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Can Sugar Cause Cancer
TAMayorga
Posts: 341 Member
in Debate Club
I fear that I am at a crossroads. I recently allowed myself to be talked into doing a genetic test for breast cancer. The results came back negative, but based on family history, I was still given a 57.4% chance of having cancer. Anything above 20% is considered high. (I am a 53 year old woman.)
I was sharing this information with a co-worker. We were talking about how to react. What's the point of having this projection if you aren't going to do anything with it? She is on a low/no sugar diet. She says that sugar is an inflammatory agent and that living with low levels of inflammation over a long period of time can cause cancer.
One of the behaviors that has helped me be successful at weight loss (4.5 years at goal) is the reward of cookies with dabs of peanut butter that I eat for dessert every evening. I tailor my daily intake and my exercise in order to make caloric room for this treat every day. I am truly afraid that if I try to delete cookies from my diet that I will start to overeat other foods to mentally/emotionally/psychologically compensate. I have seen this behavior in the past when I would give these cookies up for lent.
Do you have any recommendations (not fruit or any other healthy option, I've tried that) for websites that will allow me to research this topic? Maybe if it comes from a scientific study, I can convince myself to do what needs to be done.
Thanks.
I was sharing this information with a co-worker. We were talking about how to react. What's the point of having this projection if you aren't going to do anything with it? She is on a low/no sugar diet. She says that sugar is an inflammatory agent and that living with low levels of inflammation over a long period of time can cause cancer.
One of the behaviors that has helped me be successful at weight loss (4.5 years at goal) is the reward of cookies with dabs of peanut butter that I eat for dessert every evening. I tailor my daily intake and my exercise in order to make caloric room for this treat every day. I am truly afraid that if I try to delete cookies from my diet that I will start to overeat other foods to mentally/emotionally/psychologically compensate. I have seen this behavior in the past when I would give these cookies up for lent.
Do you have any recommendations (not fruit or any other healthy option, I've tried that) for websites that will allow me to research this topic? Maybe if it comes from a scientific study, I can convince myself to do what needs to be done.
Thanks.
10
Replies
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EVERYTHING causes cancer. Including breathing and sunlight. There ARE foods that have been scientifically linked to fighting cancer (cruciferous veggies spring to mind), but causing?
As far as sugar goes:eating sugar does not make cancer cells grow faster.Because we consume thousands of dietary components every day, it is difficult to understand the links between diet and cancer.Eating lots of foods that have sugar added means you are more likely to put on weight. Research shows that being overweight or obese increases your risk of cancer. Being obese may cause changes in hormone levels. Changes to sex hormones or insulin might increase the risk of developing breast, colon or uterine cancer.
Read more: http://www.cancer.ca/en/prevention-and-screening/reduce-cancer-risk/make-informed-decisions/myths-and-controversies/sugar/?region=on#ixzz5HBoPaMtf
Conclusion: Being a healthy weight is a weapon in your cancer-fighting arsenal. If you have a sweet tooth and overdo sugary foods to the point where you are no longer a healthy weight, that may increase your cancer risk. But if you overdo salty, fatty, spicy, starchy, [insert hard to resist flavor of choice here] you run the same risk. The problem isn't the consumption, it's the over-consumption.
Enjoy your cookies. In moderation, as usual.
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Glucose does feed most cancers. In fact PET scans basically just shows where there is very high glucose which is where cancer will be found. If you want the science, look into the Warburg effect.
As I understand, highers insulin and glucose levels does tend to make it a bit easier for cancer to get a hold rather than being eliminated as it normally is. Glucose is the main building block of all carbs like flours, sugars, veggies and fruits.
Researchers are looking into using very low carb diets as complimentary cancer therapy. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4215472/ It makes sense to me that if the diet can be used to help reverse cancer, it could also be used to prevent it.
Could you look into low carb cookies? I've had peanut butter cookies made without any grains or sugars - was quite good.29 -
Glucose does feed most cancers. In fact PET scans basically just shows where there is very high glucose which is where cancer will be found. If you want the science, look into the Warburg effect.
As I understand, highers insulin and glucose levels does tend to make it a bit easier for cancer to get a hold rather than being eliminated as it normally is. Glucose is the main building block of all carbs like flours, sugars, veggies and fruits.
Researchers are looking into using very low carb diets as complimentary cancer therapy. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4215472/ It makes sense to me that if the diet can be used to help reverse cancer, it could also be used to prevent it.
Could you look into low carb cookies? I've had peanut butter cookies made without any grains or sugars - was quite good.
The problem is that just like PH balance, your body is going to generate and maintain the needed level regardless of your diet.
So there's limited benefit to trying to alter your levels unless you have another complicating factor(like IR or diabetes).8 -
Thank you for your response. I will explore having Brussels sprouts with my cookies so the "good" cancels out the "bad".
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Glucose does feed most cancers. In fact PET scans basically just shows where there is very high glucose which is where cancer will be found. If you want the science, look into the Warburg effect.
As I understand, highers insulin and glucose levels does tend to make it a bit easier for cancer to get a hold rather than being eliminated as it normally is. Glucose is the main building block of all carbs like flours, sugars, veggies and fruits.
Researchers are looking into using very low carb diets as complimentary cancer therapy. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4215472/ It makes sense to me that if the diet can be used to help reverse cancer, it could also be used to prevent it.
Could you look into low carb cookies? I've had peanut butter cookies made without any grains or sugars - was quite good.
Thank you for responding. Sadly, these are very specific cookies to which I have become addicted. One option that I am planning to try is protein balls made with oatmeal, nut butter, dark chocolate chips, and protein powder. They might give me the "decadent jolt" that I get from my current treat, without some of the problems associated with processed junk food.0 -
I agree with the recommendations of natural food strategy for prevention. Consuming antioxidant rich foods as well as watching your inflammatory food intake would be ideal. There are several foods that promote inflammation besides sugar. The cleaner you can eat, the better.29
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mandipandi75 wrote: »I agree with the recommendations of natural food strategy for prevention. Consuming antioxidant rich foods as well as watching your inflammatory food intake would be ideal. There are several foods that promote inflammation besides sugar. The cleaner you can eat, the better.
So, a balance. More antioxidant foods with fewer cookies. That's doable.0 -
I fear that I am at a crossroads. I recently allowed myself to be talked into doing a genetic test for breast cancer. The results came back negative, but based on family history, I was still given a 57.4% chance of having cancer. Anything above 20% is considered high. (I am a 53 year old woman.)
I was sharing this information with a co-worker. We were talking about how to react. What's the point of having this projection if you aren't going to do anything with it? She is on a low/no sugar diet. She says that sugar is an inflammatory agent and that living with low levels of inflammation over a long period of time can cause cancer.
One of the behaviors that has helped me be successful at weight loss (4.5 years at goal) is the reward of cookies with dabs of peanut butter that I eat for dessert every evening. I tailor my daily intake and my exercise in order to make caloric room for this treat every day. I am truly afraid that if I try to delete cookies from my diet that I will start to overeat other foods to mentally/emotionally/psychologically compensate. I have seen this behavior in the past when I would give these cookies up for lent.
Do you have any recommendations (not fruit or any other healthy option, I've tried that) for websites that will allow me to research this topic? Maybe if it comes from a scientific study, I can convince myself to do what needs to be done.
Thanks.
Does your friend have any medical or educational background that would lead you to give weight to her opinion?
Veggies, fruits, dairy, and whole grains have sugar, and are prominent in the diets of most traditional cultures. I believe the idea that "sugar is inflammatory" is still a point of research. At most the idea would be that a diet high in sugar could be a risk factor, and I doubt a couple of cookies every night would qualify. Perhaps if you were eating a diet full of processed sweets and soda, but it doesn't sound like that's the case.
I would start out looking for the websites of prominent hospitals that specialize in cancers, and see if they post preventative guidance or link to other sources you can learn from. There are lots of blogs with lots of theories, and unfortunately lots of horrible people who prey on the fear of cancer to make money, so vetting sources really is important.
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess no oncologist has ever looked a patient in the eye and said "You were perfect in every way, except those cookies. Despite eating a nutritious diet and exercising regularly, the cookies gave you cancer."
I'd add that high stress levels are proven to be bad for your health, so don't get so caught up in the minutiae and random theories that you cause yourself more harm than good :flowerforyou:25 -
Can sugar cause cancer? I don't know. It's sort of one of those 'life is terminal' things, in my opinion. I'm sorry you're faced with those odds. But knowledge is power, and how far you are able/willing to take that knowledge is up to you. If reducing or eliminating added sugar makes you feel as if you are taking a positive step toward reducing your risk, by all means do it.4
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you also need glucose to build healthy cells
don't worry so much about sugars, but nutrition. imo. making sure you body gets all it needs to be happy and healthy. sometimes that involves a candy bar. sometimes it involves veggies9 -
Cancer is nothing more than a cell that doesn't die at it's programmed time, so no...sugar has no potential to impact this.
It's more of a risk indicator brought on by obesity brought on by ingesting a continued surplus of calories some of which happen to be from sugar.
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I fear that I am at a crossroads. I recently allowed myself to be talked into doing a genetic test for breast cancer. The results came back negative, but based on family history, I was still given a 57.4% chance of having cancer. Anything above 20% is considered high. (I am a 53 year old woman.)
I was sharing this information with a co-worker. We were talking about how to react. What's the point of having this projection if you aren't going to do anything with it? She is on a low/no sugar diet. She says that sugar is an inflammatory agent and that living with low levels of inflammation over a long period of time can cause cancer.
One of the behaviors that has helped me be successful at weight loss (4.5 years at goal) is the reward of cookies with dabs of peanut butter that I eat for dessert every evening. I tailor my daily intake and my exercise in order to make caloric room for this treat every day. I am truly afraid that if I try to delete cookies from my diet that I will start to overeat other foods to mentally/emotionally/psychologically compensate. I have seen this behavior in the past when I would give these cookies up for lent.
Do you have any recommendations (not fruit or any other healthy option, I've tried that) for websites that will allow me to research this topic? Maybe if it comes from a scientific study, I can convince myself to do what needs to be done.
Thanks.
Does your friend have any medical or educational background that would lead you to give weight to her opinion?
Veggies, fruits, dairy, and whole grains have sugar, and are prominent in the diets of most traditional cultures. I believe the idea that "sugar is inflammatory" is still a point of research. At most the idea would be that a diet high in sugar could be a risk factor, and I doubt a couple of cookies every night would qualify. Perhaps if you were eating a diet full of processed sweets and soda, but it doesn't sound like that's the case.
I would start out looking for the websites of prominent hospitals that specialize in cancers, and see if they post preventative guidance or link to other sources you can learn from. There are lots of blogs with lots of theories, and unfortunately lots of horrible people who prey on the fear of cancer to make money, so vetting sources really is important.
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess no oncologist has ever looked a patient in the eye and said "You were perfect in every way, except those cookies. Despite eating a nutritious diet and exercising regularly, the cookies gave you cancer."
I'd add that high stress levels are proven to be bad for your health, so don't get so caught up in the minutiae and random theories that you cause yourself more harm than good :flowerforyou:
I found these 2 that were interesting:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cancer/in-depth/cancer-causes/art-20044714
https://www.mdanderson.org/publications/focused-on-health/may-2014/inflamation-cancer-diet.html1 -
I fear that I am at a crossroads. I recently allowed myself to be talked into doing a genetic test for breast cancer. The results came back negative, but based on family history, I was still given a 57.4% chance of having cancer. Anything above 20% is considered high. (I am a 53 year old woman.)
I was sharing this information with a co-worker. We were talking about how to react. What's the point of having this projection if you aren't going to do anything with it? She is on a low/no sugar diet. She says that sugar is an inflammatory agent and that living with low levels of inflammation over a long period of time can cause cancer.
One of the behaviors that has helped me be successful at weight loss (4.5 years at goal) is the reward of cookies with dabs of peanut butter that I eat for dessert every evening. I tailor my daily intake and my exercise in order to make caloric room for this treat every day. I am truly afraid that if I try to delete cookies from my diet that I will start to overeat other foods to mentally/emotionally/psychologically compensate. I have seen this behavior in the past when I would give these cookies up for lent.
Do you have any recommendations (not fruit or any other healthy option, I've tried that) for websites that will allow me to research this topic? Maybe if it comes from a scientific study, I can convince myself to do what needs to be done.
Thanks.
Does your friend have any medical or educational background that would lead you to give weight to her opinion?
Veggies, fruits, dairy, and whole grains have sugar, and are prominent in the diets of most traditional cultures. I believe the idea that "sugar is inflammatory" is still a point of research. At most the idea would be that a diet high in sugar could be a risk factor, and I doubt a couple of cookies every night would qualify. Perhaps if you were eating a diet full of processed sweets and soda, but it doesn't sound like that's the case.
I would start out looking for the websites of prominent hospitals that specialize in cancers, and see if they post preventative guidance or link to other sources you can learn from. There are lots of blogs with lots of theories, and unfortunately lots of horrible people who prey on the fear of cancer to make money, so vetting sources really is important.
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess no oncologist has ever looked a patient in the eye and said "You were perfect in every way, except those cookies. Despite eating a nutritious diet and exercising regularly, the cookies gave you cancer."
I'd add that high stress levels are proven to be bad for your health, so don't get so caught up in the minutiae and random theories that you cause yourself more harm than good :flowerforyou:
I found these 2 that were interesting:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cancer/in-depth/cancer-causes/art-20044714
https://www.mdanderson.org/publications/focused-on-health/may-2014/inflamation-cancer-diet.html
That's so funny, Mayo and MD Anderson were two that I was going to mention and then decided not to because it was just my personal preference and I'm certainly no authority 2 -
This was a good discussion.2
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I really don't think your cookies are going to cause cancer, and it's unethical of your doctor to give you that percentage number without followup or advice. My guess is what you need to be doing is living a healthy lifestyle at a healthy weight while monitoring your breasts closely, as compared to someone without a heightened risk. You don't test positive for the genes so there's a possibility that what caused your family members to have cancer is not something you even share.1
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stanmann571 wrote: »Glucose does feed most cancers. In fact PET scans basically just shows where there is very high glucose which is where cancer will be found. If you want the science, look into the Warburg effect.
As I understand, highers insulin and glucose levels does tend to make it a bit easier for cancer to get a hold rather than being eliminated as it normally is. Glucose is the main building block of all carbs like flours, sugars, veggies and fruits.
Researchers are looking into using very low carb diets as complimentary cancer therapy. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4215472/ It makes sense to me that if the diet can be used to help reverse cancer, it could also be used to prevent it.
Could you look into low carb cookies? I've had peanut butter cookies made without any grains or sugars - was quite good.
The problem is that just like PH balance, your body is going to generate and maintain the needed level regardless of your diet.
So there's limited benefit to trying to alter your levels unless you have another complicating factor(like IR or diabetes).
I think it is more that the body TRIES to maintain optimal levels regardless of diet. Diets high in carbs, mainly refined carbs, tend to result in higher blood glucose and insulin levels than a diet with lower carbs, mainly whole foods, would have... In the lower refined carb diet, I doubt a cookie a day would have much impact for most people. I'm just guessing though.
I do agree that IR and diabetes makes regulating BG and insulin more difficult. Those people will generally have higher levels, especially if eating carbs.
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mandipandi75 wrote: »I agree with the recommendations of natural food strategy for prevention. Consuming antioxidant rich foods as well as watching your inflammatory food intake would be ideal. There are several foods that promote inflammation besides sugar. The cleaner you can eat, the better.
So, a balance. More antioxidant foods with fewer cookies. That's doable.
It really depends on what you are willing to do. We all have things we don't compromise. So find a balance that you can live with. There are so many things that could contribute to disease. Being responsible with what we put in our body is a way to take some control. Food can be a preventative and medicinal. Being in good physical health is also preventative. You may even want to educate yourself on other non consumed toxin exposures. Just my opinion.
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I fear that I am at a crossroads. I recently allowed myself to be talked into doing a genetic test for breast cancer. The results came back negative, but based on family history, I was still given a 57.4% chance of having cancer. Anything above 20% is considered high. (I am a 53 year old woman.)
I was sharing this information with a co-worker. We were talking about how to react. What's the point of having this projection if you aren't going to do anything with it? She is on a low/no sugar diet. She says that sugar is an inflammatory agent and that living with low levels of inflammation over a long period of time can cause cancer.
One of the behaviors that has helped me be successful at weight loss (4.5 years at goal) is the reward of cookies with dabs of peanut butter that I eat for dessert every evening. I tailor my daily intake and my exercise in order to make caloric room for this treat every day. I am truly afraid that if I try to delete cookies from my diet that I will start to overeat other foods to mentally/emotionally/psychologically compensate. I have seen this behavior in the past when I would give these cookies up for lent.
Do you have any recommendations (not fruit or any other healthy option, I've tried that) for websites that will allow me to research this topic? Maybe if it comes from a scientific study, I can convince myself to do what needs to be done.
Thanks.
Does your friend have any medical or educational background that would lead you to give weight to her opinion?
Veggies, fruits, dairy, and whole grains have sugar, and are prominent in the diets of most traditional cultures. I believe the idea that "sugar is inflammatory" is still a point of research. At most the idea would be that a diet high in sugar could be a risk factor, and I doubt a couple of cookies every night would qualify. Perhaps if you were eating a diet full of processed sweets and soda, but it doesn't sound like that's the case.
I would start out looking for the websites of prominent hospitals that specialize in cancers, and see if they post preventative guidance or link to other sources you can learn from. There are lots of blogs with lots of theories, and unfortunately lots of horrible people who prey on the fear of cancer to make money, so vetting sources really is important.
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess no oncologist has ever looked a patient in the eye and said "You were perfect in every way, except those cookies. Despite eating a nutritious diet and exercising regularly, the cookies gave you cancer."
I'd add that high stress levels are proven to be bad for your health, so don't get so caught up in the minutiae and random theories that you cause yourself more harm than good :flowerforyou:
I found these 2 that were interesting:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cancer/in-depth/cancer-causes/art-20044714
https://www.mdanderson.org/publications/focused-on-health/may-2014/inflamation-cancer-diet.html
Sound logic in both articles. Note that neither promote dramatic eliminations, but in general - moderation and variable diets.
I know that percentages can be intimidating, but don't read much into this. These are just population distributions and a 90% chance of whatever means nothing if you are on the 10%. Fretting over where you exist in the population is useless. Taking steps to reduce risk is a positive and meaningful measure.
....and I say this as a cancer survivor and as a scientist reviewing epidemiological trending. There is no "rise" of cancer. There are two primary factors driving this - longevity and increased testing.
Enjoy the cookies.18
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