An article published online in Scientific American, talked to the author of a study out of the University of California, San Diego as he delved into the link between the fermentation process and cancer. The fermentation process occurs when microorganisms convert sugar into alcohol, gases or acids. Bacteria, fungi and other fast-growing cells to generate energy in the absence of oxygen—is a much less efficient way of generating energy for cells than aerobic respiration.
The researcher likens the difference in efficiency between fermentation and aerobic respiration to coal and nuclear energy production. “Coal factories produce energy less efficiently than nuclear power plants on a per-carbon basis, but they are a lot cheaper to build,” he said. “So the decision of which route to generate energy depends on the availability of coal and the available budget for building power plants.” Fast-growing cells find fermentation the cheaper path. In this sense it is coal energy for cells.
The researcher went on to link fermentation and cancer.
“I can see that interfering with fermentation could be an effective strategy to slow down tumor growth,” he explains, “since slow-growing cells rely more on respiration to generate energy—then, in principle, this treatment strategy is naturally more disruptive to fast-growing cancer cells than normal cells.”
For more information, read the full article.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-fermentation-gives-us-beer-wine-cheese-and-cancer/
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