Nov
26
2017

Prevent Cancer, Cut Sugar

If you want to prevent cancer, cut sugar! This is the message of an Oct. 13, 2017 study. The research team had done experiments for 9 years, when they concluded that it was refined sugar that caused spontaneous mutations of RAS proteins. RAS proteins are responsible for cell growth. When a substance like sugar turns them on all the time, they can cause mutations that lead to cancer. In this article research concentrated on yeast cells, and the publication is in Nature Publication. The CNN publication describes this in simpler language. Essentially the research team found that a sugar molecule, fructose-1,6-bisphosphate, was responsible in obese patients and in diabetic patients to mutate a RAS protein, which as a result can turn into an oncogene causing cancer.

Evidence that sugar causes obesity and type 2 diabetes

  1. A September 2017 US study followed 41 children age 9 to 18 with initial fructose consumption of >50 g/d. The treatment of the children consisted of an isocaloric fructose restriction of only 9 days. Following that their liver fat content decreased from 7.2% to 3.8%. In addition intraabdominal fat decreased and new fat production was reduced from 68% to 26%. The authors pointed out that reduction of sugar consumption in obese children was a very effective treatment tool.
  2. This August 2017 study from Helsinki followed 71 obese males for 12 weeks. They consumed 75 grams of added fructose every day in addition to their normal food intake. The liver fat content increased and cardiovascular risk factors worsened as blood tests showed. The investigators concluded that the adverse cardiometabolic effects were a result of the added fructose. They were not secondary to the weight gain (a theory in the past).
  3. This February 2017 study from the US the Taiwanese Healthy Aging Longitudinal Study in Taiwan was also of interest. It consisted of a 5-year long study involving middle-aged and elderly patients with type 2 diabetes. The result was that patients with more physical activity, a better diet and a higher score regarding psychosocial health did much better with respect to managing their diabetes. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is particularly important for the elderly to prevent diabetes.

Evidence that obese patients and type 2 diabetics get more cancer

  1. In this 2016 study from Poland the effect of diabetes causing various cancers was under investigation. The authors pointed out that worldwide in 2014 there were 387 million cases of type 2 diabetes and it was still rising. When they looked at correlation between various cancers and type 2 diabetes they found that diabetes had the strongest association between pancreatic cancer and liver cancer. But there was also an association between diabetes and breast cancer, bladder cancer and kidney cancer. Head and neck cancers were more frequent among diabetics. Some diabetic medications made cancer frequencies worse, others, like metformin made them better.
  2. In this March 2016 article from the BJC (British Journal of Cancer) cancer frequencies were correlated to patients with obesity and to patients with diabetes. Researchers found that some types of cancer correlated with obesity, whereas others did with diabetes and not with obesity. They found that type 1 diabetes had its own set of cancer risks while type 2 diabetes had a different set of cancers that correlated to the disease

More on cancer risks in diabetics

  1.  A 2015 study from Malaysia with an 11-year follow-up describes that type 2 diabetes had increased in the population which researchers studied. The investigators concentrated on a female population where they found a strong correlation between diabetes and endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, breast cancer and cervical cancer. In a group of 860 cancer patients they found that 26.5% were diabetics. They were at a much higher risk of getting these cancers.
  2. A 2016 study from the US examined 2,836 veterans who had problems with their esophagus. 1,704 received a diagnosis of esophageal adenocarcinoma, 1,132 of them had gastroesophageal reflux disorder. Among the cancer patients there were 30.8% diabetics. The researchers calculated that for diabetics there was a 2.2-fold higher risk of developing esophageal cancer. The only other risk factor they could identify was nicotine dependence, which showed an association with a 1.7-fold risk of to develop esophageal cancer.

Evidence that sugar causes cancer

As explained earlier research found that fructose-1,6-bisphosphate is responsible in yeast cells to lead to RAS mutations. Human cells have the same metabolism as yeast cells, and they also have RAS protein and fructose-1,6-bisphosphate. Fructose-1,6-bisphosphate is important for cancer development in humans. Yeast cells are diploid cells as are human cells. But yeast cells are not human organisms, so the parallel stops at one point.

  1. A 2014 study from China showed that fructose-bisphosphate aldolase was a marker for lung cancer metastases. This enzyme breaks down fructose-1,6-bisphosphate. Depletion of fructose-bisphosphate aldolase A reduces cell motility of cancer cells and the ability to cause more tumors. In other words, the key for cancer cells to thrive is the presence of fructose-1,6-bisphosphate.
  2. In this 2013 study from Beijing gastric cancer biopsies research examined these samples for fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase, the enzyme that breaks down fructose-1,6-bisphosphate.

The enzyme was under expressed in 86.2% of the gastric cancer biopsies. This meant that glycolysis was stimulated in the cancer cells. An overabundance of fructose-1,6-bisphosphate caused tumor cells to get into an active phase and to metastasize.

Discussion of why sugar causes cancer

I have previously discussed this topic in a blog 3 ½ years ago. At the time a few steps were missing from the knowledge we have today. Nothing has become different regarding the connection of sugar overconsumption and the risk of developing cancer. First of all, we have learnt that fructose overconsumption or sugar overconsumption leads to fructose-1,6-bisphosphate in the blood, which stimulates RAS proteins to mutate and stimulate oncogenes to cause cancer. In addition, people who are overweight, obese or have diabetes have too much insulin production, which can also lead to cancer causation. Finally, obese people have a lot of very active kinins in the blood that can cause cancer as well. In conclusion, what has changed between March 2014 and now is that we have a lot more detail why things happen the way they do. Connections that used to be obscure have now a rational explanation.

The message is that we need to cut out refined sugar from our diet, cut out starchy foods and cut out processed foods. This will improve our metabolism and reduce our risk of getting cancer. We will also lose weight, which I have experienced in 2011 when I lost 50 pounds over 3 months. What did I do? I was just doing what I described to you: cutting out sugar, starchy foods and processed foods.

Prevent Cancer, Cut Sugar

Prevent Cancer, Cut Sugar

Conclusion

Want to reduce your risk for getting cancer drastically? Then cut out sugar and starchy foods along with processed foods (which have too much sugar in it).  Strangely enough it was only now that researchers have found the missing link. The culprit is fructose-1,6-bisphosphate, a metabolic byproduct from sugar consumption. It stimulates a RAS gene, which can mutate, turn into an oncogene and eventually cause cancer. This fact was not known a few years ago. But the knowledge that cancer can occur due to diabetes, obesity and insulin resistance goes back a long time.

We need to learn from science: cut out refined sugar, starchy foods and processed foods. This will change insulin resistance into insulin sensitivity. Fructose-1,6-bisphosphate will not accumulate, but get normally metabolized. This way fructose-1,6-bisphosphate does not pose a problem for RAS proteins. Your insulin level will normalize, the previous kinin overproduction will disappear and your risk for cancer will decrease.

We have allowed the sugar industry to undermine our health for too long. It is time to take back the control over our lives, assess our food habits and make the necessary changes.

Mar
29
2014

Alternative Treatment Of Hyperactivity (ADHD)

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD or ADD, attention deficit disorder) has been in the spotlight on and off over the years. It affects 8% to 10% of school-aged children, and about 2% to 5% of adults who still have this condition.

Typically a parent receives a note from school that they must come to a teacher/parent meeting and it is discussed that the child is disruptive in class, not paying attention, interrupting the teacher inappropriately and forgetting to do their homework. The teacher suggests that this may be a sign of hyperactivity. The school nurse is also of this opinion and they suggest getting a prescription for Ritalin or Adderall (amphetamine type medications), drugs that have been shown in other kids to be fairly effective in treating the symptoms.

Next the child is seen by the doctor who confirms the diagnosis and Ritalin (methylphenidate) is prescribed.

In an attempt to quickly control the situation, the side effects of Ritalin are often not discussed in detail: agitation, insomnia, nervousness, anxiety, nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite, palpitations, dizziness, headaches, an increase in the heart rate, blood pressure elevation, and even psychosis (Ref.1).

It is easy to just write a prescription for Ritalin and hope that all is well. Had the parents heard of all the possible side effects, they may have asked whether there were alternative treatments available.

The causes of hyperactivity (ADHD)

The exact cause of ADHD remains unknown, but there is a clustering of this condition in some families, so there seems to be a clear genetic component (Ref.2). It appears that several genes are involved, namely those associated with serotonin and glutamate transporters, but also those affecting dopamine metabolism. Males are affected with ADHD more often than females (in children 3:1, in adults 1:1).

Alternative Treatment Of Hyperactivity (ADHD)

Alternative Treatment Of Hyperactivity (ADHD)

Some remarks regarding brain development are in order: Dr. Kharrazian describes that the grey matter of the brain develops before the age of 9 and the development of the white matter is completed by the age of 19 (Ref. 3, p.3). In ADHD patients the frontal brain is underdeveloped resulting in an inability to suppress unacceptable behavior, immediate desires and impulses. Prescription drugs may alter the behavior on the surface, but the frontal brain development is still lagging behind. The only thing that can influence this is behavioral/cognitive therapy and extra tutoring while the symptoms are controlled. The window of opportunity is closed by the time the ADHD patient has reached the age of 19. After that a juvenile ADHD turns into a permanent adult ADHD. The cases that had only childhood ADHD and outgrew it were the ones where the frontal lobe abnormalities had corrected themselves before the age of 19.

This review article has noted that there is an association between a Western style diet (sugar and fat rich) and ADHD.

Interestingly both Ref. 1 and 2, which I would categorize as having originated from mainstream conventional medicine circles, deny such an association. But the link also noted that a healthy diet with fiber, folate, and omega-3 fatty acids as well as supplementation with iron and zinc when these minerals are found to be low in the blood, do make a significant difference in ADHD patients towards normalization of their symptoms.

One of the under diagnosed causes of ADHD is gluten sensitivity as Dr. Perlmutter described in his book (Ref. 4, pages 150-158). This can spare the child or teenager the toxic side effects of anxiolytics, antidepressants or antipsychotics that may be inappropriately prescribed by their physicians, and a gluten free diet would allow the brain to recover very quickly in such cases. A food sensitivity history and some simple gluten sensitivity blood screening tests will diagnose this condition or rule it out.

To complicate matters even more, Dr. Amen has mentioned in several books that there are at least 7 different subcategories of ADHD that he has found in ADHD patients when studying thousands of single-photon emission computed tomography brain scans (SPECT brain scans). Dr. Amen mentions that the 7 subcategories of ADHD are the combined type ADD, the primarily inattentive ADD subtype, overfocused ADD, temporal lobe ADD, limbic ADD, ring of fire ADD and trauma induced ADD. Dr. Amen explains that each of these types needs to be treated differently and some of the treatment failures are explained by the fact that the wrong type of ADD was treated (Ref.5).

Treatment of ADHD

In the following I mention 5 steps that are useful for treating ADHD patients.

  1. A first step toward normalization of the metabolic changes in the brain metabolism of the affected child or adult is to adopt a diet that has been linked with low risk for ADHD: avoid food additives, cut out refined sugar, avoid known food allergies like gluten sensitivity and others. You may need to test the patient for food allergies using an elimination diet. Add a good amount of molecularly distilled omega-3 fatty acids (the pure form of omega-3 without mercury, lead or PCBs) as this has shown beneficial effects in ADHD patients.
  2. Involve a behavioral psychologist for behavioral/cognitive therapy treatments. This is particularly effective in the 9 to 19 year old category where the frontal region of the brain is still developing.
  3. Work together with the schoolteacher and get supplemental teaching in areas of academic weakness to reduce the frustrations in the classroom setting.
  4. In adolescent girls who just started their period, a relative lack of progesterone (estrogen dominance) may be a contributory factor. A small dose (20mg to 30 mg) of bioidentical progesterone from day 6 to 16 of the menstrual cycle may help significantly in alleviating the symptoms of ADHD. You may need to consult a naturopathic doctor or anti-aging physician to get a prescription for that.
  5. If all of this helps only marginally, then a smaller amount of Ritalin may be helpful; however, blood tests should be drawn from time to time to monitor for drug toxicity as the rate of absorption and elimination of the drug varies significantly from patient to patient.

It is interesting that studies have shown that a combination of Ritalin or Adderall with alternative treatment methods had a better outcome than either method alone.

Conclusion

It is important to think about the various possible causes of ADHD and not just get caught up in the knee-jerk reflex of treating ADHD with Ritalin (note that this was only step 5 above, if all the other things failed). In co-operation with the school system and using alternative ways at home first (change of diet, possible addition of low dose bioidentical progesterone cream in girls) and additional tutoring in weak school subjects the need for Ritalin may be avoided. If all else fails, the conservative approach is still available, but I suggest that drug monitoring (blood levels that should be done from time to time to avoid toxicity) is important.

More information about ADHD: http://nethealthbook.com/mental-illness-mental-disorders/developmental-disorders/attention-deficithyperactivity-disorder/

References

1. Ferri: Ferri’s Clinical Advisor 2014, 1st ed., © 2013 Mosby.

2. Jacobson: Psychiatric Secrets, 2nd ed., © 2001 Hanley and Belfus

3. Dr. Datis Kharrazian: “Why Isn’t My Brain Working?” © 2013, Elephant Press, Carlsbad, CA 92011

4. David Perlmutter, MD: “Grain Brain. The Surprising Truth About Wheat, Carbs, And Sugar-Your Brain’s Silent Killers.” Little, Brown and Company, New York, 2013.

5. Daniel G. Amen: “Use Your Brain To Change Your Age” © 2012, Harmony Books, An imprint of Crown Publishing.

Last edited Nov. 7, 2014

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