Most people love things that are sweet but the wrong kind of sweet can be deadly! According to the Credit Suisse Research Institute’s 2013 study, “Sugar: Consumption at a Crossroads,” as much as 40 percent of US healthcare expenditures are for diseases directly related to the overconsumption of sugar. 

The United States spends more than $1 trillion each year fighting the damaging health effects of sugar.  This can be anything from obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. The fact that sugar and obesity are linked to an increased risk of cancer is now becoming recognized in the health community. 

According to a report on the global cancer burden, published in 2014, they state that obesity is responsible for an estimated 500,000 cancer cases worldwide each year.  Pretty Scary. Nearly 33% of obesity-related cancers (colon, rectum, ovary and womb) occur in North America and Europe. 

Does Excess Sugar and Obesity Promotes Cancer:

It certainly does not help the body or cells thrive.  One of the key mechanisms by which sugar promotes cancer and other chronic disease is through mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondrial dysfunction may be a critical part of the underlying pathophysiology in the following health conditions:

• Autism
• Bipolar disorder
• Schizophrenia
• Depression
• Diabetes
• Parkinson’s disease
• Asthma
• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Some Gastronintestinal disorders, among others

  Research has also shown that chronic overeating in general has a similar effect. Most people who overeat also tend to eat a lot of sugar-laden foods.  This increases cancer risk even further. Chronic overeating places stress on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), the membranous network found inside the mitochondria of your cells. When the ER receives more nutrients than it can process, it signals the cell to dampen the sensitivity of the insulin receptors on the surface of the cell. Continuously over eating in turn starts insulin resistance by stressing out your cells because of too many nutrients in the body at one particular time.  Insulin resistance usually promotes ill health and most chronic disease, including cancer. 

High-Fructose Corn Syrup Primary Culprit in Cancer:

This also helps explain why fasting at times and reducing the amount of calorie intake can reverse insulin resistance, thereby reducing your risk of cancer and improving your quality of life. Obesity, caused by a combination of eating too much refined  fructose sugar causes inflammation in the body which in turn elevates hormones such as estrogen which is linked to an increase risk of breast cancer. According to recent research, from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, refined sugar not only significantly increases your risk of breast cancer, it also raises your risk of tumors spreading to other organs. The study also found that it was primarily the refined fructose in high-fructose corn syrup, found in most processed foods and beverages (especially soda) that was responsible for the breast tumors and the metastasis. 

Without Sugar, Cancer Cannot Thrive:

One of the most powerful strategies I know of to avoid and/or treat cancer is to starve the cancer cells by depriving them of their food source, which is primarily sugar and excessive protein. Unlike all the other cells in your body, which can burn carbs or fat for fuel, cancer cells have lost that metabolic flexibility and can only thrive if there is enough sugar present. 

This is why I always feel perplexed as to why when a person is in the hospital for cancer or another chronic illness, the food provided in the hospital is full of fats and sugar!  Makes no sense. Make no mistake about it, the FIRST thing you want to do if you want to avoid or treat cancer is to cut out all forms of sugar/fructose and grain carbs from your diet.  If cancer cells can't eat, they can't survive. 

Dr. Amie Gregory, DC, CCEP, ANF is a San Francisco, CA and San Carlos, CA chiropractor that understands full body health.  She works with athletes, expectant moms, office workers and everyone else in between.  Contact our San Francisco, CA chiropractic office or San Carlos, CA chiropractic office today!

References: 1. https://www.epidemicanswers.org/epidemic/root-causes/mitochondrial-dysfunction/ 2. https://www.wakingtimes.com/2016/02/24/sugar-identified-as-a-top-cause-of-the-global-cancer-epidemic/