"Cancer loves sugar" - Is this true?

Cubie · New User Joined: 27 Nov 2007 Posts: 8 Location: Hong Kong

When I get a PET scan done, the radiologist injects me with glucose and they find out where the cancer cells are by the amount of glucose uptake in those areas. I asked the radiologist if it's true that cancer loves sugar, and he explained to me using medical terms I'm afraid I can't remember now, but bottom line is sugar doesn't make cancer cells grow, though they are attracted to it.

I figured if sugar really makes cancer cells grow then they wouldn't be using glucose in PET scans.. plus I like eating desserts and chocolates so I'd like to believe this isn't true =P

What do you guys think? Have any of you cut sugar off from your diet? And what changes have you made in your diet?

brainman

Cancer cells are by definition cells that are growing faster than the normal cells. So, yes, they do use more sugar and other nutrients than normal cells. However, the amount the radiology tech gives you is not enough to make a significant different in the growth of your tumor. But it is a good question.
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leo · Site Admin Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 1574

Hello

It just happens that cancer cells in general divide faster than normal cells, and therefore need more energy, which is sugar. Don't change your diet based on this, though.

best
Leo
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Disclaimer: this information is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice.

sampsonpost · New User Joined: 16 Dec 2007 Posts: 3

DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV.

That said:

The metabolism of cancer cells is approximately 8 times greater than the metabolism of normal cells. Cancer metabolizes much differently than normal cells, in that cancer metabolizes through a process of fermentation. If you have ever made wine, you know that fermentation requires SUGAR.

Logic would dictate that if you reduce / eliminate sugar from the diet, you will make things difficult for the cancer.

Why this issue is not pressed my the medical establishment is anyone's guess.

DO YOU DOUBT THIS?

In 1931, a Nobel Prize in medicine was given to a guy named Otto Warburg, in part, because of these findings. He also has much to say about OXYGEN and cancer:

Here is one of his quotes:

"Cancer has only one prime cause. It is the replacement of normal oxygen respiration of the body's cells by an anaerobic [i.e., oxygen-deficient] cell respiration." -Dr. Otto Warburg

(link deleted by administration because of our "No Links" policy for new users).

brainman

[quote="sampsonpost"]

Logic would dictate that if you reduce / eliminate sugar from the diet, you will make things difficult for the cancer.

[/quote]

Although it may sound "logical" to think that eliminating sugar from one's diet will affect cancer cells more than normal cells, this is not necessarily true. Our body's take all foods and convert them into sugars. The cancer cells do not care where the sugars come from... they will still use 8 times as much as normal cells. Even if you stopped eating all together, the body would start using fat in order to have sugars but you would become weaker and weaker and more vulnerable to the cancer.
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Jim
Site Administrator and long-term cancer survivor
1992 Astrocytoma grade 2, left motor strip
2005 Recurrence this time said to be an Oligodendoglioma grade 3, same location.
My Story Part 1: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=7350
My Story Part 2: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8029
Blog http://jimhawkinsport.blogspot.com/

Queensland Girl · Regular Joined: 17 Oct 2007 Posts: 48 Location: Australia

Hello,

My sister put my Dad on a sugar free, gluten free, meat free diet to "starve" the cancer. Unfortunately, all I see is my father starving to death on top of his cancer, and I can't convince him to at least eat what he enjoys. He has dropped 20 kg in the last 5 weeks.

I agree with Jim, no matter where a bodies cells come from, they all need energy to function and they will convert it any way, and once most of the fat store is gone, then muscles and finally organs will be consumed including heart muscle.

A healthy diet is key to fighting this terrible disease, as are medical interventions, faith and determination, and above all else love and understanding from family and friends.

I wish you the best.

Queensland Girl

derekinSA

Whowwww Queensland girl
Please get your sister to stop staving your dad. Shocked

Keeping up your strength while undergoing cancer treatment is very important. Your body needs all the nutrients, vitamins and energy it can get to keep the healthy metabolic processes going while the chemo is trying to kill it as it kills the cancer. Brainman is 100% correct the energy will be taken from somewhere, to your body’s detriment. And with the very strong link they have established between our immune system and cancer I would most strongly suggest that you give your body all the help you can with regard to nutrition and energy. Boost your immune system, stay as healthy as possible.

Bottom line is Refined Sugar is poisoning western society.

This is no secret. But there is a huge difference between cutting out refined sugars and starving Dad.

go get em Queensland girl. Very Happy

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Cancer Survivor, in remission since July 07

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Vee Smith · Moderator Joined: 12 Feb 2006 Posts: 700 Location: UK

Queensland Girl - unless there is a proven hypersensitivity to gluten, it is insanity to remove all gluten-containing foodstuffs from the diet. A weight loss of this magnitude [unless of course he is desperately obese] is a warning note and no good oncologist would be at all happy with it.

A balanced diet is far more important than faddish diet, and any use of diet to control disease should be done with the advice and backing of a properly trained nutritionist.

I feel you really will have to have a demarche with your sister on this matter. It is not helping to have your father starving to death.

2littledogs · New User Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 5

Yes. It feeds off of it. Very Happy

pbj11 · Site Admin Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 1026

Please scroll up and read Brainman's post for factual information on sugar and the human body.
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samilozavar · New User Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 5

[quote="sampsonpost"]

DO YOU DOUBT THIS?

In 1931, a Nobel Prize in medicine was given to a guy named Otto Warburg, in part, because of these findings. He also has much to say about OXYGEN and cancer:

Here is one of his quotes:

"Cancer has only one prime cause. It is the replacement of normal oxygen respiration of the body's cells by an anaerobic [i.e., oxygen-deficient] cell respiration." -Dr. Otto Warburg

quote]

Yes I doubt Dr Warburg's quote. Unfortunately this was a misjudgement which was taken for granted by the cancer society for decades.

A very specific experiment held by Guppy et al and published as "[i]Contribution by different fuels and metabolic pathways to the total ATP
turnover of proliferating MCF-7 breast cancer cells[/i]" clearly shows that cancer cells obtain their energy through aerobic and anaerobic pathways comparable to regular cells. However as they require much more energy to rapidly divide they simply consume much more glucose to obtain energy from fermentation especially when oxygen is scarce.

Perhaps due to Warburg's unfortunate remarks for a very long time mitochondria's role as the major ATP production center of the cell is not deeply investigated. Only over the last decade more research is diverted to this key organelle of the cell to treat cancer.

Having said this I do believe that refined sugars have no role in a healthy, balanced diet.

All the Best,Samil
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granson · New User Joined: 16 May 2008 Posts: 3

I have read your interesting question and the replies. You discussed a good point and hope your discussion with the dietition is helpful. I was just reading some posts and I came across someone saying "cancer loves sugar". If someone can show us that the medical evidence of the sugar story is true, please do.
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brainman

granson, the phrase "cancer loves sugar" is true although I cannot point you to a specific research. The fact is that cancer cells grow at a much faster rate than normal cells and thus use a lot more sugar (the basic food for all cells). However, the discussion centered around the idea that living without eating any sugar would help kill cancer cells. My point is that since all foods are converted into sugars in order to be used by our cells, it makes no difference to cancer cells whether or not we eat sugar.

While the phase "cancer loves sugar" is true, it is also misleading.
_________________
Jim
Site Administrator and long-term cancer survivor
1992 Astrocytoma grade 2, left motor strip
2005 Recurrence this time said to be an Oligodendoglioma grade 3, same location.
My Story Part 1: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=7350
My Story Part 2: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8029
Blog http://jimhawkinsport.blogspot.com/

Queensland Girl · Regular Joined: 17 Oct 2007 Posts: 48 Location: Australia

Hello,

If you have read my previous posts you will see that my sister tried the "no sugar" approach with my Father. What happened was that the only thing that my Father still had - enjoyment of good food - was taken away from him, he lost so much weight that he was barely recognisable. Some people will argue that it was probably the cancer, yes I acknowledge that is probable.

Please, if a loved one is in palliative care, with only one outcome approaching very rapidly, this person at least should have what ever pleasure is still remaining to them. My Dad loved steak and meat and was reduced to eating carrot and celery sticks.

I know my sister was only trying to help, but she couldn't see "the wood for the trees" and since she was able to visit him more than anyone else, she ruled the roost.

Evryones battle is different, and intervention comes at different stages for everyone. A well balanced diet with all the vitamins and anti-oxidants etc can help, and in the right individual, can make a difference.

No one treatment is a silver bullet and a hollistic approach must be taken, but please remember, the person suffering this disease must want to walk down the path, not be forced.

I'm sorry if I seem negative, but my Dad's best friend for 40 years died on May 12, and I feel if another small part of my Dad is gone

Queensland Girl

memyselfi · Regular Joined: 11 Mar 2008 Posts: 11

There are a number of sugars around:

• Glucose - occurs naturally in fruits and vegetables. Glucose is always present in our bloodstream and is a key material in the metabolic functions of all plants and animals.
• Dextrose - known as corn sugar, is manufactured from starches.
• Fructose - natural sugar found in fruits.
• Lactose - milk sugar.
• Maltose - malt sugar.
• Sucrose - refined sugar manufactured from sugar cane and beet.

Refined sugar has had its salts, fibres, proteins, vitamins and minerals removed to leave a white, crystalline substance devoid of any nutritional content, only offering empty calories. Sucrose is labelled as 'a carbohydrate', that most generic of terms which describes a compound comprising of carbon coupled with hydrogen and oxygen.

Sugars contained in nature, whole foods are easily metabolised by the body. Sucrose on the other hand, devoid of vital minerals, becomes a greedy starch which cannot metabolise completely in our bodies, resulting in the formation of metabolites, such as pyruvic acid. These toxic by-products interfere with the respiration of cells, preventing them from acquiring sufficient oxygen to function correctly. These poisonous metabolites, in their free radical or oxidation format, are constantly seeking to stabilise themselves by robbing our healthy cells of available electrons. This action in turn degrades the cell and the cell dies.

All refined sugars are parasitic. They have no accompanying vitamins and minerals of their own and no nutritional value. They leach valuable minerals from the body. The body must digest, detoxify and then eliminate sucrose because it cannot make cell structure from it. Typically the body combats sucrose by mobilising elements such as sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium to form compounds with the invading sucrose in an attempt to transmute it chemically into a form the body can either store or eliminate.

Excess sugar is initially stored in the liver in the form of glycogen. When the liver can no longer cope with the load, it pours the accumulated sucrose toxins back into the bloodstream in the form of fatty acids, which are then taken to storage areas of the body, namely the belly, thighs, hips, breasts and the back of our upper arms as these areas hold the most fatty tissue. Once the storage areas are filled, the body begins to distribute the metabolite acids into the active organs, such as the heart and kidneys. This in turn causes hormonal imbalances, abnormal blood pressure as the circulatory and lymphatic systems are invaded, depleting vital vitamin C reserves and threatening the cardiovascular system.

As the sugar bombardment continues, pancreatic function may become inhibited resulting in the impairment of enzymes such as trypsin and chymotrysin, vital for arrecting the healing processes and preventing cancer growths.

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