Dietary sucrose and starch affect dysplastic characteristics in carcinogen-induced aberrant crypt foci in rat colon

To study whether dietary carbohydrates affect dysplasia in aberrant crypt foci (ACF), rats treated with 1,2-dimethilhydrazine (DMH) were fed for three months with diets containing 46% sucrose or corn starch. The number of ACF/colon in the two dietary groups was similar (P = 0.58), but ACF were smaller in the starch than in sucrose group (P < 0.05). ACF in the starch group also showed less severe goblet cell dysplasia, more sulphomucins and less sialomucins than in the sucrose group (P < 0.05), indicating that corn starch protects against colon carcinogenesis while sucrose in the diet is detrimental, promoting the dysplasia of preneoplastic lesions like ACF.