Avoiding high blood glucose levels to minimise the risk of cancer

A diet that causes high blood glucose levels can lead to weight gain and chronic health conditions like diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. There’s also a direct link between cancer risk and sugar consumption, including sugary soft drinks and undiluted fruit juice and blood glucose levels. Making nutritional choices to stabilize blood sugar levels could reduce the likelihood of a future cancer diagnosis.

Research shows that 1 in 2 people will get cancer at some point during their lifetime. We don’t always know why some people develop cancer and others don’t, but common contributing factors are thought to include:

  • Inherited genetic defects
  • DNA damaging radiation
  • Smoking
  • Viral, fungal or bacterial infection
  • Diet and lifestyle

Increased blood glucose levels lead to a higher risk for cancer

Studies have demonstrated that there is a direct correlation of high blood glucose levels and the risk of getting cancer.

According to these studies, cancer cells are addicted to glucose but there is one sugar cancer cells don’t like – galactose. This is because galactose cannot be used by cancer cells.

Healthy cells can use galactose as energy, but fermenting cancer cells cannot grow with galactose, because it forces them to stop fermentation and switch to a different metabolic process.

Another example is tagatose, which is almost as sweet as regular table sugar, but contains just 38% of the calories. It has a minimal effect on blood glucose levels and is a great alternative to classic sugar for people who are looking to lose or control their weight and reduce cancer risk.

Some of Dr Coy’s sugars can be used as anti-cancer sugars

Some of Dr Coy’s sugars can inhibit cancer cells through two different mechanisms. Sugars that barely raise blood sugar (glucose in the blood) make it harder for cancer cells to get enough glucose for fermentation and avoid the release of insulin and related hormones that promote cancer growth. These include sugars such as trehalose and isomaltulose. There are also sugars that not only keep blood sugar stable but have a direct inhibitory effect on cancer cells. These are galactose and tagatose. Both sugars play an extremely important role in anti-cancer nutrition… continue reading

Galactose

This sugar is found in breast milk. Cancer cells need glucose for fermentation. To convert galactose into glucose, the cancer cell must invest as much energy as is released afterwards. Which means that galactose does not provide energy when it is used for fermentation. Therefore, the cancer cell has no choice but to reactivate the mitochondria (combustion engines) to obtain energy from galactose. By activating the mitochondria, fermentation and theassociated production of lactic acid is inhibited so that cancer cells no longer grow invasively and form metastases. In addition, the activation of mitochondria by galactose leads to chemo- and radiotherapies being more effective, because the mitochondria play an important role in triggering cell death and in the formation of radicals. Galactose is a sugar that acts directly against cancer cells and makes them sensitive to chemo- and radiotherapies.

Tagatose

This sugar is also found in breast milk. Tagatose has the same sweetening power as table sugar, but more than 60% less calories, because only a small part of the consumed tagatose is absorbed from the intestine and metabolised. Part of the consumed tagatose is excreted undigested, but a substantial part serves as food for healthy intestinal bacteria such as bifidobacteria. These use tagatose and form a very healthy, protective short-chain fatty acid (butyrate) from it, which serves as important food for our intestinal epithelial cells and protects them from inflammation. Butyrate also has a very strong anti-cancer effect as it converts aggressive tumour cells (cancer cells) into benign tumour cells. Tagatose does not trigger a rise in blood sugar levels. It can also reduce the rise of blood sugar levels from sugars consumed along with tagatose. Tagatoseavoids and regulates blood sugar level rises, making it difficult for cancer cells to obtain sufficient glucose from the blood. The short-chain fatty acid produced from tagatose by our good gut bacteria also actively fights aggressive cancer cells.

Switching to Dr Coy’s sugars could restrict glucose supply to cancer cells

By restricting cancer cells’ supply of glucose, we may be able to slow the spread of the disease. Dr Coy’s sugars do this without compromising the supply of energy to other healthy cells that need it to function properly.

However, it’s important to be aware that patients with cancer should only consume Dr Coy’s sugars galactose and tagatose. Dr Coy’s sugars trehalose and isomaltulose represent a source for glucose and therefore should be consumed only in small amounts in a recommended dosage. People with an acute cancer are recommended to consume no more than 1g of carbohydrates including sugars per kilogram of body weight per day. For example, a person weighing 70kg can consume 70g of carbohydrates which release glucose and/or fructose. Galactose and tagatose cannot be used for sugar fermentation and are therefore not limited to this rule… continue reading

Background:

Cancer cells are addicted to sugar, but interestingly, there are some sugars cancer cells don’t like. Glucose is the sugar cancer cells like. Glucose strongly promotes the growth of cancer cells. In contrast the sugar cancer cells don’t like, is galactose, because they cannot use it. Cancer cells need glucose because glucose is the ideal sugar for an energy release called fermentation. Fermentation is a way of energy release without the use of oxygen. In textbooks fermentation in humans is described as the result of an absence of oxygen, but there is another way of fermentation which is performed even in the presence of oxygen. Nobel laureate Otto Heinrich Warburg identified this fermentation of glucose even in the presence of oxygen and called this aerobic glycolysis. A somehow misleading term, because this glycolysis is performed not with, but instead of aerobic conditions. In contrast to this fermentation in the presence of oxygen, the fermentation of glucose, because of the absence of oxygen, is being performed in muscles. The fermentation of glucose to lactic acid in muscle cells is well known and the results of the switch from burning metabolism to fermentation metabolism. The fermentation of glucose in the presence of oxygen, but also in the absence of oxygen is being used by cancer cells to grow very fast and efficiently. Furthermore, the fermentation of glucose to lactic acid enables cancer cells to grow invasively and build metastasis, since lactic acid allows an acid-based degradation of the surrounding tissue and to conquer other organs by building metastases.

Interestingly, in the blood, circulating cancer cells are distributed the heart. Although the heart is exposed to these circulating tumour cells, the heart is protected from an invasion of these circulating tumour cells, because the heart muscle doesn’t like sugar. Therefore, the heart is unable to perform the fermentation of glucose to lactic acid, thereby preventing it from being invaded by circulating tumour cells.

The discovery of the TKTL1 gene by Dr Johannes Coy helps further explain the relationship between sugar and cancer. Not only does TKTL1 help cancer cells produce huge amounts of the sugar ribose, which fuels new cancer cells, it also enables the production of lactic acid, so cancer cells can degrade and invade surrounding tissue.

This means that the more glucose we consume, the more we could be fuelling the growth of any existing cancer cells. Eating lots of sugar can also lead to weight gain, and research suggests that being overweight or obese increases the risk of developing many different types of cancer. Studies also show a direct correlation between high blood glucose levels and cancer risk.

TKTL1 sugar metabolism is also important for cancer therapies. Many chemotherapies and radiotherapies inhibit cancer growth by deliberately damaging DNA.

Limiting glucose consumption makes it harder for TKTL1 to convert glucose into ribose, which is the building block of new DNA. This inhibits cancer cells’ ability to resist the damage caused by these treatments.

Use Dr Coy’s sugars to replace normal sugars in your diet to reduce cancer risk

Being sugar aware can help us understand product ingredient labels and make healthier choices about the foods we eat. Dr Coy’s sugars could form an important part of an anti-cancer diet. Both galactose and tagatose can be easily used to replace normal sugar. Added to food and drink that needs sweetening, without giving cancer cells the fuel they like.

Also, galactose enforces a metabolic switch to use of mitochondria concomitant with fat burning, which inhibits the growth of cancer cells as well as makes cancer cells sensitive towards chemo- and radiotherapy.

Sugar increases cancer risk and promotes cell division of cancer cells

Dr Coy’s sugars, on the other hand, increase mental and physical performance.

“Two current studies from different disciplines show that beverages containing sugar increase the cancer risk and sugar promotes the cell division of cancer cells, i.e. the proliferation of unwanted cells. At the same time, new options are emerging for the prevention of sugar consumption associated diseases such as cancer, obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and Alzheimer’s disease as well as to increase the cognitive and physical performance by sugar,” said cancer researcher and author Dr. Johannes Coy, Monheim am Rhein, September 2019… continue reading

Sugar is an important source of energy for the body and at the same time an essential component of our genetic material, DNA. For a cell to be able to duplicate itself, it needs sugar building blocks to form new DNA. The production of these sugar building blocks requires enzymes that convert glucose to ribose-5-phosphate, also a carbohydrate and monosaccharide. A study by Chinese scientists published in June 2019 under the title “APC/CCDH1 synchronizes ribose-5-phosphate levels and DNA synthesis to cell cycle progression” identified the enzyme transketolase-like-1 (TKTL1) as the decisive control point of this sugar conversion. These results, published in the renowned journal NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, refute the previous doctrine that cell duplication is initiated first and that the consumption of DNA sugar building blocks triggers the production of new DNA sugar building blocks (“pull effect”). However, the DNA sugar building blocks are first pre-produced in large quantities in the cell and then the cell duplication is triggered (“push effect”). The sugar concentration in the cell is thus identified as a decisive factor for the doubling of cells and the associated repair of the body. However, the undesired duplication of cells poses a health problem, as this leads to the development of tumor cells and cancer growth. The discovery of the TKTL1 gene and the associated sugar metabolism has made it clear that human sugar metabolism is misrepresented in textbooks. The fermentation of sugar into lactic acid has so far only been described as an answer to an oxygen deficiency. In fact, there is also the fermentation of sugar to lactic acid, which is carried out despite the presence of oxygen. This sugar metabolism, which has not yet been described in textbooks, enables the avoidance and repair of cell damage, so that the survival of cells and the aging process is decisively influenced.

In addition to their fundamental importance for cell renewal and human health, these current research findings also represent a breakthrough in terms of the role of nutrition and its sugar content – thus confirming the direct link between sugar, the consumption of this energy supplier and cell division.

The results of another recent study from May 2019, entitled “Sugary drink consumption and risk of cancer: results from NutriNet-Santé prospective cohort” , also highlights this fact. A research team from the Sorbonne in Paris, in a study involving more than 100,000 participants, found that the consumption of beverages containing sugar is directly related to the risk of cancer. This correlation applies not only to sugared soft drinks, but also to undiluted fruit juices.

“The results of both studies show once again the risks of a sugar-containing diet. At the same time, they also open up new options for the prevention of sugar-related diseases such as cancer, obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and Alzheimer`s disease,” said Dr. Johannes Coy, discoverer of the TKTL1 gene and the associated sugar metabolism. In addition to drug intervention, he also sees the possibility of influencing sugar metabolism and thus cell duplication in a targeted way through an appropriate diet. In 2009, Dr. Coy described his concept of inhibiting the growth of cancer cells via diet and making them sensitive to chemo- and radiation therapies in his bestseller book “The Cancer-Fighting Diet: Diet and Nutrition Strategies for Effective Cancer Treatment Results”.

About Dr. Coy:

Johannes F. Coy is a biologist and worked for eleven years at the renowned German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg, where he discovered the transketolase-like gene TKTL1. His research focuses on the diagnosis and therapy of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. He is also an expert in biochemistry, metabolism, and nutrition. Find out more here: https://www.dr-coy.info/en/home-english/

¹APC/CCDH1 synchronizes ribose-5-phosphate levels and DNA synthesis to cell cycle progression. Li Y, Yao CF, Xu FJ, Qu YY, Li JT, Lin Y, Cao ZL, Lin PC, Xu W, Zhao SM, Zhao JY. Nat Commun. 2019 Jun 7;10(1):2502. doi: 10,1038/s41467-019-10375-x.

²Sugary drink consumption and risk of cancer: results from NutriNet-Santé prospective cohort. Chazelas E, Srour B, Desmetz E, Kesse-Guyot E, Julia C, Deschamps V, Druesne-Pecollo N, Galan P, Hercberg S, Latino-Martel P, Deschasaux M, Touvier M. BMJ. 2019 Jul 10;366:l2408. doi: 10.1136/bmj.l2408.

Learn More…

Further reading on Dr Coy’s sugars and cancer

Get in touch with Intelligent Sugar

Got a question about Dr Coy’s sugars? Contact info@intelligentsugar.info

If you have a question about a specific health condition, please speak to your doctor.

View More