Sugar Intake Linked to Increased Cancer Risk

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Sugar Intake Linked to Increased Cancer Risk

 

 

By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, abstracted from " Fasting Serum Glucose

Level and Cancer Risk in Korean Men and Women " in the January 12,

2005 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association

 

America's love affair with sugar is taking a toll on our health. It

is estimated that the average American consumes 150 pounds of sugar

each year. With this sugar consumption, we have seen a doubling in

the rate of overweight and obese children and adolescents in the

past 20 years.1 The World Health Organization has finally taken a

stand on sugar and singled it out as a " threat to the nutrient

quality of diets " .2

 

Sugar intake is a major contributor to the $132 billion that

diabetes costs society each year3 and it also increases the risk for

heart disease, stroke, and blindness from diabetes complications.4 A

new study5 now links sugar intake to another leading cause of death:

cancer.

 

Researchers conducted a 10-year study of nearly 1.3 million Korean

men and women between 30 and 95 years old. The subjects provided

lifestyle and medical histories and blood samples were taken every

two years.

 

The researchers found that not only was the risk of developing

cancer comparable to the risk of dying from cancer, the group with

the highest fasting glucose levels (greater than 140 mg/dL) had

higher death rates from all cancers combined.

 

The strongest associations in men were found for pancreatic cancer

while " significant associations " were also found in men for

esophageal, lever and colon/rectum cancer. Liver and cervical

cancer were the strongest associations found for women.

 

For the researchers, " elevated fasting serum glucose levels and a

diagnosis of diabetes are independent risk factors for several major

cancers, and the risk tends to increase with an increased level of

fasting serum glucose. "

 

Reference:

1 Center for Science in the Public Interest Website: " Sugar Intake

Hits All-Time High In 1999 " www.cspinet.org/new/sugar_limit.html

 

2 World Health Organization Technical Report Series: " Diet,

Nutrition, and the Prevention of Disease " published in 2003

 

3 Hogan, P., T. Dall, et al. (2003). " Economic costs of diabetes in

the US in 2002. " Diabetes Care 26(3): 917-32

 

4 American Diabetes Association " National Diabetes Fact Sheet "

www.diabetes.org/diabetes-statistics/national-diabetes-fact-sheet.jsp

 

5 Jee, SH. Fasting Serum Glucose Level and Cancer Risk in Korean

Men and Women. JAMA 2005; 293: 194-202