How blood sugar can help fight these 4 cancers

It's hard to imagine how blood sugar levels could possibly lead to cancer, but high insulin levels seem to promote tumour growth. Research is ongoing, but there's cause for concern with the following cancers.

• Harvard recently conducted a study involving more than 50,000 middle-aged men. Those whose diets were most likely to raise blood sugar fast and high were 32 percent more likely to develop colon or rectal cancer over 20 years.
• The heavier the men, the stronger the effect.
• In a similar study of women, the rise in cancer risk was an astounding 185 percent higher over eight years.

• In the Women's Health Study above, sedentary women on blood sugar–boosting diets were 135 percent more likely to develop breast cancer over seven years.
• These women had not yet entered menopause.
• On the other hand, a Canadian study of nearly 50,000 women found no link to breast cancer before premenopause.
• But among postmenopausal women, there was an 87 percent increase in breast cancer risk. It was even higher if the women did little or no vigorous exercise.
• A Mexican study comparing women who got breast cancer with those who didn't found the risk was 62 percent greater with blood sugar–boosting diets.
• A similar Italian study found an 18 percent increase.

• In a study involving more than 23,000 postmenopausal women, those who didn't have diabetes, and followed blood sugar–spiking diets, were 46 percent more likely to get this cancer over 15 years.
• An Italian study compared women who developed endometrial cancer with a similar group of women who didn't. They found a 110 percent increase in risk linked to this type of diet.

• An Italian study looked at men ages 46 to 74 who developed prostate cancer. They compared their diets with those of a similar group of men who didn't get the cancer.
• Those whose diets were most likely to spike blood sugar were 57 percent more likely to have prostate cancer.
• A similar Canadian study found a 57 percent increase in risk.

• Even the organ that produces insulin may be more prone to cancer if it's constantly bathed in that hormone.
• A study using data from the Nurses' Health Study over 18 years found that women whose diets raised blood sugar the most were 53 percent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer.
• Women who were overweight and physically inactive were 157 percent more likely to get the cancer than similar women in the second.

Research is still ongoing and it's too early to make strong statements about the connection between blood sugar levels and cancer. But it doesn't hurt to keep your blood sugar levels stable. It could help you lead a healthier life.