I have just read this interesting article about the link between sugar and breast cancer recurrence:
huffingtonpost.com/keith-i-block-md/breast-cancer-prevention_b_596363.html
I hope some of you will find it helpful.
finty
Hi Finty
I read an article a while ago about sugar and how it fements in the gut and dodgy cells are attracted to it…doesn’t sound too good. I’ve adopted a much healthier diet and lifestyle now and cut out sugar in lots of things. To be honest I do feel much better for it.
Cheers for that
Krissy xx
Well that’s me stuffed. I’m a serious chocoholic
Julia xx
Bloomin’ heck - I’ve given up chocolate, cut out wine and now my nice cup of tea is gonna have to be sugarless!! - still if it means the spare tyre round my middle is going to diminish as well as hinder a recurrence I’m up for it! 
Leigh x
I´ve also read lots of stuff about this , and one of the nutritionalists I saw also said about it , apparently cancers thrive on sugars .
It´s a real bummer is´nt it ?
I´ve tried to change to dark chocolate , as that is supposed to be slightly better , but it aint the same ! Like you Julia , I´m the same , love my chocy , I have cut down to weekends , same with wine .Why cannot it be something I don´t like .
Would´nt it be wonderful if we looked at the papers tomorrow and it read " BREAKTHROUGH IN BREAST CANCER . TRIPE FOUND TO BE CONNECTED ."
It´ll never happen will it , it´s always something lovely , tasty , comforting , soothing , or in the casr of alcohol , something to make you forget you´ve got cancer .
Perhaps the scientists only look at the nice things .
Kris
Kris, life’s just not like that is it? Although dark chocolate is good for you. My cancer fighting diet says eat 1.5oz per day, but must be 70% cacao. I didn’t like it at first, but it’s growing on me. Also, it recommends one glass per day of red wine, which has high levels of resveratrol, which can disrupt tumour growth. Pinot Noir from Burgundy is best apparently. I am a white wine drinker (or should I say I was)- but again, it’s growing on me - better than nothing.
Leigh if you want to sweeten tea without sugar, try agave nectar. You can get it from health food shops. You just need a few drops - it is very sweet but low in glucose.
This is an interesting article but what a shame it doesn’t have a reference to the actual research. I’d like to see more because sugar isn’t the only cause of higher insulin levels as I understand it although it obviously causes an insulin surge.
I cut out sugar entirely for over a year but have slipped a bit in the past couple of months. I’ve also been eating quite a lot of crystallised ginger as I’ve been having tummy problems and it stops me feeling sick or getting indigestion. It’s so hard to keep on the straight and narrow.
Agave nectar is great and they even stock it in our local Tesco. I always use that on cereal if I want it a bit sweeter or a tiny bit drizzled on strawberries. Another sweetener I have tried is xylitol which is a sugar from trees. Apparantly it may even help prevent tooth decay so I’ve got some xylitol gum from health food shop.
Elinda x
I didn’t even think of looking in Tesco’s for it - can you remember what section it was in?
Hi ladies,
Just had a look for recent research on this. This study was published last year (summary below). It found no association between sugar consumption and ER+ PR+ bc and ER- PR- bc. But did find a weak link in cases of ER+ PR-.
Victoria
Int J Cancer. 2009 Jul 1;125(1):153-7.
Glycemic load, glycemic index and breast cancer risk in a prospective cohort of Swedish women.
Larsson SC, Bergkvist L, Wolk A.
High-glycemic load diets have been hypothesized to increase the risk of breast cancer but epidemiologic studies have yielded inconsistent findings. We examined the associations of carbohydrate intake, glycemic index and glycemic load with risk of overall and hormone receptor-defined breast cancer in the Swedish Mammography Cohort, a population-based cohort of 61,433 women who completed a food frequency questionnaire at enrollment in 1987-1990. During a mean follow-up of 17.4 years, we ascertained 2,952 incident cases of invasive breast cancer. Glycemic load but not carbohydrate intake or glycemic index was weakly positively associated with overall breast cancer risk (p for trend = 0.05). In analyses stratified by estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status of the breast tumors, we observed statistically significant positive associations of carbohydrate intake, glycemic index and glycemic load with risk of ER+/PR- breast cancer; the multivariate relative risks comparing extreme quintiles were 1.34 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.93-1.94; p for trend = 0.04] for carbohydrate intake, 1.44 (95% CI = 1.06-1.97; p for trend = 0.01) for glycemic index and 1.81 (95% CI = 1.29-2.53; p for trend = 0.0008) for glycemic load. No associations were observed for ER+/PR+ or ER-/PR- breast tumors. These findings suggest that a high carbohydrate intake and diets with high glycemic index and glycemic load may increase the risk of developing ER+/PR- breast cancer.
No links with ++ and --, and a weak link for ±, not very strong evidence
“we observed statistically significant positive associations of carbohydrate intake, glycemic index and glycemic load with risk of ER+/PR- breast cancer;”
I think that sounds quite a clear link, for those who are ER+/ER-. Sorry girls…
Jx
Thank goodness I was 100% ER+/PR+ !!!
Seriously though, I take a lot of these things with a pinch of salt as next week a study will show something that was bad last week is now suddenly good for you. I’m just a cynic. I’ve never smoked or drunk alcohol or fizzy stuff cos I never liked them and still got bc and secondaries…
Tea, milk no sugar and some biscuits for me now before bed !!
Flinty
Thanks for posting this. I really believe in a healthy diet.
I have read a book that is about how sugar intake over stimulates candida infections and can result in a range of illnesses due to reduced immunity.
Must admit I was so unbelievably healthy on chemo that once off, I gradually slipped back into a more normal diet. Actually still eating loads of the good stuff but allowing a lot more of the bad too. I’ve had a lot of sugar cravings, but this week I’m back to a more strict diet. Rads start in a week or so and I am determined not to get too tired!
I don’t have secondaries, but I know that if I did, I would be throwing everything at it.
Thanks so much for posting the research. I am always wary of articles that refer to research but don’t give details.
I have read that sugar adversely affects the immune system but again I don’t know if there is any evidence for that or whether it’s something that some complementary therapists state. In any case it has no nutritional value and rots teeth so I’m cutting back.
Finty thanks for raising this as it’s put me back on track. The organic agave nectar in our Tesco is in a section near the sugars. Previously they had in near their limited free from ranges. Ours is a small Tesco so hopefully you’ll find it in yours too.
Elinda x
thanks for posting the article.
eva
What about honey ? I read in a book that one of the best salad dressings you can make as a sort of "anti cancer " dressing is organic cider vinegar ,virgin olive oil , garlic and organic honey . I have to say it´s really nice , i have it most days with my lunch , thankfully all my friends eat garlic otherwise it could be a bit anti social .
ps Got some gorgeous chocolate shower gel .
Kris
The article states “researchers found that women with early stage breast cancer who had the highest insulin levels were twice as likely to have their tumor metastasize, and three times as likely to die of breast cancer as women with the lowest insulin levels”.
I would like to see this research. The one posted by Victoria seemed to be about developing bc in the first place.
It seems to me that women who have a high insulin level are highly likely to be overweight, so how do they know exactly what is causing the recurrence? The chances are they do not eat healthy diets at all.
Ann
This article is very misleading and I would like to see the research it draws it conclusions from. Whereas I agree that sugar is likely to cause a surge of insulin so does other forms of carbohydrate. In fact sugar, has a lower glycemic Index than rice or cornflakes or ricecrispies or baked potatoes! Even the British Diabetic Society has said that sugar and diabetes is a myth. Yes, sugar isnt great for you, but neither is fat or other forms of refined carbohydrates. Being overweight is the biggest problem in terms of insulin production which can lead to diabetes mellitus type 2, so reducing sugar will help, but it is not the only thing.
The trouble with these articles is that is gives the wrong message. The right message is healthy eating, with a balance of carbohydrate, fruit, vegetables and protein and fat.
There have been many population based studies which indicate that being overweight, a high fat diet, lack of exercise etc are factors that may increase the risk of breast cancer, but its very difficult to separate out any one as conclusively a risk, and I imagine the same would apply to sugar - as Ann says, how would you know its sugar and not weight related etc? I always work on a rough plan that plenty of gentle exercise and healthy balanced eating is a good idea, with the odd treat (at least one a day!) slipped in.
Sarah
I suspect this is the study the article is based on:
Hi I just went on the link to read the article and then noticed the link on the side it says breast cancer survivors.Wish I hadn’t clicked on it now.These articles really get my back up.You can kill cancer cells for as little as 18 USD. WHAT A LOAD OF RUBBISH GRRRR.
Mel xx