Is Sugar Toxic?

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, my family and I have switched to an anti-cancer diet. We actually switched in November and with a few missteps in Germany (they have great cheese and breads!) we have stuck to it pretty well. Of course the anti cancer diet involves eating more of the 'good stuff' and eating less or none (if possible) of the 'bad stuff'. After years of mum harrasing you to "eat your vegetables" it turns out she was actually right all along.

The 'good stuff' in the anti cancer diet consists of lots of vegetables and fruits, organic when possible. All of which have great anti-cancer properties. Specifically broccoli, green leafy vegetables like cabbage, cale and spinach, carrots, cauliflower, beans, pepers, soy, sweet potatoes, tomatoes (cooked or roasted is better than raw), blueberries, raspberries, grapefriut, mangoes, olives, avocado and apples are best. In the protein department fish, soy and lean fowl is best. Nuts and whole grain based bars or cookies make a great snack.

The 'bad stuff' in the anti-cancer diet falls into four groups:

1) Red and/or fatty meats like beef dark turkey, and bacon can cause inflamation which increases blood flow to tumor sites and speed up tumor growth. Use lean white mean, fish or soy based proteins instead.

2) Any milk products. Human are the only species that uses milk from other animals in our diet. It is s a growth enableing nutritional supplement for young mamals that can't have solid food yet. As such it contains natural growth hormones that can cause or speed up tumor growth in humans. All natural milks and products are equally bad (cow, sheep etc.) so avoiding them all is best. Replace with unsweetened soy milk or almond milk.

3) Refined grains including white rice and white bread flour. Although they break down in the body to form just glucose (not glucose and fructose like refined sugars or high fructose corn syrop) they still encourage cancer cell growth. Choose whole grains, brown rice or whole wheat pastas instead.

4) Refined sugar. This is probably themost important one to avoid. Since both refined sugar and high fructose corn syrop both contain sucrose they are evil. Sucrose is about 50% fructose and 50% glucose. The glucose is metabolized by all the cells in the body as a source of energy but fructose is metabolized in the liver where it is generally converted into fat. Increased sugar requires increased insulin to metabolized the sugar and when insulin is released by the body so is insulin growth hormone which promotes tumor growth. There was a lengthy and well researched piece published this week in the NY Times online which expands on the evils of refined sugar further. You can find the article here (thanks for the heads up on that one Ben). The following quotes are from that article:

Now most researchers will agree that the link between Western diet or lifestyle and cancer manifests itself through this association with obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome — i.e., insulin resistance. Cancer researchers now consider that the problem with insulin resistance is that it leads us to secrete more insulin, and insulin (as well as a related hormone known as insulin-like growth factor) actually promotes tumor growth.

It very well may be true that sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, because of the unique way in which we metabolize fructose and at the levels we now consume it, cause fat to accumulate in our livers followed by insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, and so trigger the process that leads to heart disease, diabetes and obesity. They could indeed be toxic, but they take years to do their damage. It doesn’t happen overnight. Until long-term studies are done, we won’t know for sure.

There's lots more about the negative impacts of refined sugars on our health in the article. It's worth the read if you have 15 minutes to spare. It will change the way you eat...