) cells to produce Cytokine molecules

The cytokines in question, IL-6 and MCP-1 are well-known cancer metastasis promoting factors

In an earlier study, the corresponding author, Professor Yu Lu-Gang and colleagues reported that PNA in the circulation binds to a special sugar chain, which mainly occurs on precancerous cells and cancer cells, and interacts with tumors in the bloodstream.

This interaction triggers changes in larger proteins, causing potential adhesion molecules on the surface of cancer cells to be exposed, making cancer cells more sticky and easier to attach to blood vessels

Professor Lugang Yu said: "Although further research and investigation are needed, these studies have shown that very frequent consumption of peanuts by cancer patients may increase the risk of metastasis and spread

However, it is gratifying that a large study in the United States reported that the consumption of peanuts has no significant effect on cancer mortality

"However, the possibility of circulating PNA still exists.

The possible impact of large amounts of peanuts consumed by cancer patients on survival needs to be investigated in further population-based epidemiological studies

This research was supported by the American Cancer Institute

Journal Reference :

1. Weikun Wang, Paulina Sindrewicz-Goral, Chen Chen, Carrie A Duckworth, David Mark Pritchard, Jonathan M Rhodes, Lu-Gang Yu.