Sugar has been vilified in our diet and linked to cancer as well but how? We’ll need to take a good hard look at sugar and bust some myths by getting to the bottom of what sugar is and what our bodies use sugar for.
Sugar in its simplest form is glucose and fructose. Glucose and fructose can stick together in pairs or form longer chains and become carbohydrates which is what our bodies use as a main source of energy. As these chains of sugar become longer, it loses its sweet taste and doesn’t dissolve in water anymore. These are known as polysaccharides which are found in starchy foods such as rice, bread, pasta, vegetables and potatoes. These foods don’t taste sweet but are carbohydrate rich!
Our body is made up of cells that need energy in order to perform their duties such as help us breath, see, feel, think and more. When we drink or eat food that contains glucose, it is absorbed into our bloodstream and distributed to the cells to use.
The cancer link
Cancer cells multiply quickly and this requires a lot of energy which in turn means that these cells will need lots of glucose and other nutrients such as amino acids and fats too. This is where the myth of sugar fuelling cancer cells come in. Thus, it is a common belief that since cancer cells need a lot of glucose, cutting sugars out of our diets can stop the cancer from growing or even preventing it from happening in the first place. However, it isn’t that simple because our healthy cells require glucose to keep our bodies functioning optimally. Thus, there isn’t any evidence that a sugar-free diet could lower the risk of getting cancer.
An important matter to note is that drastically restricting our diet with very low amounts of carbohydrates could damage our health in the long run. This is because eliminating carbohydrates means eliminating food that’s also a good source of other important nutrients such as fibre, vitamins and minerals. Additionally, for cancer patients, treatments put the body through a lot of stress and can result in weight loss. Thus, a restrictive diet could slow down recovery and in some cases, become life-threatening.
Quote: Sugar by itself doesn’t cause cancer and there’s no way to starve cancer cells without hurting the healthy cells too.
So do we need to be worried?
So since sugar doesn’t directly cause cancer, why should we care about our sugar intake? There is actually an indirect link between sugar and the risk of getting cancer. Excessive sugar intake can cause weight gain and studies have shown that being overweight or obese increases an individual’s risk of 13 different types of cancers. Actually, along with smoking, obesity is one of the largest preventable causes of cancer.
Nonetheless, this addresses added sugar in our diet that causes weight gain, not the naturally occurring sugars found in fruits, milk, and wholegrains. An easy way to cut out added sugar in our diet is to stop having sugary drinks such as fizzy drinks and energy drinks. Some of these contain more than a day’s maximum serving of added sugar in just one can!
In addition to sugary drinks, it’s important to also cut out sugary food such as candy, cakes, chocolates and biscuits. There are also hidden sugars in food that are seen as ‘healthy’ such as some breakfast cereals, pasta sauce and even yoghurt! Reading nutrition labels is an important step when buying groceries to ensure that you choose, good healthy foods that are low in added sugar.
Keep in mind that although food such as milk, fruit, potatoes and rice are full of carbohydrates, they also contain other important nutrients that can benefit or body. It is advisable to eat more whole fruits, vegetables and wholegrains because these foods are high in fibre which has been shown to reduce the risk of bowel cancer.
Thus, to wrap up, sugar by itself doesn’t cause cancer and there’s no way to starve cancer cells without hurting the healthy cells too. A low carbohydrate diet isn’t proven to lower our risk of cancer and hasn’t been shown to improve a cancer patient’s treatment. At the end of the day, we all need to make healthy choices by lowering the amount of added sugars in our diet, maintaining a healthy body weight and choosing whole foods.
