according to the american cancer society's website: "no sugar intake has not been shown to directly increase the risk of getting cancer or having it get worse (progress). still sugars and sugar-sweetened drinks add large amounts of calories to the diet and can cause weight gain which we know can affect cancer outcomes. " it makes sense to eat a healthy whole food based diet with cancer which would naturally be low in added sugars but no one can say for sure if it feeds cancer. for more on diet see this webmd article. the american caner association is either being extremely negligent evasive or just plain ignorant when it comes to cancer. according to german doctor otto wartberg the "crux of his nobel thesis was that malignant tumors frequently exhibit an increase in anaerobic glycolysis -- a process whereby glucose is used as a fuel by cancer cells with lactic acid as an anaerobic byproduct -- compared to normal tissues. 1 the large amount of lactic acid produced by this fermentation of glucose from cancer cells is then transported to the liver. this conversion of glucose to lactate generates a lower more acidic ph in cancerous tissues as well as overall physical fatigue from lactic acid buildup. 2 3 thus larger tumors tend to exhibit a more acidic ph. 4 this inefficient pathway for energy metabolism yields only 2 moles of adenosine triphosphate (atp) energy per mole of glucose compared to 38 moles of atp in the complete aerobic oxidation of glucose. by extracting only about 5 percent (2 vs. 38 moles of atp) of the available energy in the food supply and the body's calorie stores the cancer is "wasting" energy and the patient becomes tired and undernourished. this vicious cycle increases body wasting. 5 it is one reason why 40 percent of cancer patients die from malnutrition or cachexia. 6 hence cancer therapies should encompass regulating blood-glucose levels via diet supplements non-oral solutions for cachectic patients who lose their appetite medication exercise gradual weight loss and stress reduction. professional guidance and patient self-discipline are crucial at this point in the cancer process. the quest is not to eliminate sugars or carbohydrates from the diet but rather to control blood glucose within a narrow range to help starve the cancer and bolster immune function. " to read more go to the april 2000 issue of nutrition science news or www. mercola. com/article/sugar/sugar_cancer.
does sugar feed cancer?