I have found this to be so useful, I have reproduced the article by Dr Mecola in full. Also, for my own safekeeping and my own reminder...
Dr. Mercola's
Comments:
Are all sugars
equal in terms of the health effects they produce?
Sooner or later,
science will put this debate to rest once and for all.
It's already been conclusively shown that fructose, most commonly
consumed in the form of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), is FAR
more hazardous to your health than regular sugar, but the corn
industry still vehemently denies such claims.
Through successful
PR campaigns, industry has managed to pull the wool over your eyes
for some time now, but eventually even they will have to surrender
to the scientific evidence...
Until then,
propaganda machines like the Corn Refiners Association's site, SweetSurprise.com,
will continue telling you that "research confirms that high-fructose
corn syrup is safe and no different from other common sweeteners
like table sugar and honey. All three sweeteners are nutritionally
the same," and that "though the individual sugars are metabolized
by different pathways, this is of little consequence since the body
sees the same mix of sugars from caloric sweeteners, regardless
of source."
But are these
metabolic differences of little consequence?
Far from it!
Fructose
Speeds Up Cancer Growth
Research just
published in the journal Cancer
Research shows that the way the different sugars are metabolized
(using different metabolic pathways) is of MAJOR consequence when
it comes to feeding cancer and making it proliferate.
According to
the authors:
" Importantly, fructose and glucose metabolism are quite different... These findings show that cancer cells can readily metabolize fructose to increase proliferation."
In this case,
the cancer cells used were pancreatic
cancer, which is typically regarded as the most deadly and universally
rapid-killing form of cancer.
The study confirms
the old adage that sugar feeds cancer because they found that tumor
cells do thrive on sugar (glucose). However, the cells used fructose
for cell division, speeding up the growth and spread of the cancer.
If this difference
isn't of major consequence, then I don't know what is.
Whether you're
simply interested in preventing cancer, or have cancer and want
to live longer, you ignore these facts and listen to industry propaganda
at your own risk.
How Does
Sugar Feed Cancer?
Controlling
your blood-glucose and insulin levels through diet, exercise and
emotional stress relief can be one of the most crucial components
to a cancer recovery program. These factors are also crucial in
order to prevent cancer in the first place.
It may surprise
you, but the theory that sugar feeds cancer was born nearly 80 years
ago. Even more shocking, most conventional cancer programs STILL
do not adequately address diet and the need to avoid sugars.
In 1931 the
Nobel Prize was awarded to German researcher Dr. Otto Warburg, who
first discovered that cancer cells have a fundamentally different
energy metabolism compared to healthy cells.
Malignant tumors
tend to use a process where glucose is used as a fuel by the cancer
cells, creating lactic acid as a byproduct.[i]
The large amount of lactic acid produced by this fermentation of
glucose from cancer cells is then transported to your liver. This
conversion of glucose to lactic acid generates a lower, more acidic
pH in cancerous tissues as well as overall physical fatigue from
lactic acid buildup.[ii]
[iii]
This is a very
inefficient pathway for energy metabolism, which extracts only about
5 percent of the available energy in your food supply. In simplistic
terms, the cancer is "wasting" energy, which leads you to become
both tired and undernourished, and as the vicious cycle continues,
will lead to the body wasting so many cancer patients experience.
Additionally,
carbohydrates from glucose and sucrose significantly decreases the
capacity of neutrophils to do their job. Neutrophils are a type
of white blood cell that help cells to envelop and destroy invaders,
such as cancer.
In a nutshell,
ALL forms of sugar are detrimental to health in general and promote
cancer, but in slightly different ways, and to a different extent.
Fructose, however, clearly seems to be one of the overall most
harmful.
Connecting
the Dots: Fructose—Uric Acid—Cancer and Chronic Disease Risk
One particularly
interesting tidbit I noticed in
this latest study is the mention of how fructose metabolism
leads to increased uric acid production along with cancer cell proliferation.
In my
first interview with Dr. Johnson, he explained just how detrimental
the impact of fructose is on your uric acid level. Interestingly,
ONLY fructose, NOT glucose, drives up uric acid as part of its normal
metabolic pathways
And, the connection
between fructose, uric acid, hypertension, insulin resistance/diabetes
and kidney disease is so clear that your uric acid level can actually
be used as a marker for toxicity from fructose – meaning that if
your levels are high, you're at increased risk of all the health
hazards associated with fructose consumption and you really need
to reduce your fructose intake.
For more information
about this topic, please see
this link.
Dr. Richard
Johnson has written one of the best books on the market on the health
dangers of fructose, called The
Sugar Fix, which explains how fructose causes high
blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, diabetes and kidney disease.
As I've mentioned previously, he does promote the use of artificial
sweeteners in this book, which I cannot recommend. His research
on fructose, however, is unsurpassed in my opinion.
Now it's safe
to say that cancer, at least pancreatic cancer, is also definitely
on the list of diseases that are directly linked to excessive fructose
consumption.
So are Fruits
Good or Bad for You?
This recommendation
has created much controversy among many who regularly consume fruit
and believe this recommendation does not apply to them.
Many who eat
large amounts of fruit have no symptoms, just as those with high
blood pressure may not have any symptoms. However lack of symptoms
is no assurance you are not exposing yourself to some danger.
Please remember
that over three-quarters of the population has insulin resistance.
How do you
know if you have insulin resistance? If you have any of the following
conditions it is a safe bet you have it:
- Diabetes
- High blood pressure
- Overweight
- High Cholesterol
- Cancer
If you have
insulin resistance it would be strongly recommended to limit your
total grams of fructose from fruit to below 15 grams per day (see
the table below). If you believe you are very healthy and are an
exception to this recommendation, then you can easily confirm if
this is true for you by measuring your uric acid level.
If your uric
acid level is greater than 5.5 than you have a risk factor and should
limit your fructose consumption. The higher over 5.5, the stronger
the risk factor is.
Keep in mind
that fruits also contain fructose, although an ameliorating factor
is that whole fruits also contain vitamins and other antioxidants
that reduce the hazardous effects of fructose.
Juices, on
the other hand, are nearly as detrimental as soda, because a glass
of juice is loaded with fructose, and a lot of the antioxidants
are lost.
It is important
to remember that fructose alone isn't evil as fruits are certainly
beneficial. But when you consume high levels of fructose it will
absolutely devastate your biochemistry and physiology. Remember
the AVERAGE fructose dose is 70 grams per day which exceeds the
recommend limit by 300 percent.
So please BE
CAREFUL with your fruit consumption. You simply MUST understand
that because HFCS is so darn cheap, it is added to virtually every
processed food. So even if you consumed no soda or fruit, it is
very easy to exceed 25 grams of hidden fructose in your diet if
you are consuming anything processed.
If you are
a raw food advocate, have a pristine diet, and exercise regularly,
then you could be the exception that could exceed this limit and
stay healthy. But in my experience that is certainly the exception
and not the norm.
So please,
carefully add up your fruits based on the table below to keep the
total fructose from fruit below 15 grams per day.
Fruit | Serving Size | Grams of Fructose |
Limes | 1 medium | 0 |
Lemons | 1 medium | 0.6 |
Cranberries | 1 cup | 0.7 |
Passion fruit | 1 medium | 0.9 |
Prune | 1 medium | 1.2 |
Apricot | 1 medium | 1.3 |
Guava | 2 medium | 2.2 |
Date (Deglet Noor style) | 1 medium | 2.6 |
Cantaloupe | 1/8 of med. melon | 2.8 |
Raspberries | 1 cup | 3.0 |
Clementine | 1 medium | 3.4 |
Kiwifruit | 1 medium | 3.4 |
Blackberries | 1 cup | 3.5 |
Star fruit | 1 medium | 3.6 |
Cherries, sweet | 10 | 3.8 |
Strawberries | 1 cup | 3.8 |
Cherries, sour | 1 cup | 4.0 |
Pineapple | 1
slice (3.5" x .75") |
4.0 |
Grapefruit, pink or red | 1/2 medium | 4.3 |
Restricting
Fructose Consumption is Crucial Part of a Comprehensive Cancer Treatment
Plan
Reducing (or
preferably eliminating) fructose and other added sugars, as well
as limiting grain carbohydrates from your diet, is usually a primary
priority on my
list of cancer-reducing strategies, and for good reason.
This dietary
strategy should also be part of your comprehensive cancer treatment
plan.
By severely
reducing your intake of fructose and carbs in your diet, you help
stave off any potential cancer growth, and "starve" any tumors you
currently have.
It also bolsters
your overall immune function, because sugar decreases the function
of your immune system almost immediately.
Unfortunately,
few cancer patients undergoing conventional cancer care in the US
are offered any scientifically guided nutrition therapy beyond being
told to "just eat healthy foods." I believe many cancer patients
would see major improvement in their outcome if they controlled
the supply of cancer's preferred fuel, glucose, and stayed clear
of fructose to significantly reduce tumor proliferation.
Starving
Cancer – Another Up-and-Coming Strategy
Before I go
into further cancer prevention strategies, I'd like to remind you
of another recent cancer research development I recently wrote about,
namely 'starving'
cancer by eating foods that prevent angiogenesis.
Angiogenesis
(too many blood vessels) is a hallmark of cancer as the tumor actually
needs blood in order to grow (this is how it feeds on the glucose
in your bloodstream). But angiogenesis appears to be preventable
by consuming foods that are natural inhibitors of excessive blood
vessel growth.
When you regularly
consume these foods, you can effectively starve any microscopic
cancerous growths, effectively preventing them from growing further
and becoming dangerous.
According to
Dr. Li, who is currently leading this research, resveratrol from
red grapes, for example, have been shown to inhibit abnormal angiogenesis
by 60 percent. Even more potent is the ellagic acid found in strawberries.
Other potent
anti-angiogenetic foods include:
Green tea | Berries: strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries | Cherries |
Citrus: oranges, grapefruit, lemons | Kale | Turmeric |
Nutmeg | Artichokes | Parsley |
Garlic | Tomato | Maitake mushroom |
Logically,
different foods contain different potencies of anti-angiogenetic
compounds. Some foods have even been found to be more potent than
current anti-angiogenetic drugs! These include parsley and garlic.
But interestingly,
when researchers evaluated a combination of two of the LEAST potent
teas, for example, they discovered that this combination tea had
greater potency than any given tea by itself.
"There's synergy,"
Li states, which should come as no surprise to those of you who
are well-versed in holistic nutrition.
It is this
synergy that makes fresh, whole foods so potently nutritious!
The sum is
far greater than the individual parts, and this is why it's far
more important to focus on eating a diet of whole, organic foods,
rather than obsessing about individual nutrients.
Other Cancer
Prevention Strategies
Aside from
avoiding fructose and other added sugars (which means cutting out
not only soda and sugary beverages, but also processed foods since
most are loaded with HFCS), and incorporating more anti-angiogenetic
fare into your diet, here are several additional strategies you
can incorporate to virtually eliminate your cancer risk:
-
Normalize
your vitamin D levels with safe amounts of sun exposure.
This is one of the most effective, and least expensive, cancer
prevention strategies available to most people. Ideally, you'll
want to monitor your vitamin
D levels to make sure your levels stay within a therapeutic
range year-round.
-
Get appropriate
amounts of animal-based omega-3
fats.
-
Exercise.
One of the primary reasons exercise works is that it drives
your insulin levels down. Controlling insulin levels is one
of the most powerful ways to reduce your cancer risks.
-
Have a
tool to permanently erase the neurological short-circuiting
that can activate cancer genes. Even the CDC states that 85
percent of disease is caused by emotions. It is likely that
this factor may be more important than all the other physical
ones listed here, so make sure this is addressed. My particular
favorite tool for this purpose, as you may know, is the Emotional
Freedom Technique.
-
Only 25
percent of people eat enough vegetables, so by all means eat
as many vegetables as you are comfortable with, preferably
fresh and organic.
Ideally, you'll also want to determine your nutritional type, as some veggies are better than others, depending on your type. In addition, if you are a carb nutritional type, for example, you may need up to 300 percent more vegetables than a protein nutritional type.
-
Maintain
an ideal body weight.
-
Get enough
high-quality
sleep.
-
Reduce
your exposure to environmental
toxins like pesticides, household chemical cleaners, synthetic
air fresheners and air pollution.
-
Boil, poach
or steam your foods, rather than frying
or charbroiling them.
References
[i]
Warburg O. On the origin of cancer cells. Science 1956 Feb;123:309-14.
[ii]
Volk T, et al. pH in human tumor xenografts: effect of intravenous
administration of glucose. Br J Cancer 1993 Sep;68(3):492-500
[iii]
Digirolamo M. Diet and cancer: markers, prevention and treatment.
New York: Plenum Press; 1994. p 203
August
28, 2010
Copyright ©
2010 Dr. Joseph Mercola
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