The journal Carcinogenesis, in the UK, just published a study that identifies more evidence to show that cancer patients who consumed peanuts regularly were likely to suffer metastasis.

Researchers from the University of Liverpool demonstrated that peanut agglutinin, a carbohydrate binding protein, comes into the bloodstream after peanuts are consumed. The protein then interacts with endothelial cells creating molecules called cytokines. These molecules are known to be cancer metastasis promoters. Another study conducted previously also concluded that circulating PNA binds to a special sugar chain, which occurs mainly on cancerous and pre-cancerous cells, and reacts to a larger protein seen on the surface of tumour cells in the bloodstream. Such an interaction results in changes in the larger protein, causing underlying adhesion to the molecules in the cancer cell to be exposed, making these cells stickier and likelier to attach themselves to the blood vessels.