This blog post is our first article REVIEW. We thought it was important to bring to your attention how misinformation spreads like wildfire all because of a few catchy titles and someone’s lack of desire to read something through until the end.
Original Article: Spread of breast cancer linked to a compound in asparagus and other foods
It is extremely important to think critically as you read articles on the internet. Information often gets twisted around and the truth gets lost. Very recently, there was a big craze in the media about how the amino acid, asparagine, may be linked to the spread of cancer. The research study from which many of these articles got their information was advocating for a specific drug rather than the elimination of asparagine-containing foods from the diet.
So, how come these articles are saying that asparagus is the root of all evil?
It makes for an enticing title I suppose. The article claims a “change in diet could help patients with breast tumors” after studies in mice “showed that asparagine, a compound first identified in asparagus… drives the spread of the disease to other organs.” By mentioning that asparagine is highly present in asparagus and asparagine has been shown to help the spread of cancerous tumors, one would be quick to think that asparagus and cancer are correlated. However, this is not always the case.
The truth of the matter is that asparagine is in most foods which contain protein.
Asparagine is abundant in plant proteins such as potatoes, legumes, nuts, seeds, soy, and whole grains and protein from animal sources such as dairy, whey, beef, poultry, eggs, and fish. So, you can see how that would be challenging to eliminate from the diet. Protein is essential for health and removing it from your diet would be a grievous mistake. What the research showed was that through the use of a drug which blocks the synthesis of asparagine in the body, the spread of cancer was lessened. This drug is already in use for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The scientific discovery was that this drug can also be helpful in stopping the spread of other cancers. Eliminating asparagine, or asparagus, from the diet is most definitely not the solution, even though it makes for a catchy article title.
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