Sugar, sweet suicide—part I

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, July, 2003 by Gary Null

Cancer

The tragedy of this killer disease is that it is easily preventable through diet, yet most people are unwilling to change what they eat. It is well established that a diet rich in cruciferous vegetables, like broccoli and cabbage, keeps the disease at bay, while other foods promote cancer development. One of the main fuels for cancer cells is sugar, a discovery first made by the Nobel laureate in medicine, Otto Warburg in the 1930's. Warburg noted that cancer cells have a different energy metabolism from healthy cells and that their production could increase when sugar intake is high. As glucose causes a build-up of lactic acid and an acidic pH, an internal environment is created where cancer cells can thrive.

Since Warburg's discovery, several studies have confirmed the equation that increased sugar intake equals increased cancer. In one such investigation, mice were induced with an aggressive form of breast cancer and fed diets to create high or low blood sugar levels. Ten weeks later, only 33% of the hyperglycemic mice survived while 95% of the hypoglycemic mice lived. (28, 29) Another investigation that studied European, American, and Asian countries found sugar to be a significant contributing factor to higher breast cancer rates, especially in older women. (30) A European study of biliary tract cancer patients concluded that sugar intake more than doubled the risk of contracting this form of the disease. (31) In another long-term study of over 150,000 people, obese and underactive individuals were at a higher risk for pancreatic cancer. The report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that keeping fit through diet and exercise is essential to this cancer's prevention and treat ment. (32) In a different study, the same team concluded that abnormal glucose metabolism generates pancreatic cancer, particularly in women with insulin resistance. (33)

Cardiovascular Disease

Compromised heart health due to obesity has been long documented. Over the years, overweight adult populations have been extensively studied, and recently, obese adolescents were found to have coronary atherosclerosis, a precursor to adult coronary heart disease. (34) Even the conservative American Heart Association acknowledges that obesity is an undeniable cause of cardiovascular disease and death, (35) and doctors routinely recommend losing excess weight to cut down heart attack risk. One investigation found that obese individuals who lose 10% of their weight (about 22 pounds) dramatically reduce their levels of inflammatory cytokines, markers that indicate increased risk of heart attack and stroke. (36)

While being overweight and underactive is a clear detriment, recent studies show how too much sugar, in itself, contributes to cardiovascular disease. One investigation linked a sugary drink, the equivalent of two cans of cola, to an increase in a part of an enzyme that promotes free radical generation and lowers levels of protective Vitamin E. Such an effect causes an accumulation of plaque that can harden the arteries and produce cardiovascular disease. (37, 36)