The artificial sweetener saccharin, maligned for decades as a possible cancer-causing chemical, actually shows promise in fighting the disease, new research shows.
University of Florida College of Medicine researchers say they have demonstrated in lab experiments that saccharin inhibits an enzyme that helps tumor cells survive and spread.
It is hoped that further research will show the chemical can be used to develop drugs that treat highly aggressive cancers affecting the breast, liver, prostate, kidney, and pancreas, said Robert McKenna, professor at the medical college.
Drugs using saccharin would likely be used in conjunction with conventional treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation, in hopes that it would make these treatments more effective, McKenna said.
Saccharin was labeled a possible carcinogen after studies in the 1970s linked it to bladder cancer in laboratory rats. However later studies found the risk did not hold for humans. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration declared saccharin safe in 2001.
“The public only remembers the negative attention. Saccharin was seen as the bad guy and it’s definitely not the bad guy. It may actually be a good guy,” McKenna said.
The findings, published in the journal Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, will be presented at the American Chemical Society convention in Denver.
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