Should sugar be eliminated from diet in a cancer patient?

@sharida12 You should definitely stay away from sugar and you should also drink alkaline water. 🩷

Is sugar the cause of cancers

Hi @dall, your question comes up regularly on forums and misinformation about causes of cancer often circulate on social media.

You'll find helpful information in this discussion:
- Should sugar be eliminated from diet in a cancer patient?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/should-sugar-be-eliminated-from-diet-in-a-cancer-patient/
You can also read more in this article and excerpt"
-- Sugar and cancer – what you need to know:
https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2020/10/20/sugar-and-cancer-what-you-need-to-know/
"Here’s where the myth that sugar fuels cancer was born: if cancer cells need lots of glucose, then cutting sugar out of our diet must help stop cancer growing, and could even stop it developing in the first place. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. All our healthy cells need glucose too, and there’s no way of telling our bodies to let healthy cells have the glucose they need, but not give it to cancer cells.

There’s no evidence that following a “sugar-free” diet lowers the risk of getting cancer, or boosts the chances of surviving if you are diagnosed."

Eating a heathy diet can reduce the risk of getting cancer and the risk of recurrence. Less sugar is usually part of a health diet. But sugar does not cause cancer.

Have you been diagnosed with cancer?

@sharifa12:
Sugar may not directly cause cancer but high levels of circulating glucose, ie, more than you need given your activity level, causes insulin to spike and if this is the frequent you could end up developing insulin resistance. In this state you are at much higher risk of becoming diabetic, the risk of developing other diseases including cancer is heightened. So, the short answer is to avoid sugar and empty carb calories, when possible.
While there may or may not be a direct relationship between cancer and sugar there is a strong correlation between metabolic disease and all kinds of diseases incl cancer. Read “Outlive” by dr Peter Attia for a fuller or more complete discussion of this topic. Reducing sugar may be a challenge so try working on it gradually by cutting out or scaling back one bad habit that you may have. If you cook and bake you can easily scale back the amount of sugar in any recipe and find that it is still sweet enough. Your taste buds will adapt over time.
No dietary strategy can guarantee being free of cancer but you can definitely cut your risk by making better dietary choices and don’t forget exercise. This is really important!

Cancer has been around far longer than added sugar in the diet. The question being looked at is "Does cancer feed on sugar more than any other carbohydrate?"

@hrhwilliam:
Or perhaps research should ask whether sugar can accelerate the growth of an already existing cancer. In a PET scan the radioactive sugar material is quickly absorbed by any cancer cells that may be present. The radioactive sugar solution lights them up and that is how their presence can be detected. In the absence of conclusive cause and effect evidence the safer approach is to eat a diet that keeps sugar and artificial sweeteners low. Everyone is free to choose as they want while scientists debate the issue.

During treatment, I was told I needed 125 grams of protein and 2500 calories daily to counteract the stress on my body. During that time and the month after treatment, I followed the dieticians advice, not to worry about my diet and to not consume anything if it didn't support the protein and calorie goals. It was just a few months and it made sense to be at the time, and still makes sense to me.

After that, I returned to a healthier diet as my ability to swallow increased.

My problem with lung cancer. I'm on Tag but I'm constantly losing weight. Anybody out there have any ideas on how to stop losing weight and level off?

Same for my family member. She needed to increase the protein intake significantly during treatment but later to return to a healthy diet and lifestyle, with more of a plant based focus in eating. She had great stamina during treatment and could even exercise and walk distances. It made a great difference to eat more protein then. Now she is trying to incorporate 5 to 10 servings of vegetables each day, and has had minimal lasting side effects. Exercise was an important component for her during and after treatment.

Hi. Try and make sure that you eat more protein (good quality) than usual. Even an extra protein drink can help. Speak to a dietitian about this as it’s really important to keep as much of your body weight and muscle mass. If you can exercise at all that might help too.