Robert Su, M.D.

Weight has been an issue with him, and I have no evidence, but I think it had an effect on causing the hernia. Before we started low-carbing, he used to drink pretty much only Pepsi (all that yummy high fructose corn syrup), and ate the standard American high-carb diet (we both did).

It wouldn’t surprise me if the high carb diet and the weight that comes with it is a factor in esophageal cancer. Hopefully the surgery and our new lower carb way of eating will continue to keep progression of his condition at bay.

first, cancer cells live off glucose – that is their only source of food. A study carried out by Johns Hopkins researchers found evidence that some cancer cells are such incredible sugar junkies that they’ll self-destruct when deprived of glucose.[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 1998; 95: 1511-1516]

second, high blood glucose causes oxidative stress (Wikipedia: AGEs – The total state of oxidative and peroxidative stress on the healthy body, and the accumulation of AGE-related damage is proportional to the dietary intake of exogenous (preformed) AGEs, the consumption of sugars with a propensity towards glycation such as fructose and galactose.)

third, high blood glucose destroys or reduces white cell counts – reducing the body’s first line of defence against rouge cells (see: 1. Cohn ZA, Morse SI. Functional and metabolic properties of polymorphonuclear leucocytes. 1. Observations on the requirements and consequences of particle ingestion. J Exptl Med 1960; 111: 667
2. Sanchez A, et al. Role of sugars in human neutrophilic phagocytosis. Am J Clin Nutr 1973; 26: 1180-84
3. Ringsdorf WM jr, Cheraskin E and Ramsey RR jr. Sucrose, Neutrophilic Phagocytosis, and Resistance to Disease. Dent Surv 1976; 52 (12): 46-48 )

and fourth, high blood sugar causes insulin response, which can act like insulin-like-growth hormone and cause cell proliferation
(Taubes …pp215: Scientists believe that Insulin-like Growth Hormone (IGF) acts as an intermediary between the growth hormone secreted by the pituitary gland and the food sourced in the diet – to create growth through food utilisation.
SO: less food = less cell growth
AND: unlike insulin which reacts instantly to glucose, IGF levels change slowly, and measuring levels reflect long-term dietary patterns.
Simplifying the science:
Higher numbers of IGF receptors the stronger the IGF signal to the cell
THERFORE:
Raise insulin = greater stimulation of IGF receptors = greater IGF and insulin cell growth triggers
Renato Bersega, of Thomas Jefferson University, “stumbled upon” the discovery after 40 years of research that, in mice, IGF receptors are a “virtual necessity for cancer growth” (late 1980s). He found that shutting down mice IGF receptors STOPPED cancer growth)

I can see the headlines now! “Obesity and high fat intake causes esophageal cancer!”

I’ll be surprised when the media starts to report what studies actually do find.

Isn’t there a link between esophageal cancer and GERD? Or is that somebody’s untested hypothesis, like so many other things that we are led to believe? There are a lot of anecdotes (including my own) about how people find their acid reflux clears up when they ditch sugar, grain, and potatoes. I have a whole list of things that cleared up much faster than would be expected from mere weight loss, and acid reflux is one of them. I found it got better after only a few weeks, when I had lost only a few pounds. (Another example is joint pain, supposedly “caused” by overweight.) Whenever I hear a correlation like this, I wonder if obesity and the other conditions are effects of some other cause. Like, you know, excessive insulin or glucose intolerance.

Anyway, if the link between GERD and esophageal cancer is real, and if staying away from grains and sugar does improve GERD (big ifs), it stands to reason that staying away from grains and sugar would improve cancer risk.