76 colon adenocarcinoma patients (stages 1-3, NO, MO) were enrolled into a prospectively randomized clinical trial, 39 patients were perioperatively treated with D-galactose-(therapy group: 1.9 g/kg BW and day) or D-glucose-containing electrolyte infusions (control group: n = 37). There were no cases of perioperative mortality. The complication rate was 17.1% (therapy group: 15.3%; control group: 18.9%). Since tumor staging and grading were equally distributed for therapy and control groups, a non-stratified statistical analysis yielded a) significantly reduced hepatic metastases and b) improved overall survival for patients of the therapy group. Stage-dependent analysis demonstrated that stage 3 carcinoma patients of the treatment group developed significantly less hepatic metastases as compared to patients of the control group.