Sugar Feeds Cancer?

Is there a link between sugar consumption and cancer?
Seventy years ago, Otto Warburg won a Nobel Prize for his
discovery of glucose as the fuel that grows cancer cells.
In other words, sugar feeds cancer. Ok, this makes sense.
All of our body's tissues use glucose for fuel.

First, some boring stuff. A few new studies have followed
along these lines and have associated sugar consumption
with several types of cancer:

A study done on women in Mexico linked high carbohydrate
diets with breast cancer. The same link was made by a study
done on American women.

A small study at University of Southern California
identified a significant increase in risk for small bowel
cancer in people who consumed the most sugar in coffee, tea
and non-diet sodas. (Not the purpose of the study. It was
chance finding).

A Harvard School of Public Health study demonstrated that a
diet high in simple carbohydrate foods such as white rice,
white bread and white potatoes increased risk of pancreatic
cancer in overweight and sedentary women. Besides cigarette
smoking, this is the first risk factor identified with
pancreatic cancer. Colorectal cancer risk has been linked
to higher insulin levels, as well.

This pancreatic cancer study findings make sense. The
pancreas produces insulin – the hormone that helps the body
utilize blood glucose. Overweight people tend to be
"insulin resistant". This means the pancreas works harder
producing more insulin. It's a vicious cycle. Here's some
food for thought. Cancer rates have increased over the
last 100 years or so. Mostly, this is attributed to
increased cigarette smoking (there's no arguing that this
is the single most risk factor for many types of cancers,
not only lung), and arguably the presence of more
industrial chemicals and pollution.

Let's look at the consumption of sugar over the same
period. In 1815, the average per capita consumption of
sugar in Great Britain was 15 pounds per year. By 1974,
the consumption had risen to 120 pounds per year. Holy cow
– that's a lot of desserts!

Nowadays, in the US, the average per person yearly amount
is 150 pounds per year. This is NOT including corn syrup
and high fructose corn syrup which is the stuff that
sweetens soft drinks. The average American drinks 34
gallons of soft drinks per year. Ugly statistics.

It's also worthy to note that the use of refined white
flour started in the early 1800's in Europe. The rice that
is so popular in Southeast Asian cuisine (highly processed)
because of its color and quick cooking properties started
to be widely used after World War 2. Is there an increase
in cancers due to these dietary changes?

It would logically follow. Both white rice and white flour
cause a blood sugar spike similar to white sugar. Diets
high in white rice and white flour, known as refined
carbohydrates are associated with increased incidence of
Type II Diabetes. Not to mention the nutritional value is
very poor because of processing. It is known that the fiber
that is in brown rice and brown flour has protective effect
against certain cancers including pancreatic and…Type II
diabetes. Hmmm.

More and more, nutritionally oriented doctors are saying to
cancer patients that cutting down on sugar and refined
carbohydrates could slow the growth of the cancer (given
that "sugar fuels cancer"). But the real science is not
concrete enough for the medical community to say
unequivocally that carbs increase cancer cell
multiplication.

Since sugar gives you no nutrition (vitamins, minerals,
etc) makes the body fat and causes cavities, it can't be
good. Doctors, nutritionists and scientists may be divided
on the subject, but you can bet that I will be eating
"brown" and looking out for hidden sugar in food as much as
possible. It looks like "the writing is on the wall"….

Sources:

www.hsibaltimore.com/ealerts/ea200407/ea20040701.html

www.personalmd.com/news/a1997030601.shtml

www.cancerdecisions.com/082102_page.html

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/09/020904073950.htm

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About the Author:
Ainsley Laing, MSc. has been a Fitness Trainer for 25 years
and writes exclusively Body for Mind eZine. She holds
certifications in Group Exercise, Sports Nutrition and
Personal Fitness Training. To see more articles by Ainsley
visit http://www.bodyformind.com or the blog at
http://www.bodyformind.blogspot.com