Choosing healthy foods and drinks instead of those that are high in refined carbohydrates and often in added sugar and fat (energy-dense foods) can help us avoid overweight and obesity and thereby reduce our cancer risk.
Sugary drinks and weight gain: The expert report found that regularly consuming sugary drinks contributes to weight gain. These drinks are easy to drink in large quantities but don’t make us feel full, even though they are quite high in calories. Sugary drinks include: soft drinks like colas and juice flavored drinks. We should try to avoid these drinks. Water is the best alternative. Unsweetened tea and coffee are also healthy options. Natural fruit juice counts as one of our recommended 5 or more daily portions of vegetables and fruits, but it does contain a lot of sugar. It’s best not to drink more than one glass a day. – American Institute for Cancer Research (http://www.aicr.org/)
From 60 Minutes special with Dr. Sanjay Gupta: Is Sugar Toxic? And other scientific work shows that sugar could also be helping some cancer tumors to grow because sugar stimulates the production of the hormone insulin. Nearly a third of common cancers such as some breast and colon cancers, contain insulin receptors that eventually signal the tumor to consume glucose. Lewis Cantley, a Harvard professor and head of the Beth Israel Deaconess Cancer Center, says some of those cancers have learned to adapt to an insulin-rich environment. “They have evolved the ability to hijack that flow of glucose that’s going by in the bloodstream into the tumor itself.” – CBS New (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57407128/preview-is-sugar-toxic/)
For more tips to lower your risk of cancer, click here.