It's getting clearer — the diet-cancer connection points to sugar and carbs

• Published in: Los Angeles Times (Online)
• Main Author: Apple, Sam
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles Tribune Interactive, LLC 27.10.2017
• Subjects: Body fat; Cancer; Diet; Insulin resistance; Medical research; Metabolism; Nutrition research; Researchers; Studies

Thirteen separate cancers can now be linked to being overweight or obese, among them a number of the most common and deadly cancers of all — colon, thyroid, ovarian, uterine, pancreatic and (in postmenopausal women) breast cancer. Largely ignored in the last decades of the 20th century, cancer metabolism has undergone a revival as researchers have come to appreciate that some of the most well-known cancer-causing genes, long feared for their role in allowing cancer cells to proliferate without restraint, have another, arguably even more fundamental role: allowing cancer cells to “eat” without restraint. Michael Pollak, a metabolism researcher and director of cancer prevention at McGill University in Canada, says that the best approach to sugar is to think of it like a spice — something to occasionally sprinkle on foods, as opposed to an ingredient in nearly every meal and too many drinks.