If as the old saying goes, “you are what you eat,’ you certainly do not want to increase your risk for cancer. While there are not many foods that can cause cancer, there are some that can certainly increase your risk. So, beware.
The experts at the CyberKnife Center of Miami, the premiere cancer treatment center in South Florida for non-invasive radiation therapy, want you to understand those risks so you make smart choices about what you eat.
In that case, if you are what you eat, you will be healthy.
Let us start with the basics.
Sugar and Cancer Risk
While eating sugar does not directly increase the risk of cancer. However, eating too much sugar can lead to weight gain, which is a risk factor for cancer.
Here’s some more information about sugar and cancer:
Sugar is a fuel for all cells:
All cells, including cancer cells, use glucose for energy. Cancer cells may have altered glucose metabolism to meet their higher demand for glucose.
Weight gain is a risk factor:
Obesity can increase the risk of cancer by causing hormonal changes.
Added sugars:
The American Heart Association recommends that no more than 10% of your daily calories come from added sugars.
Natural sugars:
Cancer patients should choose natural sugars found in fruits and whole grains.
Artificial sweeteners:
Some artificial sweeteners have no nutritional benefit and could have negative health effects.
Blood glucose levels:
If you are insulin resistant, eating sugar-rich foods can cause a spike in your blood sugar levels. This can increase the release of insulin-like growth factor (IGF), which can help cancer cells grow.
Sugar and weight gain and cancer:
There are some foods or ingredients, like sugar, which increase your risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes, and being overweight can increase your risk of cancer. In these cases, the increase in cancer risk comes from the weight gain because packing on more pounds can lead to inflammation – often associated with cancer risk.
So, whereas eating sugar will not increase your risk of cancer, an excess consumption of sugar can lead to weight gain. And that can increase your risk of 13 types of cancer. Please link this to our new blog about weight and cancer. That means you should limit sugary drinks and watch your sugar intake.
Meat and Cancer Risk
Processed meats – like salami, sausage, ham, corned beef, hot dogs, or beef jerky – can increase your risk of cancer because of the ways these meats are processed. A 2019 study pointed to processed meats as a risk factor for colorectal cancer. Other studies found links to breast and stomach cancers, according to an article in Healthline.
There may also be a link between consuming large amounts of red meat – pork, beef, lamb and veal – and colon cancer, prostate and pancreatic cancers. So, you may want to limit your servings of these meats to three times a week.
Alcohol and Cancer
According to the National Cancer Institute, drinking alcohol regularly or drinking heavily can increase the risk of oral, throat, larynx, esophagus, liver, breast, colon and rectal cancers. And the more a person drinks, the higher the risk.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “When you drink alcohol, your body breaks it down into a chemical that damages your DNA. DNA is the cell’s “instruction manual” that controls how a cell grows and does its job. When DNA is damaged, a cell can grow out of control and become cancer.”
That is a good reason to limit your alcohol consumption.
In the United States, 20,000 adults die from alcohol-related cancers every year.
Cancer Treatment Miami
While watching your diet and exercising can help reduce your cancer risk, should you be diagnosed with cancer, CyberKnife Miami is here to help you get treated faster, safely, and effectively. We not only provide you with an excellent treatment option, but we also help you cut through all the red tape, so you can get treated with the least disruption to your life, and back to your life.
Here is how we do it. CyberKnife Miami uses a state-of-the-art, non-invasive, image guided radiosurgery treatment called stereotactic body radiation therapy or SBRT to treat cancer and other medical issues requiring radiation.
We treat spine, brain, breast, lung, kidney, pancreas, liver, prostate, and metastatic tumors. In fact, metastatic cancer is among the cancers we treat the most. We also treat lymphoma and other conditions in the body where radiation treatment is necessary.
CyberKnife’s missile guidance technology enables SBRT to track a tumor’s movement in real time. The technology delivers radiation directly to the tumor, while leaving healthy surrounding tissues virtually unharmed. With CyberKnife, patients often need a much, much shorter course of treatment than with traditional radiation because SBRT delivers targeted radiation. For instance, with CyberKnife, prostate cancer patients require 5 treatment sessions, which we recommend doing one treatment every other day, over 10 days. Other types of radiation require 32 to 42 treatment sessions, Monday through Friday over several months.
Our team members are also top experts in this field of medicine because we are among those who have been doing it the longest. In addition, we are among the first CyberKnife centers to open in the U. S. and are often called upon to teach other medical teams how to use CyberKnife technology most effectively because of our experience. And that experience can make a big difference in establishing your treatment plan, and the outcome of your treatment.
And here is something else that really sets us apart from other cancer treatment centers. We care, and we put our patients and their needs first. You are not a number to us. We provide personalized care and hold your hand every step of the way, and your family’s, which we feel is just as important. We want you and them to feel confident in the treatment path you are taking with us. Our compassion and personalized treatment can be the difference you need to help make the process easier when it comes to treating your cancer.
If you would like to talk to any of our team members, get your questions answered, or find out more about treatment with CyberKnife call us at 305-279-2900.
You can always go to our website now for more information and see our patient testimonials, which you no doubt will find most helpful in making your decision about where to go with for your cancer treatment www.cyberknifemiami.com.