Cancers Use Fructose to Fuel Growth

 A study by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has found that pancreatic cancers use the sugar fructose to activate a key cellular pathway that drives cell division, helping the cancer to grow more quickly.

According to Dr. Anthony Heaney, senior author of the study, this is the first time a link has been shown between fructose and cancer proliferation.

For this study, Heaney and his team of researchers took pancreatic tumors from patients and cultured and grew the malignant cells in petri dishes.  Glucose was added to one set of cells, while fructose was added to the other set of cells.

Heaney found that the pancreatic cancer cells could easily distinguish between the glucose and fructose even though they are very similar in structure, the cancer cells metabolizing the sugars in different ways.  In the case of the fructose, the pancreatic cancer cells used the sugar in the transketolase-driven non-oxidative pentose phosphate pathway to generate nucleic acids, the building blocks of RNA and DNA, which the cancer cells need to divide and proliferate.

Heaney said, "As in anti-smoking campaigns, a federal effort should be launched to reduce refined fructose intake."

Sources of fructose in the Western diet include cane sugar (sucrose) and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).  HFCS accounts for more than 40% of the caloric sweenteners added to foods and beverages, such as, ketchup, cereal, yougart, cookies, applesauce, bread, canned vegetables, syrup, jelly, crackers, pasta sauces, pickles, soups, soda, etc.  Approximately 52,000 items on our grocery shelves contain some degree of HFCS.

Source: UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center

60 Minutes Special - Is Sugar Toxic?

Sugar, is it really toxic?  Tonight, 60 minutes with correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta investigates new evidence concerning sugar.

Dr. Robert Lustig, pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco, has begun an Anti-Sugar Campaign, motivated by his own patients.  He claims there are just too many children who suffer from obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and hypertension.

He said that you need to be careful when purchasing at the store, sugar is hidden in bread, yogurts, sauces, peanut butter and also to remember, High Fructose Corn Syrup, it's equally toxic.

Dr. Lustig has co-authored an American Heart Association report that recommends men should consume no more than 150 calories of added sugar a day and women, just 100 calories.  The average person now consumes 130 pounds of sugar per year, that's 1/3 pound every day.

Kimber Stanhope, a nutritional biologist at the University of California, Davis, is in the midst of a 5 year study that links excess high fructose corn syrup consumption to an increase in risk factors for heart disease and stroke.

During the first few days of the study, the subjects eat a diet low in added sugars.  Then 25% of their calories are replaced with sweetened drinks, blood is drawn throughout the study.  The results, within 2 weeks, LDL cholesterol levels have increased and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease are noted.

Lewis Cantley, a Harvard Professor and the head of the Beth Israel Deaconess Cancer Center claims that when we eat or drink sugar it causes a sudden spike in the hormone insulin, which can serve as a catalyst to fuel certain types of cancers.  Nearly a third of some common cancers, such as breast and colon cancers have something called insulin receptors on their surface.  Insulin binds to these receptors and signals the tumor to start consuming glucose.

Cantley went on to say, "Every cell in our body needs glucose to survive.  But the trouble is, these cancer cells also use it to survive."

Lewis Cantley's research team is working on developing drugs that will cut off the glucose supply to cancer cells, but in the meantime, the advice is to stop consuming sugar and sugar products.

Eric Stice, a neuroscientist at the Oregon Research Institute, is using MRI scanners to learn how sugar activates our brain.  According to the research, it turns out that Dopamine, a chemical that controls the brain's pleasure center, is being released, just as it would in response to drugs or alcohol.

Source: CBS News

Shared with: the healthy home economist

A Healthy Digestive System

One of the most common age related causes of impaired digestive function is the reduction of Hydrochloric Acid (HCL) produced by the stomach. Correct acidity level (pH from 1 to 3) in your stomach will:
1. Sanitize food before it enters the colon
2. Initiate enzyme production
3. Prepare protein for digestion
4. Help make Vitamin B12 available
5. Help your digestive system to stop constipation, gas, bloating, heartburn and other digestive discomforts.

The solution to this is to take nutrients that address your entire digestive system and tackle the source of the imbalance.

Did you know that 60-80% of the body's energy is used on digestion. The remaining systems in your body (immune, respiratory, reproductive, cardiovascular, nervous, and muscular) share only 20-40% of your total energy. So what do you think happens when one or more of these systems are challenged? Your body "steals" energy from the digestive system.

Indigestion, heartburn, acid reflux, gas, food cravings, bloating and other digestive problems can indicate that there may be a problem in another system.

Also, when the body "steals" energy from the digestive system, it can't balance the stomach acid or produce enough enzymes for a smooth operation.

Supporting the digestive system has two main purposes:

1. To improve digestion
2. To free up energy to be used elsewhere in the body

By supporting your digestive system, you are in fact allowing your body to spend sufficient energy on all the other systems in your body.


1. The esophagus is a long muscular tube, which moves food from the mouth to the stomach.
2. The abdomen contains all of the digestive organs.
3. The stomach, situated at the top of the abdomen, normally holds just over 3 pints of food from a single meal. Here the food is mixed with an acid that is produced to assist in digestion. In the stomach, acid and other digestive juices are added to the ingested food to facilitate breakdown of complex proteins, fats and carbohydrates into small, more absorbable units.
4. A valve at the entrance of the stomach from the esophagus allows the food to enter while keeping the acid-laden food from "refluxing" back into the esophagus, causing damage and pain.
5. The pylorus is a small round muscle located at the outlet of the stomach and the entrance to the duodenum ( the first section of the small intestine). It closes the stomach outlet while food is being digested into a smaller, more easily absorbed form. When food is properly digested, the pylorus opens and allows the contents of the stomach into the duodenum.
6. The small intestine is about 15 to 20 feet long and is where the majority of the absorption of the nutrients from food takes place. The small intestine is made up of three sections: the duodenum, the jejunum and the ileum.
7. The duodenum is the first section of the small intestine and is where the food is mixed with bile produced by the liver and with other juices from the pancreas. This is where much of the iron and calcium is absorbed.
8. the jejunum is the middle part of the small intestine extending from the duodenum to the ileum; it is responsible for digestion.
9. The last segment of the intestine, the ileum, is where the absorption of fat-solutble vitamins A, D, E, and K and other nutrients are absorbed.
10. Another valve separates the small and large intestins to keep bacteria-laden colon contents from coming back into the small intestines.
11. In the large intestines, excess fluids are absorbed and firm stool is formed. The colon may absorb protein, when necessary. source

Smart Choices for Digestive System Health

1. Drink water
2. Exercise (if unable to get outside and walk, consider the Original Chi Machine for indoor use)
3. Exercise good oral hygiene
4. Supplement with probiotics, prebiotics, enzymes & dietary fiber (check out: http://www.procapslabs.com/ and/or http://www.drclarkstore.com/ )
5. Avoid toxins (view the video for toxins in your shampoo, conditioner, bath soap, dish soap, toothpaste, etc.)
6. Avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup
7. Control Inflammation - consider taking an immune supplement, http://www.bakersyeastbetaglucan.com/