Time and again, some would say one especially a cancer patient, should not eat sugar because this can lead to cancer or that it feeds cancer cells.
Sugar is a carbohydrate. Sugar comes in many forms. Most common is the white or brown table sugar that we commonly use at home – for beverages, desserts and a few viands. These can also be added to processed foods like jams or jellies. Honey, syrup, powdered, levulose, molasses, fructose, maltose, caramel, sorbitol, date sugar, invert sugar are also other forms of sugar in foods. Read the list of ingredients in a packaged food. Even milk contains sugar known as lactose. Carbohydrate-rich foods like rice, bread, biscuits, kakanin, noodles, rootcrops and even fruits and vegetables contain sugar. When digested, all will yield the simplest form of carbohydrate, the simplest form of sugar but known as glucose. Glucose will be absorbed into the circulatory system of the body specifically in the bloodstream to be processed by the body to feed every cell of the body. Glucose is the same form of carbohydrate found in dextrose hooked to patients in need. Glucose a.k.a dextrose is the circulating blood sugar in the body. It is the preferred source of energy for the brain and many other organs. When glucose supply is lacking such as during prolonged fasting or starvation, or when glucose cannot enter cells as in the case of diabetes, the body will resort to a more complicated way to convert glucose from body fat or protein/muscles. So whether we avoid eating the sugar that we know, there is a continuous supply of glucose (a simple sugar) in the body.
So to avoid sugar means to shun away from all carbohydrate-containing foods. What then will a person eat? In the Food Pyramid which serves as a guide for a whole-day’s meals, rice and alternatives are at the base implying that our one-day diet should be comprised mostly of rice and/or alternatives. Following in quantity should be fruits and vegetables. Of course, at the tip, to be eaten least is the sugar – the simple sugars like table sugar, honey and the like. While we can avoid these, we cannot do anything with having sugar inside the body. We need sugar (glucose) inside our bodies. People who shun away from carbohydrates as those on a ketogenic diet, still have a glucose supply inside their bodies – but converted from protein and fats, and this is not desired.
In the dietary management of cancer, the aim is to strengthen the body to enable the patient to be strong enough, at least physically, to recuperate from surgery, to deal with side effects of treatment and enable completion of treatments. One who is undernourished because of limiting a lot of food in the diet, may not be strong enough to complete treatments. Sugar and other carbohydrates nourish our cells. When the diet is well-planned, there is no reason to exclude sources of sugar (glucose) but of course, there is a limit.
