BY DR SYLVESTER IKHISEMOJIE
A clear relationship between sugar and cancer leads scientists to two conclusions. One of these conclusions is that the use of sugar contributes to cancer and that going without sugar helps to slow the spread of cancer. 100 years ago, most people consumed about two kilograms of sugar per annum. These days, people consume on average, quantities of sugar 40 times this amount which is equivalent to 80 kilograms of sugar per annum. Food manufacturers add enormous amounts of sugar, usually in the form of high fructose corn syrup to products we consume all day, every day. Coffee drinks, cereal, soda, and snacks contain large amounts of sugar including even in foods you would not normally expect, like spaghetti sauce and peanut butter. The amount we consume can either feed those cells or starve them. In a landmark study, by researchers at Anderson Cancer Centre of the University of South Florida, one researcher said a lot of patients are told that it does not matter what they eat after they are diagnosed with cancer. However, preliminary animal research suggests that it does matter and that the cause-and-effect situation about sugar and cancer provides compelling evidence that what is consumed as food is very important. Take yogurt for instance; the average cup of yogurt contains more sugar than a candy bar.
In that study, the researchers fed high fructose corn syrup in percentages equivalent to what is normally consumed in humans to mice. Those mice developed higher rates of lung and breast cancer compared to mice fed with less sugar. That study also tells us something about people who already have cancer. One patient who was willing to share his experience understood first-hand that the amount of sugar intake a person takes matters after a cancer diagnosis. Back in 2012, his diagnosis was a death sentence. He said that the doctors gave him three months to live because there was widespread metastatic disease in his skeletal structure. In the span of those three months, three different doctors told him the same thing. It is a horrible, feeling, without a doubt, to have someone tell you that you have only a definite number of months to live. To this day, that particular beneficiary of this experimental treatment is astonished that medical science was completely blindsided about the effectiveness of the ketogenic diet. This is especially so because these observations were not confined only to laboratory mice; the same cancer regression was documented in those humans who had tried everything else before and failed but decided almost as a last resort to undergo this novel treatment. The same patient at the centre of this discovery, feeling that he had nothing left to lose, opted to try the ketogenic diet as well. To his utter astonishment, the cancer regressed completely. He was cured of it.
The ketogenic diet means that sugar is absent in any form in the food as well as a complete absence of starch, which is usually converted into glucose once inside the body. So, despite the odds, these people opted to try the diet. And in a very encouraging development, the ketogenic diet which means no sugar and no glucose, proved to be effective in combating their advanced cancers. Sugars also fuel our healthy cells, but if they are not available for usage, those cells can switch to an alternative fuel source called ketone bodies. Your normal cells have the metabolic flexibility to adapt from using glucose, to using these ketone bodies. But cancer cells do not have that sort of metabolic flexibility to switch their fuel source to some other type of energy source. They are obligatory users of glucose as a source of energy like the red blood cells, kidneys, brain, and nervous tissue. Therefore, it was thought to be crucial to exploit that loophole since processed food contains so much sugar and starch. The wisdom in making that choice is based on the fact that if you prevent cancer cells from getting the glucose and sugar that they love so much, those same cells would be starved to death. So, it is important to get this information out, to let people know that cancer is dependent on sugar and glucose. This important connection has been verified in correspondence with several people, over several years, and it turns out that all of those who switched to a ketogenic diet are still alive and doing well. It, therefore, makes sense to assume a postulate that says cancer cells love sugar and starch because cancer thrives on the glucose from those foods.
