Insulin and Cancer

I was able to hear some of an interesting discussion on a local radio station (WMNF) this afternoon. The premise related to results released during the just completed American Society of Clinical Oncologist annual meeting. The shows guest was a nutritionist out of Sarasota Florida named Eve or Eva. The show is available in archives on the radio station website, but the guest's name is not spelled out - sorry about that. That particular Monday show (1-2pm) is related to alternative medicine.

I am most often not a fan of pills or alternatives to them if they include herbals and supplements, but that does not mean that I am closed "eared" to other views. A few interesting points were made by Eva and I would like to share them.

• Sometimes the medications that are created to treat cancer can cost up to 80,000 dollars a year to use and cost BILLIONS to create. Often the drug is able to prevent progression of a cancer temporarily or add a few months of life - Eva suggested that the money be used to address ways to prevent disease, perhaps through nutritional programs and also to address the toxicity of our environment - as opposed to adding 16 weeks to a persons life. I tend to agree with her - though she was clear that situations are different. A mother of small children for example, would most benefit from the extra months.
• Insulin in the bloodstream is fuel for many cancers. Though I wasn't able to follow the entire discussion, I understood this to mean that insulin was food for the blood vessels that are created in some cancers - tumors feed on these blood vessels and become larger. For this reason, the nutritionist advised that people, with or without cancer, be mindful of the amount of sugar in their diets AND the amount of sugar consumption at one time. She said that more than 2 teaspoons at once was going to trigger a significant insulin release. She noted the glycemic index and spoke of fruit sugars in the context of fiber. She was not promoting juice and suggested that any "juicing" of fruits be of the organic kind - instead of making a concentrated pesticide brew. Read more about the fructose connection here.
• In regards to treatment of cancer, Eva/Eve did NOT come out against traditional treatments and did say that the first thing to do was shrink that tumor with any means possible (including surgery, radiation, chemotherapy). I believe she said "debulk" the tumor. What she is against is ingesting daily doses of poison which in her opinion(based in research), has NOT been shown to prolong life or cure disease. She did say that there was substantial research to show that the more fruits and vegetables consumed the less cases of cancer incidence and cancer recurrence there is. I did not fact check her statements.

That is all I have for today - I hope this blog made you want to eat an apple :)