{"id":1225,"date":"2014-09-02T04:40:13","date_gmt":"2014-09-02T04:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=1225"},"modified":"2014-09-02T04:40:13","modified_gmt":"2014-09-02T04:40:13","slug":"research-reveals-how-sugar-causes-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=1225","title":{"rendered":"Research Reveals How Sugar CAUSES Cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

By \"sugar\"<\/a>Sayer Ji
\nHospitals feed cancer patients sugar and high carbohydrate diets for a reason: they are abysmally ignorant of the role of nutrition in health and disease \u2014 hence their burgeoning growth and packed rooms.<\/p>\n

Even though the science itself shows \u2013 at least since the mid-\u201920s with\u00a0Otto Warburg\u2019s cancer hypothesis<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 that tumors prefer to utilize sugar fermentation to produce energy rather than the much more efficient oxygen-based phosphorylation* \u2013 hospitals have actually invited corporations like\u00a0McDonald\u2019s to move into their facilities<\/a>\u00a0to \u2018enhance\u2019 their patient\u2019s gustatory experience, presumably to provide comfort and take the edge off of the painful surgery, radiation and chemo treatments erroneously proffered to them as the only reasonable \u2018standard of care.\u2019<\/p>\n

But the times are changing, with new research requiring these medical institutions to reform their dietary strategies, at least if they wish to claim that their interventions are in fact \u2018evidence-based\u2019 \u2026<\/p>\n

<\/a>New Study Reveals Sugar Doesn\u2019t Just Feed But Causes Cancer<\/p>\n

A groundbreaking new study, uncovered by one of our volunteer researchers at Greenmedinfo \u2013 Jonathan Middleton \u2013 is the first of its kind to identify sugar, not only as\u00a0 fuel source for an already existing cancer, but as a primary driver in oncogenesis \u2013 i.e. the initiation of cancerous characteristics (phenotype) within previously healthy cells.<\/p>\n

Published in the\u00a0Journal of Cliinical Investigation\u00a0and titled,\u00a0Increased sugar uptake promotes oncogenesis via EPAC\/RAP1 and O-GlcNAc pathways<\/a>, researchers addressed a common perception (or misperception) in the cancer research community regarding sugar\u2019s relationship to cancer: namely, \u201cincreased glycolysis [sugar based metabolis] is frequently viewed as a consequence of oncogenic events that drive malignant cell growth and survival.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contrary to this conventional view, the new study \u201cprovide[s] evidence that increased glycolytic activation itself can be an oncogenic event\u2026\u201d\u00a0 That is to say, the activation of sugar-based metabolism in a cell \u2013 driven by both the presence of increased quantities of glucose and the increase glucose receptors on the cell membrane surface (i.e. \u201coverexpression of a glucose transporter\u201d) \u2013 drives cancer initiation.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the study found that \u201cConversely, forced reduction of glucose uptake by breast cancer cells led to phenotypic reversion.\u201d In other words, interfering with sugar availability and uptake to the cell causes the cancer cell to REVERSE towards its pre-cancer structure-function (phenotype).<\/p>\n

What Are The Implications of This Research to the Diet?<\/p>\n

What this new research indicates is that sugar \u2013 of which Americans consume an astounding 160 lbs annually (imagine: 31 five-pound bags for each of us!) \u2013 is one of the primary causes of metabolic cell changes in the body consistent with the initiation and promotion of cancer. And, the research indicates that removing it from the diet, and depriving the cells of it, could REVERSE cancer.<\/p>\n

Hidden Sugar, Crouching Cancer<\/p>\n

It has been\u00a0estimated by the USDA<\/a>\u00a0that the average American consumes 200 lbs of grain products annually. Why is this relevant to the question of sugar in the diet? Because refined carbohydrate products \u2013 e.g. crackers, bread, pasta, cereal \u2013 are actually \u2018hidden\u2019 forms of sugar. In fact, puffed rice causes your blood to become sweeter (and presumably feeds more cancer cells sugar) than white sugar, as it is higher on the glycemic index. Adding the two figures together \u2013 annual per capita consumption of sugar and grain-based products \u2013 we get a jaw dropping 360 lbs of sugar (both overt (table sugar\/high fructose corn syrup) and covert (grain carbs) annually \u2013 all of which may contribute to promoting the ideal metabolic situation of cancer cells: aerobic glycolysis.<\/p>\n

This is one reason why the ketogenic diet \u2013 that is, a fat- and protein-focused diet devoid of carbohydrate, both in simple (sugar) and complex (grain product) form \u2013 has been found so useful in the most aggressive of cancers: including brain cancer. Once you \u2018pull the rug out\u2019 from under the sugar\/carb-craving cancer cells, they are forced to either undergo programmed cell death (apoptosis) or re-differentiate back into non-cancerous phenotypes.<\/p>\n

If It\u2019s So Bad For Us, Why Do We Eat So Much?<\/p>\n

One of the primary reasons why we eat sugar and carbohydrate rich diets is because they are addictive. Within minutes of consuming sugar\/carbs our body goes through a neuroendocrine roller coaster. Your brain can not survive very long without glucose, the fundamental energy unit of the cell, and will \u2018freak out\u2019 if deprived of a steady stream of this \u2018nutrient\u2019 within only 2-3 minutes. The endocrine system, on the other hand, perceives the danger of high sugar \u2013 namely, glycation associated damage to protein and lipid structures within the cells of our body; think: blood caramelizing, getting sticky, and gumming up the finely tuned works \u2013 and will release hormones such as insulin, adrenaline and cortisol, in order to try to get the elevated sugar in the blood and tissues under control. Insulin forces the sugar into storage within the cell, both as glycogen and as fat, but often does its job too well, causing available glucose levels in the brain to be depleted \u2013 setting off a vicious cycle of \u2018emergency signals\u2019 telling the body to release more cortisol and adrenaline to increase the levels of glucose in the blood. This, of course, will result in additional insulin production and release, causing the same cycle to be repeated over and over again.<\/p>\n

This seemingly endless vicious cycle is responsible for the insatiable cravings a high carb\/sugar diet generates \u2013 not to mention the\u00a0fructose-based hedonic effects generated in the brain\u00a0<\/a>that modulate both opioid and dopamine receptors in the nervous system (not unlike alcohol), and the pharmacologically active peptides in many\u00a0gluten-containing grains<\/a>, which also drive addictive behaviors and an almost psychotic fixation on getting carbs at each meal.<\/p>\n

No wonder we have an epidemic of cancer in a world where the Westernized diet prevails. Certainly, we do not mean to indicate that a sugar\/carb-rich diet is the only cause of cancer. There are many other factors that contribute to cancer initiation and promotion, such as:<\/p>\n