Tri Cities On A Dime: July 2019

New Research Highlight Connection Between Sugar and Cancer

By Ty Bollinger

From The Truth About Cancer website

Below is an excerpt from the article. To read the article in its entirety, click on the link below:

https://thetruthaboutcancer.com/sugar-and-cancer/?utm_campaign=ucp&utm_medium=organic&utm_source=fb-ttac&utm_content=sugar-and-cancer&a_aid=59c13831797bc&u1=fbttacsugarandcancer&fbclid=IwAR1vvrL1KNA8eJsXFBOgZfrgAt1jggseEKqXUgFa80tGSsnJ2R4pS-NsiBU

Article Excerpt:

A study published last week in the journal Cancer Research looked at the connection between sugar and cancer. The researchers found that reducing the amount of glucose available to cancer cells could be key for effective treatment. Cancer cells require lots of glucose to survive and must metabolize it quickly to generate energy. The researchers evaluated the potential applications of limiting the supply of glucose and restricting the ability of cancer cells to metabolize sugar.

It’s important to note that cancer cells are unique in the way that they utilize sugars. Most cells use a process called oxidative phosphorylation to metabolize energy. In the 1950s, Nobel laureate Otto Warburg observed that cancer cells use a different process to metabolize sugars. This is known as the Warburg effect.

Due to the unique way in which cancer cells metabolize energy, he noticed that low levels of oxygen were common in cancer cells. But the low presence of oxygen was a result of the way in which those cells metabolized sugars, not the cause of the cancer. Warburg summarized:

Cancer, above all other diseases, has countless secondary causes. But, even for cancer, there is only one prime cause. Summarized in a few words, the prime cause of cancer is the replacement of the respiration of oxygen in normal body cells by a fermentation of sugar.”

The focus of the new study, led by cancer researcher Arthur Dyer from the University of Oxford, was on manipulating that process to increase the effectiveness of cancer treatments. In particular, the research team evaluated the potential effects this metabolic manipulation could have on the efficacy of oncolytic viruses.

Oncolytic viruses are viruses that are meant to attack cancer cells while having no effect on healthy cells. These viruses, which are currently being evaluated in clinical trials, work by invading the cells and using the cell’s mechanisms to rapidly reproduce and destroy the tumor from the inside.

These oncolytic viruses may also help to trigger the body’s natural immune responses. The study of immunology (utilizing the body’s natural immune system to fight cancer) is growing field in the medical community, and a promising shift from the standard practice of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy that have become so common in oncology today.