Cancer charity coffee mornings should be banned

[Luxell934]

So someone on instagram, who usually gives advice to new mums on positive birthing, posted today that she though coffee mornings for cancer charities should be banned. Why? because she thinks cancer loves sugar, cancer grows from sugar and people shouldn't be giving sugar to cancer patients. She said instead of eating cakes and biscuits they should be helping cancer patients to educate themselves to change their diets to beat the disease.

My own personal opinion is that she is spreading complete misinformation to her followers not based on any actual factual studies.

For a start these coffee mornings are not held in the hospital rooms of cancer patients to feed them cake. They’re fundraising events often in school halls, offices, community centres or hospitals as a support system where people are coming together to support and raise money for those diagnosed with cancer. They don't target cancer patients, it's more about the general public raising funds for cancer nurses and research. Cancer coffee mornings are just one of the ways charities fund raise. They also do lots of fitness based ones, like the muddy 5k run, race for life, some do walking based ones. Although not everyone would be able to do something physical for charity, so they might choose the coffee morning. Let's face it, cake is nice right, if it was advertised as a green tea and carrot stick morning, it wouldn't be as popular.

Yes I agree sugar isn't healthy for us. We should all reduce our refined sugar intake. Excess sugar can lead to weight gain which can cause serious health issues including diabetes and obesity which could be a contributing factor to some cancers. BUT cancer is not caused by sugar alone, and cancer can't be cured by cutting out sugar. Cancer also can't be cured by diet alone. I've heard the stories of people saying "My husband cured his stage 4 lung cancer by diet alone!" Right.

There is also no actual evidence that cancer cells grow from sugar. All cells, including cancer cells need glucose (blood sugar) to survive. Glucose comes from any carbohydrate, refined carbs (cake, bread) and unrefined carbs (fruit, veg). Glucose is critical for our cells to survive and function properly. Not consuming sufficient carbohydrates can lead to the breakdown of protein stores in our body, which can contribute to muscle loss and possibly malnutrition. There is no possible way for our bodies to stop cancer cells from getting the glucose and only giving it to the healthy cells.

So should cancer coffee mornings be banned?

Or immunotherapy for stage 4 melanoma literally curing it in many cases and chemo not even being touched for treatment. Testicular cancer has a survival of 99% and even 76% at stage 4. Of Tamoxifen reducing the chance of breast cancer recurring in hormone postive breast cancers or HER2 cancers being controlled in some cases for many years or people living with prostate cancer for 10’s of years and dying in old age of something totally unrelated. Oh and Cervical cancer being virtually wiped out with the HPV vaccine and the drastic reduction of some HPV head and neck cancers due to the vaccine.

no advance at all. Nothing. Granted, treatment for some cancers such as pancreatic cancers and some brain cancers or rare cancers have barely moved but the strides forwards are absolutely huge

I am just quoting Seyfried. It's his opinion. Yes there have been developments but he clearly thinks nowhere near enough

Well virtually no developments does not equal not enough .

And anyone with half a brain can see that.

yes 10 seconds to find links... obviously that's a replacement for decades spent in medical education, post grad training, clinical experience and participation in actual scientific research...

and we all know how Google searches are the best way to learn about stuff

He gets his self promotion off to a really, really bad start there.

let's take the word of ONE person versus the entirety of the field of oncology...

the thing is kind of understand why people adopt these positions and find them so attractive. with little or no scientific literacy in most of the population - its hard to absorb the actual scientific evidence/literature... its easy to fall for one line slogans and simplified (incorrect) opinions because the actual reality is too complex.

I am just quoting Seyfried. It's his opinion. Yes there have been developments but he clearly thinks nowhere near enough

This is literally embarrassing. You post that ridiculous ignorant stance,

virtually no developments

without even seeing it yourself @eyesopenedatlast

I am embarrassed for you.

@Jobalob totally agree with your points

and regards to cancers with little progression on treatments, it's definitely not due to lack of trying.

and this idea of @eyesopenedatlast and many others that researchers/doctors are being paid off by big pharma ... Well I would like to see some of that money?! my entire family/friend circle pretty much are clinicians/involved in medical research and they are definitely not rolling in it. poverty is one of the common complaints amongst research scientists!

Sometimes i think, people like that should be banned from the internet!
How dare she, or anyone else begrudge those of us that are, or have been cancer patients a big slice of chocolate cake/jam madeleine/coconut tart/lemon cake etc., and a big mug of tea after our treatment/clinic appointments?
In any case, most of the people taking part in, or donating to coffee mornings aren't necessarily cancer patients, just people wanting to help raise money to help those that are.
What an ignorant and dangerous person she is!

Rude. You're the one who marched into the thread with your superior knowledge about well known links, and how those who think otherwise are misinformed, so how come you can't provide any evidence to back up your claims?

Oh wait, is it because there isn't any? A Google search isn't proof of anything except how credulous you are.

I have incurable cancer and am being kept alive by a biological therapy which breaks the DNA in cancer cells so preventing them from multiplying. This was licensed 7 years ago. Surely this is a new development?

When I received my diagnosis, I was telling people I had the disease they, like everyone, fear the most. They know I like some sweet treats so they concluded that this must account for it and started the 'avoid sugar' advice. This level of ignorance may explain it but doesn't excuse it.

@eyesopenedatlast I have Googled but I can't find anywhere I can submit my claim to Big Pharma for all the hard yards I've put in being a shill over the years. So annoying. Do I have to do it by post? Is there a freephone number?

So many advances - my friend with Stage 4 cancer (who enjoys her cake) is almost 5 years on after being given a 3 month prognosis! She is on immunotherapy and takes one tablet every other day and has not had one night in hospital in 5 years. She has a great life and if it when this tablet stops working, her oncologist says a new treatment is now available. I think this gives all cancer patients immense hope

A lot of different types of Cancer cells grow RAPIDLY and abnormally. Rapid growth needs energy - just like your normal cells need energy. Sugar or glucose is a pure form of energy. The study that you were referring to has been misquoted and misinterpreted in perpetuity by people who won’t just ask an oncologist. They used the sugar to tell which cells were using energy faster - therefore growing faster than normal and abnormal - therefore cancerous. Get where I’m going with this? Even if you never ate sugar, your body converts carbs to sugar so you can use it as energy. Converting it to food for your cells.

It's so wilfully wrong of @LMNT.
And @eyesopenedatlast has done a runner after making a fool of themselves.

The problem is no matter how many rational logically thinking people might ignore this numpty, there are many many others who will dangerously hang onto their every stupid misinformed word, take what they have said as gospel, and happily pass it on to other gullible and naive people who will also believe it!!🤔😥😡😱

Made me smile though green tea and carrot stick morning!!! Actually sounds fun!

I read a really interesting article about the results of a 9 year study into the mechanism around how cancer cells use sugar which might help explain the science behind the idea and where it comes from in more detail. My dad was a diabetic who died of a very aggressive cancer very quickly last year so I looked into this a lot. I don’t think it’s a simple answer either way but sugar certainly has a dramatic affect on cancer cells and ketogenic diets have shown good results alongside cancer treatments at making the treatment more affective. Definitely worth a read.

https://www.diabetes.co.uk/in-depth/sugar-and-cancer-9-year-study/

Yes. The sugar free alternatives have a laxative effect. I know which I would prefer.

i'm very sorry to hear what your father went through. must have been awful...

the study you mention consists of lab based experiments on yeast and mammalian cells (not sure if they used human stem cell lines) and how a particular component of metabolic pathway MAY regulate cell proliferation. given that our understanding of metabolic pathways are by no means comprehensive and the actual results of the study... it is a massive (inaccurate) leap to then say from this that sugar causes cancer.

This is incorrect. I am a Radiographer and can confirm that for a PET ct scan (not MRI or CT alone) your blood glucose level needs to be low. You shouldn't eat before the scan and once you are injected with the tracer (which is attached to glucose molecules) it is taken up by the most metabolically active cells within the body preferentially (cancer cells) creating hotshots within the body which are detected by the scanner. If your blood glucose levels are already high then the scan would be pointless.

I am not saying anything about the science behind a sugar free diet for beating cancer bit this bit at least is correct.

Did @LMNT ever come back and disclose what her role is in ground breaking cancer treatment and research?m

Absolutely agree and I didn’t say that it causes cancer, but the study did find sugar affected cancer cells dramatically and the op asked to read studies about this.
my sister also died of an incurable cancer and tried several fasting and starving cancer of sugar diets none of which had any effect or reduction in her cancer so I know that first hand. Dramatic affect doesn’t equate to causes by any means. Definitely worth a read though to anyone interested in where the idea comes from or the science around it. A lot more research is needed and the causes of cancer are incredibly complex. Having lost most of my family to cancer I’m very interested in the affects of diet & nutrition & chemical avoidance on preventing cancer but yes, it’s way more complex than avoiding sugar.

I'd say everything in moderation and these coffee mornings are a good way of raising money for a fantastic cause. We're not talking about eating straight out of the sugar jar ffs.

You are wrong. Different cancers use different fuel to grow and one of them is glucose. Colon cancer is fed by glucose, for instance, when it moves to the lymph glands it changes its fuel to fats. Some cancers are fed by hormones, like breast cancer. If you stop one fuel, like glucose, cancers are smart enough to change fuel. So it's not as simple as stopping glucose. Look at the work of Jane McLelland on this, her course and her book called 'How to starve cancer'. It's about using medicines and supplements to stop all the different fuels of cancer, so Metformin is one of the drugs used to stop cancers getting sugar. This approach is not mainstream yet, but docs in the private sector are using the technique. There is also a trial that cancer patients can join using this protocol run by Care Oncology Clinic in London and the US as well.

Bet she’s fun at parties 🙄