Cancer Prevention Diet: Sugar & Sweetners

Cancer prevention must include the reduction of sugar. Sugar is food for cancer. Food manufacturers employ the latest marketing techniques to convince you that you are getting...

"all the sweetness, and none of the bad stuff’.

They use marketing words like ‘organic’ and ‘100% natural’ to sell their products. It’s advertising and brand placement.

To understand what these sweeteners are, you have to examine them one by one. Lets start with what to avoid. These 'natural' sweeteners can also be found in processed foods so always check the label on anything you buy in a supermarket. The easiest way to solve this headache is to cut out processed foods altogether!

Don't Consume these Sugars & Sweetners

Artificial Sweeteners – AVOID

Aspartame (E.g. Nutrasweet)
Saccharin (E.g. Necta)
Sucralose (E.g. Splenda)

The Sugar Association labels these products as ‘artificial’ sweeteners on their website. This means “something not natural or real; made, produced, or done to seem like something natural”. These are chemical in nature and more than likely very bad for you. Don’t consume them. Don’t eat foods or drink beverages that are sweetened with them. These products have been shown to cause cancer in rats!

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) – AVOID

This is one of the most common additives to food and drinks in the United States. The media colludes with the corn industry claiming that HFCS is “natural” because it comes from corn. What they don’t tell you is that 85% of the corn grown in the U.S. is genetically modified. In its final form, high fructose corn syrup does not retain a single nutritional component of corn. It is an industrial by-product, extracted from the stalk of the corn plant, chemically altered, high-heat processed, and cheap.

Because it is inexpensive to make, it replaced cane sugar (already used in massive doses) as the main ingredient in almost every food considered “sweet” such as ice cream, jams and jellies, syrups, cookies, cake mixes, peanut butter, and candy.

It is also used in many foods you wouldn’t suspect and may be buying based on advertising. Check out the labels on bread, yoghurt, bread, cereal bars, frozen foods, peanuts, pickles, tonic water, condiments and salad dressings.

HFCS is not only cheaper than cane sugar, it is sweeter. That is due to the 55% fructose and 45% glucose compound. Your body shoots that fructose directly into your liver, which has been found to contribute to Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), a problem affecting approximately 70 million people. It is also directly linked to the obesity epidemic happening in the Western hemisphere.

Refined Table Sugars – AVOID

Also known as sucrose, table sugar does provide energy but offers zero nutritional value. While table sugar used to be made primarily from sugar cane, but now, over 90% of table sugar produced in the United States comes from genetically modified sugar beet crops.

When sucrose enters your body, it is broken down and separated into two simple sugars: glucose and fructose. We need glucose just like every other living being on earth. Every cell in your body uses it for fuel and if you don’t provide enough of it in your diet, your system will produce it.

We do not need fructose, your body doesn’t make it, doesn’t process it well, and it causes spikes in insulin production – ultimately leading to various health issues such as insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes.

Though fructose is the primary sugar in fruit, heavy fruit consumption is not the same as heavy consumption of sugars. Your liver likes the natural fructose in fruit. It doesn’t like the fructose found in refined sugars.

White sugar is bleached to make it sparkle. A by-product of the sugar refining process is molasses. Brown sugar is simply white sugar with a bit of the molasses put back in the mix. Raw sugar is slightly less refined than white sugar but your body processes it in the exact same way and it is no better for you.

Pound for pound, whether you’re talking about white sugar, brown sugar, or raw sugar… your body is probably getting too much of it and it needs to be reduced (and ideally eliminated) from your nutritional plan.

Sugar Alcohols – AVOID (but less damaging than the above)

Scientifically, sugar alcohols aren’t actually “sugar” or “alcohol” and belong to a category of carbohydrates known as polyols. Sweeteners in this category you may have heard of include sorbitol, mannitol, lactiol, maltiol, erythritol, and the most popular of all… xylitol.

Xylitol – AVOID

Increasingly popular in the past few years due to consumer demand for zero-calorie sweeteners. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry supports the use of xylitol sweetener as therapeutic for oral health, and manufacturers label the sweetener as “all natural” and safe for diabetic consumption.

It is still not clear whether xylitol is safe and therefore it might be better to avoid it or at least consume it in small amounts depending on the health status. Xylitol is a sugar alcohol which is also present in certain fruits, vegetables and hardwoods but it is manufactured using a method which involves nickel, which is a toxic substance.

There is a debate on how xylitol affects the blood glucose since it is not fully metabolised in the human digestive system. Xylitol if taken in large quantities can cause diarrhea and other stomach related complications especially for those with stomach conditions such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome. It has been suggested that xylitol should be taken in its pure form and not with other sugars in order to enhance its antimicrobial effects.

Additional Notes of Caution about Xylitol

Xylitol is commonly produced from corn. This is usually GMO corn and/or corn from China, so be mindful about that. Check labels and look to purchase xylitol produced from “North American hardwood” (birch trees). Although this is generally more expensive, it is a safer bet health-wise. (If it doesn’t specifically say the source on the package, you can generally assume the xylitol is made from corn.)

One final note of caution for pet owners: There are many reports of dogs ingesting xylitol-containing foods and dying. A few cookies, a pack of gum etc can contain a high enough concentration of xylitol to cause life-threatening hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) and liver failure in pets. Keep all products containing xylitol (and other sugar alcohols) away from pets.

*Note: In addition to xylitol, erythritol is the other sugar alcohol sweetener you may want to consider if you do not have any of the health contraindications noted above. It has a similar profile to xylitol, including being considered safe for teeth and possessing antimicrobial properties.

Agave Nectar – AVOID

Hailed over the last few years as the “next best thing” in sweeteners, agave nectar or syrup is cultivated from the agave plant. However, what you see on the supermarket shelf may not resemble the original “natural” source at all. Comprising a whopping 80% fructose and being chemically processed, agave is being researched in connection to metabolic disorders and insulin resistance.

Well, that was quite some list. You can see what we are up against here can't you. The fact that the food industry is allowed to get away with continued sales of these products says a lot about the food regulatory authorities and our very own governments. #ProfitBeforePeople ?

Do Consume these Sugars & Sweetners

Natural sweeteners are determined by the “refining” process. The fewer steps a product goes through, the more natural it is, which is better for you. These are a few of the most common natural sweeteners

Honey

Honey has been used by human beings for around ten thousand years. It contains minerals, enzymes, and vitamins that have been found to be antibacterial, anti-microbial, anti-viral, and anti-inflammatory. It contains calories but research shows that the insulin increase from honey is slower and less dramatic than table sugar. Nutritious, and natural when purchased “organic” and “raw,” honey should still be used in moderation.

Please be aware that most grocery store brands of honey are produced in China and come with a host of health risks not even related to the sugar content. If you are really keen, beekeepers in your area might allow you to purchase direct. Failing that, buy local or regional products.

An excellent option is Manuka honey from New Zealand. Manuka honey contains substantially higher levels of the antimicrobial agent that kills off more bacteria than other honey. It also boasts greater soft tissue healing and digestive aid properties than regular honey. The UMF (“Unique Manuka Factor”) on the label determines the potency of these properties and the rating of 16+ and above is recommended for best results.

Maple Syrup

Maple Syrup is produced by withdrawing the sap from the Maple tree, boiling it down to evaporate water content, and that is basically the end of the refining process. Further boiling results in maple sugar. Until the honey bee’s appearance in the 1600s, maple sugar was the only sweetener available to those in North America.

Coconut Palm Sugar and Coconut Palm Nectar

Both made from the thick nectar or “sap” extracted from coconut palm blossoms before they mature into coconuts. The sap is then processed at low temperatures to make coconut palm nectar and can be further dehydrated and turned into crystals to make sugar. The sugar contains the same number of calories and carbohydrates as regular table (cane) sugar, but contains a far lower percentage of health-damaging fructose.

The colour and texture of coconut palm sugar varies from brand to brand, although generally, it is a caramel colour and similar in taste to brown sugar. Coconut palm sugar works well as a substitute for regular white sugar in most recipes. When shopping for coconut palm sugar, read labels carefully as it can often be mixed with cane sugar.

Date Sugar

The result of dried dates that are ground into powder. However, it doesn’t dissolve well in liquid, but it’s excellent in baked foods in place of brown sugar.

Stevia

Stevia comes from a sweet herbal plant that originates in South America but it is only “natural” when used in the green form. Those are the leaves which have been dried and ground into powder. Stevia that is white or clear has been chemically processed and is no longer “natural” – it should be avoided. Ancient tribes used this herb as a contraceptive so this is not the sweetener you should use if you’re trying to get pregnant. For everyone else, organic green stevia is a top choice of sweetener.

In Conclusion

As a source of fuel for Cancer, you might want to limit all forms of sugar. Even though the “True Natural Sweeteners” listed above may not be as damaging to your health as HFCS and refined sugar, the hard truth is that there are no “healthy” sweeteners… only “less bad” ones.

Until you are able to completely remove sweeteners from your diet, your best bet is to always choose the least refined options available to you.

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