“If you cut off sugar, you can starve cancer cells to death!”
Uncle Zhou is 62 years old this year. After gastric cancer surgery, I don’t know where I heard that tumors use sugar as nutrients, and eating sugar is equivalent to feeding cancer cell. So he made up his mind to strictly ban sugar.
Rice, high sugar, do not eat;
Steamed bread, sugary, do not eat;
Fruit, too sweet, do not eat;
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……
Not only that, but I didn’t even dare to eat a few bites of meat in the back, for fear that eating too well would provide nutrients to cancer cells. Because of the strict fasting, Uncle Zhou finally fainted and was admitted to the hospital again. The doctor said that he was severely malnourished.
Doesn’t it mean that fasting and sugar restriction can fight cancer? Why did you fall first? Uncle Zhou was very puzzled.
In the eyes of many cancer friends, sugar is generally terrifying as a “flood beast”. Sugar is indeed one of the main sources of energy for the human body. The growth of normal cells and cancer cells requires the support of sugar. Sugar to fight cancer, or some whimsical.
I. Authoritative research: Cancer cells prefer protein to sugar
April 2021, the international journal Nature< In a study published on /strong>, researchers repeatedly conducted in vitro and in vivo experiments on six different cancers, including colorectal, breast, and kidney cancer.
They divided tumors grown in mice into individual cells, then sorted all the cells, and measured the average amount of sugar consumed by each type of cells. , It was found that the immune cells inside the tumor consumed more sugar than the tumor cells. Tumor cells “favor” glutamine (an amino acid, one of the basic building blocks of protein) over sugar, which inhibits sugar metabolism when eaten.
After the body ingests sugar, the biggest “beneficiary” is actually the immune cells in the tumor, not the tumor cells. Tumor cells “love to eat” protein more. Does this mean that cancer patients should really limit protein rather than sugar? Second, the question is, should cancer patients limit protein to starve cancer cells?
Song Linglan, an attending physician of the Nutrition Department of Jiang Province Cancer Hospital, said that cancer patients often suffer from malnutrition after surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Complete rejection of protein and carbohydrate intake at this stage is extremely detrimental to the patient’s recovery.
So, what are the dangers of insufficient protein intake in cancer patients?
1. Side effects of amplified therapy
Malnutrition will reduce the patient’s tolerance to chemotherapy, which may increase the probability of chemotherapy side effects to a certain extent . For example, protein deficiency slows down the clearance of anthracyclines, further increases the time for the drug to act on the heart, thereby aggravating the cardiotoxicity of the drug.
2. Slow wound recovery
High-quality protein in food can promote muscle protein synthesis and metabolism in cancer patients, and Help repair damaged tissue, especially some patients who have undergone major surgery, need to supplement high-quality protein to promote wound healing. Conversely, for some malnourished patients, the speed of wound recovery will be much slower.
3. The body is weaker
Cancer itself is a disease that will cause great consumption to the body Cancer is a chronic disease, and cancer will lead to decreased protein synthesis and increased decomposition in the patient’s body, which is likely to cause muscle atrophy and other symptoms. If the nutrients are not supplemented in time, the patient’s body will not be able to maintain normal operation, and the quality of life will be greatly reduced.
In fact, not only cancer patients need to supplement protein, but also for ordinary people. Long-term insufficient protein intake will also bring some adverse effects to the body. 3. For normal people, insufficient protein is also harmful
The long-term insufficient protein intake of ordinary people is likely to cause these abnormal symptoms in the body:
1. Muscle relaxation
In the absence of sufficient protein intake, the body can only break down muscles in order to maintain normal needs. If things go on like this, it will lead to weakened muscle tone, loss of mass, and reduced joint support.
2. Hair loss
Thinning hair, brittle nails, and dry skin are the first signs of insufficient protein intake because the body cannot regenerate cells to replace dead cells, which in turn causes a series of abnormal symptoms, including hair loss.
3. Poor sleep
If you don’t eat enough protein for dinner, it will affect the production of hormones and cause the quality of sleep to decline. In addition, protein contains tryptophan, which is conducive to promoting sleep, and taking an appropriate amount of protein at dinner is helpful for improving sleep quality.
4. Great pressure
In life, people will always have all kinds of pressure , stress will cause certain damage to muscles and tissues, and lack of adequate protein intake will cause the body to fail to repair tissue damage caused by life stress.
There are so many hazards of insufficient protein intake, so how to supplement protein? Maybe start with your diet. 4. How to supplement protein? 5 kinds of food should be eaten more appropriately
Chinese Cancer Nutrition Treatment Guidelines recommends that cancer patients should consume at least 1.2g of protein per kilogram of body weight every day, preferably reaching 1.5~2.0g, taking a 60kg patient as an example, the best daily intake is 90~120g of protein. These foods are relatively rich in protein and can be eaten appropriately.
1. Eggs
The protein content in eggs can reach about 13%, and the amino acid composition it contains is similar to that of the human body. It needs to be very close, and can be quickly absorbed and utilized by the body after entering the body.
2. Milk
Milk is rich in nutrients, easy to digest and absorb, and has a suitable composition ratio, which can provide the body with high-quality protein, calcium and a variety of vitamins , its protein content is about 3%. Although the content is not as good as eggs, as a liquid food, it can easily ingest several hundred grams and is an important source of high-quality protein in life.
3. Fish meat
Fish meat has the characteristics of low fat and high nutrition. It is very rich in protein, lipids, vitamins and minerals, of which the protein content is about 15~22%, and it is also rich in various amino acids needed by the human body, which is an indispensable part of the diet. one of the protein sources.
4. Shrimp
Shrimp contains protein, a variety of vitamins, calcium, iron and phosphorus, among which the protein content can reach 16~ 23%. High nutritional value, but the fat content is very low, suitable for most people to supplement nutrition.
5. Chicken
The protein content of chicken is about 20%, and it also has the characteristics of low fat content , is the favorite of many fitness people. Food is one of the important ways for the body to supplement protein. You can choose to eat more protein-rich foods every day. Especially for cancer patients, it is more necessary to supplement enough protein, rather than blindly restrict diet.
References:
[1]《Cell-programmed nutrient partitioning in the tumor microenvironment》.Natrue.2021-04-17
[2]《 These “Top 10 High-Quality Protein Foods” to see if there is any that you like to eat? “. Xinhuanet. 2020-11-13
[3] “From hair loss to immunosuppression: seven signs of insufficient protein intake in the human body”. People’s Daily Online. 2019-02-12