Did you Know Cancer Cells Loves Sugar & So Do I

[Joanne S]

High Insulin and Sugar Increases Breast Cancer Risk
by Christine Horner, MDIt's estimated that the average American eats almost his or her entire body weight in sugar every year. Cancer cells love sugar. It's their preferred fuel. The more sugar you eat, the faster cancer cells grow. Your pancreas responds to sugar by releasing insulin, the hormone that escorts sugar into your cells. When you eat refined simple sugars, such as white table sugar, candy, cookies, or other sugar-laden foods, your blood sugar levels rise very quickly. Your pancreas responds by releasing a lot of insulin. That's not good. High insulin levels are one of the biggest risk factors and promoters of breast cancer. Women with high insulin levels have a 283 percent greater risk of breast cancer.


Link: http://www.newliving.com/issues/aug-2005/articles/breast%20cancer.html

[RhondaH]

and so DID I (TOO MUCH SO). That's why I "do the diet"...time for a "bump". Take care and God bless.

Rhonda

[Mary Anne in TX]

I too love these great reminders about my eating habits! I do love a little chocolate now and then, but work hard to keep that sugar out of my ol' body! Sometimes I do fudge, but get right back on track. I like to be reminded about the payoff of "being good"!!!!! ma

[PinkGirl]

I love sugar, and lots of it. I come from a long line of sugarholics. I try very hard to not eat it, but I have days when it feels like a war between me and chocolate. I haven't managed to stay on a healthy diet for any length of time -- I start it, and then fall off the wagon, and then get back on. I think I'll keep re-reading this thread as a good reminder.

[wennydog]

So does this mean if you eat a lot of sugar your cancer will get worse or possibly not respond to treatment? Pat and I eat cookies and icecream all the time. I feel like her quality of life is so poor that giving her the things she likes to eat is the one pleasure I can help provide. Do you think that I am making the situation worse by providing these " goodies"? Thanks for your opinion.

Pat Bailey 55 yo
2001 DX DCIS, mastectomy & reconn
2003 dx mets to lungs, double thoracotomy for bx, herceptin, navelbene,carbpl,
2005chest wall reoccurrance, rads, repeat herceptin, navelbene,carbopl
2006more mets to chest wall, axillary and rt neck lymph system, Taxotere, herceptin
x 2 treatments, inflammtion to lungs,pneumonia, stop taxotere , rads
2007disease progression to small intestine, rt. axilla, lungs,epirub,5FU,cytoxan x 2 tx
disease halted but counts so low and so weak that chemo stopped.
July2007 disease progression, given 3 weeks to live. Began herceptin, doxorubicin
2 weeks later ready to leave hopitaland ambulatory with assistance. 1 week at home then
signs of lymphedema and epidermal skin rash returning. #2 dose of doxil given with no response.
Gemzar started while back in hospital with slow positive response. Back home but terrible weakness and stomatitis.
Stop doxil. Start Gemzar, tykerb and herceptin on 8/21/07<!-- / message -->

[Joanne S]

I definitely don't think you are making her situation worse. Think about it, what could be better than cookies and ice cream with the one you love. It's probably what is keeping her alive when the doctors said she only had a few weeks of life in July. If Pat has a will to live, she will live longer. I know how difficult this has been for you. I hope you are taking care of you too! Both of you are in my thoughts and prayers. Well wishes to you both.

[PinkGirl]

Wennydog

If I was told I had 3 weeks to live, I would do 2 things: try to prove them wrong, and eat anything I wanted, especially chocolate. Don't worry about the cookies and ice cream. Good luck to both of you.

[Catherine]

I was just going to confess about all the M and M's I ate between yesterday and today. And then I saw Wendydog's post. And my sugar excesses seemed trivial. My heart goes out to you and I think cookies and ice cream are in order. If you can get Hagen Daz all the better. Hang in there the best you can.

Hugs to both of you, Catherine

[Joanne S]

Catherine, I agree with you. I love Hagen Daz Coffee ice cream--- It's my favorite, my weakness and my addiction. I don't know how anyone could possibly cut sugar out 100%. It seems that sugar, corn syrup, fructose, etc is in everything I get from the grocery store; for example yogurt, ketchup, cereals, fruit juices... and on and on.

Some people eat to live and some live to eat.

[AlaskaAngel]

I think of any glucose as being fast food for cancer, whether it is honey or "natural" brown sugar or maple syrup... Maybe cancer is going to take whatever it needs no matter what fuel you eat and whatever is left is what goes to the rest of our body, who knows... but among all the lousy things we end up having to do to deal with cancer, I think steering clear of providing extra energy to it might actually be an important and nontoxic thing to do. And I too love chocolate.

Becoming menopausal does seem to slow down metabolism. Prior to treatment I had what I now consider to be merely pesky problems with keeping my weight in check compared to the ongoing struggle to deal with it now. I never dreamed it would take 5 years to lose the weight I gained during treatment from the added steroids. For the first couple of years I stubbornly kept doing the things that I used to do prior to bc that always worked to help me lose weight. But finally I had to admit to myself that they didn't work anymore, and I would have to stop being so stubborn about it and I would have to do more to lose weight than I really like to do. To me it is still unbelievable how little I am able to eat just to maintain and not gain weight, compared to how much I could eat before treatment without gaining.

I don't know what to say here except to say what I did personally. Maybe it doesn't work across the board for everyone. But I decided to take one small step at a time. I gave up sugar and substituted Stevia for it. It was hard to get used to, but I finally understood that something more had to go. And to me the possibility that giving it up might also be protective against cancer helped me to stick with it.

I've taken other steps too. But I think taking the first difficult step and sticking with it is what makes a real difference in the outcome.

A.A.

[Julie2]

Msny oncologists don't believe that sugar causes or feeds cancer. I am not sure which one to believe.

Julie

[AlaskaAngel]

That is all too true from the getgo, whether it is medical therapy or diet or any other aspect....

The one thing they do seem to pretty much agree upon, though, is that aromatase is a problem for those with bc. So when it comes to diet and sugar, well.... the less aromatase, the better..... (and the more fat one has, the more aromatase there is). And in addition, so far it appears that the medicines that we take to deal with aromatase don't work forever.

Hopeful posted an article about cancer and obesity today that I found interesting in this regard.

A.A.

[lilyecuadorian]

I eat blueberries (whole dried blueberries) all natural but they are so sweet and also they are an "antioxident". Do you think that sugar feed my cancer cell?

[Sherryg683]

When I was on chemo, the only thing I could taste was sugar. My Oncologist told me if that was what I wanted, eat it. I was more concerned about getting fat as a whale than it feeding my cancer. My Oncologist is of the belief that the sugar thing is not valid. I don't know what to believe. I eat about as much sugar as the normal person...had an eclair for breakfast today. I don't want to start feeling guilty every time I have a treat, that wouldn't be living to me. I guess if there were hard facts on this, I would give it up, it would be hard though. In fact, all this talk has made me hungry for a cookie..sherryg

[SoCalGal]

I'm screwed, too. Oh well...

[AlaskaAngel]

Lily, the sweetness of blueberries is a "sugar", and maybe cancer just takes what it needs no matter what sugar you are eating, but personally, I just don't want to provide extra sugar to give the rotten cancer a boost. I eat blueberries too because they are good resources for antioxidants.

I agree with some others here who have said that it may be important not to eat sweet things in a way that results in wide swings of glucose levels in the body. If you are eating sweet things that are more balanced in terms of fiber like blueberries, it doesn't cause your body to go overboard trying to process that sugar like it would if you are taking in high-sugar/carb foods like a sugared doughnut.

AlaskaAngel

[AlaskaAngel]

When it comes right down to it, none of us or the oncs know whether the chemotherapy they are giving any one of us will work for that particular individual either -- and most of the time, it doesn't work -- but a lot of people still do chemo hoping that in their case it will help. There is a LOT oncs don't know much about, and I think that includes not knowing enough about how the body deals with sugar.

AlaskaAngel

[Andrea Barnett Budin]

What's your glucose # in your comprehensive bld tests? Mine was on the high end, even though I gave up sugar in '04 (because it was a *trigger* food for my IBS issue), and because I'd heard about the canser loves sugar thing. I was a major chocoholic. I now won't even take 1 bite, knowing that it is poison for me.

Due to unrelenting hot flashes, I went to an endocrinologist in my desperation. She said high bld sugar could cause hot flashes. I was given a whole panel of tests including a glucose tolerance test (was *gestinal* diabetic, in other words when pregnant 100 and 102 yrs ago). So I am not yet a diabetic but I have very high bld sgr and am on meds for this. Now my bld sgr is normal. Yeah. My hot flashes are still flashing. But -- my canser http://cdn-cf.aol.com/se/clip_art/gstres/badday/greenface is in remission. SO I GUESS LIFE IS SWEET... Pun intended.
Andi