Have you ever wondered if there’s a connection between eating sweets and breast cancer? This topic comes up in the media every now and again. Let’s go over some
of the information so you’ll be able to better grasp the connection.
What’s the Connection Between Sweets and Breast Cancer?
Limiting carbs and sweets IS one way to decrease your breast cancer risk.
Why?
Eating carbohydrates and simple sugars causes a spike in blood sugar. The constant elevation of blood sugar can result in insulin resistance. When that happens your body loses the ability to utilize the calories from the carbohydrates you eat.
It becomes a vicious cycle and takes its toll on your health.
You eat carbs, your insulin levels rise but you become less efficient at getting glucose into your cells to be used for fuel. Your body begins to store excess fat from not utilizing the carbs.
This combination of elevated blood sugar, insulin, and increased fat tissue causes inflammation, which damages other tissues in your body.
High Insulin Levels Diminish Health
Insulin resistance leads to diabetes, heart disease, and strokes. Insulin resistance and diabetes are also linked to cancer.
A 2005 Italian study on the subject, published in the British Medical Journal, looked at roughly 5,000 women. After adjusting for their health history and lifestyle factors and comparing those women with and without diagnosed breast cancer, the researchers found that the women who consumed the most high-carb/high-sugar foods (like
biscuits, pastries, and ice cream, as well as chocolate and simple sugars, including honey, jams, and jellies) had a significantly increased risk for breast cancer.
Other studies, including one recently published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, suggest that insulin may be the link to the increased risk for breast cancer.
Final Thoughts
So take this information and remember that eating too many sweets and having elevated insulin levels raises the risk for breast cancer.
It is a risk factor that we can control.
Focus, instead, on eating a high-fiber diet rich in non-starchy vegetables, organic animal proteins, fish, beans, nuts/seeds, and other healthy fats.
Monitor your sugar intake and gauge your intake of healthier carbs, like rice for
instance, by your blood sugar and insulin levels and your weight.
If you feel stuck and need additional support to adopt a new healthy habit or routine, consider working with me. We can partner up in setting goals, drawing on your skills and strengths, and implementing strategies to help you find your way to lasting healthy success.
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For over 15 years, Shelli has been a freelance writer and wellness habit coach on Joyinmovement. She writes about brain fitness, creating a healthy lifestyle, traveling the world, and making positive habits stick. Stop procrastinating! Take action, join her free newsletter.
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