is sugar toxic?

Great article...thanks for sharing. I'll go to my grave trying to educate everyone, especially us survivors, that sugar feeds cancer!

According to Dr Keith Block from Life Over Cancer, all sugar is bad, including honey.  I only eat 2 (maybe 3) servings of fruit a day.  Cancer cells consume glucose at a much higher rate than healthy cells.

While I do believe that it can lead to quite a few problems and I'm by no means arguing it's link to disease, I don't totally think that sugar is the devil either and will not give up my occasional 'treats' or sugar in my tea that I have a few times a week. I think it all depends on the rest of your diet and how much exercise you get.  I can think of worse things like fake food and aspartame that would reek havoc on my body more.  I have cut down my sugar consumption and alcohol as well so I don't feel guilty about eating or drinking it when I do.  

My oncologist says the concept that sugar feeds cancer is way too simplistic, and felt that having occasional treats is part of overall good self care and fosters good mental health.

I think cane sugar should be removed from our diets as much as possible, it's not natural.  Fruits, vegetables, meats, nuts, beans--that's about all that is "natural".  Ever try a day with just that?  It's murderously difficult.  And I suggest that almost all of us would lose a ton of weight if we stuck to that diet.

It's too difficult, IMO, to avoid all sugar.  It would amount to a part time job I just don't have time for right now.  I try to keep it moderate, but I honestly think if sugar caused cancer, I wouldn't have been the one to get it.  It would have been my colleagues and friends who drink cases of sodas every week.

Stevia is an awesome alternative for baking.  It is absolutely awful in coffee.

I just can't give up my morning coffee with milk and sugar, no matter what my naturopath says.  And based on the amount of sugary coffee consumed by all, I just don't think that's the issue.

I agree with orange. Also that inflammation from conditions brought on from insulin resistance is bad for cancer.

And it's never one thing that "causes" breast cancer.  Nobody knows.  All they can do is come up with ways to lower our risk.

Fearless, couldn't agree more.........

Sugar (glucose) feeds all cells, but cancer cells having a higher proportionate metabolic demand, consume more of it compared to surrounding tissue.  This is exploited in the PET scan, where radioactive glucose is injected and seen in higher density in the tumor cells.

 I think it's unusual for humans to consume the amounts of refined sugars we do in our modern diets and it's probably detrimental in many ways.  Obesity and adult onset diabetes is rampant, and both of those conditions are associated with increased susceptibility to most of the processes that kill us.

The sugar feeds cancer thing because they use glucose in PET scans is a myth.  This is not the argument of the NYT article.  The article is arguing that sugar in the diet promotes a specific metabolic disorder that creates a cancer-inducing environment.   I think obesity is a bigger link in this chain than a specific food, like sugar.  In any event, cancer can do quite well in people who don't have this syndrome.  This is not "the answer."

Never mind cancer, I just want to lose the pot belly that looks ridiculous when I'm not wearing prostheses, which is most of the time.  

And as a bonus, hopefully I'll produce less estrogen and get rid of fatty liver if I have it, thus avoiding the family tendency of late onset diabetes.

One of the first post-bc-dx books I picked up and highly recommend is Beating Cancer With Nutrition, by Patrick Quillin, PhD, RD, CNS, and former Director of Nutrition for Cancer Centers of America.  In a chapter entitled, Sugar Feeds Cancer, he has a diagram showing how poorly controlled blood glucose poisons the body, including causing increased oxidation, increased fat in blood, encouraging yeast growth, lowering immunity, increased protein kinase C which increases abnormal cells, Sorbitol buildup, increased insulin, deterioration in vessels, and more.  All of the information in this book is very complete, well-researched and compelling.

And while not all of the above concerns are directly related to allowing cancer cells to proliferate, our bodies are such complex machines, it seems to me that whenever one thing goes wrong, it diverts our immune system's attention from other things (like bc cells!) that could be brewing.

Just my take on why cutting way back on processed sugar is probably a good thing.     Deanna 

Sweetbean, Unless they've got a new theory now, the stronger the immune system, the worse the swine flu. The problem is the immune system over reacts like an allergic reaction.  That's why it affects young healthy people worse than older people with poorer immune systems.  So I don't think you can assume your immune system is low.

Hi all,

I am newly diagnosed. I have been doing as much research as I can into the correlation between diet and cancer. I have decided to change my diet from a crash, eat what ever when ever on the run. To a much healthier whole food, whole grain, green tea, no red meat diet. Its only been a week but I am feeling fuller and not interested in sweet snacking. I have included a "green" smoothie in my daily foods. As for the sugar debate I am trying to eliminate as much of the processed sugar as I can. I believe that plant, vegetable and fruit sugars are good. There is some thought that cancer does use more sugar than regular cells, however, if you use the sugars in pants etc they mix with the cancer fighting components in the nutrients to fight cancer....so the cancer cells absorb the sugars along with the cancer fighting nutrients to kill themselves as they naturally feed. I hope this is understandable and doesn't sound like rambling.

Ok, do I have proof? No, but I can say I love the fruits and veggies and the shakes are a good way to get 9+ servings a day.

Robin

ACtually, I don't believe that the sugar in fruits is bad, either.  Isn't it fructose, not glucose?  of course, everything gets broken down into glucose, but I think the process of breaking it down slows the absorbtion.  This prevents the insulin spike, etc. (I may be making this up, though - disclaimer!)  i have a couple of pieces of fruit a day - lots of berries, etc.  Honestly, now that I have cut out sugar, fruit tastes MUCH sweeter.  if I had a brownie at this point, I'd probably go into a diabetic coma!  I honestly don't miss the sugar and I don't mind saving desserts for special occasions.