Bubbly drink trial ‘to boost cancer therapy’

Scientists are investigating whether bubbly drinks could boost the success of cancer treatments, after winning a Cancer Research UK award for ideas “outside the box”.

Researchers from Oxford and Ulster universities say low oxygen levels in tumours is a key reason why radiotherapy and drugs fail, according to BBC.

They hope to develop a drink, rich in oxygen micro-bubbles, that could deliver oxygen to cancerous masses.

But they say their work is just beginning.

Scientists have noted for years that many cancerous tissues have less oxygen than their healthy counterparts.

One reason thought to behind this is that cancers grow rapidly and their blood supply fails to keep up – leaving tumours with torturous, poorly-formed blood vessels that don’t deliver oxygen-rich blood as well.

The team has already found that injecting oxygen in mice with cancer and then giving them chemotherapy leads to more successful treatments.

They recently carried out a small-scale trial of an oxygen-rich drink in mice.

The next stage is to repeat the mice experiments in much larger numbers, before human trials are considered.

 H.Z