Ever since PET scans came along, the mantra "cancer feeds on sugar" has made many cancer patients wary of eating fruit. PET scans localize tumors by the use of radioactively labeled glucose, and the theory was that metabolically active cancer cells use a lot of it. But a recent study calls this into question.
Dr. Isaacs learned of this study through a newsletter from her alma mater, Vanderbilt University Medical School. Click here for the link to the article. Tumors are made of many types of cells, not just cancer cells. The study showed that some of the other
cells in tumor masses use more glucose than the cancer cells do. These cells include cells from the immune system that presumably are there to fight the cancer.
While patients with diabetes may need to take extra care, for the vast majority of cancer patients, fruits and vegetables that contain natural sugars are perfectly safe to eat, and diets that eliminate them are unnecessarily restrictive. You can read more about Dr. Isaacs' view on the ketogenic diet by clicking
here.
|
|
|
