Cancer and Sugar – Fact or Fiction?

Do you love sugar? Most people love sugar. Unfortunately cancer cells love it too.

Cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the US, second only to heart disease. The typical “cures”, chemotherapy and radiation, have a dismal success rate of around 3%. it obvious we need a better approach to curing cancer. Fortunately better approaches exist, but you won’t hear about them from your doctor. Doctors aren’t allowed to recommend alternative cures for cancer, even if they are aware of them.

There are many natural cures for cancer. Some need to be administered by a clinic, others we can perform ourselves at home. Diet has a large part to play in how we get sick in the first place, and it can also influence how we can heal. One easy measure we can take, both to prevent and stop tumor growth, is to eliminate sugar from out diets.

So how can we cure cancer, by merely rejecting all sugary foods? It seems too simple. In fact if you research this subject, you’ll find many articles on the cancer and sugar myth. They sound like the voice of wisdom. “All cells need glucose.” they proclaim. And while this is indeed true, there are differences between normal cells and cancer cells, that these articles don’t mention.

The fact is, cancer cells metabolize glucose in a different way.

In 1924, a famous scientist called Otto Warburg observed the cancer cells require a lot more sugar than cancer cells. This is known as the Warburg Effect. Warburg is quoted as saying, “Cancer, above all other diseases, has countless secondary causes. But, even for cancer, there is only one prime cause. Summarized in a few words, the prime cause of cancer is the replacement of the respiration of oxygen in normal body cells by a fermentation of sugar.”

What does this actually mean?

Cells convert glucose to energy by a process known as glycolysis. Sugar is used in the presence of oxygen to create carbon dioxide.

Cancer cells also use this process, but they burn sugar without the presence of carbon dioxide to create lactate.

Cancer cells simply need to grow and divide. To do this they need to consume huge amounts of glucose. Normal cells can use other fuels, such as protein and fat, to produce energy. Normal cells can survive without sugar. Cancer cells can use protein and fat for energy as well, but glucose is their preferred fuel.

PET (positron emission tomography) scans use radioactively labeled glucose to scan for cancers in the body. The only reason this works, is because the cancer cells gobble up the glucose so fast, that they show up on the scan as a glowing mass. Incidentally, PET scans are dangerous for this reason alone. They’re feeding the cancer cells their favorite food.

Cancer cells gobble sugar 10 times faster than healthy cells, due to their high number of insulin receptor cells. Deprive them of their staple diet and it will slow down their growth.

Possibly the worst kind of sugar you can consume is high fructose corn syrup, or HFCS, often found in sodas. Second comes sweet foods such as cakes, candy, Bear in mind that simple carbohydrates, such as white bread, convert to sugar as part of the digestion process. Therefore eating simple carbohydrates will lead to high blood glucose levels.

Whether you subscribe to the above theory or not, your health can only benefit from lowering your intake of sugar. Over consumption of sugar leads to obesity and depresses the immune system, our primary defence against diseases like cancer. Sugar is a calorie dense food with no nutritional value.

I’ll pass on the sugar, thanks!