Will Sugar Fuel My Cancer? New Evidence Re-Opens The Debate

The mice in the study showed a substantial increase in the size and and aggressiveness of their tumors, and the study separated out mice that were obese or had generally unhealthy characteristics such as high-blood pressure.

Still, there are conflicting opinions about whether sugar fuels the growth of cancer.

“The research was in mice predisposed to cancer.  Those who received sugar (fructose) had larger tumors,” says Dr. Heather Yeo, Colorectal Surgeon and Surgical Oncologist at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian. “Dr. Cantley's work (one of the researchers in the study) on the role of sugar in cancer is very important. He has studied a pathway called PI3-kinase–this is mutated cancers. This pathway is fueled by insulin, which is triggered by sugar. So these studies supported previous research. I think that we all know there are many reasons to limit sugars.  I don't think we need to completely stop eating sugar, but realize that we should be minimizing intake of fructose and glucose when we can.”

On the other hand, Dr. Oxnard disagrees. “Don’t lose weight (during treatment). There’s no healthy diet in the lung cancer world, aside from calories. Okay? There may be a healthy diet that helps you not get cancer, but when you’ve got lung cancer you can’t lose weight. You can’t waste away. The cancer is taking your calories,” says Dr. Jeffrey Oxnard.

“So I tell my patients, ‘Go eat calories. Go eat an ice cream sundae every night. Eat what you need to do to not lose weight. If you’ve lost weight, regain it,'” Dr. Oxnard continues. “I like my patients pleasantly plump. I like ten pounds saved for a rainy day. Okay? Because there are rainy days in this business. And so you want to have the calories just in case you have a bump in the road.”

Still the effects of sugar intake can vary from cancer to cancer, and to other doctors, and the debate is still inconclusive. To some doctors, sugar consumption during cancer treatment is very troublesome. “Simple sugars are not good. And there’s really no nutritional value in those simple sugars.  They taste good, we enjoy them, but there’s really no nutrient value in them.  And when you eat sugar, simple sugar, what happens is your insulin levels go up, and insulin is a growth factor for prostate cancer,” says Dr. Stephen Freedland, Director of the Center for Integrated Research in Cancer and Lifestyle at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

“If we take prostate cancer cells in a petri dish in a laboratory, I add insulin on them, they grow faster. It really is that simple,” says Dr. Freedland. “So, when you’re eating all that sugar, making your insulin, you’re simply stimulating the tumor to grow.”

 

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