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?

While talking about misinformation spreading : please clarify that obesity is linked to TYPE 2 DIABETES.
Type 1 diabetes is a different disease entirely

Tell her to have a carrot stick and water morning. I'm sure she'll raise loads of money.

Er, no they don’t

“This approach is not mainstream yet, but docs in the private sector are using the technique “
That sets off alarm bells for me. Do you not think that if it worked NICE would approve it for NHS use? My cancer clinic promotes exercise to prevent Recurrence of breast cancer for which there is solid evidence. They would adopt any treatment if it was evidence based because they have our best interests at heart. My DD is an oncology trainee and I know how much she cares.

@eyesopenedatlast When my grandmother was diagnosed with bowel cancer in the 1970s no one expected her to live, and they were right, she had some treatment but it didn't stop the cancer and she died. When my DH was diagnosed with the same cancer 2 years ago the oncologist was very clear he was taking a curative approach and that didn't change when the cancer spread and became stage 4. He is now completely cancer free thanks to immunotherapy, a new type of treatment which teaches the body's own immune system how to fight the cancer cells. He didn't even need to have surgery on his bowel, which is a very big deal because the old standard surgery would have left him shitting into a bag for the rest of his life.

I'm not sure what planet you'd have to be living on to think that didn't constitute a significant development in the treatment of one of the most common cancers in the world. To be fair I know you're not listening but the thought that someone in DH's position recently diagnosed might read the shameful rubbish you and others have been posting on here and decide to turn down proper treatment in favour of a fad diet horrifies me so I couldn't leave it unchallenged.

The PP seems to be unaware that cancer doctors in the private sector and cancer doctors in the NHS are the same doctors. They're NHS doctors doing private work as well. And if they thought a treatment worked they'd use it, NHS or private. Oncologists and haematologists talk to each other, across the world, within their speciality. They routinely fight for trial drugs and compassionate access for their patients. There are not private doctors in onc and haem just keeping stuff for their paying patients.

Ha! "When you get a scan to check for cancer" yes that really makes you sound as if you work in clinical oncology! I can categorically state (as I have cancer and going through treatment now) that you don't "get A scan" (in fact I have had numerous different scans) and I have not been injected with irradiated glucose for any of them!

Good lord YOUR post is horrendously wrong, not just about scans and cancer, but also that all cancers are fed by sugars. Mine is driven by something completely different and I can assure you it wasn't caused by eating sugar either, rather by a faulty gene 🙄🙄🙄

Perhaps she would like to meet me.i hsd breast cancer 8 yrs sgo.iver never had a sweet tooth,never have sugar in tea or coffee,never eat cakes or biscuits,in fact only sweet i eat is dark chocolate and that h as less sugar than any chocolate. And i weigh same as when i was in my 20s..

Mine i was told was caused by my long term use of HRT taken to avoid the awful osteoporosis my mum had, i havent got that and no after effects of the cancer or treatment.

But they suck...

Big Pharma 🤣🤣. Makes me howl. Do people seriously think that there’s a conspiracy amongst medics, keeping ‘natural treatments’ quiet so they can shill Big Pharma Products and get paid for doing so?? So many medics worldwide keeping a secret. Yes, yes, that seems completely reasonable. Seriously. Give yer head a Big Wobble.
So insulting.

The so called ‘alternative, natural’ industry makes far higher profits than Big Pharma. That’s the real shill.

Sugar free diet. 🙄 Would that it were so easy.

Jesus wept at what people will believe. Sad.

Cancer is caused by a mutation in the genetic material in a cell that causes it to reproduce in a non normal way (often over reproduce which is why tumors build up)

What causes the mutation is a whole different kettle of fish. We have proof on a very few causes, radiation above a certain level, exposure to some chemicals above a certain level and most worryingly just sheer random chance as our genetic material just randomly mutates all on its own, and this builds up as we age.

Scientists have been trying to pin down factors that can accelerate our natural random mutation speed, but havent found many concrete links, just a whole lot of ‘well there is a chance’.

Correlation does not mean causation.

FIL was the same. Until he got cancer he had a very healthy diet but during treatment his eating habit changed totally. Unfortunately he didn't survive but find it insulting that some people blame cancer on sugar.

The PP seems to be unaware that cancer doctors in the private sector and cancer doctors in the NHS are the same doctors. They're NHS doctors doing private work as well. And if they thought a treatment worked they'd use it, NHS or private. Oncologists and haematologists talk to each other, across the world, within their speciality. They routinely fight for trial drugs and compassionate access for their patients. There are not private doctors in onc and haem just keeping stuff for their paying patients.

This

No I don't think coffee mornings to raise funds for any cancer charity's should be banned,,I am a cancer survivor and without the research into cancer treatments I properly wouldn't be here now, writing this,so carry on with the coffee mornings and fund raising,and let's help alot more people survive cancer

@LMNT

@eyesopenedatlast

No comment?

And I noticed that the one instagram bod has removed the post & closed messaging after reams of kick back and objection to her shite sweeping statements.

Pretty much a lot of what I have seen from this thread on the cakes bad side is just the usual Keto obsessives who think keto is the cure to everything. These people treat keto like a cult and they don't deserve any time at all.

I get the concern about unhealthy eating. Encouraging fruit and other non-sugary alternatives for a coffee morning to be available I think is a better way.

It's always interesting to see that on threads about cake or other foods classed as unhealthy that the names from the weight loss board are very present usually extolling the virtues of keto/low carb as a save-all and demonising sugar as the cause-all. These posters are usually not a healthy weight so I'm not convinced they're methods are great. My name is on those threads but I love carbs and am a sugar fiend. I've still lost over 2 stone. Life's too short to not eat cake occasionally. A small slice a day of something like homemade fruit cake or a light sponge wouldn't be terrible either. It's all about balance. There are so many food issues on mumsnet and it's very sad. Let's not demonise food.

But the use sweeteners which are worse for you.

This kind of message drives me nuts. I have stage 4 cancer and I have been slightly underweight most of my adult life. I went to the gym before work most days, for over 20 years and before that I cycled to and from work. I have eaten a vegetarian diet since I was 4 (ie 61 years).
Whoever said that you can avoid cancer by eating a healthy diet and keeping fit is only partly right. Some people can avoid cancer this way, but not all. It’s down to genetics in the main. My cancer is hormone induced and no one could have prevented it.
Enjoy your lives everyone and don’t live in fear. No one lives forever and that’s it. My oncologists are pleased I am still alive 4 years after my diagnosis and think that my healthy lifestyle choices MAY have POSSIBLY helped me to live longer post-diagnosis. But better than that, have been chemo, and radiation.

Found some clinical info: (hope it's useful, for clarity, I have not read it all the way through and clinically assessed ut as busy rn)

Understanding the Link between Sugar and Cancer: An Examination of the Preclinical and Clinical Evidence Dec 2022

The average consumption of sugar in the US is significantly higher than the World Health Organization’s, the American Cancer Society’s, and the American Heart Association’s recommendations for daily sugar consumption. This review summarizes the research on the link between added sugar and cancer and the plausible mechanisms for a causal association. Evidence from epidemiologic and preclinical studies demonstrates that excess sugar consumption can lead to development of cancer and progression of disease for those with cancer independent of the association between sugar and obesity. The mechanistic preclinical studies in multiple cancers show that high-sucrose or high-fructose diets activate several mechanistic pathways, including inflammation, glucose, and lipid metabolic pathways.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9775518/

Also, just because it's what and where it is doesn't make it right. It all depends on who paid for it, the methodology, which is why I mentioned earlier that I haven't critically analysed it. However, if it's right it's conclusion is this.
'In conclusion, research suggests a direct link between sugar and cancer. Preclinical studies and studies of people with MetS show that high-sucrose or high-fructose diets activate several mechanistic pathways, including inflammation, glucose, and lipid metabolic pathways, suggesting a causal link between excess sugar consumption and cancer development and progression that is independent of weight gain. Dietary guidelines and US policy need to reflect this new knowledge. Concerted action is needed to lower sugar intake in the US and other countries, better inform the public of the risks of excess sugar intake, and conduct more robust research in the field of added sugar and cancer.'
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9775518/

You’re talking nonsense. My late husband had diabetes and his sugar was very well controlled - still contracted cancer and sugar definitely didn’t ‘feed it’.

@Luxell934