HealthWatch: Amino Acid Fuels Aggressive Form of Breast Cancer

BOSTON (CBS) - A new study says diet could affect the spread of a deadly type of breast cancer.

Researchers at Cedars-Sinai found that an amino acid called asparagine, which is found in many types of food, may fuel tumor cells.

When the scientists eliminated asparagine from the diets of mice with "triple-negative" breast cancer, the cancer was less likely to travel to distant sites in the body.

Asparagine is found in dairy, beef, poultry, eggs, fish, nuts, whole grains, and asparagus, but most fruits and vegetables are low in asparagine.

Does this mean that you should remove all these foods from your diet?  Of course not, but researchers say this is more evidence that what we eat can change the course of disease.

And perhaps for people with this type of resistant breast cancer, changing their diet could make a difference.