Sugar Feeds Cancer: It's Time for a New Approach- The Wellness Way

You have probably heard before that sugar feeds cancer. If you haven’t … you haven’t been paying attention. Maybe you have been ignoring the things you have been hearing about sugar and this message is coming at the time you are ready to hear it. Let me say it again… sugar feeds cancer.

Oncologists and Doctors tell patients that their diet has nothing to do with cancer. This is untrue. Don’t be fooled, use your logic. Did you know it’s estimated that lifestyle and environment contribute to 90-95% of cancers? Everyone thinks its genetic but that’s only 5-10% of cancer cases. (1) If you have been diagnosed with cancer or you want to avoid a cancer diagnosis you should avoid this “food.”

Sugar is an anti-nutrient. Offering no significant amounts of vitamins or minerals while robbing your body of precious nutrient stores. It is also a very inflammatory food which leaves your body’s defenses fighting inflammation. That is a distraction of the immune system. If your body is fighting inflammation it isn’t as able to fight cancerous cells because it also has to fight the inflammation. Sugar has all these bad effects all while feeding cancer.

Sugar Feeds Cancer

That’s even confirmed by the tests they do to diagnose cancer. You can see in the test how much cancer loves glucose, or commonly known as sugar. If you go to the website for the Cancer Treatment Centers of America, they explain how a PET scan works for identifying cancer. During a PET scan they inject a glucose solution into the patient with a radioactive tracer. During the PET scan, they take computerized pictures of the organs and tissues inside the body. The cancer eats up all the glucose with the radioactive tracer which makes the image light up where the cancer is located. This is because cancer cells use more glucose than normal cells. (2)

The metabolism is different for cancer cells than normal ones. Cancer cells can take in 10 times more glucose than healthy cells. (3) Cancer cells feed off of a glycolytic pathway, which means that they require sugar for their energy metabolism. Instead of oxygen, like healthy cells, the cancerous ones need glucose. Dr. Warburg from way back in the day discovered this relationship and called it the “Warburg Effect.”(4) The more glucose you take in the more you feed cancer.

When you eat sugar, it suppresses the immune response phagocytosis. That’s when cells called phagocytes go around absorb or eat up bacteria and debris. They get rid of pathogens which is really important, so you don’t want that immune response suppressed but many Americans are suppressing it. The average American eats 32 teaspoons of sugar a day. Yeah that’s a lot! Eating only 10 teaspoons of sugar suppresses phagocytosis by 50%. (5) That’s cutting down your immune response. Now does eating sugar build your body or tear it down?

Avoid Sugar and Make Healthy Swaps

We all have cancer cells in our body. Those cells are like having weeds in your garden. If you keep feeding the weeds over and over again they are going to take over your garden and strangle everything out. The same thing can happen with the body.

If the cancer cells are regulated, then everything is ok. We have natural defense mechanisms with our natural killer cells that defend our body against cancer cells. However, if we continue to create more because we are feeding them like crazy, then our natural killer cells can’t get it under control. You need to cultivate a healthier environment that promotes healthy cells over cancer cells. This includes avoiding sugar.

Don’t do high fructose corn syrup, other hidden sugars, or horrible artificial sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners come with their own set of problems. How often do you see healthy people drinking diet soda? They contribute to obesity which increases your risk for cancer. Aspartame has been linked to diabetes, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia and cancer.

There are other options that can help your sweet tooth while not feeding cancer. Instead of sugar try stevia or xylitol. They don’t increase your blood sugar and actually don’t get absorbed into your blood at all. They just go right through your system. Xylitol is a great option that also has health benefits.

Does giving up sugar sound overwhelming? Cancer by itself can be overwhelming. You may hear from doctors that you need your strength so sugary foods can add calories. It’s time to rethink that. Sugar feeds cancer helping it spread and does not build your immune system. You’re either building a body to grow cancer or you’re building a body to defend against cancer. Which would you rather do?

Written by Dr. Jacque Moser