The American diet isn’t so sweet — as sugar-laden eating habits are linked to an increased chance of breast cancer, according to a new study.

Researchers at The University of Texas: MD Anderson Cancer Center gave groups of mice four different diets, and found that at 6 months old, rodents eating the largest amount of sucrose were more susceptible to cancerous lumps on their mammary glands.

Between 58 and 60 percent of mice on sucrose-enriched diets developed the tumors, according to the study, published in the Cancer Research journal. Less than a third of the mice on starch-controlled diets had breast cancer, researchers noted.

Mice on a sucrose-enhanced diet gobbled about 37 teaspoons of the sweet stuff a day, an amount comparable to the amount in a typical American diet. Sucrose is a popular ingredient found in sugary cereals and soda that can also be listed as high-fructose corn syrup

“We found that sucrose intake in mice comparable to levels of Western diets led to increased tumor growth and metastasis when compared to a non-sugar starch diet,” said Dr. Peiying Yang, a co-author of the study.