To maintain a healthy diet, we should limit our intake of sugary foods, but this has nothing to do with the idea that "sugar specifically provides nutrients to cancer cells."
Regarding cancer, there are all sorts of opinions on the internet. One of them is that cancer patients should not eat sugar. Is this claim really reliable?
First, let's look at how this view emerged. Its main theoretical basis includes the following points: sugar not only lacks vitamins and minerals but also depletes the body's minerals and B vitamins, weakening the body's anti-cancer ability; sugar has a direct harmful effect on the body's immune system, reducing the phagocytic ability of white blood cells and making it difficult to eliminate cancer cells; the blood of cancer patients contains a significant amount of lactic acid, which is a product of glycolysis; the survival of cancer cells depends on glycolysis, unlike normal cells which rely on respiration with oxygen. In addition, a British scholar who专门 studied the dangers of sugar, in his book "Sweet and Dangerous," not only studied the effects of sugar on obesity and heart disease but also believed that sugar has a catalytic effect on cancer; furthermore, Japanese researchers, through autopsies of adults with stomach and cervical cancer, found a significant decrease in calcium levels in their blood, and refined sugar, which can cause calcium deficiency, is considered one of the inducing factors for certain cancers.
Sugars are also called carbohydrates because their molecules are all composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Carbohydrates are hydrolyzed into glucose and fructose in the human digestive system, then absorbed into the blood, and enter cells as raw materials for respiration to provide us with energy. All the cells in our bodies, whether cancerous or not, need glucose for energy. Because cancer cells often grow more rapidly than normal cells, they have a greater demand for glucose. Additionally, there is evidence that the metabolic pathway by which cancer cells break down glucose to produce energy is also different from that of normal cells. Researchers are studying the glucose metabolism pathways of cancer cells, hoping to find more effective treatments. However, this does not mean that the sugar in sweets is exclusively "enjoyed" by cancer cells, unlike carbohydrates in other foods. Our body does not decide which specific cell should get which nutrient. To maintain a healthy diet and prevent weight gain, we should certainly limit our intake of sugary foods, but this has nothing to do with the idea that "sugar specifically provides nutrients to cancer cells."
Therefore, the view that "cancer patients should not eat sugar" is actually a misinterpretation of reasonable dietary advice. The scientific advice remains to eat more fruits, vegetables, fiber, white meat, and fish, and to eat less fat, salt, sugar, red meat or processed meat products, and to drink less alcohol.