As we reported earlier, a recent study from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center has revealed that fructose could potentially drive the growth of cancer. According to a report from NBC News, scientists showed that mice given a diet high in fructose were much more likely to develop breast cancer or lung metastases.

The findings of the study add to a growing list of known dangers posed by the massive amounts of sugar in Western diets, researchers said. They found that up to 58 percent of mice that had a diet high in sugar had mammary tumors by the time they were six months old. Only 30 percent of mice given a low-sugar diet had similar tumors.

Scientists believe that sugar has a profound impact on the way cancer grows within the body. A diet high in sugar even after cancer is present could allow it to spread more rapidly throughout multiple areas of the body.

Sugar is added to a ton of foods in the U.S. While the study found that fructose, a simple sugar found in fruits and other plants, was more likely to drive the growth of tumors in mice, there are a number of other sugars hidden in food that you may not even know you’re eating.

Sucrose, another common sugar made from fructose and glucose, was also shown in the study to contribute to tumor growth. Fructose is primarily processed by the liver, whereas glucose is processed by the pancreas and other organs. Scientists believe that sugar interferes with a key metabolic process called the LOX-12 pathway, but the link between the pathway and cancer remains unclear. According to researcher Peiying Yang, the LOX-12 pathway becomes much more active when fructose is consumed.

A press release from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center describing the study’s findings can be seen here.