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Cancer cells feed on sugar! This is not new information, but it is not widely publicized information and it should be. Information like this is what America needs to know, especially since sugar is our most consumed substance. Traditional medicine uses this information to detect cancer cells in the body. After flooding a patient’s blood stream with sugar, a PET scan is done to find out where all the sugar aggregates. Cancer cells love sugar, so where the cancer cells are is where the sugar will be.
In May 2010, the American Association for Cancer Research published a research paper from the University of California that compared the effects of glucose and fructose on cancer cells of the pancreas. They found that cancer cells feed on both types of sugar. One difference that they found between the two is that cancer cells use fructose to grow and multiply. This should raise a lot of concern, since fructose is the number one consumed nutrient in the USA.
The researchers discovered that cancer cells use fructose to induce the transketolase enzyme, which they use to replicate the genetic material that they need to multiply. Fructose was found to be metabolized 250% faster than glucose, which means that the tumors can grow faster using fructose. Although, the researchers only studied pancreatic cancer, the authors suggest that these findings can also be applied to other types of cancer that use the transketolase enzyme including, cervical, colorectal (colon), thyroid, glioma, and renal (kidney) cancers.
Reduce Sugar Intake To Help Your Body Fight Cancer
Our immune system is constantly on the lookout for abnormal cells in our body. It is the job of the immune system to detect these cells and destroy them. That job can become more tedious for your immune system if you are consuming large amounts of sugars that help the cancer cells multiply. You can help lower the burden on your immune system by lowering your sugar intake.
Here are some simple ways to reduce your sugar intake:
- Drink only water
- Cut out all soda and juices from your diet (including fruit juices).
- Increase your vegetable intake, while decreasing the amount of grains on your plate at each meal.
- Substitute a natural alternative sweetener like Stevia for your hot beverages and cereals instead of using sugar.
Fructose Needs Special Attention
Fructose consumption has many adverse health effects in addition to inducing tumor proliferation. To name a few, fructose is strongly linked to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, gout, insulin resistance, fatty liver disease, and poor cholesterol profile. As a result, experts recommend that fructose intake should be limited to 15 grams/day.
To lower your fructose intake you should:
- Read the labels on the food you buy. Avoid products that are made with high fructose corn syrup like some bread, soda, candy, crackers, cereal etc. High fructose corn syrup also contains mercury, which is a known carcinogen and is linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
- Avoid agave syrup, which is high in fructose.
- Avoid Fruits that are high in fructose. Fruits contain both fructose and glucose. Some have high concentrations of fructose.
Fruits considered low in fructose:
Banana (unripe) Apricot, Blackberry, Guava, Fig (raw), Tangerine, Kiwi, Grapefruit, Lemon, Mandarin, Cantaloupe, Lime, Orange, Peach, Pineapple, Nectarine, Plum, Watermelon, Raspberry, Strawberry, Avocado, Tomato.
Fruits considered high in fructose:
Apples (all), Banana (ripe), Dates (raw), Lychees, Grapes, Pear (all), Mango.
In a related article I went over some other adverse health effect of fructose on the body. You can read that article here.
reference: http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/70/15/6368.long