Study finds blood sugar levels linked to cancer and death risk
Findings from the Korean Cancer Prevention Study published in the January 12, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed an association between having elevated blood sugar and diabetes and the risk of developing and dying from cancer, as well as with all cause mortality.

Assistant professor of epidemiology Sun Ha Jee, PhD, of the Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, and colleagues followed 1,298,385 Koreans aged 30 to 95 for ten years. The study population consisted of 829,770 men and 468,615 women. Participants were employees of an Insurance Corporation that provided medical evaluations to their workers every two years. Questionnaires assessed medical history and health habits, and fasting blood glucose was measured during routine blood tests. The participants were followed for ten years, during which the incidence of cancer and deaths associated with the disease were tracked.

After ten years 20,566 men and 5,907 women had died of cancer. Cancer risk was similar to the risk of dying from the disease in this population. Individuals who had diabetes, or those without the disease whose fasting blood sugar levels were elevated had a greater risk of developing or dying from cancer than those with normal blood sugar. Men and women whose fasting blood sugar levels were greater than 140 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) at the beginning of the study had a respective 29 and 23 percent higher death rate from all cancers compared to men and women whose blood glucose was less than 90 mg/dL. The risk was the greatest for pancreatic cancer, with high blood glucose levels nearly doubling the risk in men and more than doubling the risk in women. Significant associations were also found for other types of cancer.

When all-cause mortality was examined, fasting glucose levels were found to be positively associated with the 54,385 deaths that occurred. Subjects whose glucose was greater than or equal to 140 mg/dL had more than double the rate of death during the study period than that of subjects whose blood sugar was lower than 90 mg/dL.

The authors explained that glucose intolerance could be one way that obesity increases cancer risk. Dr Jee commented, "This study provides more information on glucose intolerance, an emerging cause of cancer. It points to increased cancer risk as another adverse consequence of rising obesity around the world."

Cancer adjuvant therapy
Tumors are primarily obligate glucose metabolizers, meaning they require sugar for survival. Even though the brain normally uses high amounts of glucose, hepatomas (a tumor of the liver) and fibrosarcomas (a sarcoma that contains fibrous connective tissue) consume roughly as much glucose as the brain. Some Americans continuously satisfy cancer's appetite, ingesting as much as 295 pounds of sugar a year.

Nobel laureate Otto Warburg, Ph.D., discovered in 1955 that cancer cells use glucose for fuel. But glucose accomplishes another strategic maneuver that strongly favors the cancer: it immobilizes internal defenses, the actions of the immune system. A study involving 10 healthy human volunteers assessed fasting blood glucose levels and the phagocytic index of neutrophils, a type of white blood cell. Glucose, fructose, sucrose, honey, and orange juice all significantly decreased the capacity of neutrophils to engulf bacteria. A diet structured away from sugars deprives cancer of its energy and increases the reliability of the immune response.

Dr. Jeff Bland advises selecting foodstuffs low on the glycemic index to avoid gratifying the tumor's appetite. The glycemic index lists the relative speed at which different foods are digested and raise blood sugar levels. Each food is compared to the effect of the same amount of pure glucose on the body's blood sugar curve. Glucose itself has a glycemic index rating of 100. Foods that are broken down and raise blood glucose levels quickly have higher ratings. The closer to 100, the more the food resembles glucose. The lower the rating, the more gradually that food affects blood sugar levels.

The diseases such as obesity and diabetes mellitus (often characterized by hyperinsulinemia) are associated with an increased risk of endometrial, colorectal, and breast cancers. The mechanisms underlying insulin-mediated neoplasias appear to include enhanced DNA synthesis (with the resultant tumor cell growth), inhibited apoptosis, and an altered sex hormone milieu. The reduced insulin levels seen with physical activity, weight loss, and a high fiber diet may in fact account for the decreased cancer incidence observed in individuals who maintain normal glucose and insulin levels (Gupta et al. 2002).

https://www.lifeextension.com/protocols/cancer/cancer-adjuvant-therapy

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For longer life,

Dayna Dye
Editor, Life Extension Update
ddye@lifeextension.com
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