Sugar is not recommended for breast cancer
By sugar, we mean ordinary table sugar (sucrose). This category also includes extremely sweet foods such as candy and desserts incorporating high levels of sugar. A high sugar intake can contribute to high body mass index (BMI) and type 2 diabetes, which in themselves can increase breast cancer risk for some women. The question we have attempted to answer in this web page is whether consumption of added sugar, sugary sweets, and high-sugar desserts are associated with increased breast cancer risk, including for women who are not overweight and presumably not insulin resistant.
A sucrose-rich diet has been found to increase the mutation frequency in rat colon cells in a dose-dependent manner. Consumption of simple sugars has been shown to have a strong positive association with markers of oxidative DNA damage in healthy adults. Added sugar has been found to be associated with increased risks of pancreatic, gastric, colorectal and prostate cancer.
Breast cancer-related effects of eating sugar
In one study, carcinogen-induced mammary tumors in rats fed diets containing high levels of either sugar (dextrose or sucrose) or starch (wheat, rice or potato starch) were evaluated. Rats fed sugar diets were found to develop significantly more mammary tumors than those fed starch diets, at both low and high levels of dietary fat.
A U.S. case-control study found that consumption of sweets, particularly desserts, was associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. An Italian case-control study found that women with the highest intake of desserts (including cookies, brioches, cakes, pastry puffs and ice-cream) and sugars (including sugar, honey, jam, marmalade and chocolate) had increased risk of breast cancer. The results held when adjusted for body mass index and total calorie intake. A Mexican case-control study found that carbohydrate intake was positively associated with risk of breast cancer for both premenopausal and postmenopausal women after adjusting for total calorie intake. The strongest associations were observed for sucrose and fructose intake. Another Italian case-control study found that breast cancer risk increased with increasing consumption of bread, pasta and refined sugar. A Japanese case-control study found that breast cancer risk was positively associated with higher intakes of bread, cake, and soft drinks with sugar.
A Canadian prospective study found higher risk of breast cancer among postmenopausal women consuming high glycemic index foods, an association that was not change when adjusted for body mass. On the other hand, a Danish prospective study found no associations between intake of glucose, fructose, sucrose, maltose, lactose, or starch and breast cancer risk. However, a borderline significant positive association between high glycemic index foods and estrogen receptor negative (ER-) breast cancer was found in this study.
Additional comments
Using honey as a sweetener instead of table sugar could be beneficial to overall health and reduce breast cancer risk.
Confectioners' sugar (also know as powdered sugar and icing sugar) consists primarily of sucrose. It is granulated sugar which has been ground into a very fine powder with a small amount of cornstarch added to prevent lumping.
The idea that breast cancer is "fed by sugar" is not the correct explanation for the association between sugar consumption and breast cancer risk. Sucrose is converted to glucose by enzymes in the digestive tract. All of our cells require energy in the form of glucose to survive. It is true that cancer cells typically consume glucose at a much higher rate than normal cells and compounds that cause inhibition of glucose uptake by tumor cells may inhibit their growth and viability. However, this does not necessarily mean that consuming a great deal of sugar will stimulate cancer growth since cancer cells will obtain glucose from a variety of foods in the diet.
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